I feel more joie de vivre than I have in months. My hair has grown at least an extra two inches, my nails - at least half a centimeter. I feel deliciously healthy, now wrapped up warm in cashmere and skinny jeans, the only concrete evidence of the last two weeks is my tanned face peeking out of layer upon layer of winter clothes. But I don’t care that I can’t bare my legs because I feel wonderful from the inside out.
Sorry.
I know, it’s sickening. I am jealous of myself. But having just had the best holiday of my life, the least I can do is share the details with you. My days have been spent discovering new foods, walking, swimming, watching eagles fly over me and fishes go about their business beneath me. My nights, eating lobster, lying out under the stars, running barefoot through seaside towns.
It took about four weeks of hard organisation to get to these two weeks in Thailand. Most of this time was spent ruling slightly less amazing things out and reducing the cost or time of travel between activities. I researched, I bartered, I begged… I didn’t steal anything. Honest, though it did feel like it at times (in a good way.)
We flew into Bangkok and were immediately whisked to our hotel to get changed for a night out (despite only recently waking up on the plane). We started out at the nightclub Bed Supper Club where a friend’s brother was DJing. When we arrived, the evening was slowly gearing up. Thai girls in staggeringly high platform heels were lazily unfolding themselves from Funky Buddah style bed tables laden (oddly enough) with cream cakes. Boisterous expat bankers were patting each other on the backs and watching the women predatorily. We were watching this all through the disorienting lens of a late-running bodyclocks and too many vodka cocktails to wash down our rushed dinner.
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My cocktail: Gay lavender hissy fit – came with this little guy. The boys got a little over-excited about him.
After closing time we walked through the streets, stopping at these mobile cocktail bars for frozen margaritas. These guys just park up roadside, unload their stools and trestle tables and shake up pretty much anything you’d like all for about £1 or £2 per cocktail.
Of course we took a compulsory tuk tuk home, though suffice to say the memory was as blurry as this picture! The next day we woke up earlier than we wanted to (thanks jet lag) and wandered down to the pool for a swim. We were staying at Silvalai Place on Flo’s recommendation after her Asia trip from last year. She’d made great friends with Ollie, the owner’s daughter who found us emerging from her swimming pool and promptly told us we were leaving in half an hour for the floating markets. Apparently Flo had told her that she just haaad to take us to see them. A surprise trip to the markets later and we were in another world.
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| Sticky black rice with dessicated coconut, wrapped in banana leaf within bamboo. They have to cut it open for you. It's amazing |
After eating, we moseyed around the market holding our bellies and bumped into a stall selling handbag dogs – well not exactly. What this amazing woman has come up with is essentially a sling with four holes in it for a small dog’s legs that allows you to essentially wear your dog as a handbag. It was very tough to not run away wearing this beauty…
After the market, we headed back to the hotel slightly bewildered and totally full to pack. As the sun set over a stiflingly hot Bangkok in need of rain, we gathered up our things and got a taxi to the train station to board a train South. We ate on the train – a surprisingly fantastic meal all for £1.20 each and then fell asleep in the pull out bunk beds, rocked by the movement of the train and awoke to find ourselves in a transformed landscape, headed towards the jungle for the next step of our adventure...
