Hi!

 

So as previously mentioned, we arrived very early off our night bus at 3.30am. For those of you who know Khao San Road's reputation, you will understand what a terrifying shock this is when half asleep. Below is the main tourist road in the day, so just imagine how 'in-your-face' it is at night. We had to find somewhere that was open 24 hours that we could sit in until we could check in somewhere. Now, the open bit wasn't a problem. Ordering tea and not beer, was. It was crazy to walk down the street towards the end of the night, seeing the dregs left!! Literally, people watching at it's best. Many a prostitute at work.

We eventually persuaded a guy to give each of us a tea, and willed it to be breakfast time somewhere. Cue McDonalds. At 5am. Sober and sleep deprived. Low point. Here we nested ourselves, with the help of free wifi until we could wait no more. Lu and Laura went on a lovely dawn stroll around no joke, 20+ hotels, begging one of them to take us in. After about an hour of looking, good news was shared and we fell into a bed at 8am, arranging to meet at 12am for some sightseeing! Nothing like being enthusiastic to explore your surroundings.

So after a nap and some brunch, to a temple complex we went. It housed 'The Reclining Buddha'. Was all very fancy and the attention to detail and architecture of these places is mind blowing.

 

Reclining Buddha.

Buddha impressions.

 

Love this picture of monks leaving the temple, tuk tuk at the ready.

We too left in a tuk tuk, 4 at a squeeze!

 

Bangkok is exactly as we expected it to be; very busy, very weird and very dirty. Having said that, we scratched the surface and only spent a day and a half there. We will go back again as we fly out of Asia from there. Hopefully we will arrive in different circumstances and be a bit more forgiving!

It is definitely a diverse city.

Boiling hot doggies that found a huge ice bucket! Genius!!

 

 

Sadly, Bangkok saw us bid bon voyage to the girls as they were flying back to England after 7 months. We stayed one more night and booked a night train up to Chang Mai. So we spent the next day, trapsing around a 8 floor shopping mall, packed to the square metre, asian style with rip offs of anything you could possibly think of. It seemed much more geared to them than tourists. We left empty handed except for a new camera for Kate, which was good for the purse and the backpack!

That night we got a night train up north to Chiang Mai leaving Bangkok at 7.30pm and arriving at 10am! The train was a new experience, which proved to be much more pleasant than the bumpy asian buses!

Chiang Mai and Pai blog to follow soon!!

Lots of Love,

Lu & Kate

XXX

 



 

Hello!!!

From Koh Phangan we ferried our way to the beautiful Koh Tao, our last Thai island and last beach for a while so we had to make the most of it and it didn't disappoint!

On the ferry, still travelling with Laura and Vicky.

 

 

Arriving on Koh Tao we headed, in the back of a truck, to the quieter side of the island, which we quickly decided was a little too quiet!! Back in the truck, we drove back over to the main beach, Sairee Beach and settled there. We found a beach hut for 4 people and this view...



Koh Tao is defo one of our favourite islands. It's known for its amazing scuba diving but also has a really nice vibe for non divers too and the beach was gorgeous. The sea was shallow and really warm for what seemed like miles, perfect for lazing around in the water with a beer!

The view of the beach from the sea...

 

The island is pretty small, with not too much to busy yourself with other than just enjoying the weather and the amazing surroundings. We spent about 3 days hanging out on the beach, taking strolls to the end and back and reading our books. Come dusk there was always a pretty awesome sunset to sit back and watch.

 

We always had it in our heads that we would have a go at scuba diving at Koh Tao due to its famous reputation for good diving schools and crystal clear waters. So, on the 4th day we headed off at 10am for a (very) short theory and safety lesson focusing on menial things like how to breathe etc. Then off we went with an instructor and 2 other first time divers into the middle of the ocean on a boat and in we jumped, goofy scuba style. We had to swim all the way in to the shallows of the beach to practice our breathing, clearing our masks and our newly learnt underwater communication signals and then swam deeper until we were at 12m. From here we swam around the dive site, checking out coral reefs, lots of big fish and basically getting used to being down there. The dive lasted just over half an hour and then we slowly ascended and swam back to the boat. After an hours break, we jumped back in and did a slightly deeper more relaxed dive, enjoying the surroundings and feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. On the way back to the shore on the boat and for the rest of the evening we were very proud of ourselves and on a high from having such an amazing day. It's a whole different mermaid world down there, very surreal. Defo one of the highlights of the trip so far!

 

 

On our last day, we rented a boat for the 4 of us to motor around the island. We stopped for a snorkel, fed the fishies, grabbed some lunch on a quiet beach, had another snorkel in 'Shark Bay'. Disappointingly we didn't see any sharks but in hindsight, this was definitely for the best as seeing a shark whilst snorkelling in the deep blue sea, far from the shore and the boat would have been far from exciting!

 

 

Cool triple island we visited called Nanguan Island with a sandbar joining them together.

 

Our transport for the day!

In Sync.

We stayed on Koh Tao for 5 days, so a couple nights on the beach were inevitable. Fire Limbo was not expected but some of us gave it a go! Surely the free 'local' (ie potent) vodka shot was worth the risk of no hair.



And then we said goodbye to the beach life for a while and headed to the main land, via ferry from this dubious-looking jetty.

Once on shore again, we got a night bus up to Bangkok and arrived at 3.30am. Not a good introduction to Bangkok and Ko San Road! Bangkok blog soon, we're trying to catch up but slightly flagging!

Lots of Love,

Lu & Kate xxx

 

Hello!

From Phi Phi, we headed to Koh Samui, on the opposite coast of Thailand. We left Phi Phi on a ferry, jumped on a bus for 5 hours across the mainland, arrived to Samui on a ferry and jumped on another bus to our hotel. In the meantime we met fellow countrywomen, Laura and Vicky, unbeknownst that we would end up travelling together for nearly 3 weeks.

 The last leg of the journey.

 

 

After Koh Samui, we went to the neighbouring Koh Phangnan. We only spent 3 days on each of these islands, so this is a combined blog!

Our first day in Samui, we walked along the beach a little, crashed a pool and had a night out to see what all the fuss was about. The beach parties are pretty hardcore but there are also some cool bars/clubs in the town, where we headed for a bucket and a boogy.

 

On our second day, the 4 of us, rented a car. We visited a temple with a mummified Monk in a box. This is just a claim so unbelievable, joint with the fact that he still had hair, looked fake and was wearing Raybans! Interesting to see them praying to it, but sorry Buddha, we just couldn't believe it was true.

 

Then we drove to a waterfall, which had an elephant sanctuary at the bottom of it's hill. And the hill was not kind. Nor did the bridges look friendly. (We got a lift back to our car!)

 

After the waterfall, we were trying to find the road that would lead us up the mountain to a viewpoint. It took a while, and a fair few little local back streets, and we drove past this coconut farm.

 

After much trepidation as to whether we could make it up the terrifyingly steep and eroding road, we got to the top. It was amazing to be up so high but unfortunately as we were there late, the light didn't allow for pics that did justice to the view (as it never does). We stopped and had a beer (coke for the driver) to calm the nerves, and drove back down again.

 

On the way home, we went past a local bazaar/night market and decided to stop for something to eat...

 

 

We felt we had done all that was necessary in Koh Samui so after 3 days, we jumped onto a ferry with Vicky and Laura, to Koh Phangnan.

 

It didn't take very long and we soon found ourselves at another pool! This time, our own! When you get off a ferry, there are billions of Thais, all trying to take you to their hotel or taxi. For once, a guy caught our attention with the words 'pool', 'on the beach' and '2 pounds a night', you whaaat!? Believeing it sounded too good to be true but with nothing to lose, we piled into his questionable transport and low and behold, a Thai that told the truth!!

 

 So we filled our first day with the pool, and most of our second! The sunset wasn't bad from the pool either. Or from the beach, which we walked along one evening, just so we felt better about not being at the pool doing nothing for 2 whole days!!

 

 

A couple of times, we went into the main bit of the tiny town, which was cute small streets with little shops and stalls. We weren't there for or anytime near The Full Moon Party so it was suprisingly very dead.

On our last day, we rented a jeep, it was the coolest thing ever, hard to drive, but cool! We drove to the top of the island and came to another tiny island which, at low tide, was joined to phangan by a small sand bar that you could walk along. The weather was slightly cloudy but apart from that, the setting was pretty idllyic.

 

Our jeep! (although we did ride in the back tray, we didn't quite sit up like this while driving!!)

 

On route, we stopped in a tiny little fishing village, which the Thai's have totally kept to themselves. We had lunch in a little beach shack on stilts obviously all choosing something from the seafood variety. When in Rome!! The only downside was the fishermen were "drying out" their catch of the day on the beach in front of us, causing quite the potent smell!!

 

On a stroll down the beach we saw a poor, tiny, old woman digging for cockles.

 

On the way back to our guesthouse we drove past a sight that made us all scream with excitement. It appeared to be a really typically British, old Tudor style pub. We decided, on the off chance of having some home comfort food, that we had to check it out. When we walked in, it was a real traditional pub and you felt like you'd just walked into your local at home. The owner was an English guy, who had set up here and decided to bring a piece of home over and had really gone to town to do it properly, even including the old, ugly, patterned, red pub carpet! And the menu was awesome!!

 

We all choose beef bourguignon, extra cauliflour cheese, a plate of 4 slices of cheddar cheese and copious amounts of red wine (of course except the driver, who was nominated to be Vicky!) It's crazy the things you miss that you would never realise. Our biggest want is flavoursome cheese!!

 

 We managed to keep our ride to lug all our luggage to the ferry the next morning!

 

 



After 3 days on each island we all headed off to Koh Tao (the final island!) on another ferry.

Blog to follow soon!!

Lots of Love, Lu & Kate

xxx