An oldie, but a goodie....

I just came across this email and thought I would put it up.....more new stuff is coming out this week....Happy New Year! xxx

"Thailand......and the Krong Thips!!" (end of July 05)

Hi all,

I know that I am now quite useless at emailing....I really don't know what happened!! hehehe.....and it's odd considering how much time I spend on the computer.......

Anyhoo, I just got back from about 9 days in Thailand.....unfortunately I am working extra hours this month so it was a shock to the system coming back. I think the whole getting up early thing is not fun at all, but what are you going to do? Turn down the money? Oh, no thanks, I would rather sleep than make a ridiculous amount teaching 1 child!! hehehe I don't think so!!
Luckily I am not working late nights anymore, so that makes it a lot better. Unfortunately my school has a wonderful new rule that noone can park in the parking lot. Hmmm, but what is a parking lot for, you may ask yourself.....nothing apparently. It stands there empty from 10-3. So I am now without free parking, which make bringing a car almost inconvenient....almost (it is still a lot cheaper and easier than my other options, especially time wise). So I am now all sorted to park at a local apartment complex for free......this took a while and lots of Korean translation....it takes a while to sort out the simplest things over here, things which don't really make sense in the first place.

Aaah right, Thailand...had to get that parking stuff out and vented!! heheeheh. I went to Bangkok after work on the 22nd July. There were 5 of us from school in the taxi van, and the poor guy (who made us listen to a CD of oldies like "I just called to say I love you", and other classics.....) was having a hard time with us. We got stuck in really bad traffic and we decided that we would go a lot faster if we drove....not happening....but we made it to the airport 30 mins before takeoff.....there was a bit of stress on the way, some people (cough....Rhi....cough) were sure that we wouldn't make it, and almost gave themselves a heart attack!! heheh.

So we arrived, and so did our luggage which was a relief! We changed some money and took off to our hotel. We stayed in Sukhumvit (for those in the know), and we had a fairly nice room, with interesting lighting and two large beds. Good enough! On Saturday morning we had our complimentary breakfast and headed to the Chatachuck market. One of the largest in the world. It's apparently about 300 acres, but I definitely didn't see that much. It's also a bit of a maze. We wandered around there for about 4 hours and bought lots of little things. The fact that we were heading to Koh Samui the next day stopped us on any serious purchases.....

After the market we went back to the hotel for a nap. And I realise now that I should specify the "we"...ooops, I went with Rhiannon and Meaghen Doherty, who are sisters from Cape Breton, Canada. I work with both of them. That night we headed to KoSahn road for dinner (Thai), and some more shopping......then we checked out the local expat pub for a "couple of beers".....so we got home at 5am!! heheheh.....anyhoo, we crawled out of bed the next day, had a swim in the hotel pool, then caught a plane to Koh Samui.

When we got there we were amazed at the airport....all open, no walled buildings....it was wicked....we tried to find a hotel to stay in for just that night, so we could find a different one the next day. We stayed in Chaweng Resort. Chaweng was the beach that we were staying at. Very nice, quite loud on the main street. All the cabs that drive past constantly beep at you to get your attention. It gets really irritating after about, oh, 3 minutes!! The beach itself is really beautiful, sandy and clean. When you are lying at the beach you don't need to get up for much....all the vendors come along carrying their "store" with them....ice creams, beach balls, jewellery, sarongs etc....

The day after Chaweng resort we moved to Charlies Huts. Where we got a lovely little bungalow (closest to the beach and the restaurant in a long row of them), with air conditioning and two good sized beds, and no hot water!! We didn't need hot water anyway, it was warm there to say the least!! We were also right next to the massage area, where there was a platform with a roof, and 4 beds with a bunch of lovely ladies who would give you massages for outrageously cheap prices! We loved it!! I think that while I was there I had 2 full body oil massages, a thai massage, and a foot and reflexology massage....when I left I was quite relaxed. Unfortunately the trip back was a long day and I had work the next day, so that happy relaxed feeling is all gone....ooh soo sad!!

I was trying to write this chronologically, but I keep sidetracking, sorry...I hope this makes sense!! While we were in Samui, we were joined for a few days by a friend of the girls. Andy Rocks, from NZ (Blenhiem actually). He is a good guy, lots of fun. And a tad odd....hehehe. We all rented scooters for a couple of days, and drove ourselves around the island a bit. We went out to the elephants, and had a ride. What an experience!! The guys that "drive" the elephants were nuts, and they made dirty jokes, tried to make us say rude things in Thai, and cackled madly the whole time. They have trained the elephants to put their trunks under peoples bums, poke them, and shoot water at everyone....nice!!

We went to see the "Grandfather Rock", which is shaped like an upstanding penis....only in Asia, I swear!! hehehe. We had dinner at Lamai beach one night, which is the next beach over. Not as nice as Chaweng, but still lovely. The views from up on the hills in the island are spectacular! Which you will see in the photos to come......(stay tuned).....

Also while we were there we went on a day trip to Angthong Marine National Park. Which meant getting up early and taking a large speed boat over to the group of islands. Not the smoothest trip, on a large speedboat, which basically smacked all the oncoming waves as hard as it could. It was quite jarring. (Did I mention that we had been checking out the Samui nightlife the night before until 430am?? No, aaah, yes, well getting up at 7 didn't feel great!!) We stopped off at a different bunch of islands, to snorkel in a bay. Ok, I thought when we got there....not too bad. It was clean and when we put some bread in the water the fish swarmed around, lots of them. By the time we got in the water there were 6 other boats in this small bay. And they obviously didn't warn people about touching the coral. I was disappointed by the snorkeling, but it is hard to match the Barrier Reef in Australia. Then we went on to another bay where there was a walk up to a lake which is in the middle of the island. After that we went to another island where we had a big buffet lunch of Thai food. It was really good. And then the girls chilled and I went kayaking with the group. I was in a kayak with an Irish guy who had spent about a year in NZ. Interesting fellow....As we rounded the island we hit a head wind and decided that we had seen enough. Actually when we got back to the beach there was quite a storm heading our way...we all got rushed back into the boat to see if we could race the weather back.....we pretty much made it too....apart from a few extra waves and some more spray on the boat. No worries.

Aaah one thing I almost forgot about that day....when Meaghen was lying on the beach, sleeping, a snake fell out of a tree on her stomach....when I got back to the beach she was standing there trying to see where it went. She said she became aware of something tickling her, and opened her eyes to see a couple watching her. Then she saw the snake a jumped up screaming....unfortunately her bikini top was undone so it was quite a show...heheheeh, poor Meg!!

If you were wondering what the deal is with the title of this email, here is the story.......we were sitting at lunch at the marine park and there was a menu for drinks and some chocolate bars, and we saw "Krong Thip".....hmmm, what could they be? Probably some food. I asked Rhi and she tried to pretend that she knew and told me they are delicious....uh huh....so we asked Meg if she wanted some for dessert, as we were thinking about having some.....that didn't work. We asked someone, but they didn't know (note for the future, ask a Thai tour guide and not the Malaysian!!)....so after days of jokes about Krong Thips, we were at Bangkok airport on our way home when Meg found some Krong Thips!! And of all things, cigarettes, how boring.....but fun was had by all!! hehehehehe

I think that is about it......this is quite long now....and I am tired of typing....heheh!! Take care all,
Much love,
Anna xxxxxx