http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Elly-Haycox/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Elly Haycox en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:27:15 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:27:15 +0000 Where to start.I am living in Christchurch and have been here for 1 year and 5 days. I have not updated my blog for probably 1 year and 6 days. God I sound like I am at an AA meeting. And actually the wine here is good enough that alcoholic could be a serious career moveI have been watching facebook like an addict seeing all the changes that you guys are going through. There seem to be enough http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-459479.html The airport has been under siege from anti government supporters and despite the fact that there have been riot police outside the airport for days nothing is happening for fear of bloodshed. Things have swung between peaceful protest to the brink of civil war and there have been grenades bombs shootings and attacks alongside gentle marches.The country is in absolute chaos and the tension is ri http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-350494.html The hospital doctor had given me the all clear to fly but the travel insurance doctors disagreed. They prescribed more rest. The hotel was lovely. I managed a couple of swims in the pool although it is rainy season here and there have been constant storms. The peels of thunder were the longest and loudest that I remember hearing and while this was exciting for a while it became dull very quickl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Samui/blog-348955.html My hospital appointment went relatively smoothly. The nurse was amazing I was relatively calm and I didn't even feel the needle go in My blood test came back well everything is back as it should be although my liver is still recovering. Perhaps it is withdrawal from the lack of wine Anyway I have the all clear to fly againWhile all this had been going on my Thai visa had expired a c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-348963.html It seems I have certain privileges with my room. One is a breakfast buffet at the top of the hotel. It is on the 24th floor and the view over Bangkok is amazingAfter breakfast I went down to the gym as I had been feeling so sluggish after not doing anything for the last couple of weeks. I managed a short run and session on the bike before hitting the outdoor pool If only it wasn't so cloudy I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-348961.html After a few days in the hospital on Koh Tao my temperature had come down a bit and I was getting restless. As it is only a small island the facilities were not that great and I was left of my own for several hours after my painkillers had run out longest was 8 ours when I couldn't get up. I quickly discovered that the only way to ensure I remained as pain free as possible was to monitor the tim http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Samui/blog-348950.html Up early to lay claim to my lounger by the pool It was time to get some sun I did a few laps of the pool and then relaxed with my book this was the life I had been planningJoey and I were booked on dives at 12.00 so we headed down to the front and grabbed our kit. Afeter a 5 min speedboat ride we were on the diveboat and ready to head off. I was still feeling pretty rough but put this down t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tao/blog-347348.html So the train arrived at Chumphon at 08.30 instead of 03.47 just a little late We had obviously missed the boat and there was no way of getting a refund so we had to buy new tickets for the 13.00 boat instead. Great.We wandered around the town there is nothing at all to see here and found a little cafe to wait in. Eventually it was time to go to the port and we were greeted by a rather l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Chumphon/blog-347342.html Another day spent packing and getting ready for the overnight train to Southern Thailand ready for sun sea and sandThe train left Bangkok at 19.35 with an estimated arrival time of 03.47 A van was booked to pick us up at 05.30 to get the boat to Koh Tao at 07.00. Sounds like a lot of waiting around at ridiculous o'clock to me Thai time is nothing like real tim so we shall see what happensI http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-347337.html The minivan back to Bangkok was thankfully fairly calm considering my past experiencesI met Joey in Khao San for a wander round and for dinner and the most painful wax I have ever encountered I didn't even care that the magazine I was reading for distraction was from 2003The rest of the evening was spent uploading a lot of photos and trying to sort out the blog. Tomorrow I am off to Souther http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-344761.html I hired a motorbike for the day as I couldn't find a tour that covered what I wanted to do and I was fed up of being sat on a bus I found a great deal for a 125 manual at 3 quid for the day with half a tank of petrol Ther was even a helmet AmazingAfter getting a 'map' from the coffee shop next to my hotel that rented me the bike as I write this I see that it may not have been the wisest http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Western-Thailand/Erawan-NP/blog-344742.html Up early again to get another scary minivan this time to Kanchanaburi a town a couple of hours north west of Bangkok and stradling the river Kwai. It is indeed the location of the film 'Bridge Over the River Kwai'.Although I knew it wasn't going to be an easy day it ended up being far tougher than I imagined. Being the 11th November and arriving at 10.45 I headed straight to the Allied Wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Western-Thailand/Kanchanaburi/blog-344000.html After spending most of the day recovering from the excesses of the weekend Joey and I headed out to the cinema to watch James Bond. Im between the trailers and the film itself you have to stand for a version of the National Anthem. Amazing While the music was playing there was a montage of all these photos of the King from a baby all the way through to present day UnrealAfter the film we we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-343995.html It has been brought to my attention that I didn't add the photo of the hunky diving instructors. I apologise profusely Here you go.... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Lombok/Gilli-Trawangan/blog-344734.html For some reason unknown to man nor beast I was up again at 7am My head was clear and I felt quite spritely which in reality could only mean one thing. I was still pissed. I took some neurofen to be safe and headed off with Harry in tow to a sun lounger on the beach leaving the others fast asleep.There was not a great deal of movement for the rest of the day until 15.00 when 2 opposing thing http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-East-Thailand/blog-343989.html I was up at 7 following my early night much to the distress of my room mates By 08.30 I was suncreamed up and turning nicely golden on a deck chair Unfortunately the weather was not on our side and the clouds came over before lunch and stayed put for the rest of the day. Bizarrely it was still bikini weather even with the cloud cover and I still got browner through the day. I was aware you cou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Ko-Samet/blog-343978.html The train journey actually took almost 16 hours in the end and I arrived back in Bangkok extremely tired at about 07.30. I made it back to Joeys and let myself in with the key I had managed to keep in my posession for a almost a week. I truely believe this is a record Perhaps I could now apply this new found skill to my phonesAfter washing my entire wardrobe in the sink I fell asleep on the s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-343976.html I spent the morning having a last look around Chiang Mai and desperately reading as much of the Lonely Planet 'South East Asia on a Shoestring' I had borrowed from the hostel as humanly possible before leaving for my 14 hour train journey back to Bangkok what fun.I have decided that I want to come back to SE Aisia next year as there is so much I haven't seen. I want to go to Cambodia Vietnam http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-343971.html I woke up feeling a bit sorry for myself no idea why. It's not like I have anything to be down about LolAnyway I figured the best possible way to rid myself of this was to spend a day pampering After browsing through several leaflets I chose the Sinativa spa on the outskirts of the city. I started with herbal steam followed by a herbal and rose jacuzzi The closest I have come to a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-342136.html I was collected first thing ready for my Thai cooking course There were 10 of us today 5 French 2 Aussies on their way home from 3 years in London an English South African couple from Edinburgh and meOur first stop was the market to buy the produce needed for our day. We made 6 dishes and mine were Thai Green Curry Paste Thai Green Curry Tom Yam soup with Shrimp Chicken and Cashew Nu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-341541.html