Ko Chang

Well, we have left the paternal embrace of CavTours and made our own way down south to Ko Chang island, the second largest island in Thailand after Phuket, I am given to understand. Carolyn booked our accommodation, the Sea View Resort and Spa, but we had to decide on our means of transport from Bangkok. The cheapest, we thought! That left out flying down from Bangkok to Trat, the nearest town with an airport to the island that also happens to be near the Cambodian border: too expensive! So we mooched up to a travel agent at the end of Soi 39 that seemed to be staffed entirely by ladyboys in various stages of gender transition. They were very nice and helpful though, and booked us transport door to door to our island hotel. There was a small panic when the minibus hadn't turned up after a half hour on the morning of our departure but we finally made our way for a six hour ride to the south west again (after just coming back up the same route from Ko Samet just the day before). The bus was full of other tourists from all sorts of other countries; I sat next to a mad pregnant Danish solo traveller who laughed very loudly at the antics of Adam Sandler in "Don't Mess With the Zohan" on the bus's drop down DVD player (which in itself was a weird experience). Still, we reached the island car ferry OK, and we successfully got installed in our resort cottage with a free upgrade to a "deluxe" apartment. Here's a link to our resort if you are ever thinking of coming this way http://www.seaviewkohchang.com/home/index.php.

It's all quite nice - the resort is west facing so the sunsets are pretty spectacular and the sea goes out for miles without getting past knee depth. The only big complaint is the same as every other beach resort with a swimming pool: despite the signs saying "don't reserve your sun bed" every tosser in Christendom gets up at 6 in the morning to put their towels over them. Yet another episode of Basil Fawltey Goes Apoplectic On Holiday, as you might imagine . . . Still, if the great homo sapiens family resort holiday isn't your style (a bloody great misnomer as their whinging screaming brats in and around the pool are anything but sapient!) then there is a little town full of bars and restaurants just down the hill. And seconds away just around the corner on the beach is a Robinson Crusoe-style beach bar and restaurant, complete with little wooden stairwells that go up to a second floor platform and sitting area. It also houses the most miserable Thai (or he could be Japanese) waiter we've ever come across. He doesn't like kids as well. Mind you, he didn't like us much either. Still, a third of a litre of Chang beer costs just 50 Baht (around a pound) and it's interesting that, amongst all the Thai hieroglyphs on the label, there are the characters "6.5%". Hmm. That's me sorted then, and the Caipirinha Queen has switched to Mai Tais.

Its all very peaceful after our recent travels. Now to get on with those 16 sci-fi books I dragged out here to read . . .

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PS: Sorry to hear you are at death's door, Steve. Does he really speak in capital letters? Anyway, hope you've had a beer before you've read this. And I am devastated to say it is still boiling hot here by the swimming pool. I am leaving England every winter from now on . . .