Disco' in the Far East

Hello there from Changmai! We got here in 1 piece although, as is always the way with us we made it hard work, but to be fair it wasnt totally our fault this time what can you do when the airline delays your flight for an hour.

Before we talk about that though both of us realised that we did not mention anything about the Kings 60th anniversary of his sucession to the throne, witch is pretty bad because it is not like you could miss it. It was everywhere. Fortunately we were in Bangkok for it which was very lucky because if we had gotten our own way we would have been in Phuket and we would have missed the whole thing.

The actual finale of the 5 day event was the night before we left and it was incredible, everywhere was a sea of yellow (the colour associated with his regime) and I do mean everywhere. People ranging from little 5 yer old kids to teenagers all the way up to their grandparents were wearing these bright yellow t-shirts and waving the Thai national flag. It seemed as though the main festivities were taking place on the main road that runs through the center of Bangkok. We were on Khao San road when we noticed alot of people making their way to the main road. By the time we got there the crowd was already 5 deep from the kirb but seeing as the average height of a Thai person is 5'8" I had no trouble seeing over the crowd to see what was going on. I did even think about offring my services as a high chair at 20 Baht a go but thought better of it! All that seemed to be happening was a constant flow of cars that had dignatries from various countries waving at the crowd, and with each wave the passing car got a cheer from the crowd. Then after a while the big one came. In a realatively plane looking Mercedes S class the King arrived and the whole place errupted. People where blowing whistles, shouting and waving, just generally going absoultely mental for their Monarch.

Then as soon as it started it stopped. This was single handedly one of the most surreal things that as ever happened to either of us. There were people crying, properly sobbing because they had just caught a fleeting glance of their King. You just don't have that kind of love for the royal family at home, or respect.

So for now we are in Chiang Mai, and will update soon.

Just thought we would inform you all that Rach has done all the technological stuff and put some more photos on the computer. She is so smart. If you follow the link from our other entry you will be able to see them you lucky, lucky people.

Rach would also like to point out that she knows that they are all in mumbo jumbo order and it is not her fault and that she is just as unhappy about it as you. I however think that she is lazy and could change it if she wants to. See you soon!

As I write this we are just killing some time before we make the journey to the airport and head up to Chang Mai for the penultimate leg of our tour of Thailand.

We have been a bit lazy since we have been in Koh Samui because the island is soooo lovely the people have been extra specialy nice and the weather (with the exception of last night) has been really good to us.

I suppose I had better bring you up to speed on what we have been doing since our soaking on the kayaking trip. Well the night we left Krabi we got talking to a couple from New Zealand called Terry and Amy, who incidentally were half cut having jus come back from the bar down the road, and we discovered that Terry was actually from the same neck of the woods as me albeit jus down the road in Bishops Waltham. We also found out that he was best mates with the guy that used to live next door to me as well as the a chap on my football team. What an unbelievably small world eh? Even half way around the world and I still can’t get away from the 'Ford!

The morning we left we decided to name the adorable kitten that had been hanging around the bungalows since our arrival, Rooney. An original name I know but I just thought the irony of it was too much.

The trip its self was a right performance. To take us to the bus stop we had the most suicidal driver we have had so far, who seemed intent on getting us there in record time. We however just wanted to get there. We got there.... just in one piece but we then had to wait for nearly 2 hours for the bus to come with the rain hammering down and the lady, who owned the travel agents/ hostel/ shop that we were waiting in, saying "The bus be here in 5 minutes." Then when the bus finally did come it was full. But never fear when there is a will there is a way, to save our legs from standing the whole 3 hours it was to the ferry port, the driver and his mate broke out "the emergency chairs" although to call them chairs would do them a great service. They were little plastic stools and they were as comfortable as sand in your crutch. At this point however we did not care we just wanted to get there. The journey itself was pretty uneventful, we just had the annoyance of the posh British girls behind us asking each other silly immature questions and the block headed American guy who couldn't decide if he wanted his chair up or down, each time smacking my knee as it came down.

When we came to the ferry port, I especially was very cranky and when we discovered that one of our bags was soaked I had a little rant to myself which didn't really help matters, but I eventually got over it and we had a little wait for the ferry to come in and then we hopped aboard. All in all it took about an hour and a half to get to Koh Samui and when we got there we jumped on another mini bus with two Swiss, a family of French and two Irish guys. The Swiss were in the first mini bus with us and we were making idle chat with them when one of them asked me weather or not if I thought the French football team would go through to the second round of the world cup. I of course gave the standard Englishman’s response to this question of "I hope not there are all too arrogant and I hope this teaches them a lesson." I didn't realize that the family in front and behind us was French.

Since that exciting first day we have done the usual shopping, swimming and sleeping. We have really enjoyed our time on Koh Samui. Watching the Muay Thai kickboxing was a great deal of fun. Rach came out with quote of the holiday so far when she said "Don't do that you will hurt him" after watching one of the fighters ankle kick his opponent. That’s kind of the point my love. For the record he did hurt him just after that dislocating his ankle shortly afterwards.

We are now on our way to the airport. Rach is being very brave at the moment and is facing up to the fact that she is going on an airplane. We saw one fly overhead yesterday that had propellers, and I had to reassure her that was not our plane because it flew over at the wrong time. I don’t think she bought it.

See you in Chang Mai!