We have now been in Thailand for just over two weeks and we have done so much it seems like we've been here for ages. First my sister Diane and her son Seamus joined us in Bangkok and we travelled with them - and Seamus's friend Xander - upto the north - Chang Rai and Chang Mai - we had a great time with them and were sad when it was time to say goodbye (there's more about that time on the blog). We travelled back down to Bangkok to meet Mark's mum Jo who has joined us for about 10 days. We stayed at the Atlanta - Sex tourists not welcome - hotel again and met up with another friend - Ahmed, for a meal. So we have been very sociable recently and its been great to see our family.
We have now travelled down to a lovely island - Ko Tao - a divers paradise, clear seas and lots of tropical fish. We plan to go snorkelling and Mark wants to do a four day diving course, he also wants us to want to do it with him, but we don't!
We travelled down on a night train from Bangkok and arrived at the station we had to get off at at 4am. There we sat for 2 hours with about 60 other Europeans waiting for our bus to take us to the boat to bring us to the island. At that point I looked around and found that we were about the only people either over 30 or under 18 in sight and got very nervous that we were heading straight for 18-30 hell! We spent the two hours desperately scanning the guide book for other destinations that could be easily reached from where we were. Luckily we opted to come anyway and it has turned out to be lovely, warm sea, beautiful tropical island and actually not too crowded and noisy at all. We've got great rooms, friendly place to stay, delicious food to eat, fast internet connection PLUS yoga classes next door - what more could we ask for?
We sat down on floor cushions, watching the sun set over the sea, trying to decide what to order from the amazing array on offer and who should walk by but Seamus and Xander who have also arrived today!
Thailand hasn't replaced India in my heart but the food is sure good (I daren't say better but certainly a lot quicker to prepare and so much fresh fresh vegatables - yum...). I'm intrigued by the country and want to get to know more about it, how the buddism and the politics interact (plenty of military coups in the near past). We are also meeting a lot of Burmese - most of the staff here seem to be Burmese and I heard that a lot of Burmese (mostly illegal immigrants, working in the resorts) were killed by the tsunami, but not recorded, also that the Thai government were very harsh about letting those Burmese relatives of potential victims try to find out whether their loved ones were alive or not.
Lots to find out, lots to enjoy, lots to think about.- Heather
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