Current Mood: Happy

Yippeeeeeeeeee – back in Phuket and to normality in terms of technology.  Yep this place is like Magaluf gone wrong with Ladyboys strutting there stuff in the cheesy clubs – but it has broadband and working computers and, well you get the message.

Emma and I have been in this place for around 2 hours now and I have managed to a/ upload shit loads more pictures and b/ write all the blogs for the past few days (if I can’t get to a computer I jot down stuff in my journal to catch up with!)

So – if you don’t get bored too quickly, have a catch up.  Keep sending those emails – I love reading them and learning about what you lot have all been upto!  Take it easy folks and I hope to hear from you soon…

Woke up this morning at 3am to find myself laying in a pool of water.  Nope, I hadn’t peed myself in the middle of the night – our Air Conditioning unit (over my side of the bed may I add) had decided to have a spasm in the middle of the night and was leaking water like a small incontinent child all over the lower part of my bed.  What a way to wake up!

I think I must of pushed it to its limits in terms of cooling ability, setting it at a rather chilly 18 degrees.  Taught me a lesson anyway – put Emma under the Air Conditioner next time :)

Had a wander over to Klong Khan Beach (or something like that) today, actually it wasn’t so much a wander as a bloody trek in the midday sun.  By the time we got there, my legs were killing me and not because they were tired.  I had made the mistake of going into the sea to cool off before making the journey, brilliant plan not quite executed properly – the sand had rubbed the whole way and the inside of my thighs were bright red…  Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch…

Nevermind, it was nothing that a long lie down and a Watermelon Lassi Shake couldn’t fix.  The beach was Massive (note the capital M) and stretched for miles, no wonder the locals and tourists alike had abbreviated the name to Long beach.  Some of the pictures of this place have really come out well and I’ll stick them up on the site soon.

The rest of the hectic afternoon was spent debating how long you can last before chilling off in the sea.  For me, thats about 5 mins tops – thus the reason I went home with Skin like a figs!

Had a couple of dives today, really good ones actually despite not seeing the elusive Manta’s or Whale Sharks.

The journey to the dive site was done in a really nice speed boat with twin Yamaha 200hp outboards, felt like something out of Miami Vice as we skipped over the water.  The sea is like an English lake with only the odd ripple here and there, in some places the consistency looks more like yoghurt it is that smooth.  Saw shit loads of Jellyfish on the way out which made me a little wary about jumping in considering I was only going to be in my Boardies and Rash Vest.  No worries though as the closer to the dive site we got, the less we saw.

When we got there we were the first of the speedboats to arrive, there were only 3 liveaboards there as well and they had all done there morning dives. 

We suited up and jumped in at Hin Muang first, the first thing that hits you is the colours – the sea might not be the bluest here, but the coral was untouched by humans nor the Tsunami and were really bright.  Think this was aided by how clear the water was as it allowed the sun to penetrate that little bit further down.

When we got down to the sand bed at the side of one of these reefs we were greeted by a massive leopard shark having a little rest on the floor.  It is a nice looking Shark with its trademark Leopard spots all over its body and although only about 5-6 foot in length its tail alone was easily 2 foot in length.  It was a real treat to see and made the rest of the dive just ordinary.

Hin Duaeng was also a lovely dive, more colourful even than the first although we didn’t catch any mantas or Whale Sharks.  Em and I spent 90% of the dive staring out into the blue, or over the drop off desperate to just catch a glimpse of one!

Nothing…  Sales speak, I hate it! 

Ouch…  Today I risked showing my belly to the sun again and this time he kindly resisted frying me like bacon.  Turns out that the ferry journey over to this place on the 22nd (when I fell asleep) left my sunken chest positively red and glowing.  Still I went to bed last night without the need for an Aftersun bath and I feel pretty good about it this morning.

Emma and I have booked ourselves a couple of dives tomorrow at a place called Hin Duaeng and Hin Muang.  They have supposedly seen a Whale Shark off this point 2 days ago and also have had a flock (is that the right term) of Manta Rays populating this area for tha last week – I think it’s just sales speak, but we’ll find out tomorrow…

Current Mood: Playful

Transfer day today…  Up early in order to catch the 11am ferry from Phi-Phi over to Koh Lanta, had to make sure that everything was packed into my rucksack and although I have already discarded two t-shirts, I seem to have more in my rucksack than when I started.

Last day on Phi-Phi and we find ourselves a lovely little bakery, cleverly disguised as a full blown restaurant so picked up some of these lovely little pastry things for Brekkie – jam packed to the brim with fresh (I hope) pineapple and bananas.  Stuffed to the max I sling my backpack over my shoulder breaking my only pair of sunglasses (lost the arms to my Oakleys the day before!) which was great considering we were opposite a load of market stalls, all of whom see the opportunity to snap my arm off in a bidding war to sell me a pair of cheap knockoffs with about as much uv protection as a greenhouse!  Still armed with my 6 sentances in Thai – I give them a swift “Mai Chi” and I’m on my way to the ferry (that means NO by the way!).

Ferry journey was well relaxing and I managed to catch 40 winks in the hour and a half that it took to get over the water.  Felt refreshed and raring to get to our next place – the Lanta New Beach.

The rooms upon arrival were nice, but we were given a twin and the girls were given a double.  Not sure if they thought Scatt and Alex looked more like partners than Emma and I, but we changed rooms with them anyway.  Nice to have a double bed for once, but not nice that the bathroom stunk like an old mans pub toilet - we also had some squatters, a cockroach that came to be known as Colin and a Lizard called Laura.  They haven’t caused us any issues though so we just leave them to scuttle/scurry around!

This resort offers Thai massages as well, so I got one as soon as the bed with the women that DIDN’T look like Geoff Capes became available - turned out to be a bloody good choice as the young, slender Thai lady that moulded and shaped me into positions that even a yoga instructor would of been proud of managed to snap, crack and pop virtually every single joint in my body – including toes, wrist, shoulders, hips, knees, vertabrae, fingers, thumbs, ankles and even my neck.  Still walked away feeling like I was 17 again and the crink in my neck I got when Steve ambushed me before I came away, has now vanished.  Looking forward to a nice nights kip before a full day at this place.

Current Mood: Alarmed & Happy

Well, I’m back again…  Scatt’s having her Open Water referral dives while Em, Alex and I just chill out and relax.  The last few days have been pretty crazy with all the moving around, some of it has been amazing while other bits have been soul destroying. 

We arrived onto Phi-Phi after an early morning ferry on the Sea Angel, the sailing was really nice and we got to relax on the sundeck for the two hours it took to get across the waters.  Getting off the boat was like jumping into the middle of the London Stock Exchange at it’s craziest hour, loads of like minded backpackers all desperately seeking those elusive rooms on Phi-Phi Island during high season.  The first place we looked at was fully booked and on a budget you don’t get a lot of choice – we were recommended a place called Mo Prough Bungalows and took it without hesitation.

Apart from the fact that the Taxi boat took us to the wrong beach and we had to trek through the jungle for 20 mins to get to our resort (Scatt with her 27kg rucksack having to duck under a tree, which is how I would imagine a hippo doing limbo would look) we found it without issue.  We checked in and made our way up to the ‘shack’!  On first glance it looked really nice, up a hill in the middle of a jungle we got to our little nest and dumped our stuff.  The beach was secluded and clean with a handful of people dotted around enjoying the gentle waves.

The day was just what I needed, falling asleep in a hammock in the shade of 2 coconut trees (no coconuts overhead either Russ!).  Scatt fell asleep on the beach and began snoring much to the amusement of the staff and holidaymakers while Em and Alex went in the sea and then read there books.

Yesterday, we went on a boat trip for 600 baht each ) around 9 pound.  We took in a number of postcard-esq beaches including one that was called Monkey beach, for that exact reason.  1 took a like to me and although I didn’t have any food to offer (unlike all the other tourists), I had my camera, which he seemed to love looking into because of the reflection of him on the lens.  Pictures to be posted soon.

Next was Maya Beach, where the Beach was filmed – this was really good to see, but an influx of tourism has seen the better of the beach and it has now turned into a dumping ground for rubbish that not so eco-friendly tourists have left behind a real shame and a major kick in the nuts.

The tour ended and we got dumped back at Phi-Phi beach………….

Then comes the horror…  We go back to our rooms to get changed for a night in Phi-Phi town.  Awaiting for us are thousands of mosquitos, busy banging their knives and forks together waiting for their lunch to arrive – and arrive it did, completely unaware of the banquet we were soon to be a part of.

Our shack is made of 4 walls which have been skillfully crafted from leaves and shoots, the roof is also not actually fastened to the walls – more just rested on it.  Because of this, we had no real way of stopping the Mozi’s from getting in.  Trust me when I say a formula 1 pit crew couldn’t change a wheel as quick as we got changed that night!  Using our cold hose that passed for the shower and the toilet that was merely a hole you had to flush with a bucket of water we were changed and out in an instant.  We went for a nice meal and stayed out for as long as we could, knowing that the night was going to be spent in a hut under seige by the little humming bastards.

Resigned to the fact we had to sleep at some point we went back to the shack – but alas this time armed to the teeth with Anti-Mosquito devices and sprays.  When you go to war I guess you need the right tools!

We showered ourselves in 50% deet and made our way back to the rooms.  So far so good, you could see and hear them, but they could do no harm (well, only the really desperate got ya!).  To strengthen our defences we lit 6 mozi coils and left them burning on the stone floor, it was like a not nice smelling insense!  Then all we had to cope with was the heat and lack of cooling device (our fan didn’t work!).  I think I lost about a stone those nights (we had 2 in the god-forsaken place), but have today put it back on in our new accommodation – a lovely little bungalow with air conditioning, hot shower and flushing toilet.  Wahooooooooo

Sorry for the essay, been a long couple of days and I wanted to put it all down!

[zp]thailandbeaches[/zp]

Current Mood: Cool

Sorry this is a bit late, I saved it to drafts to finish once I had time… 

We moved from Bangkok to Phuket on an amazingl comfortable flight, landing safely but with nowhere to go we went to the fella in the tourism section of the airport – he sorted us some accommodation in a resort on the west coast of Phuket called Karon Beach for about 5 pound (wish I could find that poxy symbol) a night.  Taxi ride there was pretty surreal as the guys exhaust was hanging pretty much off and when we went over a bump in the road the car would rock back and forth like a giant see-saw.

Hotel was really nice with driftwood carved beds and a huge amount of space!  Dumping our belongings we head straight to the sea where we are greeted by more sunbeds than you would see along Tenerife’s infamous Playa De Las Americas.  This is NOT the Thailand I neither expected nor wanted!  Still the beach was golden and the water clear – we stayed here for two nights, findind the roof pool the afternoon before we left!  This was amazing and made up for the fact that the beach was filled with the huge Germans and there titchy tiny Thai Brides that were about 20 years younger.

Off to Phi Phi on the Early morning ferry and back into the unknown on the accommodation front.

Current Mood: Happy

Yesterday was spent fighting the tuk-tuk drivers to take us to temples, they insist they are closed because of buddhist holidays and try to take you to factory outlets instead (if they do they get free petrol!), but we were warned to this before we came here and so far have managed to avoid any said shops.  They offer you prices of 20Baht (about 35p) to take you where you want to go and when you say that you don’t want to go to a factory, they say 150 Baht :-).

We saw the reclining buddha yesterday which is huge – 45 metres in length and about 6-8 metres high and covered in some kind of gold.  Will put some pictures up when I find a quicker internet cafe.

We then proceeded to the Grand State Tower hotel for an Alfresco Meal on the 64th floor, this was truly amazing and an experience I won’t forget – meals consisted of sea food, red and white meat all served up in a way that would make even Gordon Ramsey swear more than usual (in a good way!).

Today, we have chilled and been taking it easy – this morning Em and I went back down the Khao San Road to see what it was like in the day and actually really enjoyed it, you don’t get hit by the touts and the market stalls are plenty and varied.  Then was a visit to the pool to relax.

This afternoon we visited MBK which is a huge shopping mall selling cheap (in price!)knockoffs, fake DVD’s and massage chairs (weirdly!).  This was a bit of a manic place to be and the hustle and bustle is like London at rush hour on a tube train.  We were there a while though and Scatt and Alex managed to spend quite a bit of cash.

On the way home I got to do something I have wanted to try in a while – I took the bushtucker trial and ate a bug, well a worm to be precise and it was actually not that bad.  It was fried, so rather than taste of Chicken, it was instead a more protein packed version of Crispy Sea Weed…  ummmm, yummy!  Anyone wants one, I’ll bring a bag home for you ;)

Tomorrow we are off to Koh Yao Noi for a few days and then moving onto the other islands, not sure if I’ll be able to update this there, but am keeping a journal so will update when the internet is next available. 

Thanks to those who have sent me emails, it’s really nice to hear whats going on there.