Hi Everyone, Sara and I have been keeping very busy exploring Australia. I'm writing the blog from my sick bed (nothing serious- don't worry) while Sara is sunning herself at Noosa (Queensland) beach. Very unfair!
Sara's' last entry left you at the end of our Adelaide trip, and what a relief it was to leave. The city as a whole has very little to offer unless you aim becoming obese and bankrupt, though it's possible to live cheaply if you take the time to cook your own food. Which is exactly what we have in abundance- time that is.
We flew from Adelaide to Brisbane landing just before midnight and being the organised pair, we didn't bothered to book a hostel in advance. Bad idea. The hostels were either fully booked or asking for double the normal rate, due to the unsightly hour, leaving us with one option - sleeping at the airport. Our slumber was sporadic as the terminal announcer was set every fifteen minutes to warn travelers of the various dangers of flying with liquids etc. Thanks for the Advice!
Once dawn broke we packed up our camp and took the first sky train into Brisbane central, eventually finding a converted 5 tier town house directly opposite the station and only a few minutes walk from all the city attractions. The room was so basic it was boarding on jail house - but you know what they say - location, location, location. Barely spending anytime in our room we ventured out to one of Brisbane's main attraction the Australian National Zoo which is an hours train journey north of Brisbane. At the Zoo's entrance you were met with banners and posters of the late, great Steve Irwin proclaiming phrases such as "Crikey" and "Crocs Rule!". Riveting stuff. Once inside it became apparent just what a tremendous job the guy had done whilst he was alive, with wildlife ranging from massive Crocs (one named Acco is exactly 1 ton) to tiny, but deadly, snakes. There was a South East Asia wing housing Elephants and eight baby tigers. Free shows are available all day and you can happily hop along side Kangaroos and Wallabies without them batting an eyelid. Fantastic day out and highly recommended. I think Sara has uploaded the photos both on facebook and flickr so you can have a look at that too!
Our second and last day in Brisbane was spent at the city beach. Yep, city beach. A wonderful invention that only the barmy Aussies could conjure up. It's situated on the bank of the river running through the city, with cafes and cultural centres dotted on the outskirts it was apparently the epicentre for all the 'young things'. At night adjacent to the beach was an open air jazz concert performed by the University's band...... does it get much better?
from Brisbane we headed north by Greyhound (bus not mammal) to Fraser Island along the way passing some interesting town names. Whilst on the subject here are our top 3:
- Wollongong (Musical Instrument made from Cotton?)
- Mallacoota (Harmless Wildcat?)
- Wagga Wagga (Mamma, Mamma)
Anyway, far too easily distracted...
We arrived in Hervey Bay and we were quickly placed in groups to do the 'self drive tour' of Fraser Island. Groups are usually between seven or eight people, however our dyslexic organiser managed to make our group eleven people, making the 4x4 an extremely tight fit! Not to worry, they said, and gave us three tents that should accommodate eleven people. But the tents seemed to have been made during the second world war and used as bomb shelters. One of them wouldn't even stand and our group was now down to two tents. Joy. So two very cramped nights were spent camping on Fraser Island beaches - but that didn't matter - nor did the rain - or dingos eating all our steaks. bacon and muesli bars - nope, none of it mattered because its one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Once you throw in a good group of people, a little wine and some off roading 4x4 style you have a brilliant three days. Both Sara and I had a go driving the 4x4 and Sara managed to drive through some pretty rough paths only getting stuck once (by a tree on the road that she thought we could easily drive over, which resulted in some sore backs and a bogged 4x4)
After leaving Fraser Island we made our way down to Noosa which was just gorgeous in a VIP Miami sort of way! I fell ill whilst here so Sara spent two days kayaking by herself on the river and sunbathing in the (apparently) beautiful beach!
This is it for now, otherwise the post will be far too long and the next 2 weeks of Australia deserve to be well written about! We are currently in Melbourne so our next post will be from Singapore! Weeeee
Miss you all and keep in touch! XX
Tom and Sara
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Saying goodbye to Ralphie...
Hello fellow blog readers!
Today it's me (Sara) writing to you as Tom is busy reading his book and I have nothing to read at the moment! For the record I have read 13 books since starting this trip, 11 of which were whilst in South East Asia (not that I'm counting or keeping a star rating of every book!!)
First thing, we have uploaded loads of photos on our flickr account so you can go and have a look! http://www.flickr.com/photos/35491783@N03/
Tom and I are doing very well and today we reached the end of our campervan experience, which although it's sad, it's also nice to be back into a normal life of sleeping in a bed and carrying our bags around! It was loads of fun though and even with all the cold and rain we really enjoyed the experience!
As a quick update, for those of you who don't know, Tom and I changed our flights once again and we are now leaving Australia on the 26th May (2 days before my B-day!!) to go back into South East Asia- nothing against New Zealand and Australia but we just really (!!!) loved Asia and feel that there is still a lot for is to experience and see back there, in the warmth of the land of smiles! We even miss the people selling us loads of useless stuff and the tuk tuk drives everywhere!
Now back to Australia, we left you in Torquay- the land of surf- and a lot has happened since! Gemma, please go and check a photo on our Flickr account with the most amazing chocolate crepe ever!!
We started our journey on the Great Ocean Road which is just absolutely beautiful- just driving along with the sea and the massive cliffs hanging on your side is an unique experience! So we left Torquay and drove straight to the Ottway National Park- it took us a while as we stopped a lot to take in all the views! We managed to get to the national park in time to look for a free camping site to stay the night, this was probably one of the best nights we had camping! We arrived at the campsite and went for a short walk where we saw a family of Koalas eating on the trees literally only a few meters from us! We then got back and decided to make a fire for the night to we spent a few hours gathering wood and Tom destroyed a tree that we thought it was dead by snapping one of its branches in half. With a bit of help from one of the guys staying at the site we managed to gather enough wood to last us most of the night! And what a fire it was! You would all be so proud- it was roaring!! So tom and I spent the night keeping warm by the fire, sitting under the starts, which was really nice!
The next day we decided to explore Ottway national park and went to a really cool rainforest where they built this tree top thing 9basically its a 600 mts long, 25 mt high elevated tree top walk- kind of like bridges on top of the tress so you could walk around and see the rainforest at its best!). My camera ran out of battery at this point (typical) so the reat of the day doesn't have any photographic evidence, which is a shame, as we drove to the 12 Apostles next which was just stunning! It's basically a lookout with nothing between us and Antarctica but the amazing Southern Ocean -if you look south- but if you look West, across three oceans, you would be looking at the Argentinean coast line. In between you can contemplate the ruins of cliffs, scattered around the ocean, as a result of its erosion by the wind, rain and forceful waters. The day was sunny so the sights were just stunning!
We stayed in Warnambool that night which was pretty uneventful apart from the fact that we cooked like a fish stew with prawns (sim mae, eu comi camaroes!!) and sword shark and half way through the night I had to go and be sick (maybe the prawns?)...
From Warnambool we drove to Nelson which is the smallest town in the world (not a fact but felt that way!)and Tom and i spent a few hours down the local (and only) pub in town!
From Nelson we drove to Kingston (reminded us of you Gem Gems!!), where we stayed in another very quiet town where the highlight was going for an after dinner walk by the beach!
The last two days with Ralphie (for those of you not following that's our campervan) and went to Barossa valley! A lot of people would be soo jealous of us as this is the biggest wine region of Australia where all you can see is vineyard after vineyard including Jacobs Creek's! Tom and I went on the obligatory wine tour and tasted some very fine wines and fortified wines such as a 100 year old port! (I couldn't stop thinking about Strange and Jon B!! but I do have pictures!! The village here is gorgeous and really picturesque- we loved this place soo much!
So today we arrived in Adelaide and dropped Ralphie off! So sad... but we are staying at a very cool hostel where they give us free apple pie at 20h! Yummy!!! And tomorrow we are hiring some bikes (for free!!) from across the road to go and explore the city before leaving to Brisbane on Wednesday!
Uff....I guess I'm done! Jess, welcome back to England- I will reply to you next time I'm online!! Everyone else, miss you lots and hopefully speak soon! XXXX Muahhhh
Tom & Sara
Today it's me (Sara) writing to you as Tom is busy reading his book and I have nothing to read at the moment! For the record I have read 13 books since starting this trip, 11 of which were whilst in South East Asia (not that I'm counting or keeping a star rating of every book!!)
First thing, we have uploaded loads of photos on our flickr account so you can go and have a look! http://www.flickr.com/photos/35491783@N03/
Tom and I are doing very well and today we reached the end of our campervan experience, which although it's sad, it's also nice to be back into a normal life of sleeping in a bed and carrying our bags around! It was loads of fun though and even with all the cold and rain we really enjoyed the experience!
As a quick update, for those of you who don't know, Tom and I changed our flights once again and we are now leaving Australia on the 26th May (2 days before my B-day!!) to go back into South East Asia- nothing against New Zealand and Australia but we just really (!!!) loved Asia and feel that there is still a lot for is to experience and see back there, in the warmth of the land of smiles! We even miss the people selling us loads of useless stuff and the tuk tuk drives everywhere!
Now back to Australia, we left you in Torquay- the land of surf- and a lot has happened since! Gemma, please go and check a photo on our Flickr account with the most amazing chocolate crepe ever!!
We started our journey on the Great Ocean Road which is just absolutely beautiful- just driving along with the sea and the massive cliffs hanging on your side is an unique experience! So we left Torquay and drove straight to the Ottway National Park- it took us a while as we stopped a lot to take in all the views! We managed to get to the national park in time to look for a free camping site to stay the night, this was probably one of the best nights we had camping! We arrived at the campsite and went for a short walk where we saw a family of Koalas eating on the trees literally only a few meters from us! We then got back and decided to make a fire for the night to we spent a few hours gathering wood and Tom destroyed a tree that we thought it was dead by snapping one of its branches in half. With a bit of help from one of the guys staying at the site we managed to gather enough wood to last us most of the night! And what a fire it was! You would all be so proud- it was roaring!! So tom and I spent the night keeping warm by the fire, sitting under the starts, which was really nice!
The next day we decided to explore Ottway national park and went to a really cool rainforest where they built this tree top thing 9basically its a 600 mts long, 25 mt high elevated tree top walk- kind of like bridges on top of the tress so you could walk around and see the rainforest at its best!). My camera ran out of battery at this point (typical) so the reat of the day doesn't have any photographic evidence, which is a shame, as we drove to the 12 Apostles next which was just stunning! It's basically a lookout with nothing between us and Antarctica but the amazing Southern Ocean -if you look south- but if you look West, across three oceans, you would be looking at the Argentinean coast line. In between you can contemplate the ruins of cliffs, scattered around the ocean, as a result of its erosion by the wind, rain and forceful waters. The day was sunny so the sights were just stunning!
We stayed in Warnambool that night which was pretty uneventful apart from the fact that we cooked like a fish stew with prawns (sim mae, eu comi camaroes!!) and sword shark and half way through the night I had to go and be sick (maybe the prawns?)...
From Warnambool we drove to Nelson which is the smallest town in the world (not a fact but felt that way!)and Tom and i spent a few hours down the local (and only) pub in town!
From Nelson we drove to Kingston (reminded us of you Gem Gems!!), where we stayed in another very quiet town where the highlight was going for an after dinner walk by the beach!
The last two days with Ralphie (for those of you not following that's our campervan) and went to Barossa valley! A lot of people would be soo jealous of us as this is the biggest wine region of Australia where all you can see is vineyard after vineyard including Jacobs Creek's! Tom and I went on the obligatory wine tour and tasted some very fine wines and fortified wines such as a 100 year old port! (I couldn't stop thinking about Strange and Jon B!! but I do have pictures!! The village here is gorgeous and really picturesque- we loved this place soo much!
So today we arrived in Adelaide and dropped Ralphie off! So sad... but we are staying at a very cool hostel where they give us free apple pie at 20h! Yummy!!! And tomorrow we are hiring some bikes (for free!!) from across the road to go and explore the city before leaving to Brisbane on Wednesday!
Uff....I guess I'm done! Jess, welcome back to England- I will reply to you next time I'm online!! Everyone else, miss you lots and hopefully speak soon! XXXX Muahhhh
Tom & Sara
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Skipping Thailand and into Australia
First and foremost I need to apologise for the lack of blogs posted since leaving Thailand. Australia simply doesn't have the range of Internet places and it's fairly pricey too.
Anyhoo, we left Bangkok the day before the riots broke out which was extremely lucky as we know of a few people who had their flights delayed or couldn't get to the airport on time as the roads were blocked. Such a sad state of affairs for a beautiful country.
So we flew out to Sydney arriving on Easter Saturday, which meant little at the time but after a while it became apparent that every hostel and camper van had been fully booked. We spent 5 hours at the airport trying to come up with a solution which included a trip to McDonald's for the first time in months. This was our first realisation of how expensive Oz was going to be as two meals cost $18!
Eventually we got a bus into a suburb named Kings Cross which didn't have any trains but was instead filled drunks. The area is apparently renowned for its party and drinking culture, though it was still tame compared to London's hectic spots. The only hostel with space left in our price bracket was named Kanga and seemed to house French people only, or more specifically Parisians. It turned out that there were many nationality's staying there, for instance I managed to play 5-a-side football with an Israeli, Belgian, Mexican, Frenchman, German, Moroccan, Spaniard and an Irishman..... which turned out to be a very tight game, ending up with the Latin based team winning 10-9.
Whilst in Sydney we did the usual sight seeing, starting with the Botanic Gardens and ending with the Opera House, though the day was cut short by an almighty down pour. The day after we booked a campervan and ventured off to see what the rest of New South Wales has to offer. Our van (which we have named Ralfie) is a Hightop model with fridge - cooker - sink - eating area / sleeping area / and storage space for our luggage it does 0-60kpm in two hours and can be as flimsy as a sheet of A4 paper. But we love it. Our first night was spent in a coastal town called Coledale which has little to offer but stunning beaches and a quiet life - hard times eh. We have been going for 14 days now and have spent our time divided between the following:
Coledale - Saw some dolphins and was wonderfully hot. We stayed at the coolest campsite so far, right on the beach and Sara had her first swim in Australian waters.
Jervis Bay -Saw some Fairy Penguins and was wonderfully hot, with beaches of white sands and crystal clear freezing waters.
Canberra - Very surreal Capital city with lots to do if you enjoy politics and Museums.
Mallacoota - Favourite place to stay and the most Southern Eastern point of Australia. Saw some pelicans too and spent quite some time trying to take Ralfie out of our campsite as it was all muddy and on a steep hill!
Lakes Entrance - Very touristy spot with loads of different junk shops along its high street.
Phillips Island - Great place to stay with amazing views but very little happening at night. The sunset here was amazing and we also went to Maru national park and we handfed some adorable Kangaroos (although Sara was considerably scared), saw some Koalas and played a round of pirate crazy golf!
Melbourne - My favourite place in all of Oz thus far. Watched a 3-D movie (Monsters Vs Aliens) and ate some of the best steaks one can imagine. Also hit the casino and lost some money... but we got to see the city at night which is just stunning.
Geelong - The weather turned for the worst here, giving up gale force winds which were bitterly cold. Though Ralfie toughed it out and it turned out to be a warmish night in the cabin.
Torquay - Nothing like its English name sake as this is the capital of surf. Sara is due for a lesson but at the moment it's still too cold to even think about the water let along go in.
Sorry about the short and concise blog but now we are back on track I can fill you in with more detail next time. We're at the beginning of the Great Ocean Road drive and it's promising to be very beautiful few days.
On a different note, we have also decided to change our plans and not go to New Zealand for the last 2 months of our trip. We just can't bear spending 2 more months in the cold and need to go back to warmer places. So we are heading off back to South East Asia and doing instead Singapure, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines!
Hope all is well with you and please be better than us at keeping in touch as we do love to hear from everyone!
Love,
Tom & Sara
Anyhoo, we left Bangkok the day before the riots broke out which was extremely lucky as we know of a few people who had their flights delayed or couldn't get to the airport on time as the roads were blocked. Such a sad state of affairs for a beautiful country.
So we flew out to Sydney arriving on Easter Saturday, which meant little at the time but after a while it became apparent that every hostel and camper van had been fully booked. We spent 5 hours at the airport trying to come up with a solution which included a trip to McDonald's for the first time in months. This was our first realisation of how expensive Oz was going to be as two meals cost $18!
Eventually we got a bus into a suburb named Kings Cross which didn't have any trains but was instead filled drunks. The area is apparently renowned for its party and drinking culture, though it was still tame compared to London's hectic spots. The only hostel with space left in our price bracket was named Kanga and seemed to house French people only, or more specifically Parisians. It turned out that there were many nationality's staying there, for instance I managed to play 5-a-side football with an Israeli, Belgian, Mexican, Frenchman, German, Moroccan, Spaniard and an Irishman..... which turned out to be a very tight game, ending up with the Latin based team winning 10-9.
Whilst in Sydney we did the usual sight seeing, starting with the Botanic Gardens and ending with the Opera House, though the day was cut short by an almighty down pour. The day after we booked a campervan and ventured off to see what the rest of New South Wales has to offer. Our van (which we have named Ralfie) is a Hightop model with fridge - cooker - sink - eating area / sleeping area / and storage space for our luggage it does 0-60kpm in two hours and can be as flimsy as a sheet of A4 paper. But we love it. Our first night was spent in a coastal town called Coledale which has little to offer but stunning beaches and a quiet life - hard times eh. We have been going for 14 days now and have spent our time divided between the following:
Coledale - Saw some dolphins and was wonderfully hot. We stayed at the coolest campsite so far, right on the beach and Sara had her first swim in Australian waters.
Jervis Bay -Saw some Fairy Penguins and was wonderfully hot, with beaches of white sands and crystal clear freezing waters.
Canberra - Very surreal Capital city with lots to do if you enjoy politics and Museums.
Mallacoota - Favourite place to stay and the most Southern Eastern point of Australia. Saw some pelicans too and spent quite some time trying to take Ralfie out of our campsite as it was all muddy and on a steep hill!
Lakes Entrance - Very touristy spot with loads of different junk shops along its high street.
Phillips Island - Great place to stay with amazing views but very little happening at night. The sunset here was amazing and we also went to Maru national park and we handfed some adorable Kangaroos (although Sara was considerably scared), saw some Koalas and played a round of pirate crazy golf!
Melbourne - My favourite place in all of Oz thus far. Watched a 3-D movie (Monsters Vs Aliens) and ate some of the best steaks one can imagine. Also hit the casino and lost some money... but we got to see the city at night which is just stunning.
Geelong - The weather turned for the worst here, giving up gale force winds which were bitterly cold. Though Ralfie toughed it out and it turned out to be a warmish night in the cabin.
Torquay - Nothing like its English name sake as this is the capital of surf. Sara is due for a lesson but at the moment it's still too cold to even think about the water let along go in.
Sorry about the short and concise blog but now we are back on track I can fill you in with more detail next time. We're at the beginning of the Great Ocean Road drive and it's promising to be very beautiful few days.
On a different note, we have also decided to change our plans and not go to New Zealand for the last 2 months of our trip. We just can't bear spending 2 more months in the cold and need to go back to warmer places. So we are heading off back to South East Asia and doing instead Singapure, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines!
Hope all is well with you and please be better than us at keeping in touch as we do love to hear from everyone!
Love,
Tom & Sara
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
In the jungle, the mighty jungle....
Here we are again, sitting in a small disserted internet café with the rain lashing down outside. As the months have worn on the more it has rained. Sara and I can not recollect the last time we had a full day without thunder and lighting. Today has been especially troublesome, as we travelled in full bright sunshine to a new island, but as soon as we step outside and venture off in search of a beach…. CRASH… BANG… WHLOOP! Still you’re probably thinking ‘ungrateful bastards’.
Last you heard from us we moved inland to visit the national park Koh Sok, which for all its wondrous scenery was a little too rustic for us and the 8 other Germans who we travelled with. Arriving in Koh Sok we were met by thunder & lightening, though this didn’t put us off buying another trekking package. We first arrived at one of the possible hostels where we wanted to stay and asked to see the rooms- as the very helpful Thai guy showed us to our 'room to be', we were greeted by a monkey sitting on our balcony watching life go by. As soon as the monkey saw us it stared at us and then, very politely, it opens its legs and urinated all over our table! It was hilarious and photos were taken before moving on to a different hostel without moneky wee.
The next day was when the adventure started! Over the course of 2 days we would stay in a river village, sleeping in a bamboo bungalow floating in the middle of the lake and trek through rainforest to some spider/scorpion filled caves. It was worth every penny of the two days as we spent the days running away from the bees which inhabited the communal toilets and chasing monkeys across the river shore.
However you may feel I’m rushing through this experience but I have one memory ingrained into me for the rest of my perilous life. On our one and only night aboard a floating bamboo bungalow I woke about 3am believing, in my half conscious sate, that a Thai person was trying to break into our hut using a saw. Then, came the realization that the hut didn’t have doors and he could have strolled in and out as they pleased. Fumbling for the flash light I shined the beam in the direction expecting to find a robber, but instead I found the huge, and I mean HUGE, rat….. ‘sweet baby Jesus’ I thought. Sara woke at this point asking, in slurred voice, what the commotion was; I very quickly diffused the situation by turning off the flash light and pretending to sleep. Once her ‘light’ snores came back I looked again for the rat… the little sod had run off. I, subsequently, spent the rest of the night bathed sweat imaging all sorts of horror scenarios involving a nest of rats underneath out mattress. Sara said in the morning she ‘slept like a baby’…… excellent – well done.
The scenery in Koh Sok is beautiful and if you ever get the chance to visit it is well worth the money. We went on night and day safaris which included many exotic animals such as birds, mammals (we can’t name), giant fish and the groups favorite, Monkeys. We stayed for three nights and hugely enjoyed ourselves making some excellent friends from Berlin who are adamant we visit them in the summer.
Next blog will be the West Islands . Hope to hear from you and can’t wait to see you in the summer.
Tom & Sara
Last you heard from us we moved inland to visit the national park Koh Sok, which for all its wondrous scenery was a little too rustic for us and the 8 other Germans who we travelled with. Arriving in Koh Sok we were met by thunder & lightening, though this didn’t put us off buying another trekking package. We first arrived at one of the possible hostels where we wanted to stay and asked to see the rooms- as the very helpful Thai guy showed us to our 'room to be', we were greeted by a monkey sitting on our balcony watching life go by. As soon as the monkey saw us it stared at us and then, very politely, it opens its legs and urinated all over our table! It was hilarious and photos were taken before moving on to a different hostel without moneky wee.
The next day was when the adventure started! Over the course of 2 days we would stay in a river village, sleeping in a bamboo bungalow floating in the middle of the lake and trek through rainforest to some spider/scorpion filled caves. It was worth every penny of the two days as we spent the days running away from the bees which inhabited the communal toilets and chasing monkeys across the river shore.
However you may feel I’m rushing through this experience but I have one memory ingrained into me for the rest of my perilous life. On our one and only night aboard a floating bamboo bungalow I woke about 3am believing, in my half conscious sate, that a Thai person was trying to break into our hut using a saw. Then, came the realization that the hut didn’t have doors and he could have strolled in and out as they pleased. Fumbling for the flash light I shined the beam in the direction expecting to find a robber, but instead I found the huge, and I mean HUGE, rat….. ‘sweet baby Jesus’ I thought. Sara woke at this point asking, in slurred voice, what the commotion was; I very quickly diffused the situation by turning off the flash light and pretending to sleep. Once her ‘light’ snores came back I looked again for the rat… the little sod had run off. I, subsequently, spent the rest of the night bathed sweat imaging all sorts of horror scenarios involving a nest of rats underneath out mattress. Sara said in the morning she ‘slept like a baby’…… excellent – well done.
The scenery in Koh Sok is beautiful and if you ever get the chance to visit it is well worth the money. We went on night and day safaris which included many exotic animals such as birds, mammals (we can’t name), giant fish and the groups favorite, Monkeys. We stayed for three nights and hugely enjoyed ourselves making some excellent friends from Berlin who are adamant we visit them in the summer.
Next blog will be the West Islands . Hope to hear from you and can’t wait to see you in the summer.
Tom & Sara
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Koh, Koh, Koh!
First of all, thank you for all the emails/comments/messages that you have sent to us over the last few weeks & secondly sorry for the lack of communication of late, we have been continuously on the move. Our last post finished on a fairly somber note last time, so I will start this one on a more entertaining one. We flew from Cambodia to Bangkok using a new(ish) airline called Air Asia, landing in the early evening. The plane journey was very pleasant, although every now and then thick mist would come out of the sides of the baggage holders and fill the plane with cool air. Sara and I wanted to waste little time getting to the supposedly beautiful south Islands in the Thai Gulf (Gulf of Siam) Koh Tao, Koh Pha Ngan and the largest of all Koh Samui.
We made it to Bangkok central bus station with little time to spare before the last overnight bus left for the south. So we bought our tickets and hopped onto the departing bus. This is were the problems began, moving through the bus it became apparent that the travel agency had pulled the old trick of selling us seats that were already sold. After a full day of traveling and facing a 10 hour bus journey we decided to take action. After much sole searching from the agency they resolved to place us in the driver’s bed. “Driver’s bed?? Sorry, I’m not sure I understand?!”. Evaluating the ‘drivers bed’ it became apparent it was more the drivers home…… we sat and slept on his kitchen utensils, pants (not in the American sense either) and his work shirts. Eventually we got to a small port at about 3 am, waited 5 hours and finally boarded a large boat to take us to the northern most islands, Koh Tao.
Koh Tao is a tiny island but has so much to offer, it is literally bursting with activities, nightlife, restaurants and beautiful beaches. But the first thing you realize is how much more expensive it is compared to relatively inexpensive Bangkok and the cheap Chang Mai. Our bungalow was based in a resort named Blue Wind, which had a very luxurious eating area overlooking the entire bay. They made some of the best pancakes Sara has ever had (I could tell this as she was very consistent with her choice of order). Having spent two full days on the beach tanning (Sara) and burning (no prizes) we decided to try our hand at a little adventure. Along with a small group of friends we hired a Kayak and headed for a small island off the coast which seemed only 1km away. It turned out to be 2.5km and our journey was made even longer by the gathering storm. Eventually we made it to the beach and were instantly hit with a 100b ($3) admission fee. We had to pay a fee for just landing on this remote island. They never miss a trick.
Well, we stayed the entire afternoon snorkeling through their many bays seeing some beautiful coral and very interesting fish. Namely, a Crocodile Needle fish which, despite the name, is harmless. Late afternoon and the storm let loose, releasing some of the most frantic lighting I have ever witnessed. Well despite the storm we had to return the kayaks by 6 or risk another fine, so braving the storm we made the 2.5km journey back to relative safety. Thunder and lightning is a powerful motivator, as we made the trip in record time, probably qualifying us for the Olympics.
We spent 4 nights in Koh Tao, and along with two of our friends we headed for the dyslexics’ nightmare Koh Pha Ngan. This island is famous for its full moon party at Haad Rin Beach, but having missed that due to Visa dates we decided to visit the half moon party. This was a bad idea as the police shut it down at just 2 o’clock in the morning – we were promised till dawn – leaving 4,000 party goers very unsatisfied. Sara and I decided to spend the remaining hours till dawn swimming, and what a delightful one it was. The water was bath temperature and there wasn’t anyone else around – the beach was all ours. The only other mentionable incident on the island was being attacked by a gang of dogs (no joke, I was trembling afterwards). We were walking along a dark and deserted road in search of some dinner when about 5-6 giant dogs came sprinting at us with ears back and teeth on display. Sara, being the hero, jumped on me, screaming, which only antagonized the dogs further. After a minute or so of standing still enough to show there wasn’t a threat they backed down, however followed us for a further 50mt or so. Scary stuff I assure you. The following day we jumped aboard the first boat to take us the third and final island… Koh Samui
Koh Sumai to give it its proper name is the largest of the islands which caters for all the package holiday people and very little for the backpackers. We stayed in some expensive bungalow housed together with a family of ants and a few other insects, though we moved on after our second night as the mosquito bites over the two nights must have reached triple figures. The best place to visit in Lamai (one of the main beach areas) is the night market. There you can eat like a king for relatively little. A red curry with rice, water and 3 kebabs would set you back about $1.5. Needless to say we ate there every night, with the throngs of activity around us it made for some interesting evenings. Situated next to the market and surrounded by some sheds made into bars was the Thai boxing ring. Children, women, and some very quick fisted men all fought and it’s something to see a proper round house kick to someone, the sounds alone made everyone wince. We met a very nice couple from the UK- Weymouth and spent a few nights with them, ending up on a strip pole with all the Thai ladies clapping while we would perform our usual pole dancing tricks to the passer bys. We spent four days there working on Sara’s tan and my burns after which we decided to head to the other side of the Thailand, starting with their National Rainforest, Koh Sok. But that’s in the next blog…..
Contrary to all the life threatening stories we are both in good health and Sara today is at a cooking course to learn how to make traditional Thai food, which, I’m sure, she will subject most of you to eat at some point in the future.
Thanks again for reading, its great to hear from everyone who posted a comment.
Tom & Sara
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Exploring Cambodia: the hard way!
Hello and welcome to our blog again.
For this edition I will tell you about our hectic week in Cambodia - the country of manipulating kids and wondrous sites. We left the thousand islands in Laos to cross the border into Cambodia, also leaving behind the Laos Kip and moving onto the expensive American Dollar. Its strange to think my first time using dollars isn’t America but in Asia…..well I think it’s peculiar anyway. Crossing the border is an expensive business as you need to pay $1 to have your Laos visa terminated, then $25 to have the Cambodia Visa stamped in the passport then another $1 to have it restamped when crossing the invisible border line, at which point you are then allowed to enter the country.
Our first bus ride towards the city of Siem Reap set the tone for Cambodia perfectly as the bus supposedly broke down and we were transferred, along with our luggage, to a more cramped and even more broken bus (we then found out that the only reason they made us change buses was because they ‘needed’ our bigger and better bus to carry some wood somewhere else!). So between the border and our destination we broke down twice more, but that small problem was overshadowed by the fact that at this point it was midday and the buses air conditioning was just an open window. Not exactly what you would call a VIP bus as described by the travel agency it was booked through.
We eventually arrive in the humid and busy outskirts of Siem Reap where there are 50+ tuktuk drivers waiting to ferry us to our hostels. We decide to choose a small talkative guy who had the ‘ideal’ guest house that has fans and cold showers (you avoid hot water rooms everywhere in Asia). After the overwhelming heat of the bus this sounded perfect so we jumped into the tuktuk and were whisked off to ‘Green’ hostel, which turned out to be my very favorite of the whole trip so far. It’s all built around self service, each room is given a book which you record all the food and drink you consume at the hostel meaning you can keep a close eye on your budget and not get fleeced of an extra couple of dollars.
Siem Reap is beautiful, if anyone comes to Cambodia you should make the city your first destination, it’s not as crowded as the capital, Phon Pheng, but has plenty to offer including the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, another world heritage site. The entry fee is $20 per day so can be very expensive, but once you see the sunrise at the main temple it all becomes worth it. The only drawback of Angkor is the children and food sellers. As you walk around each temple there isn’t a single second where you aren’t being harassed to buy worthless postcards and bracelets. You simply want to enjoy the temples but are constantly hounded for your dollars, they don’t seem to realize we are tourists not walking cash machines…… heartless aren’t we. I can’t say we did very well on our first day with the children, as they managed to sell us two random bracelets plus a postcard… I also made this one child cry and she was actually really mad at me because apparently she spoke to me first and we ended up buying from a different little girl. On top of this, this one other girl pretended to only have one eye by covering her left one with a patch in order to get more sympathy from the tourists! They are evil!! Apart from this incident we managed to only give our money to musicians who are victims of landmines.
After Siem Reap we moved onto the capital where we could see some scars left by Pol Pot’s regime in the 1970’s. However, the bus journey there was an experience in itself. Before setting off we decided to have an omelet baguette (yes omelet baguette) for breakfast, BIG mistake. Sara spent the next 6 hours hugging the coach toilet, vomiting every 10 minutes. For days afterwards I would have to spell ‘egg’ or ‘omelet’ as she would gag if anyone would mention it- eggs are no longer part of her diet. We eventually arrived in Phon Pheng and were greeted by the strongest smell of sewage I have ever encountered, this forced and few dry gags from Sara, so we swiftly left for the nearest hostel on another tuktuk.
The city has many memorials to the people killed by the evil dictator Pol Pot, but the worst scene we saw was the orphanage. It was our last day and Sara had a strong urge to go see all the children, to give them gifts of rice and pens. We were driven to one of Cambodia roughest and poorest districts where the people are so poor they can’t afford to keep their own children, so off load them at this orphanage. Before we arrived we imagined a playground made of concrete, maybe a few buildings with boundaries. What you greeted by are some huts made from corrugated iron which has the same welcoming feel as an Austrian cellar. However this does not affect the children, they are some of the happiest most playful people I have ever encountered. They climb all over you as though you’re their favorite uncle and go wild for ice…. just plain ice. We left after spending an entire afternoon with the kids, learning some phrases and generally fooling around but its one of the bitterest, but sweetest memories we have.
Thank you for all the comments left last time, its lovely to hear from you all.
Arkon
Tom & Sara
For this edition I will tell you about our hectic week in Cambodia - the country of manipulating kids and wondrous sites. We left the thousand islands in Laos to cross the border into Cambodia, also leaving behind the Laos Kip and moving onto the expensive American Dollar. Its strange to think my first time using dollars isn’t America but in Asia…..well I think it’s peculiar anyway. Crossing the border is an expensive business as you need to pay $1 to have your Laos visa terminated, then $25 to have the Cambodia Visa stamped in the passport then another $1 to have it restamped when crossing the invisible border line, at which point you are then allowed to enter the country.
Our first bus ride towards the city of Siem Reap set the tone for Cambodia perfectly as the bus supposedly broke down and we were transferred, along with our luggage, to a more cramped and even more broken bus (we then found out that the only reason they made us change buses was because they ‘needed’ our bigger and better bus to carry some wood somewhere else!). So between the border and our destination we broke down twice more, but that small problem was overshadowed by the fact that at this point it was midday and the buses air conditioning was just an open window. Not exactly what you would call a VIP bus as described by the travel agency it was booked through.
We eventually arrive in the humid and busy outskirts of Siem Reap where there are 50+ tuktuk drivers waiting to ferry us to our hostels. We decide to choose a small talkative guy who had the ‘ideal’ guest house that has fans and cold showers (you avoid hot water rooms everywhere in Asia). After the overwhelming heat of the bus this sounded perfect so we jumped into the tuktuk and were whisked off to ‘Green’ hostel, which turned out to be my very favorite of the whole trip so far. It’s all built around self service, each room is given a book which you record all the food and drink you consume at the hostel meaning you can keep a close eye on your budget and not get fleeced of an extra couple of dollars.
Siem Reap is beautiful, if anyone comes to Cambodia you should make the city your first destination, it’s not as crowded as the capital, Phon Pheng, but has plenty to offer including the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, another world heritage site. The entry fee is $20 per day so can be very expensive, but once you see the sunrise at the main temple it all becomes worth it. The only drawback of Angkor is the children and food sellers. As you walk around each temple there isn’t a single second where you aren’t being harassed to buy worthless postcards and bracelets. You simply want to enjoy the temples but are constantly hounded for your dollars, they don’t seem to realize we are tourists not walking cash machines…… heartless aren’t we. I can’t say we did very well on our first day with the children, as they managed to sell us two random bracelets plus a postcard… I also made this one child cry and she was actually really mad at me because apparently she spoke to me first and we ended up buying from a different little girl. On top of this, this one other girl pretended to only have one eye by covering her left one with a patch in order to get more sympathy from the tourists! They are evil!! Apart from this incident we managed to only give our money to musicians who are victims of landmines.
After Siem Reap we moved onto the capital where we could see some scars left by Pol Pot’s regime in the 1970’s. However, the bus journey there was an experience in itself. Before setting off we decided to have an omelet baguette (yes omelet baguette) for breakfast, BIG mistake. Sara spent the next 6 hours hugging the coach toilet, vomiting every 10 minutes. For days afterwards I would have to spell ‘egg’ or ‘omelet’ as she would gag if anyone would mention it- eggs are no longer part of her diet. We eventually arrived in Phon Pheng and were greeted by the strongest smell of sewage I have ever encountered, this forced and few dry gags from Sara, so we swiftly left for the nearest hostel on another tuktuk.
The city has many memorials to the people killed by the evil dictator Pol Pot, but the worst scene we saw was the orphanage. It was our last day and Sara had a strong urge to go see all the children, to give them gifts of rice and pens. We were driven to one of Cambodia roughest and poorest districts where the people are so poor they can’t afford to keep their own children, so off load them at this orphanage. Before we arrived we imagined a playground made of concrete, maybe a few buildings with boundaries. What you greeted by are some huts made from corrugated iron which has the same welcoming feel as an Austrian cellar. However this does not affect the children, they are some of the happiest most playful people I have ever encountered. They climb all over you as though you’re their favorite uncle and go wild for ice…. just plain ice. We left after spending an entire afternoon with the kids, learning some phrases and generally fooling around but its one of the bitterest, but sweetest memories we have.
Thank you for all the comments left last time, its lovely to hear from you all.
Arkon
Tom & Sara
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Third/Fourth week travelling! We can still say we are well and loving it!
I say this on each blog but it seems we have packed a lifetime of sights and sounds into a short period of time, I can’t specify the number of days as I am not even aware of the day, date or even time right now. No no, we haven’t been having happy pizzas in Laos, its just days and dates are only good for flights. Long may this continue….
This post is going to be a tad long, but we thought it would be best to tell you everything we have been doing, instead of running behind on the places and events!
I left you teetering on the verge of our tubing experience down the Mekong with our group of slightly disorganised friends. I suggest anyone coming to Laos to make their way to Vang Vieng for the tubing experience as we had the most possible amount of fun one can have on an inflatable in dirty water.
We will now explain how does tubing work: It all begins with hiring a large inflatable ring- the tube- which looks as though it may have been the inner tubing of a penny farthing (noutras palavras.. uma boia gigante tipo donut!), jumping on a tuk tuk with inflated (no pun intended) price and head all the way to the first bar.
Once your standing with your tube in one hand you need to balance the body by placing a ‘bucket’ in the other. A bucket consists of a lethal concoction of Red Bull, Coke, Ice and large amounts of whisky. Add to this the free shots being handed out like sweets and you have a group of well-lubricated travellers willing to try their hand at anything. When I mean anything we had people who are afraid of sitting on top of an elephant swinging 50ft on a trapeze into a slither of water in between rapids and rocks.
The idea is to float from the first bar down the Mekong river making stops at every bar to top up the rocket-fuelled buckets. Each bar has its own circus/ action man entertainment ranging from swings, diving boards, trapezes, zip wires and a backbreaking slide. There are seven bars along the way and safe to say we managed to see the rustic culture and fabulous architecture of each one. One bar even had its very own mud pit (uma piscina da lama) and being one of the latter bars on our tour we decided to have a mass wrestling match along with about twenty other travellers, the sights of people trying to escape from the pit of despair (aptly named by Team Rubbish) was hilarious and humiliating at the same time.
Well two days if that was enough for us so we packed our bags and caught the bus out of ''Tenerife'' to the capital of Laos- Vientiene.
Vientine, sad to say, it was our lowest point of the trip simply because it delivered nothing apart from high hostel prices, harassed people, awful sites and the time old South East Asian experience of food poisoning. Luckily or unluckily we did not catch this terrible stomach upset but instead the smallest member of our team deed. Well in war there is a saying ‘never leave a man down’, in Vientiene the saying is ‘every man for him/herself’ and we scurried out of there.
Our bus from the middle of Laos to the very bottom was amazing and unsafe in equal measures. We boarded in late evening arriving the next day at the break of dawn, but wait, how did you sleep I hear you ask? Well this King of buses was equipped with bunk beds instead of seats. If you ever get a sleeping bus in Laos and you’re given beds A18/17 then immedialty change as this was our fate. The cursed beds are placed opposite the only working toilet on the bus containing 50 volatile stomachs. Lets thank Valium, the wonder drug that makes you sleep the entire journey and is only available on prescription in the UK but is sold as freely as sweets in South East Asia. How was this unsafe? Well, as your sleeping you aren’t strapped to your seat and add Evil Canevil (aka the crazy driver!) to the equation and you have a very bumpy and ever so slightly dangerous ride.
Our final destination was the southern islands of Laos named Four Thousand Island (and no they haven’t any sauce in sight) that sits in the middle of our old friend the Mekong River. The Islands all begin with ‘Don’ and so it was a matter of choosing which Don to go for. Enter the aged old choosing ceremony of just pointing at the map and bingo you have youself an Island for the next 3 days, as it happens Sara chose an absolute beauty named Don Det.
The initial impression isn’t good as you are met by a beach of pylons (they still don’t have consistent electricity) and a severe lack of breeze. However as you move towards the ‘sunset’ side you can find hidden gems like the ‘Eden Gardens’ resort or ‘Mr B’s’ bungalow garden. Our bungalow over looking the Mekong with its own pontoon for quick refreshment cost us no more than $6 a night. Despite the fact it lacked a fan and toilet of your own but when your lying in the bunglow hammock watching the golden sunset you feel as though you may have swindled Mr B out his beloved Dollar.
So started our three days in relative paradise only moving from our slumber to dive from the pontoon into the Mekong for a refreshing swim as the temperature soared to about 38/39 degrees. Sara being Portuguese flourished in the heat however being a pasty Englishman I floundered like a fish out of water pondering how it was possible for my body to be wetter going into the water than coming out.
Apart from the excruciating heat, the island was a little paradise hidden in the South of Laos. Fair to say I don't think neither I or Sara suffered so much from the heat, particulrly at night as our room was soooo hot. It took us a lot of valium and trips to the hammoks to fall asleep. The other little detail to highlight in this island was the biggest concentration of mosquitos one has ever seen. When you think you have seen a lot of morquitos, think again. We are talking bundles of mosquitos by the rare lights the size of people.. it wasn't pretty but we managed to survive (despite all the bites!)
Leaving you with that mind boggling thought I will say adious and will be up dating the next blog in a couple of days (I promise!).
If you could, it would be nice to see who is actually reading this thing (as we are away and have absolutely no clue!) so please leave some comments so we know there is a world out there reading about our adventures!
Love
Tom & Sara
P.S. Ines your English is much improved!!!!!
Kap-Chai-La-lai (Thanks very much)
This post is going to be a tad long, but we thought it would be best to tell you everything we have been doing, instead of running behind on the places and events!
I left you teetering on the verge of our tubing experience down the Mekong with our group of slightly disorganised friends. I suggest anyone coming to Laos to make their way to Vang Vieng for the tubing experience as we had the most possible amount of fun one can have on an inflatable in dirty water.
We will now explain how does tubing work: It all begins with hiring a large inflatable ring- the tube- which looks as though it may have been the inner tubing of a penny farthing (noutras palavras.. uma boia gigante tipo donut!), jumping on a tuk tuk with inflated (no pun intended) price and head all the way to the first bar.
Once your standing with your tube in one hand you need to balance the body by placing a ‘bucket’ in the other. A bucket consists of a lethal concoction of Red Bull, Coke, Ice and large amounts of whisky. Add to this the free shots being handed out like sweets and you have a group of well-lubricated travellers willing to try their hand at anything. When I mean anything we had people who are afraid of sitting on top of an elephant swinging 50ft on a trapeze into a slither of water in between rapids and rocks.
The idea is to float from the first bar down the Mekong river making stops at every bar to top up the rocket-fuelled buckets. Each bar has its own circus/ action man entertainment ranging from swings, diving boards, trapezes, zip wires and a backbreaking slide. There are seven bars along the way and safe to say we managed to see the rustic culture and fabulous architecture of each one. One bar even had its very own mud pit (uma piscina da lama) and being one of the latter bars on our tour we decided to have a mass wrestling match along with about twenty other travellers, the sights of people trying to escape from the pit of despair (aptly named by Team Rubbish) was hilarious and humiliating at the same time.
Well two days if that was enough for us so we packed our bags and caught the bus out of ''Tenerife'' to the capital of Laos- Vientiene.
Vientine, sad to say, it was our lowest point of the trip simply because it delivered nothing apart from high hostel prices, harassed people, awful sites and the time old South East Asian experience of food poisoning. Luckily or unluckily we did not catch this terrible stomach upset but instead the smallest member of our team deed. Well in war there is a saying ‘never leave a man down’, in Vientiene the saying is ‘every man for him/herself’ and we scurried out of there.
Our bus from the middle of Laos to the very bottom was amazing and unsafe in equal measures. We boarded in late evening arriving the next day at the break of dawn, but wait, how did you sleep I hear you ask? Well this King of buses was equipped with bunk beds instead of seats. If you ever get a sleeping bus in Laos and you’re given beds A18/17 then immedialty change as this was our fate. The cursed beds are placed opposite the only working toilet on the bus containing 50 volatile stomachs. Lets thank Valium, the wonder drug that makes you sleep the entire journey and is only available on prescription in the UK but is sold as freely as sweets in South East Asia. How was this unsafe? Well, as your sleeping you aren’t strapped to your seat and add Evil Canevil (aka the crazy driver!) to the equation and you have a very bumpy and ever so slightly dangerous ride.
Our final destination was the southern islands of Laos named Four Thousand Island (and no they haven’t any sauce in sight) that sits in the middle of our old friend the Mekong River. The Islands all begin with ‘Don’ and so it was a matter of choosing which Don to go for. Enter the aged old choosing ceremony of just pointing at the map and bingo you have youself an Island for the next 3 days, as it happens Sara chose an absolute beauty named Don Det.
The initial impression isn’t good as you are met by a beach of pylons (they still don’t have consistent electricity) and a severe lack of breeze. However as you move towards the ‘sunset’ side you can find hidden gems like the ‘Eden Gardens’ resort or ‘Mr B’s’ bungalow garden. Our bungalow over looking the Mekong with its own pontoon for quick refreshment cost us no more than $6 a night. Despite the fact it lacked a fan and toilet of your own but when your lying in the bunglow hammock watching the golden sunset you feel as though you may have swindled Mr B out his beloved Dollar.
So started our three days in relative paradise only moving from our slumber to dive from the pontoon into the Mekong for a refreshing swim as the temperature soared to about 38/39 degrees. Sara being Portuguese flourished in the heat however being a pasty Englishman I floundered like a fish out of water pondering how it was possible for my body to be wetter going into the water than coming out.
Apart from the excruciating heat, the island was a little paradise hidden in the South of Laos. Fair to say I don't think neither I or Sara suffered so much from the heat, particulrly at night as our room was soooo hot. It took us a lot of valium and trips to the hammoks to fall asleep. The other little detail to highlight in this island was the biggest concentration of mosquitos one has ever seen. When you think you have seen a lot of morquitos, think again. We are talking bundles of mosquitos by the rare lights the size of people.. it wasn't pretty but we managed to survive (despite all the bites!)
Leaving you with that mind boggling thought I will say adious and will be up dating the next blog in a couple of days (I promise!).
If you could, it would be nice to see who is actually reading this thing (as we are away and have absolutely no clue!) so please leave some comments so we know there is a world out there reading about our adventures!
Love
Tom & Sara
P.S. Ines your English is much improved!!!!!
Kap-Chai-La-lai (Thanks very much)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
2nd Week traveling! the adventure continues and we are still well and alive! hehe
So its been a while since we last updated our blog but we have been so busy moving from place to place by all means of transport. I mean all.
Okay so we left Chiang Mai by firstly walking to where the minivan would pick us up from. Once on the ‘luxury’ overcrowded bus (we had a German pensioner sitting on the floor) we headed for Chiang Kong(?) to stay in an over night hostel before setting sail for Laos. During the night we managed to meet a group of excellent friends who shall be named later, for now we have dubbed ourselves Team Rubbish.
We woke up at 7 to catch a longboat into laps where we passed a very orderly border control and headed towards the giant river which cuts the north of Laos in half, the Mekong. Team Rubbish bordered the boat to set sail at 11 to find the most uncomfortable conditions for a two day slow river boat expedition to Luang Prahang. The boat is designed to take roughly 100 people on an 18 hour journey over two days, but the crazy (and I do mean crazzzzy) Laos like to add another 50%. People sat in aisles, next to the motor, on the side, under the benches and at the so called bar. So what do 150 westerners do when stuck together for 18 hours I hear you ask. Well to your amazement we drank, then drank some more and topped off both days with a night cap. It was truly a sight to behold.
A particular highlight was getting off the boat on the first day to stay in Laos equivalent of Moss Side. As soon as we landed little lao ‘ninja’ kids sprang onto our boat to get to our backpacks. So add the 150 drunk westerners and all hell broke loose. I found myself (Tom) climbing along the side of the boat in order to beat the kids to our bags. Once in the storage area it became apparent that our bags had gone missing which led to another lethal concoction ‘fear of losing fresh underwear’. I saw grown men running after children who were skipping away with their travelling life.
Honestly you really have to experience it to believe it. Well team rubbish (not so rubbish anymore as we found ALL our bags) found a little hostel which did buffalo steak and crinkled chips (menu said French Fried, though luckily they were chips and not battered Parisans) which was absolutely delightful after such a traumatic event.
Anyway we landed in Luang Prahang which a ‘World Heritage sight’ and a lovely but expensive city. We enjoyed jumping from waterfalls on our one and only day there (see pics). Because of the price we moved onto Vang Vieng which is like an 18-30’s holiday in breath taking scenery.
Tomorrow Team Rubbish (yes somehow we managed to stay together) are going tubing which involves giving my liver another beating whilst floating down the Mekong on rubber donuts.
Olga & Rui - I must add that hats off to Sara as on the slow boat into Laos she drank some whisky from a bottle which contained a dead cobra and scorpion, I managed to escape this torture. (tenho-vos a dizer que foi nojento e sabia a whiskey com peixe! lol)
Team Rubbish
- Egg smuggling Charlotte
- PC Lucy
- Sara
- Me
- Sven Goran (He was on my uni course one year behind??)
- Nicky (She was also on BISM a year behind and I went on rugby/netball tour with her??)
- Lindsay (Tiny tiny Canadian)
- Justin (brother to Canadian, but also a discovery channel addict)
- Mark (like the Mr T of team rubbish)
- Rich ( the mascot)
All the best from Lao.
Tom & Sara
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Okay so we left Chiang Mai by firstly walking to where the minivan would pick us up from. Once on the ‘luxury’ overcrowded bus (we had a German pensioner sitting on the floor) we headed for Chiang Kong(?) to stay in an over night hostel before setting sail for Laos. During the night we managed to meet a group of excellent friends who shall be named later, for now we have dubbed ourselves Team Rubbish.
We woke up at 7 to catch a longboat into laps where we passed a very orderly border control and headed towards the giant river which cuts the north of Laos in half, the Mekong. Team Rubbish bordered the boat to set sail at 11 to find the most uncomfortable conditions for a two day slow river boat expedition to Luang Prahang. The boat is designed to take roughly 100 people on an 18 hour journey over two days, but the crazy (and I do mean crazzzzy) Laos like to add another 50%. People sat in aisles, next to the motor, on the side, under the benches and at the so called bar. So what do 150 westerners do when stuck together for 18 hours I hear you ask. Well to your amazement we drank, then drank some more and topped off both days with a night cap. It was truly a sight to behold.
A particular highlight was getting off the boat on the first day to stay in Laos equivalent of Moss Side. As soon as we landed little lao ‘ninja’ kids sprang onto our boat to get to our backpacks. So add the 150 drunk westerners and all hell broke loose. I found myself (Tom) climbing along the side of the boat in order to beat the kids to our bags. Once in the storage area it became apparent that our bags had gone missing which led to another lethal concoction ‘fear of losing fresh underwear’. I saw grown men running after children who were skipping away with their travelling life.
Honestly you really have to experience it to believe it. Well team rubbish (not so rubbish anymore as we found ALL our bags) found a little hostel which did buffalo steak and crinkled chips (menu said French Fried, though luckily they were chips and not battered Parisans) which was absolutely delightful after such a traumatic event.
Anyway we landed in Luang Prahang which a ‘World Heritage sight’ and a lovely but expensive city. We enjoyed jumping from waterfalls on our one and only day there (see pics). Because of the price we moved onto Vang Vieng which is like an 18-30’s holiday in breath taking scenery.
Tomorrow Team Rubbish (yes somehow we managed to stay together) are going tubing which involves giving my liver another beating whilst floating down the Mekong on rubber donuts.
Olga & Rui - I must add that hats off to Sara as on the slow boat into Laos she drank some whisky from a bottle which contained a dead cobra and scorpion, I managed to escape this torture. (tenho-vos a dizer que foi nojento e sabia a whiskey com peixe! lol)
Team Rubbish
- Egg smuggling Charlotte
- PC Lucy
- Sara
- Me
- Sven Goran (He was on my uni course one year behind??)
- Nicky (She was also on BISM a year behind and I went on rugby/netball tour with her??)
- Lindsay (Tiny tiny Canadian)
- Justin (brother to Canadian, but also a discovery channel addict)
- Mark (like the Mr T of team rubbish)
- Rich ( the mascot)
All the best from Lao.
Tom & Sara
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
First Week traveling!
Hi All,
Okay it has been a week of pure excitement for the both of us. Its seems we have packed a whole month into just one week. So let me take you all through exactly what is happening/happened since we left on that cold wintry day a week ago (it is currently roughly 31c).
Flight - We got upgraded to Business Class from Dubai to Bangkok, enjoying a champagne reception and 3 course meal whilst watching all the latest movie releases on the plane (Sara recommends Vicky Something Barcelona). Given a complimentary wash bag with all sorts of products for skin etc which I gave to Sara. It was quite a sight sitting amongst all the posh business men whilst the two of squealed like like a couple of 5 years old on too much sugar.
Day 2/3 - We spent our first night in Kao San Road, which for anyone who hasn't been there is a bit like a car boot sale on crack. Some very unreal sights there and we were offered all manner of things including a ping pong show. I imagine that is their national sport ;) We ended our first and second night in a cool bar which was in the middle of an old disused petrol station forecourt along with candles and smokers. To our horror we walked past it the next day and found it was actually a petrol station.
Next on our whistle stop tour of Bangkok was the Grand palace which I have to say is a must if anyone chooses to visit in future. Only primary colours are used for decoration but they make quite a sight along with the crowds of monks whisking about their business on their mobile phones. Next stop was the main temple which has a 70ft long Buddha in the Nirvana pose (much like the Kate Winslet look in titantic, you know where Leo gets all pervy and draws her naked), and while looking around came across a stray monk who we chatted and chilled out with us for about an hour.
Day 4/5/6 Bangkok - Chiang Mai (New Elephant) - We moved north to a city called chiang mai from which we booked ourselves on a 3 day trek around the jungles of Mai Teang. This involved awaking at 6 o'clock and getting a 4x4 car to the middle of the jungle, which is said to house snakes, tigers & spiders. Armed with this knowledge we were given a 20 year guide who seemed intent on getting high the whole time on cannabis and opium. Lovely guy but a few sandwiches short a picnic. But to give 'Nu' his full credit he carved some whiskey cups from bamboo as a present for us on our third day. We did so much on the trek I will only bullet point the highlights
- Saw a 'snake man' show. Involves a balding Thai man kissing and wrestling with deadly demons.... fool (The snake men threw a piece of ribbon to where Sara and I were sitting and I got so scared I screamed like a little girl.... it wasn't one of my best moments I have to admit...)
- Trek to a hill top village. This was tough as it was 1400m above sea level and we started at 650m. This tribe originates from Tibete and is said to be one of the oldest tribes to settle in Thailand. The area was just amazing and the sights were just breath taking. Our camera, unfortunately, ran out of battery when we got to the top (Sara chose to take about 100 photos of some orquids) but a very quiet (maybe even a mute) french girl took loads of photos so we will be adding them to the gallery!
- Elephant ride. Our Elephant was called Bhuta and was a starving elephant that when we were getting close to a banana shack would start to overtake all the other elephants.. very bumpy ride!)
- Water rafting
- Bamboo rafting- I was the captain for the day and did a grand job at taking us safely to our destination!
- Sleeping in bamboo shacks
- Washing in waterfalls and rivers
- Getting bitten by countless mosquitoes
Today - We arrived back in the city today and here we are........ Though I have received the best news of the year regarding Mike J's trial. For all those don't know he was found unanimously 'not guilty' in just 5 hours of deliberation.
Keep in touch all and find our photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/35491783@N03/ (hope this works!!- if not let us know)
Lots and Lots of Love
Tom & Sara
All donations appreciated.
Friday, February 06, 2009
We are off traveling!!!
I know most of you are probably tired to hear Tom and I talking about going traveling- we've only banged on about it for the last year or so! but it is finally happening now and we are off in 4 days!!! How exciting is this?
I'm in Portugal at the moment and Tom is enduring his last day of work (well done baby!!).
Finally we are closing a very long and boring chapter of our lives, one of saving lots of money, not going out much at all and generally wishing the time away. It is a pretty awful thing to do, and I promise here before all of the internet not to do such thing again. Life is to be cherished and savoured, not swallowed all at once waiting for the next course to come (I might also be hungry! hehe).
So, now that the dark times are behind us and there's a bright future ahead, it is time to share with the world our itinerary, in case you want to know where we are going to be for the next 6 months! Here it is:
10th Feb 20h00 Fly to Bangkok, Thailand Arrive on the 11th Feb
10th April 19h50 Fly to Sydney, Australia
10th June 09h15 Fly to Christchurch, New Zealand
3rd August 08h05 Fly back to London
10th August Fly back to Portugal
There you have it!
We are soo excited, it is hard to describe and I won't even get into it! But all you need to know is that we are very happy and will miss each and everyone of you for the next 6 months. Our return will be as happy as our departure because we know we have amazing friends and family to come back to.
Here is our fairwell for now and we will try and keep this up to date with our adventures, stories and smiles! Muahhhh
Sara & Tom
I'm in Portugal at the moment and Tom is enduring his last day of work (well done baby!!).
Finally we are closing a very long and boring chapter of our lives, one of saving lots of money, not going out much at all and generally wishing the time away. It is a pretty awful thing to do, and I promise here before all of the internet not to do such thing again. Life is to be cherished and savoured, not swallowed all at once waiting for the next course to come (I might also be hungry! hehe).
So, now that the dark times are behind us and there's a bright future ahead, it is time to share with the world our itinerary, in case you want to know where we are going to be for the next 6 months! Here it is:
10th Feb 20h00 Fly to Bangkok, Thailand Arrive on the 11th Feb
10th April 19h50 Fly to Sydney, Australia
10th June 09h15 Fly to Christchurch, New Zealand
3rd August 08h05 Fly back to London
10th August Fly back to Portugal
There you have it!
We are soo excited, it is hard to describe and I won't even get into it! But all you need to know is that we are very happy and will miss each and everyone of you for the next 6 months. Our return will be as happy as our departure because we know we have amazing friends and family to come back to.
Here is our fairwell for now and we will try and keep this up to date with our adventures, stories and smiles! Muahhhh
Sara & Tom
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