Went to the National Marine Park today. Much better than Phi Phi Island. Spectacular scenery. Went Kayaking around the various paradise beaches. (Added the disposable camera pics.) They came out pretty well. I especially like the hammock!! [View Full Entry]

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Day at the beach and breaking open coconuts [View Full Entry]

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Got up early today before it got too hot and we (Will, Laura and Florian) rented a little suzuki jeep. They drive on the left here so it wasn't a problem. Very interesting traffic lights and overtaking is hilarious. The speed limit on the island is 45kph so its very safe and its also full of tourists on mopeds. The gears were very strange. Its the lowest power vehicle this side of a lawnmower I've ever driven but the four wheel drive is good. Went up to a water fall in the rainforest. Its at about 500m altitude so its tough [View Full Entry]

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Spent the day at the beach at the bungaloe resort with the three backpackers I met on the bus. Was about 35 C. And the humidity is incredible. Quite hard to sleep as I've no air-con here. Just a fan. nice Thai food in the restaurant. [View Full Entry]

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Travelled to Ko Samui today which is an island in the Gulf of Thailand. Got a minibus with 8 other backpackers to surathani to get the ferry. The bus took about 6 hours to get there and the air con wasn't great but it was good craic. They were from England, Oz, Denmark, Germany and Israel. Waited at the tour office in surathani for 3 hours. It rained like I've never seen it rain before. We were all laughing at it. Must have been at least 5 inches in two hours. At least!! Got the ferry eventually. Took 1 and half [View Full Entry]

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Went out to Ko Phi Phi in the andaman sea today. They're fantastic looking islands with lots of sea stacks around them. The cruise out was an hour and half. Great service on board. Did a short cruise around the north island and then went snorkelling off monkey beach on the north island. There are loads of monkeys on the beach and you can go up and feed thenm bananas and bread. The sea is so warm and the fish don't away from you like in Ireland. In fact they swim right up to the mask. There were thouands are me [View Full Entry]

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Got a tuk tuk from Patong to Phuket town. 14 Km across the best corkscrew hill, possibly in existence. A complete rollercoaster in the most unstable vehicle imaginable. Lots of rainforest in between too. Phuket reminds me of spain. Straight streets with dingy shop fronts. The portguese had partial influence here centuries ago. This is reflected in many of the buildings. Very Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. A lot of the people look iberian. In fact any of the Thai people I've seen don't look like what most would expect asian people to look like. Definite mixture of many races [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Patong yesterday. The wall of heat outside the airport was phenomenal. 30 minute drive to the hotel which is on the west of the island. The drive was interesting. They're not the worst drivers in the world but their idea of overtaking is get by any which way you can. No indicators. Just flash the lights at the driver in front. Lots of mopeds and small motorbikes. Up to 5 or 6 people on board. And not too many helmets. I saw one with a mother and small girl in a school uniform, probably no more than 6 or [View Full Entry]

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Just arrived in Singapore after an 11 hour flight from Heathrow, so this is duty free number 3 of 4 today. Just waiting for my flight to Phuket. It's a chilly 32 C at the mo. Singapore Airlines are amazing. Very polite and helpful. The facilities on the plane are class. 60 + channels and movies built into the seat. The best part is the real time gps navigation screen. I could see exactly where I was at any one time. Very cool flyin over Afganistan and Kabul. Desolate doesn't even begin to describe the landscape there. Also flew over Phuket [View Full Entry]

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Bag is packed. Although packed is overstating it a bit. I'm bringing the bare minimum. If Thailand is as cheap as everyone says, then it'll be a brand new t-shirt everyday. Most of it is malaria tablets. Dozens of 'em. Nosophobic!!!! So the itinerary goes like this. Thailand - 3 weeks Hong Kong - 1 week New Zealand - 2 weeks Fiji - 1 week The Cook Islands - 1 week Los Angeles - As long as I want (or until the immigration officers find me) So I'm flying out tomorrow. Two stopovers, London and Singapore, arriving on the island of [View Full Entry]

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