Wednesday 23 December 2009

Sickness and Oz

Well... long time no update...

Day 10: HELL!
bus journey was horrible, although we did meet a nice old guy who carried marks bag for him (because mark didn't look up to it!) I mean come on, the guy had had lupos and only had 65% lung capacity! LOL
On the bus we (well, only me) also spent some time chatting rubbish with 2 english guys, which took my mind off feeling sick which i appreciated! But then they had an argument with the driver and i realised how argumentative and impolite the english can be, made me feel a little ashamed!
Bangkok was more living hell when we got there :( Nasty room with bugs, but did have its own toilet which was what swayed us, and it was free, whereas most places were full. Spent evening there watching stardust and eating ice cream!

Day 11: Flying
Went straight to airport as we decided it was too risky to do the shopping we wanted to do! At airport found some safe englishy food, so managed to eat for real for the first time in three days, but did cost us a fortune!
Then watched lots of films on the flight :) Starting to feel better too!

Our plane from Thailand was delayed, which meant we missed our connection at Sydney. We had already been transferred to a later flight by Quantas, but because its a very silly system, and you have to check in at least an hour before flying (and it definately takes more than 30 mins to get bag and through customs and quarantine) theres just no way anyone could make a transfer in 1 1/2 hours!! We were just placed on the next flight without hassle, but poor shaun and charlie had to wait for us at Melbourne for ages!

Once we got to Melbourne, and found S&C we took a taxi to this hostel, and here we are now!
Hostel is pretty nice, we have a room with 6 beds, but its pretty much split into 2 rooms, so we have 4 beds together, and then there are two pretty friendly guys in the other 2 in the other room! We did washing this evening, and when they guys turned up (the day after we checked in) they had washing all over their bit of the room - they were pretty cool about it but i felt sorry for them!

Day 12: Burn
WEnt for a bit of an explore around Mel today: trying to get to st. Kilda beach, but ended up (somehow) at south melbourne beach! Had a bit of a sunbathe (we all got burnt! - the sun MUST be stronger here, none of us were burnt before, even though its hotter in both Thai and Singapore!) And a bit of a swim, which was nice, although the sea is nearly cold here, and splashy so you cant just float around like we could on Koh chang!

Anyway after our swim we decided to walk along the beaches to st. Kilda beach in the hope we would find our way home easily from there. That just wasn't true - we got well and truly lost (the perils of exploring without a map, and not really knowing where you live lol). Nice walk through the park on the way though :) We ended up ion a tram, which is just far to confusing to work! Me and C paid $2.80 each for what we thought might be the right ticket, and M&S decided they would just jump off at the right time and hope they didn't get caught. They didn't but I dissapproved anyway!
Once home we cooked din dins (went to sams friendly grocers on the walk back from tram stop) then chilled for the evening- very nice to have S&C for company too :)

Day 13: Yes, I know, I think I've got the days mixed up...!
Today we went to the mall, and the real supermarket (far cheaper than Sam's) and then home for a nap, to fix C's bikini and to use the internet (:D). Bought some flippy floppys for me a M (cos M didn't have any, and cos mine got too big and made me hurt my knee a lot - still hurts but better now i have footwear that fits) and some shorts -have now spent nearly as much money here as I did for the whole time in Thai - Oz is expensive! But very comforting to be westernised around Xmas... we have booked selves into free BBQ in the park for Xmas day :D.

Anyway I had better go cos it is far more expensive here, but love you all, and thinking of you all - have a good Xmas! xxxxxxxxx

Thursday 17 December 2009

Man Down

Day 8 and 9: Urgh
We are ill! I'm feeling a lot better today, but mark is now down. Sad sad bad times. All this sun and no energy to worship it, and another marathon bus journey tomorrow to look forward to :(

Love you all!

xxxx

Wednesday 16 December 2009

Koh Chang

I just thought I would let you all know what it actually looks like here!

The island is pretty big (for a little island) but is only populated on the very edges (next to the to die for white sand, palm tree beacehs), the inside is made up of moutains. Obviously not the snow covered type, these are covered from head to toe in green trees (some with the odd red leaves hanging down). From the coast road the view is pretty impressive, the moutains looming up all shrouded in mist. The jungle itslef, when you manage to get into the edges of it like we did today and yeaterday, is not too dense. It's shady (obviously) but not wet, even though I believe it does rain a lot out here. The ground is sandy as opposed to soily (altho I read a sign today which claimed that in ages gone past the trees grew on the rocks as there was no soil, and their roots grew into the crack which split the rocks up, and as time went on these rocks became tiny pebbles, and eventually the soil which now provides nutrients for the trees we have today... erm im not sure thats actually how it works...). Anyway, back to my description... there are tree roots sticking up out of the ground all over the place, and the ground does consist of a large amount of large rocks, worn smooth on the paths by many many feet I should iamgine!

Today we also encounterd, on the way back from the waterfall, real mangrove trees! I have (obviously) never seen real mangrove trees today, but these were not quite as I imagined... some of the trees were quite large, but the majority were only small - planted in orderly rows!! This is a lot like how the trees are on the mainland. The whole bus journey here all the forest that could be seen was man made, planted in rows, and clearly of varying maturity. although i'm prretty sure the mangroves wont be cut down for timber!

Apart from this, Koh Chanf is a lot like bangkok in how it has the rich and the poor almost shoved together, tinny huts rubbing shoulders with massive white hotels! however, as always, the thais seem happy with their lot, and I must admitt, I dont think I would complain if I lived here! There has been talk of the ferry closing on the 18dec, which would be rather frustrating being as we leave here on the 19th! But as I said, if I could chose one place on the world to be stranded, it would be here!
(Especially if I was allowed my own pet elephant to wander around the jungle on!)

But I Definately Believe in The HEAT!

Day 7: Hot
Todays mission was to find an ATM which didn't chanrge us... FAIL
What actually happened was...
We started on a long hot walk southwards in the hope of finding another settlement (heehee). Unfortunately we left at around 11.30am (and you know what they say about mad dogs and englishmen) so it got a little toasty! After about a half hour walk we found an ATM, with receipts lying around showing no fee (receipts here are crazy - they have your acc no. sort code and balance on! And wether a fee was charged or not) so in goes my card. I go through the whole malarky once, and then the screen goes blank - argh, cancel, give my card back! (it did) I do it again and decide to press some buttons, and on comes the screen-saying it charged me a fee of 150b! Grr... And so the search continues!
Anyway, that is not the main tale of today.... today we went to the waterfall! I've been wanting to go to Klong Phu since we got here, but havent been able to find where it is (again the main problem with thai maps being that none of them say where you are right now - so reading them is a lot of guesswork!). But today, as we continued to search for a well meaning cash machine, I came across a MASSIVE sign signposting it. So off we went. Mark moaned a lot about the heat, and the distance ("but it might be 20k away" blah blaah) But I enjoyed the walk through the jungle. It was very hot, I admitt, but we found a littl shop and stocked up on water, and for once there was some shade :-).
After a while we arrived at the national park entrance, and then it was only a short 500m walk through nice jungle paths up to a rather nice waterfall. by this point I was wilting somewhat, so the cold water in the pool at the bottom was fantastic! I tried to swim underneath the water, but the current leading up to it was quite strong, so i settled for getting close. Lol. I think mark managed to get under the water though. It was absolutely beautiful up there, quite a lot of people, but still really peaceful, and a refreshing break from the sea.
After cooling down for a while (around 2hrs) we decided it was probably time to leave (being as the walk there took at least an hour) but wse found some stunning black and blue butterflies milling around just begging to have their photographs taken, so we had to oblige! I love my camera! Anyway because we had got out our cameras mark couldn't leave his alone on the way back, and it took us an hour and 40mins to get home! We did get to take some great pictures of the sceenery though, and I took quite a few of some more elephants (who did not look as happy as the one we saw yesterday, poor things!).
Being as we were (or at least I was) just about dying from the heat and exercise combo, we went straight home for showers, and then it was time for dinner - missed the sunset AGAIN :(. Dinner was chicken and cashews and was rather nice thankyou very much :). Today we are blogging after dinner, nice and full and content.

Tuesday 15 December 2009

I'm Not Sure I Believe in the Cold Anymore

Day 5: Beach
We just beached around today - the sand is lovely and white, and the sea is sooo warm! Shallow too - i'v only managed to get out of my depth once! There also seems to be pretty much no tide... The beach slopes off very shallowly, but there is never very much of it there! I'd say the water level only changes by about 1 or 2 foot, even dad could swim here!
Anyway after a 'hard' day on the beach I accidently went to sleep when we got home, so didn't do much in the evening! Had an absolutely fantastic meal though, steamed squid with garlic, lime and chillies... quite hot but unbelievably tasty. Followed by fried banana in coconut syrup :D Yum. Yum. Yum.

Day 6: Elephants
Today we went to the elephant camp - 'To See is to Save!' We had an hoiurs ride plodding through the jungle on our (lazy) ally; he seemed to want to stop and eat at every oppurtunity! And also decided to spray water over us when we went through the river (mark was very scared for his camera) Near the end we both got to ride on the neck of the elephant too, which was very cool! Elephant skin is mad - really really tough with stiff bristly hairs sticking up everywhere!
Back at camp we gave the ele's we'd ridden some little green bananas, and I got covered in elephant goo, which was nice! Then we got to go swimmimg with two of them. I seemed to be the only person keen to jumped in a dirty river pool with two giants... but quite a few of us eventually got in, although mark didn't want to as he was dressed properly in trousers etc whereas i was in shorts! Scrubbing them with a little plastic scrubbing brush was pretty fun though, although im not sure the elephants could actually feel it though their skin - the trainers have big sticks with metal hooks on to poke them in the right direction when we're riding them do i think nylon bristles may be inconsequential!

Anyway, we've had a couple of fantastic days, and it is now time for dinner again :D

Love xxxx

Sunday 13 December 2009

A Lizard Ate My Toothpaste!!!!

A Lizard ate my toothpaste! It rained (A LOT) last night and when I woke up there were three chunks bitten out the side of my toothpaste tube!!! Naughty Lizard! xxxx

Paradise!

So... we're in Koh Chang now, and its all a bit like paradise! Bangkok was smoggy, and hot, and very busy (and yes dan, you are a prophet, we did get ripped off by a taxi on the 1st day!). Nonetheless I liked it, Mark not so much as he is all ill and keeps getting nosebleeds and doesn't like shopping around! I have so far bought a bracelet, an anklet (with pearls and shells on, I got them on the beach here today) and some sunnies and a smaller camera case in Bangkok. Woo!

The food is amazing here, Pad Thai (which is noodles) is so far my favourite, although Mark had some tempura shrimp yesterday which were very nice too; the green curry was fantastic, but burnt my mouth off so i couldn't finish it! (my bowl had at least two chillies in it alone!).

If you want a more detailed account of our first few days read on.....

Day 1: Taxi rip off!
So we arrive at Bangkok tired and dazed, and have to wait for half an hour in the immigration queue - only to find out we need to fill in an immigration form (obvious I know...). Luckily second time queuing didn't take so long, but still! Anyway we then take a taxi to khao san rd for what seem the reasonable amount of 600b, turns out would ave cost us apx 300b if we'd used our brains and got him to turn on the meter! However we got there safe and sound (which is something considering the driving here) and without killing anyone on the way (again a plus being as there are plenty of nutters on scooters without helmets, sometimes three of them, sometimes sitting side saddle - as far as I can tell if you feel safe its legal in Thailand!)
Of course the next hurdle is always finding you hotel... read marks blog for a full account of my failure as a navigator!!(I admitt all fault, I didnt have a map, which is a major oversight!). Did give us a chance to have a look up and down khao san rd though, pretty sure that didn't cheep up mark! Anyway once we'd checked in it was late, so we had junk food for dinner - bad tourists! You can get a lot for 177b though!

Day 2: Late start!
I've never had jet lag before, I think for some reason my body is against me sleeping! Really tired so we went to sleep asap, but then we woke up every hour or so until 6, and then slept straight through til 1pm!! Obviously that ruined the plans to go and see the temples and everything, as they close at 3... We decided to go for a look around anyway, as the palace area was very close, and got hussled into taking a longtail boat canal tour - what a fantastic decision!

The tour took apx a hour, and took us along the canals of bangkok (obviously!) It's mad to see how absolute luxury sits adjacent to near poverty - massive white mansions next to little tin stilt houses! But as always the thais are always smiling! Our boat driver was cool too, even if his cornering techniques were a little terrifying. He pointed out all of the main sights to see, and some other things too, like some massive lizardy things which were just chilling out on the banks! Anyway i'm sure we'l uplad some pics of it all once I work out how...
The evening was another stroll down khao san rd, as an early start to catch the 5hr bus to koh chang in the morning (and because i like shops! Khao san has a glostonbury-esque feel to it; loads of little stall to browse, I think it's lovely!).

Day 3: long Long LONG day!
5 hours my ass! Bus took 10 hrs to get to the ferry, ferry took another hour, and then a scary taxi drive to the hotel! Again with the 'if you feel safe, go ahead' rule: taxis on Koh chang are pick up trucks (which by the way are everywhere here, every other vehicle in thailand is either a tuk tuk or a Hilux!). Basically you chuck your bag on a roof rack thing, and then climb in the back (army stylee) I was scared my bag would fall ff, and then two guys jumped on the back and hung on! I was even more afraid they would fall off! However everything went swimmingly, and all got to the hotel in one happy piece! There was even a guy waiting where the taxi stopped who took my bag to our hut for me! Enough cannot be said for thai hospitality!
Our hut is fantastic, even better than the internet pictures, and Mark was shocked and really pleased when he realised they not only come in and clean etc everyday, but also make the towels into a different animal! Lol!

Day 4: Paradise!
Early morning as mark still isnt sleeping well cos he has a sniffle, and for some reason gets cold (yes COLD) at night! I really really don't understand as even with a/c on full its 18degrees but he is ill i guess... Anyway awake at 6.30 so out the hut by 7 to buy water and ice cream and coconut oil, which is already working wonders on my hair (no need for braids yet, although they do do it on khao san road so i might do it on sunday especially for lucy!). Than out free brekkie and a day beaching out. Was a bit overcast for about an hour maybe, but then the sun came out full strength again :-D it's hard to believe in the cold when you're out here! Now we are just updating blogs etc... Mark kicked me off the laptop cos i was taking too long so im using a real computer inside - mean boy!

Anyway, much love to you all, and I hope it isn't too cold!!

Freyr xxxx

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Leaving Tomorrow!

Sooooo... the plan is to leave Midsomer Norton at 4pm tomorrow, and leave Heathrow at 9.35pm!!!
ETA in Bangkok is 15.25pm local time, so I will update this once we get there! May not be immediate, but i'm sure we will be online within the next few days whatever :-D

(and I will of course text dad to let him know i'm safe and landed!)

xx

P.S. just to make you all laugh - just realised this doesn't show up if i write in black - Duh!!

xxxx

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