Beard's on Tour: November 2011

Sawad Dee Krab,

We are in Krabi in Southern Thailand.

Saturday November 19

Our last full day in Siem Reap.. We just had a quiteish one around town.. In the evening
we went just had food at the hotel. Then We just chilled in the room so Lee could watch
Norwich v Arsenal (bloody gooners won).. Then just an early night

Sunday November 20

Yey we were finally moving on.. Don't get me wrong we had a great time at the place but 9
days is more than long enough.. In the morning we got up for brekky and then me and Lucy
went down to the old market to get some new rucksacks.. We got some fake North Face ones and Lee managed to barter then down to 20 Dollars for both. At 1pm we were picked up for the
short ride to the airport.

The airport in Siem Reap was very small but nice.. We checked in for a flight and then
ate some food.. We found a christmas tree (random) and then boarded. The flights was short
but sweet (55 mins) and once we got through customs there was someone waiting for us to
drive us to the hotel. We got there just before 6 and then met up with the next tour group.

We are touring with Kumuka (who we toured Europe with). There are 10 of us in the group and
everyone seems nice.. As we were staying so far from the centre of town we had to eat in the
hotel that night..

Monday November 21

We were up and out by 8am to go and visit the Grand Palace and WatPo temple.. Though we saw these last month we decided to go again as it beat sitting around in the hotel all day. The
weather was scorching.

We got back to the hotel in the afternoon and left at 4am to go to the temporary bus station
(shut because of flooding) for the overnight bus to Surat Thani. It took us the best part of
2 hours to get to the bus station we left our bags at a makeshift luggage drop (see pic below)
and then went for some food.

Our bus left at 8.30pm and was a sleeper bus.. We grabbed the front seat so we would get plenty of leg room

Tuesday November 22

We got into Surat Thani at 5.30am and had some breakfast at a cafe near the train station. Then we jumped into minibuses for the 2.5 hours trip to Khaosok National Park. We got there about 9am. We were literally staying in the middle of the jungle in lodges. The accomadation was very rustic and we were warned not to leave windows open incase monkeys come into the room, crikey!!!

We had a few hours to freshen up and then met for lunch.. We had all meals included in our stay and the food was good. After lunch we all jumped into a Songthaew to go elephant trekking.. yey..

When we got there we had to wait about 45 mins but we had a coffee and then got on the elephant. Ours was 30 years old and we trekked for a whole hour which was amazing..

In the evening we all met up for dinner and then grabbed an early night.

Wednesday November 23

Today we went on a 3 hour trek to a waterfall through the National Park.. After lunch in the afternoon we went canoeing which was good fun.. We just sat in the canoe and someone else rowed.. Thankfully they had life jackets for Lee lol!!!

In the evening we had our final group meal and headed for bed about 10pm as the next day we were off to Krabi.

Thursday November 24 - Saturday November 26

We left the resort at 9am for the drive to Krabi.. We for here about 11.30am. We are staying at near Aonang beach at a placed called success resort. We have a lovely room with a balcony and the weather has been scorchio.

Fair to say we have had a cruisey couple of days here. We have been walked into town a couple of times. We had a nice meal at a restuarant called A-one last night with Jane. Fair to say we are both looking forward to coming home. Lee has been bitten that many times you could play a game of join the dot on his legs!!!

We move on tomorrow to Penang in Malaysia..

Hope everyone is well

Lots of Love
Lee and Lucy xxxx

Khaosok National Park Pics