Before I move on to the latest update, here are the promised photos from the islands and the introduction of Cecil...
Koh Tao snorkelling trip where I met Marcus and Naaz.
And here is Cecil (the Legend) preparing for his maiden voyage. Cecil is A Legend because he saved my life when I fell out of the hammock that you can see in the background of this picture. I fell, not onto the balcony but onto a rock in the unseen foot of this picture so, yea, quite a fall. Luckily I was wearing Cecil at the time so he cushioned me somewhat. No ducks were harmed during the incident. I bruised my bum.
Cecil bonding with Naaz and Marcus.
Cecil's first Beer Chang of the day. Naaz's third.
Naaz taking a break. It's hard work all that lolling about in the sea y'know.
Cecil demonstrating a lifesaving technique.
Leaving Koh Tao en-route to the mainland. Thai sunsets are AWESOME.
Cecil stretching his wings in Bangkok.Okay, so here's what's been happening in Lyndaland of late...
Naaz and Claire joined me, as planned, in Bangkok with the addition of Ruth. It was fantastic to see them all and the good times that we had in Koh Tao simply extended to the city. We all continued to get along and the laughter has rarely stopped. Bangkok is a good place for admin and 'sorting' as everything is on your doorstep and the Internet is cheap. Actually, Bangkok is cheaper than the islands for everything really so we spent a few days getting ourselves organised and ready for the round trip to N. Thailand and Laos.
We took an overnight bus to Chiang Mai which was a bit of an inconvenience but nevertheless, we made it without incident and arrived at an ungodly hour, tired and hungover, in Chiang Mai a few days ago. We booked ourselves into a random guesthouse (S.K House) picked from the 'Bible' (The Lonely Planet) and were pleasantly surprised by the quality and value for money that we found. We're all in a 'family' room together with loads of space, a huge TV, fan, aircon, enormous shower and comfy beds. For the grand price of 3 pounds 40 pence per night each. And there's a pool. Reeeeee-sult!
Night bus en-route to Chiang Mai.
Naaz and Claire easing the pain of the journey with a coupla Changs.
Then we went into the jungle.
Yesterday we returned from a 2-day trek which included hiking to a waterfall through fabulous scenery and a brief but exhilarating monsoonal downpour. After the truck got stuck in the mud and before a tasty dinner and fun-filled evening of drinking games with our French companions. And that was just day 1! Day 2 involved more getting-stuck-in-the-mud followed by elephant trekking and white water rafting. Sadly the elephant trekking was disastrous as the so-called 'guide' had no control over Naaz and Ruth's elephant so he resorted to punching it in the head and whacking it with his shoe. They got off and walked back on foot. I continued on, briefly, with Claire but she really wasn't enjoying it at all so we turned back fairly quickly and moved on to the rafting which everyone loved. It was a pretty short rafting run but the rapids were good and the adrenalin flowed so it was good to see some smiles after the elephant ordeal.
Naaz and Claire joined me, as planned, in Bangkok with the addition of Ruth. It was fantastic to see them all and the good times that we had in Koh Tao simply extended to the city. We all continued to get along and the laughter has rarely stopped. Bangkok is a good place for admin and 'sorting' as everything is on your doorstep and the Internet is cheap. Actually, Bangkok is cheaper than the islands for everything really so we spent a few days getting ourselves organised and ready for the round trip to N. Thailand and Laos.
We took an overnight bus to Chiang Mai which was a bit of an inconvenience but nevertheless, we made it without incident and arrived at an ungodly hour, tired and hungover, in Chiang Mai a few days ago. We booked ourselves into a random guesthouse (S.K House) picked from the 'Bible' (The Lonely Planet) and were pleasantly surprised by the quality and value for money that we found. We're all in a 'family' room together with loads of space, a huge TV, fan, aircon, enormous shower and comfy beds. For the grand price of 3 pounds 40 pence per night each. And there's a pool. Reeeeee-sult!
Night bus en-route to Chiang Mai.
Naaz and Claire easing the pain of the journey with a coupla Changs.Then we went into the jungle.
Yesterday we returned from a 2-day trek which included hiking to a waterfall through fabulous scenery and a brief but exhilarating monsoonal downpour. After the truck got stuck in the mud and before a tasty dinner and fun-filled evening of drinking games with our French companions. And that was just day 1! Day 2 involved more getting-stuck-in-the-mud followed by elephant trekking and white water rafting. Sadly the elephant trekking was disastrous as the so-called 'guide' had no control over Naaz and Ruth's elephant so he resorted to punching it in the head and whacking it with his shoe. They got off and walked back on foot. I continued on, briefly, with Claire but she really wasn't enjoying it at all so we turned back fairly quickly and moved on to the rafting which everyone loved. It was a pretty short rafting run but the rapids were good and the adrenalin flowed so it was good to see some smiles after the elephant ordeal.
Claire and I on the elephant.
Stuck in the mud take 1.
Stuck in the mud take 2. Oh, am I supposed to get off my a** and push?
Our lovely little hut in the jungle where we overnighted.
We were SO pleased to see the last of this truck. These are my lovely travelling companions, Naaz, Claire and Ruth (25th October 2008).
Tomorrow we are going to the Laos border and basically doing the same trip that I did before, taking the slow-boat for two days to Luang Prabang. Claire is on a bit of a tight schedule as she wants to get down to Koh Phi Phi (southern island) and do some diving before her flight to Australia on 2nd December so we'll only spend one night in Luang Prabang (remember the bowling alley and the gorgeous waterfall?) before heading on to Vang Vieng (remember the tubing and mud?) which is our main reason for going to Laos. After Laos I'll join Claire on Koh Phi Phi for a bit and then.....maybe....maybe.....go with her to Australia, Melbourne. We'll see!
That's it. News as it happens....and this PC keeps crashing annoyingly so I'll bid you toodlepip and sign off for now.
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