Day 7 of the Big Adventure, according to Lauren.

  
Knowing that we’d be in for an action packed day, we headed down to the cafe below our accommodation for a hearty breakfast. We both ordered the granola with fresh fruit and yoghurt (my fave) and a cup of tea for me. It seems that even in 30 degree heat, tea is still 100% necessary to set me up for the day. Realising that after our tour we’d come back knackered and needing a lie down, we decided that it was wise to book in for another night at Indy Home Cafe. Our room turned out to be already booked for that night, but the owner kindly let us have a 6 bed dormitory all to ourselves, as there were no other bookings. So after hurriedly moving all our things downstairs and shovelling down our breakfast, our lift arrived. We climbed on the back of the pickup truck (standard mode of transport for groups of people in Koh Phangan) and held on to the metal bars above our heads for dear life. Each of these journeys was like our very own mini roller coaster; the roads are winding and very steep at points, and it always seemed like a race to get to the next destination.
 
 
First stop: the refreshment area. 

This is best described as a collection of picnic tables with a fridge. It turned out to be where the guides lived so there were family members and pets milling around too. The pets being caged birds and a couple of tethered up monkeys who were apparently there for our entertainment. They asked if we’d like to play with the monkeys but we weren’t keen on the whole tied up by their necks situation. Another girl in our group was up for it and asked if they bite. The man replied “No, we took their teeth out”. Safe to say animal welfare isn’t a priority out here. We had the option of including elephant trekking on our day’s itinerary, but chose not to after reading reports that the elephants are mistreated.
The driver for the day also seemed to have been appointed as entertainer. While waiting for the rest of the group to arrive, he did a magic toothpick trick (which I figured out to his surprise) and a card trick, which failed the first time, but was all the more entertaining when the second attempt was successful. This became the theme of the day – the Thai guides providing challenges for us to figure out and our group giving them word riddles.
Three Russian tourists arrived which completed our group of 8, so the day could begin. The entertainer/driver provided roller coaster fun on the journey to the first stop while the other guide, introducing himself as “You”, took us through the itinerary of the day.

Second stop: Thai temple.

Before entering we were asked to cover our shoulders and legs with towels/sheets, as the monks aren’t allowed to see women. We entered the first temple which was filled with large paintings depicting the different lives of the Buddha. There was also a golden Buddha and we were instructed on how to pray/wish to him for the things we wanted in our lives. Apparently if, after saying your prayer, you can’t lift the golden Buddha, this means your wishes will come true. So we each knelt down and performed the ritual in turn. I wished for Sarah’s bag to turn up, but unfortunately could still lift the golden Buddha afterwards. We then went to another part of the temple where we lit insence sticks and prayed in Balinese to a multi-headed snake thing.

    
 
The next ritual involved hitting a large golden bell with a stick 3 times over; apparently it signifies one for yourself, one for your family, and one for everyone else, presumably wishing good things upon them.

  

We then went down to another part of the temple where a large marble laughing Buddha sat, and were instructed to circle his belly button three times for good luck.

   

After taking in all the cultural beauty, and a few more card tricks and challenges involving sticks and strings, we were on our way to the next part of our tour. 
     

Third stop: beautiful beaches.
Another roller coaster ride later we arrived at a gorgeous beach with crystal clear aquamarine water for some snorkelling. I got an unfortunate glimpse of a Russian man’s testicles and so we quickly gathered our cameras and headed for the safety of the water. Half an hour later we went over to Malibu beach. Here the sand was whiter than white, with more inviting blue water to cool us down. There were also big swings hung up between palm trees – absolutely idyllic.
   

We frolicked around on these for a while, making sure we got some good photos, and were then joined by You who showed us how our names were written in Thai in the sand. I told You he had to pose with Sarah for a picture of her name, and with no hesitation he grabbed her and sat her on his knee. A new love was blossoming.
 

 

It was lunch time so we headed to the pickup truck to be taken back to the refreshment area. A lunch of chicken and tomato (turned out to be potato – language barrier issues) curry with rice and vegetables was waiting for us. We tucked in, mostly sticking to the rice and vegetables with sauce to be safe, and nibbled on some Oreos for pudding. ‘Tricks and challenges’ time came around again, this time involving a Sprite bottle, some cutlery and a toothpick. This one baffled us all and soon it was time for the next attraction. We gave the guides another word riddle and piled into the truck. 

Fourth stop: waterfall.

 

Another thrilling (slash fist clenching) ride later, we arrived at a huge waterfall. Down some stairs, through some jungle and up some rocks we clambered to the guides’ favourite place for jumping into the pools. They showed us how it was done and signalled that it was our turn, showing with their arms the exact place (around a metre squared) we had to aim for so as not to be met with rock as we plummeted into the water. Sarah was out no question, with Mummy Clark’s words of warning ringing in her ears. I was more tempted and stood on the edge for a couple of minutes trying to summon up the courage. However sensible Lauren overruled and I eventually backed out too. I opted for a jump a little later which involved abseiling down a large rock first, but had a much wider area of deep water to land into.
    

We were then taken up to a higher part of the waterfall to sit on the King’s chair (apparently the King of Thailand visited the waterfall and sat in this spot many times over). You gave Sarah and I a beautiful pink flower each to place in our hair, to ensure we looked like Queens. I took the first turn and posed for a photo.
  

 

Then it was Sarah’s turn, so You kindly provided his lap for her to sit in (wouldn’t want her to sit on bare rock now would we) and they had their King/Queen moment, with a slightly uncomfortable/awkward/what is this man doing smile from Sarah. The crush develops. 
   

Just as we were finishing up with the photos, You suddenly slaps me on the cheek, much to my horror, followed by “excuse me, mosquito”. Was I meant to be grateful for this supposed mosquito killing slap? Personally, I felt it was some kind of attack of jealousy because he wanted Sarah all to himself. This was in fact confirmed later, when his hands found their way around my neck once at the waterfall (pretending to be annoyed as I wouldn’t tell him the answer to the riddle), and again as we were saying goodbye, disguising it this time as some kind of affectionate physical contact. Like a hug just for the neck. Suspicious. He later added Sarah on Facebook and attempted to ask her out for dinner, but being the loyal friend (wife?) that she is, she made it clear we had other plans. Move over You.

Fifth stop: slip and slide. 

Sarah and I had not specified that we wanted the slip and slide in our day’s itinerary, but three of the other people in our group had, so we were taken along anyway to watch. It was a giant slide scaling a steep hill that you threw yourself down and into a pool of water. The slightly larger member of our group creating a bit of a tidal wave situation. They then headed down to the beach where there was a whole inflatable obstacle course set up in the sea; think total wipeout on a smaller scale. Sarah and I sat on some beanbags in the shade watching the others make fools of themselves, slipping over and falling off everything as they went. The guides told us we could pay a little extra to have a go, but neither of us were too bothered and frankly were knackered from the rest of the day, so it was a welcome rest. After half an hour or so of inflatable fun, it was back into the pickup truck to head to our final stop.
Fifth stop: Amsterdam bar. 
  

We had heard about this bar before so were super excited to be going well in time to catch the sunset. We climbed up and up and up and finally reached the bar, and it didn’t disappoint. A pool terrace area on the lower floor with deck chairs lined up facing the sunset over the sea. Above was the bar and more places to sit to view the sunset, with cute floor cushions surrounding mini drinks tables. We spotted some lads on the table next to us (Germans, as most of the tourists here in Thailand seem to be), two of whom were sporting the same elephant top that Sarah has purchased the day before. We grabbed a drink and decided we just had to go down and enjoy the pool, seeing as we were already in bikinis. We perched on the poolside with our legs in the water and sipped on our drinks watching the incredible colours of the sunset over the water. “What is life” – we were in paradise yet again.