Pai: Team China is formed

Beautiful scenery

We set off for a bike ride on a very hot and sunny morning with John from Ireland and it was a scorcher. Jemma and I hired cheapo bikes with only 3 gears (they cost us £1 for the whole day, can't complain), except I was complaining, half way up the first hill, when my lowest gear was 3 and my legs couldn't turn the pedals. Still it was amazing fun, and for every hill we had to push the bikes up, there was another long hill to free wheel down, with the wind in our hair, cooling down our dripping wet bodies and the amazing green mountains all around us. We stopped half way at a view point, with psychedelic swings and chairs and amazing views over the hills. The ride was 8km in total (to get to the waterfalls) and when we got to 6km, I was so exhausted, thirsty (having drank my whole 2 litres of water) and weak, I couldn't pedal any more. What a pleasant surprise it was then, to stumble upon a little farm, in the middle of nowhere, with a sign saying 'stop here for fresh juice and fruit'. 

Boiling hot and served fresh iced juice!

A man waved us over and we stopped, unable to cycle any more. We sat down at a little table in front of a quaint little farm, where we were served as much iced red sorrel juice as we could drink (reminded me of Ribena ice lollies I used to have as a child). He also served us passion fruits, tamarind and potatoes with jam and peanuts. It was so refreshing! I was literally dripping in sweat, on the verge of collapsing, and this lovely local Thai man and his wife were waiting on us, topping up my glass with fresh iced juice every time I finished a cup. At the end they even produced a bottle of red sherry and insisted we all have a taste! And all they asked for was a tip, the amount being at our discretion. We gave him a £2 tip and he was over the moon, telling us to come back after we had visited the waterfalls, which he encouragingly told us were only 1km further away. Revitalised and pumped full of fruit juice, we cycled on along the mountain path until we finally heard the sounds of running water. Jemma and John had gone on ahead (because I don't like going down hills fast) and as I was coming down the last hill to the waterfall, a friendly Dutch girl came past me on a moped and asked if I wanted a lift. She was looking for the waterfalls too and I told her they were just down the hill. Once at the bottom, I saw Jemma and John already in the water, having dumped their bikes and run straight for the river. We chained all of our bikes up and climbed the steps to the top tier, where we saw a massive waterfall coming down from a canyon, with not many people around. 

Jemma and John cooling themselves

We all rushed in and cooled ourselves underneath it, and then I got out and sat on the rocks and got chatting to the Dutch girl (Nicole) and a Brazilian girl (Danielle). Jemma came out and then slipped on the rocks and fell back in, which everyone found amusing (apart from me because I didn't see it). When we had all dried off, Nicole let me and Jemma have a little go on her scooter and told us that we must hire one because they were so much fun. Jemma and I have avoided mopeds like the plague this trip, after meeting far too many people who have had accidents – I just don't feel it is worth the risk. However Nicole insisted that they were quite easy to ride and as long as you went slow and weren't drunk, they were fine. I must admit, it was nice to ride on (for the 6 metres I went on it), but I was still too scared to hire one, even though Jemma really wanted to hire them (they cost £2 to hire for 24hours! That's £1 more than the pedal bikes cost us!). Nicole told us that she was meeting with another Dutch girl that night for dinner, along with Dani, the Brazilian girl and an Aussie boy. I asked if we could join them and we agreed to meet at 7pm outside the bike shop. By this time it was about 3pm, so we'd have to get our move on to get back to Pai in time to shower and make it out for tea. Thankfully the 8km ride home was a lot easier than the ride there and we stopped at our little farm on the way back, where we didn't even have to get off our bikes: they brought the iced drinks to us until we had quenched our thirst! The ride home was mainly downhill, and we got home In time to have a shower, before heading out to meet our group. We all met outside the bike shop. First there was me, Jemma and Nicole from Holland, and then there was Inge, a Dutch girl Nicole had met earlier that day, accompanied by Andre, an Aussie guy Inge had met the previous day, Dani, a Brazilian girl, Nicole had met at the falls and finally John, the Irish boy we had picked up on the bus to Pai., who completed team China, our first proper unenforced team of friends on our rtw trip.

Team China (left to right): Nicole, John, Inge, Andre, Dani

For more photos of the first 2 days in Pai: Pai

First taste of Pai...

The twisting road to Pai

We set off from Chiangmai at 10am in a minibus, and 762 bends later, we arrived in Pai; the most perfect little hippy village I have ever had the pleasure of discovering. Pai is right in the north of Thailand, 4 hours by bus from Chiangmai, and it is nestled in the most stunning countryside of green hills and mountains. When we first got there, we were a bit underwhelmed. We had taken travel sickness tablets for the journey because we had heard it was a winding one, and as a consequence, when we got to Pai, in the midday sun, we were really drowsy and just wanted to sleep. We sat down at the nearest cafe and had some pizza to try and wake us up and then we got in a taxi and asked it to take us to a hostel we had been recommended: Spicy Pai. We took one look at it and decided it wasn't for us. We then drove to another, more luxurious hotel, which was in the same area (out of the town centre) and we really wanted to stay there but they were booked up. Finally, when we were too tired to look any more, the taxi driver phoned a friend and took us to some huts in the city centre that his friend owned. We walked with our big rucksacks, across a precarious bamboo bridge to the huts and checked into the first hut they showed us, for just £1 each a night! At the time I was so tired I didn't realise that the floor of the hut had massive gaps in it and the bathroom was covered in ants and other insects. 

The hut we checked into

Looking back, I think it was fate that the nicer hotels on the outside of the town were booked up, because if we'd have stayed there we wouldn't have ended up having the time we had in Pai... but before we could have an amazing time, we first had to get through the first part of the story. We put our bags down in the hut, and walked out into the town to try and book a trek or some other activity. We had come to Pai for the white water rafting but everywhere that did this was closed because it was the dry season. There was one place offering tubing (where you float down the river in a rubber ring) but I wasn't keen on this (the river looked dirty and we saw a Chinese girl who had just finished it and was far from raving over it. She said it was basically just a long ride down a dry, dirty river). As she was walking back from the river, we saw some locals scold her and tell her to 'put some clothes on, you're not on a beach!' even though she was dressed in a full swimming costume that was not revealing at all. Having ruled out tubing and rafting, we began to look at treks, but they were all more expensive than the ones in Chiang Mai, with one man even wanting £90 to take us on his 'special trek' where he would teach us to make a camp out of bamboo! I wasn't sold on this, although Jemma wanted to do it, in the end we said no. We wandered back to our hut a little subdued, and I lay on my bed under the fan (the hut was like a sauna), reading the guide book. I read about another hotel that was just down the road and cost £2.50 a night, but was a sealed concrete bungalow, with a good fan, tv and bathroom with hot water and flushing toilet. I checked it out online (even huts have wifi) and it seemed to be a popular place among backpackers, so we went down to have a look at it, and decided there and then to take it and check in, and waste the £1 we had paid for our hut. It was dark by this point, and we hauled our bags from our hut, over the bamboo bridge, to our new accommodation.

Our new 'sealed' guesthouse. Mr Jan's

On the way we met John, an Irish boy we had talked to in the minibus on the way to Pai and he was on a bike. He rode with us to our new place and then we went for dinner with him, followed by drinks in a bar called 'edible jazz', which was a bamboo hut with cushions on the floor. We agreed to meet the next day to rent bikes and cycle to Pam Bok waterfalls, which we had read in the guide book were meant to be quite good. By the end, John was quite tipsy and stumbled off back to his hut (which, coincidentally was the same place as we had checked into originally) and we went back to our lovely sealed bungalow. I was so relieved I didn't have to sleep in a hut with holes, especially as it had no lighting on the outside: it would have been a nightmare to get back into in the dark. Also, there are loads of stray dogs in Pai, and on our way back to our bungalow, a pack followed us. Luckily Jemma was able to put them off while I ran back to the room, asserting on the way that I didn't like Pai and would be leaving as soon as possible. The next day, we got up and went for breakfast in the town (our new accommodation was smack bang in the middle which was convenient) and then we met John and rented some bikes. Within the next 24 hours, Pai was to turn from just another town, into one of the highlights of our round the world trip...

Pai town centre

Chiangmai

Learning how to cook my favourite dishes

The blogs have been a bit sparse recently because we have been stuck in Pai, having the time of our lives. We intended to stay here 2 days but its ended up being 6. But before I write about Pai, I need to catch up on Chiang Mai. After Kanchanaburi, we took a bus to Auyttya, or something like that, which is a cultural place, best known for having a Buddha's head in a tree.

Buddha in a tree

We went there just for a few hours whilst we waited for our night train to Chiang Mai. I didn't really think much of Ayutthya: after we had looked around the ruins and the Buddha in a tree, there wasn't much else to do and it was a bit more costly than Kanchanaburi, but we had to kill several hours waiting there as our night train wasn't until 9pm. We did this by having a meal and walking around the markets, and then it started to rain heavily, so we ran back to the tourist agency where we had left our bags and took cover. During this run in the dark, I tripped on a piece of metal and cut open my toe at the nail. I had to sit in the tourist place for a while dabbing away the blood and putting on a plaster. The rain was very heavy, and we caught a tuk tuk to the train station, getting quite wet in the process. Once at the train station, we waited an hour for our night train to come, and to our delight, it came on time!! (Only a 15 minute delay! :o). This night train was a lot better than the other one we had taken to Bangkok: we were in our own little cubicle with another woman, and Jemma was on the top bunk and I was on the bottom. It wasn't too bad at all. The next day, we got to Chiang Mai around 11 in the morning and took a taxi to Litlle Bird hostel - a hostel that had been recommended to us by numerous people around the world, including one boy in South America who absolutely raved about it. Chiang Mai is really cheap for accommodation, so we didn't really need to go in a dorm, but as this place had had such good reviews, we thought we'd check it out anyway.

Food is so cheap here, I am indulging every day

We paid £2 each for a bed in a 4 bed dorm, and we got what we paid for. I absolutely hated it. It was boiling hot, with just a small, rotating fan to keep the whole room cool, ants everywhere and a filthy en suite with a shower over the toilet that you had to flush with a bucket. Luckily, our room mates were lovely (two young girls from the USA) and we got on really well with them. They had been studying in Chiang Mai for the past 6 months and offered to take us out to the weekly night markets and show us around. We went round the night markets with them and had food and then when we came back that night, we stayed awake talking until 3am! After that, I didn't really sleep well anyway because of the intense heat and the next day me and Jemma decided to check out and treat ourselves to a £7 hotel around the corner. For that, we got a hotel room, with air con, satellite TV, a really nice bathroom, a fridge with free water and big comfy beds - it was bliss. The next day, we didn't do much, because we loved the room so much and spent most of the day catching up on sleep from the 2 previous nights and watching TV. In the evening, we met up with Tony, our friend from China, who has been doing a similar route to us and who we have met at various places. We were sad to hear that he was cutting his trip short and going home early because he had caught Dengue fever and had had to be in hospital in Chiang Mai for a few days.

Our teacher showing us around the food garden

The following day we were more productive and did a cookery course which was excellent. we cooked 6 Thai dishes which were all delicious and by the end of it we were so stuffed. The cookery school was in the Countryside and they had their own vegetable garden and it was all very tranquil. At the beginning of the day, the guide took us around the morning market to show us what ingredients we'd be using and at the end of the class we all got a cook book. That pretty much sums up Chiang Mai. We didn't do much there other than cook because we are going back there after Pai and are deliberating over whether to do a trek but probably wont.

More photos of Chiangmai in my facebook album, but for now I am off for an oil massage, got to make the most of cheap massages.

Chiangmai photos

Kanchanaburi - Elephants & Waterfalls!

Me on Mali

After our historical day at Hell Fire Pass, we decided to spend the next day doing something a bit more light hearted; we volunteered with elephants. We heard about Elephant's world off a boy in Bangkok, and when we looked it up on tripadvisor, we found that it was the number one attraction. Elephant's world is a sanctuary for old and abused elephants, many of which have lost their teeth and can't eat normal food any more. There are lots, and I mean LOTS of places in Thailand offering elephant trekking, but a great deal of these places are unethical and treat the animals really badly. For example, they hit them with metal spikes, feed them badly, make them carry tourists on their backs all day on wooden seats (their backs can only hold 50kg comfortably). So we decided to opt for an option that was a little more expensive than your average elephant trek, but a lot more rewarding. We spent the day on a big farm with about 10 elephants, where we worked for them, gathering banana tree stalks, making sticky rice (for them to eat because they have no teeth), feeding them and finally, the highlight of the day, bathing them in the river. We all chose an elephant (I asked for the most gentle one and they gave me 'Mali - the world's happiest elephant) and Jemma got John - a 5 year old, very naughty and playful elephant. I went into the river first, on Mali's neck, with the mahoot (the guy who looks after the elephant) behind me. My mahoot was only about 15 but he was lovely, and very caring with the elephants and I felt safe. We went into the river on her and she kept submerging herself in water and blowing it out of her trunk. Her ears were flapping constantly (which apparently means they are happy) and at one point, she even did a big trumpeting sound out of her trunk, which means she was very happy. It was great fun. I stayed on her the whole time and she was very gentle. John on the other hand, was not so gentle with Jemma. She had great difficulty getting on him in the first place, he kept wriggling around and blowing water. When she finally managed to get on him, he dipped under and threw her off, and also wrapped his trunk around her leg and kicked her at one point! I remember looking over and seeing Jemma behind this elephant, clinging to his back, whilst he put his hooves up on another elephant! I shouted over for her to be careful - if he'd have tipped over backwards she would have been squashed! She loved it though, and they said that he was just playful and loved to mess about in the water.

Jemma riding off on Mali

After a while, we rode the elephants out of the water and back to the farm, and I let Jemma get on Mali to give her a taste of what it was like to ride on a good elephant. When we got back, we said goodbye to the elephants and then we were dropped back at our guest house. We had got along quite well with the people there who were volunteering with us (2 English, 1 Danish and a Swiss girl) so we arranged to meet them the next night to go for food at the night market.

The water was beautiful

The next day, we got up early again, and took a motor taxi (a motorbike, with a little carriage attached to it) to the bus station. We then caught a public bus, for £1, to Erawan national park, to see, what we have been told, are Thailand's most amazing waterfalls. On the bus, we met a Dutch girl and two Belgian girls, who asked to come round with us. So, we all set off together, and climbed to the 7th tier, which took about 45 minutes. By the time we got to the top we were so hot, and got straight in for a swim. The other tiers were lovely to look at but they had loads of fish in them (the kind that nibble your feet and eat the dead skin), so we were a bit too scared to get in. The second tier seemed to be a popular one for swimming, and although it still had a lot of really big fish, we got in for a swim and swam under the falls. There were monkeys in the trees above our heads (the biggest I've seen), that would occasionally come down and steal people's food, even though people had been warned not to bring food! After we had had enough of swimming, it started to rain, which was a nice coincidence and we were glad we had come early and missed the rain. We all got some food and then got back on the bus to Kanchanaburi, which took about 2 hours. That night, we went out for food (in the rain, so we skipped the night market), with the people from the elephants and the Dutch girl from the waterfalls. We then went to a few bars and had some drinks and played pool.

For more of my photos of Kanchanaburi, click here

Kanchanaburi - Bridge over the River Kwai

Getting out of Bangkok wasn't the easiest of missions. We first tried to take a taxi to the northern bus station, but the taxi driver chucked us out after 2 minutes, telling us the journey was too far and not worth his while. We therefore had to get out of the taxi, in the sweltering Bangkok heat, with our big rucksacks, and trek up the stairs to the skytrain, where we got on the train, and then off at the wrong stop, I lost my ticket, we both got a bit tetchy and regretted not having paid for a door to door minibus, got on another train, then got a taxi from the last train stop to the northern bus station, where we quickly found a minibus that was going to Kanchanaburi, and got in, along with a monk who sat next to our bags (women aren't allowed to sit next to or talk to monks). The journey there took about 4 hours but was relatively painless, and when we got there, we shared a taxi with another girl to the guest house we had booked. The driver initially took us to the wrong one and then tried to charge us more for taking us to the right one, but we weren't having any of it and I got out of the taxi, gave him the money and refused to pay the extra. He wasn't happy about it at all. We checked into Apples guest house, which had been recommended by my cousin who stayed there about 12 years ago. The woman on the front desk couldn't speak a word of English and there was a big confusion about our reservation which we had paid for in full online. We were dismayed to find they didn't have a pool, as advertised in the guidebook, but the room was nice enough so we decided we couldn't be bothered to try and find somewhere else. We were so hungry, having not eaten all day, we ate at the restaurant attached to the guest house, which is highly rated and is part of a cookery school. The curry was nice but we were over charged for some blue rice, which we didn't order and also for some cokes, so we never ate there again. That night, we went into town, hoping to book a tour to go to some of the attractions, but we dallied and hesitated for too long and by the time we'd decided on a tour, the agency was shut. We went back to the hotel and emailed the agency, asking if we could join their tour at 8am the next morning. They emailed back saying we could do the tour and asked us what our room number was so they could pick us up. We emailed back and went to bed, ready for an early rise the next day. The next day, we rushed about like mad women, trying to get ready and have breakfast before 8am. 8.00 came and went and the bus never showed up. At 8.15 we decided to ring the company on skype and they said that because we had never called them at 7am to confirm the booking, they presumed we didn't want to go. So we were now left, having gotten up early, with no tour to the Hell Fire Pass (the place where the Prisoners of war built a railway). So we got our guide book out and decided to do it ourselves. We asked the woman in the restaurant at our hotel, who also couldn't speak English, how to get there, and somehow got it out of her that we had to catch a bus from the main street in town. We went to the main street, but couldn't see a bus stop, just a lost Israeli couple who were also looking for a bus stop. In the end, we caught a taxi to the central bus station, where we intended to take a public bus for £1 to Hell fire pass. As we were just about to board the public bus, we were approached by a taxi driver with a sign saying he would take us to Hell fire pass, and all the other places on the tour we would have taken. He offered it to us for £10 each, which was £2 cheaper than the tour, so we took it. We got into his taxi (one of those open tuk tuk-like things) and set off on the two hour journey to Hell fire pass. Half way there, I looked at the driver in the mirror and realised it was the same one from the day before who we had pissed off!

In the end, we had a really good day and the driver turned out to be lovely. We got to take our time looking around Hell fire pass museum and railway cutting (we would have been rushed, had we taken the tour), and the driver also took us to a waterfall we wanted to see and to the Bridge over the River Kwai. It was a historically educational day and we learnt all about the forced labour that took place during WW2, where the Japanese forced the British, Australian, American and Asian prisoners of war to build a railway, in horrific conditions, resulting in the deaths of thousands. It was very moving, and we had a free audio guide, that read out various accounts from survivors as we walked around the remnants of the railway. Hell Fire Pass is so called, because it looked like hell at night, when the prisoners were forced, by the Japanese and Korean guards, to work through the night, and chisel out a railway passage from big mountain in the jungle, with vary basic tools. Many men died from exhaustion, starvation and various diseases such as typhoid. The audio guide said that the guards decided who was too weak to work that day, by making all of the men do a stool sample, and if it contained more than 90% blood, they were allowed to put down their tools for a day. Any less than 90% and they were forced to work through it, being whipped and brutalised all the long. It was actually very interesting to hear about this Japanese brutality, after having visited Japan and the memorial museum in Hiroshima. It almost went some way to explaining why the Americans felt they had to drop the A-bomb – because the Japanese simply would not give in. I'm not saying that this justified the dropping of the bomb, but it was nonetheless interesting to see the other side of the war. After Hell Fire Pass, the driver took us to see a waterfall, which was a bit dried up and unimpressive, and then we had lunch from a 7 eleven and made the 2 hour journey back to Kanchanaburi, where he took us to see the bridge over the river Kwai. It was just an ordinary metal bridge, and it was raining, and we heard a train coming, so we took a few pictures and then got off it quite quickly. They say that the film that was made isn't that accurate and not that many died making the Bridge, but I haven't fully looked into it. At the end of quite a heavy day, we went out in the evening, for a meal in the town and then treat ourselves to an hour -long massage for £5. I had an oil massage and Jemma had her first Thai massage, which I kind of pressured her into, telling her that she couldn't come to Thailand and not try a Thai massage. She didn't like it any more than I liked my one on Koh Tao and the next day she had a bad back. I felt really guilty.

More Bangkok, Bangkok, Bangk....that's enough for now, time to move on from this city

River boat through BKK

The next few days in Bangkok consisted of lots of shopping (we bought new vests for £2 with things like Chang beer on them). We went round the weekend markets, went to the MBK centre more times than I can remember and also went to see a movie at the Cinema there (American Pie the reunion). This was an interesting experience, because at the start of a film in Thailand, everyone in the Cinema has to stand for about 3 minutes, whilst they play a film of the King, documenting his life, from birth until now. Its extremely patriotic. On our third night in Bangkok (the night after we had been on a heavy night out), we let the boys talk us into going out again, but this time we went to Soi Cowboy, on the insistence of the annoying Texan, who had read about it in a guide book and said that it was a must-do. We ended up in a go-go bar, packed with teenage Thai girls writhing all over old, obese Western men. We really didn't fit in, so the three of us girls (me, Jemma and an Ozzie girl) got a taxi back to the hostel. The boys stayed out and ended up doing the same again the next night and spending a lot of money on the Thai women. My impression of them went down quite a lot, not that I had ever had the best impression of the Texan guy anyway. The next day Jemma and I went on a boat ride around the main sights and we also visited another shopping mall called Terminal 21, which is a brand new mall, with an airport theme, where each level assumes the identity of a different city. They have Rome, Paris, Tokyo, London, Istanbul and the Carribean! 

The London section of the Mall (Terminal 21)

It was awesome! We spent the whole time taking photos, and were delighted to find an extremely cheap food court on the top level (San Francisco), where we got a meal for 60p. There were quite a few things we missed out in BKK but we intend to do them on our way back round. By the end of our 6 days, we were both ready to leave and were looking forward to the more cultural and less seedy experiences that awaited us in Kanchanaburi.

Photos: Bangkok photos

Introduction to Bangkok

Grand Palace

We stayed in Bangkok longer than we had intended to due to a mixture of buckets, a nice hostel, good people and the MBK centre (best shopping centre in the world). We had intended to stay 3 days and then spend more time there at the end of the trip, but in the end we stayed 6 days. We checked into an amazing hostel called Smile Society. We didn't have our own room but the dorms were so comfortable, with air con, bed lamps and wifi. The owner was really nice, the hostel was modern, with lovely bathrooms and we met some great people there. It also had a great location: right in the middle of Patpong (the red light district) which was good because there were loads of cheap stalls near bye and we were right next to the sky train (best way to get around the city). We were also one stop away from Siam square, the best shopping area in Bangkok, and the first thing we did after we dropped off our bags at the hostel and had a shower, was head to the MBK centre – a shopping centre that I last visited when I was 17 and it was my favourite thing about Thailand.

Inside the MBK centre

 It is the best shopping centre in the world! It has 7 levels packed with real brands, fake brands, delicious food, and electronics. It has everything you could ever want, both legit and fake, and it is an air conditioned escape from the boiling hot city. It is a shopper's paradise! So, on the first night we went there, we were really tired after our night train, and ended up sampling the Thai McDonalds for the first time in Thailand, looked around a few shops and marvelled at how much there was to buy and talked about how much we were going to buy on the week before we leave to go home. We even decided to buy new suitcases and just pack them full of cheap clothes. We went back to the hostel and got chatting to some people in the lounge and ended up going out for a drink with them. I was really tired and went home to bed and Jemma came back a few hours later.

The next day, we met up with an American boy and a Canadian boy from the night before and went to get our Vietnam visas from the embassy with them. It was going to take 3 days so we booked a few more nights in the hostel. After getting our visas, although we knew we were inappropriately dressed for templing (we didn't have covered shoulders or legs) we decided to go to the Grand Palace. We set off, in the hottest temperatures I have experienced yet, with the two boys, the American guy from Texas insisting on leading us there on foot and by sky train instead of getting a taxi, which I knew would be the cheaper option (taxis never cost any more than £2 to go anywhere in BKK). In the end, he led us to completely the wrong place and we ended up at the King's Palace and had to get a taxi in the end to the Grand Palace, which would have been cheaper to do in the first place, but never mind. When we got there, there was a man outside with a sign, telling us the Grand Palace was shut due to a monk ceremony until 12.00 and that it would be better if we visited the big Buddha instead and came back later. Despite numerous warnings of this scam in all the guide books, Jemma still fell for it, but me and the American guy cottoned on and decided to try another entrance. Then we heard loud speakers playing out a message to the crowds saying 'there will be people outside the Palace who will try to delay your entry, do not listen to them! The Palace is open every day from 9am till 5pm with no exceptions!' This confirmed that we had just been approached by a scammer. The next scam attempt came when we entered the palace and tried to rent some clothes to cover ourselves up (Temple rules). We were sure the clothes should be free, but there was a man telling us all the free clothes had gone and we had to go outside and buy some. Jemma and I nearly got into an argument because I was insistent that I wouldn't pay for clothes and she wanted to go outside and buy some.

In our attractive borrowed outfits

Luckily the Canadian guy said he didn't want to pay either, and when we asked the man again, he let us in and gave us the free clothes. They were awful and sweaty and trekking around the palace in the scorching sun in them was a bit of a nightmare but at least they were free! I had been to the Palace before when I last visited Bangkok, but Jemma was blown away by it and had to borrow my camera to take pictures because she had lost hers. After the palace, the four of us went for lunch at a restaurant, and then to another temple to see a big Buddha lying down. The two boys then had a massage at the place where Thai massages originated, but I thought they were overpriced, and after my painful experience in Koh Tao with a Thai massage, I decided to opt out. Jemma and I caught a taxi back to the hostel, which took about an hour (BKK has the worst traffic ever), but only cost us £2 between us. I then had a nap while Jemma went online. That night, we went out for dinner and drinks on Khoasan road (backpacker ghetto) with the two boys, plus an English guy called James and a Korean guy called Juho. We ended up drinking buckets and had the most hilarious drunken night ever. It was brilliant. We ended up bartering with the sellers wandering around and bought about 15 bracelets between us with various funny sayings on them. We went to a club and got chatting to some Thais, who taught us the words for 'I am very drunk', which the owner of the hostel found hilarious when I said it to her later that night in the hostel. We ended the night with a McDonald's and rolled into bed around 4am.

Khao San Road at night

Night train to Bangkok

I never took a photo so grabbed this one off google

We left our lovely holiday resort in Koh Phangan early in the morning, and took a minbus to the port, where we had to wait around 3 hours for the boat. when I saw all of the hungover rahs at the port who had been staying on Koh Phangan for the full Moon Party, I was so glad we had stayed in a remote resort in Koh Phangan,. The port was full of gap year types/ annoying 'laads abroad', dressed in fluorescent clothes, with fluorescent paint still in the crevices of their faces, left over from the FMP. They reminded me of Australia and everything I hate about travellers. Thank god we only had to be in their company for a short while whilst we waited for the boat. We busied ourselves for a while, by having a drink at a restaurant, and then the bulk of the youths left for Koh Tao, making us extremely pleased that we had done Koh Tao first when it was quiet and not overrun with obnoxious gap yahs. The boat to the mainland was fine and at the other end, we had to get on a coach that was waiting for everyone going to Bangkok. We were a little distressed to be getting on a coach (we have heard bad stories about coaches, whereby a man gets in the hold with the bags and roots through everyone's belongings whilst you're sat on the coach. Several of our friends have had this happen to them and have ended up with more/ less items in their bags that when they first started their journey). One of our friends was missing all of her memory cards with all of her photos, another found a new soap in a plastic box in her bag when she unpacked after the journey. The men apparently get into the hold and go through everyone's bags, taking no care to put things back properly, so things get lost/ jumbled up. Its quite alarming because we as travellers have no come back/ proof other than that things have gone missing on the journey. One of our friends woke up in the night to catch a man from the coach company searching through peoples hand luggage whilst they were asleep! She went to the Police in Bangkok to report it, but they fobbed her off and told her to go to the British Embassy instead. For this reason, Jemma and I have gone out of our way to avoid night buses in Thailand. Anyway, on this occasion, we had to get on a coach, and it wasn't night, so we just had to hand our belongings over and hope that it only happens at night. The coach journey was about 3 hours, and they dropped us off outside the train station, where we hurriedly wolfed down some street food so as not to miss our train. No need to do that; the train was delayed by 4 hours. So we sat there, from 6pm to 10pm, on the station platform, as the sun set, with rats running around us and a cockroach running over my hand at one point! Also at some point, Jemma either lost or had her camera stolen. She isn't sure which, just remembers that the last picture she took was of the sunset at the train station. Luckily, whilst sat on our bags on the platform (no seats), we met a lovely French couple, who helped us pass the hours, and engaged us in conversation on all matter of topics, from French politics, to Elephant trekking and Thai boxing. When the train finally came, we had formed a small bond with them and they even invited us to stay with them at their home in the French Alps! The train came and it was not the most luxurious of experiences. A cabin of dirty bunk beds packed along the aisles – with mine conveniently located just opposite the stinking toilet and only fans to keep us cool. I tried to get to sleep, but the stench was so horrific, I had to ask Jemma if I could squash in top to toe with her. After an hour of trying to sleep, cramped up and sweating, she decided to get in my old bed and said that she thought it was a health hazard because the mattress and surrounding wood was damp for some reason and absolutely stank. She couldn't sleep so got up in the middle of the night and found another empty bunk. I hardly slept at all. The train was the most noisy, rickety, wobbly train I've ever ridden on in my life, and every time I'd nod off, a loud whistling train would rush past ours and wake me up. This happened about every 8 minutes, so I'd have an 8 minute snooze and then be shaken awake by a screeching noise and an extremely rattly cabin. It was a nightmare! Somehow, the hours passed and morning came. The conductor came and folded all of our bunks up so that they now turned into seats and I was sat opposite a Thai girl and an old man/ young Thai girl couple. The train was really hot and I was hardly getting any breeze from the window, so I was relieved when we finally got to Bangkok station. When we got there, we went for a farewell coffee with the French couple (I had an iced chocolate) and then we said our goodbyes and made our way by taxi to our hostel!

Koh Phangan

Dreamland resort

For the last few days we have been staying here in Koh Phangan. Basically we've just been on holiday. We've not done much, just sat by the pool, overlooking the beach, eating in the restaurant every night. Yesterday we took a day trip out on a boat to visit another beach (bottle beach), which was probably the nicest beach we have seen round the world. We also snorkelled a bit and then went to some waterfalls (the King's favourite apparently) but they weren't very impressive as its the dry season so they were dried up. Jemma jumped off some more rocks and I sunbathed for a bit. We are staying in a lovely resort recommended to us by our friend and we have a big room, with a bathroom, air con, satellite tv, a fridge... the resort also has a big pool on the sea front and a really nice restaurant. We have had no cause to leave the resort except to go for a little walk. Alas, we cant stay here forever (starting to get bored already), so e have booked tickets to go to Bangkok tomorrow on the train and the journey will take about 20 hours in total.

Koh Phangan is known for its beaches

Photos of Koh Phangan

Last few days on Koh Tao

Our longboat to the Japanese gardens

We are so relaxed here, it isn't really travelling, its like being on holiday. We have a bungalow on the beach, dozens of cheap, delicious restaurants to choose from and lots of souvenir shops and bars. It isn't rowdy like Koh Phi Phi, but really relaxed, which means we have stayed here longer than most. We are paying £3.50 for our accommodation, and never pay more than £4 for a meal, so we are doing well on our budget too. During the last few days we have been to the Japanese gardens twice to snorkel (an amazing snorkelling spot, consisting of three little islands joined by sandbanks, where the water is crystal clear, and the big fish swarm around your feet as soon as you step in). 

Japanese gardens

There are even cleaner rass in there, like the ones you get at foot spas that like to nibble your dead skin. It really is a snorkelling Mecca – the best snorkelling I have done in my life. We have been out to the Japanese gardens twice, the first time we hired a long boat (just me and Jemma) which cost about £4 return and took about 15 minutes. The second time we went with Lisa (Jemma's friend), who had recovered enough from being ill to join us for a day's snorkelling. We have had some amazing food, Mexican, Thai curries, English breakfasts, chocolate ice cream milkshakes, pizzas.... and we have had good company (Lisa for 5 nights, Tony for two). After the day we spent with Awesome adventures, we went back for another English breakfast (super beans) as they were so amazing. We also had a Thai massage (Jemma chose the oil one, but I chose the head, neck and shoulder one thinking it would be relaxing but it was actually extremely painful and I wished I'd had an oil one). I think I'll have another one in Chang Mai where its cheaper, but not a Thai one this time. It has been a lovely holiday and we are going to be sad to leave. Tomorrow we are taking a boat to Koh Phangan, just in time to miss the full Moon Party, which we both decided against going to in the end. Koh Phangan is meant to be really quiet (well, in the secluded area we have chosen), so it is going to be a few days of relaxing, before heading off to hectic Bangkok!  

Our beach (just outside our bungalow)

Koh Tao day 2 – an amazing day. This is what round the world trips are all about!

On our second day on Koh Tao, we got up at 7.00, checked out and got a taxi to the main town where the diving shop was. We told the woman (Jemma's brother's friend), that I'd decided against diving, but that Jemma would still do an intro dive. We had breakfast in the cafe attached to the shop (best breakfast ever – 'super beans on toast' = toast, topped with crispy bacon, cheese, beans and Worcester sauce!) 

Breakfast of kings

and then Jemma got kitted up and went out for her dive whist I went out to look for new accommodation closer to the main town. After looking at a few places for £5 each a night, I settled on a 'cottage' by the beach for £3.50 a night. Very basic (you have to flush the toilet by tipping a bucket of water down it), with a fan, not air-con, but excellent location and no bedbugs – we were happy! After an hour and a half, I went back to the Goodtime Adventures office to meet Jemma after her dive. It was a really hot day and I couldn't wait to get in the sea to cool down. We decided to go on a trip in the afternoon with Goodtime Adventures, starting at 1pm, so we went back to our cottage, got creamed up and then came back to the office where we joined a small group of 6 other people. They gave us all flippers and snorkels and then we got onto a little speed boat with a boat master, diving instructor and climbing instructor and we had the most spectacular boat ride around the island, where they pointed out all the main spots, and even some of the other islands in the distance (Koh Samui and Koh Phagnan). After a while, we stopped at a snorkelling spot that was beautifully clear and the sea was gorgeous. We all jumped in and snorkelled for a while, seeing such an amazing variety of fish. One guy on the boat was having a diving lesson with the dive instructor at the same time. They told us nothing was dangerous, but that we might see reef sharks, which aren't dangerous, and also trigger fish which can chase and bite you sometimes but you just have to swim out of their territory and they leave you alone. After snorkelling, we all climbed back into the boat and sped along to another spot where we did cliff diving!

It was fantastic! The water was so refreshing and turquoise. The climbing instructor showed us how to climb up the rocks and we then got to jump off cliffs of 3metres, 9m and 12m. I was the last one to jump off the 3m because I found it hard to climb up the rocks (it was quite scary, often having to jump across gorges to get to the diving rocks). I was too scared to jump off the 3m (it doesn't sound that high, but when you're on top of a rock looking into the sea it is!) One girl couldn't do it and simply couldn't bring herself to jump. She spent the whole time on the edge fretting, with her boyfriend trying to coax her off. I went eventually, telling myself it wasn't even as high as a high diving board. It was fine, except for a little water up the nose.

The sea

 We then moved onto the 9m, which was a lot scarier, but I did it. I could really feel myself falling for a long time and screamed mid-air. I had a lot of water up the nose that time and clapped my teeth together slightly, which consequently made me think it might not be a good idea to do the 12. Jemma and all the others did the 12m (apart from myself and 2 other girls) and most people who did it said it hurt in some way, so I'm glad I didn't do it in the end. Jemma said she did the splits in the water as she hit the surface and the sea forced her legs into the splits which really hurt her hips. Some people did dives and somersaults, and in the end, as the boat was getting ready to leave, the girl who had been on the edge of the 3m, by now for over and hour, was finally coaxed down by the diving instructor and everybody clapped. It was an amazing experience, I'm really glad we did it and I would highly recommend it!

Iced coke with the sunset

After the cliff diving, we did some more snorkelling in an area renowned for sharks, and to our delight, we saw 5 sharks! 

We were so happy, it really rounded off our amazing day! We then got the speedboat back to the office on the beach and all had a complimentary beer/ coke whilst watching the sunset on the beach. It was a brilliant day. Once we'd had our drinks, we went back to the bungalow to get showered and go out for tea with Lisa in the town. As we were walking to the restaurant, we bumped into the Chinese guy, Tony who we spent time with in Penang and Langkawi. We invited him out for dinner with us and we had yummy Thai curry. It was the perfect end to the perfect Round the World day!

The sunset 

Koh Tao – Snorkelling Heaven

Sunset on the first night

After we checked into our bungalow on Koh Tao, we slept for the morning (not much sleep on the night boat) and then went out for an English breakfast at the cafe next door. We then went out in search of the snorkelling area, which meant clambering over rocks and through murky water. At first I was really disheartened, as the water looked really dirty and I spotted what I thought was a sewage pipe leading into it. Jemma had read on the internet, that the water in Koh Tao is dirty so you have to be careful in case you have any mossie bites that might get infected. Also, we have come to expect, as standard, that the water in the showers in the hotels will smell of sewage, either for the first few minutes of running the shower or for the full duration of the shower. We have been brushing our teeth with bottled water ever since our sink spat out brown water on Koh Phi Phi. I told Jemma that I had had enough of islands and couldn't wait to get to Bangkok. However, after a while more of walking and wading through the sea, we finally came to a bay with a few people snorkelling in it. As soon as I looked into the water, I could see huge fish around my feet, and the water was so clear! We immediately began to snorkel and were stunned by what we saw. Clown fish, trigger fish, parrot fish, every fish you could imagine. So many more fish than we saw on the Barrier reef! This is without a doubt the best snorkelling we have found on the round the world trip. We continued snorkelling for about 2 hours but then had to leave to go back to the bungalow because we had agreed to meet Jemma's friend from home, Lisa for dinner at 5.30. We rushed back, in the sweating heat, got ready and then walked the 4km into the main town (we regretted having picked a hotel so far out). Jemma really wanted to do a PADI diving course, but after my traumatic experience on the great Barrier Reef, I didn't want to do it. Thailand is one of the cheapest places in the world to get certified (only £200) but even so, I didn't want to spend that much money on something I didn't think I would enjoy. Jemma was very disappointed and didn't want to do it alone... to cut a long story short, we ended up signing up for a PADI course and paying a £10 deposit, with a company that Jemma's brother's friend works for. We then went to meet Lisa for dinner in town, who wasn't very well and had to go home early to lie down. We walked the 4k back to our hotel in the dark, with so many mopeds speeding past us (Koh Tao has too many mopeds). When we got in, I just couldn't rest with my decision to do the course, I was too scared and told Jemma I was going to pull out the next day and lose the £10. She decided to do the intro dive and not the rest of the course. Then we went to bed. As we were lying in our beds trying to get to sleep, Jemma came out with: 'I've been having really disturbing thoughts...' when I probed and asked what the thoughts were, a problem shared is a problem halved, she told me she was worried there was a murderer on the lose and that they might break into our hut. I wish I'd never probed. We hardly slept a wink that night, every time the fan made the curtain twitch, we thought someone was outside our window. We were terrified. It was the girl on the minibus' fault, who told us that she was worried the driver was taking us to the middle of nowhere to kill us and sell our organs. We left the bathroom light on and tried to go to sleep. As if we weren't scared enough, there was a power cut, and the fan and the bathroom light suddenly went off. I was convinced someone had done it on purpose in order to facilitate the murder. After a while, the fan and light came back on, and somehow we went to sleep, we didn't get much sleep though as the next day we had to be up at 7.00 to check out and go to the diving school.

Koh Tao Photos

Night Boat to Koh Tao

All aboard the night boat

We booked to go to Koh Tao with our hostel who hadn't even heard of Koh Tao. The receptionist rang up her travel agent and got us a 'nice price' through her friend, telling us that we would be taking a boat from Krabi to Koh Tao at 4pm and that it would go directly there. It wasn't until we got a map out and showed her the geography, and explained that it wasn't geographically possible to traverse Thailand by boat, that she conceded there must also be some bus travel involved. She didn't tell us when or how we'd get there, which worried us a little, but as I've said before, in Thailand you just have to put your faith in the travel agent that plans the route for you and hope for the best. We got up late on the morning we were leaving and hung around the hostel till 4. We went out for a late lunch at a Thai restaurant around the corner and went on the internet for a little while. The bus (truck) came to pick us up, as we have now become accustomed to, about 15 mins earlier than stated, the driver stuck a sticker on us saying Tao and dropped us off at another travel agents down the road. We waited there for a bit, before another truck came and bundled us off to another travel agents, where we boarded our final minibus, with around 12 other westerners all packed in. The journey took about 5 hours and there were some really annoying English girls on there showing off their scars where they had fallen off mopeds. They were adamant that they were getting their boat at 7pm at a different port from us but Jemma and I knew this was not the case and that the whole bus would be getting on the 11.00 ferry at a port further north (Chumpon). Sure enough, the mouthy English girls were proved wrong and we made it to Chumpon around 10.30pm, after a hairy journey in the dark, involving the driver being stopped and fined for speeding, and several horror stories being passed around amongst travellers about travellers that have died on buses and boats in Thailand. We got to the night ferry port and were greeted by a Welsh man from Port Talbot, who gave us all a ticket and told us to go onto the boat and choose a bed. It was a lot better than I had expected! I had read that it would be a glorified cargo ship with everybody sleeping on wooden planks on the floor, but actually, we all had bunk beds with a pillow and it wasn't too bad after all. We made friends with two Ozzie girls and sat outside with them on the deck under the stars as the boat chugged along towards Koh Tao.

Sat out on deck

I went to bed about midnight and woke up needing the toilet about 3am, with the boat rocking violently. I had all sorts of morbid images going through my mind and couldn't see life vests anywhere (no safety briefings given on Thai boats). This was made worse thanks to the story one person had told on the bus earlier about some travellers who drowned on a longboat in the middle of the sea between two islands because nobody knew it had gone out. I didn't want to risk going out on deck to the toilet with the boat rocking so violently, so I tried to drift back to sleep, but didn't really sleep again for the rest of the night. At 5.30 am I heard a cat miaow and looked across to see one sat on the bed next to me. There was also a resident dog on board. By now the boat had docked in Koh Tao but the Welsh man had told us all to stay on the boat until 7 because nothing would be open in the town until then. I got up at this point to go to the toilet and watch the sunrise, which was not that spectacular, but it was amazing to see Koh Tao for the first time. At 7.00 we got off the boat and wandered around a bit, before finding a taxi driver who took us to a remote part of the island that is meant to be good for snorkelling. He dropped us off at some bungalows on the beach (probably his friends) and I went to ask how much they were. Not content with paying £5 each for our own bungalow with sea view, I hunted around for a bit to find a better deal, but in the end we decided to just take the first offer as it was right next to a good snorkelling spot.

View from our first hotel

Phuket & Koh Phi Phi

Amber, Jemma and me swimming at Phi Phi ley

On the day we left for Koh Phi Phi, we were told we'd be picked up at 10.00, so we went down stairs, hurried our breakfast, and the truck came at 9.50 to pick us up. We had to leave our breakfasts uneaten and get onto the truck. We were then driven to a shop, where we were given a sticker saying Phuket and then we waited for an hour in this shop, sat in the heat. After an hour, another bus came, drove us five minutes down the road to another shop, where we had to get out an wait for another hour. After all of this waiting, a minibus came and finally took us all the way to Phuket. The journey lasted about 2 hours, and when we got to Phuket, the bus driver said he didn't know where our hotel was and wanted to drop us off in the middle of a long road with our big bags and let us look for it ourselves. Luckily, Jemma spotted the hotel before he chucked us off and we got dropped at the door. Phuket was so different to anything we have experienced so far. Very busy, touristy, westernised and with lots of people trying to sell you things. As soon as we got out of the bus we were offered another taxi. We walked into our hotel, which was directly on the beach and main street (in Patong). It was meant to cost about £40 a night, but we got it for £20 thanks to our friend Amber and her Thai bartering skills. Amber is Jemma's friend from Cardiff and we had arranged to meet her for one day in Phuket as she was just finishing a long stint travelling around Asia. The women in the hotel were very friendly and loved Amber; they told us she was waiting for us on the beach, so after we put our stuff down, we went out to the beach to meet her, where she was with her two friends. We then went for food together in a Thai restaurant, went back to room to get ready, and then went out for a wild night out with Amber in Phuket where we were introduced to the concept of drinking out of buckets for the first time.

Amber introducing us to buckets

They basically give you a bucket full of vodka redbull/ any other mixer, with a straw, and its cheaper than buying normal drinks. After a few buckets, we were well on our way and decided to go and see a ping pong show, which was an eye opener, and didn't just involve ping pong balls, but also live birds, fish and darts. After the show we moved onto another bar where we met the barmaid Sara, who latched herself onto us and wanted to come clubbing with us to the next club. The next morning, we were woken by amber saying she'd booked our boat tickets to go to Koh Phi Phi and we had two hours before the boat left to go and get breakfast. We ate a breakfast of garlic bread, chips and pizza, and laughed about stories from the night out, using pictures to aid our hazy memories. It was a really funny night! On the ferry to Phi Phi however, we felt the effects, with Amber having to go and be sick several times. We turned up in Phi Phi, boiling hot and hungover .

Breakfast the next day

We had booked a basic hut online, which turned out to be in a forest in the middle of nowhere, so we paid a man to wheel our bags for us. The man could only go so far, as the hill through the forest was so steep, so we then had to get a van to take us up the remainder of the hill. The hut was in the middle of forest, miles from anywhere. The reception had lost our booking, and it took an hour for us to sort it out, during which time we got eaten alive by mossies. We finally got into our hut about 5pm, which was very basic but ok. Went then went out for food, again thai curry, looked for new hotel, went back to hut, got ready, went out to meet Amber's friends, and drank buckets again. Jemma and I left early as we couldn't take the pace. As we walked back, the loud music boomed all around us, and I thought what a shame it was that such an idyllic island has been ruined by drunken gap yahs. Phi Phi really is in an idyllic setting – you can see why they filmed the movie 'The Beach' there. It has mountains coming out of the sea, crystal turquoise waters and is everything an exotic island should be. But, it has been completely destroyed by the hundreds and hundreds of shabby hotels, bars and nightclubs, that have been messily erected, haphazardly all over the place. It's dirty, ugly, loud and overpriced and it is such a shame. Phi Phi was one of the places badly hit by the Tsunami in 2004 and you can't really see any sign of that any more, although we did freak ourselves out a bit by watching videos on You tube, which wasn't a good idea, considering Phi Phi had another Tsunami warning the week before we got there. A friend told me not to go to Phi Phi, saying it was like a mini Benidorm. For me, it reminded me of a favela (the slums we saw in Rio). Ugly, tacky and overrun with drunken posh gap year students.

Our room on the first night

On our second day on Phi Phi, we swapped hotels and checked into somewhere that cost £5 more a night but had aircon and wifi. We had a very lazy day, walked along beach and saw most spectaular sunset of my life– I was extremely annoyed with myself for forgetting my camera. In the evening we went for tea at restaurant on sea front with ambers friend who's sister was on the X factor.

The next day, went for full English breakfast, and in the afternoon we went on a cheap boat trip to maya bay, the beach where they filmed 'The Beach'. We snorkelled in the clear waters and explored the area. Before returning back to Phi Phi for a slice of pizza, followed by another yummy Thai curry for tea. That night we noticed we had bed bugs. Amber's room was absolutely covered in them. We decided to check out the next day after discovering that the tap water was coming out brown.

We checked into new, even more expensive hotel, which had a nice view over the harbour but the shower water stank of raw sewage. Amber was leaving that morning to go to Bangkok and then home, so we met her for breakfast before saying our goodbyes. We decided that as we had really enjoyed the snorkelling that we should buy snorkels and hire a boat to go to the other beach (Long beach). We relaxed there, but didn't stay long as the water was no good for snorkelling and there wasn't much to do there. Amber had told us that we could walk up to a high point on the island and get a lovely view, although she had mentioned that it was a pretty tough walk. Having climbed up Machu Picchu we thought it would be easy enough for us. In the evening, we walked up to view point to see sunset – it was very hard, sweaty and the sunset was disappointing but the view was amazing. We decided to run back down to beach, to take photos of the sunset there after we had missed the opportunity the other night but alas there was no nice sunset. After the sunset we had tea at posh restaurant on sea front and walked around the town. We bought waterproof bag that we bartered the price down for and then went to bed.

More photos: Koh Phi Phi and Phuket