It was my second day and I really wanted to hire a motor bike. The lady at the restaurant (who hired out the bikes) didn’t want to hire me one cause she thought I didn’t know how to drive a manual (which I can’t) but I was very insistent that I could.

She was in the process of handing me the keys when there was the sound of a truck’s air horn combined with screeching tyres. When I looked around I saw this huge truck skidding along the road, a moped half crushed under the front wheel and the guy in the orange shirt sliding face down on his helmet visor!

There was police and ambulance and general pandemonium for about 20 minutes. The guy seemed ok. He had a few grazes and cuts  and a shit load of shock but he seemed ok. He was a foreigner though which made me wonder. The ambulance traded under the name ‘Tourist Rescue Service’. That was the clencher. No bike for me. Well not right now anyway.

When I got to the airport yesterday morning in Sydney, I thought I was stressed enough. When i checked my flight to Phuket, I realised it wasn’t going to Phuket at all. I was flying straight into Bangkok. Bloody travel agent. I’ll choose this time to NEVER recommend using ‘Student Flights’ on Oxford St Darlo. They didn’t tell me what visas I might need and then booked me on the wrong flight. I ended up having to call them and find a connecting flight to Phuket from Bangkok. But having said that, the extra stress seemed to de-stress me.
 
Finally made it to Phuket but the buses had finished by the time I got there so taxi was pretty much my only option. Didn’t have much luck bargaining with cabbys though. Cost me 500 baht (about $20) to get here and I couldn’t talk them down. I spent about 30 mins asking around and that was the cheapest I could get. The cabby was nice though. His name was really long and complicated but he gave me his card and told me to call him Jimmy.
 
Hostel was pretty much what I expected. Pretty minimal. I got a double for 2 nights with a fan!! That’s about it. Oh but no bog paper which I realised at 4 in the morning when I had to go. Just a convenient hose leaving you a little wet but a little cooler at the same time 🙂

At around 4 this afternoon I got my passport back! Now all I have to really do is get on the plane!

Bye bye Sydney!

So I’m heading to Southeast Asia in 2 days.
There isn’t anythiing to stress about really apart from the fact that the courier company (AAE) has sent my passport to the wrong locations. But that’s ok. They said “It should be there by Monday” and their word is good enough for me!