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| Thailand |
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Trang, 12 February 2004 Folks, apologies for being so slack at writing emails but we've been too busy snorkelling, swimming, island hopping and scoffing loads of loverly thai food. Bangkok was a real shock after Cambodia and Vietnam - back to civilisation. Mamoth compared to Phnom Penh or Saigon. Even the tuk-tuks are bigger, better and much much faster ! - brilliant. Spent the first couple of days there marvelling at ordinary things like roads, public-transport, fast food, air-conditionned shopping malls, supermarkets, 7-eleven (which is everywhere), even spent a little money in Boots. Took an overnight sleeper train down to Surat Thani and then on to Krabi to hook up with our friends Maya and Shai from England to spend some time on the beaches. In Bangkok, we panicked a bit when we saw how many people seemed to be heading south to the beaches. We imagined the beaches and bungalows would all be full and it would be difficult to find anywhere decent to stay. What we didn't know is that there must be something like 10,000 beaches in Thailand (or more), which means it's easy to find beaches with just a handful of people on them. Spent time with Maya and Shai around Krabi visiting the nearby islands of Koh Phi Phi, Hong, Poda, Chicken, Maya bay, Noppharata, Klong Muong - snorkelling and swimming mostly. Swam accross a little river with Shai to avoid paying the taxi boat fare and nearly drowned - won't be trying that one again in a hurry :) Then travelled south to Trang and took a transfer ticket to the neaby island of Koh Mook where we spent a couple of glorious days on the beach and itchy nights in our middle-range bungalow. Smothered ourselves with "Off" (thanks to Mauricio) which successfully repelled all mosquitos but not ants or sea-flees. Even saw a tiny baby scorpion in the restaurant. Spending a night in a hotel in Trang which boasts hot water and clean sheets, before heading south to Hat Yai, which according to our guide is the "little Paris of Thailand" - should be interesting. Heading north after that towards the River Kwai and Bangkok for our flight ot India on the 20th. Goodbye Thailand, 19 February 2004 Hello!! You thought you didn't hear much from us from Thailand ?? (or was it a relief ?!) Well... Maybe it's true. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable beach holidays kind of month. We know you will all hate us cos it's cold in some other places in the world where you are. We survived bird flu (coughing as we speak) and we saw some fabulous stuff while snorkelling in the transparent waters. Thailand IS full of beaches and there are quiet a bit of tourists too(!) and we are now back in Bangkok before flying off to Delhi tomorrow. Just to say: no to worry if we don't get much in touch for the next month. We are quiet unsure how and when we will access the internet over there. So it's not that we will have disappeared, just that we will be somehwere in the North of India. |
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