Or-rawarn Resort Surat Thani

... time to do whatever we wanted. After breakfast I would do my chore (each person has to sign up for a chore, mine was to sweep outside the main meditation hall). After I finished sweeping I b-lined it for bed, and by "bed" I mean a concrete slab with a wooden pillow! I would lay on by back and take a short nap. After lunch I would take a shower, do laundry then take another nap. The showers are of the scoop variety. Same deal as when i stayed in rural Thailand. The water sits in big ...

... lunches wrapped in banana leaves and off we went. The morning
went well – although very hot and humid. It was Ok while walking,
but within seconds of stopping to look at something you can feel the
sweat dripping from every part of your body! We saw monkeys swinging
from trees, a stupidly big and scary spider and more chameleons...and
felt the bite of lots of damn mozzies!



We stopped by a waterfall after Dean
and Dave were admiring an army of ...

... There was a small scare of missing the train when our taxis got stuck in the traffic - thankfully we made it on time and the drivers didn't even have to resort to rally driver tactics. The first impressions of the train were "it's not like in the photos..." - we had chosen the train as a more comfortable option than an overnight bus. It would have been more than enough for just us (even luxury!) but keeping in mind that Gerard has a bad back, hmmm ...

... suggests. Vital equipment for the somnambulently challenged traveller. 1) Ear plugs. 2) Eye mask. You may not sleep but you at least partially block out the noisy Aussie **** who, having failed his audition for neighbours, is going to console himself with a holiday in Phuket. Phuket sounds truly dreadful and I'm sure it sounds even more dreadful with him there. Sensory deprivation ...

... on a lake for a couple of nights, then back to the jungle lodge for a night. However, some tourists have died as they were taken to a offf-limits cave some hundreds of km away, where flash floods wiped them out and now the park may be closed (apparently there's some connection but it's not very clear... Thai logic?). After a stunning view of the damn on the lake, we head to the ...

First class on our train was full so we purchased 2 second class tickets (beds- but no AC) in 2 separate rows hoping we could switch with someone to sleep in bunks next to each other. The ride was about 12 hours. Russel found a friend 'Andreas' from Germany which he 'shadowed' and partied with in the restaurant cabin, while I climbed into my top bunk and worried ...

so after an overnight train from chiang mai to bangkok, wasted a day in hell.. also known as bangkok, and jumping on an overnight bus to krabi - i found myself rudely awaken from a dead sleep and told that i must get off the bus right now. So i gather my things and jump off the bus. I haven't a clue where i am at this point. So i find out I'm in this place Suratthani. I am also told that i must pay 600 baht to get a three hour van ride to krabi ...

... to enjoy the hot springs! The most enchanting part of the day, it was so great! Woman had their own seperate hot spring to enjoy of course, but we still had to wear sarongs and be covered from shoulders to knees. Relaxing in this steaming hot pool of water, with the outline of the palm trees above your head and lightening bugs glowing in the twilight was so delightful and serene. And it felt so good on the body that had to endure so much sitting during the day. The evening ...

We got the 8am train down from Bangkok's Hualampong station to Surat Thani in Southern Thailand. The train didn't actually leave until about 10am, so we arrived around 7pm. We blew off a tout at the station who was trying to take us to Ban Don Hotel for 100 baht, even though that was the hotel we had chosen to stay at anyway. We ended up getting an ...

... a very straggly mop that had certainly seen better days and attempted to wipe up the last remaining moisture with a thoroughly inadequate tool. We passed slowly through Bangkok, not speeding up until we had been travelling for 45 minutes. I'm sure that this is because the train tracks are another variant of footpath for the locals. Earlier in the day when hesitant about crossing the train tracks I noticed many people strolling casually down the middle of the tracks. I ...