| The cabins were very cramped and there were loats more people than we had expected, but everyone really friendly especially Sadie & Simon (our roomies) and Andrea & Ewan (Andrea another non diver, but only this time because she'd just found out she was pregnant). Had dinner and then at 11pm the boat set off for the overnight journey to the islands. To ward off evil spirits the crew let off fire crackers as they leave dock - really noisy!! After almost 30 minutes, if that, I started to feel sick, as did a few others and so I stayed in toilet no. 2 until 3am, being sick 10 times - must be a record!! Have never felt so rough before - just wanted the boat to stop!! 17th May 2006-20th May 2006 After being sick all night, I then managed to get flu and so spent the four days on the boat, in bed with a fever! Did manage to see a turtle, shark and sea snake when I made it into deck! Terry was up at 6.30 each morning and did 14 dives in total - loved it and saw lots of new and different things. The weather was awful, so the diving wasn't as good as it could have been, strong currents meant we broke 3 mooring lines and visibility wasn't very good. They also had to dive in the same sights a few times as the boat couldn't get round the islands. Not what we had expected, but they didn't charge us enough so we kept quiet! Got back to Khoa Lak late afternoon and caught another overnight bus back to Bangkok - no time to get our land legs back, the motion from the bus made us feel like we were still on the boat! 21st May 2006 Arrived in Bangkok at 6am and checked back into our guesthouse, where we had a couple of hours in bed, with the bed swaying! Picked up our India flight tickets and went to try our suits on and then Terry frogmarched me into Boots (yes, they have Boots in Bangkok) where I was piled up with pills! 22nd May 2006 More shopping and then met Sadie & Simon and got a taxi to the Banyan Tree Hotel - the highest hotel in Bangkok with a rooftop bar - completely open with just a railing going round. Was very posh - Terry had to wear jeans and covered shoes and I had to borrow shoes as flip flops weren't allowed! There was no sunset unfortunately as it was too cloudy, but the views were really good! Back at the guesthouse, our suits had been delivered, but we had to call the tailor back at 11pm to adjust my trousers! 23rd May 2006 Left Thailand and flew to Kolkata (used to be Calcutta) - oh my God!!!!!!! First impressions of India not good - th eoldest taxis with the worst driving, seem to be no rules at all. Got to our recommended hotel with an inch of life to spare! Not the nicest of places and so hot, sticky, noisy, dirty and smelly! Terry sorted out train tickets out of Kolkate for the next day, while I stayed in the room - already fed up with all the men and women staring at me! We then ventured out for something to eat - managed to find an air con restaurant with some western food - was looking forward to the curries here, but now we've arrived the smell of it all day is making me sick and I'm still ill so craving home comforts! Back to our oven of a room to sweat the night away! 24th May 2006 Checked out of the hotel and after much confusion managed to leave our bags there for a few hours. Found an expensive hotel for breakfast, as we thought the food would be better, but just had hard toast! Jumped in a taxi to the Botannical Gardens and for a couple of hours we had peace and quiet - couldn't hearing the cars honking their horns! Weren't the best gardens but so nice to feel like we had fresh air! Found the world's largest tree - a banyan tree, 25m high and 450m in circumference. The main trunk was taken away in the 1920s and it looks more like a forrest with branches and trunks everywhere, all interlinked. Time came to join the hustle and bustle again and we went back to collect our bags and train tickets and headed to the station four hours early. Manic!! Tried to find a quiet corner and sat playing cards, watching the world go by. A young girl came and talked to us in exchange for 10 Rupees!! Got on the train and spent the night dozing whilst holding onto all the bags so that they didn't get stolen! 25th May 2006 Arrived in Siliguri and got squashed into a jeep, driven by what seemed like a 14 year old, to Darjeeling - about 4 or 5 hours up a steep and windy road close to the Himalayas. A lot cooler up here and started to rain as soon as we got our bags and started walking to find somewhere to stay! Found an old hotel - the Bellevue - with wooden floors, beamed ceilings and a wood burner in each room, sounds nice, but paying a fortune for it compared to Thai prices! The views are fantastic though - went for a walk round Chowrasta - the squareat the top of the Mall - and could see mountains rolling for miles! Supposed to be able to see the Himalayas and the 3rd highest mountain - Kanchenjunga - but wasn't clear enough. Forgot to take the camera so didn't get pics today! Found some pizza for dinner, but not very nice - still not eating much and feeling skinnier by the second! 26th May 2006 Sat on the veranda reading all day, trying to get rid of the after effects of flu for good. Very cloudy and misty today so no view at all, can't even see down to the street at times. No dinner - couldn't find anything! 27th May 2006 More reading, still no views! BUT we found some nice biscuits and then a nice restarant for dinner - had a niceish Indian and felt better for eating something substantial! 28th May 2006 Still no views - the cloud is so thick! Phoned home and then went for a walk - rather a long one in the end! The snow leopard breeding centre was closed so we continued round to Tenzing Rock - where locals practice climbing as part of their Himalaya training. The cloud was so thick here we could only |