Sawat dee kaa from Bangkok

In the last 15 hours we have been on a boat, bus and overnight train from the tiny island of Koh Tao on the eastern side of the southern peninsula and back to Bangkok. You'd think that arriving at 4:30am the town would be asleep, but when they say the Thais wake up early they are not kidding. That's me in my bunk on the train. We slept with our bags at our feet and a curtain to offer a slight bit of privacy in a room of 30 other people. Surprisingly, there were no bugs, animals or stink and the sheets were fresh (or so it seemed)! Just a layer of dirt on things which I've come to accept as a SE Asia way of life. Though a rat did greet me in the train station. We opted for coffee.

The local city bus doesn't quite stop to pick customers up so you sort of have to time it right to jump on as its rolling forward. Along the damp street, Buddhist monks are dressed in pumpkin orange robes and bare feet as a constant reminder of the importance of letting go representing their detachment from the physical world. Vendors receive deliveries of fresh vegetables and flowers in palm leaf woven baskets and sell everything from fried crickets to dentures to brass charms with a photo of the king. Smells of BBQ, fresh flowers, moth balls and exhaust sporatically fill the air with sounds of motorized engines, honks and Thai music. Giant photos of the king and tangled power lines are ubiquitous. Tuk tuk (3 wheeled taxis) drivers call out to tourists trying to give them a lift to their hotel (they are mostly scammers, don't do it!). A mess of Thai characters are sprinkled about with the occassional English words. The little Thai we have picked up has been a grave help.

Comparatively, Koh Tao Island is very westernized. We spent most of our five days on a boat and scuba diving (we saw a black tipped reef shark!!!) as well as swimming, snorkeling and reading books on the beach. Pad Thai and fried rice were daily meals, along with delicious fresh fish caught right off the island. We rented an ATV one day to explore the 21 square km island and found loads of dirt roads with deep crevasses that dropped off vertically. With little tread on the tires we slid out a bit and certainly got the adrenaline pumping! Today we shop in Bangkok, get visas for Laos and Cambodia and head out on another overnight train to Chiang Mai.