We left Bukkittinggi early morning on a bus down to Bandarlampung, which we was expecting to take 24 hours. The first few hours went relatively quickly, but as the day went on the journey started to drag. We was the only two white people on the bus which was overcrowded with locals sitting on plastic crates along the middle aisle of the bus. The illegal logging was evident along the whole journey and it made the landscape look really barren at times. Slept quite well during the night travel but woke up at around 5am to find that we'd broken down [View Full Entry]

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We got to KL unexpectedly on the 14th January, after leaving Langkawi on the afternoon of the 13th,we caught a ferry boat down to Penang, where we had no intentions of staying and jumped on a bus to the Genting Highlands which we opted for over the Cameron Highlands after chatting with some Malaysian guys in Langkawi. We arrived in Penang about 8pm then jumped on an overnight bus to the Genting Highlands which we assumed would be similar to Sapa in Vietnam. The bus ride was the coldest I've been in 4 months. As any person who has travelled through [View Full Entry]

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Took the 7 hour boat trip from Ko Lanta to Ko Lippe which was part of a national marine park and one of the last islands before you enter Malaysian waters. The boat trip was beautiful, some of the islands really did resemble paradise. Ko Lippe was a tiny island which you could walk around in 40 mins. Our accomodation was again one of the worst we'd stayed in. It smelt of damp and severe body odour (not a good combination), and again we had a frog for company in our bathroom. We spent two night here both of them really [View Full Entry]

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Took 90 minutes to get down to Ko Lanta, and we found accomodation pretty easy at a quiet resort at the end of the long beach. The hut was very basic and the shower water was brown, we might as well of washed in the sea. It was a peaceful place to spend a couple of nights, we put our hammocks up on the decking outside our hut, and wasted our days relaxing in them. Rened motorbikes on our second day there and toured the island which was really nice, came across some stunning beaches. We stopped off at one to [View Full Entry]

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Took the boat trip from Phuket back to Ko Phi Phi, again it was suitable stop on the way south and we wanted to have more night out with the Brewsters. Struggled to find somewhere to stay on te island, ntl we bumped into Ross who explained it was the busiest its been. He helped us to find a room above the island Muay Thai boxing ring, after initally being offered a 2 man tent that was erected outside the ring. Had a good night out with Ross and his girlfriend,, went back to all the bars we'd visited before, including [View Full Entry]

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Travelled most of the day on the 5th January by bus- boat-bus to Phuket. Mark and Dan detested the place but we wanted to check it out for ourselves, and it was a suitable stop off on our way back down south. Stayed 25 minutes outside the main Phuket strip, but headed there in the evening, again very similar to Ko Samui, except more seedy bars, and the biggest ladyboy collection I've seen. We had quite a good night there, had a good laugh with a couple of aussie girls, plus it was FA Cup night so spent most of the [View Full Entry]

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Left Ko Pha Ngan on the 2nd January catching the boat over to Ko Samui. The four of us had planned to go over together but just as we was boarding the ridicously overcrowded boat, Mark started being violently sick, so Neal stayed on Ko Pha Ngan wth him until he'd finished being sick. Dan and I boarded the boat and went off to Ko Samui to find somewhere for us all to stay. Later found out that Mark had a dose of food poisoning and couldn't stop being sick so they were coming over the next day. Dan and I [View Full Entry]

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We were partied out after boxing day so we headed back to Kho Tao between xmas and new year to get a few days off the booze and recharge the batteries on the lush beaches of Ko Tao. Returned to Ko Pha Ngan on the 30th December expecting our last guesthouse here to of reserved a room for us as promised. But being NYE and with us not returnng till late afternoon he'd booked out all his rooms thinking we may not turn up and he'd lose out on his highest room rates of the year. So we started the hopeless [View Full Entry]

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So xmas was now nearly upon us. Travelled over on the boat from Ko Tao which took about an hour. Had been warned that getting accomdation would be near on impossible in Haad Rin (where the full moon party took place). So we we decided to opt for Ban Thai which was supposedly 10 minutes in a taxi. Booked into a nice room and decided to try to walk to Haad Rin to see how far it actually was. After an hours walking along the beach and still no sign of it, we then found some steps to walk up which [View Full Entry]

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So it was back to the islands, via the port of Suratthani. Got the bus to Suratthani then booked onto the overnight boat to Ko Tao. Bumped into the Brighton boys who were heading to Khao Sok but we convinced them to get on the boat with us to Ko Tao. The boat was an interesting experience. No beds but just 1 long matress either side of a tiny walkway on the top deck of this boat. With a number above your head to indicate where you were to sleep. I was sandwiched between an Israeli guy and Neal, so I [View Full Entry]

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