Hello everyone,
We are now writing from the rainforest of Khao Soke. It is a national park in southern Thailand. The rain is just pouring down as I type so hopefully it will stop so we can go canoeing this afternoon. What a busy 24 hours it has been, yesterday we went to yet another mall and learned all about bartering at the market - I am not good at it yet (Karen) Everywhere in Bangkok there are huge shopping malls packed with shops all seemingly selling the same stuff- you should see the tech section. Cliff thought he was in paradise. Calia, we found a section of shops that were nothing but Barbie stuff. When we were all shopped out Auntie Michelle helped us get a tuk tuk taxi ride back to the car. The driver was so amused at the fact that he had a couple of tourists that he poppped a wheelie on his tuk tuk as he whipped us in and out of cars and buses . (daddy almost lost his baseball cap) At the train station we said goodbye to auntie chelle and Uncle Chris for the week and hopped on a sleeper train bound for Suret thani in the south. This was a little different mode of travel than we were used to ......it certainly can't compete with good old VIA rail. Our car was about half full of backpackers from around the world. The rest were native Thai's. Our train left Bangkok at 6:30 at night and arrived in Surat Thani at 6:30 am. At around 8:00, after supper , the staff came around and pulled down our chairs and made them into beds , one upper and one lower. I (Karen) took the upper berth as I deemed it the safest thing to do. Cliff squished into the lower one. It was neat in the fact that we could watch the countryside go bye till it got dark and we did it again once the sun started coming up. We saw flooded rice paddies and traditional housed on stilts. About halfway through the night we needed to use the washrroms. What an adventure. First the toilets on the train were squatters (no sitting just squat on a shorter bowl) and they were disgusting. No flushing required it just was deposited on to the tracks.....And try to use the washroom without touching anything while the train is lurching and bouncing all over the tracksWe arrived in Surat Thani and met our driver BOB ....i guess that is not his Thai name. He spoke very good English so on the way to the rainforest resort he told us all about the wildlife that lives here...snakes, scorpions, black panthers, elephants and tigers so I don't think I will be leaving the room for the next couple of days...just kidding I can run faster than daddy.
Love you all and we will write soon,
M&D
Kira... hope your owie is better :-{