We departed Melbourne on an Airbus a330-202 sitting in seats 'c' and 'd'. The tickets we bought were the same prince as Thai Airways but were in up the front, in Jetstar class, ie business class.
While we were at the airport, I bought plug for the iPod. It turns out the seats have powerpoints so can I use my laptop on the way back and charge my iPod on the way there. Lunch— Chicken & plum sauce & a beer of course.
A330-202 is very smooth listended to ' Chillout Sessions 4' watched cars, a pixar short, an episode of South Park, the Scientology one very funny took the piss out Tom Cruise "come out of the closet Tom"Others included, a stupid short about Stewie from the family guy, and rap singers, dilbert shorts [sucked they had ads on the end], happy tree friends as well, [at least they were quirky.] Watched Bladerunner; so many references memory via photography in this movie, need to watch it again methinks.
LUNCH? Was a tad cold but dinner WAY too cold a meat pie should always be HOT, as well as smothered in sauce, and is always better with chunks of beef not just mince! Watched the movie Kenny. It was quite funny some good one liners, but I'm glad I didn't pay to see it.
When we finally hit Bankok we headed for our hotel, the Novotel at Bangkok airport. Awesome 5 stars all the way. Sadly wi-fi was not free, so no facbook or twitter from the room. I had a restless night in huge and good bed. Dunny was blocked! [Little did I know this was to become a pattern]
The next day we flew to Ko-Samui on an old turbo prop. It was a smooth flight with meat & salad for lunch.
We arrived at the resort and proceeded to get drunk by the pool; no twisting involved. We also ate yummy local food by the pool napped in the arvo but can't get wi-fi access—yet.
We went all out to acheive rock-star lifestyle while surrounded by fat White poms and pushy Aussie tourists. I really enjoyed the Chang [local] beer it is more than drinkable. Napped back in the room for the arvo, then dinner in the hotel. Borrowed a DVD couldn't get the player to work, didn't matter coz we are both ready to sleep by then. I got all the details for wi-fi. [Lookout Flickr & Facebook]. I spent most mornings online while Nik slept, she was on local time already, I was still on Melbourne time.
Tropical storm, noice, brekky in hotel. Oh, btw, another blocked dunny. A quick google reveals it is not uncommon. Which is a bit of a relief, I guess?
Took a walk outside the hotel, this made us freaks and the target of pimps for other hotels. Enlish speaking or not the experience still leaves a bad taste in our mouths Back at th hotel, we booked a 1 hour MASSAGE for tommorrow, I had mixed feelings about this, it is going to be my first. While we were out walking, kind of regeretting not bringing any serious hardware too. During our walk saw many photo ops. Napped again in the afternoon then hit the main drag of Koh Samui.
The main drag; what can you say; busy commercial & cheap. I bought a couple of shirts and a t-shirt, $22.00 in total pretty happy with that, wasn't THAT hard to haggle either. Ate at a little street bar very, very, very cheap about 1/4 the hotel prices! Brought a few cans of beer back to the resort even cheaper again, about a 10th of the hotel prices. Crashed when we got home.
Lazy morning; big traditional brekky, followed by nap, then a 1 hour massage which really only served to highlight how bad my shoulder really is. Now am convinced that I have some serious repair work needing to be done on my shoulder.
Watched a dumb chick flick 27 dresses, then hit the pool for some serious relaxing. Blocked dunny AGAIN even though I used absolutely the minimum of toot paper. Finally that night we went for a walk along the beach looking for somewhere to eat. Couldn't find anything decent so back to the hotel. I had fried prawns as a main we had fish cakes & chicken satay and an early night.
Travelling day today. Bacon & eggs for brekky, yum!. Ko Samui, has an International Airport! Which I guess says more about the rest of the world than Ko-Samui, you get driven to and from your aircraft in a funny open air bus.
Arrived in hotel room in Bangkok at 16:45! The traffic was insane! Shuttle bus from the airport took nearly 3 hours! Checked in & then wandered around, found a supermarket, within spitting distance of the hotel, it had 20 Baht beers wayhay!
We spent 12 hours shopping! Worse than New York; cheap though. $3.00 for a t-shirt! We encountered our first con man today, claimed to be a journalist and tried to convince us to go to a tailor and use his 'tuk tuk' to get there. This was the first of several encounters we were to have, with people claiming they wanted to help us. took the edge off the trip in many ways, sadly, but not uncomon apprently?
We booked a tour today, last minute from the hotel desk. Our bus is late, not suprised, or is it more about locals and their idea of time?
We were 1st ferried around town which included a series of pickups from other hotels, then we headed off on our actual toour.
Our tour took us to,
The floating market is; well a floating market, like the Victoria Market, but in boats. The Bridge over the river Kwai is like so many places in Thailand, stalls selling you stuff and some attractions to see. We spent some time in the museum there, we'd already stopped at the war cemeteryon the way there, and it seems we were the onlyones really interested?.
The Tiger Temple was interesting, a bit unorganised, we got there late in the day and didn't actually get time with the tigers, Nik did get to pat a cub though. Apprently according to the forums n the official site this is not uncommon, and because of te weather plans get changed at he last minute. We made it home safe, by 19:30, but what a day, we'd been out for 12 hours. We were the last to be dropped off and we had our driver for a few minutes to ourselves, it seems he works 7 days a week, all year round? Loved it all, especially the whole suburbs thing of Thailand. Really cool driver if a bit reckless. Despite the rain it was worth it!
Ate dinner on the tallest building in Bangkok, great view, great service, & great food.
Leisurely brekky then packed. We were unsure about how to get to the airport, so spent some time researching how to get there, in the end we decide on the bus.
Spent a few hours wandering around the grand palace, after breakfast. Got there via a boat, after again being accosted and asked if we needed help, then trying to con us into, using 'their' services. It wasn't the last time today, another guy posing as an aussie chatted to us, but didn't seem to insistent on offering us anything so it was ok even if we did walk the long way around. The palace, is indeed grand. And difficult to capture in a way that really does it justice. If I ever return I guess, I will take more/better gear, we'll see.
Our options to get to the airport were; Cheap shuttle bus, time, or haggle with a cab driver? In the end we took the bus option, fun as we had the whole bus to ourselves, and the driver took an extended break at a petrol station on the way, not sure why other than the obvious.
For anyone wondering about getting from Bankok to the airport, it's as easy and cheaper than getting to the city from the airport, so give it a go.