we passed into Thailand through the overland border crossing, which we discovered later was under a bombing attack. nice. our plan was to go strait to ko lanta, i nifty little island next door to ko phi phi. it took a refreshing 24 hours. the bus system in Thailand is cretinous to say the least. you pay for a bus going from A to B, however no one really wants to drive you that far, so what takes place is a sort of shuffling procedure, were you are loaded onto a mini bus taken to someone who ,might condasend to take you part of the way, stopping every few minutes to pick up more travelers each with completely different destinations. you arrive and are made to wait an hour, then into a fresh minibus. this one seems mainly to act as the local postal service, shuttling around town depositing and picking up mysterious packages. the driver deftly fielding questions about why we haven’t left yet, with blank incomprehension. we stop yet again at another travel agent and get into another mini bus. finally we get under way after the driver picks up and drops off a couple of his friends. at some points during this process we were actually further away from our destination than before. very odd. ko lanta was a rather pleasant place. a fantastic beach, easy to get around and some of the best food, all in all perfect, apart from the rather limited nightlife.

we arrived quite late, around 7, and after installing Lucy at a cafe looking after the baggage i went in search of a room. 2 hours later, i was still looking. everywhere was booked, apart from places charging obscene amounts. i was nosing around one place when a tai woman clutching a beer in one hand accosted me. she could see i was nearing the end of my tether and suggested that we should bed down on a nearby grass verge for the night, for as far as she knew every room in ko lanta was booked up. i looked at the verge, it was small and next to an open all hour’s pub on one side and a road on the other. addled by the stress of it all, i not only began to consider sleeping there but i wondered why such a prime spot hadn’t already been taken. trotting the mile or so back to the place i left Lucy i made on last attempt and asked some for accommodation. they said no, but they had heared rumours of rooms at a new place near the road. i hunted this place down and lo, the genial chap at the reception named Pi’ar not only had rooms but was practically giving them away for 300 baht. every one else was putting their prices up as this was high season, but he didn’t see why he should. i agreed that to do so would be the act of a bounder and not a gentleman, which he clearly was. and as we spent time there we came to realize he really was an absolute saint. bending over backwards to make our stay as nice as could be.

there was plenty of fun to be had here. apart from the secret island adventure i have already described, we went snorkeling which was a very fun day out.

fairly shortly after arriving we met up with Tom and Sonne the dutch couple out of the blue and then Carson turned up and thus we could create our own nightlife. firstly one needs a small bucket like those used in toilets throughout Asia to pour water into a loo to make it flush. in this (a clean non toilety one!) you mix, ice, a bottle of finest Sang-som, (an excellent tai whiskey) coke, and red bull syrup, (which i don’t think is legal in most countries) this produces a drink known as a “bucket” one of these is guaranteed to induce a good night. after two or three though, you start acting a bit odd and need to be led away by your friends.

one night we all decided to go out to a party recommended by Pi’ar. we set off strolling along the main road, pretty soon we discover that it was quite far and it was going to take us ages to get there. Tom flagged down a passing truck and we asked if we could get a lift. it turned out to contain a couple of English chaps and was driven by some French men. they were all on their way to some sort of epic club secreted in the center of the island. taking a quick consensus we decided to go with them. of cause we were all heavily into our buckets at this point having had a pre party drink at Pi’ar’s so this may not have been a completely rational decision. we leapt in and shot off at some considerable speed. i suspected that the driver had been drinking. luckily very few people were on the road at this hour. i watched wistfully as we shot past the place we were going to originally. i wondered if we were entirely safe with these random and now that i thought about it rather dodgy looking individuals. i began to visualize worst case scenarios where we would be taken somewhere and robbed. still, there was 5 of us and four of them i consoled myself.
one of the English blokes leant over to me and said in a load whisper: “don’t tell the girls but our driver has only got one eye!”

i forced a grin and clutched tightly to the backboard of the pickup truck, the only thing keeping me from spilling into the road as i was sitting at the back. it gave with startling ease. Carson grabbed my arm and pointed out that the backboard was only fastened by string. this was turning into some sort of nightmare. after about an hour of driving i was quite worried about how we were going to get back after we escaped from these dangerous lunatics. however we arrived at the club in one piece and it turned out to be rather good. unfortunately i was stone cold sober and keen to stay that way so that we could have a chance at getting back, so i didn’t have much fun. i needn’t have worried, taxi men clung to the club like a swarm of attentive flies on a cowpat, so we had no trouble getting back. quite the mis-adventure!

leaving ko lanta was a struggle.

we went to ko phangan crossing Thailand in a flurry of buses.

we spent a restful week in the north. the Padi course was good fun. a lot easier than i thought. once in the water you become quite acustomed to it, nipping about with ease. it feels how i imagine flying feels like.

ill continue this at a later date. we are off to cambodia on the morrow.