Good day, since i last wrote I have done some things, including at some point, eating cockroaches as a healthy snack. Mid December and went up to the north of Ko Phangan to a very remote beach called Hat Khom, where there was just one restaurant and one place to stay, all owned by a Thai family with a crazy gun toting dad. (when we informed dad that we were going to get a taxi bus up the road to the full moon party instead of with him as it was nearly half the price, he said ‘they are not [View Full Entry]

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The options were simple: a tent or a sparse, over-priced room. We chose the tent (surpriseeeeeeee). A short walk from Koh Tarutao’s ranger station revealed 4 more tents set up under the shade of a few trees in a designated camping area. We chose to ignore the designated area (surpriseeee) choosing instead to pitch tent amidst a cluster of trees a good way upwind. Like seasoned troopers, we laid out the tent, fitted the ‘rafters’ and carefully tied down. Then we strung up our hammocks and stood back surveying our handiwork and thinking “…brilliant [View Full Entry]

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Chris and I spent a night of recovery in Trang-- a commerical city in the south known for its Hokkien koppi shops (one of the few places in Thailand where they specialize in drip coffee, rather than Nescafe) and filling our bellies with cheap food (ahhh yes, 15 baht for a plate? I'll take it!), then we set off once again for the islands. This time we took a bus to Pak Bara (which is in Satun, Thailand's most southern province), the ferry landing for boats going out to islands in Ko Tarutao National Marine park. Our friend Aom, from Chiang [View Full Entry]

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We got off the ferry on the island of Ko Tarutao, a national park area. One of the things Tarutao is known for is a prison that was on the island. They actually had one prison for political prisoners and one for regular prisoners. Apparently the main security on the island was deadly saltwater crocodiles and Sharks. However, there were escape attempts, some successful, and eventually a mutiny where guards joined with prisoners and got into piracy in the area. Many prisoners died of malaria as well. Sounds lovely doesn't it? That's why we went there, figured we'd avoid all the [View Full Entry]

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Hello all! I know, it has been a while since my last post, but in my defense it is because there was no internet on the islands we stayed on for over the past week. But now you get to hear all about the islands! Horray! Your patience paid off. Alrighty, so if I have this correct, the last time I posted was on the 23rd of January after the stimulating full moon party. After posting my blog I'm pretty sure I lay on the beach the remainder of the day, reading the book The Beach by Alex Garland, and taking [View Full Entry]

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Sawatdee, everyone! Sawatdee means hello, not some Thai vulgarity, I promise - or do I… We are at present BACK in Bangkok @ Lily’s house. We arrived yesterday afternoon after some brutally long travel, but I’ll get to that later. Since the last blog I posted, we have since disappeared to one of Thailand’s National Marine Parks located west of the Thai-Malaysia border, Tarutao National Marine Park, for about a week and a half (10 days or so). I’m pumped on coffee, loads of green curry, and have a gang of time on my hands (we have two more days here [View Full Entry]

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Hello all, we hope you've all had a good festive season! We spent new years on the island of Tarutao which is AMAZING! Its so peaceful amd quiet with loads of wildlife. We intended to stay for about 4 nights just over new year but ended up stay there for a relaxing 9 instead. We were camping on the beach listening to the lapping of the waves. The sunsets were amazing some were bright pink and orange, one we watched from the view point on the top of a cliff then descended through the jungle in the dark. We also trekked [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday: Today we didn't do anything exciting. Rapidly approching the end of our month visa we decided to do a "visa run" to Malaysia which meant 13 hours of travelling on a minibus, 2 ferries and 3 local buses. This meant travelling from Ko Lanta to Trang to Hat Yai to Malaysia border, then back to Hat Yai. Massively tired when we got back!! Thrusday: We made our way to Pak Barra so that we could get to the Tarutao National Marine Park. It's meant to be the least discovered islands in Thailand, so thought it might be worth a [View Full Entry]

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So what kind of person am I? The kind that likes complete isolation and solitude WITHOUT any of the normal amenities found in the good ol USA. well, lemme tell ya, amy and I found out what kind of people we are on Koh Turatao while camping at the national park. Picture yellowstone with monkeys, shared bathrooms and giant spiders in 90% humidity with no fans, all the while having to install our own mosquito net. When we left Pak Bara on the morning of the 30th, we found out there was no way we would get any accomodation on Ko [View Full Entry]

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Next destination wasn't far from the Thale Ban National Park - Ko Tarutao just off the West coast of the most southern point of Thailand. The journey to the pier by songthaew was easier and cheaper than expected and we had time for breakfast after buying our tickets. When our departure time was approaching the guy who sold us our tickets led us to a boat where we had to walk across a plank balanced between the pier and the boat (slightly worrying when carrying my bag and feeling slightly top-heavy). We got ourself some seats and waited as the boat [View Full Entry]

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