Sand, sick, cold showers and no electricity
Trip Start
Jul 29, 2003
1
11
31
Trip End
Dec 01, 2003
Koh Pha Ngan / Koh Tao,
Thailand
Friday, September 19, 2003
Got back into Bangkok last night at about 10:30pm - were meant to get in at 8:30...
Checked into a great guest house which is much nicer and cheaper than the last one but to be honest we didnt really care as long as we could get a hot shower and a decent nights sleep.
We left Haad Rin in Koh Pha Ngan on Thursday 12th September and had the bumpiest journey ever to Thong Nai Pan beach on the east coast where Janines friends were staying. I think I mentioned them in a previous entry but they are: Vicky (who Janine and Kathy went to school with), her brother Luke, her boyfriend Ollie, their cousin Rachel, and her boyfriend Sam. This left only me, Kate and Sam who werent originally from Bristol, while the others all reminisced. We chilled out for most of that first day as I felt so sick from the taxi ride. Apparently the roads in Cambodia are far worse so I have that to look forward to! Discovered something odd in our bungalow when I went to bed that evening. I saw what I thought was a pile of socks in the corner and then realised it had eyes and was in fact 3 very young kittens, probably about 4 weeks old! Got a bit freaked out wondering how kittens had suddenly appeared in our bungalow especially since they were hissing at me! Someone went to buy soem milk and Janine eventually managed to get them to lick a bit off a straw as there was no way we were putting our hands anywhere near them! We thought wed better leave them till the morning but then saw the mum who ran off when she saw us.
A cove on Koh Tao
Left the door open for a bit and she came back at 3am hissing and spitting but lay down to feed the kittens so we shut the door assuming shed stay there for the night. But no. Woke up at 6am by a huge crash as the stupid cat had jumped onto the basin and over the bathroom wall (which was quite high up) with one of the kittens in her mouth. She came back for the others later and we didn't see them again.Didn't really do much the next few days except eat, drink and sunbathe (hard life I know).
Oh, there is one thing I did in my pursuit to improve the manky Thai animals. There was a really sad looking dog (who we inventively called Sad Dog) on Thong Nai Pan beach and I found out she had a huge cut on her paw so one day I cleaned it all out and was going to attempt to stitch it up but then decided not to in case she bit my hand off. Anyway she looked much happier the next day!
We all left Koh Pha Ngan to go to Koh Tao on Monday morning. I managed to sunburn my knees on the boat ride between the islands which looked really attractive. The weather was really good till we arrived on Koh Tao and it started to chuck it down just as we got in the taxi to go to our resort. It probably sounds like good timing that it started to rain once we were in the taxi, but most taxis in Thailand are kind of open backed trucks which they squash as many people as possible into. We had 9 backpacks plus 9 smaller rucksacks and 7 people in the back of ours, while Vicky and Ollie managed to sit in the cab and keep dry, while Kate almost fell off the back of the truck as we went over bumps! Our resort was in the middle of the hills with only about 14 bungalows of which we were taking 5.
Bird on the rocks
There was no beach nearby but there were rocks which were pretty good for snorkelling. Our bungalows were interesting... Freezing cold showers as usual (which I'm used to by now, although this time our bathroom was open roofed!), loads of insects, but the beds were awful - basically a piece of wood with a sheet over it. Also, there was only electricity between 6pm and 3am so the fans went off half way through the night. Needless to say we didnt sleep too well! Actually, I slept ok, but I seem to manage to sleep anywhere!Yet again there was an array of animals there. A puppy called Junior who everyone loved - until it started biting their toes. Weirdly though it smelt of a mix between coffe and old socks... There was also a cat who Na, the owner, didnt like. She said it had just appeared there one day so she fed it and it stayed. Funny that. We thought this cat was quite cute at first until it attacked the other dog - a stray Jack Russell type thing which Janine affectionately labelled Doghead. From then on no one really liked the cat, especially since it started biting and kicking its own kitten as well! Doghead was really stupidly playful and took to constantly escorting me back to my bungalow and, still on my mission, I managed to rid it of its ticks which was a lovely job.
I attemped snorkelling on Tuesday but Ive never done it before and freaked myself out cos I couldnt breathe properly and then I cut my foot open so I came back and didnt really see much! We all went on a boat trip around the island on Wednesday which unfortunately I dont have picture of yet as I forgot to charge up my digital camera so I had to use APS which I dont have developed yet.
Bitch cat and her kitten
I felt really sick on the first bit of the boat ride as it was really choppy. We stopped first at Shark Island where youre meant to be able to swim with (non vicious) sharks. Everyone went off snorkelling except me and Janine but I was glad I didn't go the current was so strong some people couldn't get back. Vicky was practically drowning so another boat had to speed over to pick her up as our driver wasnt really taking much notice. We were all a bit pissed off after that but the next bay we went to was really calm and so I went in the water this time and managed to get used to breathing through my mouth eventually! I wish now I'd brought my underwater camera as the snorkelling was amazing. We went round a couple of bays and then to Koh Nang Yuan which is two small islands off the top of Koh Tao. The boat stopped really far away from the beach so we had about a 15/20 min swim through really deep water, which was quite scary now I think about it! It was worth it though as its mainly diving resorts over there and it was really beautiful.We were absolutely knackered that night but we got a taxi into town to go for pizza and some bars, only to find out the bars shut at about 11:30 and our taxi wasnt due till 12!
Me, Kate, Kathy and Janine left at 9am Thursday morning to get back to Bangkok as Kathy had to fly home today. The travelling about here is really tiring and we had to get a 3.5 hour ferry ride, followed by a 8.5 hour bus ride where some guy was sick on my foot which Janine found hilarious.
Off to Chiang Mai tomorrow night to do a 3 day trek, then back to Bangkok on 26th to go to Cambodia on 27th as my visa expires.
xxx
