Reassuring insurance

Hello everyone!

Before leaving the UK, I spent just under 2 excruciating hours talking to a man – who was so slow I wouldn’t have employed him as a speed bump – sorting out 12 months of holiday insurance. The negotiations finally completed, there were only two things for which they would not cover us: playing polo and swimming with sharks. So when our chance came to swim with reef sharks off the coast of Koh Tao, I very hesitantly jumped into the water with that painful conversation fully at the front of my mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_reef_shark

There are many other dangerous past-times available on the Thai islands – mainly featuring more Sangsom buckets – should one be so inclined. One of which includes fire skipping, which, as it suggests, involves skipping a fiery rope on the beach, normally at an advanced stage of the evening… I managed 2 graceful leaps before landing face first, yet safe, in the sand. The fire shows at the beach bars were equally as incredible.

Back in Bangkok, we were accompanied by John Wragg, where the theme of danger continued… I was unable to decide who was more insane, the crocodile wrestlers in the zoo, or the competitors at the Muy Thai kickboxing matches we saw, which were possibly the most brutal fighters I have ever laid my eyes on.

Floating market

Incredibly, we also found time during the rest of the weekend – between beers and yet more deadly buckets – to fit in a trip to the ancient Chinese floating markets, an elephant show and a very eye opening trip to Pat Pong. However, we are now thankfully spending the final days in the capital recovering and waiting for our Indian visas to be processed before we can move back up into the jungle and on towards Laos…

Watch this space!

Ben

Fasten your seatbelt

Nope, not because your getting into a rental cal in Australia with moi behind the wheel. Because we’ve hit Bangkok – the city that never stops moving… or smiling. We initially stayed in the back-packing fleapit of Khao San Road, where the hedonism is palpable and Sangsom Buckets (Thai whisky, coke and illegal Thai Red Bull) are strong enough to kill and elephant. And Laura. And me actually.

I had my first of many Thai massages, and although the administration was agonising – my tiny but deceptively strong masseuse had me in some pins would make Legions of Doom cry – it was incredibly relaxing. At one point however, she did locate my weak spot – a shoulder still painful from a past dislocation – and hammered it relentlessly like a torturer that had found a soft spot in their victim. Alas, I didn’t know what information she wanted to get out of me, and had to tolerate the pain with a series of brave faced moans.

After some sightseeing, including the enormous Reclining Buddha at Wat Po, and some very lackadaisical partying, Lau did some further work to offset her moral footprint by working at a local school as a teacher’s assistant for a week (sorry God, I’ll make it up to you!), whilst I received some more parental hospitality in Phuket.

Reclining Buddha

We have now been reunited in Phuket, and plan to do some Thai island hopping* whilst recovering from being my parent’s private travel agent for 3 weeks. I will duck under the radar now after this one final thought – on the plane from Sydney, I realised that we’ve now been to the furthest place away from the UK, and although our current return is booked for late June, we are slowly now making our way home.

Lots of love

Bendy & Lau xxxx

*For an introduction on Thai beach culture, please see Danny Boyle’s The Beach http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beach-DVD-Leonardo-DiCaprio/dp/B00004WA65/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1235017848&sr=1-1