And theres more dolphins!!

Gav: 'It was pretty cool playing with the Dolphins and seeing the show, the only dampner on the whole thing was that the place was alittle bit run down and the Dolphins weren't like you see in Flipper. They all got fed well though and seemed to enjoy doing all the waving and jumping around they were doing. We got a bit sick of the classic dolphin trick of 'bobbing out of the water and spitting at you' after about the sixtieth soaking of Dolphin flem, but it was great when they jumped out of the water to grab the fish from you! So that was good, and then they pulled you around the pool a couple of times, it is pretty amazing the power that they have in their tail-fin-flipper-things (not sure of the technical term for it). We met a cool Dutch couple, who owned a bar in Holland and we spent the day with them. Anyway as a result of the day, I had the raging trots on Tuesday and spent most of the day in bed and on the toilet, sweating and shivering. Anyway it was a good day but I reckon that truly swimming with dolphins has to be done with a snorkel or a scuba diving thing, so Oz might be good for that.
So the plan is now to get the bus up to Bangkok on Friday and spend a couple of days up there and go for a beer with some mates then flying to Xiemen in China and travelling by train to Hangzhou to see Don. So we'll keep you posted! let us know whats new!"

Swimming with the Dolphins!

Sue: Reading the last blog, I think Gav may be feeling a bit grumpy with his man flu at the moment!!!!
We had a brilliant day out with the dolphins. It was really cheap at 20 quid too! They picked us up from our hotel, then jumped onto a ferry, and then continued in the minibus for approx 1 hour, had a free lunch and had an hour with the dolphins in the pool and then a show afterwards. Great value for money!!!

Ok I admit there are bound to be better places to do this, but it was a good taster for things to come!

They had the dolphins, jumping out of the water in front of us for various tricks such as :
To catch a fish from our hands & from a big fishing rod high above the water, shake our hands with their fin, dancing in a circle when we sang to them, kissing our cheeks, jumping through hoops! It was such good fun!
I agree with Gav though the spitting from the dolphins was funny at first, but then it wasnt aftr the 100th time!!

Swimming with them was great too, I was amazed how strong they were when they pulled you through the water and then they swam faster again when they were chasing fish the trainers had thrown in to catch!
I must admit the pool wasnt very clean,both apart from that they seemed to be well looked after.
We both have the sniffles at the moment but I reckon it was worth it for the experience and would love to do more swimming with them in Australia!

Biking and Staying Route on Koh Change

map on the Island and where we have biked so far............
'Oh look an old man with a young Thai girl" Gav exclaimed to Sue

Fishermen on White Sand Beach

Biking in Koh Chang & Future Plans

Sue: Hi everyone, I'm now officially back to normal...whatever that is!
Feeling better and ready to continue our journey after a few lazy days by the beach.
We have booked a trip to swim with dolphins on Monday which I'm sooooo excited about and will report back with photos etc of our adventures!
On Tuesday we return to Bangkok, organise our visas etc and then we will fly out to China to stay with Don the Don......cant wait to see you bro & to meet you Jennifer!
We have just heard that another mate from Rochdale, Barry has arrived in Thailand so we are hoping to meet up with him soon! Honestly we cant get away from you Northerners.....and we love it! Sue Holt, Koh Chang....Thailand Gav over to you-back to the studio!
Gav: "...Thanks Sue, good job.Had a great day today scootering around this place. We each hired a little 125cc b ike and took off for the mountain roads with shicanes and headed over the northern most tip of the island to have a mooch down the east side. Because all the beachy resorts are on the west side of the island (because of the sunsets) there's hardly anything there. Theres a little Thai village with lots of little Thais running around in little Thai shoes and then that's it-open road. I went down the coast on my own the other day whilst Sue was recouperating and I was a bit over-excited on my return (which I'm a bit prone to), and told Sue how 'AMAZING" it was, I got as far as a place called long beach which is about 60km from us. You know when you're in a local Thai area, it's easy to spot.....everything chases your bike and starts shouting at you.....dogs, old people and small children, .....it's all friendly 'Sawadeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Meeeester Fallang' Rouighly translates as 'Hello, Mr Funny looking Foriegner' and they all wave and love it when you wave back.
So we both got a bike and went down there again today. Let me just explain the driving rules and regulations over here."
a) Overtake anything,anytime,anywhere,anyhow. If you are stuck behind any vehicle that maybe a little more cautious than you then you must overtake. Safety is no excuse.
b) Beep your horn when approaching any foreigner who is going too slow or showing any sign of weakness, if possible activate horn as you are passing and have your children make loud noises and point to try and distract the foreigner.
Subsection c) Pedestrian and Road Workers Guides to Highways in Thailand
a) Walk into the road or across the road whenever you seem fit, paying no regard at all to any oncoming traffic.
b)If you are working on the road, make sure that you after you dig a big hole, leave uncovered and without safety barriers at all times (maybe put a little red flag in it if you must) c)Quarry Trucks- Try and spill at least half of the content of your truck on any dangerous mountain corner.
*taken from "Thailand Highway Code"

But, on the East coast it was pretty quiet and not too much traffic. We had some dinner at a place that was owned by a bloke from Ambleside who'd been here for 5 years and he was telling us all sorts of stuff about Thailand and then pointed out the Cambodian hills to us. Then we headed down to a 500 metre long pier, that we rode to the end of and had a break looking back at all the palm trees and it was dead quiet, all you could hear was the sea and the crickets. was a great day, and now the monsoon seasons over it's pretty sunny everyday.
So we're moving on soon but this place is going to be hard to leave. We've seen all sorts of stuff for the first time here shooting stars, streak lightning, fantastic sunsets, lizards, big spiders and .........a massive thing that was in our room last night....no idea what it was.

I was down the street and Sue came down flapping about something being in the room, she was watching a scary film when it decided to fly around the room like a wurling durvish (what is one of those things anyone????!!!) so when we got back to the room it was on the table and it was a big,daft ugly thing with wings (no not Linda McCartney), it was like a fat dragonfly, I went to grab it and Sue opened the door and a lizard came in and started dancing about on our wall...the dragonfly flapped off and hid somewhere but I managed to get the lizard out.

Eventually after searching for what seemed hours for this ...thing, we resigned ourselves to sleep and look for it in the morning, well I did anyway! So this morning, first thing I was woke up by Sue shreiking like a banshee and pointing to the bathroom....it was sat on the sink. It was a weird looking thing, so I was weak, not my usual humane self and buckled. I have a reputation for being a bit grumpy in the morning and today was no exception, and unfortunatley the big, daft, hairy flying thing was what I vented my spleen on. Did I grab it, wrestle it to the sink and break its neck? No. Did I pick it, bite off it's head and spit it over the balcony......no...........I grabbed my Lynx body spray and emptied the full can on it's ass, figuring it would either kill it or make it believe it was the most irrestable big,ugly,hairy thing in Koh Chang and go out on the pull .Anyway I think it's worked cos it flew off somewhere and we aint seen it since....we'll probably stumble across it when we move out of here. The Lynx effect- Repels Big, Daft, Ugly Things.......eh? Maybe they should put that on the advert.

Here's Bob with the weather.......

(We are watching way too much Fox News!)

Movie of a Fire Show!!!!!

Gav:Just found this on youtube this is what the fire shows are like!
Click on this link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDSQP6N6--s

actually this is the show that someones filmed outside where we're staying!~!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlBHiuZHJ8g&mode=related&search=

Previous Piccies and New Competition

Gav: I've just wrote some comedy songs that in a country
and western style and I'm gonna create a myspacemusic site to put them onto. I'm gonna put them under an alias name, but I'm stuck, trying to think of a funny one. Anyone got any ideas???????Just think of a troubled reformed alcohlic, country and western style like ....mmmmmm Glen Cambell with a Kenny Rogers beard! Need some funny names from you lot. Something like Randy MacHandy the Second (obviously something funnier and more country than that), it's got to be a name that even when you here it , it sounds like a country and western singer with problems.....come on people, post your suggestions and we'll pick the funniest and use it!!!!

It's JUST A BIT OF FUN, but the winner will receive a prize in the post, as Chevvers did when he won the last comp!

And there's more on Koh Chang!

Sue: Hello everyone! So I am now back in the Land of the Living, you avid readers have all emailed wondering where I have been, so thanks for all your messages!
I have had some bad food poisoning over here which started on Sunday night. We had just met a friend of Gavs from Rochdale, Peta who I was looking forward to having a good night with when
I started to feel really sick, next thing I was being sick everywhere in front of everyone in the restaurant! Really embarrassing! So the next morning I ended up in Hospital on a drip and various antiobiotics. I thought I had malaria or something and of course Gav thought I was being melodramatic! Not me!
It turned out to Gastroenteritis and they kept me in overnight and I am now slowly starting to feel better after taking about 10 prescribed tablets a day!
The hospital was lovely, it was a private one so very clean and posh and fluent english speaking doctors so I was well looked after, luckily my insurance has covered all costs or I think I might have had another bout of sickness when I saw the bill!

Previous to all that trauma, we were having a fab time on this idyllic island Koh Chang, topping up our tans etc.
Initially we stayed in the north of the island White Sands Beach which is very luxurious and we could stay here forever! We had a bungalow right outside the beach and very close to the bar!
Learning to play Killer Pool too so watch out lads on my return!! Get practising!!

The next day we both hired scooters to drive around the island, I looked like Penelope Pitstop with my bright pink Scooter! Driving like an old bid at first being really cautious, I think I could have walked quicker but since I have loved it and I now have my official scooter wings which will come in handy for other places!

Other events were when we had a very drunken and crazy night when all things happened!
Of course those dreaded Whisky buckets were to blame!

I met a group of Oldhamers who had just finished their ALevels at my old school BlueCoat!! It was brilliant reminising, some of my old teachers are still there amazingly, thought they would be coffin dodgers by now!
I did feel like I was one though too when I worked out they were 14 years younger than me!!
Oh my god so I think thats when it all happened, challenge was on! Could I still stay up as late as the kids?? How many whisky buckets could I drink?!! Say no more!

Back home...October is a popular month for Birthdays so glad im sooo far away and saving some money on all these presents!! Ha ha! So Happy Birthday to you all!!! Hope you have a good Birthday!
Tracey, Louise, Cara, Charlotte, Fraiser & Asha

Bro: Congrats on your new house! Looking forward to living in your west wing!
Mum & Dad: Thanks for all your Heinz Soup and get well messages, worked a treat!
Munro's: Thanks for your get well messages and handy hints from your medical backgrounds
Caz: Thanks for checking in with me, good to know if I disappear you will look out for me! Weird to think you even had sympathy pains for me too!!
Louise: Thanks for all your messages, take care and get a hotmail to avoid the Works Fun Squad!
Lisa: Well impressed, amazing progress, no longer a technophobe!!! Have a good party for Fraisers birthday
Di & Gill: Come on Thorneys let me know your news! Lets have another web cam chat!

Koh Chang stories

Hello readers, we're still on the island of Koh Chang at the mo and have had about a week here so far and eventually have some stories to tell. First of all, we're staying here a bit longer than expected because 3x2 decided to go and get food poisoning, so she's recuperating at the mo and I'm running about trying to be the dutiful nurse, and as I've told Phil, Sue is insisting that I wear a nurses uniform which is getting some funny looks from the locals and causing me a bit of chaffing, but as Sue says if a jobs worth doing..................
So far then.........
We arrived on Koh Chang and headed straight to the resort of White Sands beach, which is gorgeous but a little bit pricey, we stayed at a place called 15 palms which is a bit of a jip, cos I can only count 9 in the grounds. But we stayed there for a few days and then got a bike to explore the island. The road on the East of the island is supposed to be a bit dodgy so we decided to travel down the West pillion style (or Arthur and Olive style-On the buses?) so we rode down, and it's just freaky cos everywhere you look there are tremendous things to see.

The residents of Koh Chang have had a bit of a hard time this year with the floods which means that there are huge chunks of road and pavement missing, but to give them their due they are sticking a red flag around all the danger spots. So we're driving down the island past big holes, lots of mad Thai scooter riders, mobile food vendors (who MUST get their licences from crackers) and the odd elephant. But it's amazing, I sometimes reckon it's the dangers of this place which make it more attractive! We got down to the very south of the island at about midday and had heard that there was a market on stilts at a place called Ban Bao, and sure enough there was, it was massive as well, so we walked around there and took some pictures with the late camera, and it was tremendous, there were little huts you could stay in as well. So in Blighty if you had a market on stilts (just imagine Tommyfield on stilts over the sea) you'd have railings everywhere right? Health and Safety and all that? No, there were gang planks all over running from a central concrete path which was about 3 feet wide, with the locals zooming down on scooters, weaving in and out of us farrangs (Foreigners), cats and dogs asleep everywhere, young Thai kids bailing over the sides, whilst all the time we were trying to say 'Sod Off' in our most polite Thai to all the hawkers who try and flog you stuff (I reckon deliberatley try and distract you as you get closer to something you can trip over!) All of this is 98 degrees as well. It was amazing and at the end there was a port with a few old fishing boats in and a few collapsed jetties.

The locals have just twigged as well how much us foreigners love it and have started building some luxury apartments, so another couple of years and it'll be full of tourists watching Fox News with their air-con on full blast. It was a great place and would love to go back sometime. We then headed around the bottom of the island, then ran out of petrol (nothing changes). We then found a beach with a little wooden bridge over to it. It was class, white sands, palm trees and all the stuff you see on postcards, so we had a nosey and took some piccies (that I'll try and post). Then we headed back and called in at some apartments on the way back to see how much they would be. We then moved down the next day to meet a friend from back home, Peta.

We'd arranged to meet her at a place called Nature Resort on Lonely Beach, which is a real backpackers place on the beach and when we got there we were suprised cos it was in good nick with a place to eat and a Beach Boys style 'Kokomo' bar on the beach which played 'top toooons' (the most important thing). So we settled there for the night watching the best fire show we've seen so far.
*the fire shows take place on the beaches at night and it's where the local top dogs perform acrobatic stlyle stuff with a stick or rope that they dip in petrol and set fire to it. There were three of these guys and they were amazing, throwing the sticks, juggling them and all sorts.
(........................By the way there is a guy stood next to me here at the internet place who is the spit of Patrick Swayzee-please miss internet lady do not put baby in the corner!!!!).....anyway
So we arrived there and there was no sign of Peta, but we managed to hook up the next night and have a laugh on the beach with a load of other people, telling stories and singing Johnny Cash songs with the Americans whilst trying to crowbar Oasis songs in for us!!!! Anyway, was a great night and Peta went the next day to get back to Bangkok to get a flight to Vietnam.

So we've come back up to 'White Sands Beach' at the north again to be closer to the clinic and so we got a bit of luxury for 'The English Patient'.

So all is good and getting better, I'll sign off for now but will post more soon.

Gav

Fiona: Good to speak last night Sis as always!! Lots of love to you and Andi and give the kids a big cuddle from UG and AS. You and Sue have now a shared interest in bins!
Andi:Get that bunk bed up mate! Send us a picture when it's done. My call out charge is currently 899 quid (plus airport taxes). Hope you're not working too hard. Fiona tells me that Top Joiner man left his cap there...........
Isobel: I heard all about your reading and I'm sooooooooooooo proud of ya! Lots of love sweetheart, send us an email soon! Auntie Gav
Finners: I don't like being splashed too mate, tell the instructer that you'll set Daddy on him if he does it again! Did you think that postcard looked like Daddy watching TV??????? Keep up the good work mate! Lots of Love Monkeyman
Dudley and Mary: Congratulations on the wedding in LV. Poosibly the coolest way to do it! I hope you got Elvis to sing 'Flower of Scotland'!All the best! (and try and get Mum and Dad to get broadband!!!!!)
Chev: I am disgusted that you didn't get a hose fitted in your new bathroom...........Mr "look at me with my new technique that you MUST adopt!' Hope you get the silicone off mate! I am no longer DIY man (remember what happened with Roxy's kitchen cupboard?) -and remember 'Safety first Fun Last'
Roxy: Have you fixed you kitchen cupboard yet? I think i'm pretty sure it was the large amount of birdseed you've got in there (maybe a cage would be a better place to keep your parrot (unless your hiding the parrot for some reason.....mmmmm....????-let is know)
Rick: Great clip on youtube mate but are you sure that wouldn't rather be playing Bangor Con Club????
Deano: You could make a fortune over here mate, clipping all these palm trees with your garden magic! Hope all is well mate, say hello to Cathy.
Mum: So near to posting!!!!......but not quite! I'll send some instructions remember to click 'post' or 'publish' comment??!!!!!! Thanks for the medical advice! Love ya
Dad:Good work with the church painting Dad, don't think that you have any issues with the big man now! Will post some stamps when we get back to Bangkok! I also think that you have earnt a night at The Station hotel (with all drinks on Mum!!)
Tony: Learning all the Chapin songs and have found those lost recordings of ours so I'll email soon! Lets try and meet up in NY with Mr Statham. Hope your well mate!

Peta: Good to meet up, good luck with the last leg of your travels and we'll be in touch for all the tips for OZ and New Zealand! I'm not that fat anymore am I? Thanks for that back-handed compliment!!!!!!!
Ebag: Missing your Mam....I mean missing you man, spilt vimto on the carpet last night mate! How was the windy city, and how are the plans for LA coming on, drop us a line pal!
Taylor: send mp3s and under no circumstances come anywhere near here, buckets of whisky for 2 quid could prove fatal.
Franco: Post something else mate-missing your funnies, and remeber what BH said, he's had good and bad times with girls but he aint..............
Tommo and Lisa and Izzy: Good to speak to you, try and email us! Also the dream about the house being picked up may be a premenition, keep your eyes on it for us!!!!

iZZY: pORCUPINE????i'M 33 AND HAVE TROUBLE SAYING THAT ONE!!! Hope your looking after mummy and daddy!!!!Lots of lOve, Your weird Uncle Gav!...!
Caz and Lee: Do you know what really Grinds My Gears......not being able to put Mp3s on this site!!! help required from the IT dept-Caz!. Glad the trip to Spain went well mate! keep in touch

GET POSTING PEOPLE

Thought for the day: There's only so much Fox news you can watch in an air conditioned hotel room until you really believe the apacolypse is imminenet! God that channel love Bush and his cronies!!!!!!!Thank God for the good ol' BBC! I think we need to get to North Korea next!!!!

The political situation over here is ok, the military government are banning any politcal gatherings of 5 or more people unless they are indoors!!!!!

Youtube video of the Day; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q0yoEfsfOA

Don't worry about posting/publishing delay

Don't worry about the delay you may have experienced if you're trying to post. We've put a moderating filter on it so we can delete any of your gutter-mouth comments! Keep em funny and use $& &#@ for all your swearing needs. My mum is still in shock after reading the last one Mr Hewitt!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Poster for the previous story

left) this is a Sawngtheau, our's was similar to this but without a tailgate.

Tale of the Unexpected.........

Right let me tell you this story from the other night, cos it's a cracker.

This is a true Urban Myth that happened to us........

Gav:'We planned to leave Bangkok on the mainland and head to Koh Chang, via Poipet which is the border town for Cambodia and where you go to renew your visas for Thailand.We figured would take us one or two days. So we got a coach fromBangkok for four hours with other backpackers to Poipet, got transferred into a crammed minibus and then to the border. The dodgy TAT (travel company) that we went with were trying to flog us the trip to Koh Chang, but we decided to go it alone and do 'the proper travelllers thing' and make our own way there on public transport (which is loads better, you see the people and you can stretch your legs etc) so we got a dodgy Tuk Tuk to a dodgy Bus station, met a dodgy bloke, who pointed us to a dodgy market which we dodged. We sat down on a concrete seat, had a drink and tried to look like we knew exactly what we were doing (Traveller code is apparently, look confident and smiling). Anyway dodgy bloke came back, waving his arms and pointing to the road where the 1960's bus was pulling away, we took off towards it as fast as you can with 300 weight of packs on you, shouting at the bus to stop as the people on the bus shouted for us to get on. So it stopped and we threw our big bags in the dodgy 70's hold and I took my guitar and ruck sack on board, all the Thai people found it funny so we're smiling as we passed them to get a good seat whilst unbeknown to me I was taking small children and old people out with my big daft guitar case. So we settled for the 4 hour trip to Kanchaburi, where we were to change for Trat (A town near the port). Halfway through the trip the drivers assistant thought, for no good reason,it would be a good idea to take our big bags out of the hold underneath, and place them onboard near the door at the back of the bus , where all the lunatics sit, so we spent the rest of the journey looking back everytime we stopped and keeping our eyes on the bags. Luckily enough their was a monk sat on the back row in all his orange robes for the whole journey so I felt no one would nick them with him there. So I was catching his eye and smiling and trying to convey in the language of nodding-'Can you keep your eyes on our bags and don't let any scrote whip 'em while we're not looking'-Anyway I think it worked. When we got into Kanchanburi the monk disembarked the dodgy 70's bus a couple of stops before us and we gave him a nod and smile and off he went. I thought Top Man- I reckon he was watching out for us! So we drove into the main bus station through 6 inches of water (much of Thailand has been hit with flooding) at about 10pm , tired and weary, hungry and grumpy and again tried to look less confused than we were whilst humping our packs around the kind of people that hang around bus stations at 10pm at night, many of them coming up to us asking, where we were going and looking at our bags and guitar like it was Christmas. So, as is our plan in these situations, we smiled, ignored them and tried to walk to somewhere else,pointing at something in the distance and looking like we knew all along where we were supposed to be going! We found a little cafe which wasn't submerged, sat there got some noodles and water and dug out 'The Lonely Planet' to find out how to get to Trat which was a couple of hours further south. A friendly kind of Thai bloke walked up and in my pigeon Thai and his pigeon English we tried to get the 'knowledge' from him. He told us that the next bus to Trat was 1am and so we had a chat and weighed it up and he said he was a taxi driver and he could take us there, but because of the flooding we'd have to go a different route as to what was on our map and we would have to pay 550 baht (about 7 quid)- no negotation- I asked him what his taxi was and he pointed to the car park where there were loads of swanky looking pick-ups and he was a smiley sort of bloke so me and three-bie-two decided to take it and he said he'd go and get his car. He walked around the corner and two minutes later his taxi came round the corner. It was battered old small pick-up, the paint that was left on it looked red. It had a dodgy canvas roof on the back and a dodgy little orange bulb swinging from a smashed light. For those of you who have seen the film 'Deliverance'-you'll get the idea. We also saw that he'd picked up a male passenger , but it was dark so we couldn't make him out, all we could see was that he had a baseball cap on. So we threw the backpacks, rucksacks and guitar on to the back and the room that was left, we parked our backsides on and gripped on for a long ride. Our map was pretty useless cos we were using the back roads to Trat. Anyway, me and Sue were having a laugh in the back and making the best of it as we made our way, in the dark, through the flooded back streets, with no street lights, in the back of a noisy truck in the rain. All of a sudden we heard a massive bang on the front of the pick-up and a cry, then another couple of massive bangs under our feet on the bottom of the trailer, we'd hit something. It was a dog.The poor thing then got run over by the following cars and was pretty much dead in seconds. We were both pretty shaken up by it, but the driver and the passenger seemed unaffected by it and just carried on regardless, we couldn't shout anything cos they wouldn't be able to hear us. So we were a bit more wary at this point. We passed a roadblock and joined a dark dual carriageway and after a couple of minutes the little orange lamp in the trailer went off so it was pretty difficult to see anything unless you looked through the small window into the cabin, so we did that for a bit, wondering if he'd deliberately turned off our light, then why? Sue managed to stretch out and shut her eyes and I kept my eyes on the road and in the cabin. The next thing I noticed was the passenger had taken his baseball cap off and was looking out the window to his left. He had a shaved head and looked to be about 60 or so, I was looking at him and then realised 'It must be the monk from the bus!' and felt much more relaxed cos we weren't getting a lift from a couple of Pyschopaths and that the monk must be a friend of the driver. I thought I'd try and catch his eye in the mirror and give him a nod and smile.I don't think he saw me but he turned his head forward to look at the road again and the top right part of his head was missing..............................that my friends is true,and yes I nearly did drop my dinner and yes the dodgy street lights of the sleepy port town of Kanchburi were like Las Vegas to me when we arrived I'll tell you. I am now going to get 3X2 to read this and verify.

Sue: Yes folks it is all true....what we do now to save a few quid! Is it worth it! We are going to get a tourist bus back to Bangkok just in case! We have limited underwear and limited budget for laundry!'

Gav:..........and I'm desperately trying to learn 'Dualling Banjos' to save us from this kind of episode in the future..........................................I, under no circumstances, would like to 'Squeal like a pig.'

And the winner is Paul Hewitt/Chevron!

Prize on its way Chevvers!

Well done, we can tell who the traveller is with our blog readers!

Be warned we started with an easy one first.........

OK so we'll explain, this weeks theme was 'Weird and Wacky transport ion the Crazy Land of Thailand' Well Done Mr Paul Chewetskini of Royton town, somewhere near Edenburg, I think, Well answered Pauly, you now are top of our league table. The correct answers were.......
1) The good old fashioned Tuk Tuk that drive around the place at breakneck speeds in order to get you from a A to B (via Tailors C, Gem Traders D and the odd Travel asgents C).
2) The E$lephant- Hannibals chosen mode and a slow but comfatable way to see jungles. Unless you try and sit on the neck with a boney backside, then it takes a few days to be able to sit down.
3)The Sawngthaew(songthoew) translated means two seater pick up! two rows of seats in the back of a pickup truck. If you are lucky hey'll be a hammock that you can ride in! Backpackers fly towards these when they see them at ports, you can share the ride and meet some great people this way! (and it's cheap)
4) Scooter- 'The old scooter or Motorbike as the Thais call them- Ok it's not Easy rider but as long as you get a girl with a baby you know it's gonna be half safe!!!!!!

OK, thats the first one over and done with, stay posted for round two!

Just in Trat at the mo, on our way to Koh Chang (Elephant Island) for some sun,rain, trekking and sand....and to de-louse ourselves from the BKK air.I've got a great story about our journey here yesterday, that I will try and stick on later, but it sounds like an urban myth (well it will when I've finished with it!) but it's trueeeeeeeeeeee, God I love this place, every day is an adventure, we're gonna catch the ferry someime this afternoon, but I'll try and get some piccies and post them before we go.
Kepp posting people!!!
Love Gav

Can you tell what it is yet???!!! NEW GAME, JOIN IN THE FUN??!!!!!!

PICTURE1(above) Picture 2 ( below)
Picture 3 (left)
Picture 4 (above)

"ROLL UP ROLL UP...STEP RIGHT THIS WAY......."
Ok we're incredibly bored in our hotel here in Bangkok, whilst it chucks it down outside , so we've come up with a new feature for our blog (contain yourselves, please)

It might take off, it might not, but right at this moment it's the most exciting thing in the world over here!!!!
Of course we don't think it's an original idea but here goes!.......

Right every week we're going to post zoomed pictures of things on the blog and all you have to do is post your ideas as to what it is. It could be an object, an animal, a food, a landmark or anything.(please stick with this one!) so all of you post your answers on our comments page thing (you know under this post you see where it says comments (0).

Only the funniest, rudest ones along with the correct answers will be published. And the winner? The winner will receive.........drumroll..........through the post................ a fantastic free gift!

Here goes...these are the first 4 pictures, 4 different things (thanks Phil!) remember ...

'if you think you know ......., give it a go!!!!'

(thats the catchphrase right there.) So come on people post your answers as soon as you can. They're really easy this week to give some of you Oldham Oglers a chance, but ' as the vicar said to the actress....' "it will get.....more difficult!!!!'

News From Bangkok!

Gav: Hello.Greetings everybody!!!!!Just staying near Siam Square in Bangkok, which is the big commercial area around here, 3 massive trafford centres are just over the road from us-warning-do not send Sue a credit card!-a few pictures above from our last weeks adventures. I'll explain all the pics for you!
1) 'Vespas'-Walking down Koh Sahn Rd the other night with our mate Jenns we saw four Vespas decorated up in true mod style, was a great reminder of England and definately the best scooters we've seen since we arrived in Thailand.
2) The Thai John Wayne- The raft on the river Kwai was definatley one of my favourite experiences so far......'Was it the fact that we we were eating and sleeping on a raft that was on this most historic river?....No, Was it the fact that we 'got back to Nature' and our abolusions dropped directly into this famous River?....No, was it the fact that we were chuffed that because we're now used to roughing it that we were the only ones in our party who got a decent nights kip because of the sounds of the jungle? No, ....it was the fact that the owners were completely crackers! The lady owner sank 1 bottle of whisky at breakfast everyday and then danced and sang her way through the day and her husband was ......'The Duke'. Well 'The Thai Duke', he found it pretty amusing that I kept referring to him as 'The duke' and he must have been told before!!! Have a look at the picture and judge for yourself (' Git Off yer horse n drink yer milk'-Did John Wayne really say that Mum????)
3)Our Digs on the River Kwai- This is a picture of the raft boat that we stayed on, rooms were impeccable, 5 star I would guess, En-suite with an amazing view through the floorboards of the river and anything that you flushed down the toilet, 1 double bed matress (6 inches off the floor) three complementary spiders left in bathroom for the guests, an absolute treat to stay. I think they should have one of those signs above the entrance to the place , like they have in Blackpool, which says 'Arrive as Strangers, Leave as Friends with the trots!'. But it was an amazing place to stay, would do it again in a heartbeat!.
4) 'Thai Students at temple'- These Thai students accosted us at a temple and asked us some questions to practice their English. They were all really sweet, but I think they had problems understanding our northern monkey accents 'Eyybygumm lasss, course you can talk to us luv, it'd be bloooooooody great for a bit uv a chat.......do yer wanna brew?' Anyhow that was funny. Sue: Apologies for the bad fashionwear, I was given these clothes at the temple as visitors have to covered up. Honest!!
Gav had some daft pantiloons on too but managed to hide them behind the students, I was not so lucky and cant believe the photo has appeared on the blog!!
5)'Koh Sahn Rd Floods'- As you probably know I've had my fill of floods in the UK, and now am somewhat of a flood expert! So I took this one outside the entrance to our hotel the other night. One minute it can be really sunny then .....it lashes down. An example, today we just had breakfast and we're were looking outside at the glorious sunshine and we decided we'd go to Lumphini park, with the guitar and a few drinks and relax, so we went upstairs to pack, came back down after half an hour and looked outside and it's like a scene from 'Twister'???!!!What IS all that about?, Anyway luckily the hotel didn't flood (although I was halfway through constructing an Ark for Sue and me out of a few lolly sticks and a bit of twine.....wasn't needed.
6) The Guitar so Far' - As some of you might know, I'm decorating my guitar on this trip with local stickers etc, and on the back I'm getting friends that we meet to sign it and put comments in their native tongue, without translating for me, and then when we get back i'm going to translate them myself for a bit of a laugh!!!! So far the front of the guitar looks like this, I need to economise on the space to make room for Oz, US etc.
So there we go people, let us know what you think, your comments are always appriciated over this side. Keep posting, much much muc more to come, leaving Thailand soon for China, going to miss it but not for long!!!
Lee and Caz: phenominal (is that how you spell it??) posting as usual, thanks for the clips Lee, I'll email you the results!
Chev: Thanks for your last comment mate, hope everythings good over there, Give Roxy a big hug from me- and get her to give you a firm handshake from me also (please don't get them the wrong way round), and milladdo, any more of your filthy language and I'll get in touch with Bob to come around and wash your mouth out with soap. KIT duuuude.
Mum and Dad: Thanks for the email, got it today. Good news about Dudley, married in Gracelands Chapel in LV!!!! The man is a legend!!!!! Can you send me their email address so i can congratulate them? Have you got broadband yet???? Take Care, Missing you (and Dads whisky)loadsx
Fi, Andi, Izz and Fin: Thanks for sorting the car out sis. much appriciated. Thanks for the email, will respond asap. have a photo of me and Uncle Don pretending to be monkeys kids!!!I am much more convincing!!!!!???!!!!!!will email it you!xxxxxx. Well done sis with award, missing yousssss loads!
Donster: Looking forward to our Asian reunion in a few weeks, looks like were going to Koh Chang for a week and then flying over to Shanghai. Book the jump suit,book the Karaoke A0264-'Suspicious Minds'.
Tony, Rick: Let us know what you been up to chaps, I hope , in the name of God, that you are staying away from BBs or FFs!!!!!!(keep up!!!)
All at Gardiners(especially the tech team): 'Alright everyone, If we get another bathroom with a fuse box above the shower I'm gonna be on the phone!' Keep in touch YB, DM, JH, LM, JFS!,MS, MV,AB (you wouldn't believe the DVDs out here mate!) DF, DM,MW, hope your all still wearing your ADI T-shirts.
Everybody else:(in true Jerry Springer style)........Look after yourselves................and each other.'

Bangkok Thai Boxing

Sue :
We have had a a change of plan as we have heard from some fellow travellers that Cambodia is not that safe at the moment with lots of muggings etc and also that Vietnam has a Tropical Typhoon going on at the moment!!
So we are still in Bangkok but now in a different part of the city to explore more and it was a great move as we are now very close to some great shops!!
So we are just deciding whether to go to China sooner or stay in Thailand a bit longer....sooo many decisions....it can be hard at times!!!
A couple of nights ago we met Jens (nickname Cheeseburger!) who is from Munich and a couple of girls from Oz and we all went to watch a Thai Boxing Match. We were told that some places are more for the tourists and they are not really fighting...but believe me this place was for real!
We got ringside seats by the Red Corner which was great, we could hear all the Trainers giving them advice, we got splashed by the water they were throwing on the boxers to keep them cool and towards the end there was blood everywhere, broken noses the lot! Great Fun!!
Dad: Yes that is me sat on the front row....you can imagine me wanting to be there seeing and hearing all that was going on!! Didnt want to miss a thing!