Koh Samet and Prince Charles

So here I am. Its Friday and I'm back in Bangkok. Its quite cool for the Thais and not too sunny - so ideal for us warm blooded westerners.

Koh Samet is an island about 100 miles sout of Bangkok - about a 45 minute boat ride of the coast. Apparently favoured by the Thais for weekend trips. In the week its much quieter - and if our stay is anything to go by - is full of germanic tourists!! Its a very typical tropical paradise - lots of sandy beaches, palm trees, boat trips, snorkels, beach bars. Really lovely. About 6km long and 1km wide so easy to walk the length of it.

However, the trip didn't start well. Thai tummy decided to attack me with a vengeance on Tueday - the day we transferred here. So I had an 8am start, 4 hour bus trip, 45 minutes by boat. Nearly finished me off as I just wanted to go to bed (or go to the bathroom). Collpased in my room on Tuesday afternoon and fortunately one couple in our party who were doctors came to my aid and got me some anti biotics from the local clinic - unusual to give them out without attending in person but I suspect its quite a common bug. Apparently its a water born virus.

And they work - so spent Wednesday lazing on a sun lounger reading 'Interpretation of Murder' and yesterday walked along the island paddling in the sea. It was lovley.

Did anyone know that those cotton umbrellas on beaches don't stop all of the suns rays - I lay under one on Wednesday, never came into the sun - and got sunburnt chest. I had read about these clothes with specific sun factors but I thought they were joking - apparently some cotton doesn't stop all of the suns rays.

Where does Prince Charles come into it. Yesterday I walked back along the beach behind all of the restaurants , through some forest trails - non tourist route. These take you through some of the 'locals' villages - and also close to some pretty big lizards (2 feet long is the biggest). Everywhere you look there is litter piled up - bags and bags of plastic and mounds of polystyrene, foam, bottles. Its a mess - add to that staganant water and its not a pleasant site. Its a bit like when Prince Charles visited the college in Stoke - the teachers nearly had a heart attack because he tried to wander into a classroom he wasn't supposed to i.e. they hadn't [ainted it ready for him. Koh Samet gave me that impression - very beautiful and idyllic provided you stuck to where you should be.

Off to the airport in a few hours and then flying to Sydney tonight at 00:30 (5:30) your time.

Steve - 1 quid seems to be the going rate for a meal here - although I suspect the low cost reflects the cheapness of the food and labour and the lack of the cost of basic hygiene - like I remember cooking Jacket Potatoes at a Scout Camp....

Speak to you from Sydney. Hope you are all happy.