Exiled!

Well, our last night in  Bangkok was the usual eclectic mix of drink, discussion, food (Tapas in this case), more drink, more lively discussion, petulant argument (me, of course; told you the dreamy Dave wouldn't last), more drink and bed. Believe it or not,  the Lampens did make it up in time to get the 8 o'clock bus out from Ekkamai, tippy-toeing out from Chez Cavs so as not to wake our weary hosts up (do you think they're getting fed up with the latest infestation yet?).

More surprisingly yet, the whole manoeuvre down to Ban Phe was painless. The bus was just a little late which, to be honest, is why we managed to catch it. It was roomy and air conditioned; unlike their Vietnamese knee-crushing counterparts. The four hour journey was interesting; outer Bangkok Japanese investment areas (plant like Komatsu, for example) giving way to acres of rubber trees and pineapple plantations. In Ban Phe, a quick walk from the bus station got us to Nuantip Pier where we boarded an over-stuffed, under-life-vested, chugging and wheezing ferry to take us to the brand new Samed Port Pier (capitals required!). They are very proud of their pier as, up 'til now, our total costs to get this far was about 5 quid each. Then there is an additional 200 Baht (around £4) payable before you get on the ferry for entering the "national park". And now there is a mandatory 10 Baht "passenger tax" designed to annoy people like me rather than pay for the new Pier, methinks. So  annoyed was i that I refused to pay the 100 Baht taxi fare to our resort and as a result made Linda walk through a soggy dirt road for a half hour (it seems to have tipped down in the last 24 hours!), both of us sweating rotten, in order to get us to the Samet Villa. Luckily, they were expecting us, which was good as I had forgotten to print the e-mails!!!

So here we are with all the other imaginary exiles on this island. People of every size, age, weight, colour, origin, gender and preference (!) you can imagine. Plus dogs and cats and puppies and lizards and squirrels and some strange mutants that are part human and part crane. Its a bit less of a beach as I described in Hoi An where you can walk the length admiring the beautiful young things. Maybe more of a zoo. A large 40 Ml bottle of Chang @ six.4% (sorry, the keyboard's knackered) will break you for £2; a meal for just over a quid (except fish, which seems to go for around £7). Weather's slightly overcast and looks to remain for the next week, but there's still enough UV coming through. And, as I have said, it's hot and sweaty but our sea-facing room has air-con and a fan and now a bottle of Bacardi which cost us £13 in a local's supermarket in a back street.

And that's it. After all the running around of the last month we are now sitting by the beach with our books looking for unusual wildlife.  No doubt things will pick up when the Cavs arrive in a few days' time.