From: Bexxoliver@hotmail.com

Sent: 20 October 2004

Subject: Email 13, Thailand

Hi Everyone,

We have had a great time in Thailand and getting around is very easy and cheap!

We got a train from the Malaysian/Thailand border at Sungai Kolok to Hat Yai, a 5hour journey for only 42Baht (about 60p) each, however it did have its drawbacks, a story too long to tell now! We spent a few days in Hat Yai just relaxing, the only highlight here was a game of 10pin bowling, Andrew won on points, however Kathryn managed to get 3 strikes!

Our next destination in Thailand was the islands south of Krabi, the islands we stayed at were Koh Pee Pee, an ironic name as all it did was rain, however we did have one good morning of sun! Andrew added another scuba dive to his logbook, this time at night, a night dive for 45mins, 15 meters deep and navigation by torchlight. Andrew also went on a full day snorkeling trip around the islands while Kathryn went shopping.

We left Koh Pee Pee and headed to another island, called Koh Sumai which involved a full day traveling on 2 boats and a bus. We spent about 3 days here, again it rained lots! One morning the sun came out so we decided to hire a moped, however we got caught out as the monsoon started just after we had visited a temple called Big Buddha. We had to drive back to the hotel, which took 2hours in the rain and through flooded roads, it was a nightmare! We managed to see some other parts of the island, including a waterfall and some rock formations; Elephant Rock and Grandpa & Grandma Stones which look like male and female genitals! We stopped at Koh sumai shooting club and Andrew had target practice with 10 rounds from a 37 super pistol, Andrew hit the target with all 10 shots, 2 of which were near the bull!

We left Koh Sumai and traveled for an afternoon on boat and through the night on bus to Bangkok. We arrived at 6am and booked our place to stay on Koh San Road, the main road for tourists. We took a Tuk Tuk to visit some impressive Buddhist temples and stopped at a Thai tailor. Kath had a dress made to fit and Andrew had 2 suits made to fit with the best material, Italian silk! The next morning a day tour took us to the local floating market and from here we went to Rose Garden for a Thai cultural show followed by an elephant show.

Another overnight bus took us to north Thailand. We arrived in Chiang Mai after an 11hour journey and booked a 3day trek to start the following day. During the next 3days we trekked about 20km visiting tribal villages, one of which was called Lisu. This tribe originated from Tibet but settled in North Thailand about 80-100years ago. The highlight of our trekking was a 1.5hour elephant trek and the next day bamboo rafting over rapids for just over an hour. We returned to Chiang Mai to recover from our strenuous trekking and watched a few Thai kickboxing fights at the local outdoor stadium.

Tomorrow is our last day in Thailand. We have changed our Itinerary to now include Laos. We will spend about 1 week in Laos, We then go to Vietnam for 3weeks, Cambodia for a week and back to Bangkok for our flight to Hong Kong for a few days then our last flight, the return to England on 29th November!

We will update you again soon.

Love
Andrew & Kathryn
xx