The start of our trip was rather subdued. We have gotten so used to travelling during our holidays that it felt like a normal trip, just with bigger backpacks! Will had managed to get his down to 16kg, but Sam’s was a heafty 20kg….and neither of those included a few extra kilos in the day packs. Some serious sorting was done after we finally got to Koh Chang!
After a mix up in communications led us to try and take a pocket knife on the plane (which was sent separately after a fantastic girl-crying routine from Sam) we got to Bangkok. After searching for our hostel for about 30 minutes with the aforementioned backpacks on in 35 degree heat, we gave in and got a tuktuk to the hostel. What a dive. We had chosen the cheapest we could find as we were only there for a night, and it certainly felt cheap. After dumping our packs we went for a short explore, and ended up at an eatery on the side of the road. We had forgotten the joy of walking up to someone, making the international “2 main courses and a large beer please” signs. Out came stir fried veges with pork, and a seafood red curry complete with steamed rice. Delicious! After 2 more large beers and an extra helping of stir fried veges we retired back to our hole/room to repack and attempt to sleep.
The minibus/ferry to Koh Chang was uneventful, save for marveling at the streets of Bangkok in rush hour and being a tad smelly as water in the hostel did not operate between midnight and 8am for some stupid reason. We checked into our spacious, air conditioned room and went out for dinner and beers. Chicken and cashew nuts and sweet and sour pork…YUM!! We love Korean food, but did get tired of every meal tasting the same.
The next two days were uneventful with several trips to the beach, a lot of beer, and delicious food had in abundance. But the fourth day… Oh dear. We are not sure what it was, but whatever it was that we ate made us very very sick. We spent the whole night before, and whole day afterwards somewhere between the bed and the toilet. Not quite what we had in mind when we said we wanted a week of doing nothing to start our trip! But these things happen, and we were very glad for our large medical bag full of supplies for just such an occasion.
After 24 hours we had kicked the bug, and went off the next morning to do some elephant trekking. A very strange and lumbering experience…the strength in the 25 year old elephants’ legs felt immense, and she had no trouble carrying us and our guide along the trail. She was also very cheeky and stopped every few minutes for a feed, much to the guides annoyance and our joy! A massage and leisurely swim followed to cap off a great day.
Tomorrow we head off to Bangkok to properly start our travels, fully refreshed and ready to go. We can’t wait!
2 Travelling Kiwis 
I am going to try and send a message to see if we can get through.
Glad you are over the bug, hopefully that is the last one you get.
We are cooking in 30 degree temperatures here, its hot enough that even I want to swim, so we take shade breaks with a book on the lower deck.
It is nice to feel we don’t have to do anything we can just relax.
Take care,
Love u heaps
Lynne