16 May 2006

Hello everybody, you all thought there were to be no more emails as I have
gone all quiet on you all.

Unlucky.

A few things for you to consider, I am visiting the following this year
currently - Spain, Ecuador, New Zealand and New York. Each one an adventure
and each one demanding critical opinion on my tales in each of those
locations so the letters will just keep coming.

Actually I am at home, in mothers house in the UK but we will get to that at
the end of the email and to be fair I have not really typed much in the past
week or so, so I feel this needs to be really really long HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA!!

Some quick hellos......... Hi Mandy and Chunks and Hi to all the Girls at La
Strada Coffee Emporium who finally have received all my many many pages of
tales of the unexpected.

So where did I get to, let me think, oh yes snorkelling off Koh Chang for
the day and then it was the Saturday.

Getting up rather late as normal and again strapped for cash we headed up to
the little village the other side of Tree House and finally realised that
really I should not be out in the sun at midday as it is far to bright and I
will end up like that poor little girl on the Soltan advert but at least i
have a tan and thats good enough for me. Still we ended up in the guitar bar
and ordered usual club sandwiches and fruit shake. The food was very good
until Vicky realised she had red ants coming out of the lettuce which was
not too pleasant I guess, although protein is always good for you in any
form it can come in. So we left and staggered around in the heat, finally
settling down by the pool and a little bit of swimming and some lounging
around was definately in order. In the evening we settled down at Tree House
and watched the sun go down and I must say it was again a most delightful
over whelming experience (although I forgot the camera) the sunset was
heavenly, helped by Singha beer and a few gins. We ate at nature rocks and
got veryvery drunk and their was a TV crew filming some stuff so the guys
who ran it made no attempt to improve the service and carried on as normal
running around flirting with the girls and boys and getting things there or
there about right. I ordered BBQ mackeral and a Pork chop which came on 2
separate plates as 2 separate meals which was nice . The gin flowed
extremely well and eventually we got onto Samsung Buckets and getting rather
pissed and lethargic vicky made me a straw pipe line from my mouth to the
bucket so I did not have to move my head, rather just suck and the samsung
flowed. Hoo Ray!!
It started to rain about 11pm and everyone headed into the the Nature Rocks
Bar to see the end of the best fire show I had seen in Thailand. There were
3 people all swinging, throwing and generally thwirling the fire sticks
around and it was trully impressive. Still it rained so the disco started up
and the cheesey euro music got worse and worse and so by 1am I had heard
enough, finished the bucket and went back for some rest.
Sunday was a bad day for me, to be fair, I had a day sculking and throwing
tantrums as I realised I was on my home in a few days and that I did not
want to go home. I packed rather moodily and generally was no company for
the majority of the day, in fact Sundays journal was half a page!! normally
they are between 2 and 3 pages and so it was not a good day. I never slept
that night either as I knew I was off to Bangkok (oh joy) and so my Ipod and
I spent until 4am together in harmony.
Up at 7 fully tired but with a clear mind and all the black clouds had gone
away and I was now looking forward to coming back to the UK as it was just a
stepping stone to go on to somewhere else and also that I had finally
realised that it would be great to see everyone and that I had actually
missed some of you buggers and you know who are, in fact I have missed you
all, and I apologise for this even the girls in la strada that refuse to let
me pay in notes when they know I have change that I dont want to give them
(just you wait!!!!!!!!) still rambling on.
Our Taxi van thing was booked and we got on at 8.45 and had a journey to the
pier which was exactly like the one from the pier so that was fun, except
that we stopped for 15 minutes not knowing why and then the hotel van
appeared and the receptionist got out and gave a very embarrased passenger
with us her make up bag and phone so that was great servie and they did not
even tip her, the miserable gits.
The ferry was just as yawnful as the trip over except the sun was shining
and the views were better so that helped.
We were dropped at TRAT internation airport (no really) 2 hours ish early so
that was fun. There is absolutely nothing to do and they were not letting
anyone into the departures for the next hour so I wandered about taking
photos (as seen on ringo) and staring at the pineapple fields and that was
good as I learnt something about how they grow. And why you all groan fancy
not knowing that, well I never and how many of you have seen wild pineapple
bushes anyway and I liked it so there!.
Going through to departures (you could literally climb over the small shrub
bushes between arrivals and departures) there was free food, drink and email
and all good except the email was so slow I thought I had stepped back to
dial up!!
The flight was a little bumpy but then all prop plane flights in my
experience but we landed safely and got our bags and headed for the taxi
rank. Got a taxi to Bangkok and arrived 40 mins later at the Twin Tower
Hotel.

Oh my god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We arrived, hot sweaty, big hair (me) and found ourselves at a hotel of pure
luxury, our rucksacks were taken from us as we got out of the taxi, some man
opened the door to the lobby for us onlt for another man to show us to the
reception desk where 2 girls helped check in then showed us to the lift
where another girl got us a lift and pressed the floor button for us. Whats
that all about.
We got to the 11th floor or as the sign said the superior rooms and went
into our small flat. With separate changing/dressing area, big bath, queen
size bed, tv, fridge, kimonos, 15tv channels, free fruit, slippers, towels
etc etc oh and views of the pool, the skyline and the railway carriage sheds
outside the main railway station.
Then the porter arrived with the bags, showed us where everything was and
then left. Christ how smart is that me son, all for £25 a night B&B. Why so
cheap for such a luxury hotel which was either 4 or 5 star, well the answer
my friend is WOTIF.COM a very good discount website for global hotels,
remember it, it might be useful to you one day.

Right time to explore the city

First tuk tuk, 40 baht great until wanted me to visit a shop, so I said no
and all of a sudden it was 80 baht, so out we get and get another one, ace,
same 40 baht and so we went to MBK, 8 floors of Thais finest tat, shops,
bargains and mobile phones plus 4 or more cinema screens, 20 restaurants,
online gaming rooms, arcades and a hotel and car park. This place was
massive, bigger, nosiey and busier than the ones I saw in Kuala lumpur.
There was a whole floor just for mobile phones and accessories.
Needed western food as ko chang was rice this and bbq that so Mcd's was
called for. The Thai Mcd is still the best in the world I have seen so far
and I have one in every country i have visited so I know very little about
that.
We then went next door to the posh mall. the siam complex, you know habitat,
real fashion labels, sony cameras etc and then promptly left. I wanted to go
to the river so we jumped on the skytrain and got to the river. Getting
there i decided that tomorrow was the day to do the river, jumped back on
the sky train and went back to MBK, all for the cost of 1 pound!
I wanted to visit the famous night market in bangkok and new tonight was the
only night I would really do it. So i hailed a tuk tuk and eventually got
him to understand where i wanted to go and it seemed all ok for 100 baht as
it was quite a way. As soon as we get going which to be fair was a while as
the traffic never seems to go anywhere in bangkok he wanted me to visit a
shop near an esso garage. 30 mins later I was shouting no, get me to the
market and thats all i want. This seemed to piss him right off so at speed
now and not so careful we hurtled through the traffic and got to the market
(so he said) and he then wantd 120 baht, 100 baht later we left him. There
was a pub there called oreillys, yes an irish pub. I needed drink as this
driver was a pain in the arse and so I had a guiness, which was ok and then
back on gin. About an hour later we decided to go through the market and get
the bits we needed and head back.
Well we were not at the famous china town market, there were stalls and I
got some great deals on sillk bed spreads, belts, shorts and other assorted
crap but more interesting was the desire by the thai men and girls to lure
me into one of many many ping pong, live pussy shows. They did this vocally
and also with a menu picturing girls in all sorts of posistions with all
manner of things written and pictured next/in them. Regrettably I said no
and possibly quite wisely so as I am sure I was to be ripped off somewhere
in one of these places.

The taxt journey back to the hotel was not easy either, some one wanted 350
baht no meter to go to a hotel he had no idea where it was, the next one 100
baht and got back in one piece. Stan my friend Bangkok has not improved
since my last encounter here and so I still dont like the place.

Waking the next morning to a lovely brown layer of cloud over the city
(smog) we hung around the hotel until midday. Looking through the rough
guide I discovered if we got to the railway station, we could catch the
underground to the sky train and then get the sky train to where ever and
more importantly the river.
So me and vicky set off on this route and we were not hassled or distracted
by tuk tuk or taxi and found it a most pleasant experience getting through
the city to where we needed to get to.
The river cuts through the city and it is full of fish, barges, boats,
homes, tourists. We got the 100 baht all you can travel ticket and got on
the boat and settled down for a nice cruise up and down the river. I sat on
the left so I could take photos of what we saw going up and down without
changing sides. So what happens, yes my old mate Will from Singapore arrives
and he is in Bangkok for 2 days then off to the full moon party so I spend
all my time talking to him and took very few good or interesting photos.
Still its great to see him and catch up with things so that was cool.
The rest of the boat trip was good and we got back off where we started. I
never made enough time to do the palace (250 baht to get in) or see any
temples or anything except shops and malls and a few bars and I guess if I
really had tried harder and christ why should I then I would have seen more.
We got back to the hotel and there was a sign saying Buy one get free on all
spirits in the lounge bar, so a veryvery quick shower and there we were on
the gin and on the malibu fantastic. My final evening was spent with Vicky
and we had a lovely meal in the restaurant and drank a bit and it was a
great way to end what was 51 days of pure pleasure.

The next morning we got a taxi at 8am and got to the airport and queued for
a seat to go home. I managed to get emergency exit seats so that was cool.
The weather was on the change and as we sat waiting to board the flight the
thunder sturck up and the lighting struck the runway and all the flights
were grounded for about 30 mins as the storm passed.
The flight home was fantastic with lots of food (my favourite stuff to eat)
lots of drink (again and it was gin) and 3 films all cheesy and a man called
tony (not my famous travelling companion) but another tony, pissed and funny
and very loud. He tried to talk thai the stewardesses, got up every hour for
more free drinks (12 hour flight) pushed and pulled people out of the way to
watch films and generally made himself knon but he was harmless and it made
the long flight just as long but a little more relaxing

Then we landed. That was that, the end of Thailand, the end of What your
name, where you from, where you go, the end of Smiley people, the end of the
heat (for now) the end of tuk tuks, the end of the beginning of my
adventures around the world.

But what a beginning eh? Not sure if you noticed but I had some serious fun
you know, big time drink, amazing experiences some out of this world,
laughes, songs, bites abd burns but every day was the best day but better in
some way.

So I go now (where you gooooooo) and I concentrate my efforts with spain
this weekend and then to ecuador in June. I am still planning morocco and
August looks exciting.

So far since being home I have been to Chippenham, bath, trowbridge, Frome,
Warminster, Chicago rock, Oneils, a top BBQ, stayed in 3 different places
(still counting see) rejoined the gym, caught up with a lot of dear good
friends and off to see my fav bestest one on thursday and am still in
thailand in my thoughts and dreams.

I leave you in peace for a while while I catch up with the bills and start
to enjoy the rest of the world. The letters continue dont fret

Finally a big Khwap Khun to everyone and I look forward to catching you all
again soon

Sawadee kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Luke

Ps Tony wanted me to do a conclusion to my travel well I dont think I can.
Ask me and see my smile theres my conclusion, if I say it was F**KIN ACE
there you have it!

My highlights were though just for reference

Songkran
Seeing Tony at Kho Samui Airport
Wan
Will
Swimming with elephants
Bamboo rafting
Ko Pha Nang
Gheckos
JCB digger
My first long boat ride
Carlsberg Sky Tower
Sending out the letters from the moon
Samsung
Reagge Bar Ko Tao
Massage (hallo massage)
Carole the french girl
Getting on the plane at heathrow
Being adopted
Snorkelling with vicky
travelling with vicky
Meeting some wonderful people in pai, chang, ko tao (you know who you are)
Being happy

The Lows

Longnecks
Train from Chang to Bangkok
Breaking Camera
Tony and the gang going
Bangkok


and my final thoughts (honest!!!)

Cant you see, Lifes easy, if you consider things from another point of view
In another way from another point of view

I see light and lights, all the colours of the world so beautiful, wont you
come with me

In another way from another point of view

PPS

Chunky Not sure about aids, what about live yoghurt (sorry mum)

XXX