Ban Suriya Surat Thani

In the morning I wolfed down a hasty breakfast before another minibus picked me up from the hotel at 8.30am. I was only second into the bus, but we had to make five or so stops to pick up more passengers, all exclusively Chinese, so no one to talk to. I sat in the back and just read my book. The journey to Surat Thani on the east coast of Thailand took around nine hours. A few hours in we crossed the border at Hat Yai and I had my passport stamped by a particularly ...

... into the wilderness to find our floating lodge for the night.<br><br>One word only - WOW! A few huts bobbing gently on a huge lake surrounded by rainforest and the sounds of wildlife. We had lunch, Thai curry, of course...and when you tried to be polite, not being able to eat anymore, but forcing yourself.....they would take away your bowl....and bloody bring it back 2 minutes later filled back to the brim!<br><br>After lunch, Dean went for a swim out into the lake - perfect clear ...

... boy Don't don't don't don't let the sun catch you crying Last Ride I took ride with Ajon's Motorcycle. He drove dangerously but fun like Indiana Jones throughout our time in the island. That morning was particularly fun because the rough paths near the mountain and the timing made he rushed. When we arrived the pier, we bought 2 boiled eggs, some sticky rice, and 1 water bottle for our breakfast. Scenic View Disturbs our Meal ...

... mind strengthening and concentration exercises until lights out at 9:30. There is no hot water, no electricity and students are expected to live like the monks that are present on monastery grounds, that is one or two simple meals a day consisting of simple rice and vegetables, no reading of any kind, no listening to music, no killing of any kind (i.e no swatting the mosquitoes), no talking at all to anyone other than the monks or ...

... by the time we boarded and we only had to get up at 0700 the next morning to go through a crazy rail checkpoint. You get off with all your bags, clear Thai Immigration out of Thailand, Just like the Airport and then walk around a corner to be presented with Malaysian Customs/Immigration, just like in an airport. Wierd feeling....

... is still a developing country and it was nice that they even had a semi-reliable train system at all, so I can't complain much. It wasn't as modern as Java's rail but would do just fine. I'm a bit if a train geek, forgive my train geeking. The 8pm sleeper squeaked, burped and rumbled forth, and again we went back to lounging and chatting. Suddenly, commotion! A Thai man in his 20's or 30's frolicked over our legs and out of the station ...

... we hit a rapid I said goodbye to my sunglasses for good. At the end of the river we were picked up in a songthaew and driven to the monkey temple. This "temple" is built in a cave and holds the remains of a famous monk (can´t recall which one now). It´s called monkey temple because there are tons of little monkeys that live there - in the wild of course. We didn´t see monkeys, so we headed to a waterfall...as we ...

... chocolate for dinner. The diet helped with some weight loss, Louisa was able to wave farewell to the last bits of the Heathrow injection and J said hello to his ribs and protruding hip bones. The daily chores were fun, Louisa cleaned 30 toilets in total compared to Jonathan's 1, but J maintains that his was much filthier and equivalent to 30, being a boy's toilet. Didn't quite manage to organise torches - made walking round the grounds at night and early ...

... 6 om morgenen for at forsoege, at fange nye busser op igennem landet. Efter fire busskift og to dages rejse, sidder vi endelig paa en net cafe i Surat Thani og slaar tiden ihjel mens vi venter paa en natfaerge til oen Koh Phangan. Men rejsen har vaeret haard, og bustiderne er umulige at regne med; bussen fra Johor Bahru til Butterworth var fire timer forsinket mens bussen videre til Hat Yai kom to timer senere end planlagt.

... wanted to ride elephants. They didn't want to see waterfalls, they didn't want to find the markets that aren't for tourists, they didn't want to try eating a seafood omlette with suspicious content. They didn't want to cross the border from "tourism" into "adventuring". I won't say the tour wasn't fun, but I will say that our decision to stay away from guided tours and other Israelis was ...