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Koh Tao
A little bit of paradise above end below the water.So Hello for the last time on this world trip.
It has been an amazing journey and truly an experience of a lifetime. Many thanks to all those who have been following our progress and keeping us in touch with the rest of the world whilst we travelled.
Koh Tao was by far our favourite place in Thailand. A very small island, where we stayed in the main village. Not too touristy, but with some great restaurants, although they all seemed to be shamelessly aimed at us with names like Farangos (farang means foreigner in Thai), El Gringos and Whitening.
The plan was to wind down whilst in paradise, but in reality we managed 10 minutes of sitting on a beach and spent the rest of the time diving and snorkelling.
The diving was mostly fantastic with some bad visibility on some days. We gained our advanced open water qualification which involved using a compass underwater and seeing how quickly the bat fish ate the still oval cracked egg at 30m. It was gobbled up in seconds right in front of my goggles!
We also saw many creatures we had not previously encountered whilst diving including
Hong Kong walk of fame
The two stars of Hong Kong..The Skyline and Jackie Chan squid, albino moray eel, jellyfish and titan trigger fish which chased us out of their territory. One dive we were surrounded by huge shoals of yellow tailed fusiliers and two types of barracuda, which looked beautiful as they darted about reflecting the light.
After the underwater delights of Koh Tao, it was on to the high rise backdrop of Hong Kong. We loved this vibrant city and though we found the cold (13 degrees after 35 degrees) a shock. However, we spent several days exploring the history, art and science museums, taking the cable car to Victoria Peak lookout and finding our kung fu movie heroes’ stars on the walk of fame. Our local friend and guide, Eva and one of her friends showed us round a local market and introduced us to local cuisine, Dim Sum and Chinese desert (far too healthy for desert; bean soup anyone?) Unable to face any more temples we spent a day at Hong Kong’s answer to Seaworld, Ocean Park. With some cool roller-coasters, a sleepy giant panda, an amazing aquarium and a delightful dolphin show, we injected some much needed frivolity in to the tour.
On to Cairo, our last stop.
What a way to finish! As seems to happen to us on arrival in deserts, like at Alice Springs, it rained the first day. We had 3 days to explore the majestic pyramids, ancient wall paintings and the fascinating Egyptian museum, as well as a bit of Islamic Cairo. Funny how it always seems like a good idea to take another photograph of the same thing when the subject is so distinguished! After finishing on a high, we returned to England and the cold, a proper cup of tea and a nice sit-down….Aaaaaah.
But…….this is not the end.
There are still the pictures to remind us and to finish off here is round up of the last six months’ statistics.
Number of countries visited - 13
Number of transport flights taken - 17
Number of pleasure flights taken - 4
Average number of nights spent in one place at a time - 1.8
Highest point not in Aeroplane - 14,000 feet
Highest point on the ground - 4215 Metres above sea level
Lowest Point - 30 Metres below sea level
Craziest City - La Paz, Bolivia
Most relaxed place - Easter Island
Best Cheesecake - Starbucks, Melbourne
Dim Sum for Breakfast
Eva introduces us to a Chinese tradition. Best Pizza - Uyuni, Bolivia
Favourite Country - New Zealand
Favourite sport - Canyoning
Favourite Fish - Manta Ray
Favourite animal seen in the wild - Hyacinth Macaws
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