Jamie and Naomi’s Adventure

Australia
Brisbane
We landed at Brisbane airport after a long overnight flight from Bangkok>Singapore. We collected our luggage and then headed for a bed. We got the sky train from the airport to Roma Street and the YHA. We checked in after begrudgingly handing over a massive $65. Which in reality is 30 GBP but when you are coming from Thailand and paying 4 GBP a night it is a bit of a shock. We got checked in and showered and moaned for a bit about the price and how accommodation here is going to eat into our budget. We wasted no time looking into getting our hands on a camper van. We had already decided that we were going to buy a camper van over renting purely because we could then make money bank on it. We went and had a look at a few campers that were for sale and then one came along that was just for us. It was a little over budget but it was in good condition and had all of the relevant paperwork etc. So we put an offer in and brought our Toyota Tarago our home for the next couple of months. We lovingly named her Sheelah 🙂
Sheelah was delivered to us on a Saturday morning and we wasted no time “moving in” doing washing and driving off. We were heading up to Cairns at a fairly fast pace so we could slowly work our way down the East Coast ending up in Sydney for our flight to New Zealand. We stocked up on groceries and off we went.
The Glass House Mountains and Australia Zoo!! CRIKEY
Our first stop was at the Glass House Mountains and the world famous Australia Zoo. We braved some of the climbs to the spectacular view points and checked into our first campsite. Which was OK and we could both tell that the whole camping thing was going to take a while to get used to. We had our first homemade cooked meal in a long time and got bitten to shreds by mossies but we can bare it. The following day we went to the zoo which we personally felt was overpriced $38 each. It was quite a small zoo and the tiger and crocodile shows were quite impressive but we struggled to fill the morning to get to the shows. We had a good laugh none the less and had a laugh about good old crocodile hunter and then headed off up the road.
We stopped over night in Coolum bay just as a stopover really. We made a quick stop at Bunnings and brought a tarp to put on the camper van to give us a bit more room to maneuver . We relaxed for the evening and the following morning we were rudely awoken by the morning chorus at 5.30am. not impressed but it gave us an early start and we headed to Tin Can Bay.
Tin Can Bay
We arrived in Tin Can Bay and found a lovely campsite. We got set up and headed straight for the pool, (yes a lot of campsites have pools) we chilled out for the afternoon and tried to get some idea of what we wanted to do and the timescale. We planned to stay in Tin Can Bay for just a night and then feed the dolphin in the morning and then head off, but we met such a lovely bunch of people there we just did not want to leave. Only downside was there were thousands of sandflies and we got eaten alive it was horrible. We spent the days by the pool and the nights in the barbeque areas eating food, drinking beer and chatting. It was really nice and on the morning we left we stopped by at the marina hoping to feed the local dolphin that makes and appearance most mornings. Lucky for us our morning of choice there were hardly any other people there and Mystic showed up for breakfast so all of us got to go in and out of the water to feed him until all of the fish had been eaten. It was such an amazing experience and I would advise anyone to do it. All they ask for is a donation towards the fish that is fed to him and to do as they say for both yours and the dolphins safety. It was brilliant. After the dolphin feeding it looked like the weather wasn’t going to be too great so we decided to do a biggish drive while it was nice and cool.
We spent the next couple of days making our way up to Cairns stopping when it started getting dark at very basic campsites just to get us by until we reached Cairns.
Cairns and Cyclone Larry!!!!
We got to Cairns and found ourselves the campsite closest to the city and made our way into town for a couple of drinks which was good. Although we couldn’t get into any of the clubs because of the thong rule….ie flip flops. So we headed back and made sure the next few nights we went out we wore something other than flip flops. Then Cyclone Larry started to pose a threat on any plans we might have made for diving etc. To be honest the locals didn’t seem at all bothered they all seemed to think it wasn’t going to reach land. Then it got upgraded to a catergory 4 and everyone went mad. Panic buying, boarding up windows and preparing for the absolute worst. We had no idea what to do, all we had to protect us was a van with a bed surrounded by glass windows?!?!? We had no idea what to do and when we asked the owners of the campsite what to do the unhelpful buggers just said “hide” when we asked where to hide they shrugged their shoulders and carried on with whatever they were doing. So we got chatting with our neighbours to try and get a plan of action together. We all decided that we should make a move to a multi storey car park before the winds picked up at 6am. So a convoy of us made our move and drove around Cairns looking for somewhere to bunker down for the night. We settled for a supermarket multi storey and wasted no time getting settled in and having dinner. It was so hot in there and the security guards came round and told us that we could stay over night as long as we behaved. We got drinking and watched the local people bring in there cars and go home and it wasn’t long before the security guards came round to make sure we had enough water as little Larry had been upgraded to a catergory 5!! At about 2am we all made for bed and we were all awake again at 6am as the winds had picked up and more people decided to bring their cars in and we ended up helping a guy who was trying to get 35 cars out of a car lot and into the multi storey. We got to drive some really nice cars and it was a laugh. Then we all sat out the storm. It was strange listening to the rain, whistling winds and things banging around and what was even stranger at 10.30 it just seemed to stop.
We all headed back to our campsite which was annialated by the winds. There were trees fallen everywhere and debris lined every part of the campsite we definitely made the right decision to leave!! For us after shopping, drinking and withstanding a cyclone that was enough of Cairns for us so we decided to head up to Port Douglas.
Port Douglas
We reached Port Douglas and a really nice campsite and headed into town to have a look round. It is a really quaint little place and although expensive it is really nice. We booked our diving to the Great Barrier Reef from here and it was great. Everyone should go to Port Douglas if you are going to Cairns. Its only an hour up the road and it is really nice.
Great Barrier Reef
We booked a one day trip from Port Douglas to the Outer Reef. It was really choppy and almost everyone was seasick at one point or another. We had the opportunity to do 3 dives. They were all quite good but unfortunately not as good as expected I think that this was partly because of the weather as the sun wasn’t out so we couldn’t really see the colours. We had a lovely close encounter with Daisy the Potato Cod and we say rays and quite a bit of marine life but again not quite as much as expected.
After diving the great barrier reef we started to drive back down the East coast unfortunately because of the cyclone we couldn’t stop in many places on the way down as they were such a mess. We made a few stops in Townsville and the bigger cities but the main place after coming all the way down was Rainbow Beach.
Rainbow Beach
We had a really good time here as we were traveling around with another couple which was really nice. We did some fishing off the beach and relaxed using the campsite facilities which were brilliant and we ate barbeques almost every night. From here we organized our own 4 x 4 and went over to Fraser Island which was good. We all chipped in some money towards the 4 x 4 and drove ourselves over after getting our permits. It worked out much cheaper to do it this was rather than by organized tour. We stopped at three of the lakes the most amazing being Birrabean and Mackenzie. Lake Mackenzie is supposed to be the most beautiful but Birrabean was almost identical and much quieter due to all the tourists going to Mackenzie. We drove along the beaches and up and down the bumpy sandy roads and we all ended the day with sore bums and arms from holding on. It was a really good day but I really don’t think that it was worth all the hype and it made us even more grateful that we did not pay a massive amount of money to go on a tour.
Noosa Heads
We absolutely loved Noosa heads and on our way round we ended up coming back and staying here on three separate occasions. Once on our lonesome and with 2 other couples at separate times. We hired a boat between us and went fishing which was a right laugh. We sunbathed, shopped, drank and went to the amazing national parks they have there. When we went on our own we stayed at the Noosa National Park campsite which is brilliant. We got set up here and within minutes of us getting dinner two cheeky Kookaburas were eyeing up our dinners and perching themselves on the van waiting for a good time to attack. Just as the sun set 3 kangaroos were grazing around our van and a really big Monitor lizard was being squawked at by Larakeets. Just as it got dark the sky turned into a blanket of Fruit Bats it was amazing but as we were so close to water and wood we did get bitten by mossies quite a lot but it was worth it.
Tweed Heads
 
We stopped in Tweed Heads on our way through at a really fantastic campsite with amazing facilities including a brilliant new camp kitchen and a lovely big pool. It was really nice here and there were a lot of really cheap food shop including a great green grocers and an even better butchers so we stocked up here. We meant to use Tweed Heads as just a stopover but ended up staying here for 3 nights as once again the people were really nice and helpful.
Byron Bay
We made our way to Byron Bay after Tweed Heads and we head a really good time here although it was a little bit more expensive than everywhere else we had been. We met some really good people and went out with them for drinks we went to Cheeky Monkeys and had some $2 dinner and then drank the evenings away which is the normal thing to do while in Byron me thinks!!!
Fantastic Forster
Forster is definitely one of my favourite stops. We fell on Forster we were once again just passing through on our way to the Great Lakes but ended up staying here for near on a week. Forster is a really small place but we were so well looked after by the family that we met there we didn’t want to leave. Every night at 6 we met the family in the barbeque area and we cooked up a storm….well they cooked up a storm and they filled us up with fresh fish they had caught during the day which was delicious and during the day we would go to the beaches, it ice cream and wander around town. It was brilliant Jamie even managed to do a shark dive with about 40 Grey Nurse Sharks which he really enjoyed.
Bulli
We landed in Bulli while on our way down to Wollongong. We stopped there because it was beautiful right on the beach front and near loads of little walks. We stayed here for about three nights and had some really nice evening walks and once again met some great people.

Dodgy Car Market
Before we knew it, it was time to head into Sydney to sell her on to another owner. We stopped in a basic campsite as close to the city as we could go and cleaned her up and packed and made her look presentable. We headed into Kings Cross to the most dodgy set up I have ever seen called the car market. We brought our space for a week $65, from the dodgy guys who work there and got to displaying the car. We spoke to some people who had been there for over 2 weeks waiting to sell their cars/vans. They warned us about the people that worked there and we soon found out for ourselves how dodgy they were. Within a couple of hours we had a couple interested in buying Sheelah and we had all the relevant paperwork. When they asked the staff about our car and the fact that it had a pink slip (equivilant to an MOT cert at home) the guy told them that it wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on and to go to a reputable garage that would check it out for them. Of course they had a garage that they could use. Of course we agreed to take Sheelah there as we knew that earlier that week we had her serviced and all was good. The couple paid that garage over $100 to do some check that took 20 minutes. And, of course the mechanic came back with a list of things that needed to be done which included all the things we had done a few days earlier!!! When we told him this he said ….”oh you won’t need to have them done then” he then went onto say that it was a mechanically sound vechile but the things on the list should be done totaling at over $400…..what a twat. The couple did buy it off of us but they also booked into the garage to get the work done!!! What a pair of ninnies……sorry guys, but you are mugs!!!! 🙂
Bondi Beach
After getting rid of Sheelah we decided to stay in Bondi and relax for a few days before our flight to NZ. We really liked Bondi and there was loads to do there including Paddies markets which is brilliant for some cheap bargains and drinking and eating. There is a lovely little Italian there which is always packed and we treated ourselves to a meal there and it was yummy!!! I liked Bondi but even I felt a bit old there!! It is great for a night out and a hungover day spent sunbathing…or surfing at the beach.
Overall I was a little bit disappointed with Australia. I don’t know if I was expecting the wrong thing or we went to all the wrong places (we did go to many more places than mentioned but these were the ones that I remember most). It is a really good place to go but, is definitely not my favourite place.
 

Borneo

Kota Kinabalu

We arrived in Borneo and got a taxi into Kota Kinabalu. We headed out looking for a bed and fell upon ‘Backpacker Lodge’ “Lucys’ Homestay” . It is amazing, Lucy is like a mum she is lovely. he gives you all of the information you could possibly need to do things you want while you are in Borneo and will even phone friends for you to see if she can help. It is 18RM for a bed per night but that includes breakfast of toast and fruit and tea or coffee. For a room it is 40RM. They even have a TV there so if you are trying to stick to your budget as we are you can sit in and watch movies of an evening which is I am sad to say what we do most nights.

We have had a good wonder around KK and there are several shopping centres full of goodies to buy and food courts to eat in. There are also some good markets not to be missed although they are a bit smelly. And, there is a new bar and restaurant complex at one end of the sea front that has a massive seafood restaurant with tanks where you can pick what you want to eat!! It is quite a sight. We arranged all of our tours from agents in KK including Mount Kinabalu.

Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary

We flew from KK to Sandakan to save ourselves the 6 hour bus jouney and it only cost 15GBP so we weren’t complaining. We got a taxi from Sandakan to The Jungle Resort for a bed for the night. It is set in the most beautiful surroundings again it will have to wait for photos as I will not be able to do it justice. The rooms are basic but with hot showers so we were happy.We arrived in the morning so in the afternoon we headed over to the Orangutan sanctuary for the afternoon feed. It was amazing you go along a boardwalk to the feeding platform and right on cue they all turn up for food. They are adorable. They are all relatively young and hours of fun to watch. We got soaked the following day while we were watching them feed as it rained so hard I can’t even describe it that didn’t deter them though. Jamie and I even braved doing one of the treks through the rainforest you can do there by yourself. They warned us that it was muddy where it had been raining so hard recently. We could have had no idea it was like walking through one great big muddy puddle. We got about half way and then we had to turn back as we were both covered in leeches…Jamie more so as he was wearing open shoes. They were discusting, and I was surprised at how I didn’t totally freak out when I found one up me trouser leg feasting on my knee!!! Highly amusing!! 🙂

After 2 days at the Jungle resort we jumped on the bus back to KK for 6 hours but they played movies all the way there so the time went quite fast. Back in KK we celebrated my birthday by going to Shennanigans and watching the live band who were brilliant and Lucy came along and had a boogie with us (she loves to dance). The group of us ended up going to a cheaper bar later on and sat there until 2.30 making the Borneons ears bleed by singing songs at them. They were more than tolerant and even sang along with us it was brilliant. the next day four of us headed to Mount Kinabalu…..extremely hungover, not good.

Mount Kinabalu
We all got to Mount Kinabalu base camp dumped our bits in the dorm and attended the mountain briefing, had dinner of steamboat and then early to bed for in preparation for the climb. After a not great nights sleep (inconsiderate dorm buddies :-< ) we got up and headed to the meeting area we looked up and could see the peak of the mountain it was such a clear day it looked beautiful. A group of 7 of us shared a guide and started the climb. (Guides are quite expensive it is a really good idea to ask around your fellow climbers and see who sharing as more often than not there are plenty of you ready and willing to share a guide)We were all quite relaxed as people we had met at base camp told us how easy it was.......they were lying. We haven't really exercised for 3 months so believe us when we say it was hard...bloody hard. Its all steps and rocks a foot high. It seemed to go on for ever. It was hard hard hard!! We reached summit camp after almost 6 hours climbing,(some people had done it in 4 hours!). If it wasn’t for the group I don’t think many of us would have made it as far as we did. All of us took a turn to lead and set the pace and it helped that when one of us was having a bad time of it the rest of us could encourage them and vice versa. We all ate the extausionate $$$ food (take your own boiling water is free) and then headed to the showers which were supposed to be hot (as it is a bit chilly up there) but they just did not have enough hot water to go around and it took about 1 and ½ hours for the water to heat up again. We all got ourselves into bed as we had to be up at 2.30am to make the climb to the peak. We were rudely awoken by our alarm and were up and out by 3am and admittedly I did not feel to great along with quite a few others. It seemed that the altitude was getting to us. We all started climbing and after about 1/2 hour I felt so ill and couldn't breathe so I had to turn back....doh!!! I was not happy. Everyone carried on up and I headed back to bed. From the 7 of us in our group only 3 made it to the peak. Jamie got there at 5.30am and unfortunately it was really cloudy so he couldn't see anything other than clouds so he raced back down to the summit camp and went to sleep for a bit before making our descent. We started the descent at about 10 o 'clock. The descent was much harder than any of us could have imagined. Our legs seemed to have a mind of there own and we had no way of controlling them. Our knees kept locking, so we couldn’t bend them and when they weren’t locking they seemed to be racing forward leaving our bodies behind struggling to keep up. All of us at some point lost all control and landed on our knees and nearly faces on some occasions. We met quite a few people on their way up and we did all we could to bite our tongues, smile politely and say how great it is and that it is worth the effort J!! Again we all took it in turns to set the pace and we all did what we could to hang on for dear life where possible and not land on our arses. After what seemed to be racing down we reached the waterfall which is sort of like a marker for the beginning and end (for us anyway) and as we turned the corner we were met with the steps, we had forgotten we had walked down at the beginning. It was like a final test we all got up them as fast as we can. To get it over and done with rather than to see who was the fastest. It took about 4 hours to reach the bottom and we all posed for photos before jumping on the minibus to take us back to the base. We all laughed and joked and then when it was time to get out of the mini bus we all realized our legs had actually given up so we had to lean on random people just to get ourselves out of the bus. We walked down to the bus stop said our goodbyes jumped on the bus and headed back to KK. From the bus terminal we got the shuttle bus to KK centre and to Lucy’s where we got in, sat and didn’t get up. For the days that followed we really could not do much without our legs screaming at us. This included even simple tasks as getting out of bed and going to the toilet!!! ;-> Lucy had no problem accommodating us for the last days of our stay in Borneo letting us watch films and lounge around the hostel. We felt so bad that we had just been under her feet that we varnished her garden furniture for her, which she was really pleased with. We were sad to be leaving and saying goodbye to Lucy as it was just like having a mum away from home. She was just lovely to us and we would advise anyone going to KK to stay at “Lucys Homestay” It was clean, small and we were very well looked after. We made our way to the airport and our next destination……Oz!!! :-O

Phuket

We arrived in Phuket airport and had a little bit of a panic when none of the taxi driver new where or hostel was. We asked around and ended up going to us the internet to get directions. We got our directions and they all made a hhhhmmmm sound as if to say “Oh, you mean there, why didn’t you just say so”. A very very nice taxi driver took us to Phuket Int. Youth Hostel in Chalong. And, gave us his mobile should we need a taxi at any time!!! We were shown to our room and all in all it wasn’t bad. Simple but more than adequate. Unfortunately, we weren’t told that the electric for the bathrooms and corridors went off at 10pm so while we were having our showers the lights went out and the water went cold……..DOH!!

We slept like babies and were up early the next morning to get the bus to Patong Bay which was cheap and easy. The drivers were more than helpful. We arrived in Patong and were jumped on two people claiming that we could win a prize by picking an envelope so Jaie picked an envelope and he had won two t-shirts…..oooohhhhhh I here you all say. I picked an envelope and I had won a Star prize, having worked in timeshare it didn’t take me long to figure out that was all it was and the chances of us winning the star prize were pretty slim so when they offered us a free ride to the resort to collect our prize we kindly declined. This wouldn’t have been a problem but we were approached by 4 other people offering us the exact same thing while we were in Patong for just one day.

We had a good shop, it was an ideal opportunity to replace tatty clothes and odds and ends we needed and with all the stalls it was pretty easy to get a good price for all of it….including Jamies Liverpool shirt (it was only a matter of time!! 🙂
We had a look at the beach and thought about going on it but it was pretty packed and decided after a day of shopping we realy couldn’t be bothered to fight for a decent pitch on the beach and headed back. We got back to the hostel and planned our journey to Khao Lak the following day.

We didn’t spend long in Phuket it was just too busy and we were constantly hassled. Maybe there are nicer plces in Phuket and we will be going back there in three weeks time to catch our flight so we will try and explore a bit more and update on any good things we find.

Khao Lak

The bus trip to Khao Lak from Phuket was easy and we arrived in Khao Lak at about midday and were promtly told that all of the accommodation was full. Great!!! So of we went in search of accommodation within our budget and at the top of the hill at the end of the main strip (if you can call it that) was Sri Guesthouse. We had a simple room with a bed and fan and a shared toilet and shower outside for 300 baht. Which considering we were worrying that we were going to have to spend at least 600 baht we were over the moon.

We spent the first two days exploring the beach and planning our diving course. It seems that Khao Lak was pretty much wiped out by the Tsunami and has now done a fair job of rebuilding to a town that can now forfil the needs of us travelling types.

We did our open water dive course with Similan Scuba and it was brilliant we had a fantastic instructor who was strict but patient so we were more than comfortable by the time our first open water dive came. We did all of our open water dives in the Similan Islands and it was amazing. On our first dive we saw an octopus, an angler fish, a lion fish and a Giant Moray (Giant is not an over exageration) so we knew we were onto a good thing. During our following dives we saw Trigger Fish, Uniorn Fish, Bat Fish and a Turtle. It was pretty amazing. And, we are both looking forward to some more dives.

When we couldn’t do much as Jamies feet were pretty torn up from the flippers so we was pretty much hanging out playing cards and going to the beach when it wasn’t raining.

We really loved Khao Lak, but the accommodation really was too expensive when we left the room we were staying in was 400 baht a night! This is mainly because the volunteers, God bless them. They have done and are doing a fantastic job helping Khao Lak and the surrounding areas rebuild but, because of them Khao Lak has had the best low season they have had in years so the hoteliers can afford to increase their prices because their is such a need for it with travellers, and tourists coming in and out and each volunteer that leaves is replaced by another so there is constant demand.

You only need a week in Khao Lak and thats if you are doing diving if not, 3-4 days is more than enough to have a good look round. But, definately do the diving if you can it really is an amazing experience.

We will update the website as we get further around Thailand. Next will be Koh Samui and the islands.

The Islands

Koh Samui

We found the islands extremely easy to get to…we ll far easier than expected. We jumped on the bus from Khao Lak to Suratthani. The bus journey took about 5hours to get from one to the other. It would have helped to have an air conditioned bus and the driver wasn’t very partial to toilet stops. So when we reached Suratthani we were both relieved. Jamie because he felt as sick as a dog….bloody travel sickness, not the most ideal thing to have when travelling round the world!! And, me because I was desperate for a wee….in all honesty I probably would have peed anywhere which was probably a good job as the toilet that we stopped at wasn’t up to much!! We then arranged a bus from Suratthani town to the ferry port which at 560 baht we thought was a bit steep but it included a return ferry crossing so it wasn’t bad. Jamie continued to feel travel sick for the 1 and 1/2 hour bus journey that followed and then was fine once we were on the ferry which took a good hour. When we reached Koh Samui we ran up to our bus to see that our bags were being chucked off at a rate of knots….well we guess this is where we’ll be getting off then!! 😉

We claimed a taxi driver to take us to accommodation that we had already booked Coconut Villas. We were so exhausted we didn’t really take the taxi journey to have a good look around at exactly where we were and it wasn’t until the following day we realised how far out in the sticks we were. This would have been fine had the weather been good as we were right on the beach on the South west corner of the island with a swimming pool. But, unfortunately for us the weather wasn’t all that great so we had a hard time entertaining ourselves as we were far to scared to get a moped as the accident rate on Koh Samui for mopeds is so high……little fact for you…..it is the most fatal thing you can do on Koh Samui….. there was also three people that looked in pretty bad ways from moped accidents with broken arms and stitched heads so that was enough to deter us. We stayed in Coconut Villas for three nights and relaxed and read books and tried not to spend too much money as it was sssooo expensive (the benefit of owning accommodation in the sticks).

On the fourth day we jumped in a taxi to Lamai. By the time we got there the sun was shining. It took us a little while to find some cheap accommodation. We booked in somewhere for a night and planned to find somewhere cheaper which we did the following day and booked in there for quite a few days. A really nice bungalow again right on the beach. We stayed in Lamai for far longer than expected with everyone telling us that Chaweng was the place to go we thought we would spend a couple of nights in Lamai and then head on to Chaweng but we loved it there. It is pretty westernised pretty much adapted for the English with the good old english breakfast available in plenty of places, football being shown everywhere and Sunday Roasts being served. It was just what we needed. We had a couple of good nights out boozing too which usually happened by accident. We made a regular appearance in the Kiwi Bar and then a group of us would end up heading to the centre which was basically a bunch of bars with girls girating around poles but it was all good fun. We ended up playing bar games with them a lot and drinking there as it was such a laugh and always ended up with our final drinks in the Kiwi Bar. All in all we really liked Lamai it was great for shopping, drinking and sunbathing….what more could you want.

We headed to Chaweng after 4 days in Lamai and hunted out some accommodation. Again there isn’t much cheap accommodation but you get a lot for what you pay for. We only spent one night in Chaweng it was like Chaweng but bigger….much bigger. Again almost perfect. If I had a choice I would go back to Lamai rather than Chaweng it is just not quite as in your face as Chaweng!!

After one night we headed up to Maenam to get close to the ferry port to Ko Phangan and once again we ended up staying here for much longer than expected. Staying here for three nights as for 400 baht we had a lovely bunalow a gorgeous swimming pool, a couple of steps onto the beach and massuers on hand at all times perfect. The weather couldn’t have been better it was almost too hot so we used the opportunity to do some serious sunbathing and relaxing. We went into the Fishermans Village to watch the football and dared to have an Indian which was delicious. The following day we headed for Ko Phangan.

All in all Koh Samui was far more than we could have expected and we ended up staying there for so long as it was such a laugh. I think that both of us would go back should the opportunity arise.

Ko Phangan

We arrived in Ko Phangan after getting the ferry from Koh Samui and we were instantly attacked by touts desperate to get us into their hotels etc. Perfect for us as we could play them off each other. We settled for Green Villas in Haad Yao……oh my word. Staying here was definately one of the lows for us as far as accommodation go. I know that you get what you pay for but this was ridiculous!!! It was literally a shack on a rock that obviously hadn’t been used in years it was awful and where it hadn’t been built properly we had massive spiders and bugs in there, the bed stunk of damp, and the bathroom was a squatter precariously placed on a rock. We look back now and laugh but at the time it was not funny. When I add photos you will see what I mean as words just don’t do it.

After one night there we got the bus to Ko Mae. What a contrast it was amazing. The bus dropped us at Orchid Resort where there seemed to be a lot of people but we thought that we would try our luck and walk down the beach and see what we come up with. Tha could have been one of the best decisions that we could have ever made. We fell upon Mae Haad View bungalows and restaurant. It was gorgeous and full of backpackers it was perfect. The people were so friendly and we really helpful and every night we came down for dinner and sat with groups of people and ate and drank until sleep set in. One night we braved the waterfall party heading there at 12am. Lets just sy it was an experience. You could buy mushroom buy the glass and mushroom shakes which smelt and tasted like blackjacks!! It was….interesting. I think it would of been OK but it was just way out of Jamie and my league if you know what I mean. During the day Jamie spent the time snorkelling and I sunbathed. We Kayaked out to Ko Mae so Jamie could do some snorkelling there and we ended up capsizing in the process of getting Jamie out which was really funny…..but I lost my towel :-(. We stayed in Mae Haad for 5 nights and could have probably stayed there longer but we wanted to leave on a high and get to Ko Tao so Jamie could do some diving.

Ko Tao

Four of us from Mae Haad headed to Ko Tao to get some diving in. The ferry journey was really long it is much further away than we thought it was. We only stayed in Ko Tao for three days. It is great in the evening and has a massive range of restaurants that all serve fab food and Jamie did his advanced diving course there which he thoroughly enjoyed. But, if your not diving it is a bit bland,it is definately a diving destination over everything else so three days was more than long enough.

The Islands, we really enjoyed the islands it gave us a real chance to do what we wanted to do with our time travelling, for both of us there were things to do and we had such a laugh doing them we would go back to the islands anytime.

Back on the Main Land 

Chumporn

We got the ferry from Ko Tao to Chumporn which we have to say was a slight error on our part we had heard it to be an up and coming place but it really is just up and not realliy coming. It was really cheap but there isn’t that much to do there. So at the moment I wouldn’t head there. Maybe in 5 years but not right now. From there we headed to Koh Lanta.

Koh Lanta

We got the extremely long bus journey from Chumporn to Koh Lanta (8 hours). It was a hell of a day but we arrived at our accommodation just in time to see the amazing sunset. We thought we had come to the right place we settled into our bungalow and went down to eat. After watching a fire show and then the football we headed back to the room to recover from our journey and that was when we had our or should I say my first close encounter with cockroaches. Lets just set the record straight first while we have been in Thailand I have seen bugs I didn’t even think existed and plenty of cockroached and all in all I am not that bothered by them. Until this night that is. Got into bed and started to doze. When Jamie jumped up and said don’t look of course I have to look if you say that and followed him into the bathroom and there was a frog that had climbed up the shower drain pipe and a cockroache we shooed them back down the pipe and put a bucket over the drain. Got back into bed, started to doze off when another frog crawlled under the door. Shooed him out. Got into bed, fell asleep. Woke up to a cockroach on my foot……eeeuuugghhh. Flicked him off and had a bit of a hissy fit…killed cockroach. Went back to bed, woke up to Jamie fidgeting at 9.30am, Jamie got out of bed and chucked the sleeping bag (which we had been using as cover) over me, and in the process a cockroach into the bed (which had been on the sleeping bag we just hadn’t seem it yet). I was a total girl about it had a massive hissy fit and jumped so hard that I chucked myself out of bed. Now I look back I laugh but at the time I was distraught that there was cockroaches in my bed!!! 🙂

We moved accommodation shortly after this down to MerryBeach Resort which was much nicer and cheaper ….. always the way!! Spent the next few days getting to know the neighbours, on the beach, in the Nirvana Bar (where Jamie won a pool competition….he’s stilll got it) and eating in a really cheap restaurant. We spent 6 nights is Koh Lanta and then headed back to Krabi to make our next move.

Ao Nang and Nopharattara Beach

Wow, after a long hungover bus journey back to Krabi to make the next step to Ao Nang we arrived at our accommodation in Nopharattara Beach. The accommodation at View Son has much to be desired for the price but it was only for one night as we booked into the Cashew Nut Bungalows for the following nights stay. If you are planning to go to Ao Nang in Krabi don’t stay in Ao Nang. Stay on Nopharattara Beach. It is beautiful. The beach is much more beautiful than Ao Nangs and it is so quiet during the night. Hippies bar is amazing and has loads of free barbeques and entertainment and the guys there are lovely. We walked into Ao Nang every night which to get to the centre takes 20 minutes but, if you are not up for the walk the tuk tuks only charge you 20 baht to get into town so it is well worth it. We spent everynight in Ao Nang when we weren’t in Hippies and ate somewhere different every night. Definately try Bernies buffet. It is 199 baht but it is eat all you want and you can keep going up as many times as you want so in theory you could spend the whole night there eating, the food is yummy!!

Ao Nang is also really good for a good shop and they are always up for a good haggle so you can get some good bargains if you try hard enough. We spent 6 nights in Cashew Nut on Nopharattara it was a lovely little bungalow and the food was good and the staff lovely it was almost perfect. We also did the James Bond Island trip from here which was a right laugh as there was a good group of us and we just laughed for the whole day you should definatley do it!!!

We headed back to Phuket for one night before our flight to Borneo and stayed in Phuket town which was OK, but we were glad to get out everything is so full on in Phuket it is mad!!!!

Although we are yet to head back to Thailand to Bangkok these are some of the things that we will never forget about Thailand:

1. Sitter or squatter
2. Mosquitos
3. Dicky Tummies
4. Changovers..
5. Muay Thai vans
6. Diving
7. And, the charming happy thais and 7 weeks of absolutely amazing, enchanting and interesting travelling.

Bangkok
On our way from Borneo to Australia we stopped in Bangkok for a week or so. When we arrived at 10.30pm at night we could not find accommodation for the life of us. We wondered in and around Koh San Road for about an hour before someone actually knew somewhere that had rooms available. The room was more than suitable so we got checked in and headed out to the 7/11 to get supplies. On our way out we were greeted by a local giving the young elephant a walk!!! J We spent most of our time in Bangkok shopping and buying presents to send home as everything was so cheap there!!! Christmas will be cheap when we get back. We did not find Bangkok as notorious as expected. Yep, there is loads of sex there and you get approached at least twice a day for pussy shows etc. (you get approached a hell of a lot more if you are a lad or lads) but it is quite tongue in cheek and you can have a laugh with it!  J Bangkok was a good laugh and we met loads of people there but a week was far too long!!!

Xin Tao……WOW……!!! Is all I can say what an experience. travelling here was such a pleasure I cannot even describe. We arrived in Saigon airport and we were immediately struck by the heat it was like walking into a sauna. We jumped in our taxi (arranged by our hotel ….. bargain) and he took us straight there. The receptionist spoke amazing English and was almost over eager to help us enjoy our stay. She told us how to book tours and where to go to eat it was a brilliant and inviting start to Vietnam. After settling in we took out to explore and found loads of bars restaurants and cafes serving some of the most amazing food. We got slightly harassed by sellers but nothing that was not easily dealt with by easy I mean just a smile and a no than you did it everytime!!! We had a good look around the shops and saw some amazing furniture and pictures and only wished for a moment that we had a way of getting it all back. We then arranged what we were going to do for the next two weeks we decided on a 2 day trip to the Mekong Delta, then back to Saigon for one night. Then bus to Mui Ne for 4 nights, then bus to Nha Trang for 3 nights then back to Saigon to fly out.

Mekong Delta Trip
Day One
Was welll worth the “air conditoned” bus journey. we spent most of the day of the boat and looking at a Candy factory of al things. Then we stopped at a little island for lunch and either cycling or relaxing. We chose to relax after lunch in the hammocks. Remembering that hammocks are made for tiny Vietnamese people I was not overly surprised when while swinging away in his Jamies snapped!!!! 🙂 We jumped back on the boat and he took us to where we were staying for the night. We all arranged to meet up for dinner in the evening and off we went. On arriving at the restaurant we all sat ourselves down….4 French, 2 Germans, 2 Koreans, 1 Philippeno, 1 Ozzie 1 Irish and us 2 pommies. We had possibly one of the best nights we could possibly have. We tried Snake and Frogs legs which were both surprisingly OK but not something I wold order regularly. And, with such a mixture of age an race we all had so much to talk and laugh about it was brilliant of course the snake and rice wine helped to liven it up a bit!!!! Then half of us went out to look for a Disco and were directed to one…..got there and realised it was a Disco………/ Strip club highly amusing!!!
Day Two
Early morning but well worth it went to the floating market which was really interesting the bigger boats are the wholesalers, the Medium boat are the middle men and the small boats sell to us mugs. they indicate what they sel by hanging one of each of the things they sell on their masts. It was great especially now that we were surrounded by everyone we had such a good night with the night before. We stopped for lunch and it was yummy and then back to the base for a long bus journey bacn to Saigon.\
A trip well worth the $8 each we paid and that included everything but food and we had a fantastic guide.

Mui Ne
Aaaaaaahhhhhhh! Almost paradise. We arrived in Mui Ne at lunch time and jumped straight onto mopeds in search of cheap accommodation. We headed up towards the quieter end of the beach to the cheapest we could find Hong Di Bungalows. They were $10 a night but they were massive, we had our own bathroom (becoming such a luxury now) and we were 10 paces from the beach. It was extremely windy but it accommdated for the heat. Without it you wouldn’t have been able to sit in the shade. Mui Ne is a Windsurfer and Kite Surfing paradise. There is a constant wind but the waves are small perfect. We hired a moped (sorry mum…….we were careful I promise) for a couple of days and found our own beach with no one else on it and it was sheltered so hardly any wind. It was great. 4 days was definately enough I have to admit it is still not quite yet commercialised as such, but they are working on it with new hotels and restaurants being built, one opening while we were there. If I was you I would get there before it becomes to built up!!!

Nha Trang
After the nine hour bus journey to Nha Trang we were looking forward to some more relaxing on the beach and snorkelling. It was not to be. It rained for the whle time we were there. Despite this we still had a great time. It is Vietnams answer to Blackpool. We met 2 Ozzies who were a right laugh we met up with them most lunch times and in the evenings we all went to one of the side bars and got a bit drunk with the locals. this is definately the best way to go. There are bars everywhere that you can go and drink in but the best nights we had were the ones spent on the street side bars.

Saigon
Back in Saigon after the mammoth 11hour bus journey back we got back to our base. We spent most of the last 2 days trying to sort out our tickets to Thailand which did not work to plan. But, we spent a lot of time there and it is great for food and drink and shopping and is a good base to work from.

All in all Vietnam was brilliant, cheap accommodation, cheap food, cheap beer and some of the most friendly people you will ever meet who make travelling around Vietnam an absolute joy. They have no sense of personal space so be prepared to be hugged and touched while being spoken to as if they are your friends from long ago. If you can do Vietnam do. We would definately go back should the opportunity arise.

Well we arrived in Singapore….what a contrast!!! We love it. We got a taxi to our hostel and realised we were in heaven. It was 8 o’clock in the morning, the sun was blazing down on us and our hostel is directly located above a bar which has a live band every night. Perfect!!

We checked into our room and had a look around the hostel. It is simple but does the job perfectly there is an area where all us travellers can congregate and eat, shared bathroom and the bedrooms are at the opposite end. It is family run and they really are lovely. They have a little on called Denise who really is as good as gold and can sometimes turn a boring afternoon into a funfilled one!! (The website for this fab hostel is www.fernloft.com)We then took the 15 minute stroll down to the beach and took in the sight of it. It really wasn’t what we expected at all it really is quite beautiful but, unfortunately one of the first things that met us on the beach was a used needle! As with everywhere there is always one.

We went down to the bar in the evening and were shocked at the prices of alcohol here, lucky the people that run the hostel had given us some drinks vouchers and a meal voucher so we took advantage of these. I think the idea is to make them last the length of your stay but we met a couple of really nice people and ended up using all the drinks vouchers in one foul swoop. Later around one o’clock we realised this was not a good idea as Jamie spent the next 30 minutes leaning out of the bedroom window looking at his stomach. The good thing was, it was the best nights sleep either of us have had since we have left.

We took the bus to the city centre to change some of our flights which was far easier than expected. The bus driver was more than helpful in telling us where we needed to get off and how to get the bus back. The public transport here is fantastic!! We had a good look around the city and then stopped for lunch at a little outdoor restaurant, we had noodles with prawns and it came to about $10SD so quite a good deal and it tasted good!

We have got a couple more nights here but we are going to use them to get a little organised and get some rest before flying to Vietnam.

All in all Singapore has been a welcome relief after India and it really is stunning. What should be ugly buildings ie flats and apartments are easy on the eye. The public transport is amazing and still they are updating the MRT and expanding it to further more of the city. And, this place is spotless which is always nice to see. The government really are looking after this place and it shows. Mum and Dad, next time you go to New Zealand you must stop in Singapore only for 2 nights that will be enough. You will love it.

Tips for Singapore:
1. If you are backpacking 2 nights is more than enough, we would love to have stayed here for longer but we really couldn’t afford it.
2. Try and get a hostel out of the city centre, it is much quieter, we are right near the beach and if we need to get into town it is an easy 15 minute bus ride
3. If you are a beach lover, do go to the beach there are segregated cycle and walker paths and it simply is beautiful, and is not at all what you would expect. You will be pleasantly surprised.

We have now been in India for a week and I have to admit that nothing could have prepared us for what awaited us here. We arrived at the airport and were taken into Delhi. Our taxi driver stopped in what we now know to be the Main Bazaar, but at the time it looked like an overcrowded back alley……. like the ones in big trouble in little China. So to be blunt we were bricking it!!! We walked through the crowds,beggars and traffic for what seemed like an eternity and then turned down an even darker, alley that smelt like a dingy toilet. (We didn’t notice until the second day that, the smell is due to two urinals at the entrance of the alley :-O). That was when reality hit home, we had no idea where we were, if we were safe and we were on our own!!! We got shown into the hostel and taken up to our room, which for what we had paid was quite respectable although a little small it is clean and tidy and has everything we need. We both looked at each other and I think the panic in our faces was obvious to the other, so for the first day we bottled it, we got into bed and slept, then phoned our parents. We both said it was to let them know we were safe but I think we could both now admit it was for our own benefit more than theirs!!

The following day feeling slightly more optomistic we opted for a tour of Delhi so that we could get our bearings and see some of the sights. We were surprised to find that going just five minutes out of Delhi made such a difference. It was quieter (not quiet) and much more beautiful. Some of the buildings here are absolutely amazing but, admitedly after half a day of sightseeing we were both tired and a little bored of looking at old buildings and much prefered to have something to eat and go back to the hostel. So we stopped for our first authentic Indian meal. We were both starving so enjoyed this immensely both aware that we may regret it in the morning……….regret it we did!!! I think you get the idea.

We started on our journey to do the Golden Triangle as planned. First stop Agra. We had been told by many locals desperate to practice their English on us that Agra and Jaipur were much more beautiful than Delhi and showed much more Indian Culture. Fellow travellers beware …… they are almost all identical in the fact that they are over crowded and in reality not that different at all, do not be misled like us!! We found a hotel, had a rest after the five hour journey. Then made our way to the Taj Mahal. It is a very beautiful building and has a very interesting story behind it. If you are coming to India on a budget please be aware that it costs 100Rupees to get to the Taj as you can only get there by electric car as they do not allow cars or buses that produce pollutants within 1 kilometre of the building, and it is the 750Rupees pp (which is about 10 GBP each)to get in, so go with your pockets full.

On our way to Jaipur we stopped at Bharatpur National Park. It was a much needed break from the hussle and bussle of the city centres and the National Park was beautiful. We even got to see a Python in its nest!!! It was the best nights sleep that we had had in the few days that we had been here but we both woke up bitten to shreds!! Jamie had a massive 17 bites….it must be a record?

Jaipur we were told we would need 2 days for so we planned for two days sightseeing etc. We visited all the Forts, Palaces, Monuments and Buildings you could possibly want to visit and often ended up finding ourselves in “handicraft” shops, basically they want to show you how something is made, but what they really want is for you to buy it!!!

We arrived back in Delhi exhausted, but, never thought we would say this, glad to be back. We went for a walk to get some food and found a little cafe on a side street that serves good cheap food, so good you can ignore the 100’s of flies that are buzzing round you when you eat. We were just glad to see some vegetables as after a week of curries we have started to crave them. We leave for Singapore in couple of days so we will be spending them relaxing and investigating the side alleys that we are no longer afraid of.

Tips for Travelling in India:
Although we have only been here over a week we have learnt this much,
1. Tipping: Is a massive thing out here and is almost obligatory. Be careful how much you tip especially if you are on a tight budget like ourselves. When, you have given them the tip you can almost guarantee they will want more and prompt this by saying “Are you happy” or the braver ones say “this is no good”(This does not happen in restaurants as there is a standard 10% charge). Tipping is not obligatory and only give what you think they deserve we can survive here on just 250Rupees each a day and we like our luxuries. Imagine what they can survive on.
2. Guides: Everywhere you go such as monuments, forts etc. you will be approached by guides. Say “No, Thank You” you do not need them there are boards all around the attractions telling you exactly what happened and/or what it is all about.
3. Beggers and Sellers: Especially in the busier towns and cities you will be constantly harassed, we have found with beggers the trick is to point blank ignore them and with sellers when they approach you, make no eye contact, do not look at what they are selling and purposely shake your head and say “no thank you” 9 times out of 10 they will just walk off but occassionally you will find a persistant one that will chase you down the street. Just be hard!!!
4. Sight seeing: If you are not interested don’t do it for the sake of it we found ourselves wasting money on things that we didn’t really want to see. If you want to do the mains they are as follows: Taj Mahal (of course) Agra, One of the national parks, Amber Fort (Jaipur), and the Observatory (Jaipur) this would be most interesting if you can get there to be in it for 12 noon as this is when it shows all of the correct readings. Other than that if you see one Fort and one Tomb you have seen them all. They are all intertwinned somehow so you get the same story each time.
5. First Timer?: As first timers ourselves our biggest mistake was bottling it the first day, arrive, rest if you need to and then get out there. We have found that things are much more bearable now that we have gone out an explored. Do it straight away.

We will add photos when we get to Singapore, they do not have the facilities here!!!

Hi guys

Well the time has arrived and we leave for India on Saturday. Excited and scared….but mostly excited!! We hope you enjoy our blog as much as I hope we will enjoy writing it!!

Love ya