Panviman Koh Phangan Surat Thani

... bowls outside so you lather up with soap and scoop yourself clean. The water was very cold; unfortunately men and women stay in separate dorms so i didn’t have my lovely girlfriend there to heat it up for me, lol. In the evening, after tea time, we were given time to hit up the hot springs. The monastery is smack dab in the middle of nature; several natural hot springs are found there. The men and women use different hot springs; the men have 2 to choose from. The first day I went ...

... 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 ...

... dropped off in a town near the entrance to the park. Within the first hour we were approached over and over again with "you take tour now?" and "go to lake tomorrow". Just walking down the street people would yell "you go to raft house". People were asking no less than like 90 US dollars each to "go to lake tomorrow". Keep in mind that our hotel, food, drinks, in all was about 20-25 dollars a day ...

... are collapsing and young men are vomiting. But at least there is no glass on the beach. This is the best advert for the legalization of ecstasy and the highly restricted sale of alcohol I have ever seen. We cut our losses and run, prepared to pay twenty quid for a taxi out of Dantes inferno. Amazingly we get one for eight quid, sharing with some Americans who, to their credit, are as appalled as we are. It feels like the best eight quid I have ever spent in my life.

... realized the mistake and made some progress. Finally we were off by 25 m from the coast and the old German came to our rescue and brought us close to the shore.On alighting from the kayak we saw hundreds of crabs, starfish, shell fish , snails and other creatures to greet us! There is a huge settlement of these creatures swarming all over the place. We were in the kayak again and after a while were grounded in mud! It was an effort to pull out the kayak and get ...

... all dead friendly and they also have the added bonus of 3 gorgeous dogs there - 2 pugs and a black retriever called Saddam! I enquired as to how Saddam came about his name as it implies hes a right nasty git (he isnt!) but apparently "Black Dog" in Thai is "Ma Dam". As hes a boy and so not to confuse him with his sexuality, rather than call him Madam they settled on Saddam, so there you go! The 2 pugs are the cutest and most placid dogs ...

... get off and go for a swim in the small pool of a minor waterfall, but we opt, instead to spend the break playing with the elephant, since that's why we took the trip in the first place. When we arrive back we have the opportunity to feed the beast with about a buck's worth of bananas. He eats them, skins and all, thus our hands get covered in elephant goo. Yuk, yet, whoa! After a lunch break back at the lodge ...

Some would say to lose one camera is unlucky, to lose two is stupid... and they may be right. My new camera has indeed bitten the dust already, being the grand age of one week old. Now I'd like to point out that I was being really careful with this one, although I guess not careful enough. We were walking in the rainforest (haha, notice a pattern here...) so knowing full well the dangers of rain, when it started I immediately asked the guide to put the camera in his ...

Two hours before our train left, we collected our bags and had something to eat. We then went and sat on our backpacks in the middle of the station with some other Westerners who were doing the same thing. I felt the need to find the toilets and was surprised by the 10 baht admission fee. As soon as I paid I realised that it was a mistake. There was a woman mopping the floor, streaking it even more with muddy swipes. The toilets were full of girls and women of all ages. I ...