TravelStream™ news feed for member sbanni on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/sbanni en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sun, 17 Aug 2008 09:37:33 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sbanni/1/1218459360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sbanni/1/1218459360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sbanni/1/1218459360/tpod.html Sun, 17 Aug 2008 09:37:33 -0400 Thailand, Cambodia and Laos

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Bangkok, Thailand

Day 54: Bangkok

We had a lie-in and then went down the Sukhumvit Soi (the main street near us) to find a good tailor to get our suit! We'd heard that its ridiculously cheap to get a tailored suit over here so we thought we treat ourselves to one! We found a nice place and agreed a price- £85 for an Italian wool suit and trousers, 2 Egyptian cotton shirts and a tie. The best they had in the shop :) Pretty cheap considering that would cost you maybe £400-£600 back home! So they took all the necessary measurements and we had to be back the next day for the second fitting. We then went to the other shopping centres in Bangkok which are all in the same place- Siam Paragon, Siam Discovery and Central World. They were all a bit expensive for us though so we went back to our favourite, the MBK centre! We just hopped on the BTS skytrain to get to the shopping centres- its a great way to get around the city. We played a bit of pro evo and had a look in some shops before going back to the hostel. It was Jimbo's last night out for 2 months because he was starting night shifts the next day so he was up for a big night out. So we met up with Ciaran and his girlfriend Louise, cousin John and brother Dallan. Also met Blanche, 27 from the Phillipines. We all went out and let Jimbo take us to all the best bars as he knew the place so well. We ended up in a club called Boss which shut at 3am and then headed to another club called Lucky for a bit. Got back about 4.30am and went to get some food- met a few guys from Spain- Carlos, Miguel and Alessandro.

Day 55: Bangkok

Got up quite late and then went to the IMAX cinema to see Batman. The IMAX is a huge curved screen and apparently its a 'better viewing experience' than normal cinema screens- which to be fair it was! It was a good film too. Before the film started everyone in the cinema stood up and we didnt know what they were doing! Turned out they do it all the time to show their respect to the king! Once the film finished we went to get the second fitting for the suit. Got back to the hostel and met Katie, Merica both 22, Louis from Ireland and Carlos, 36 from Portugal- really nice guy. We went out with them to a restaurant called "Cabbages and Condoms". We'd been to one in Chiang Rai- they seem to be a new chain of restaurant that tries to promote safe sex! They give out free condoms after your meal! Food was nice too! Went to a bar for a couple of beers and played some pool.

Day 56: Bangkok

Got up around 10am and went to the MBK centre all day to buy loads of clothes and stuff as its so cheap here! After a full day of shopping we went back via the tailors to collect our suits, which were great! We then went ti watch some thai boxing at 7pm- it started at 6 but the traffic was really bad so it took us an hour to drive 6 miles! The boxing was good- they had 10 fights, each with 5 rounds. The heaviest guy was only 9 stone so fairly small guys. We got there halfway through the 2nd fight and left halfway through the 9th- the last 2 were only 15 or 16 year old lads and it wasn't that good. I missed the only round where someone got knocked out as i'd gone to get a drink- typical!!

Day 57/58: Bangkok / Doha

Checked out of the hostel at 11am and had quite a bit of time to kill. We were flying back home at 2030 so we had to leave for the airport around 5pm. Dips went off for a last thai massage and I had a wander down the road and got a few more cheap DVDs! Got to the airport and checked-in- I asked how full the flight was and they said that economy was overbooked- so I thought i'd try and push for an upgrade (as they had to upgrade some people!). Wasn't gonna happen though! Had a look at the observation deck on the 6th floor to see some planes as i'm sad like that! You could see much anyway so we went through security and flew on the 6hr flight to Doha, which left early at 2015. Landed at Doha at 2300 local time (which was 0300 for our bodyclock) and didnt have to fly until 0750 so we got our rollmats out and had maybe 5 hours sleep in the terminal! When we woke up we started chatting to a guy who worked at the airport and he wanted to go travelling to Thailand so we were chatting about that. I asked him how they decided who got upgraded- he told me they look first at what your wearing. That explained why we couldn't get the upgrade! Flight to London left ontime and after another 6 hour flight we landed at 1300 local time. Luckily we weren't too jet-lagged as our bodies had thought we'd slept from 3am until 8am. Both flights were great- good food and as many drinks as you like!

So 2 months, 4 countries, 21 hostels/guesthouses, 13 bus journeys, 5 flights, 3 trains, 7 boats and hundreds of tuk-tuks later we had ended our trip! It was an amazing experience and well worth the money (perhaps £2,000-£2,500 for EVERYTHING). We met so many great people and with the help of facebook it should be quite easy to keep in touch with them. I couldn't reccomend our trip more to people!

I think I had 2 favourite places- the Silvery Moon Bungalow on the beach on Koh Phangan and Cambodia in general!

It felt good to be back to see everyone but I still really miss thailand and the relaxed way of life out there- plus the fact that everythings so cheap too! I hope i'll go back there sometime soon...
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Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Day 51: Phnom Penh

We had to get up at 0630 after only 4 hrs sleep so we weren't feeling so good! Got the bus to Phnom Penh around 8.30am which took 6 hrs. Stopped on the way in a place called Skun, which I'd heard of before because they have fried spiders! Sure enough I found these fried spiders and bought one. Although I couldn't actually bring myself to eat it! I did have a nibble on it leg which didnt taste so great so I gave it a miss! They are quite big spiders too- they have a bowl full of the fried spiders and a box full of the live spiders next to it. They also had some of them on string dangling (alive) from the stall! I'm not a big fan of spiders at the best of times! I'd heard that the legs are crispy- true, and that the back bit where the eggs are kept is very soft and gooey. Thats why I didnt bother trying the back because i'd probably have been sick! After this the bus arrived in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, about 2pm. The guy from the guesthouse was there to pick us up and he took us to our room. They had a free pool table so we played on that for a while. We went for a meal at a restuarant called the 'Flying Elephant' and we got a free beer with our meal. We went back and watched a film called 'Rescue Dawn' on the TV at the guesthouse and had a few beers. Chatted to a local guy who bought us some beer and it turned out he used to play in the Cambodian national football team- but the money is so bad he had to quit to get a better job!

Day 52: Phnom Penh

Today we were doing all the main things that people see in the capital. We hired a tuk-tuk for the day and went to the shooting range first. This is run by a former Cambodian army general. You basically drive a bit out of the city and go to this place, which I think may have been used by the army before, and are allowed to pay to shoot some real guns! So we turned up and they had a wall with all thr different guns you could shoot- there was an AK47, M16, M60, M3 and a few others. It was a bit pricey but that was kind of fair enough for what we were doing! In the end we opted for the 'real' AK47 as opposed to the cheaper 'copy'. This was $50 for one magazine, which had 30 bullets in. We decided to share one magazine. So then we got taken to a brick alleyway a few metres away and they closed the sliding glass door behind us. We put on the ear defenders and got to shoot down the alley at a target! The gun has a surprising kick to it when you fire it- even worse when we got to flick the switch down to 'automatic'! We only have a minute or so each as 15 bullets each doesn't really go very far- especially when your shooting on the automatic setting! It was a quality experience and our hands were shaking after from the adrenaline! The tuk-tuk driver couldn't understand why the English and Europeans love the place so much but I tried to explain that it would be impossible to do anything like that anywhere around England or Europe! There was one guy guarding the gate as we went in and other than that there was pretty much no security for these guns! So the next stop was the killing fields. Cambodia is still recovering from the Pol Pot genocide regime. Pol Pot was in power from 1975-1979 and during that time he killed an estimated 1.7million people in Cambodia- thats a quarter of the population. Anyone who was foreign or didn't agree with him or showed any sign of being intelligent was sent to be killed. This was either done at the killing fields or the S-21 prison at Tuol Sleng- our next stop afterwards. The best way to desribe the killing fields is grim. They have a memorial tower as you go in and it contains 8,985 skulls that were excavated from the mass graves they found here. The skulls are behind glass with the exception of the bottom few shelves. The very bottom shelf has the clothes that were removed from the bodies in the graves. All in all it makes for a very strange experience- it is fascinating to see and know what happened but you feel so bad too. We then walked around the site where you can see the mass graves which are still there. They also have a big section of the site where they know there are mass graves but they haven't yet been excavated- thats also a strange feeling, knowing that just under the ground a few feet away are thousands of dead bodies. It was a bit frustrating because as we walked around there were the usual kids asking for money etc etc which is annoying, but particularly in the place we were. So then it was on to the S-21 prison at Tuol Sleng. This has been converted into the genocide museum, but the prison has been relatively unchanged- all the information is presented in the cells so as to give you a better insight into what went on there. At the prison, people were tortured for 'information'. The vast majority were innocent and so had no information to give. When they were eventually seen to have given enough 'information', which usually meant they had confessed to something they hadn't done just to stop the torture, they were taken to the killing fields to be killed. We were there for a good 2 or 3 hours and the museum is quite big with plenty of information about the goings on and the stories of some victims and their families. The last stop was the royal palace which was nice. Once we got back to the guesthouse we decided to go to the night market for dinner- we were the only westerners there! That was quite nice to be honest! Had some food and bought a few things and after a couple of beers at a bar nearby, we headed back.

Day 53: Phnom Penh / Bangkok

We were flying back to Bangkok later today at 1630 so we hadn't got a lot of time that day. We did go to the Russian market, which wasn't really Russian at all! We dropped our ipods off at this shop and the guy put a load of music on for us- very cheap too! We got to the airport around 1430 and found out that the liquid regulations were in force in cambodia too! Possibly the last place I expected them to do this! Unfortunately for me my bag was already a few kilograms over the allowed weight, and being a lowcost airline they charge you. So that meant that the big bottle of Lao rice whisky i'd be lugging around in my hand luggage for the last 5 weeks couldn't go with me! I wasn't best pleased! I managed to put a little bit in an empty bottle of mouthwash which was small enough to take so at least I had a bit to try back home! So I gave the security guy the whisky and told it he could have it- the one guy was very proper and told me to put it at the side by the other stuff people had left, but the second guy had a massive grin on his face and thanked me! He probably had a good night...Flight back was great- only an hour and everything was bang on time- worth paying the £50 to avoid the 16 hour bus journey! When we landed in Bangkok we went to the Soi 1 Backpackers hostel again- we'd stayed there the first few days and had decided to finish up there too as we only had a few things to buy in Bangkok and were planning to go out a bit so because they only have dorm rooms, its really easy to meet people to go out drinking with! Met AJ, 22 from Cambridge, Meaghan, 25 from New Zealand and Ciaran, 24 from Ireland. Dave the owner and Jimbo the manager were just as helpful as they were before!
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Siem Reap, Cambodia

Day 47: Siem Reap / Angkor

We got up at 9am and got a tuk-tuk to the Angkor temples. These are fantastic! Angkor is just a gew kilometres north of Siem Reap. There are about 20 temples scattered across Angkor and they were all built around the 12th century and are still in good condition. Some have had some work done on them but they still have their 'original' look about them!"We did some of the smaller temples today. Our tuk-tuk driver was also like our guide- he took us to each site and then told us where we were. We visited the following Angkor temples: 1. Pre Rup 2. Banteay Srei 3. Banteay Samre 4. East Mebon 5. Ta Som 6. Neak Pean 7. Preah Khan 8. Phnom Bakheng. We watched the sunset from the last site which was incredible! We got back about 7pm and had some dinner. We were nackered after such a long day! Had a couple of Angkor Beers, which are really good- they beat most of the beers back home which is surprising!

Day 48: Siem Reap / Angkor

We got up at 8am and cycled (took advantage of those free bikes!) to the 2nd biggest of the Angkor temples, Angkor Thom. We started off by cycling into the South gate and around the wall of the site, actually on the wall! Its maybe 20 feet high but its really wide- the site is massive. We passed a tiny temple called Prasat Chrung and then came back in at the West gate. We then went to Bayon, which has loads of stone faces carved in all the walls. Then we went to Baphuon, Phimeanahas, the terrace of elephants (a long wall with lots of elephant carvings), the terrace of lepers and then through the 'victory gate'. All the sites mentioned are inside the Angkor Thom site. We'd now left here and went to Ta Keo, Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdei. Ta Prohm is one of the best temples- all the trees actually grow through the temple! Its had literally no restoration and is probably one of the best sites to visit to see what the temples would have originally been like. It was also used to get some graphics for the Lara Croft Tomb-raider film! Ta Keo was a tiny site off the main track- we were the only people there, which is unusual as all the temples are usually pretty busy. Again that site hadnt been restored much and was aparently quite a romantic place although me and Dips didnt really feel it! We got back after our day of cycling- which was 25km over the day! We went to the night market in the hope of finding some interesting food stalls but it was just souveneir stalls and the like. So we went and had a meal and headed back as we were to be up for sunrise the next day! The only bad thing about the temples is that when you arrive at each site you get maybe 4 or 5 kids at a time coming and trying to sell you all sorts of stuff- books on the temples, flutes, scarfs etc etc. They're really persistent too and get a bit annoying after a while! I did find some sunglasses on the floor (a 5yr old girls by the looks of it!) but I traded them with an 8yr old cambodian girl for some wooden flute which will make a decent souveneir! In fairness, some of the kids are a good laugh- they all speak really good english and don't mind a bit of banter either!

Day 49: Siem Reap / Angkor

We got up at 4am ready to get to the temples to watch the sunrise. We had some breakfast and started the cycle to Banteay Kdei, the temple where we should see the sunrise. Unfortunately for us it was cloudy so we didnt really see much of a sunrise! A little annoying considering the time we got up!! We left that temple at 6am and headed to Angkor Wat - the main temple of all at Angkor. This place is amazing! There were a few monkeys inside too and one got a bit aggressive with Dips! Sort of hissed at him a bit because he knew there was food in our bag (maybe my fault for getting it out and waving it at the monkey but i'd wandered off a bit to take some pictures by then!). Dips was fine though! We headed back to the guesthouse and had a few hours sleep. We got up (again) at 1pm and went to the old market which had some pretty nice stuff there- Dips bought a watch. I was going to get a fake rolex but decided to wait until Bangkok instead! Although didnt see one I liked in the end. Had a meal afterwards and then went to bed quite early as we were still nackered!

Day 50: Siem Reap / Angkor

We'd done all the temples so we had a day to see the actual town. There isn't that much to see really but there is a place called Kompong Phlok about 25km out of town. Its a floating village located around the edge of a flooded forest! Its a really interesting place. We got a tuk-tuk to the river and then as the road got so bad down to the boat, we had to get on the back of a moped bike going down these dirt tracks! That was great! Got to the long-tail boat and we were the only two on it. Went down this little river through bushes and trees and other plants- proper 'Apocalypse Now' kind of stuff! We got to the village where the majority of houses are on big stilts and they get around the village by boat! Around the edge of the village is a forest which is flooded- the water goes about halfway up most of the trees! There is a small part of the village that you can walk around though so we got taken there and had a look around. We were almost the only westerners there. Had some fried bananas from a stall and then walked through the village for half an hour but there wasnt that much to see. So we went back to the boat and it took us back round the village on the way back. We stopped by these wooden 'cages' floating on the water and he pulled over by them to show us the crocodiles inside! I think they eat them but the guy didnt know what I was saying so cant be sure! Once we got back we jumped back on the moped and then got the tuk-tuk back to the guesthouse where we relaxed for a bit before going out for a meal. We went to a fairly normal restaurant that had pizzas and rice and stuff but also had the option to have snakes and crocodile! I couldnt resist this place so we went in and I asked if I could order a normal meal- a pizza- and then try a little bit of snake and crocodile meat. After about ten minutes of trying to explain this to the waitress, I heard the girl working on the bar speaking in perfect english so I went and explained to her what I wanted! Had to pay a bit extra for the snake/croc but it was worth it to say i've tried them! The snake wasn't great- tasted a bit like lamb but with a strange aftertaste (maybe like peppered steak tastes?!). The crocodile was lovely! It was pretty similar to pork and i'd definitely have it again! So after my unusual combo meal we went to play a bit of pool at the bar opposite. Ended up watching the Liverpool-Rangers highlights instead as the pool table was always busy but that was fine too! Bumped into Carlos and Melissa from Koh Phi Phi so we went and had some drinks with them! They were with John and Leia, 25 from Canada who were nice. We all had a few more drinks and went to a club called 'zone one' with them, which wasn't so good!
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Bangkok, Thailand

Day 45: Koh Lanta / Krabi / Suratthani

The next 2 days were going to be pure travelling! We left the hotel in Koh Lanta at 1130 and got the minivan at 1215 to get back to the mainland, Krabi. We got dropped off at the travel agents where we were due to get our direct bus to Bangkok. Here the trouble started. It was the horrible woman from before. She said that the hotel hadnt rang her to tell her we were coming and that the bus was full. This was a problem as we hadn't got time to waste spending an extra night anywhere- our itinerary for the last 10 days was tight enough already! When we asked what she was going to do (as it wasn't our fault!) she got all angry and moody but eventually sent us on a 3 hour journey across to the eastern side of thailand to a town called Suratthani. Here we were due to get a bus to Bangkok. We arrived at the next travel agents and we were told we'd leave at 7pm to get the bus at 1930. Anyway, it got to 7.10pm and the guy was just sitting at his desk. So we asked him when we were leaving and he said that we'd go once the lady from the last place paid him. Which didnt happen and as a result he refused to take us to the bus station. We eventually got him to take us to the train station and we managed to get a train at 11pm to Bangkok. It was a shame we ran out of petrol halfway as we had to pay the money he wanted for him to take us to the station. Had that not happened there is no way in a million years I'd have handed over any money to him! So we got robbed of our bus ticket to Bangkok by the bitch at the travel agents in Krabi, and wasted maybe another 6 hours trying to sort it all out / get to the station. We even rang the hotel to try and get them to ring the woman but when she eventually agreed to speak to them she shouted something down the phone and hung up! The train was an hour late but we finally got on at midnight and started the 11 hour journey to Bangkok. Luckily we managed to get a sleeper train so we got a good nights sleep! Rant over.

Day 46: Bangkok / Aranya Prathet / Poipet / Siem Reap

We were just passing through Bangkok, so we got off the train at 1100 and headed to the bus station where we were lucky to find that the bus we wanted was at 1130, so we just made it! Finally we got a bit lucky! 4.5 hours later we arrived in Aranya Prathet, the Thai border town. We'd heard that you are kept waiting for 2 hours at the border sometimes whilst they disappear with your passport but we had no such problems, got the visa within a few minutes! Got through the border controls no problem and arrived in Poipet, the town on the Cambodian side of the border. Its like going into a totally different world! The roads are unbelievable. It looks like a truck has dumped clay and mud all over the road- the maximum speed for any car would have been maybe 20mph! From what we saw, a lot of Cambodians live in quite basic conditions. They seem to survive alright but only just. Its not poverty but it doesn''t appear to be much better. We'd crossed over at 4pm which is quite late, as most people go across in the morning. As a result we had missed the last bus and so had to get a taxi to Siem Reap- a 3 hour journey by taxi and 5 by bus so even though it cost us a fair bit more we got there quicker. The road didnt improve and it was easily the worst road i've ever been on in my life!! We stopped for an hour to help some random guy who'd broken down which was a bit annoying but we eventually got to Siem Reap at 10.30pm after a total journey time of 35 hours! The guesthouse was great anyhow, called the Prince Mekong Villa. Owned by a Swiss guy who is really helpful and friendly. Free laundry, breakfast and bikes so pretty good!
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Ko Lanta, Thailand

Day 43: Koh Lanta

Got the ferry back to Krabi at 0900 and got in at 1100. Then had to get a minivan from Krabi down to Koh Lanta, which would take 3 hours. In the high season they have boats that go directly to Koh Lanta, but as it was low season they had stopped so, frustratingly, we had to go to Krabi only to come back the way we'd come to get to Koh Lanta! Got to the travel agent in Krabi where we were to get the minivan from and we ended up getting messed about by the horrible woman who ran the place- she ended up screwing us over a few days later but i'll get to that then! She's a fat ugly bulldog like woman for anyone who is in the Krabi area- got a temper on her too. The travel agent just has 'tourist info' above the door so unfortunately I cant even warn any other travellers to steer clear! Anyway, after hanging around for about an hour without any explanation we got the minivan to Koh Lanta. That involved getting a couple of car ferrys to get across Koh Lanta Noi- one of the 52 islands that makes up Koh Lanta! The main island is called Koh Lanta Yai, but is always referred to as Koh Lanta. Got picked up by the people from the hotel, which was really nice- restaurant looked out over the beach and sea but the best part was that the beach was so quiet! When we went down that afternoon you could count the people on the whole beach on two hands! Went in the sea too and there were some quality waves- really big! Messed about in the waves for an hour or so like little kids and then went to the room for the first hot shower we'd had for a while! Had dinner and then a couple of beers before bed.

Day 44: Koh Lanta

Had a bit of a lie-in, got some breakfast overlooking the beach and then hit the beach for the day! Read our books on the beach for a while and then went in the sea. After a quick shower we had some dinner and then went for a quick drink at the hotel bar- the 'Shroom' bar - and met a few other people- Ben, Tom, Rose and Lottie, all about 19/20. It was Roses birthday so they were having a bit of a big night- we had a few more than we'd planned but didnt really get too drunk!
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Ko Phi Phi Don, Thailand

Day 39: Koh Phi Phi

Arrived in Surat thani at 5am and then got a bus at 0630 to Krabi, which is on the Western side. We arrived here at 9am and then got a ferry across to Koh Phi Phi at 10am. Arrived at 1130 and went to our guesthouse, which was called the Tropical Garden Guesthouse. Koh Phi Phi is made up of two islands- Koh Phi Phi Don and Koh Phi Phi Leh, but the main one (Don) is just referred to as Koh Phi Phi. The tsunami hit these islands very badly in Christmas 2004, with Phuket being about the only place that was worse hit. Most of the island is back to normal again now but there are parts that are visibly still being rebuilt. They've introduced a water treatment plant and a tsunami evacuation route onto the island as a way of being more prepared if anything like that happened again. There are no cars on Koh Phi Phi but as its a tiny island anyway its not a problem- each bay can easily be seen on foot, and then to get to the next bay, you take a long-tail boat which is pretty cheap. We had a ten minute walk to get to the guesthouse, which was nice enough, but we decided that we couldnt be arsed to walk ten minutes each way every time we wanted to do anything so the next night we stayed somewhere closer to the beach. Once we'd dropped our stuff off we went to meet Stev and Tracey (from Koh Phangan) who'd we'd arrange to meet in 'Hippies Bar' which despite the name was alright! Had a chat to them for a bit and then went for a meal. Found a place to play Pro Evo so had to have a few games on that! We were pretty tired after the night before so we went for a quick drink and then we planned to go to bed. But Suze, Ronnie and Jamie (also from Koh Phangan!) happened to spot us and as it was their last night, we got dragged our for quite a few drinks! We went to a bar called Carpe Diem and againt they had lots of fire dancers on the beach front. Had a great night in the end!

Day 40: Koh Phi Phi

We'd originally planned to do an all-day snorkelling trip but after the heavy night we gave that a miss and opted for an afternoon trip instead! We moved from our first guesthouse down to a place right on the beach, and right near the town. The place was called P.P Rimlay Resort and was the same price as the place we'd stayed the night before, 3quid each! Once we'd checked in we went and booked on the P.P Sunset Trip which we left on at 1430. The first stop was monkey beach, where there were lots of monkeys (surprisingly!). The guide had some fruit which he fed them and we watched them for about ten minutes before getting back on the boat. Next stop was Viking Cave, which we didnt get to go inside but it is where a lot of the 'Birds Nest' material is found- this is put in Birds Nest Soup for example and its actually really expensive for the material itself. We then sailed past a lovely lagoon before mooring up to go snorkelling and kayaking which were both great! The final stop was Maya Bay, where the film 'The Beach" was filmed. We had to hold on to some rope and go through a gap in a cliff to get there and the waves made it pretty difficult! Once we were there though it was a beautiful beach and you did sort of recognise it from the film, although not as much as I'd hoped! They brought the boat round and they had a smaller boat that they had on the back of the bigger boat, and they came and picked us up. They brought a few kayaks as well and me and Dips managed to bag one, so we kayaked back out of Maya Bay to the boat! Watched the sunset from the boat and got our dinner on the boat too. All in all the trip was really good. We got back about 8pm and found a bar to play some pool in for a bit, then picked up a couple of beers from the shop and sat on our balcony and played cards for a while.

Day 41: Koh Phi Phi

Dips was scuba diving for the morning so I had a lie-in and got some lunch at a bakery. Met him at about 1pm and we got a long-tail boat around the coast to the next beach along, Hat Yao, which translates as Long Beach. Its a beautiful beach and the best thing is that its so quiet compared to the others. Had a snorkel for a bit but couldn't really see much! Even though the waters are clear, when the sea is rough it throws all the sand up and you cant seen anything. Got back about 5pm so we could go upto the viewpoint to watch the sunset. It was well worth the effort to get up there- amazing views of the island from the top. They have a picture of what the view was like after the tsunami- its incredible how much damage was done. The viewpoint looks over the main town which was the first place that was rebuilt so you cant really see the effect of the tsunami- its when you go further out from the town that you can see the signs. Dips had a viedo to watch from his dive at 8pm so he went to watch that and I met him afterwards along with most of his dive group for a meal. There was Carlos and Edu (Spain), Carlos, 17 and Melissa, 21 from Colombia originally but now the USA, and also Alex, 20 from England. Had the meal and then went for a few drinks at Carpe Diem and ended up at a few bars on the beach- sunset bar amongst others!

Day 42: Koh Phi Phi

Deliberately hadnt got too drunk last night as we were rock climbing today! We had to meet at 12pm at the climb centre so we went and got some brunch, at the bakery again, and headed down there. There were 6 people in our group including us- John and Lee plus Merina and her partner. Our instructors were Teep and Naomi, both really good. Got to the cliff face and did 4 climbs- there were 3 beginner ones and then they put up a 4th one which was a lot more difficult. Managed the first 2 fine and the third was almost completed (couldnt get over the last part!). The 4th was a lot harder but I was happy to get just over half way up. Its pretty hard work doing the climbing- your fingers and hands in particular feel the strain the most as you dont use those muscles very often. It was great fun though! Once at the top (about 25m up) you had really good views of the bay- then you had to 'fall'off the wall! That wasn't so nice for the first split second when you were waiting for the rope to hold you but after that you just abseiled down the rock face and it was ok! Got back to the town around 6pm and played a bit of pro evo- had one amazing game, 7-6 to me! Afterwards we went to a seafood restuarant that had been recommended by the book, which was lovely. Wanted to try lobster but its so expensive (even in Thailand!). Sat out on the balcony and played cards with a beer. Really liked Koh Phi Phi. I'd heard so many good things before we went and it certainly didnt disappoint!
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Ko Tao, Thailand

Day 35: Koh Tao

We got up at 10am and weren't as hungover as we'd expected so that was good! Had another lovely bacon and egg sarni and got a taxi to the Thongsala pier for our ferry to Koh Tao at 1230. We'd said goodbye to Seb, Matt and Daniel as well as Koi and Beat the owners- it was definitely the best place I'd stayed on the whole trip so far and I'd be surprised if anywhere else beats it! On the boat we sat on the deck with our legs hanging overboard. The weather was great and managed to get a bit of a tan or rather get burnt and then hope for it to go brown! We arrived on Koh Tao and checked-in to the Big Blue Dive Resort. Koh Tao is world famous for its scuba diving, partly because its the cheapest place to dive in the world but also because they have some really nice corals and fish to see. Went to an Irish bar for some dinner and they showed the 2003 rugby world cup final (the one that England won). Had an early night after not having much sleep the night before!

Day 36: Koh Tao

We were doing some scuba diving today! We chose the one-day fundive, which is meant for beginners who just want to go and look at fish and corals really. So we got down to the dive centre for 10am and had our briefing from Sanna, our instructor from Sweden. We got the boat around 1pm and headed around the other side of the island to the dive site. This is what they normally do but it was even more importatn today as it was really windy and the sea was very choppy. The boat ride round was pretty crazy! The waves were so strong that the benches on the deck had to be tied to the side as they kept sliding all over the place! We got to the (calmer) side of the island and got our diving gear on- thats a wetsuit, flippers, regulator (thing you breath through), mask and tank plus a BCD which is the jacket you wear that can be inflated or deflated to control your depth. So the first dive was just to practice some basic skills like clearing your mask of any water, passing each other your breathing equipment and equalising your ears. So after this we got back onto the boat briefly to change my tank gauge which was faulty! It said I was full when I wasnt. After this reassuring incident we went back into the water and did the 'proper' dive, which wasn't that deep- only 6m but therewere some beautiful corals and fish down there. There were all sorts of yellow, blue and rainbow coloured fish, called parrot fish, swimming around plus we saw a triggerfish and a huge sea snail. We got the boat back round to Sairee beach where we washed our gear. It was about 8 or 9 by the time we'd got back so we went for some dinner at a pizza place, and bumped into a few people from Koh Phangan which was a coincidence! After that we had a quick beer at a place called Lotus bar which is on the beach front and they have all sorts of these fire dancers which are pretty common around the islands, although these were the best we'd seen so far!

Day 37: Koh Tao

Dips had decided to do his 'Open Water', which basically means get his diving license, so I had the day to myself. I hadn't fancied getting the open water because I didnt think i'd really use it again and its about 130quid (which is really cheap compared to anywhere else in the world) but I decided to spend it on other stuff instead. I had a bit of a lie-in and headed down to a cafe that we'd walked past a lot and it looked good. Sat in there for a while with a brew and read some of my book. After that I went to an internet cafe for a bit and then it was pretty much the evning and Dips was back anyway. We went for a meal with a few people from the boat he was on- there was Jahn, 28 and Floren, 24, Chloe and Anu, 22, Rue, 31 and Jeleni. After the meal, me, Rue and Jahn went for a few beers at Choppers, the Irish bar. It ended up being a bit of a session! Met Catrina, 30 from Denmark and Jacob, 34 from New Zealand.

Day 38: Koh Tao

Had to be out of the room by 10am which was a bit annoying as I had nothing to do until 7.30pm when we had a taxi booked and I felt pretty hungover! Dips had been up at 6am or something stupid like that to go and do his final day of diving, so once I was up and had dropped my bags off at the reception, I went to the cafe again for some breakfast and then what ended up being about 3 cups of tea over a couple of hours- I had knowhere else to go! Just as I was about to go down to the beach for a bit it started to tip it down with rain and the wind was blowing all the signs over, so I gave that a miss and had another tea instead! Dips was early getting back and I met him at 2pm for some lunch. We hadn't seen any of the island apart from Sairee beach so I decided to get a taxi to the next beach along, Jansom bay, to see what it was like. I wish I hadnt bothered! It cost me about 7quid and it turned out to be a private beach anyway! I managed to see a bit of it but it certainly wasn't worth the effort or money! We had some dinner and then met to get our taxi to the pier at half 7. Once at the pier we boarded the night boat to Surat thani, which should take 8 hours (2100-0500). The boat was clearly overbooked an it was pretty cramped- it was just matresses lined along the upper and lower decks with a few pillows dotted around. The fact that we happened to be sitting above the engine didnt help as we were roasting the whole time we were 'trying' to sleep! Met a nice guy from Canada called Nic, 26, who was travelling for 4 years! He was a photographer by trade and he showed us some pictures from his travels so far- in particular, of Chernobyl in Ukraine. He'd managed to pay/bribe his way inside the contaminated zones that circled the town and even managed to get inside the reactor building- which he was warned still contained a fair bit of radiation. He decided to go in anyway and got some amazing pictures, although he was sick for a few days after!


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Ko Phangan, Thailand

Day 30: Ko Phangan

Got a ferry from Chumphon at 7am to the island of Ko Phangan where the world famous Full Moon Partys are held once a month at the time of the full moon. Got there about 10am and got a taxi to our accomodation. Dips had only booked this place because it was the cheapest one on hostelbookers.com but we found out when we got there that strangely it had the best reviews too! This place was probably the nicest place i've ever stayed in my life! It was on the Southeast side of the island, and the complex consisted of around ten bungalows on the beach (or just 10-20 feet back from the beach) and a seating area with a massive table (which we were told by the owners was to encourage the guests to eat together and make friends, which worked a treat!). This area lookedout onto the beach and the sea. The beach was practically deserted apart from a few people from the bungalows and it was a beautiful beach with white sand and not a single bit of litter. The sea was warmer than our showers and when the tide came in about 4pm it was deep enough to g for a swim- that was the only downside in that the water was so shallow during the day that if you triedto go out for a swim you just couldnt get past all the rocks. The owners were great- Koi and Beat were their names. They worked unbelieveably hard and were always so friendly. Plus their cooking was amazing! Had a relax on the beach, and a swim in the sea for a bit then went and met the other people staying there later that day (at the big table!). There was Steve and Tracey from Essex (both about 30), Scott (24) and Olivia (21) from Grimsby, Niko and Ninca (28ish) from Holland and Ronnie, Suze and Jamie (about 19) from London. We played a bit of poker that afternoon and just chatted, then later on we went out to Haad Rin, which is the main beach on the island where the full moon party is held. Theres loads of bars on the beach and the famous sangsom buckets which are buckets of sangsom whisky, coke and thai red bull (which is a whole lot stronger than english red bull!). They play all kinds of music on the beach with drum n bass being the most popular. Me and Dips left about 2am as itwas the full moon party the day after we didnt want to feel crap for that, which when we saw the others the day after was a good move! They'd been out till 7am and got absolutely hammered! Was a good night though.

Day 31: Ko Phangan

Had a long lie-in to make sure we were fully prepared for the full moon party which was tonight! Had some lunch and met two new lads who'd arrived that day, Seb and Matt (both 22 from Winchester). They turned out to be absolute legends and we got on great with them! Aso met Daniel (28) from Ireland. Just chatted at the table all afternoon- didnt bother with the beach as the sun was behind the clouds that day but it was nice to just relax. Watched the sunset on the beach, which we then did every night- it was amazing! Its literally a paradise island. Had some dinner and then got ready for the party. Koi and Beat love watching everyone get ready for the Full Moon Party and they'd got some fluorescent paints and tequila for us! So we all painted stuff all over us (koi wrote some thai words on us which looked quality. No idea what the said though!). After a fair few drinks we left for Haad Rin beach about midnight. There were meant to be between 7,000 and 12,000 people on the beach that night and it was absolutely rammed! Unfortunately it rained after about 30mins of getting on the beach with our sangsom buckets and everyones paint came off! It didnt matter that much though- the rain was actually good as it cooled everyone down and we all dried out really quickly anyway. We all went out together as a big group and we were aiming to stay together the whole night- although we lost Seb after maybe 2 minutes! Then Dips disappeared after an hour for aout 4 hours and when we eventually met up with him again he hadnt a clue where he'd been! By about 3am a few people wanted to go to the far end of the beach to a place called 'mushroom mountain' where the do mushroom shakes. That just made them find everything funny, and I mean everything! When Dips eventually turned up about 5am we had a wander back down the beach to the music again, and the girls went back home. It got light about 6am and was still pretty busy! We eventually left about 8am and got a tuk-tuk back to the bungalows. It was an absolutely AMAZING night and it was a miracle we managed to all stay together (almost!) but that was possibly why it was such a great night.

Day 32: Ko Phangan

Didnt get up till 5pm and we all felt pretty rough after the 3 or 4 sangsom buckets from the night before! So the day was a bit of a write-off but we'd expected that anyway. So we just played cards and chatted at the table and met Pete and Claire (21/23) from Ireland.

Day 33: Ko Phangan

Got up about 10am (you couldnt sleep much after that anyway as it got too warm- the rooms only had a fan) and had a bacon sarni (1st one for weeks so it was enjoyed!). We chatted at the table for a bit and then went to Haad Rin about 1.30pm to book our ferry to the next island and have a check on the internet for a flight we might be taking. Had a look on Haad Rin beach and relaxed there for a while but it was much busier than 'our' beach so we just went back and chilled on our beach instead! Me, Dips, Jamie, Seb, Matt and Scott had a kick about on the beach and did a penalty shoot-out, which Dips won. We made a trophy out of an old coconut and 'presented' it to him on the palm tree. You had to make sure you didnt sit under the coconut trees as they can do some serious damage if they fell on you! After the footy I went for a swim in the sea and took a snorkel too- it was getting a bit dark so I didnt see much but the water was so warm! Warmer than our cold shower thats for certain! Met Emma, Mark and Grace from Exeter but didnt end up speaking to them much more. Had red snapper for tea which was great. Had shrimps a lot here too- all the seafood was delicious as it was all caught fresh and cooked so well by Koi and Beat. We played a bit of poker with bottle tops which I won (typially when it wasnt for money!) and said bye to Scott, Jamie and Olivia who were going the next morning. We were meant to be leaving then too but we loved it so much that we decided to stay an extra night! I cant explain how amazing this place is! I sat in the hammock outside our bungalow and listened to some music till about 1am and looked out onto the beach/sea. So relaxing!

Day 34: Ko Phangan

Got up to see Tracey and Steve before they left and had some breakfast. Sat on the beach from about 11-3 and only came inside for a toastie for lunch! Thats possibly why my legs got a bit burnt but it'll go brown so its all good! I wrote the first few days up in a traditional thai style diary I bought in Bangkok and listened to music. Then chatted to Seb and Matt at the table for the rest of the afternoon. We then decided to make our own goals out of bamboo which turned out being a massive success- the goals were not only portable but pretty strong too! We were so proud! Played some more footy in out new goal and we had another penalty shoot-out which Seb won. It was me, Dips, Seb, Matt and Aigo (a german guy we met that day). We sat a dead pufferfish too which was interesting as it was fully 'puffed' out when we found it! We decided to go out as it was our last night so we got our combination of 3 ipods and took turns to pick a few songs- the tastes in music were very different! We had a few drinks and met a new girl called Kristy (26 from Canada) who decided to come out out with us. The power wasoff for most of the time which happened qite a few times over the 5 nights we were there but it didnt really make that much diffrerence too us. We went out about midnight and went to Haad Rin beach again- itwas pretty quiet but after a bucket or two we were having a quality time anyway! We must have spent about half an hour trying to kick a ball through a hole in a wooden fence! (if you managed it you got a free drink) Eventually me and Seb did it and by that time they'd swapped the fence for a massive skipping rope which was on fire- plenty of people got burnt trying to skip whilst drunk! Came back about 5am after a bit of food and another wicked night!
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Bangkok, Thailand

Day 28: Bangkok

The train arrived a couple of hours late at 0830 and we headed straight to Khao San Road, where we'd planned to stay that night. We chose the first place we saw and it turned out to be pretty good. The overnight train had been ok in the end- not the most comfortable journey but it wasn't as bad as we'd expected. The main problem was that you couldnt run off the lights so it was very bright! I had a sleep for a couple of hours and then after a shower we headed to the MBK centre for some lunch, and to meet the Irish lot. It turned out they were in Bangkok all day so we had agreed to meet them to catch up and see how the rest of their tour was (they'd done a slightly different tour which included an additional 9 days in the south islands of Thailand). So we had lunch with them and played some cards for a bit, then they headed back to the hotel as Pamela and Irene were flying back to Ireland that evening. The other three were going to Vietnam for a bit and their flights were the day after. It was nice to see them again! We hung around the MBK centre until about 9.30pm. During that time we had some dinner and found a place where you could play Pro Evo! (Or 'Winning 11' as its been called over here but its a complete rip-off of pro evo anyway!) We headed to the Baiyoke Sky Hotel at 9.30pm to meet Pierce, Mary and Caitriona and went up to the 'skybar' which is on the 83rd floor! It gives amazing views of Bangkok, particularly by night when everything is lit up. On the 84th floor there was an outdoor observation deck that rotates but this closed about 10pm so we didnt get long up there- the views we just as good from the 83rd floor with a beer! Got a tuk-tuk back to our guesthouse about 1am.

Day 29: Bangkok

Checked out at 1130 but we didnt have anything to do until 8pm when we were getting picked up by a bus to take us down to the islands in the South of Thailand. So we hung around the guesthouse cafe where they were playing DVDs on a flatscreen all day and watched a few films. We had a wander through the park and ended up on the waterfront where we sat with an ice cream for a while. On the way back through the park we passed a temple where there was some sort of Buddhist ceremony taking place which seemed quite interesting. Just opposite out guesthouse was a vegetarian restaurant which the book recommended so we ate there that night. We were pretty bored by 8pm so it was good to get picked up by the bus, which was quite nice- enough legroom and seats that actually reclined. It wasnt till about 9pm that we left on our 7 hour bus journey to a place called Chumphon. We slept quite well on the bus so we didnt have to waste anytime the following day trying to recover.
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Vientiane, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

Day 25: Vientiane

We took a bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane (the Capital of Laos) in the morning. It took about 4 hours. When we arrived we had a walk around the place to see what there was. We had some lunch in a Scandinavian bakery and then walked along the riverside. As Laos is a former French colony, there is a lot of French style buildings, French signage and a lot of bakeries (which make great sandwiches and cakes!). We went to a Mexican restuarant for dinner, which was nice. It was first Mexican we'd seen on the whole trip so we thought it was worth a try. AFterwards we had a beerlao and played cards in a bar before heading back to the hotel.

Day 26: Vientiane

We had a nice lie-in and then went to the same bakery to get some lunch (croissaint with ham, cheese and salad). The plan for today was to see all the sights in Vientiane of which there arent many anyway! The first sight we saw was 'Patuxai' which is a replica of the Arc de Triomph in Paris. It is, just like the real thing at the end of a long main road and has great views over the city from the top. We then walked back to the Presidential Palace, which isnt available to look around as its used still today so that didnt take very long. So we went and had a drink by the riverside and relaxed. There was one more temple to see but this is closed on monday so we shall see it tomorrow morning before we head back to Thailand.

Day 27: Vientiane / Nong Khai

Got up and went to the bakery for some breakfast, then got a tuk-tuk to the most prestigious temple in Laos (aparently!). This is called Pham That Luang, and was very nice. There are also four temples surrounding it but these were fairly similar to the ones we'd seen elsewhere on our journey. We'd heard a lot of people talking about how they felt 'all templed out' and I was starting to see what they meant- as impressive as these temples all are, there is only so many you can see and still be truly interested! Todays was different so it wasnt a problem but the surrounding temples were almost identical to about ten others we've seen before! Anyway, we headed back in the tuk-tuk and went to the bakery again for lunch- we probably ate at this place maybe 5 times during a 3 day stay! It did fantastic sandwiches and croissants though...We then made our way to the bus station to catch the bus to Nong Khai at 1240. This would take us to the Laos-Thailand border, we'd jump off and go through passport control, and then we'd get on again and go to Nong Khai. From here we had to get the train to Bangkok. We had only one complication- Dips fainted in the queue at the passport control. Were not sure why as he'd been eating well and drinking plenty of fluids but luckily a guy who worked at the border had some smelling salts which helped bring him around! We got to the station and found that the train wasnt until 1820 (and the time was only 1400) so we had a few hours to kill, and there was nothing to do in the town! So we had a meal and played cards until it was time to get the train. We'd hoped to get a sleeper train (so we could sleep on the 12 hour journey back to Bangkok) but unfortunately the only seats left were normal seats in the 2nd class carriage- this had to do. It turns out this weekend is a bank holiday of sort over here and all the trains are really busy. So we got on the train at 1820 and the seats werent too bad- they did recline and you got some decent legroom, but there was only a fan- no air conditioning.
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