BOATthen back to don sak by ferry the next afternoon, then on to surat thani train station for an overnight sleeper train to bangkok. we arrived at 8:30am the next morning, saying goodbye to ekk at hua hin station en route at 4am! in bangkok we stayed at the siam@siam hotel near MBK. very nice, but after chaweng gardens, it seemed a bit tired. nice breakfast though, and also a free cocktail hour from 6-8pm everynight, if you stay in an executive room! also a great pool overhanging the side of the hotel tower. spent just one night in bangkok before my mother had to make her way to the airport and her flight back to london. bangkok now (since 17th february 2008) has a SMOKING BAN, for all air conditioned places, including bars, restaurants and clubs! took a taxi directly from the airport to bangkok's southern bus terminal. from there i took a bus to hua hin and met up with ekk again. spent five days there. hua hin seems to be a place where elderly scandinavian couples go to die, it is also full of lady hostess bars. the gay night life is minimal, about 5
PHI PHI DONRAINBOW CAUSED BY SPRAY AND SUNSHINE AGAINST THE LIMESTONE SEA CLIFFS"bars" scattered around town, which have just a motley collection of local guys (not all necessarily gay either), hanging around outside offering massages (of the dubious kind only). still i was there only to see ekk...
we spent 3 nights at railey. the first day we went on a trek around the cape, visiting tonsai rockclimbers beach, via the jungle walk from railey east. then we took the scrambly path to railey west for lunch. in the afternon
KOH ROK MY MOTHER FEELING THE HEATwe scrambled up to the viewpoint, then halfway down to the inner princess lagoon. then it was a final walk to phra nang beach, where my mother had a beach massage and we viewed the sunset. the next day we hired a longtail boat to visit poda, chicken and tub islands. we went to places i'd hadnt been to since i was there with ekk when we first met in november 2003! 
after that day, we hired a taxi to get us to don sak, the ferry port for koh samui. where we met up with ekk. the taxi took less than 3 hours, far shorter and better than the cattle run joint tickets you can buy. they can dump you at their depots for hours waiting for connections. the resort we stayed at on samui wasnt the one i had booked, as that was too grotty and old, and also far from the action. we ended up at the chaweng gardens beach, which recently has been rebuilding itself, while still keeping its garden setting. naturally prices have risen, but the rooms are really good and
