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

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

Koh, Koh, Koh!

Hi Family & Friends,

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