Well, after having picked up numerous speeding fines before leaving the UK I didn't leave it too long before the boys in blue were on my case again. Having pulled out of the Hertz car park and literally only 500m from where I got into the car I was breathalised! It was only a routine stop though and I was quickly moved on! phew!
Back on the road I to grips with the automatic transmission (almost putting Angela through the windscreen in the process!) and the city's roads and tolls.
With a wealth of camping knowledge picked up at XXIV Harlow Scout's Cobra Patrol, and from Sundays spent watching Ray Mears on the box I was ready for everything the bush could throw at me, including brown snakes, redbacks and psychopathic 'Wolf Creek' inspired locals. Angela though - with only a couple of nights spent under canvas in her back garden - was in for a shock.
To ease the pain we spent the first night at a hotel. We immediately swore we wouldn't do it again, at least not until we got back to Sydney.
We headed to K-mart to pick up the final bits of our camping equipment and got back on the road.
The scenery was fantastic and so much greener than we had both expected. All the way down the south coast of NSW and most of the way along the south of Victoria, Australia looks very much like parts of England and Scotland - except the water is a brilliant shade of turquoise and the sun is (mostly) out.
The driving was fantastic too, long, mostly empty highways, steer you through small villages and towns with names such as...
Thursday 29 January 2009
Australian road trip...chapter 1
Well after a month of avoiding blogging and general communication like the plague (and being aided by Australia's generally poor transmitter coverage and colossal size), I thought I better give you a downunder rundown...
After panicking about getting accommodation before we arrived we hit the jackpot with the Elite Private Hotel in Kirribilli. On my first morning here I was blown away, walking down to the harbour only to see the bridge looming up next to me and the Opera House gleaming at me from across the harbour. Fantastic and relatively cheap too.
New Year's Eve was good. Although the whole week we were there was spent drinking too much, eating too much and spending too much as we caught up with friends and family from back home.
For the fireworks we camped out in the blazing sun at Bradfield Plaza, on the bridge's north side and opposite the Opera House and Sydney CBD, for the 9pm show, before heading to Observatory Hill on the bridge's south side for the midnight celebrations. The fireworks were spectacular and I will try and get some pix up here or on flickr soon.
By January 4th and with considerably less money, we picked up our 1st hire car from Hertz. The plan being to buy a tent and some camping equipment and drive south along the NSW coastline, then down to Melbourne before heading along the Great Ocean Road, up to Adelaide and back to Sydney cross country.
I had been hoping for a jet-black, nitrous-equipped Interceptor used in Mad Max but made do with our air-conditioned Toyota Camry. With wheels, shades and sunburnt noses we hit the road...
After panicking about getting accommodation before we arrived we hit the jackpot with the Elite Private Hotel in Kirribilli. On my first morning here I was blown away, walking down to the harbour only to see the bridge looming up next to me and the Opera House gleaming at me from across the harbour. Fantastic and relatively cheap too.
New Year's Eve was good. Although the whole week we were there was spent drinking too much, eating too much and spending too much as we caught up with friends and family from back home.
For the fireworks we camped out in the blazing sun at Bradfield Plaza, on the bridge's north side and opposite the Opera House and Sydney CBD, for the 9pm show, before heading to Observatory Hill on the bridge's south side for the midnight celebrations. The fireworks were spectacular and I will try and get some pix up here or on flickr soon.
By January 4th and with considerably less money, we picked up our 1st hire car from Hertz. The plan being to buy a tent and some camping equipment and drive south along the NSW coastline, then down to Melbourne before heading along the Great Ocean Road, up to Adelaide and back to Sydney cross country.
I had been hoping for a jet-black, nitrous-equipped Interceptor used in Mad Max but made do with our air-conditioned Toyota Camry. With wheels, shades and sunburnt noses we hit the road...
Thursday 25 December 2008
Merry Christmas from Bangkok
Just woken up in our swish apartment in Bangkok, it didn't snow and Santa hasn't been, but just wanted to wish everyone a happy Christmas and new year's. It's going to be a strange day especially as it's just the two of us.
While the Thais are trying hard to make it feel like Christmas it isn't quite working - and it feels decidedly weird spending xmas in a country where it's 30c instead of 4c. Part of the reason we are staying in the apartment is so we can make our own Christmas lunch - but after a visit to Tesco Lotus yesterday that may be harder than we hope.
Firstly we can't find a turkey anywhere, secondly we don't have an oven. So we're having a re-heated seasoned chicken and mashed potato with veg...mmmmmm. I bought what I thought was a xmas ham but it turns out it's a lump of uncured pork - I get the feeling one or two Thai dogs will have a Christmas surprise later when I get rid of it.
We're almost at the end of our Indian/Asian adventures and will be heading down under on Boxing Day (night). It's been fun. I think we both enjoyed India the most and despite all that has happened in Mumbai we will definitely be heading back sometime (though on reflection the country's transport system probably wore us out more than we had expected).
The last few weeks in SE Asia have been busy as we have been on the move constantly - as a result we're looking forward to getting to Oz more than ever, where we know we will be for at least a year.
We're planning on getting ourselves a camper van (I'm holding out for a Mad Max-style Interceptor) with all the kit and caboodle, and will be hitting the roads after our NYE celebrations.
After moving our flights to Dec 26th it looked like it might be impossible to find somewhere to stay in Sydney but we have managed to get a room in a place just north of the harbour bridge in Kirribilli so will see some of you soon. To everyone back home enjoy the Christmas spirit and I will speak soon.
While the Thais are trying hard to make it feel like Christmas it isn't quite working - and it feels decidedly weird spending xmas in a country where it's 30c instead of 4c. Part of the reason we are staying in the apartment is so we can make our own Christmas lunch - but after a visit to Tesco Lotus yesterday that may be harder than we hope.
Firstly we can't find a turkey anywhere, secondly we don't have an oven. So we're having a re-heated seasoned chicken and mashed potato with veg...mmmmmm. I bought what I thought was a xmas ham but it turns out it's a lump of uncured pork - I get the feeling one or two Thai dogs will have a Christmas surprise later when I get rid of it.
We're almost at the end of our Indian/Asian adventures and will be heading down under on Boxing Day (night). It's been fun. I think we both enjoyed India the most and despite all that has happened in Mumbai we will definitely be heading back sometime (though on reflection the country's transport system probably wore us out more than we had expected).
The last few weeks in SE Asia have been busy as we have been on the move constantly - as a result we're looking forward to getting to Oz more than ever, where we know we will be for at least a year.
We're planning on getting ourselves a camper van (I'm holding out for a Mad Max-style Interceptor) with all the kit and caboodle, and will be hitting the roads after our NYE celebrations.
After moving our flights to Dec 26th it looked like it might be impossible to find somewhere to stay in Sydney but we have managed to get a room in a place just north of the harbour bridge in Kirribilli so will see some of you soon. To everyone back home enjoy the Christmas spirit and I will speak soon.
Friday 19 December 2008
Patong Ping-pong, ladyboys, and the neverending journey to Ko Pha-Ngan
After arriving in Phuket (pronounced Poo-Get if your Thai and feck It if you're Irish), we hauled our bags to the nearest guesthouse in the resort of Patong Beach. I was still dazed after stupidly smashing my head again on the roof of the boat (this is starting to worry Angela who thinks I will have the IQ of a boxer by the time I get back to the UK - apologies to any boxers reading this),and we somehow managed to get a room in Charlie's Guesthouse, which it turns out is more used to renting by the hour rather than per night.
After freshening up and a quick bite to eat, we headed to the beach. We were dazzled by the amount of bars and tacky tourist restaurants we saw on the short walk through Patong. The beach was no different and was massively over-developed. Having spent the previous night on a deserted beach on Ko Phi Phi it was a bit of a shock. Everywhere you looked there were parasols and sun-loungers while people on speedboats, jetskis, and parasails weaved dangerously in and out of swimmers. It seemed a real shame as the bay must have looked fantastic before the lure of tourist dollar turned it into some sort of South East Asian Benidorm.
Unfortunately a lot of the places we have been to in Thailand are similar. I guess a lot of it is a response to the devastation wreaked by the tsunami (there are tsunami warning signs, evacuation routes and alarms everywhere) but I think southern Thailand generally is over-developed.
I spoke to a couple of diving schools, but their prices were massively over-inflated (I will wait until we get to Ko Tao tomorrow), we soaked up the sun and sights and sunk a couple of well-earned beers.
A day was enough for us here and after getting back from the beach we booked a minibus to Sura Thani and ferry to Ko Pha-Ngan for the next morning.
.....Chris has become fatigued (or can't be arsed finishing this off so I have taken over).
Phuket was a disappointment, but maybe we just chose the wrong place to stay...I did not realise how big the island was and we are guilty of arriving in Patong - not liking it and getting on the first bus out of there. We could have hired a scooter and explored some of the other beaches but as we are running out of time in Thailand we decided to cut our losses and head for the east cost islands of Ko Pha-Ngan and Ko Tao.
After a day taking in the sights of Patong darkness fell and the town lit up in a blaze of neon...and out came the Thai Go Go girls and ladyboys! Since we had one night only we decided to fully embrace the debauchery and hit the town. We went to a few bars where you get a complementary Thai girl at every table, these girls were stunning and Chris was like a kid in a sweet shop, he did not know where to look first. Luckily they were showing the match - Arsenal were paying Boro but don't ask Chris what the score was i still don't think he would be able to tell you.
Next stop was a bar where we were dragged in by a ladyboy, he got us settled with some drinks, came back over and made us play Jackpot, connect 4 and some random hitting nails into a block of wood with a hammer game (Chris's DIY nightmares returned). We also made friends with the girls (boys?) and by an amazing coincidence one of the girls I had got talking to was on our minibus to Sura Thani the next morning. It was great chatting to all the girls and I think they were pleased to be nattering to me rather than some 50 year old skanky sex tourist (of which there were many).
The main street was packed with bars all with glittering arrays of dancing ladyboys, here we met two 19 year old boys from Finland....I think it was a eye opener for them, so much so they were hammered - as was Chris. They provided him with lots of material and I had to walk along with the three of them saying "you like ladyboys", "no YOU like ladyboys" Chris in his full volume Borat voice.
Next morning we were on the minibus at 7.30am - the journey turned into another nightmare trip and because of a delay with the ferry transfer we did not reach Ko Pha-Ngan until 8.30pm. We were tired and had no where to say but luckily met up with a couple from Holland who were also heading for the northern resort of Haad Yao. They recommended a place called Highlife. This turned out to be a real gem, wooden huts with hammocks and sea views, a restaurant with a tasty looking menu (they had Cornflakes!!!!) and a lovely pool. However the first hut we looked at was an older style, Chris pulled what he thought was the bathroom light only to find he was holding onto a giant cockroach (Jules you would have loved it), when we did find the real light switch it didn't get any better - the bathroom was full of them! We politely declined this hut and were shown another, this turned out to be much better. We later discovered the absence of cockroaches was thanks to our resident lizard who lived behind the bathroom mirror and was over a foot long, he looked like a mini crocodile.
We stayed on the island three days and it was very relaxing, although the weather was a overcast and windy for a couple of the days so we did not get much opportunity to work on our tan. Needless to say everyone reading this at home will be full of sympathy. On our last day we hired a scooter and drove around the island checking out deserted beaches, we found some real beauties and put the scooter through it's paces by taking it down (and back up) some very steep dirt tracks....luckily it didn't rain or we would still be stuck on a deserted beach somewhere.
Yesterday we got yet another ferry to Ko Tao. I would say that Chris has been doing very well on the open sea but he went diving today and his seasickness has finally caught back up with him.
We are staying in the diving resort of Sairee beach which is a mecca for divers, this island is world number 2 in issuing PADI certificates. Most of the dive centres offer discounts on accommodation and we spent our first night at the Big Blue dive resort, where the rooms were cheap but dreadful. Our little hovel stunk of drains and peroxide (?), this was too much even for Chris so we decided to check out and look for somewhere better. We stumbled across a BAN'S diving resort and had a look at the rooms, the first was luxury but the more expensive one they showed us was exquisite and we just couldn't resist. It is the most luxurious room we have stayed in since leaving home and has hot water which is a rarity on this island....the cold showers are painful.
Chris did two dives today while I had a lay-in and spent the morning chilling around the pool. He saw lots of fish and navigated through underwater tunnels but the visibility was not as good as he expected. The snorkeling however is great and we have been splitting our time between baking on the beach and peering down at the underwater world.
We have two more nights of luxury then we are off on a catamaran-bus combo to Bangkok in time for Christmas.
In case we don't get a chance to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year:
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPY NEW YEAR!!!!
After freshening up and a quick bite to eat, we headed to the beach. We were dazzled by the amount of bars and tacky tourist restaurants we saw on the short walk through Patong. The beach was no different and was massively over-developed. Having spent the previous night on a deserted beach on Ko Phi Phi it was a bit of a shock. Everywhere you looked there were parasols and sun-loungers while people on speedboats, jetskis, and parasails weaved dangerously in and out of swimmers. It seemed a real shame as the bay must have looked fantastic before the lure of tourist dollar turned it into some sort of South East Asian Benidorm.
Unfortunately a lot of the places we have been to in Thailand are similar. I guess a lot of it is a response to the devastation wreaked by the tsunami (there are tsunami warning signs, evacuation routes and alarms everywhere) but I think southern Thailand generally is over-developed.
I spoke to a couple of diving schools, but their prices were massively over-inflated (I will wait until we get to Ko Tao tomorrow), we soaked up the sun and sights and sunk a couple of well-earned beers.
A day was enough for us here and after getting back from the beach we booked a minibus to Sura Thani and ferry to Ko Pha-Ngan for the next morning.
.....Chris has become fatigued (or can't be arsed finishing this off so I have taken over).
Phuket was a disappointment, but maybe we just chose the wrong place to stay...I did not realise how big the island was and we are guilty of arriving in Patong - not liking it and getting on the first bus out of there. We could have hired a scooter and explored some of the other beaches but as we are running out of time in Thailand we decided to cut our losses and head for the east cost islands of Ko Pha-Ngan and Ko Tao.
After a day taking in the sights of Patong darkness fell and the town lit up in a blaze of neon...and out came the Thai Go Go girls and ladyboys! Since we had one night only we decided to fully embrace the debauchery and hit the town. We went to a few bars where you get a complementary Thai girl at every table, these girls were stunning and Chris was like a kid in a sweet shop, he did not know where to look first. Luckily they were showing the match - Arsenal were paying Boro but don't ask Chris what the score was i still don't think he would be able to tell you.
Next stop was a bar where we were dragged in by a ladyboy, he got us settled with some drinks, came back over and made us play Jackpot, connect 4 and some random hitting nails into a block of wood with a hammer game (Chris's DIY nightmares returned). We also made friends with the girls (boys?) and by an amazing coincidence one of the girls I had got talking to was on our minibus to Sura Thani the next morning. It was great chatting to all the girls and I think they were pleased to be nattering to me rather than some 50 year old skanky sex tourist (of which there were many).
The main street was packed with bars all with glittering arrays of dancing ladyboys, here we met two 19 year old boys from Finland....I think it was a eye opener for them, so much so they were hammered - as was Chris. They provided him with lots of material and I had to walk along with the three of them saying "you like ladyboys", "no YOU like ladyboys" Chris in his full volume Borat voice.
Next morning we were on the minibus at 7.30am - the journey turned into another nightmare trip and because of a delay with the ferry transfer we did not reach Ko Pha-Ngan until 8.30pm. We were tired and had no where to say but luckily met up with a couple from Holland who were also heading for the northern resort of Haad Yao. They recommended a place called Highlife. This turned out to be a real gem, wooden huts with hammocks and sea views, a restaurant with a tasty looking menu (they had Cornflakes!!!!) and a lovely pool. However the first hut we looked at was an older style, Chris pulled what he thought was the bathroom light only to find he was holding onto a giant cockroach (Jules you would have loved it), when we did find the real light switch it didn't get any better - the bathroom was full of them! We politely declined this hut and were shown another, this turned out to be much better. We later discovered the absence of cockroaches was thanks to our resident lizard who lived behind the bathroom mirror and was over a foot long, he looked like a mini crocodile.
We stayed on the island three days and it was very relaxing, although the weather was a overcast and windy for a couple of the days so we did not get much opportunity to work on our tan. Needless to say everyone reading this at home will be full of sympathy. On our last day we hired a scooter and drove around the island checking out deserted beaches, we found some real beauties and put the scooter through it's paces by taking it down (and back up) some very steep dirt tracks....luckily it didn't rain or we would still be stuck on a deserted beach somewhere.
Yesterday we got yet another ferry to Ko Tao. I would say that Chris has been doing very well on the open sea but he went diving today and his seasickness has finally caught back up with him.
We are staying in the diving resort of Sairee beach which is a mecca for divers, this island is world number 2 in issuing PADI certificates. Most of the dive centres offer discounts on accommodation and we spent our first night at the Big Blue dive resort, where the rooms were cheap but dreadful. Our little hovel stunk of drains and peroxide (?), this was too much even for Chris so we decided to check out and look for somewhere better. We stumbled across a BAN'S diving resort and had a look at the rooms, the first was luxury but the more expensive one they showed us was exquisite and we just couldn't resist. It is the most luxurious room we have stayed in since leaving home and has hot water which is a rarity on this island....the cold showers are painful.
Chris did two dives today while I had a lay-in and spent the morning chilling around the pool. He saw lots of fish and navigated through underwater tunnels but the visibility was not as good as he expected. The snorkeling however is great and we have been splitting our time between baking on the beach and peering down at the underwater world.
We have two more nights of luxury then we are off on a catamaran-bus combo to Bangkok in time for Christmas.
In case we don't get a chance to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year:
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Monday 15 December 2008
Penang, Ao Nang, Ko Phi Phi
It's been a while, but news of my death has been greatly exaggerated and I have instead been sampling the delights of Thailand - in fact as I write this from the hammock outside our beach hut on the evening of 15th December, I can hear the waves lapping at the beach outside and the sound of Bob Marley drifting across the sand from the bar - I can't even BEGIN to imagine how crap it is in the UK right now - at least it's Christmas soon ;-)
After too much time in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Penang was a welcome break. The slower pace of life and laidback locals give the place a feel very similar to Fort Cochin, Kerala. After a late night arrival in Georgetown at the 'New Banana' guesthouse, we decamped to the bar for a few surprisingly cheap Tigers (beer is taxed at 40% in Malaysia!).
The feel of the place was very different to what we've been used to in India and Sri Lanka. There's a lot of backpackers, most of whom are young, tattooed and sunburnt, and only too happy to while away the days propping up the bar or surfing the net on their laptops. Not being nearly as young, tattooed or sunburnt we grabbed a rickshaw and were pedalled to the mecca of uncool - Fort Cornwallis (even the name is dull).
Good to see statues to the late/great Captain Francis Light who set up the fort in 1786 for the East India Company, and named the place Georgetown after the King. This is one of many remnants of the British Empire we've encountered on the trip, which makes the heart swell with pride and makes you wonder why us Brits aren't a little prouder of our history.
After getting our picture taken with the Cap'n and a four-year-old python called Milo (I thought it was going to bite me), we headed back for a tasty lunch.
(Before this all happened we spent the morning rushing around trying to sort out a new visa for Thailand after the Gov't (in its infinite wisdom) decided to cut the length of stay for people arriving in Thailand via a land border from 30 days to 15. We will only be there 18-19 days so it hurt the wallet even more.)
Back to our tales...
So after sorting the visa we got up the next day for a 5am minivan to the border and Hat Yai in southern Thailand. We were joined in the cramped van by three giant Irishmen who were soon cracking us up and were obviously still drunk. Unfortunately one of the lads managed to get his passport 'locked' (that or he's a terrorist), while the other two made it through passport control only to get lost on the other side (unbelievable) and we had to wait at the border crossing for about an hour while they were found and the passport was fixed.
We were soon at the drop-off point though and after turning our watches back one hour, bought our onward tickets to Krabi - another cramped four-hour minivan ride away.
When I saw the driver I should have known we'd have problems. He was wearing fingerless driving/racing gloves, and after cramming us in the back seat of the van next to a sweaty Thai, turned up the car stereo to 10 just in case we couldn't here his Thai pop 'music'. The ride can only be described as death-defying. His minivan (complete with spoiler, bodykit and alloys) hurtled along the Thai roads come rain or shine. He overtook on corners, overtook on blind summits and seemed to try his hardest to ensure that we spent every second of the journey in abject terror. I lost count of the number of near misses, but let's just say I felt safer in a rickshaw in Delhi traffic than in this van.
We were relieved when we finally got to Krabi Town but a bit dismayed to learn that it was nowhere near the beach. Luckily though a guy we'd met on the journey pointed us towards Ao Nang, which is on the western side of the country and a short taxi journey away.
Ao Nang is well-equipped for tourists and backpackers and after chowing down on some cheap n'tasty massaman curry we decided to take in the sights. There were a lot of places offering Thai massage (no not that sort), and the usual armies of touts and hawkers trying to offload dvds, suits, watches etc.
After booking a luxury speed boat tour of the islands for the following day, we headed to the beach with a couple of Changs from 7-11 to watch the sunset.
Our speedboat was a twin-engined 400bhp, twin V6 monster (who needs eco-tourism anyway?), and was the envy of the other tourists and fishermen alike. The islands around Ao Nang make up the Than Bok Kharani national marine park and need to be seen to be believed. Their sheer limestone cliffs rise straight out of the sea and every steep surface is covered with dense vegetation. One island is battered by waves from the outside but is home to a perfectly calm lagoon in its middle, another one is narrower at the base than its summit and seems to defy gravity, all of them look impressive and island spotting was a great way to pass the 20-minute trip to our first stop - Hong island.
On arriving we donned our snorkels and spent an hour swimming in crystal clear waters in a small lagoon next to the island. The sealife was amazing. It was like swimming in a tropical fish tank but with more Russians. At one point we were literally feeding shoals of these wild fish by hand, one of them ended up biting Angela after she antagonised it with a piece of bread!
We spent another night at Ao Nang before another sunny ferry trip to Ko Phi Phi. Ko Phi Phi is made up of two main clusters of islands: Phi Phi Don (where we stayed) and Phi Phi Ley (where The Beach was filmed). Instead of opting to stay in the main resort we decided to stay at remote Ao Toh Koh beach which took 20 minutes by long-tail boat to get to and only had power between 6pm and 5am. The first room we looked at was virtually in the jungle and we ended up choosing a slightly more expensive (but better sealed) room for 600 baht.
While I embraced the jungle lifestyle, Angela wasn't too pleased at the lack of hot water and electricity, and didn't enjoy the return to cold showers and damp jungle rooms. The snorkelling off of the beach was yet again fantastic and the corals were better than I saw in Egypt. The only problem was the tide was quite powerful and it was a battle to avoid the sea urchins and stay upright when clearing your mask.
This was December 12th, Full Moon Party night, and we couldn't have been further from the party. But our host, Pon, was very friendly and even offered to open the bar for the eight of us staying on the beach, tempting us with promises of 'something to smoke'. We had a couple more Changs and turned in, after setting the alarm for 6am to catch the sunrise.
We were weighing up whether to visit Phi Phi Ley and in the end gave it a miss having already shelled out for one island-hopping tour. We bought our tickets to Phuket, and squeezed ourselves onto the deck of another ferry to soak up the rays. Now, I'm not the best of sailors, but so far this trip I have managed to avoid seasickness. This almost came to an end during this 90-minute journey though, and I had to try my hardest to stop going green as we were rocked back and forth.
(continued soon)
After too much time in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Penang was a welcome break. The slower pace of life and laidback locals give the place a feel very similar to Fort Cochin, Kerala. After a late night arrival in Georgetown at the 'New Banana' guesthouse, we decamped to the bar for a few surprisingly cheap Tigers (beer is taxed at 40% in Malaysia!).
The feel of the place was very different to what we've been used to in India and Sri Lanka. There's a lot of backpackers, most of whom are young, tattooed and sunburnt, and only too happy to while away the days propping up the bar or surfing the net on their laptops. Not being nearly as young, tattooed or sunburnt we grabbed a rickshaw and were pedalled to the mecca of uncool - Fort Cornwallis (even the name is dull).
Good to see statues to the late/great Captain Francis Light who set up the fort in 1786 for the East India Company, and named the place Georgetown after the King. This is one of many remnants of the British Empire we've encountered on the trip, which makes the heart swell with pride and makes you wonder why us Brits aren't a little prouder of our history.
After getting our picture taken with the Cap'n and a four-year-old python called Milo (I thought it was going to bite me), we headed back for a tasty lunch.
(Before this all happened we spent the morning rushing around trying to sort out a new visa for Thailand after the Gov't (in its infinite wisdom) decided to cut the length of stay for people arriving in Thailand via a land border from 30 days to 15. We will only be there 18-19 days so it hurt the wallet even more.)
Back to our tales...
So after sorting the visa we got up the next day for a 5am minivan to the border and Hat Yai in southern Thailand. We were joined in the cramped van by three giant Irishmen who were soon cracking us up and were obviously still drunk. Unfortunately one of the lads managed to get his passport 'locked' (that or he's a terrorist), while the other two made it through passport control only to get lost on the other side (unbelievable) and we had to wait at the border crossing for about an hour while they were found and the passport was fixed.
We were soon at the drop-off point though and after turning our watches back one hour, bought our onward tickets to Krabi - another cramped four-hour minivan ride away.
When I saw the driver I should have known we'd have problems. He was wearing fingerless driving/racing gloves, and after cramming us in the back seat of the van next to a sweaty Thai, turned up the car stereo to 10 just in case we couldn't here his Thai pop 'music'. The ride can only be described as death-defying. His minivan (complete with spoiler, bodykit and alloys) hurtled along the Thai roads come rain or shine. He overtook on corners, overtook on blind summits and seemed to try his hardest to ensure that we spent every second of the journey in abject terror. I lost count of the number of near misses, but let's just say I felt safer in a rickshaw in Delhi traffic than in this van.
We were relieved when we finally got to Krabi Town but a bit dismayed to learn that it was nowhere near the beach. Luckily though a guy we'd met on the journey pointed us towards Ao Nang, which is on the western side of the country and a short taxi journey away.
Ao Nang is well-equipped for tourists and backpackers and after chowing down on some cheap n'tasty massaman curry we decided to take in the sights. There were a lot of places offering Thai massage (no not that sort), and the usual armies of touts and hawkers trying to offload dvds, suits, watches etc.
After booking a luxury speed boat tour of the islands for the following day, we headed to the beach with a couple of Changs from 7-11 to watch the sunset.
Our speedboat was a twin-engined 400bhp, twin V6 monster (who needs eco-tourism anyway?), and was the envy of the other tourists and fishermen alike. The islands around Ao Nang make up the Than Bok Kharani national marine park and need to be seen to be believed. Their sheer limestone cliffs rise straight out of the sea and every steep surface is covered with dense vegetation. One island is battered by waves from the outside but is home to a perfectly calm lagoon in its middle, another one is narrower at the base than its summit and seems to defy gravity, all of them look impressive and island spotting was a great way to pass the 20-minute trip to our first stop - Hong island.
On arriving we donned our snorkels and spent an hour swimming in crystal clear waters in a small lagoon next to the island. The sealife was amazing. It was like swimming in a tropical fish tank but with more Russians. At one point we were literally feeding shoals of these wild fish by hand, one of them ended up biting Angela after she antagonised it with a piece of bread!
We spent another night at Ao Nang before another sunny ferry trip to Ko Phi Phi. Ko Phi Phi is made up of two main clusters of islands: Phi Phi Don (where we stayed) and Phi Phi Ley (where The Beach was filmed). Instead of opting to stay in the main resort we decided to stay at remote Ao Toh Koh beach which took 20 minutes by long-tail boat to get to and only had power between 6pm and 5am. The first room we looked at was virtually in the jungle and we ended up choosing a slightly more expensive (but better sealed) room for 600 baht.
While I embraced the jungle lifestyle, Angela wasn't too pleased at the lack of hot water and electricity, and didn't enjoy the return to cold showers and damp jungle rooms. The snorkelling off of the beach was yet again fantastic and the corals were better than I saw in Egypt. The only problem was the tide was quite powerful and it was a battle to avoid the sea urchins and stay upright when clearing your mask.
This was December 12th, Full Moon Party night, and we couldn't have been further from the party. But our host, Pon, was very friendly and even offered to open the bar for the eight of us staying on the beach, tempting us with promises of 'something to smoke'. We had a couple more Changs and turned in, after setting the alarm for 6am to catch the sunrise.
We were weighing up whether to visit Phi Phi Ley and in the end gave it a miss having already shelled out for one island-hopping tour. We bought our tickets to Phuket, and squeezed ourselves onto the deck of another ferry to soak up the rays. Now, I'm not the best of sailors, but so far this trip I have managed to avoid seasickness. This almost came to an end during this 90-minute journey though, and I had to try my hardest to stop going green as we were rocked back and forth.
(continued soon)
Tuesday 9 December 2008
Penang and visa problems
We both had our reservations about staying in Penang and were hoping to get to Thailand as soon as possible, but after a day and a night here we have decided we quite like it. It's got the same feel to it as Fort Cochin in Kerala, helped by its geography as well as its people.
There are a lot more of your 'typical' backpackers here (sunburnt, tattooed layabouts who probably all read The Beach and thought backpacking was the answer), and the vibe is completely different to India - I think everyone is trying too hard to be cool.
We're not though so pulling on our sandals we headed straight to the mecca of uncool, Fort Cornwallis, for some cultshah.
After saturating our brains with the history of the place (we sailed in, claimed it as our own, annoyed the Dutch and named the capital after the King), we had our photo taken with a 4-year-old python called Milo (pix of us looking scared soon). It weighed a ton and I was sure it was going to bite me until the handler reassured me that he prefers live pigeons (!)
Now, as we've travelled our windy way here I've been pleased to notice the dozens of reminders of the imperial might the British Empire (RIP) once wielded. We've been everywhere, and I don't think I've been to a country yet that we haven't invaded.
Elements of Britishness are alive and well in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore
Take Penang for example. The East India Company needed a convenient stop-off point on the trade routes it had established between China and India, so the British Navy sailed in and took over the island - just to annoy the Dutch - and established the capital Georgetown, named after the king.
The whole of India thrives on a bureaucracy and democracy so maddening it could only be British,
After arriving we sunk a few Tigers before discovering that the Thai Government
There are a lot more of your 'typical' backpackers here (sunburnt, tattooed layabouts who probably all read The Beach and thought backpacking was the answer), and the vibe is completely different to India - I think everyone is trying too hard to be cool.
We're not though so pulling on our sandals we headed straight to the mecca of uncool, Fort Cornwallis, for some cultshah.
After saturating our brains with the history of the place (we sailed in, claimed it as our own, annoyed the Dutch and named the capital after the King), we had our photo taken with a 4-year-old python called Milo (pix of us looking scared soon). It weighed a ton and I was sure it was going to bite me until the handler reassured me that he prefers live pigeons (!)
Now, as we've travelled our windy way here I've been pleased to notice the dozens of reminders of the imperial might the British Empire (RIP) once wielded. We've been everywhere, and I don't think I've been to a country yet that we haven't invaded.
Elements of Britishness are alive and well in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore
Take Penang for example. The East India Company needed a convenient stop-off point on the trade routes it had established between China and India, so the British Navy sailed in and took over the island - just to annoy the Dutch - and established the capital Georgetown, named after the king.
The whole of India thrives on a bureaucracy and democracy so maddening it could only be British,
After arriving we sunk a few Tigers before discovering that the Thai Government
Saturday 6 December 2008
Singapore and KL
Pleased to get away from Negombo we arrived at the airport to be confronted with organised chaos as the security conscious Sri Lankans tried to check everyone and x-ray the bags at every stage of the check-in process.
The flight to Singapore was only 4hrs but we had some exciting turbulence, luckily Chris and I who had both been queuing for the loo had just sat back down and belted ourselves in when things hit the ceiling... it was a close call.
We landed at Singapore and were instantly impressed with the large modern airport, it had everything we could ever need....free high speed Internet access on the best computers we have seen since leaving Chris's beloved baby behind, a well stocked book shop where we picked up a SE Asia guide and plenty of shops and restaurants....we almost stayed there.
Singapore was awesome, it is a bustling metropolis of shopping malls, hundreds of them at every
turn! Everything is new and shiny and cute! People in Singapore seem to love cute little gadgets and toys, and the main pass time (apart from shopping) is eating, so there were lots of delicious menus to choose from.
Needless to say our budget was blown away, especially when we visited Sim-Lim square - a 7-storey complex bursting with electronics shops (Iain you would never leave!) ....we left with a laptop (with bells and whistles) and all the gadgets to go with it. Needless to say Singapore is not a place for backpackers and we spent more in 3 days than in a month in India, but the laptop has already come into it's own and i am writing the blog from it now, goodbye Internet cafes.
We crossed the border into Malaysia and arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday evening. We found our hostel room to be next door to a nightclub but despite the banging music we were both shattered and had a decent night's sleep. We changed rooms this morning, our new one is much quieter and even has the luxury of a window, but comes with the added bonus of bed bugs.
Today we have visited the twin Petronas towers (the second highest in the world), we are hoping to go up to the skybridge platform tomorrow but first we have to queue from 8am to get ticket. These are issued on a first come first served basis so hopefully we will be lucky.
We also visited the KL tower which is the 4th highest
communications tower (it's all about buildings here) and Chris had a go at an F1 challenge, he did not beat the lap time of 5 mins but he got a free cap. We then ventured into china town for a spot of lunch but this went terribly wrong, firstly we couldn't find anywhere to eat and Chris was getting grumpy from lack of food (he summed it up perfectly when he said "I was born hungry"), then we got caught in a tremendous thunderstorm. The rest of the evening has been fairly quiet, I have been on the web and Chris has been coughing and sneezing in the corner (did i mention he has SARS?).
........That's all for now
The flight to Singapore was only 4hrs but we had some exciting turbulence, luckily Chris and I who had both been queuing for the loo had just sat back down and belted ourselves in when things hit the ceiling... it was a close call.
We landed at Singapore and were instantly impressed with the large modern airport, it had everything we could ever need....free high speed Internet access on the best computers we have seen since leaving Chris's beloved baby behind, a well stocked book shop where we picked up a SE Asia guide and plenty of shops and restaurants....we almost stayed there.
Singapore was awesome, it is a bustling metropolis of shopping malls, hundreds of them at every
turn! Everything is new and shiny and cute! People in Singapore seem to love cute little gadgets and toys, and the main pass time (apart from shopping) is eating, so there were lots of delicious menus to choose from.
Needless to say our budget was blown away, especially when we visited Sim-Lim square - a 7-storey complex bursting with electronics shops (Iain you would never leave!) ....we left with a laptop (with bells and whistles) and all the gadgets to go with it. Needless to say Singapore is not a place for backpackers and we spent more in 3 days than in a month in India, but the laptop has already come into it's own and i am writing the blog from it now, goodbye Internet cafes.
We crossed the border into Malaysia and arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday evening. We found our hostel room to be next door to a nightclub but despite the banging music we were both shattered and had a decent night's sleep. We changed rooms this morning, our new one is much quieter and even has the luxury of a window, but comes with the added bonus of bed bugs.
Today we have visited the twin Petronas towers (the second highest in the world), we are hoping to go up to the skybridge platform tomorrow but first we have to queue from 8am to get ticket. These are issued on a first come first served basis so hopefully we will be lucky.
We also visited the KL tower which is the 4th highest
communications tower (it's all about buildings here) and Chris had a go at an F1 challenge, he did not beat the lap time of 5 mins but he got a free cap. We then ventured into china town for a spot of lunch but this went terribly wrong, firstly we couldn't find anywhere to eat and Chris was getting grumpy from lack of food (he summed it up perfectly when he said "I was born hungry"), then we got caught in a tremendous thunderstorm. The rest of the evening has been fairly quiet, I have been on the web and Chris has been coughing and sneezing in the corner (did i mention he has SARS?).........That's all for now
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