Nanaburi Hotel Chumphon

... to drinking with him and shouting at the television.

In the far house, there lives a group of boat-builders from Germany, Finland, and somewhere I’ve never heard of. We’ve only hung out with them on a few occasions as they work long, dirty days for nothing but food n’ booze. We often catch them for a quick conversation at night as they head off to the Rama 2000, the town’s one and only discotheque, which can pretty much fit the ...

... I was hoping was sand.
As taking a nap was now out of the option I decided to take a shower. As I was looking at my tired face in the mirror something caught my eye, a lizard over a foot and a half long was also ready to comment on my tired appearance. Less than 10 min later my stuff was packed and I was checked into the next hotel down the road. The next place had two pools, t.v., a non murderous fan and only one ...

... boat tickets, vehicle rentals, visa services, Internet usage, faxes, luggage storage, accommodation, tattoo and massage references, and of course.. they sell post cards. Casual, relaxed..one of the backpackers' shot spots. I enjoyed my dinner there very much.

Next morning I continued driving South to Don Sak where I took a ferry to Koh Samui. If u want to ferry your car to Samui Island u will have to go to Don Sak.

... of tourists and amazing weather.
We started teaching yesterday, the school is quite beautiful and the students while very respectful have an extremely short attention span, leaving us searching for ways to keep them entertained. Hangman and pictionary have helped us out for these first few days, but I feel that more creative measures are needed if we want to keep up with them. Walking around the elementary school we are constantly greeted with "Hello ...

... and fake i.d.s. WE quickly settled in at a small bar where we tried Thai Rum ( Rum, Red Bull, and coke). The signature appearance of Thai rum is a bucket with many straws poking out, making easy to pass around and share. Our jet lag made it difficult for us to stay out too late, though I thought 2am was a valid attempt.
Following morning I was up and at it at 7am (thanks to the toxic Red Bull which I just found out is illegal ...

... home; a half furnished 2 bedroom, one bathroom, with a kitchen and all the necessities – a very difficult thing to find in this town. We put on Elmore James tunes and un-pack. Finally, a more permanent address, with everything we need, in a quiet jungle area of a town we already like, where we can relax…. and then get back to work.

... personnal guide who take you to the right ticket booth and help make sure you get the right ticket etc etc. Can't fault it. Anyway we got our tickets sorted and wandered around the stalls and shops for a bit (its more like a mall built on top of a bus station so plenty to do) before finding some seats to chill as we had the best part of 5 hours to kill. I managed to get through a fair few chapters of the book because every time I put ...

... bloody hot......but a wonderful experience.

Then it was time for lunch!!

Thought dinner was good last night?...........well lunch today was supreme!!!...........the view from high on a hill overlooking an inlet ......on one side Thailand......the other Myanamar.......

The food........just kept on coming........dish after dish.......2 and 1/2 hours later...........we had everything.........fish........prawns.. ....oysters......crabs ...

... by palm trees and perfectly flat land punctured with huge mountains of limestone. The train even stopped to let a snake cross the track! [I was invited to look at it by some young Thai girls - it was about two metres long and looking extremely wiggly and aggressive indeed. I took the huge fuss and commotion on the train to be an encouraging sign that the sight of enormous, deadly snakes was not overly commonplace] The ...

... leaves another sits next to us and chats about everyday things, we are learning so much about their lives and culture like this that I think we would have missed if we had taken the more conventional routes. After around 6 hours we arrive in Chumphon and are greeted by a perfect English speaking Thai tourist guide, once we have ...