TravelStream™ news feed for member katedaz32 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/katedaz32 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:11:56 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1213883760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1213883760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1213883760/tpod.html Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:11:56 -0400 London/India/Nepal/Thailand/SIngapore/Indonesia/Malaysia/Australia/New Zealand/Fiji/LA/London baby.Kate and Darren's adventure of a lifetime.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia

Well, what a highlight Borneo has been! We are so lucky really that we haven't disliked anywhere but Borneo was surprisingly wonderful. It wasn't on our itinery and at first we were just going there for a border run back to Indonesia and we are glad we did!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1210237980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1210237980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1210237980/tpod.html Mon, 26 May 2008 05:48:43 -0400 London/India/Nepal/Thailand/SIngapore/Indonesia/Malaysia/Australia/New Zealand/Fiji/LA/London baby.Kate and Darren's adventure of a lifetime.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Lake Toba, Indonesia

Bah, this is the second time I've had to write this and I'm sceptical if it shall be as good as the first attempt, but news needs to be told eh?So, we are in Indonesia, again a new country utterly different from anything else we've experienced so far! Our first stop was a quick overnight stay in Medan, although not much sleep was enjoyed due to the mosque next door blaring its religious music over the city at random hours! We had a crazy journey from Medan to Bucet Luang, far North of Sumatra, famous for its Orangutan rehabilitation centre. The journey was long and eventful - busy, crowded, dusty, bumpy - and irritatingly slow. The entertainment alternated between loud happy hardcore music and local lads jumping on with guitars and sharing a few tunes before disembarking somewhere along the way and being replaced with a newbie!On the bus we met Amir - our  jungle trek guide to-be, who had gone to Medan to use the internet (it was a 5 hour journey each way!!!) Towards the end of the journey we were in dense jungle on a dirt track road, really had that 'in the middle of nowhere'  feel to it, and when we saw Bucet Luang we were blown away by its beauty! Its pretty much a large and ever growing village of just one road situated just one side of a very fast flowing river with rapids. We stayed at the north end ( a long walk away) at garden inn which was fab except for the rats in the roof at night and the very stinky drains. But for less than 2 pound a night we were hardly complaining! The first night we had a few beers, watched the monkeys running around, prepared and planned our trek route and went out to dinner where i was informed there was no chicken for me cause the cat had run off with it!So, we (i should probably tell you now we were still with Tom and Charlie) set off for our trek into the national park with Amir and his helpers after a day of rest. We were anxious to get moving as obviously with the animals being wild there's really no guarantee of seeing anything at all! Straight away Charlie set a new record for  'the bridge issue' as , bless her  she is terrified of bridges! But she came across really quick and then we were in he jungle ooo! We were a bit thrown by seeing the massive knives our guides were carrying especially when we were told he had to take up the rear (hehe) in case we were jumped by a tiger!We were very lucky and happy to see Monkeys literally within 2 minutes of being in the national park area! A large group of Tomas Leus Monkeys who have punky hairdos in the trees nearby. We were happy to stand there gazing up at them (some were shagging teehee) but Amir coaxed them down with random monkey noises and bananas and then put the food on our heads and the monkeys came down and got them it was a crazy experience! During the trek we saw some weird trees too - rubber trees (is this a common fact? Cause' i was gob-smacked!) where they get rubber with just a leaf and half a coconut! We saw chocolate trees and anti malaria trees which tasted exactly like the disgusting tablets we stopped taking ages ago.Within the first hour we saw our first Orangutan - in fact we saw three, two females and one had a small baby which was gorgeous! They were less than 5 feet away and we just stood there watching them for ages and they just sat there watching us back (and keeping an eye on our rucksacks hoping for food). Whilst the baby had obviously been born in the wild, both of the females were previous habitants of the rehabilitation centre. It was strange watching them they were so human-like and lovely. About 20 yards away another came swinging through the trees to investigate what was going on but she was really shy and swung away (really quickly) Tarzan style when we came to see. Before a quick break we also saw a spotted frog and a chameleon.After walking for a couple of hours we stopped for a break, and the guides handed out some snacks, and the best mango's in the world! We had literally just sat down when Amir got all excited as another Orangutan was nearby! He quickly lost his excitement when he saw it up close though - it was Mena, a previous rehabilitation occupant well known for her aggressiveness - Amir had a Mena scar on his wrist!. With her she had a baby less than a month old and she saw us as a threat (she probably also wanted our food). Amir yelled at us to grab our bags and move away, which we did but not really realising the seriousness of the situation we were pissing about getting our cameras ready and enjoying our fruit when all of a sudden we were aware of the knife-wielding guides legging it and behind them this massive orangutan came wandering around the corner after us. So, not very quietly, we all started shoving each other through the jungle. Tom threw his mango at her to try and distract her from following us, and we thought we were safe, until once again she rounded the corner and off we went again. It was only then whilst we were running everyone saw me running and trying to  eat my mango at the same time - everyone else had discarded theirs but bugger that it was an  amazing mango - my amazing mango! Anyways, we were safe thats the main thing, but looking back it was quite funny really. Lunch time saw the first leech of the trip in Charlie's shoe, but as she was eating bugs left right and centre she barley noticed it! Daz got one on his leg too but we burnt it off. We got drenched that afternoon as the heavens opened just as we were climbing up a big hill so it was really slippery and muddy and we all nearly fell off the side a few times. For a while we tried to hold big leaves above our heads but, nice idea as it was it wasn't overly practical so we got soaked instead!We were all a bit damp when we finally made it to camp but luckily they'd had the kettle on so tea was a -waiting. We went for a swim in the waterfall to de skank , removed all the leeches and sat down to a wonderful spread! That night we were all knackered and wanted an early night (also tom's balls were on fire and he was a wee bit uncomfortable) so we crashed out pretty much straight away in our makeshift tent.The next morning i  woke up with something stuck in my hair it felt funny, but Charlie didn't think it was anything and the boys said it was clay (?why the fuck would i have clay in my hair?). Anyway, Amir came over to investigate and it turned out a leech had got me in the night and sucked my head dry! It got me on the forehead and scalp (apparently they bite at both ends!) and the right side of my head had been turned into pile of matted blood soaked hair! Lovely! Amir did what any local worth his weight would have done and ripped a square of card off his (clove flavoured) fag packet and stuck it on my head to stop the bleeding! A while later when the tent was being taken down, we heard a bit of commotion from the crew then Charlie pointed at it- the leech that got m and it was gross!! It was huge, like a big thick slug and they are so tiny when they latch on to you, i was almost sick. There was a massive trail of (my ) blood following it everywhere - probably he biggest meal it gets in its life! Apparently it was the biggest they'd ever seen! Animal wise we didn't see the Gibbons we were hoping to today but had a good day nevertheless - apart from our camera broke again. We saw Monator lizards, frogs, turtles, long tailed maccack monkeys and ladybirds having sex. We also had a very very tough descent which took ages as we were all falling over all the time! But when we got to camp we were blown away by its gorgeous location - right by the river, with lizards and monkey playing all around - and trying to steal pour food. There was a beautiful waterfall just behind our tent so we spent a while there, before having dinner, drinking some whisky and being taught random games by the locals!The next morning we had a lie in as we knew there was no more walking to be done! It was a amazing to wake up and for there to be monkeys and lizards wandering around camp. I could sit there and watch them for hours and saw the funniest thing. There were three monkeys, one big and two small sitting on a bunch of rocks and one of the little ones kept running up to the big monkey and slapping him in the face then running back to sit down again. He kept doing it over and over, even when the big one got tired and moved to another rock -  i was in hysterics!We had a very lazy morning swimming in the river and watching the wildlife - we both swam across the river through the rapids but i almost didn't make it and had to do a quick turnaround, and poor Amir came running down from camp in his tiny blue pants to save me! The boys had a competition to see who could hit a bottle in the distance first throwing stones. Tom won, but not before they were both beaten by a very camp local in pink shorts.When it was time to head back our 'raft' turned up - really it was 4 rubber rings tied together, and we and all our stuff clambered on board and floated down the rapids back to the Garden Inn. It was a fabulous few days, we definitely want to do it again, maybe a longer trek next time as it seemed to be over very quickly.We had a drunken evening with whisky and beers and lots of games and silliness. There was a massive storm making us glad we were under shelter as the river rose so much i don't know whether would have rafted in it.The next day and we were off - back to Medan and on our way to Lake Toba, a island the size of Singapore in the middle of Asia's largest Lake, a very strange sight! We ended up staying here over a week and for Daz's birthday as it was very relaxing, ridiculously cheap and glorious weather!I feel the need to apologise for the lack of photos here - our camera broke (again!0 during the trek but we should be getting som copies of the guys soon and we'll put them up then!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1196754420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1196754420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1196754420/tpod.html Wed, 21 May 2008 07:29:11 -0400 London/India/Nepal/Thailand/SIngapore/Indonesia/Malaysia/Australia/New Zealand/Fiji/LA/London baby.Kate and Darren's adventure of a lifetime.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Kathmandu, Nepal

Nepal Nepal, we love it! Well, we arrived on the 25th October from Delhi and headed straight for Thamel, the touristy part of Kathmandu to the Khangsar Guest house to wait for our fiends Tom and Charlie to arrive. Thamel is a crazy place, like a massive market selling everything you can think of and specialising in trekking gear. There are soo many people and taxis and rickshaws and bicycle rickshaws and beggars its overwhelming, noisy and pretty dirty but fun!!! We got hassled by way too many druggies for our liking, and one night some loser wouldn't leave us alone, threatening us with needles and bricks for money it was real scary and Darren had to knock him out in the end, then the police came and beat him with batons, we couldn't believe it!!!! Apart from that though everything was cool and We had some great steak dinners and spent many an hour wandering aimlessly round the stalls. When tom and Charlie arrived they bought two Canadian fiends, the lovely cousins Amanda and Kyle. We all dressed up for Halloween (as characters from The Wizard of Oz and a camel!) and got very drunk and went to a very expensive party at the local yak and Yeti hotel. We wanted to go to the casino but weren't allowed in because of our costumes.A good drunken night was had. The next day we went on a two day rafting trip to the last resort which was mental. The rapids were grade 3/4 - quite scary for virgin rafters and the water was soooo cold! We jumped in once and got thrown out once which was more than enough for us! On the second day we got up early to jump off a 160mete high bridge over the river - Kate did the bungee jump and Darren did the (worlds biggest) canyon swing, we have the dvds to show you when we get back it was amazingly scary and Kate lost her shoe in the jump - not funny when considering the 25minute steep climb up the side of th mountain after! The second day of rafting in parts was more scary than fun and we all got a good few cuts and bruises and were exhausted by the time we got back to thamel. To chill out we all went off to Pokhara a real laid back area by a massive lake which reflects all the mountains around it was beautiful! We had a massive drunken poker night won by tom and generally relaxed. We rented out mopeds to explore and find a pool to chill out by and got stuck in the worst hail Storm we could ever imagine. We took cove in a restaurant and it was so noisy we had to shout to each other. The hailstones were HUGE they could seriously do some damage but it was over relatively quickly. We also hired a boat and went for a boat ride and a climb up to peace pakoda which almost killed us and made us question if we wanted to trek or not - but we had already brought loads of gear!!! Tom and Charlie left for Varanasi leaving the four of us to plan our trek. we originally were going to do the Everest base camp trek but decided on second thoughts to do the Annapurna circuit - an 18 day (it took us 16 woo) trek through the Annapurna and surrounding Himalaya mountain range. It was easily one of the best things we have ever done and easily the most physically challenging. For 16 days (apart from 2 acclimatisation days) we were up by half 6 (sometimes earlier)and trekked for between 4 and 9 hours a day, climbing peaks to reach the pass which was at 5416 metes. We walked through forests, mountains, dessert and god knows what and it was so cold - minus 18 degrees at the top, everything froze. We saw loads of beautiful waterfalls and went in a boiling hot spring which was heaven after 5 (or in darren's case 10) days of not showering.The landscape was so beautiful we know we will never see anything as amazing again, nor will we have to endure endless herds of goats, yaks, donkeys and horses which could knock us off the paths as the pass and which move so slowly its silly. [PHOTO_ID_L=s516628183_211717_6019.jpgDarren nearly caused an accident when we moved a Rock to help a donkey pass, but instead of moving it to the side he just chucked it off the mountain and we all stood there for a few minutes wondering if he'd just killed someone or something or caused a massive landslide. We could wrote forever about the trek it was so worthwhile although the food was a bit shitty, hopefully the pictures (soon to be up we promise!) Will help. Anyway we did not die of altitude sickness, although we were all adamant at some point we had it, and apart from a brief spot on the 14th day when we flagged down a passing jeep and rode for an hour on its roof as we were so fed up of walking (kyle walked though) we were proud to complete the circuit, 220km long, in one piece with only a few blisters. Getting back to a good shower and bed in POkhara was the best feeling ever we slept so well , pigged out, drank a helluva lot of cocktails and watched TV. Once Amanda and Kyle left for Goa, we were sad and alone without our friends and found solace in the Kathmandu casino which was a great experience although we didnt make any money. Now we only have a few days left till we have to go back to Delhi to fly to Thailand - bring on the sun, sand and beaches!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1208965320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1208965320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1208965320/tpod.html Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:59:46 -0400 London/India/Nepal/Thailand/SIngapore/Indonesia/Malaysia/Australia/New Zealand/Fiji/LA/London baby.Kate and Darren's adventure of a lifetime.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Penang, Malaysia

So bye bye Thailand, Hello to more of South East Asia!!! We met Mr Lo, who helped run the travelers lodge where Tom and Charlie are staying, who has to be the most upbeat, energetic, efficient and friendliest Malay in the World! We aren't even staying there and he remembers our names! We were staying next door, but Darren kicked a huge rat on his way to the loo, and being right by the kitchen wasn't fun at 6am! So we are a few doors down, with a touchandgo grumpy owner!There is an elderly man with a zimo-frame here just wandering around at less than a snail's pace, bless him. He is English but apparently hasn't been home for 41 years he just flits - very slowly- between Thailand and Malaysia. He doesn't really seem to like wearing many clothes, just a towel or maybe sometimes some fisherman pants. We went to the Mall and found him in McDonald's - it was a bit of a trek it must have been an entire day's outing for him, about 7 hours later he came crawling down the road and when asked said it really wasn't worth it - there was no dressing in his burger!!!We brought some more dvds in the mall (*including LOST series 4 whoopee!) and we both were like 'we've been here before' but couldn't understand why - the bus we got to Singapore ,must have stopped in penang for some reason without us realising!We really wanted to explore but were scared by the sheer volume of traffic on the roads so didn't get a moped out in the end, but a=had a good old wander. We were also equipped with a map filled with attractions but which no matter how hard we tried we couldn't locate! In the end we jumped in one of those bike tuktuks, and the man riding it was so old it was a very slow journey, we probably could've walked. I felt so sorry for him and guilty i brought him a cold bottle of water and he was as grateful as i would have liked! Never mind. Also, when Daz got bored of me wandering around aimlessly he told me it was later than it was and i was genuinely very confused especially when the 7/11 guy told me it was 5 past nine (he meant 9 past 5) and i was gob-smacked, 'it's still daylight, whats going on???'.Georgetown, has hundreds of streets you can wander around in and has a very impressive little India which brought back lots of wonderful memories and The best tandoori in the world! We had to go back twice! And we saw a man with a guitar and a chicken do some very poor imitations of some classic songs, which had a lot of comedy value in the Mexican which didn't have nachos or fajitas!Penang was very hard to leave - not by want of trying, we just couldn't get out of the place - everything was shut, obstacles were in the way and then the boat only goes on certain days! Bloody nightmare!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1208187480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1208187480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1208187480/tpod.html Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:40:36 -0400 London/India/Nepal/Thailand/SIngapore/Indonesia/Malaysia/Australia/New Zealand/Fiji/LA/London baby.Kate and Darren's adventure of a lifetime.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Ko Lipe, Thailand

Somehow (and its gone so quickly) we seem to have used up our Thai visa time (90 days in 6 months) and so with 7 days left we decided Ko Lipe would be perfect and it had again been recommended by so many people, who also warned that in a few years it will be very touristy, so now's the time to go!The water here was similar to Ko phi phi - crystal clear and turquoise but the sand was fabulous, white and so fine - almost  like talcum powder. Also here the snorkeling was amazing, although a lot of the coral has been destroyed by local boats, and ....we saw a massive shark! Charlie told me it was an eel, but i saw straight through that facade and panicked a bit!!! But i enjoyed it alot more than the other times I've been snorkeling, although i was still too scared to go very deep.On one of our first days there, we saw some tornados out at sea, which was weird as none of us had ever seen anything like it, and it looked like they were much closer than they actually were - you could see the spray at the bottom-, and two boats were heading straight for them on the horizon. Also, a young kid almost drowned but luckily his dad ran in and pulled him out in time - it was weird as half an hour before i was like, 'oh my thats a really small kid, i hope he can swim' so we all watched him for a bit and the other children were all looking after him then 30mins later......phew! scary.We had a ice surprise halfway through as Adam turned up for a fleeting visit!! Again, we were on the beers by midday, and it was a very messy day - we all ended up getting tattoos and they loved us so much they shut shop and came out with us! Darren and Adam were showing off with their fire on a rope abilities and i burnt m arm when i had a go, and Darren put one out on the back of his head! A very good night was had, and somehow Tom even managed to stay up to watch Aldershot win the league!The local kids here were lots of fun and we spent time teaching them skipping games and making a skipping competition, they were hilarious although one little boy kept accidentally on purpose jumping into the rope every time and ruining it for everyone else!We had another 'its a small world' moment when Tom and Charlie wanted us to meet some friends of theirs - who we had met previously in Laos it was really bizarre!!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1207323360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1207323360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1207323360/tpod.html Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:16:17 -0400 London/India/Nepal/Thailand/SIngapore/Indonesia/Malaysia/Australia/New Zealand/Fiji/LA/London baby.Kate and Darren's adventure of a lifetime.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Langkawi, Malaysia

After saying goodbye to the fabulous Canadians, we headed down to Langkawi, Malaysia, where we were once again reunited with Tom and Charlie!!! Langkawi was an awesome place to spend my birthday , being duty-free so very very cheap!! We had fabulous accommodation, pretty much bug-free, hot(ish) showers and beers for about 30p!!! Can't complain.Our visit also coincided with the Langkawi water festival, and there were hundreds of people entering in all sorts of competitive activities hoping to win a gold medal and there were so many options - dodge-ball, raw seafood eating, sitting in and ice bath, raft building, catch a chicken, bamboo races etc we were determined to gt up early and compete and win a gold, but we were all very hungover the next day so unfortunately no medal for us!My birthday evening was as fabulous as expected except we started very early on so we were all skanky and unwashed!I was even escorted in  a wheelbarrow for a while! We played many a game, sang a few songs, had an in depth poo discussion where lots of stories were revealed (trust me - you don't wanna know), and all of a sudden found ourselves in World War three with the (German) neighbours who through a stone at our door and were very strange and rude - the women was in her underwear, and at one point got on her knees pretending to beg, and we were all like,'Er..........what are you doing?'. The old man used the naughty c word, which got us all going!!!Langkawi was great, there was a lot to do on the island so we had mopeds out for a few days. We went to the seven wells, and had a tough climb to the top of the waterfall where natural slides have formed to us being the brave girls went first down them on our bums, then the boys had a go. It was good as there were monkeys playing in the trees around us and you'd all of a sudden see one wandering past minding its own business! On our way down though, one started throwing things at us! And they were in the road and when we beeped them to get out of the way, they angrily chased us down the road!!!We drove past 'Cock beach' which we wanted to be amazing as we liked its name, but we saw an amazing sunset on the beach just south to where we stayed.Tom (who had developed some awful scurvy worm parasite living in his back) had been going on about 'special burgers' he'd had in Malaysia before so we had to give them a try and yes they were deliciously 'special', where the burger is cooked and then wrapped in egg, with lots of herb and flavor, yum yum!!We did many a trip to duty free on the bikes and stocked up on the old alcohol, so we had a bit of a routine going on of drinking day, hangover day, drinking day, hangover day - always the best way!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1207150440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1207150440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1207150440/tpod.html Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:08:07 -0400 London/India/Nepal/Thailand/SIngapore/Indonesia/Malaysia/Australia/New Zealand/Fiji/LA/London baby.Kate and Darren's adventure of a lifetime.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Kanchanaburi, Kanchanaburi, Thailand

We had to come and see these tigers after seeing the photos of 'random Michael' full moon guy. We were only here for a day, but it was so good we thought it deserved an entry all of it's own!So, we got up late (surprise surprise!) so we only had a couple hours here after the long bus ride from bangkok, and we almost didn't get in as daz was wearing bright red shorts (not allowed, apparently but maybe so you don't get mauled by a big tiger). We stood there um-ming and ahing for ages , until the lady said we could buy some trousers (why she didn't offer them in the first place we don't know - we lost valuable minutes).Anyway, the experience was great, although a bit touristy and not quite what we expected - having your photo taken with them was a bit rushed and a bit staged. To be honest it did enter our heads that the tigers had been drugged as they all seemed really subdued and most of them were sleeping. Nevertheless the pictures are great (apart form all the westerners in the background!). The best part of the day was the (again very quick) experience with the tiger cubs, who were really cute and playful. We got to cuddle them and stroke them, and i was amazed how big their paws were, as big as my hand!!!! When we left to leave one was still attached to me.As well as the tigers there were so many other random animals just randomly wandering around - boars, horses, cows, chickens and even a peacock!!!!!! It was a very animal orientated day!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1206718380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1206718380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1206718380/tpod.html Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:38:40 -0400 London/India/Nepal/Thailand/SIngapore/Indonesia/Malaysia/Australia/New Zealand/Fiji/LA/London baby.Kate and Darren's adventure of a lifetime.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand

We couldn't resist one last visit ! We ended up visiting Bangkok 7 or 8 times, but didn't have much to report except we love it!!! Knowing this was our last chance, and to see Amanda and Kyle off, we did a final shopping spree and sent 20kgs of stuff home, as the weight of our bags was just getting ridiculous! The last few times we had opted to stay in  Khao San Road, a backpackers heaven which is mad and noisy in the night, a strip of craziness selling everything you can imagine at ridiculous prices! We even saw some poor guy attempting to preach to people and he had no chance whatsoever of recruiting anyone or even being heard over the racket!We bumped into an old friend Ricky who buys English papers so we caught up on some news, we shopped till we dropped and in the end we moved back into the city as some thief was trying to steal our belongings in the middle of the night! But since January the hotel we stayed at had been demolished so we had to stay somewhere 'nice' (it had an elevator - to us, now, that's posh!) for a tenner a night! We also couldn't go without a visit to a ping pong show - hands down one of the most funniest thing I've ever seen!! I wont go into detail but i will say that Darren narrowly missed being hit with a banana!Following Tom and Charlie's recommendation we headed to an all you can eat roast dinner which made our lifes - 2nd roast dinner in 8 months! And the funny thing is i knew exactly where it was as I'd been there 9 years before, which was very strange. It was fabulous! We got ridiculously full i at 4 massive Yorkshire puddings, yum yum.We also spent way too long trawling around MBK, browsing as i like to call it.We have decided we could definately live in Bangkok, its great, we love it!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1206199800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1206199800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1206199800/tpod.html Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:24:02 -0400 London/India/Nepal/Thailand/SIngapore/Indonesia/Malaysia/Australia/New Zealand/Fiji/LA/London baby.Kate and Darren's adventure of a lifetime.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Ko Phangan, Ko Phangan, Thailand

Our attempt to get to Ko phangan in one day backfired after we had a fall out with a man at the bus stop in Krabi who was trying to rip us off! To be fair, we don't really trust many people trying to help us these days, we have learned to very sceptical of peoples intentions, so when the guy told me we'd miss the last bus and it was only four i stormed off in a huff and declined his offer of a ridiculously expensive minibus. 5 minutes later and it turns out he was right, so we sent the boys back to negotiate but when he saw me the price went up and he wanted the money upfront before the van. Women's intuition kicked in with me and Charlie not wanting to part with the money and a little bickering started and finally we gave in. A swanky bus with massive leather seats rolled up and we were well excited - it was like luxury for us!!! That is until the guy said all 4 of us had to squeeze in the back seat - not going to happen( especially since we had paid for four seats) So, we took on a united front, the guy got mad and we had to spend yet another night in crappy Krabi!!!!We finally got to Ko Phangan the night before full moon and we stayed with 'big mamma' a huge Thai lady who was really nice but gave off a very dodgy vibe!! The night of the full moon was awesome, we drank many a bucket of Mojitos and Tom ,who was on antibiotics got ridiculously hammered and we used our entire camera battery filming his sorry attempts at break dancing. Darren left his shoes somewhere, Tom then danced with a lady-boy until we rescued him and it was, in all, a mental night. There were thousands of people there and we were lucky to find Kyle and Amanda in the crowd, but not lucky enough to lose the weirdos who had tagged along with us from 'Big mommas', two of the strangest guys we have ever met who were the bain of our lives for a couple of days after!We moved to a really nice beach in the north of the island with a pool for kyle and Amandas final days and for Toms birthday where another crazy night was had, which ended in some skinny dipping and the boys skipping naked into the sea holding hands. Quality, although Tom wouldn't put his clothes back on so Charlie had to chase hi mall over the beach waving his shorts at him. Then we annoyed the Canadians by pretending we were ghosts and knocking on their bungalow and generally being retards!Then we left Tom and Charlie to explore further and the rest of us headed to Bangkok for a final shopping spree!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1205767560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1205767560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katedaz32/2007_trip/1205767560/tpod.html Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:04:45 -0400 London/India/Nepal/Thailand/SIngapore/Indonesia/Malaysia/Australia/New Zealand/Fiji/LA/London baby.Kate and Darren's adventure of a lifetime.

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Ko Lanta, Thailand

Yeay! We are reunited! Its been a helluva long time since we've seen Tom and Charlie - Nepal we think??? SO that first day was full of drunken cathups and comparing where we've been, what we've been to etc. To be fair there's not much to report here, not a lot was achieved except laying in the sun and me and charlie chatting nonstop and the boys playing pool.We went out on mopeds one day but were pretty dissapointed by the sights, especially as Ko lanta had been recomended to us by a few people but we couldnt really find anything to do - we went to a monkey 'orphanage' but quickly realised it was a very nice place as they were chained to trees so we refused to go in as thats just not nice! And we took a trip to a big hammock shop which had an amazing collection unfortunately out of our price range but funky anyway!Me and darren adopted a little kitten I named Gary whilst we were here and we fed him and let him sleep in our bungalow cos he was tiny and so cute and i was really really sad to leave him!
]]>