Kat and Ade's World Tour 2006

OK so its 2.5 years since we returned from our round the world trip and its high time we finished the damn thing...

So right after leaving Bangkok we touched down in Hong Kong for a week in one of the most crazy cities on Earth

Hello Everyone

Well we made it back to London safe and sound last Friday (1st Dec). It feels great to be back.

Since then we have both had a busy week seeing friends and family and sorting stuff out. We will get round to finishing the blog in the next few weeks, as we still have Hong Kong, Japan and India to write up. We will also eventually get round to writing an email to all our friends we met travelling. Sit tight!

As ever, our email address is adriangjbeck@yahoo.com

Cheers
Kat and Ade

On Wednesday 18th Oct we had our flight from Phuket to Bangkok but it was delayed for about an hour. When we did eventually arrive in Bangkok we were greeted with Bangkok's brand new airport...a huge building of conrete and steel (which actually looks half finished - maybe it was!). We shared a taxi to the infamous Koh San Road with a nice Canadian / Australian couple who were in Bangkok as the last part of their trip (they had done Africa amongst other places - the first people we had met who had been there).

The Koh San Road was pretty hectic with lots of shops, restaurants, bars and stalls out in the streets. You can get anything you want there from a 50p Pad Thai meal to a 1 pound T-shirt.

For once we had treated ourselves to a nice hotel in Bangkok, as we had done pretty well in Thailand, staying at very cheap places. So we were staying at the Buddy Lodge boutique hotel for a whopping 30 pounds a night (with free brekkie). Lovely.

That evening we went out for a walk up and down the Koh San road and had a cheapy Pad Thai and a few drinks at a Harley Davidson-themed bar. We also met a very nice guy called Adam who is working for an organisation set up to try and protect Bengal tigers from extinction. We mentioned to him that our last country before home would be India and he gave us plenty of tips of places to visit. After that we went to another bar on the Koh San Road for a couple of drinks and then headed home to bed.

On Thursday 19th Oct we were up early for our free brekkie which was lovely. Lots of delicious thai and asian foods....surprisingly nice for breakfast. We then headed straight out to the main temples and palaces in Bangkok.

On the way there we were approached by a 'teacher' who kindly informed us that the main temples were closed today because the King was in town swearing in the new Prime Minister. Yaaaaaawn.....yeah whatever you say mate...you are a liar. We gave him nasty looks and walked straight past him. Thankfully the Lonely Planet book is pretty good at providing warnings to the common scams but even so it is not a very convincing story is it? On the way we spotted a single female tourist talking to a Thai man with her map open. Ade went up to her and told her to be careful only to receive a nasty glare from the Thai man!

So after avoiding the scams and helping others avoid them too, we eventually arrived at the main palace and temple complex in Bangkok called Wat Phra Kaew. Before we could get in, Kat had to hire a smelly shirt to cover her shoulders. Despite this, once we were inside, we saw some really amazing temples, sculptures and even the King's palace.

Despite the heat, after a few hours of looking at the impressive buildings we decided that since we were out, and doing sightseeing, we may as well walk another 15 minutes to go and see the reclining Bhudda. On the way yet another conman tried to divert us from our path by telling us that the Bhudda was "this way Sir, this way" instead of straight ahead. Again, we kept walking and eventually found it....and we were glad we did! It is absolutely HUGE!

In the afternoon we wandered back to the hotel and made the most of the rest of the sunny afternoon by relaxing by the pool. Ade went to the gym (good eh?) while Kat went out to get her nails done etc (for next to nothing).

That night we both went out to another bar on the Koh San road called the Lava bar.

It was a pretty cool bar, which wouldn't have looked out of place in London. Afterwards Ade bought a whole bunch of balloons for Kat for 1 pound only to be told they were a fire hazard and were not allowed into the hotel. Unfortunately Kat had to let them float away into the night sky

The next day we chilled all day, by the pool and took a stroll up and down the Koh San Road. Ade got stopped by a group of Thai school kids who were conducting a questionnaire. Their funniest question was half way through - "what do you think of our questionnaire?"...."Well its great, I'm just not sure what it is about yet".

In the evening we made the most of our lush hotel room and cable TV, ready for the off to Hong Kong tomorrow...

Our flight to Phuket was fine, except the plane was a propeller plane which was a little un-nerving. Neither of us had been on a propeller plane before and although it was a little noisier than normal, we got to Phuket fine! Below is a pic of one of the many islands you see from the sky...

We thought we`d go back to Phuket for just under a week before we headed to Bangkok for our flight out of Thailand to re-take the photos and also to visit Koh Phi Phi one more time before we left (and also to replace lost photos of there too!).

We went straight to our nice hostel (Phuket backpackers) and met the owner (Mr Kool) again. It was a nice day so we caught the local bus to Nai Haan beach and went back to the Reggae bar a short walk from the beach.

After a few drinks, it was getting dark so we decided to start walking in the rough direction of home, assuming that a tuk tuk would come along very soon. 2 hours later we were still walking along various roads, in the right direction, but no real clue as to where we were!! Eventually we passed a resort and decided to ask reception to call a taxi for us. Quite funny on reflection, but not that funny when we get that sinking feeling that you are actually lost! In the evening we chilled in the hostel and watched Fast and the Furious; Tokyo Drift (and got all excited about going to Tokyo in a matter of a few weeks).

On Friday 13th Oct (eeek!) we took a walk around Phuket trying to find a hospital. We went to the nearest one on the map only to find that it used to be a hospital and has recently closed down. Great! The two main hospitals are quite far out of town, so we thought we`d try and find a pharmacy so we could patch up Kat`s leg ourselves. After trying a couple of places, we were told of a better pharmacy across town that would have everything we need so after a short tuk tuk ride and half an hour in the pharmacy we were armed with enough plasters etc. to last the rest of the trip or until Kat`s wound healed. Good news. That afternoon we walked around the markets near our hostel and booked the ferry to Phi Phi.

The next day we had our early ferry for our return trip to Phi Phi. The ferry journey was great....we got a nice spot on the front deck and enjoyed the sunshine. Coming towards the two Phi Phi islands was just as impressive as last time...

We walked round the bay and found a cheap place to stay as we were only on Phi Phi for 2 nights, it didnt really matter where we stayed. The beautiful weather continued that afternoon and we took a long tail boat straight round to our favourite beach, Long Beach.

We stayed on Long beach to watch the sun go down but the sunset wasn't as amazing as ones we had seen previously. That night we went to Hippies bar for a few drinks (having to watch our camera carefully, which was charging behind the bar as our room didn't have 1 power point!).

On Sunday (15th Oct) we were both nursing sore heads and chilled on the beach near our bungalow (not Long beach unfortunately). As the afternoon wore on we hired a little kayak for a few hours and kayaked across the bay to a secluded beach and watched an awesome sunset.

In the evening we had a lovely seafood dinner, grilled white snapper and 4 massive tiger prawns as well as chicken and potatoes)!! Absolutely delicious. That night we walked around the town looking at the stalls and made a few phone calls.

The next day we were off on the early boat back to Phuket and since it was another nice day, when we got back to Phuket town we immediately went out to Surin beach, using a tuk-tuk but having to painfully walk through 2 touristy jewellery shops so as our driver could get his little book stamped (for bringing in tourists on the hope of them buying something) and we could get a cheaper taxi fare. Surin beach was about an hours drive away so we guessed it was worth being 'interested' in the jewellery.

We had a lovely day on Surin beach with Ade having yet another green curry.

In the evening we did our laundry and used the free internet at Phuket backpackers. We had a Chinese takeaway for dinner (unfortunately there is not much choice of places to eat in Phuket town).

On Tuesday 17th Kat went to the beach all day with our Phuket American friends Alexis and Pascal. Ade was not feeling well and had belly ache most of the day. In the evening we watched films (Phone Booth and War of the Worlds) and packed our stuff ready for the cheapy flight to Bangkok...

We arrived in Koh Samui at 9pm and after a rip off 5 minute (5 pounds!) taxi ride to our "please have rooms" resort, we were pleased that the lady had lots of space available. In fact, it turns out we were the only guests there! Nice. And what a bungalow....air con, a proper new bed, lovely and clean, TV with movies, our own little kitchen with massive sink and obviously bathroom. The grounds of the resort were also lovely with orchids, other exotic flowers and fountains!

That evening we wanted to check out Chaweng (the main area of Samui and where we were staying) so we went out for a walk and it was very busy and very loud....we were so glad we were staying 10 minutes up the road as we had some peace and quiet.

Saturday 7th October we woke up refreshed and excited as it was the monthly Full Moon Party back in Had Rin on Koh Pha Ngan. For those of you who don`t know it is basically an all night party that takes place on the night of the full moon (i.e. once a month), which started about 10 years ago as a small goodbye celebration for a traveller who was going home (which happened to be on a full moon night) and has taken place every month ever since (and has subsequently grown to the huge event it is now). During the day, we walked along most of the 6km`s of Chaweng beach, amongst other things enjoying a corn on the cob. Yum Yum

A massive thunderstorm suddenly appeared and we raced for cover in a beachside restaurant where Ade had yet another lush green curry and lots of yummy cocktails. We also phoned Kat`s mum and called her Grandad for his birthday but he didn`t recognise who it was! Cheers Grandad!...I know you love me really. On the way back to our bungalow we were heading through town to buy a small bag to take to the Full Moon Party. As we were crossing the road, we crossed in between tightly parked mopeds, one of which still had a boiling hot exhaust (obviously just parked) and Kat caught her leg on it and her skin was burnt (stuck) to it for a few seconds. The pain wasn`t immediate, neither was the burn, but when it did....it HURT. We think the picture below does it justice (taken a few days after, but showing the full extent of the burn!).

After that Ade rushed to get plasters and cream and we went home to dress the wound properly. We did seriously consider not going to the Full Moon Party cos Kat was hobbling, but then we thought we have been waiting for this for weeks on end and we were so excited and Kat wasn`t going to let this stop her enjoying herself. So after dressing the wound, we got dressed up ready to dance the night away.

We caught a cab to the North of the island but didn`t know how we were going to get across to Koh Pha Ngan. After arguing about the seemingly very expensive boat across, we eventually decided to pay 600 Bhart each for a very cool, quick and safe speed boat over...and what a lush speed boat it was. The reason why we got a speed boat was that we`d heard plenty of horror stories of over-packed boats capsizing in choppy waters (we`d already experienced the waves!). Can you imagine? Not nice. Also, Ade was very suspicious of some of the people running the operation as they required everyone (all of them tourists) to write down on a piece of paper, their names, hotel name AND room number. After blinding doing as told (like everyone else), we suddenly thought "hang on a minute, why do they need to know our ROOM number"....they KNOW we are on another island for most of the night (probably). We looked at the list as a burglars dream come true. The thing is, they didn`t need ANY of this information (not even our names) as we were given tickets and they were not giving us a lift all the way back to the hotels...just back to Koh Samui island. After discussing it for a minute or two, we pretended that we wrote down the wrong hotel name and room number and went back to change it (Thank God!). The worst thing would be to return home the next day to find everything gone....if this was the case we`d know who would have done it - but where would be the proof? (despite wondering, we never did hear that anyone was burgled and if they did - unlucky but you should question things!).

So we arrived within 20 minutes and the sight pulling up to Had Rin beach was amazing....luminous colours, flags, decorations, fire shows, pumping music, lanterns....the works (hard to get a good shot of it).

These are photos taken from Google but show the famous buckets (that you keep you dancing all night - the Red Bull is very strong) and a decent shot of the people and the beach:

We had a fun few hours exploring the beach, getting a luminous paint tatoo done and meeting up with our Phuket friend Pascal and some of his friends.

Then we moved on to another bar playing better music and danced for several hours. We met a nice couple (Thai girl, Swiss guy) and from then on it gets a little hazy. We definately had a lot of fun, thats for sure!

We definately caught our speedboat home (around 6am) and watched the sun come up on Samui. On the way home we stopped at the hospital to get Kat`s leg patched up by professionals. We finally crashed around midday, waking up around 9pm with our bellys rumbling. Ade went out to get some lush food for his invalid wife and after eating we both slept like babies to the next day. A night and day to remember, always....so glad we went!

On Monday the 9th Oct we woke up in the morning feeling fully refreshed, except Kat`s leg was really really hurting. The hospital bandages still looked good so we decided to go to Chaweng beach all day as it was a beautiful sunny day.

After the beach we went to the hospital to get a proper bandage put on and went out for a bite to eat, did emails, ate ice cream (yum!) and came home.

The next day (Tuesday 10th) it was raining all morning so we had a lie in. We watched a film and then headed to the hospital (luckily literally next door to our hotel) for our daily bandage change (every day for the next 5 days until we left). We wandered around town ducking in and out of the rain and in the evening we went for drinks in the back streets of Chaweng where all the bars are. We ended up playing free pool most of the night and had a talcum powder fight with the local kids who wander the streets selling roses or playing Connect 4 with tourists.

It is very sad that these children are out on the street night after night (till the early hours) earning money to help their families. It is not that they are malnorished or mis treated it is just that they should be playing or in bed at a reasonable time ready for school the next day. We were having such a lovely time with them and we wanted to treat them so took all 12 of them to Burger King as a little treat (much to the bemusement of the restaurant staff).

...this kid we met the night before who whipped Ade at Connect 4 (winning 400 Bhart - about 5 pounds) and he remembered us!...

)

Kat spoke to her Mum that night when we got home.

The next day was another relaxing day with another trip to the hospital and one last curry on the beach (as well as some chilli squid!).

In the evening we made the most of our nice room and watched TV, however when we tried to sleep at night, we were kept up by frogs who were calling out to each other. We thought they would stop after a while but NO....the little #`$&% carried on ALL NIGHT. Despite Ade going outside at 3am to see if he could find them and disrupt them (they were safely hidden in the drains), we just couldn`t shut them up!

On Thursday 12th we were up early to catch our flight to Phuket...

We arrived in familiar old Singapore again, but it was nice to know what to expect and to know where we are going (a rare thing this year!). We got a taxi to 1 Florence Close and were welcomed with open arms by Cynthia and Evon. The rest of the family (and Connie) had gone home as it was quite late. That evening we made the most of the free Internet and booked our accommodation for Hong Kong and caught up on emails etc. We popped out over the road for a bite to eat at one of the tasty Chinese street restaurants.

Over the next few days, we basically re-traced our steps and re-took all the photos again. On Wednesday 4th October we again covered Little India, both Quays (Clarke and Boat), Business district, Merlion, Chinatown, the Penny Black English pub, ate lots of delicious food. We were lucky to re-visit Singapore again during their 3 festivals celebrations (Hindu Diwali festival of light, Muslim Eid and Bhuddist Autumn/Winter festival). Each ethnic area was covered in appropriate decorations, colours and gorgeous lights.

The next day (Thurs 5th Oct) we covered new ground and saw the Worlds biggest fountain at the Suntec centre (in the Guiness book or Records).

After this we went to the Malay area (Choo Chait) to try and hunt down old style coloured terraced housing and buildings that we had seen on the tourist brochures, but we had no luck finding them. It was a very hot day and we couldn`t take much of the heat and 99% humidity.

We walked around the Malay markets for a bit and jumped back on the MRT to the Jarong area where we DID find the old style coloured houses. This area also had rows and rows of wedding shops.

After Jarong we walked back to Chinatown and then jumped on the MRT to Orchard Road (the shopping street). We stopped and had a quick bite to eat at "Old Chang Kee", little franchised street stalls selling all sorts of fried foods like squid, prawns, spring rolls etc.

After a little walk down Orchard Road we stopped at an al-fresco restaurant and watched all the people pass by. That evening we jumped on the MRT again to the west of the island and visited the Chinese garden for its spectacular light show and creations which had beautiful lanterns, food, music and bright recreations of famous world landmarks like the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Great Wall of China and many more.

At around 11 we caught the MRT home and met a nice couple named Helen and Andrew and swapped travel stories and handy hints (they`d been where we were going and vice versa).

On Friday we looked for a camera in Chinatown for Kat`s dad but couldn`t find the one he wanted. In the afternoon we packed and Kat made Mars bar chocolate-covered corn flake cakes with Connie.

We said an emotional goodbye to the family at 1 Florence Close and the whole family came outside to help us with our bags and to flag down a cab for us. We felt like one of the family! Thank you for another wonderful stay - we hope to visit again soon! Our flight back to Samui was fine, except for the fact that we hadn`t managed to book anywhere to stay so we took a chance and picked pretty much the first one Ade found from the Internet.

The journey to Koh Pha Ngan was frustrating to say the least, largely in part to a 3 hour wait (for no apparent reason) in a cafe, in a town midway between the two coasts of Thailand. Only after about an hour did we both realise why the bus hadn't come yet...it was so the 50 or so fellow passengers could waste their time and more importantly spend their money at the cafe. It was all a deliberate con to make us spend our money. So we didn't....we walked down the road and bought some water. Then out of nowhere the bus appears and drives at break-neck speed to the port so we can just catch the last boat - leaving us to arrive at Koh Pha Ngan after a 3 hour boat ride at nearly 10pm. Great. What should have taken 6 or 7 hours took 12. On the ferry ride, Ade had a call from one of his managers at work and arranged to go back to work in 2007! Its coming around all too quickly!!

We were staying in a cheap hostel in Haad Rin, the party area of the island and we saw why when we walked through the crowded streets trying to find our hostel. It was noisy with lots of bars and restaurants everywhere and the narrow streets meant that you had to be careful not to get run over by the mopeds driving around everywhere. We checked in, went out for a little wander around the area and then went to bed.

The next day (28th Sept) Kat took us both on a walk over a hill to a nice beach called Leela beach. It was a bit like Long beach on Phi Phi as it had beautiful turquiose water and trees right on the sand.

We spent a few hours on the beach, then walked through the nice resort that was on the beach, up through the hills and back to our hostel. We had a shower and then went into town to walk around and get our bearings. Lots of the restaurants show movies which is a nice way to pass the evening if you don't feel particularly energetic.

The next day (Fri 29th Sept) was a beautiful sunny day so instead of hiring a moped and touring the island as planned, we headed to one of the 2 Haad Rin beaches and had a very chilled day reading, swimming and sunbathing. As the afternoon wore on, it got busier and busier and we couldn't help noticing the large numbers of Isrealis that were on holiday here...we found it hard to recognise any English or European accents at all!

We ate at our hostel that night and then wandered into town for a few drinks and a few movies. When we had got home, Ade was sorting out his stuff and realised that 2 memory cards had gone missing (a 512MB card with photos from Vegas, LA, Hawaii and Sydney and another 512 card with all our South East asia photos so far (Singapore, Malaysia, Phuket, Phi Phi and Lanta). After we both turned our bags inside out 3 or 4 times, we went downstairs to ask the staff if anyone had handed them in. We knocked on all the doors on the top level and asked fellow travellers to look out for them. We also left notices around the hostel, searched in the bushes and called our previous hotel in Krabi. All to no avail! What a nightmare....we both felt depressed and upset, as besides our health and safety (and perhaps our passports and cash cards), our photos are the most important things we have with us!

On Sat 30th we woke up still in a panic and still desperately trying to find our memory cards, but rather than dwell on it, we'd hire a bike and go driving around the island.

The first part of the drive was actually the scariest as the roads out of Haad Rin are VERY steep and VERY dangerous. We took it very slowly and made it past the hills on the long road to the port (Thongsala), where we drove past the Welcome to Koh Pha Ngan sign.

Past the town, we drove up the West coast of the island, stopping off to get petrol and any nice scenic points along the way. It felt great to get out of the comparitive madness of Haad Rin and finally be amongst the locals.

After that we continued up the coast to a beach called Had Yaom with a very bumpy and pot-hole filled dirt track leading to it. A nice beach and very quiet.

After that, although we wanted to go further up the coast, the road that we were on got progressively worse and worse, so we drove back down the coast to Thongsala and then inland for about 15 minutes to a waterfall (Paeng Waterfall). After about 30 minutes of walking up rocks and hills (and taking a few phone calls from friends and family!) we were a bit disappointed by the `waterfall` as you can see in the picture below;

We were told by another couple coming back down the trail that the viewpoint at the top was well worth the walk up and we were not dissapointed:

Before we headed off home, we picked up a coconut (they`re scattered everywhere) in the hope of cracking it open when we got home (no luck, it was rotten). We rode home that day as the sun was going down. Beautiful.

That night we had a meal and watched Arsenal vs Charlton and went to bed very tired (and still upset about the photos!)

The next day (Sun 1st Oct - 2 months until we arrive home!!) we had the bike for another day and drove to the North of the islandm right through the middle (past the waterfall we saw yesterday). We arrived at Cho Lak Lam Bay which was our gateway to seeing Bottle beach (which our friend Benjy insisted that we see! - it is also his most favourite beach in the whole wide world).

We caught a long tail boat to Bottle beach surviving some very choppy waves, but passing some beautiful coves and rocks and lush green mountains. The taxi man mentioned that at 6 in the morning, monkeys from the hills come down and eat the crabs on the rocks...this would have been great to see but we were too far away to make it in time! If you can imagine a fairly flimsy long tail boat ducking and slamming down hard on waves twice as big! As the boat rode over the waves the drop looked very scary. It was so windy and choppy even the taxi boat man had to cover up his face with a balaclava which made us even more nervous! We didn`t want to spend all day on Bottle beach as we still had plenty more of the island to see. The wind was so intense that we couldn`t sit on the beach as the sand would fly up in your face and eyes. After about 3 hours, we caught the same taxi boat back to Cho Lak Lam. We have photos of Bottle beach but on a disposable camera as our battery ran out. When we got back to Cho Lak Lam we found a nice bar/restaurant ("Sheesha bar" (as in the Arabian tobacco pipes) to relax in and have a drink. The bar had a relaxing wooden deck with couchesm canopies and pillows to lie down and chill on.

When we hit the road again, we were driving down the West coast and Kat spotted the cutest little puppy wandering around on his own by the side of the road. Worried that he was lost, we stopped to give him a huggle and see if we could find his owner. It was only when we stopped a woman to ask her that she took the dog off us and we didn`t know if the dog belonged to her, so naturally we got worried. Because of the language barrier we couldn`t communicate so we had to just trust this lady and hop on our bike and carry on. For the rest of the afternoon we were worried and thinking about little "Pad Thai" (as we named him after Ade`s favourite Thai noodle dish) and hoping he was OK....but how cute is he?

On the way home we quickly stopped at Had Salad (a beautiful beach in a lush green bay with the CRAZIEST dirt track leading to it)...

We also stopped at Had Mae Haad which is an island that is connected by a small strip of sand (when the tide is low). We got there just in time to see the island in sunset light and due to the steepness of the hill and the hundreds of pot holes, we were forced to park the bike at the top of the hill and walk down. When we headed back to the bike it was becoming dark and we didn't have a torch so couldn't see where we were going. The walked back killed us.. every muscle in our bodies ached by the time we got to the top of the hill, a great work out though.

It was only when we got back up to the top of the hill (and it was now pitch black) that we realised that we had lost our mascot George who had been around the world with us (he is a little furry pink Hippo that Ade`s brother Trevor had given us as a good luck gift before we left). We were really upset and couldn't believe our luck (also because of our memory cards). What a nightmare. Although obviously not as serious as losing 2 memory cards full of pictures, we thought "Not again!" and set off in pitch black back down the hill to the beach, all around the beach and back up the hill again. No sign of him anywhere but we vowed to come back in the morning. As it was dark we drove back very slowly and ate at our hostel.

The next day (Mon 2nd Oct) we were up early and drove back to the beach to look for George. We eventually found him face down in the sand and we were very VERY cross with him (But very happy and relieved to find him - although we didn`t show it)

On the way back to Had Rin we drove past the road where we found little Pad Thai to see if we could spot him and say hello....and guess what? There he was playing happily with his brothers and sisters. We were very happy that he was safe and sound but, playing so near to the road (and a non-caring owner), it made us concerned for their future safety. How cute though?

We drove back to Had Rin and dropped the bike off. We also booked flights back to Singapore for 2 reasons. Firstly we needed to leave the country at some point and re-enter it because our tourist visa would expire, and secondly we wanted to re-take some of the missing photos. We also managed to get a reasonable flight straight from Koh Samui (the next island). We were a bit gutted as our original plan was to visit Cambodia and/or Laos and Vietnam but what we don`t know we wont miss (as they say), and we would like to come back to South East Asia one day. That afternoon we chilled around Had Rin till around 4pm and then had our 1 hour beginners Thai kickboxing lesson. It was a lot of fun and we`d love to do it (or similar) as keep-fit when we get home.

In the evening we watched "The Break-Up" with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughan (to explain, most restaurants and bars show pirated films while people eat and drink - quite a nice inexpensive way to pass an evening). It was quite a tough film to watch as its uncomfortable to watch people arguing however the terrible sub titles made it a funny film to watch. If we weren`t native English speakers we wouldn`t have had a clue what was happening as the sub titles were soooo bad. The subtitles and voice over also switched from French to Italian back to English. Random! We went out to a few more bars after that and got slightly merry A very enjoyable giggle evening.

On Tuesday 3rd we were leaving for Singapore, but first we had to get across to Koh Samui on a rather busy boat. The journey was ridiculous - everyone on boat the ferry had nervous smiles as the boat rocked from side to side. This also didn`t help our sore heads from the night before. Safely disembarking on Samui we got a shared taxi to the airport and relaxed while waiting for our "boutique" flight. The airport was unlike any other we have seen....almost like a resort in itself with bars, restaurants, massage parlours, book stores and free complimentary cakes and drinks in the departure lounge.

Waking up early with a nasty hangover and getting on a crowded, small bus for a couple of hours wasn't what we had in mind, but it was what we had to deal with on the morning of Thursday 21st to get us to Krabi. The bus stopped in Krabi town and Ade went straight to a pharmacy as he was noticing an ear infection in his right here (all that swimming underwater in the pool in Koh Lanta!). Armed with ear drops and antibiotics we caught a taxi to Ao Nang (pronounced O-Nang) to our hotel. We went out that afternoon / evening for a walk along the sea front and had a bite to eat at Hippies bar.

The next day Ade's ear was getting worse so he didn't do much apart from lie in bed and take ear drops. Kat went down to the pool to sunbath and read for a bit. In the evening we went out to a Thai boxing match which was pretty exciting. The stadium wasn't that busy, and all the 'VIP' seats at the front were occupied by tourists but it was good fun all the same and nice to see something that Thailand is famous for. There was around 10 fights of 5 rounds each, starting off with very young kids (which was a little disturbing - you had to wonder whether they actually wanted to Thai box or whether they were being pushed into it by family) with the age range gradually getting older (and therefore the fights getting more and more bloody!). It was also interesting to watch the pre-fight rituals that the fighters do, involving warm up exercises, prayers and checking the ring and ropes. Each round had music accompanying it, played by a small band in one of the stands.

After the boxing we got dropped off at Hippies bar where we had a few drinks (cokes for Ade!) before wandering home).

On Sat 23rd Sept we had a lazy morning, as Ade's ear was still hurting. We had breakfast in bed and got ready to go to Mrs Ya's cookery school. Since being in Thailand, we have really (REALLY) enjoyed all the wonderful Thai curries and stir fries and thought it would be fun to go on a cookery course to learn how to make the signature dishes. Over the course of an afternoon, the two of us (plus a couple of gap year kids) learnt how to make red, green and peanut curry, pad thai (their famous stir fry noodles and veg) as well as Tom Yum soup (hot prawn soup) and stir fried vegetables in Oyster sauce. We also got to eat everything we made!

In the evening we went back to Hippies bar (its the nearest place!) for a free BBQ, party and standard fire show!

On Sunday 24th Sept we hired a moped and slowly went cruising all day. Like the rest of Thailand, Krabi is beautiful with the landscape either being flat or huge vertical mountains that rise up our of nowhere. It is no coincidence that Krabi is popular with climbers.

The first stop on our tour was a beach about a kilometre down the coast from us. The beach wasn't great, but it seemed to be popular with the locals enjoying their day off.

We then stopped by a Buddist temple that we originally noticed on the taxi ride in. It was about half an hours drive away and a huge Buddha lying on his side, right under a mountain. The temple seemed to be more of a funeral parlour as we noticed 2 crematoriums (one old and one new). Still, it was nice to see some traditional Thai / Buddist culture.

After the temple we drove back to Ao Nang town and parked the bike for a bit of a wander around. On the way we just HAD to take a picture of this house below:

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We wandered around Ao Nang for a while and in the evening had one of our best meals so far this trip - a lush BBQ seafood dinner including chilli red snapper, squid, mussels in garlic as well as salad and the trimmings. Lovely, and as always - such good value!

On Monday 25th Sept we continued our tours and went on a boat tour around the Phang Nga bay. After an hours bus journey we were all transferred on a large long tail boat and after passing through some mangroves forests (in the water) we arrived at James Bond island...made famous in the Bond film "The Man With The Golden Gun). Very very cool place.

After James Bond island we went on a sea canoe tour around Than Lod and Khao Majoo (Limestone caves / island) - literally through a neighbouring island where you could go under the rocks and emerge into one of many isolated lagoons. There were also plenty of peaceful mangrove forests....fantastic! On our canoe trip we also saw an amphibious fish that jumped out of the water and sat on a branch staring at us. It looked like something from billions of years ago when the first sea animals literally made the jump to land. Absolutely amazing.

After the canoe trip we got back on the long tail boat and headed off to Panyee island which is basically an entire town floating in the water. We had a nice lunch (with some rather unfriendly people at our table) and wandered around the island. Pretty amazing, but Ade was wondering if they paid any taxes!

The last activity of the day was elephant trekking (in the pouring rain). It was quite fun, if a little scary as you never knew if the elephants huge feet would grip against the mud. If that thing lands on you - you'd know about it!. It was a little sad also to see such beautiful huge creatures in captivity, but they seemed happy and definately looked well fed. We watched a baby elephant show afterwards which was a little sadder, although again, you can't help admiring these beautiful creatures.

What a great day! We both really enjoyed today, especially the canoeing (too many good photos to put up here). When we got home, we booked our transport to our next destination (Koh Pha Ngan) and went out in the evening to get a pizza.

The next day (Tues 26th) we had a lazy day, walking into town, doing laundry, getting a lovely massage in the evening from a nice lady (Ms New) down the street. We then popped into Hippies bar one last time and then came home, packed our stuff and (because we both couldn't sleep) stayed up until 2am to watch Arsenal in the Champions league.

The next day we were off to Koh Pha Ngan. We both really enjoyed Krabi and it was nice to not be lazy beach bums for a while and actually see some of the real Thailand that is out there. We especially enjoyed the cooking class as well as our tour day.

On Sat 16th September we left Koh Phi Phi for Koh Lanta, apparently a less developed and quieter island not too far away. The boat ride took about an hour and on the way, we were pursuaded to take up an offer of accommodation somewhere else. As it turned out it was half the price for the same facilities so we felt we got a good deal.

We spent the next week doing even less than Koh Phi Phi, mainly because Koh Lanta is much bigger than Koh Phi Phi and so we couldn't explore it on foot. On our first afternoon we went for a walk along the beach (nowhere near as lovely as Long beach on Phi Phi) but very deserted and absolutely covered in shells of all shapes and sizes. Some of the shells came alive when you stood still for a while and we amused ourselves for an hour or so, by having 'hermit races'. Again, we'd love to put some pictures on but who knows where our memory cards are? That night we had a few drinks at the resort's bar (Sound Shack bar), run by 2 entertaining brothers "A" and "King" (A was the DJ, King the barman)

On Sunday 17th September, we woke up late and since it was a little cloudy, we went for a walk down the road, stopping off at the resort we had originally reserved before leaving Phi Phi (recommended to us by our lovely friend Annie!). It did look lovely - justifyably called the Relax Bay. We stopped and had lunch for a couple of hours and then walked round the beaches and bays back to our resort in time to have a dip in the pool to cool off. After watching another beautiful sunset, we had an entertaining evening at the Sound Shack bar, playing Jenga and Poker with King.

On Monday (18th Sept) it was raining in the morning which cleared up by the afternoon, but since it was still a little dull, we decided to hire a moped and drive very slowly up the coast to the town. We walked around the harbour for a while, looking at all the houses, shops and even guesthouses built on stilts over the river. After town we slowly drove back to our resort, stopping at a very nice Danish run pizza restaurant. When we got back to our bungalow Kat noticed a scorpion wandering around on the floor. Ade had stepped right past it!. We both panicked and Kat ran off to get King while Ade kept an eye on it. The scorpion was only small but could have killed us apparently and it was clear to see he was raising his tail as if ready to strike out. King promptly demolished it with a broom handle! Eventful stuff! We were both pretty tired so watched a bit of TV and fell asleep.

Tuesday 19th was a gorgeous sunny day all day (first proper sunny day since our second day on Phi Phi) so we relaxed all day by the pool. We said goodbye to 2 nice French guys who had entertained the resort over the past few days and enjoyed the sun. We had dinner and a few drinks at the bar and when we popped back to the room to get something we were both shocked to see "Breaking News - Bangkok Tanks" on BBC World. There was a military coup going on in Bangkok to overthrow the current President (Thaksin). From the TV pictures it seemed fairly peaceful, but we would definately keep an eye out on things. Scary stuff.

On Wednesday 20th we had our last lazy day in Koh Lanta. We didn't do much (no change there) during the day, but at night, we had a crazy night out in the Sound Shack bar, where Ade 'hit the decks' for 2 hours which was fun. We also met a nice Scottish guy named Nick who was travelling with his brother for 2 years, after there father had past away. We eventually got to bed at 3am, only to be up a few hours later!. By this time, we had a new memory card in, so here are a few pictures of the last

OK everyone sincere apologies for the looooong delay in updating only we have spent the last few weeks exploring the beautiful islands of Southern Thailand and its been quite hard to find cheap Internet access. We've also been a little unlucky over the past few weeks; nothing major (we're alright), just annoying things that keep happening. For example as you read on in this entry, you'll notice that there are no pictures...well this is because somewhere in the last2 or 3 weeks we lost 2 memory cards, one which was backed up thankfully, but one which was not had all our photos of Singapore, Malaysia and the first few weeks of Thailand! Gutted. We hope to go back for 24 hours tomorrow so there should be some pictures up soon. Actually if we can find some decent images on the web, we'll 'borrow' them and put them up!

After our first week or so in Phuket we got the boat over to Koh Phi Phi on Sun 10th September. Koh Phi Phi consists of 2 islands, Phi Phi Don (which has places to stay, nice beaches and coves and restaurants and bars etc) and Phi Phi Ley which is uninhabited with one of the bays (Maya bay), the location for 'the beach' in the film "The Beach".

On the 2 hour boat over, you really get a sense of the beautiful scenery around you, such as the beautiful crystal clear blue and green water and the 'mountain islands' that just seem to emerge high out of the sea. The ferry took us past Phi Phi Ley and we managed to catch a glimpse of Maya bay and the huge rock faces that make up the island. Absolutely mind-blowing.

When we got to Phi Phi Don, we could see the effect that the Tsunami had had on this island as most of the main town didn't have many trees and there was lots of building work going on. Still it was clearly a small tropical island as there wasn't any cars and the town was fairly small (but busy). We got a longtail boat for 10 minutes round the bay to Long beach where our bungalows were; a beautiful beach, separated from the town with the most amazing views of Phi Phi Ley island.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beach and had a nice meal at the resort (very cheap too). We spent the evening planning our remaining weeks in Thailand.

Monday 11th was exactly the same (this may become a familiar pattern). We were up at a decent time and had breakfast at the restaurant. We then spent the entire day doing absolutely nothing but sunbathing, swimming, reading and sleeping on the beach. Amazing.

On Tuesday 12th we walked into town. This involved about a 30 minute trek up and over a hill, along another beach and trespassing through a resort (there was blatantly no other way through). We walked around town for a few hours, watching all the building projects going on and finding the other main beach (not the one we docked in). We stopped by the jetty for lunch and then walked back home and got ready to go out. We walked back into town and stopped at pretty much the first bar we came across (Corpe Diem), run by a nice Dutch guy who was given (yes given!) the bar after the previous owner died in the Tsunami. He has been running it for the past 2 years. We relaxed with a few drinks and watched the fire show (where they set various things on fire and spin / throw them around in the air!).

On Wednesday 13th Sept it was raining all day so all we did was sleep and eat! Thursday we relaxed all day. It wasn't sunny out but it wasn't dull either so we relaxed on the beach and in our bungalow and also organised our next destination (Koh Lanta). On our last full day (Fri 15th) in Koh Phi Phi we enjoyed Long Beach for a few hours and then took a long tail boat into town and went to a few bars along the sea front. We also had a very nice and very cheap BBQ chicken.

Anyone who has been to Koh Phi Phi knows how beautiful it is and we were lucky to have picked a nice beach out of town to stay on, which was quieter but with the best water and the best views. It is a shame that we are visiting Thailand during their rainy season and even though it by no means rains every day, it does mean that a lot of the days are cloudy. Any chance of sun and we're there! It is also a shame that we the memory cards dissapeared as we had some mind-blowing photos, but hopefully a few more will be added in the next few days (when we re-visit).