I woke up at 6am and decided to sleep some more and then woke up again at 8am as the English girl was getting up. I got up as well and after lots of faffing went to rent a motorbike but then the woman there wanted my passport and I had forgotten my camera as well. The English girl meanwhile was doing a tour for 400 baht which is not bad. I went through lots of details for the motorbike as I'd been stung in Croatia with the bike having no insurance. She said the whole bike costs 48,000 new which is quite a risk but although websites say it is dangerous they also say it's fun and a good way to see the island and I do have to have some fun to write about as well as other things. So I decided to rent it for the day and it's only 150 baht (less than £4) but then I had to sign the form and it said I'm not allowed on mountain roads so I couldn't go where I wanted to which was to the waterfalls. I went back to the hostel to check if I could still do the tour but it was too late as Sarah had left so I agreed to the bike and also paid 40 baht for a bottle of petrol and off I went, checking my mirrors moving ok for about 100 metres when I realised the fuel gauge was broken so I went back and the woman said it was ok it just didn't have enough petrol for the gauge to move and the bike could do 20km on that (wow so this was looking more expensive). Anyway off I went again towards the only waterfall I was allowed to see, and stopped for a couple of view places before I got to a petrol station where the attendant with the pump asked me how much so I said 100 bahts worth so that it would last a while and she filled it up to 76 baht and the tank was full, so not so bad. I carried on to a Tesco Lotus where I stopped for breakfast. I went back to the bike, took my key out of my pocket to start it and I realised that with the hotel key I now had 2 keys. As my brother said from some TV show he watched, keys are responsibility, so I had a little at least. Headed off to a viewpoint next and as the map had said there were 2 aggressive dogs which someone had bookmarked which I thought was pretty amusing as it showed up as an attraction on the map. The view was ok but it wasn't too photographic and the hills were pretty steep but the bike did fine despite the woman at the bike shop sating to me that there was not enough power in the bike to do the mountain roads but considering how easily it went up the roads I thought there was oodles of power for the bike to go pretty much anywhere. Anyway I carried on to the waterfall and it turned out to be the main one recommended by the internet (I had got my waterfalls mixed up). So I parked up and took a picture of some people riding an elephant and then walked to the waterfall. There was a woman charging 50 baht entry but I'd just seen a 4*4 rock up with a screaming woman on the roof (enjoying the ride) and they'd gone to a different entrance so I chanced that one and there was no entry fee there. I walked along and there was a tiny waterfall and pool with some Germans stripping off to swim but the map told me there was more to see including a natural pool to swim in at the end. The waterfall 2 was pretty good for photos and after that there was quite a hike and I got slightly lost on the way before I came to a small pool. So I got changed old school German style (since nobody was around) and went in but it was too shallow so I was soon out and decided to carry on walking. After some difficult terrain and also some easy paths unlike Bono I had found what I was looking for. The pool was about 10 metres square with a waterfall and it got pretty deep in places, it's just a shame it was so muddy. While I was there I thought about my blog and wondered if I should include at some point the Thai sales banter they have like when I say I'm English they say sound as a pound to me. Then I thought what do they say to people from other countries so I decided to find out by pretending to be from another Country next time someone asks me where I'm from. After I left the pool I headed back trying to follow the main path with ropes as much as possible and made it back to a restaurant area which had a pool and water slide (only 100 baht to use). This was the area just after the 50 baht fee which I missed earlier. I carried on down to try to find the 3rd waterfall and then left the main paths but there wasn't much so I decided to keep going all the way to waterfall 1 along the stream and found a better swimming spot which was long and thin (thats what she said), more like what you want when swimming. after I carried on walking mostly over rocks, past a zoo where people were taking 4×4 trucks to the waterfall. It was all a bit commercialised for me and as I hadn't gone the main route I turned up at the top of the waterfall for a different view and then there were some disused steps down which were fine to use. This waterfall was definitely the best of them and it had a big pool to swim in but I'd done enough swimming and my t-shirt and trunks were wet enough so I chatted to someone also not swimming and she told me about a petrified mummy and also a penis rock to see. I had to walk back along the road to my bike as the place is designed for not walking but it wasn't too far. As I left the area I checked out the shooting range and the cheapest price was 1,500 baht for 10 bullets whcih is a lot. I left and went to see the petrified mummy which was just a monk who didn't decompose so they put him in a box and recently someone decided to put sunglasses on him. After that I decided to go to a viewpoint as it was not late enough to go back and penis rock was on my way back. The view was on a building that never got completed and was pretty good since it was near the top of a hill. I checked maps.me and decided a secret buddah garden would be good, but despite having some good reviews when I got there I wasn't really in the mood for it and was running out of time so skipped the 80 baht entrance fee and decided to make it all the way around the island since my fuel gauge was still reading full.
I headed across and hit the west side of the island before 5pm so decided I had some time to waste before sunset so I followed a sign for a waterfall and started walkibg along the path but then when I checked maps it was over 1km walk to the waterfall which would have taken too long so I got back to my bike and went to Na Thon where the sky looked nice already from the pier. then I went north and sat down at a restaurant with a view and decent prices and ate watching the sun go down. After that it was getting dark and I still had half the island to get around which was fine. I stopped at a food market but actually wasn't hungry so I carried on to another market and parked up my bike maybe not in the best spot but I didn't plan to be long. I walked through the market which was just one road with table stalls on either side. There were different things so I walked for a couple of minutes then turned around always being slowed down by other people. When I got back my bike had gone with no sign of it so I wasw worried, but I walked on a bit and saw my bike on the side on the pavement with a guy there. I asked him if there was a problem like maybe a car had crashed into it or something but the guy said no he saw the police lookie lookie so need to move and 20 baht thank you very much the enterprising scammer but it wasn't too much and I probably shouldn't have left the bike there anyway. Headed off again to see the big Buddha but when I got there the gates were locked so I headed back to the hotel and left my swim gear to dry. There was no sign of Sarah or anyone else at the hostel the Germans had all left so I went to the internet travel shop place and afterwards went on the bike to see what was happening in town. There was a club with some ladyboys and then there was some live music. I just sat around drinking something non alcoholic before going back and reading a bit and planned an early morning the next day so I went to bed around 12 as nobody was there.
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