As a couple, we have always joked that we are crazy individuals and and even crazier coupling. Perhaps this assertion is truer than we thought!

It happened tonight when we walked into a shop next to the post office of Koh Tao. We chose a postcard to send back to ourselves and decided that that we wanted the postcard to read ‘Hello from Koh Tao’ in the Thai alphabet.

We had previously, in Laos, asked the lady who was in charge of collecting postcards for mailing out to write ‘hello’ in the Laotian characters. Thus this did not seem like an odd request for us.

However, it must have come as an odd request for the lady in Koh Tao. After she had written ‘Hello, Koh Tao, Thailand’ in Thai characters, she immediately made small circles with her right index finger next to her right temple.

The S.O. and I immediately burst out laughing; if that sign is the same internationally, then we all know what that means!

Location: Koh Tao, Thailand
Local time: 2050 hours (GMT +9)
Mood: Exhausted

After two nights of not sleeping on a proper bed, our general mood was more of exhaustion than excitment about being in Koh Tao. We had slept one night in the train (more than 15 hours overnight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok), intermittently Chumporn to Koh Tao the next night in a bus (about eight hours from Bangkok to Chumporn, arriving at 0320 hours), and snatched a nap on the ferry (about three hours).

However, the quiet peace and calm of ‘turtle island’ is definitely worth the journey. A friend who loves this place so much said that it is the best place for doing absolutely nothing except for relaxing. We could not agree more.

The first thing we did on arrival at the Buddha View Resort was take a warm shower. We had taken a shower before we checked out of the hotel in Chiang Mai on the 24th, then a cold shower at Unseen Travel agency in Bangkok the day after, before getting on the bus. We needed the shower to freshen up and feel totally clean again.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon clearing emails and work at the Internet cafe of the beach resort. So far, it is the most expensive Internet cafe session I have had since arriving in Thailand.

Not that it would matter which Internet cafe we went to: all the Internet places within walking distance of our resort charge 2 baht per minute for use, While it costs only 30 baht per hour in Chiang Mai’s Internet cafes.

Of course all work and no play does not a holiday make. Thus we took a short walk around our side of the bay and discovered that it was one resort next to another next to another. Reminds us of Chiang Mai already!

There are also more ‘white’ than Asian people here. I have spotted two Taiwanese and two Japanese among the hordes of Europeans, Australians, Americans and English.

Since it was also dinner time, we stopped for some pad siew iew or white rice noodles similar to the pad thai, tom yam soup with pork and chicken yam (thai salad) with cashew nights. Seated at a restaurant overhanging the beach and incoming tide, we toasted each other with a Singha beer.

That is the end of the first night on turtle island. We now head off to bed and explore more of the island tomorrow.

Why would anyone in their right mind pay cash to spend two freezing nights in the mountains?

We have no idea about the other four’couples’ that were in our group. As for us, we have come to the conclusion that we are crazy individuals and thus make an even crazier coupling. With that, we went ahead and went on a three day two night trek through some nature area or mountain, just south of Chiang Mai.

We spent the days trekking with regular stops at waterfalls along the way. The cool waters brought refreshing relief for our tired feet and hot bodies. On both nights of the trek, we sleept together with the other eight people and our guide in a wood hut of the village that we stopped at.

On both nights, the wood huts provided minimal shield from the piercing cold of the mountain night air. Given only thin mattress and four to five thin blankets each, all of us shivered through the night despite having long trousers and jackets on top of our t-shirts.

However, this part of the trip was compensated by other memorable moments: scenic waterfalls; bright stars filing the dark night sky; jokes around a campfire; simple Thai fair cooked by our guide for dinner on both nights; bamboo rafting down a stream, and an elephant ride.

The most pleasant and unexpected reward of the trip was meeting the other eight people of our group: a Canadian couple; an Amaerican couple; a Swiss couple and two French guys who have known each other since vet school. Then there is also our guide, the energetic Kiki.

Everyone was easy going, friendly, helpful and absolutely fun. We spent loads of time talking and exchanging stories about life and travels. We have exchanged emails and promises for keeping in touch.

As we leave Chiang Mai on the 23rd, we look forward to more pleasant surprises over the next three weeks in Thailand.

It was 1230 hours when we finally made it out of the hotel. Difficult clients and clients who refused to make payment despite delivery of work were what kept the S.O. writing emails, making phone calls and away from a proper holiday.

Once we stepped out on to the streets and turned a corner, we came across a shop that rents out motorbikes from 150 baht (S$6.45/ US$4.20/ EUR3.25) a day. We made the wise decision to rent one, although half the day had flown by.

Hopping on the hired Honda Wave, we rode around the city area then ventured out northwest of the city. We ended up at a place that looked like a national park of sorts, where there was a large lake with a restaurant on the bank next to a garden of colourful flowers. Driving around within the park, we went past some houses and blocks of offices, the Chiang Mai Zoo and the BBTV station with a satellite dish.

After approximately two hours of driving around, we returned to the hotel and rested our slightly sore butts. Later in the evening, we would drive around aimlessly again just to see the sights of the city. We went past many roadside food stalls and night bazaars, bars and small eateries.

One thing that we noticed was how orderly traffic in Chiang Mai is as compared to Bali. For one, drivers do not press the horn at you if you are a little delayed in starting off at a green light. Most of the drivers travel at speeds of 80km/h and everyone is generally polite. Air pollution was minimal, with the odd truck, van or tuk-tuk giving off black fumes.

We came back early to the hotel and retired early; we have a long trek tomorrow morning and need to rest our bodies!

Sawadi Kha!

Yes, we have been in Chiang Mai for slightly over 24 hours. After our arrival, we checked into the Eurana boutique hotel, spent a couple of hours by the pool then took an evening walk around the night bazaar.

The weather in Chiang Mai is lovely: the sun is shining while temperatures are between 20 to 24 degrees with relative humidity not higher than 54 per-cent. Internet connection using our own laptop at our hotel is free (we love that particular ‘f’ word).

The night before was spent at a guest house 15 minutes from the Low Cost Carrier terminal of Kuala Lumpur. Although the name does not come to mind now, but it was comfortable, minimal lodging for RM120 (approx. EUR26/ US$34/ S$53): air conditioning, king size mattress, towels, a quick breakfast and airport transfers.

Tomorrow we embark on a three-day-two-night trek to some waterfalls located southwest of the city. We will stay in the village on both nights, and take an elephant ride on the last day before we transfer back to Chiang Mai again.

Looking forward to the adventure and will update then.