Leebee
Lee Bebbington Joined: October 14th 2004
Logged in: January 25th 2011
Logged in: January 25th 2011
Travel Destinations:
UK - HongKong - Australia - NewZealand - Fiji - NewZealand - Malaysia - Thailand - UK
Travel Blog Posts
Big Wheel Big Ben
i'm back. How wierd. I've been llooking forward to returning 'home' for months but now i am here i can't help but want to leave again. Grey Grey Grey sky, Grey London, It lacks so much Colour. The cold air, no humidity, a cold breeze, clean orderly streets, sedate looking people with expressionless faces in suits (i am wearing some kind of cotton pyjama type things) going to work on the Tube!! the dreaded rat race!!. i can't stop laughing at how familiar this all is but also so strange. Little things like the news on TV, the accent the red buses. I Realise how much Britain is wealthier than the countires of SE Asia and how comfortable our lives are. Also very materialistic. It makes me look at western life and think it is a ... read more
Last stop Singapore :o( the 18 hour bus ride from Krabi to Singapre was a strange one. I watched Arnold schwarzenegger in Commando dubbed in Thai, i was treated quite badly by the Thai and Malysian passengers as i was the only white person (or 'Farang') on the bus i assumed they did'nt like backpackers travelling on their transport, and was ushered to an empty part of the bus and given cold stares quite regularly!! i frequently heard many of them shouting Farang, pointing and laughing out loud, a new experience for me!. Could'nt decide if they were racist or they just did'nt like backpackers??? well i was too tired to care so i just smiled and caught up with some much needed day dreaming and window staring. Singapore is a huge clean modern city a ... read more
A cramped bus with no suspension, a 12hr sleeper tain, 6 hours waiting in bangkok train staton and another 12 hr sleeper train then 6 hours on a coach later i have arrived in Krabi southern thailand. I am absolutely nakered. My arse! oh my arse! its so numb. I am staying in Krabi for 2 days until i catch my coach to Singapore (18hrs from Krabi two stops, better get used to having no arse). Krabi is stunningly beautiful, the limestone cliffs and beaches with emerald green waters are a gorgeous sight. The place is deserted though. I sunbathed on the beach practiacally had it all to myself. Met a French guy, he was very friendly and invited me to go out with him that night beers on him, my last night i am skint ... read more
Lazy Hippy Pai ahhhh what a relief it was to arrive at this mountainous little town and realise i had arrived in a place that is refreshingly devoid of tuk tuk's, overbearing noise, choking pollution & those scary lady boys. We initially planned on spending 5 days here depending on how it went, the fact that we spent 4 weeks is a good indication of the place. There are mopeds for hire at 100 bhat a day, i highly recommend this as it allows you the freedom of the mountains, we hired them for 2 weeks and could not resist riding into the mountains everyday and even took a 3 day tour to Mae Hong Son near the boder to Myanmar, you are treated to some spectacular scenery not many people actually get to see when ... read more
goldengirl
Nothing like i imagined at all!!. I know alot of people love this city but not my cup of tea at all. It is virtually impossible to navigate yourself anywhere at all on foot for the risk of dying from pollution or darn right frustration in this huge concrete sprawling mess of a city. So the only other option is to take a tuk tuk. Great fun when you first sit in one of these things and go zooming around the traffic whilst inhaling the brunt of bangkoks vehicle emissions, but 2 words describe my experience of a tuk tuk and they are R i p O f f ok they are cheap but the drivers just do not want to take you to where you want to go. .. The usual speil we recieved was ... read more
Tailing a Whale Shark
Little turtle island is awesome. Loved it. Like all other visitors i arrived on this island for the sole purpose of scuba. Lured here by the ever powerful and influential guide books selling the island as the mecca of scuba divers i booked a 5 day Padi course & totally enjoyed it loved it, met some great people and was really bowled over at how amazing the environment is down there. There was alittle bit of fear and apprehension with the thought of your life being in the hands of a tiny steel tank strapped to your back & adapting to breathing through a regulator at deep depths but like anything involving fear the rewards afterwards and the adrenaline are well worth it. We were extremely lucky on our course, we had perfect conditions of 30m ... read more
Hat Rin Beach
Here it is the famous full moon party. Too tacky for me i'm afraid. Keep in mind i am 28 so i guess i am past it. All the drum & bass and trance music kind of did my head in. It was cool to be on the beach amongst 1000's of others and fire dancers, buckets of whiskey red bull and coke (the mother of all hangovers!!). This place is absolutely buzzing during full moon week. I got so sick of it its unreal. In the day time you can see the damage to the island the thousands of beer bottles, plastic bottles, broken glass, it just had a disgusting abused scummy feel to the place, discarded chicken, meat kebabs on the street, sick looking dogs with one eye missing limbs. I think this place ... read more
Sunset on Samui
Ah at last my first experience of the Thai gulf islands. Coming in on the Ferry the natural landscape was spectacular, just like the pictures in the guide books i'd been reading whilst in NewZealand. The problem with the guide books though is that they leave out most of the nasty stuff. The Lonely Planet is full of coconut trees, white sandy beaches, emerald waters etc. To be honest, I was abit disgusted when i got there. The incessant seven eleven stores (& all the other favorites, McDonalds, Burger Kingetc) ingrained on every street in Asia, ever more present in what i now know to be overly commercialised Ko Samui. Prostitutes and Lady boys line the main street in Chaweng Beach. Even more sickening to the eye is the filthy old men riding around on their ... read more
market shopping
From the clean, quiet orderly streets of Wellington and Auckland to the crowded frenzy and humidity of Kuala Lumpur!! I initially arrived in Singapore but travelled straight to the capital as i have heard Singapore is very westernised and i was aiming for a culture shock so i took the crowded bus to KL. Sensual overload takes place as the smells of fried chicken from street vendors & car exhaust fumes fill the air, thousands of people line the frenzied disorganised streets all clamoring for space whilst there is a thunder & lightening show over the distant moutains on its way to light up & soak the city. Very exhausting getting about but was such good fun, every where you go your eyes are drawn to something, every taxi driver desperate to get your attention & ... read more
Stopping for a breather
4 days, of amazing views. 5 nights Freezing cold crampt tents with Mike me and Clarke all sharing a 2 man tent hmmmmm i am still not over your farts Clarke they are disgusting but i admit they did keep us warm so i thankyou. I made a vital error whilst in Queenstown preparing for this trek. I did'nt buy any boots and had to make do with a pair of old sneakers. Not a good idea, but i made it! the sneakers did'nt. You feel like you've hiked to the top of the world on some parts of this track, its truely beautiful, also surreal to be walking along the side of a mountain to look down and see clouds beneath you and planes flying beneath you. Gorgeous part of the world so clean & ... read more
