Ang Thong NP was a truly beautiful location, with white sand beaches and thick jungle and all the stuff you come to expect from a tropical island really. We hiked up through very rough terrain to a view point about 220 metres of tough elevation but well worth it. Halfway up was a family of monkeys within arms length in the trees virtually, some youngsters playing about and kicking each other out of the trees, some mothers holding little babies (which for some reason are yellow) round their necks, but jumping from tree to tree none the less. On the way back down we nearly stepped on a snake which was busy with a frog it had in it’s mouth, all shrivelled up, presumably from the venom and surely must have been dead, although it really did look like it was still moving. Then without warning it made a bolt down the hill towards these two Japanese blokes – you’ve never seen anyone run so fast down a steep rocky slope! We were blessed without rain all day which helped with the jungle hiking in particular though.
Caught a ferry straight back from Samui after this to Surat Thani on the mainland, and took a night train to Bangkok, very nice in a private cabin so you can actually control the temperature and the lighting. Am staying in Sukhumvit, a region a little to the east of Bangkok’s centre, but a very lively little area. Around the corner from where I am now is Soi Cowboy, a strip of girlie bars so we’ll be going to check those out in a minute! In fact, why the hell am I in here when I could be over there?? See ya!