From Ranong we decided to go out to one of the local thai islands away from the maddening crowd and had one of many random experiences to date which are just the best when it comes to travelling.... after over sleeping and missing the first boat we headed into town and a random thai guy (who we think called himself 'Ron' but I expect not!) came up and tried to encourage us to join him on the island of Kho Chang and offered to take us to the pier by his car....



We thought why not and then saw his car.. it was more of a broken down car/truck/delboy van which we shared with gas, potatoes etc.. and bounced along the road, totally mad but fun!




'Ron' then decided to do his shopping and after a few stops a policeman came over to check we were ok, I think he thought we had been kidnapped, all very funny!

 


We then got a long tailed local boat to the island and after many stops to drop beer, ice blocks and food to the locals wading into the water, we arrived at our destination..'Crocodile Rock' but with no crocodiles thank god!



It was PERFECT, we had a bamboo hut slightly in the rocks which overlooked the entire bay which consisted of turquoise sea and white sand... We felt like we were living in Rons home with his family and it was great, the furniture reminded me so much of something out of the Flinstones!!!





We decided to do abit of exploring and took a walk along the beach to which we managed to attract a local scruffy dog (just like Emmie mum!!) who decided he was taking us for a walk and showed us round the island much to our amusement!!! When he decided to do a route we were unsure of we carried on and he kept looking at us to say' this is the way back idiot!' but we carried on, so wrong were we as the dog was totally right!!

We then passed the local 'bakery!' and had a rottweiler join us who wouldn't leave us alone for about two hours!!! All the thai people were trying to get 'Ping Pong' (as he was called) to leave us and go home but he insisted not too!




Then we hiked to the other side of the island for our first attempt at a 'romantic watch of a thai sunset' to which turned into the local dogs in the bay attacking Pin Pong quite savagely who then decided hiding behind me was his protection and I must admit I was pretty scared!! Finally they were called off and our romantic sunset consisted of a beautiful rock, sunset and SLOBBERING rottweiler!!!


His owner finallycame and got him to which the dog belted it, the owner was not amused to say the least!! The sunset though was really amazing, the first of many we knew we were likely to see at over 20 different countries in the world...it doesn't get much more amazing than that in life!
 




That night was our most chilled to date, Crocodile Rock had no electricity so we overlooked the bay with chill out thai music and candle light and drank some Singha beer... perfect! Ron's son then challenged Adam to what we would call 'finger flick football??!!! (amongst a table of talcum powder!!) to which we got totally stuffed!!

We would have loved to have stayed weeks on the island (see view for breakfast and you can see why!) but unfortunately had to head off the next day and head back up the coast. Jumping on our new style taxi, a motorbike with a board on the side to sit on, we went back to Ranongready to head 'up north' as they say at home...





We next headed further north to a place called 'Pratchuarb' which we attempted to catch by train only to be told that only one train runs a day and we had 8 hours to wait!! so local bus it was, ( after catching a motorbike taxi which is NOT good with a 20KG ruck sack on your back!!). The town was another typical thai place that back packers by pass and it is great to be off the beaten track. It was a beautfiul bay with typical huge thai limestone islands lining the coast and we are staying in a hotel with lovely outdoor(!!!) bath rooms for about one pound fifty! It even has a coffee shop next door!


We went along the beach on arrival which is idyllic (if you don't look at the dead dog floating and then catch a thai man pooing in the sand!!!- honest it is nice!!!) and decided to hike to the next bay which is the best on the coast and bizarrely has one hotel run by the military! It was cool though as we managed to see the
changing of the guards, after which a thai lady talks across the town through speakers...not sure what about but I kept wandering when she was going to start shouting 'good morning vietnam' in true military Robin Williams style! We ended up walking for a good two miles then decided to catch the local taxi back - a man on a motor bike with a very rickety wooden side car for sixty pence!!





The next day we headed up the coast and decided to visit the oldest city in Thailand so that
we could see the beautiful temples that we had read about.....unfortunately it didn't really go to plan and we had our first mini travel nightmare experience, which on looking back are always the things that make the trip even better!!!

 

We caught a local bus which was awful, hot and sweaty, full, the guy kirb crawled along the highway at 20 miles an hour stopping every 5 minutes which wasn't fun in the heat so in the end the short two hour trip we paid for ended up being more than four! This meant we got to the city very late, got dropped off on a manic highway and had no idea where we were, where to go or
what to do! Thankfully we managed to make it safely across the highway (at a run!) and found a tuk tuk who took us to a hotel what I can only call was fit for a brothel!! Ad was propositioned by a young guy, It was GRIM! Grey stained walls, curtain half off, filthy....I won't go on, all for the bargain value of two pounds though...

 

I also managed to have my first bout of deli belly, not the best place to have it! We did manage to wander round the town and found a coffee place to celebrate a friday night! The temples weren't up to much and we walked for hours getting lost to find them but still a good experience to have...needless to say we won't be going back there and got out first thing the next day and travelled back up to Bangkok!