The Waiting Game...

After our ‘personal wake up call’ from Beth into our cabins on the overnight train, we were surprised to realise that most of us had actually had a really good night’s sleep, despite the bumpiness and heat throughout the night. We lay in our comfy cabin beds for a while until we were told that we were nearly at Bangkok (our destination), so the beds were put a way and we packed up our bags excitedly, ready to get off the train at the scheduled time of 8.30. However we have learnt since that Thailand as a whole has no concept of time or time management...Waitwaite wait. 3 and a half hours later at 12 o’clock we finally arrived at Bangkok station.. But as soon as we got there it was manic. We realised that due to the late arrival of the train there did not seem to be any way that we would reach the final ferry in time to Koh Chang if we got the various public buses as we had planned. So with the view of the idealistic white sands of Koh Chang in our minds we did everything we could to make sure that we got on that ferry to enjoy our last few days in Thailand. A few of us rushed to a travel agency and booked 2 minivans to take us to the ferry pier, and after a 4 and a half hour bus journey we were on the boat and on our way to the island.. phew! When we arrived on the island we were picked up by 2 more minivans which took us to our final destination – the Thai Garden Hill Resort. Walking into the lobby we were really impressed; marble floors, pot plants, and a swimming pool straight ahead of us, a lot more luxurious than we had been used to! Georgia, Millie and Cliff went to check out rooms while we waited in anticipation, they came back looking glum and told us that the rooms were a bit of a disappointment. Our hearts sank as we had all been looking forward to these few days soo much, and of course having nice rooms is an important part of this! But they took a few seconds to enjoy our reactions and then told us that they were joking and that the rooms were just amazing as we had been hoping! Once we settled into our rooms we were really hungry and tired after a long 29 hours travelling, so we went out together and had dinner in a local Italian restaurant, all buzzing with excitement for the next few days. Annie Pope