Days 24 - 26 - Bangkok to Koh Pha Ngang

All photos now added. We've found a much more reliable internet cafe that takes a fraction of the time to upload them. Yippee!

Day 24 - Bangkok
Arrived in Bangkok very early after a good nights sleep. Those trains are great!
With 12 hours to kill until our onward train journey down south, we decided that after our previous experience of hunting down breakfast in Bangkok we would head to Siam Paragon which is the modern shopping mall where we knew there was a Starbucks! Terrible I know but we’re sick of strange food!

We arrived only to find that the mall didn’t open until 10:00 and it was about 7:30. So, we crossed the road and had a bagel and a cup of tea. Also asked one of the local school children where there was an internet café and wrote the latest blog.
Having spent a few hours there, we decided that we both really needed a shower to make us feel more human. So the search began!

We wandered around the mall and went to a few spas but there wasn’t anywhere to get just a shower – obviously a luxury reserved only for Ayutthaya.
In desperation we tried the tourist information office but they were next to useless telling us that there were showers at a park across the city but she couldn’t promise they would be clean. No thank you!
Wandering around the market, Dave was tempted by the Ralph Lauren shirts for 2GBP each but decided against it.
Finally, we bit the bullet and paid about a fiver each to use a hotel for the day – with swimming pool, sauna and more importantly a shower. We had a lovely relaxing day there and swam around in the pool – even when the heavens opened and the rain started bouncing off the water. Dave was left to amuse himself seeing how long he could hold his breath under water and other such exciting games as I read my book and tried not to look too cold!

It was soon time to head back to the station but not before we went for a delicious burger. Finally some western food!
Back at the station we collected our bags and headed for the train. Another game of rummy ended in a second day win for Mandy (10-7) and then to bed with thoughts in our minds of the tropical island we were heading for. (Our third night on a train!)

M xx

Day 25 – Koh Pha-Ngang
Awoken at 6:28 by Dave panicking that we had missed our stop! Needless to say, we hadn’t and had to sit for another hour before the train finally pulled in to Surit Thani station (an hour late admittedly but running on Thai time, not too bad!)

We handed our luggage over at the coach and climbed aboard. I slept for most of the journey into the town where some people were dropped off and others joined us for the journey to the port.
Ferry ride was long and hot (about 2.5 hours). I read whilst Dave sweated and kept popping outside to catch a breeze!

Soon the island was in our sights and it was everything you can imagine. Beautiful white sandy beaches, tall hills covered in greenery and a bright blue sky (filled with grey clouds).
We were eventually collected and transported to our cabin. Basically a simple bungalow with a small bathroom at the back. But with a pool and the sea at the end of a short path, heaven!
We spent as little time as possible in the room unpacking and changing into our swim stuff and then hot footed it to the sea for our first swim. Bliss!

Lazing by the pool and reading filled the rest of the afternoon before we ventured not very far, it had to be said, to explore our surroundings. We stumbled across a small but professional looking dive-shop and spoke to the German/Swiss owner (who seemed very friendly) about doing some diving over the next few days. A site called ‘Sail Rock’ seems to be favourite and there’s a dive on Monday which we may well do. We’ll tell you all about it then!
Back to the resort for dinner (carbonara for D, Thai green curry (again!) for M) and soon to bed. It’d been a long day!

M xx

Day 26 – Koh Pha-Ngang
Up earlyish (9:00!) and off for a yummy breakfast. So far all we’ve done is laze by the pool, Dave went for a bit of a snorkel this morning (saw a huge puffa fish) and we’ve both been this afternoon, we’ve checked emails, sorted out our finances (ouch!) and are currently uploading photos on to the blog – sorry mum for not doing them at the time!

Will write again in a few days once we’ve done something worth writing about – could get a bit boring if all we say is… got up, sat by the pool, had lunch, sat by the pool, had dinner, went to bed!

Thanks for all your comments and emails still coming flooding through. It’s strange being away for so long and knowing we’ve got another 2 months still before we see everyone again so the comments help to keep in touch. Thanks!
Miss you all.

M xx