Chad and Sharon Moore

The flight up to Glasgow didn’t start off well.  The night before there was a documentary about lack of security at a UK airport which had the unfortunate effect of Stansted tightening up their security.  This involved full body searches and having to take shoes off to be x-rayed L  We queued for agesssssss and they even made a very small toddler (wearing nappies) walk through the x-ray machine on its own and they took his teddy bear off him and put it through the scanner J 

When we finally got through we were told that the flight was delayed by an hour L grrrrrrrr.  We eventually arrived in Glasgow, picked up the hire car, switched on Tom Tom and we were off. 

We hadn’t booked any accommodation for Glasgow, we were so used to just rocking up somewhere and getting a room.  Well, we checked three Premier Inn places and all were fully booked.  We drove up and down the road for a bit trying to find B&B places and eventually found somewhere just over the road from one of the Premier Inns we went to earlier and hadn't noticed, grrrrr.  They didn’t do breakfast L and they didn’t have en-suite rooms L but we didn’t care as it was getting late and I didn’t fancy sleeping in the car.

We finally arrived at my grannie’s place.  It was lovely to see the family, the youngsters have all shot up and Ben is taller than Chad and I now J 

(This is Chad with Chantelle and Sheila)

We spent a couple of lovely days in Glasgow spending time with the family.

(This is me with my cousins Ben and Chantelle)

(This is grannie with auntie sheila)

We also went to visit my mum in Folkestone which was lovely as we hadn’t met up for quite some time. 

(This is me and my mum with Sinbad)

Although the history was great the weather was not! Jesus! I had forgotten how cold it can feel.  The worse thing was there were still people wearing vest tops and shorts! enjoying their summer clothes regardless, it did make you feel a bit of a wimp when you are wrapped up like a mummy!

We did manage to shelter from the weather in some great pubs and tea rooms. We had a lovely carvery, with all you can eat on pots, Yorkshires, veggies and gravy, all made from local produce and all tasting amazing!!! I managed to get everyone to do a brewery tour and enjoyed some real local ale afterwards. Sharon did manage to get her tea and scones the next day so it’s all fair J

Overall, York has been great.  Next up is a flight to Glasgow to visit Sharon’s family.

We are in the land of fine ale and family, in no particular order J When we arrived the weather was glorious, hot and sunny but not humid like Bangkok. We had forgotten how nice and green England looked and how nice it can be when the weather is good.

Our first mission was to visit the local Morrison’s.  Whilst lazing on the beach, Sharon had spent a lot of time working on her first food shop.  We stocked up on all the things we missed and treated ourselves to a few things that are new to us, we have been indulging since!!

Our next mission was to get Sharon’s hair fixed so we walked into Ipswich town centre, it felt strange to be back.  As the weather was still lovely it was a pleasant walk and fun to notice the little changes. Sharon had her hair disaster fixed and we enjoyed our first drink in England at the local Wetherspoon pub garden, the Cricketers Arms.  Sharon had a rose wine on tap (classy) and I had a pint of local ale.  A pint is sooooo big!  As usual with Ipswich it wasn’t a surprise to bump into someone we knew, once again strange to notice changes with them and hear how life has changed.

We’ve caught up with some of my family, it’s amazing how fast my niece and nephew are growing up, it makes me feel very old.  We also had a great bbq with Mike and Tracey, ex-college and uni mate and his missus.  It was fun to catch up and to hear all the gossip!!  

My dad having broadband has come in very handy, I’ve managed to update my photos (in case you haven’t noticed!) and I’ve also managed to catch up on the Manly games.  How cool is bigpondsport.com!  I’ve been able to download and watch all the full games, sorry Colin but the Eels need to improve some.  I hope you are still watching the games Owen and getting the rest of the Poms into the Rugby League, how good was last weekend’s game against the Storm!

We are going away to York with my parents for a week so I’m looking forward to immersing myself in history. I’m sure I’ll bore you with the photos J

We were in Bangkok for about 3 days which was enough time to do a bit of shopping and chill out before flying back to the UK.

Gino and Emma travelled with us to Bangkok and we were fortunate enough that Gino had a thai friend (Icky?)  living in Bangkok.   We met up with Icky and he took us to a cool thai restaurant and then we went to a club called Route 66.  The club was amazing -  it had heaps of different rooms for different types of music and also a live band who were great.  The ladies toilets even had a quartet playing :-)  We were joined by Icky's girlfriend, Min, and all shown to a table in the R n B room.  As the beer is very expensive in clubs, it works out cheaper to order whiskey for groups.  So we ordered a large bottle of whiskey, bucket of ice, soda water and coke.  The club was rammed and there was hardly any westerners (we only saw one girl) but the DJ's were western and spoke english all night. 

We managed to finish one bottle of whiskey and started on a second and I don't even like whiskey but "when in Rome" :-)  Icky and Min were soooo lovely and very attentive.  Min kept topping my drink up so I had to hide my glass a few times so that I wouldn't get too wasted :-) 

We left when the club closed and headed back home. Min haggled in thai with a taxi driver and managed to get us a taxi back to Khao San road really cheap, sweeeet :-).  I was starving when we got back so we had to stop off at our favorite food stall for a plate of chicken and vegetable fried rice... yum and only cost 20 bht :-)

We arrived in Bangkok in the early hours after getting the night bus/ferry from Ko Tao and stayed in the same Bangkok hotel as before, the New Siam II.  We checked in at 6am and certainly got our money's worth that day :-)

Bangkok didn't seem as stressful as before and we actually felt quite comfortable this time around.  It is amazing how familiar surroundings can put you at ease straight away.  

I had planned on having a bit of pampering and have my hair coloured and cut whilst in Bangkok so that I would arrive in the UK looking my best.  Chad and I went into a salon in the MBK, which is a huge shopping centre.  The salon I chose looked really trendy and everyone had free internet access even for Chad).  After a few minutes of trying to explain that I wanted highlights and a cut, which involved talking to about 5 people, we were off.  They sat me down in front of this massive monitor and then got started.  It was cool having internet access whilst having my hair as I was able to talk to Nicola on Messenger at the same time :-)  I had two ladies working on my hair and they seemed nice enough.  Was a bit worried that we hadn't discussed the whole colour thing but thought that they must know what they are doing. 

After about 15 minutes, I looked up to see one of the ladies wheeling over the heater thingy.  I looked up into the mirror and saw that they had put the foils on the blonde bits of my hair and left the dark roots..... nooooooooooooo.  This is how our conversation went: 

Me: emmmmmmmm, you haven't coloured the dark bits
1st lady: frowns
Me: pointing to my roots and saying "blonde here please"
2nd lady: frowns
Me: pointing to my blonde bits and saying "same, same"

More people arrive and I explain that I need the roots coloured, etc

4th lady:  lots of thai words to the other women.  She then tells me that they can't get close to the roots as it will spot.  She then tells me that they have put brown on my hair.
Me: so I have brown on my hair and not blonde then?  I then point to her hair and say "brown"???
4th lady:  yes, brown.

Me: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Her version of "brown" is actually blonde for some strange reason.
Me:  there is no point me having blonde on the ends as it won't look any different!

After more thai talking the 1st/2nd ladies then start to unfold the foils and proceed to push them up my head and try to spread the colouring up to my roots!  eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek !  By now I was starting to stress out.  I even emailed Chad and said that they didn't know what they were doing!  Luckily they couldn't read english!  I asked the 4th lady if they had actually done foils before but she just frowned at me and said the ladies hadn't finished with my hair yet.

When the foils came out,  (some of them actually fell out!) I had lovely (not) random bleached stripes on my hair ! I was going to have a cut as well but thought better of it.

I don't think I will ever have my hair done again in Thailand!

If you want to learn to scuba dive then this is the place to come, the PADI certificate is cheap and divers from all over the world are attracted to the unterwater meccas that surround this rustic island. (I've been reading the tourist guide)

Of course we don't dive, but I'm loving snorkling and Sharon doesn't need to be told twice when sunbathing on the beach is concerned.

Ko tao is only 21 sqkm and has a few isolated bays where you can easily slip into the laidback lifestyle (it helps when there is not 24hr electricity in many places). We stayed in Hat Sai Ri, the largest and busiest area on the island, we needed internet as we had been out of touch for a while ( Don't want to scare my mum)

We travelled over with Gino and Emma, our new buddies, catching a ferry and watching the movie The Hills Have Eyes remake, not exactly family entertainment!! :-) I found a tout for our selected beach area and promised to view their place for a free lift. We all jumped in the back of his truck, 10 minutes later we are storing our stuff with him for free whilst we found something better up the street. We are becoming pros at this now :-)

Hat Sai Ri is cool, it has good nightlife, pubs showing the latest movies (Spiderman 3, Next and Shooter for example) beach bars, literally on the waters edge so at hightide you wade from one bar to the next! There is a wide range of restaurants where you can get pretty good western food, I had a homemade burger with mushrooms and blue cheese and chips, first non thai meal in ages, it was heaven :-) Of course we are still loving Thai food but occasionly you fancy a change. We also had some lovely bbq kebabs on the beach, big plates of meat, salad and baked potatos for 100bht, yummy!

It has been good to have someone to snorkle with as Sharon doesn't like going out of her depth or too far out. I've been out on my own a few times but it feels safer when theres two snorkels for the long tail boats to avoid :-) Ko Tao has lots of reefs to explore and with the clean water and high visibility its quite easy to spend literally hours in the water.

Thailand has plenty of fire shows on the beach in the evenings and on our travels we have seen plenty. We saw our best one, so far, here at the Lotus bar. The local fireman was very good but another traveller type dude appeared on the scene and next thing you know there was like a fire show duell! Each man displayed an amzing array of moves with the firesticks, balls and ropes to the beats of various tunes. They then started working together, juggling with the flames etc, it really was an amazing night. Shame I didn't take my camera that night but I did manage to get a few photos on another night.

We are heading back to Bangkok next for a few days then it's off to the UK.

After a scary walk with my heavy backpack along a wooden pier which soooo wouldn't pass any safety standards in the western world, we enjoyed a lovely 50 minute ferry ride to Hat Rin, Ko Pha Ngan. 

This island is renowned for its full moon party and attracts thousands of party goers each month for its beachfront and jungle raves.  We fancied something a bit more suitable for us old fogies and chose the laidback and more isolated beach of Thong Nai Pan Yai in the north east part of the island.

We hooked up with a kiwi couple (Gino and Emma who are stopping off in Thailand on their way to london for a working holiday) we had met at our previous resort and shared the cost of a taxi along the jungle track north.  45 minutes later, having survived a very bumpy and twisty dirt track, we arrived at our beach (with me feeling slightly sick). 

We did our usual room hunting along the beach, this time with our new friends.

We all decided on the Dreamland Resort (400 bht - wooden/brick bungalow).  This beach was my best so far on our journey as the water was very calm and had a gradual slope - perfect for someone like me ! 

We settled into a lovely routine of early morning swims, late breakfasts (chicken pad thai and coconut shake for Chad), lazy afternoons reading in a hammock and energetic early evenings of frizbee, running (me) and bat and ball. 

Socialising generally means an excuse for drinking more alcohol, yeyyy, and it was here that I tried my first infamous thai bucket consisting of thai rum, redbull and coke.  Of course, I did my usual "crash and burn" :-)

We had a fantastic time in Thong Nai Pan Yai and it was hard to leave, but leave we must.

On the way to the pier, we were put in the back of a Ute (feeling like Indiana Jones) taking the jungle route through the middle of the island and catching the ferry to Ko Tao.

After an easy bus ride and a few hours on a large car ferry, we arrived on the east coast island of Ko Samui.  We are greeted by rain, heavy rain and I discover my backpack has a raincover, cool, well apart from it being a very bright neon yellow ! 

According to the travel books we can avoid the south-west monsoon season if we skip over to the eastern side of Thailand, well, it didn't go to plan.  We endured pretty much uninterrupted rain for five days, thank god we stayed in a hotel with cable :-)  We initially stayed in Hat Lamai, a nice enough town, pretty beach and more than enough restaurants and bars (for some reason it is popular with the French).  We stayed in the Bonny Hotel where the owner was extremely helpful and friendly.  She recommended a great fried breakfast from Harry's Cafe, the problem was we had it every morning! 

Ko Samui seems to be another place in Thailand where the girlie bars and "sex-tourists" are commonplace.  Call me a prude, but it does make the place feel a bit seedy at times, especially when, in general, the guys seem to be alone for a reason.  Of course, I'm sure that is not always the case. 

After exploring Lamai during the tiny breaks in the rain, we moved to Hat Ban Rak, also known as the Big Budda Beach.   It is on the north of the island and is one of the departure points for our next stop, Ko Pha Ngan.  We were at the Mermaid Resort for 6 nights, another great deal, 2 big pools, cable tv (more rugby league and football) in a detached bungalow all for 400 bht per night.  The downside was it is at the start of the Ko Samui airport runway :-) 

We spent time at the Wat Phra Yai (Temple of the Big Buddha) listening to the monks chanting and witnessing the various rituals of the visiting budhists. 

 We had lovely long walks along the beach, although sometimes we felt like the pied piper only with stray dogs !  At one point, we had eight, these animals can be a bit intimidating and are extremely difficult to get rid of.  When all you have is a pair of thongs (flip flops) to defend yourself with, the dogs teeth tend to look that much sharper!  On one occasion, we posed as potential customers in an expensive health spa just to lose a manky looking mutt, it still followed us in though.  We looked through the treatments enjoying a free herbal tea and slipped out unnoticed leaving the dog sniffing away in their incense garden :-)

Next stop, Ko Pha Ngan, a 50 minute ferry ride north

PS. Sorry for the delay in the journal updates, we stayed somewhere a bit isolated on Ko Pha Ngan, will update again very soon!

PS. Hope everyone is keeping well, missing you all :-)

We spent a nice afternoon in Krabi wandering around checking out the area.  Chad was happy as the hotel we were staying in had the rugby league on :-)  In the evening we had great thai food and a couple of Changs in a cool diver's place near our hotel.  

The next morning we caught a sawngthaew (small truck with benches in the back) to Ao Nang.  When we arrived I left Chad with our backpacks under a shady tree and set off in search of accommodation.  We had agreed that we needed a little bit of luxury to recover from our travels so I had a budget of 1000 bht per night to spend (sweeet).  After an hour ( I felt like I was flat hunting in Manly again - a quick 2 minute look around before dashing to the next place), I finally settled on Ao Nang Seafront Thai Resort.  It ticked all the boxes for me - soft bed and pillows (keep getting bruises from all the hard beds here), balcony, seaview, fridge, pool and cable tv.  All that was left was the haggling, fifteen minutes later, I skipped out of the hotel having secured a 1800 bht room for 1000bht including a buffet breakfast - bargain ! :-)

Ao Nang is a great location for boat trips to the various local islands and has a great vibe with lots of bars, restaurants and a lovely beach, not that we saw much of it as we were using the fab pool in the resort :-)  We enjoyed a couple of days of movies, air con and relaxing around the pool. 

During our time here we went by long tail boats to various island.  Poda Island, where there was so many fish that I felt like I was being eaten alive ! 

Chicken Island, where Chad got freaked out by a couple of big fish whilst snorkelling, he still got back in the water though :-) 

Tug Island, where we walked across the sandbank to another island only to have to rush straight back, as the tide was rising, in order to beat a massive storm.  It was actually a good workout running through the knee deep water!  We only just made it back in time to put our camera and stuff somewhere dry in the rocks before the storm hit us.  The sky went black and visibility was so bad that we couldn't see the island we had just walked from.  The only place to shelter from the torrential rain was in the sea.  That's right, in the sea!  It was like being in an outside bath, the water was so warm that we could see steam rising from it as the rain poured down, it was lovely :-) 

We also visited Railay, with its limestone cliffs and spiritual caves, a hangout for rock climbers and backpackers.  We didn't have a go as the rocks looked a bit too high for us wimps.

I have enjoyed our luxurious stay in Ao Nang (budget luxury of course!) and especially the buffet breakfast where I ate so much that I have probably put back on my lost kilos !  I made sure I had plenty of fresh fruit with my fried breakfast though :-)

We leave the west coast to travel to the east coast, next stop Ko Samui

It was nice to know we were going back to Thailand. Maybe because we had spent more time there and the familiarity was comforting but I definately prefer Thailand to Malaysia. That's not to say I wouldn't like to come back, Malaysia is a big country and we only saw a very small part which was on the whole beautiful. The parts we did see were very heavily populated with Indians and Chinese immigrants, at times I forgot we were in Malaysia! :-)

The journey back up the pennisular was to be our longest yet, leaving Tanah Rata in the Cameroon Highlands at 5:30pm, we would arrive in Krabi, Thailand, 1pm the next day. By getting the overnight bus we would save on accommodation, this saving would nearly pay for the transport, budgeting is the key to travelling :-) . We caught the last local bus to Ipoh, the nearest transport hub, where we planned to catch a bus to Hat Yai, Thailand. As Ipoh has 2 bus stations (old & new) we informed the driver that we needed the station where you get the Hat Yai bus from, "Ok, Ok" he said, cool, all good. The night drew in, we arrived in Ipoh, pulled up in the middle of the town and the driver tells us to get off the bus, "Where are we?" I say, "Where is the bus station?" he points across the road and quickly drives off. It's dark, it's raining and there is no bus station in sight, hmmmm. An old chinese man appears from a shop up the street, he shouts "THAILAND!", we stare at him,"THAILAND!", oh, the brain kicks in, the driver has dropped us off at a local travel agency, probably the one that pays him the most commission! Getting the cheaper local transport isn't always easy :-) Having no choice, we walk over to his shop, he's old and frail and shouts one word sentences in English. "THAILAND!", um yes, Hat Yai?, "HAT YAI!", yes please, "PASSPORT!", ok, how much first?, "40MR", hmmmm, we had budgeted for 40 max, oh well, we had enough money left for a cup of tea, what more do the british need :-). We handed over the money. "PASSPORT!", of course, he takes our passports and sorts out the immigration forms."BAGS!" points to the back of his shop, "SHOPS!" he points down the street, "12!" he points at his shop. We catch on, following his commands, we drop off our packs and head to the shops to be back at 12, only nearly 4hrs to kill.

We find a night market which is busy despite the rainfall, we draw a few looks, obviously not many tourists venture here. We settle into a local indian restaurant and ordered a cup of tea and Kopi ( local very strong but sweet coffee) which lasted a record breaking 2hrs. We took a detoured route back to the shop, picking up a pyscho chinese dude on the way, he stares at us and follows us back. We sit outside the shop, waiting, he stands hiding behind a pillar 10 meters away, waiting. I light a cigarette, trying to look cool but tough in a James Dean sort of way. Sharon looks like she is not in the mood to be messed with, I feel safer now :-). He moves in, 5 meters away, his eyes are glazed, I'm thinking drugged up pyscho now. He leans on the wall near us, I decide to stare at him, show him who is boss. He stares back! We move inside the shop!!! The old chinese man, checks his watch, we are early but we don't care. We are safe, he may be old but he might know more Karate than me :-) We played on our gameboy, Sharon finally managed to beat me at scrabble, waiting for the bus trying not to flinch too much when mice ran over our feet! At 12pm, various people started to turn up, we weren't the only ones going over the border tonight, I spotted how much the regulars were paying, 35rm, I felt better, we hadn't been ripped off too much.

The bus turned out to be our best yet. Only 3 seats across, fully reclining, water and blankets to go with the freezing air con. We settled in and slept, getting off the bus for the Malaysian departure border control and again for the Thailand entry border control. With every entry into Thailand you get a 30 day visa, with so much time on our hands we still managed to miscalculate this, we are supposed to leave on the 21st May, we fly out on the 22nd, doh! Oh well, we shall cross that bridge later, we were tired and needed some rest. At Hat Yai, as close to the troubled deep south west Thailand as we planned to be we caught a local bus up to Krabi. Having to only wait for 1/2hr we managed to avoid any terrorist bombs and shooting. It feels good to be back in the land of smiles!!!

Our journey from Penang to Cameron Highlands started off well.  Free bus to the ferry terminal then free ferry to Butterworth. sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet :-)  Bought tickets for VIP bus to Cameron Highlands easily enough.  Today was going great :-)

Halfway to Cameron Highlands we had a stopover in Ipoh.  We were informed that we had to change buses. Hmmmmmm.  We spotted our new bus and noted our VIP status had changed to VUP (very unimportant person).  We found it hard to choose seats worth sitting on and when we did finally choose our seats, Chad had a lovely view of the road via the big hole in the floor. Eeeeeek !  For the next few hours we endured a bumpy and twisty ride up into the mountains where the draft from Chad's hole was gradually getting colder.

Arrived in Cameron Highlands and after viewing a couple of places we stayed at Twin Pines - our first proper hostel on our trip, complete with common room, books, etc.  Now, I haven't had much hostel experience, and when I asked for some toilet tissue, soap and towels (noted missing items when inspecting room) for the room was surprised that we were told that we would have to pay for them !!!  Luckily Chad had the foresight to "collect" these things for such an occasion :-)

Going out for dinner on our first night we definately noticed the drop in temperature.  I had to wear 3 layers of clothing and I still felt a bit chilly !

Cameron Highlands is renowned for its tea and lovely walks and we agree with Alison, it is weirdly English!

The day after, we set off for our first walk and afternoon tea.  Didn't get very far as it had bucketed down the night before and the tracks were soooo muddy and not very well sign posted.  We went the wrong way twice and were nearly eaten alive by two massive dogs who were, thankfully, chained up!  We decided we'd go by road and join the trail a bit further up the road.  We finally found the trail and walked along the "jungle walk" following a lovely river with waterfalls and climbed up the steepest hill to a watch tower.  It was worth the climb as the views were amazing.  We didn't hang around too long as this kamikazee bee kept dive bombing me - must have taken a liking to my pink top!

A bit later on we came upon a strawberry farm and had the best strawberry ice pop ever. By now I was ready for some afternoon tea which we decided to have at Smokehouse Inn.  This place is amazing.  It was like being in an idyllic British country pub.  It looked really old and had a fantastic landscaped garden.  We settled ourselves in the shade and ordered pots of tea, scones, butter, cream and strawberry jam.  All I can say is yummmmmm :-)

On our last full day we decided to walk to the local tea plantation which was 4k away.   It seemed like a good idea at the time but halfway there we were knackered!  I was certainly looking forward to a nice cuppa :-)  The tea place was fantastic and had great views.  It would have been perfect if the millions of flies had been elsewhere though ! 

We have enjoyed our time in the Cameron Highlands what with all the afternoon teas and walks but I was looking forward going somewhere warmer and having accommodation which was a bit quieter - Twin Pines had very thin walls and a lodger who snored very loudly !!!

Next stop - To Krabi and beyond

Langkawi is known for its scenery, beaches and marine life, it is also a popular honeymoon destination (not as good as Fiji though :-) )  Best of all, for us, the island is duty free which means vodka for me.... yeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy :-)

We hired a car for a couple of days and drove around the island checking out the beaches and the lovely waterfalls and trying to avoid the monkeys on the road !

So far on our travels we have not fallen sick but for some reason our tummies are not agreeing with Langkawi which is strange as it seems really clean. 

Malaysia is noticeably different to Thailand in that there seems to be more money here, for example, the roads are in better condition, more people drive cars, english seems to be the common language here as most people can speak english and the road signs/menus, etc are in english :-)  Which is good as we don't know any malaysian yet!  It has been strange getting used to the ringet after adjusting to Thai Baht, we have noticed that things are more expensive here but you can still find the bargains if you look hard enough :-) 

Langkawi has been great and it has been nice having a car for a couple of days. 

Next stop Penang (George Town)

PS Jade, Early birthday wishes to you in case we don't find an internet cafe on our travels as we are off to Cameron Highlands soon

We were going to book an agent to take us from Trang directly to Langkawi but Chad and I thought it would be more exciting to make our own way to Langkawi.

The first step was getting a tuk-tuk to the bus station, next a local bus to Satun which got very busy but it was good to be amongst the locals. Check out the photo, can you see Sharon??  After a few uncomfortable hours we arrived in Satun and again haggled with a tuk tuk-driver to take us to the ferry terminal.

We got the 4pm ferry and arrived in Langkawi just before 7pm.  Whilst waiting at the terminal we booked a room at the Gecko Guest House which was a great idea as when we finally checked in they were full and turning  people away.  We had managed to get the last room..... phew :-) 

Unfortunately, it was probably their worst room as it was dirty, no mozzie nets and right opposite the noisy bar :-(  It was better than sleeping on the beach (Becks, your travel sheet has recently been getting a lot of usage.  Thank you sooo much.  Great idea :-)). 

We went looking for another place the next morning and decided on Landcons Hotel which was located at the other end of the beach.  Chad wasn't happy with the tv though as it had no footie channels. (Colin, it's great to see Manly doing so well must be tough on you... he he)

After spending a fantastic two weeks in Ko Lanta we took a shared minivan south to Trang.

Trang if renowned for its great coffee, lively markets and historic architecture.

It was a nice change to be somewhere with a bit of action.  Luckily the hotel we wanted to stay at had a room (280 bht incl. air con) sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.  The hotel (Ko Teng) was huge and looked really old with high ceilings and lots of spooky dark corridors !  We spent a couple of days in Trang checking out the shopping malls and trying the delicious coffee and desserts.  The night markets are fab and sell weird and wonderful things.  We ordered a couple of sticks of some kind of meat which turned out to be liver (at least it wasn't bbq'd cat :-))  We also spent a few hours in a cool bar called Jao Mai which had two thai guys singing.  They even sang a few Marley/Dylan songs which was great.  The beer was cheap (Chad was happy :-)) but the toilets were squat ones - i'm getting a bit better with them now and know to roll my trousers up before going in... he he he :-)

Trang also has some very cheap internet - 15bht for an hour so we managed to put lots of pictures on here. 

Next stop is Langkawi, Malaysia, new country, new currency and probably new mozzie bites !!!

You can't spend this long in Thailand, eating mainly thai food and not wonder what goes in it. As we are staying in Ko Lanta for a while we had loads of time to find out. Luckily Lanta Thai Cooking School is very close to our bungalow so we booked an afternoon course. Sharon enjoys cooking but my skills only extend to baked beans and spag bol so I wasn't too keen on making a fool of myself. To my relief we were the only ones on the course which surprised me as it was always busy when we walked passed. Once we selected our 5 dishes to cook we put on our aprons and moved to our stations. We were given a very very sharp knife and we learn't about and chopped various ingredients. At this point I could make the story dramatic by saying I sliced a finger off but sorry I survived with all digits attached. The most dramatic thing to happen was I had some bloody hot chillies but hey, I'm a wimp when it comes to spicey food.

For the next 5 hours we cooked and ate some lovely dishes, Phad Thai, Coconut Milk Soup with Chicken, Beef Salad Thai Style, Stir fried Seafood with Sweet and Sour Sauce and Massaman Curry with Beef. We left feeling vey fat with our recipe books and doggy bags having had a wonderful and knowledgable time. So if anyone fancies some thai food?................ I know of some great restaurants we can go to! :-)

My Phad Thai, not bad I think.

PS.Updated the photo section too.

PPS. The comments are great, it lets us know you are still alive and are still interested in us :-)

After a lovely week at Lanta Emerald we thought we'd better reduce our accommodation costs.  We had a look at a couple of other bays but couldn't really find anything that compared to Klong Khong.  The touristy areas cost more and the quieter areas that were cheap were just too quiet.  We struck gold though when after some hard bargaining we moved to another place on the same beach.   Sea Sand Sun Resort bungalow has air con, sat t.v., fridge and a lovely pool, all for 600 baht per night.  We even got the front bungalow so another sea view :-)  Another bonus of the off-peak season is that we haven't shared the pool once!

During the last week we've totally chilled out, worked on our tans, finished our books, played games, had massages, drunk too much but eaten really healthily :-)  We have explored the island on a motorbike (well, a scooter) and Sharon managed not to fall off !  We have now been here long enough to be recognised by the locals who are all really friendly and like to try out their english on us (our Thai is really poor but is improving).  Sharon is turning into Doctor Dolittle and falling in love with various animals, she is even thinking about hiding a little kitten in her backpack!

We waved a fond farewell to Phi Phi and headed off to Ko Lanta.  The boat trip would have been lovely if we hadn't been pestered by touts - instead of waiting on the pier for you they come on the boat ! eeeeeek !

Anyway, we had about 6 or 7 people speak to us - all of their places looked great which made it difficult to decide where to stay.  We decided to look at two places.  We ended up staying somewhere else totally different, just next door to the first place we looked at, saved money on transport...... he he :-)

We stayed in the beachfront bungalow at Lanta Emerald which was fab, we could see and hear the waves from our room and were no more than 20 metres from the sea, which was lovely and warm.... ahhhhhhhhhh, this is the life :-)  We quickly got into the habit of having a beer on our balcony every evening watching the sun set (I am still drinking beer :-)). We have sinced moved to a better place, more in the next journal....

We are staying at Klong Khong beach which is a couple of beaches down from the main tourist area.  This place will be hard to beat as it has the perfect vibe for us.  There are about a dozen great restaurants along the beachfront and a few funky bars.  I'm sure the photos won't do them justice, but believe me, this place is idyllic.

It is so good here that we have decided to extend our stay and have a bit of a holiday :-)

PS Happy Birthday Sis :-)  Have a great day x

PPS Thank you sooooo much for your comments guys - keep in touch x

D-Day had arrived.  I have spent the last 6 months training for today.  I was like an athelete at the olympics, has all the practice paid off?

The all day boat trip consisted of visiting various local islands, stopping off for snorkelling, kayaking and swimming.... a day of hell for me :-)

I opted for a large boat for safety reasons.  I figured I had less chance of falling overboard and it had two ladders to get on and off.  Our first stop was Ko Phi Phi Leh and Ma ya Bay, which is the famous beach from the Leonardo Di Caprio movie "The Beach".  My selection of the large boat was a mistake, doh!  Large boats anchor further from the land meaning more swimming!  The boat anchored opposite a cave and we were told we had to swim over to the cave which would lead us to the Ma ya Bay, I gulped, nooooooooooooooooo.  I found the most buoyant life jacket, grabbed my float and climbed down into the deep blue sea where Chad was waiting patiently for me.  Swimming to the cave was the easy part, getting out of the water and through the cave was hard.  We had to climb over some very sharp rocks and drag ourselves up by ropes to get into the cave whilst being continuously knocked off balance by the waves.  I was having soooooooooooo much fun.... not !  Once through the cave it was only a few minutes walk (with cut feet) to the gorgeous bay.  The sand is blindingly white and the water so clear. 

 Chad and I had a quick dip before heading back to the cave allowing ourselves as much time as possible to get back to the boat.  When we got back to the cave there were some people taking photos of a snake, which someone said was poisonous.  All very nice but this snake was blocking our route through the cave, we bided our time and snuck past quickly when it was looking the other way :-)  As we were nearing the end of the cave and wadding through the water, we heard a woman shout "swimming snake!, swimming snake!"  Sh*t !  We hopped onto a rock just in time as the snake slowly swum past.  As a non-swimmer, I must say getting into the ocean is not easy, even with a life jacket on.  Getting into the sea, with sharp rocks and deadly snakes doesn't make it any easier :-)  Chad chose our course back carefully and holding onto my hand we timed our leap of faith to catch a receding wave.  It was surprisingly easier to get back to the boat and in no time at all we were safely aboard, phew ! (see cave below)

After visiting a couple of snorkelling sites we had lunch and then went to Bamboo Island which was gorgeous.  Chad and I managed to borrow one of the boat's kayaks (the last one)... yey :-(  We kayaked to the island and I went for a splash (life jacket still on) while Chad took the kayak back to the boat.  Our intention was to swim/snorkel back to the boat via a reef.  I don't know how Chad talked me into it because once I was alone I saw how far out the boat was, what had I done!  Whilst waiting for Chad to swim back with the snorkelling gear, I noticed loads of lovely fish swimming around me which made me feel as though I was in the Finding Nemo movie, I could even touch them!  The swim back wasn't too bad, I found as long as I kept looking down at the coral and fish it took my mind off the distance.  Even though it seemed like miles to the boat (it obviously wasn't) we were soon on board and I looked back at my achivement with pride, these life jackets are great :-) 

This is the distance I had to swim back !!!!

Here is a picture of Chad pretending to be a piece of bread, it seemed to work - they were all over him having a nibble :-)

To round off an eventful day, we watched the sun set over Phi Phi from the top deck arriving back to the pier, safe and sound.... ahhhhhhh, lovely :-)  I had a fantastic day and actually enjoyed being in the water :-) 

Ko Phi Phi has been gorgeous - leave for Ko Lanta tomorrow

We caught an early ferry from Phuket to Koh Phi Phi Don (KPPD) - We even got free coffee and cake which was great :-)

It was a bit hectic at the pier as the touts rushed up to us telling us about their hotels.  We decided to have a look around ourselves and set off towards the village.  We found a place after 1/2 hour or so.  It is hard work carrying all your stuff on your back in the heat!  Thank god we didn't go too crazy with the shopping!

Our hotel was in a great location - near to the action and a 30 second walk to the beach :-)

There are no roads in KPPD which makes the pathway very busy, the locals make a beep beep sound as they rush past on their bikes and deliveries are made using large trolleys.

So far on this trip we haven't been amazed by the water and fish - maybe living in Australia has spoiled us.  When we stepped onto the pier in KPPD we were amazed.  The water was clear and full of wonderful looking fish.  KPPD is part of a collection of islands 40km offshore from Krabi, South Thailand.  It is the largest island with cliffs plunging into the sea, gorgeous white sandy beaches and warm clear water. It really is island paradise.

One of the great things about moving around is exploring a new area.  After checking out beach bars for enjoying later :-) we decided to get a bit of exercise.  Twenty minutes later, we are looking down onto KPPD from a lovely viewpoint, wow, what a view :-)

KPPD has a great vibe, nice bars, restaurants and enough backpackers to set a relaxed atmosphere.  We have booked an all day boat trip for tomorrow.  Sharon has a chance to face some fears - so first of all we will face some beers :-)

Boat trip report soon, if we survive !!