Koh Lanta

We left phi phi reluctantly but time is short and we didn't know what the next island was like! Reading and listening about Koh Lanta made us decide to go. The usual started up when we got on the ferry where people try and sell you their hotels. One ladies hotel sounded good and cheap so we went with her.

Well what can we say about Koh Lanta!! We lay in our infinity pool looking out at the sea, lazed in the deck chairs on the beach, watched the sun go down over the sea (from either location), and generally soaked up the sun and relaxed!

The food was great too! We ate on the beach every night tucking into such things as Barracuda (which is a pretty scary looking fish we swan with in Koh Toa), mackerel and of course the mighty Massaman curry.

One night, as we were heading for bed a group of people asked us to join their card game. They were from France, Spain and Norway, but luckily all spoke to each other in English!!

We walked to Long beach the next day to see if it was any nicer. It was surprisingly, a long beach but we decided we preferred where we were staying. Looking for a short cut back to our beach (instead of the road way) we found ourselves in the woods. Going up mud paths and abseiling down hills in flip flops isn't easy! We got down and then had a mountain of rocks to navigate through before getting back to our beach. One of the reasons our beach was better was because it had lots of Bubble crabs. They make sand balls whilst looking for food. Its really funny to watch them make them!!

We loved Koh Lanta so much we stayed an extra night, and even then didn't really want to leave!

The next day we got picked up to goto Krabi airport which consisted of.... Minibus ferry minibus ferry minibus! Sounds bad but only took 2 hours!!

Time for a new country when we land, this time kids, it's Malaysia!

Koh Phi Phi

We arrived in phi phi early after a 6am departure from Phuket. On arrival we got bombarded with people trying to sell us everything. We were outside a dive shop and a guy gave us a good map and told us where to stay! We found a room for 600b (the priciest yet - almost £11 a night!). It had all the mod cons though, including a bed and a cold shower! Not great but it's fine as we only slept there! Phi phi is a lush island though and worth the extra dollar.

The main beaches are separated by the town which sits in between either. A lot of the town was rebuild after the tsunami which pretty much flattened the town (we saw a photo here!). On the way to our bungalow there is a bit of land on the hill which is where the wave hit and it's a mess. The wave was 5 metres so it's pretty amazing anyone survived.

The beach we went to has white sand and is surrounded by hills and cliffs. More importantly though the beach has no sunbeds, it makes such a difference! Just as we sat down on the beach who did we bump into but Chris and Emma. Unfortunately they were just leaving, so it was pretty weird to bump into them again!

That evening we headed out to sample the nightlife. We had the worst mojito ever whilst waiting to get free buckets with the flyers we had been given! They had put Creme de Menth in it which is like drinking toothpaste! We headed down to the beach and sure enough got our free buckets. We went back there later and got even more free buckets!! We weren't quite sure how they make any money but it was busy!! We then went to slinky bar which had all the fire shenanigans again. We did actually decide to participate in one of them which was jumping through a fire hoop. Don't worry folks if 'evilcanevil' can do it on a motorbike...how did he die again? Anyway we made it and have a few pictures on blog AND a video of us each!

We went down the beach the next day for a err beach day! The weather was smokin' which helped us sweat out the previous nights alcohol. The sea was unbelievably hot, like bath water hot and that's no exaggeration! We only started to cool down when we swam far out. Weird. We forgot about the viewpoint and hurried ourselves up the hill to try and make the sunset. The view was amazing, but a little dark for photos (although there are a couple).

In the evening we went to an all you can eat BBQ. How good does that sound?! As much BBQ meat, chips, baked potato's, sweetcorn, salad, potato salad, pasta as you can eat! We managed 2 platefuls ad it was soooo good! It was out of our normal price bracket (budget) but glad we indulged. It made us realise you really could eat and drink like a king on a 2 week holiday here!!

I got up the next morning and decided to try and run to the viewpoint. I stopped running after about 2 minutes of running up steep steps! I carried on though on got some good snaps. We had our 3rd in a row 'American' breakfast, which seemed more 'English' to me, as it was so good. Baked beans, the lot! We've eaten lots of the local food for dinner (most nights) but we will never be able do it for breakfast (soup, noodles or rice...I'll stick to toast thanks!!)

We got picked up to go on our snorkeling tour which included stopping at 'maya' bay which was 'the beach' (film) beach. We stopped at bamboo island which was a paradise island! Very nice. Unknown to us, 2 guys from our boat left on a different boat so when our captain did a count he was 2 short. We waited and circled the island for over an hour which meant we missed out on 3 stops. The captain decided to ring somebody after this time and found out straight away that the guys were on another boat. Everyone in the boat was like he could've done that ages ago!! We did a bit more snorkeling which was good and funny (fish darting towards us as if to attack us and then change direction at last minute!). We got to Maya by for sunset and it was really nice. It seemed bigger than on the film but it looked really good, although the sun didn't set on it.

In the evening we did the ultra budget traveller and bought a bucket from a stall and drank it outside a shop where we were getting free wifi (using the iPhone). Speaking of the phone it's been pretty useful, a lot of places in Asia have free wifi which saves some money. Even Emma's finally impressed! We've seen a lot a travellers with laptops which is a bit excessive we think! We've also got a currency conversion app which means we never have to work out how many millions something is off the top of our heads!

Time to leave Phi Phi for Koh Lanta. It's an amazing island we could've stayed longer. All the surrounding islands were also amazing

Videos!

Kris



Emma (Emmas daredevil gymnastics!)



Photos

Phuket

We eventually arrived at Phuket town after the journey from hell! We got up at 5.30am and got picked up late at 6.30. Grrr. After getting on a minibus, big bus, boat, big bus, minibus and then another minibus we arrived. We stopped way too many times, with transfers, stops at random places to see if we wanted to pay extra to go somewhere else or book accommodation (which we already told them we didn't). In the end we got shirty as we arrived much later than planned at 5pm. If we hadn't stopped so much, we'd have arrived 4 hours earlier!!

We decided to stay in Phuket town as the lonely planet said so and we also didn't want to stay on the bus any longer! We found a really good hostel and asked where bars and restaurants were. The receptionist said there's loads of them on this street. We walked and walked but found a grand total of 2 bars/restaurants! We decided that the town ain't big enough and caught a bus the next day to the Costa Del Sol, I mean Patong beach.

We got there pretty early using a local bus and found a 'room to rent' above a shop. We saw a sign on the place next door that said, 'no high heels' and 'we will not be responsible for missing items from your guests'. It was cheap though and was nice enough but did smell of wet dog.

We excitedly headed to the beach and was not happy with what we saw! You couldn't see the sand from parasols and deck chairs!! To make it more annoying most were empty as it's still low season, they just didn't want to leave ANY room for people to sit on the sand. It looked like a costa del...!
The weather was cloudy but was getting better!

That evening we went out to Bangla road which is where the 'action' takes place. We ended up having drinks in a bar whilst *hundreds* of ladyboys paraded themselves around the punters. It was really funny. It is really difficult to tell what's what and who's who!! (apart from the muscly one on the guys shoulders in the photo! - and the topless one!)

I had a bad belly the next day (not from beer) so we didn't get out til late but when we did we felt heat coming from a burning object in the sky...the sun was back!

We decided we'd had enough of Patang beach and headed up the coast in search of nicer beaches. We ended up at Surin beach which lonely planet said 'this could be your paradise'. Again we were disappointed as deck chairs and parasols covered the beach completely! Without them, it would be an amazing beach with palm trees behind and warm clear water. We bought some more souvenirs, which means another box of clutter winging it's way to Britain. Hopefully there's a box big enough for the hat!!!!

Koh Samui

We had to say good bye to Emma and Chris as they were heading to Krabi (hope you enjoy the rest of your travels guys!!) But unfortunately for us Rich followed us to Koh Samui!!! (only joking mate!) It tipped down as we arrived so Rich, Emma and I stayed at a hotel recommended by Emma and Chris. It was pretty nice and had a pool!! We immediately went to Maccy Ds to fill up on Western food. We then looked round the shops for a bit and watched rubbish films as it tipped down. We ventured out again in the evening for a baked potato- can you believe we're missing them?!

The weather still wasn't great the next day so didn't do much again! Sat on the beach for an hour or 2 until it started raining.

The next day we went along with Richard to a beach in the south where he was going to go kite surfing! The weather and beach were nice and it was cool to watch everyone kite surf. Kris was going to have a go but the conditions were a but rough for a beginner.

That evening we had a good (and cheap finally) Massamum curry and Penang curry. Then (after a few beers!) it was off to the ladyboy show! It's just something that has to be done in Thailand!! It was actually really good, as it was so funny! Not sure if it was meant to be so funny though! They were dressed up like Madonna and Shirley Bassey trying to sing along but obviously didn't know the words!! We ended up having a bit of a wild one that night and got back in at 5.30am. It was so funny watching all the Thai girls flirt with the western men (of any age!!)

We decided to stay an extra day as the weather was meant to be nice we didn't want to waste a nice day travelling (the forecast said it would get bad the day after). We saw a flyer for golf football and thought we'd give it a go! We turned up and was not that impressed. We played anyway and actually really enjoyed it. The course was laid out really well and it places it was difficult. Emma managed to damage her toe on her second kick but I pointed out it was her left foot and she's not a lefty!! She still managed to find every ditch, pond and tree which caused some difficulty (and not much competition! - just kidding). I made the leader board as the best Welsh person but it was nowhere near the course record!! (or the English one- thanks Emma!!)

We went down to the beach for the rest of the afternoon and it looked really nice in better weather!

Needing to get up at 5.30 for our trip to the mainland we said our goodbyes too Rich who was heading to Bangkok and then home (keep in touch) and got ourselves an early night.

Koh Phangan

We decided to head for accommodation where the black moon party was to be held (as it was coming up). We turn up and we can't see a single person. No one on the beach, no-one at resorts so it was nice and peaceful but dead!
- Just a quick mention of a bird (in a cage) we saw at one of the bungalows. As we approached I heard a 'hello'. We presumed somebody could see us but we couldn't see anyone. We then saw this bird talking. It spoke in Thai and could speak sentences- we were both amazed! Little things!!

We got another taxi and headed to another area where the full moon parties are held. We found a complex which had cheap rooms and a pool. To our shock The Dutch guy Richard, Chris and Emma were staying there. We hungout by the pool (which overlooked the beach) and that evening met the guys to eat, play pool and drink strawberry shakes! (it's a hard life!)

The next day we headed for the full moon party beach (which wasn't on when we were there). The beach was really nice- a big stretch of White sand and clear waters. As we left we could see the many bars preparing for the evening events. We met up with the guys and headed back into town for dinner. We found a nice pizza restaurant and had an amazing calzone pizza! We went to 'drop in' bar on the beach which had made quite an effort with it's decorations. We were given a free drink and then I won a 'bucket' for getting a basketball into the hoop! So that was a good start! We watched local guys do what we'd call 'fire dancing'. It was a pretty crazy bar, every so often fireworks would go off, fire balls were being thrown over our heads (for another guy to catch it!) which didn't make it that relaxing! They later brought out a huge skipping rope which was doused in petrol and set alight. It didn't look very safe and our thoughts were confirmed when we saw a few people with minor burns!! They also got a hoop of fire out which was just at mental!! We chatted to the locals selling their cocktail buckets and they showed Emma how to make flower rings out of straws (I bet you can't wait for her to share this new found skill with all of you at home!!). Chris (not Kris!) got cornered by what he thought were prostitutes in the men's loos, but the local women took great delight in telling him that they were actually lady-boys!! She then told the rest of the bar people, and they all found his shocked face hilarious!! (Sorry Chris had to pass the story on!!) We ended up getting back at 4.30am which wasn't as late as the other guys!

The next day was Pool party day which was being held where we were staying. We again sat around the pool as it's in a pretty good setting. Before the pool party we went to a BBQ Buffet with Rich. We had a stove on our table and we helped ourselves to meat. There was mainly only meat to choose from so it got a bit heavy going after our second plateful! We get back to the pool party and it's in full swing. So another late night!!

The next day we left to get the ferry to koh samui. We didn't stick around for the black moon party as the weather was meant to get worse and we'd had a few late nights already. As we left on the ferry, in came the rain!

Koh Toa

We got to koh toa in the afternoon feeling pretty knackered after the near sleepness night on the bus/beach but we were soon relaxing on the amazing beach. We found a bungalow about 20 metres from the beach pretty cheap but it was slightly open to the elements. We quickly realised we weren't alone in the bungalow as we saw at least two 30cm lizards!! It was fine but a shock when we first saw them!

We sat down on the white sand, with the turquoise water at our feet and watched the sunset! Nice.

The next day we we went for a wonder hunting for other beaches and came across one called 'freedom beach'. It was so picturesque so spent the day there.

Koh Tao is renound for diving (if you're in those circles!) so we booked ourselves on a snorkelling diving trip around the island. We stopped at the first place which was called shark island. The crew said that may be sharks in the water (it's ok though) but no-ones saw one. The fishes were amazing though. So many different types it was like being in the Finding Nemo movies with large groups of fish swimming all around you! We headed to our next stop. We were snorkelling together when emma pointed at a black tip shark and then proceeded to swim away from it in terror! There was only a few people who saw it too so we felt pretty lucky! (later that evening we met people who had been on 4 day diving courses that didn't see as much as us!) our last stop was to Koh Nangyuan which was a set of 3 islands joined together by stretches of sand which looked amazing. We walked to the top of one island and got amazing views of the area. We sat on the beach and could not believe our eyes as 1 Italian lady had a picnic blanket FULL of coral. It's an offence to take anything and we couldn't believe it. If everyone did that there wouldn't be any left! Later that evening we properly splashed out and ate some good food. To break the mould of burger/rice/noodles we had a BBQ at a beach side restaurant. Yum yum. We headed to a pool bar as a Dutch guy (Richard) we met on the trip was going there. We met another couple when we sat down and the guy introduced himself as chris and the girl as emma. We were all like that's so crazy!!! (We've since been travelling with them and the Dutch guy over the past few days so it sounds like we keep referring to ourselves as the 3rd person when talking about them!).

The next day we left Koh Tao (a bit begrudgingly) and headed for koh phagnan. I say begrudgingly as we loved koh toa but the other islands we want to visit could be just as good or better!

By the way some photos are worse quality as they were taken with the underwater wind up camera!

Bangkok

As you may remember we took a flight from Luang Prabang on the ever reliable 'Laos Airlines'. The landing was pretty sketchy and it wasn't until we were safely on the ground that we admitted to each other that we weren't sure it was going to land properly! The plane seemed to come down front first and then levelled out as it landed! Phwww! Anyway that's it for our flights in Asia! They haven't been cheap but they've saved us a lot of time!

We got transport from the airport for 150b or about £3 to the centre of entertainment known as Kohsan road. We found a hostel pretty quick and quite expensive for what we're use to (£9) and it was the cheapest around. We expected it in the capitals though and we'd have to get use to it in Australia!

We started wondering around and realised we needed to get a new memory card before we do anything. We had a quick look around and soon got chatting to a Thai lady who was seemingly waiting for someone. She was really nice offering us advice and told us 4 main sites we should go and see. She told us that it should only be 20b in a tuk tuk and that we should never pay more explaining that there were some unofficial tuktuks around and how to spot them. She flagged down what she told us was a government authorised tuk tuk for us but we didn't take it because we were looking for a memory card. As we walked away we felt guilty for being so apprehensive about the lady. We got to another junction and strangely enough the same thing happened. Friendly guy starts chatting to us with exactly the same speech! He also flagged down a tuk tuk who was waiting nearby. We again declined the tuk tuk as we were heading to the shopping mall. When we asked the tuk tuk driver to take us to the mall instead he said that it was closed (on a Saturday!). This confirmed our thoughts of there being some scam and we didn't feel so guilty about the lady earlier on! We have met nice people along the way but because there are scams and people trying to overcharge us we are apprehensive to all we meet! Which is a real shame!!

We found a memory card and wondered around the area which is filled with shopping malls. There prices are the same as UK prices so no purchases for us. The airconditioning was a welcome break though every time we went in! It was very hot while we were in Bangkok! Can you believe that they've started putting up their Christmas decorations up in November?! You'd never get that in Britain (-they go up in September!). We just found it strange as it was so hot and the decorations were going up!

We then headed to the biggest market we've ever seen. We didn't get around all of it even! As we were leaving everyone stood still whilst (what I'm assuming was) the national anthem started playing. People were laughing at us as we clearly looked confused about what was going on! We ended up staying still as well, just in case we offended anyone!

We went down Kosan road expecting chaos but actually got people selling food, clothes with a few bars scattered on the street. We were expecting a drunk Brits abroad scenario! It was good however to have a wonder. We saw different things each night on this road. We saw a few lady boys but not loads - or maybe we just couldn't tell! Each night we were greeted to men making finger/mouth popping noises at us advertising a certain type of 'show'! Also every time the police came down the street, the street tripled in width as all the sellers would disappear! Funny to watch.

The next day (8th) we went to Chinatown. We were expecting it to be like new York's one but it wasn't! It wasn't great. The lonely planet also put the thieves Market in the wrong place on the map!! We walked around it a bit after we found it but by then we were too hot and tired.

We spent the next day shopping in readiness for our time at the beaches. We also sent another package home but unfortunately forgot to pack the painting AND Emma's cone hat was too big to fit in any of the boxes! So it looks like it's continuing it's journey! Heading home later we stopped for some food and got chatting to efea and Klaus. We decided to go for a drink with them at 2am!

Feeling tired the next day we headed for the big Buddha, got lost and hot bored of walking. Our bus was leaving at 8 so we headed to the rendezvous. At this point we were told that the 6am boat (which we were due to catch immediately after the bus) was cancelled due to bad weather and the next one would leave at 1pm. That meant we would get to the pier at 5am sit and wait for 8 hours. So the bus leaves an hour later and we arrive in dark at this pier after very little sleep on the bus (they kept putting good films on really loud!) Everyone sat on deck chairs and waited. The sun rise made it a little easier to take though. The 'bad weather' was anything but, the sea looked like a lake!! They basically only wanted to make 1 trip that day to save money - it's low season which sometimes works in our favour sometimes not...this was a not occasion!! It was annoying that we still got there so early though. Predictably there was a restaurant (owned by the ferry company) open and ready to serve us breakfast and lunch! Very cheeky indeed.

Bangkok was not what we expected in the end. We were expecting pure madness but we just got bored there! (well as bored as you can be on holiday!)