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Phil and Shelley Walker
After leaving University and joining the salary club for the last 4 years, we both decided to take some time out and explore some of the world while we can. We've been on many a european holiday, but our trip to Peru in 2005 made us even thirstier to seeing more of the world. Now, our 3 month journey through New Zealand, Australia and Thailand begins...PhilAndShell
Travel Blog Posts
January 21st 2007
....just had no time to write it up! - Bangkok: Weekend Market, River Boat ride, Reclining Budha (VERY GOOD) - Chaingmai: Mountain-top temple. Waterfalls (GREAT) - 3 Day Elephant Sanctuary and Mahoot Training (FANTASTIC) - Golden Triangle / Laos (NOT GREAT) - 3 Day Jungle Trek (BRILLIANT) - Koh Sumui (HELL - DO NOT GO THERE!) - Ko Thong National Marine Park: Snorkling and Kayaking. (VERY GOOD) - Krabi: Kayaking the Mangrove Forest and Caves. (VERY GOOD) Other stuff we can't recall off the top of our heads including crazy tuk-tuks, crazy taxis, swerving coaches, street markets. Thailand so far has been really good; though much easier and westernised than we'd expected. Koh Sumui is the nastiest, ugliest, dirtiest, most ruined place we've ever seen - seriously: never even consider going there. Will try to do ... read more
Day 69 to 71 - Chiang Mai Trek
Published: January 26th 2007Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang MaiJanuary 14th 2007
This 3 day trek did not start off that well. Firstly we had handed copies of our passports to the booking office as everyone doing a trek now needs to be registered. The van picked us up and then when they did the passport checks to make sure they had all the right people, the guy at the booking office and given them the wrong passports copies. It ended up that he had lost them so everyone had to wait for us whilst we fetched ours. We took a 2 hour drive to the start of the trek to have dinner, then started the walk. the guide still hadn't introduced himself to us, and he left without 3 people who where in the toilet - great, this was going to be good! We walked about 3 ... read more
Day 68 - Chiang Rai Day trip
Published: January 26th 2007Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang RaiJanuary 13th 2007
Today we took a trip from Chiang Mai at 7am to take the 4 hour drive through Chiang Rai, and then back again. On the way up our small mini-van stopped at a hot spring in which locals had made a very big tourist attraction by boiling eggs in it and surrounding it with a large market. It was interesting for about 1 minute. We continued our drive then stopped over brielfy at another temple, which again was interesting but the same as all the rest. Our next stop was the Golden Triangle. The is basically where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet, and up until 1959 was where Opium grown from the 3 countries was traded. 2 Rivers meet dividing the 3 countries so we took a long boat over to Laos and looked around a ... read more
January 10th 2007
On the morning of the 10th we were up at 5.30 to catch an early bus to the elephant santuary. We arrived at our destination about 9, and before we were even shown our rooms we were thrown into the swing of things. There were 7 other people on the course with us and we got to know them very well over the next couple of days. We were both immediately allocated an elephant and mahout (a person who looks after the elephant throughout their life), who we would work with for the next 3 days. Shelley's elephant was only 9 years old and Tiam, the mahout had stayed with him since the elephant was a month old. It was amazing to see the relationships between the mahouts and the elephants. Straight away we were taught ... read more
Day 64 - Around Chiang Mai
Published: January 23rd 2007Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang MaiJanuary 9th 2007
This morning we caught another songthaew to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, which is another temple that looks over the Chiand Mai province, although it is very easy and so there is'nt much too see. The temple is impressive, involving a climb up some steps and holds many buddha images. It was very busy here, with people from all over the world, but there were also many thai people praying. Surrounding the temple were mnay market stalls mostly selling food. After finishing here we took another taxi half way back down the hill towards chiangmai and got dropped off at the edge of a National park, that is home to loots of waterfalls. It was'nt unitl we had paid that vwe discovered we had a 6km round trip walk ahend of us to see the watrefalls. However, ... read more
Day 63 - Flying to Chiang Mai
Published: January 23rd 2007Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang MaiJanuary 8th 2007
We were up early this morning to catch a flight to Chiang Mai and after been placed on a later flight, we eventually arrived at Chaing Mai at about 3pm. After been bundled into the back of a songthaew (a small red pick up truck with 2 rows of seats on the back) we made our way to Tae Pae Gate and found a very nice and cheap guesthouse. After showers and tea we had an explore of the area, which is still very busy but somewhow nice and friendly. Before we went back home we both subjected ourselves to a Thai massage. This basically involved a woman bending us in all possible directions and cracking most or our bones for about 1 hour. Even though some parts were quite painful it was rather invigorating at ... read more
January 7th 2007
Will we landed in Bangkok with no Map or Travel Guide, which wasn't ideal so was on the list of priorities. Th hotel receptionist directed us to the Skytrain so we could go to the weekend market, Chatuchak, in Bangkok. We started to walk in the direction she had told us, through the heavily polluted and busy streets (though somehow still interesting to be walking around). A Tuk-Tuk driver collared us and asked where we were going. At first we were wary of him because we had be warned they charge you alot and take you where they want to. However this guy was keen to help us and told us a quicker route to the Skytrain, instead of walking the 3 km the hotel lady had directed us. We started to walk, then felt lost ... read more
January 6th 2007
Today was a long day of travelling. We left our hostel about 10am and headed into Sydney. We headed straight to the post office to post home clothes and hiking boots that we would'nt need in Thailand. Unlike England, lots of none touristy shops and amenities close at dinner time on Saturday in Sydney. After having some lunch we headed to Sydney Airport. Our flight to Bangkok took nearly nine hours. When we landed we caught a very cheap taxi to our hotel. We'd been told that the airport would be pretty hectic and that we'd be pestered by people when we arrived - we didn't get bothered once, and it was all pretty straight forward. On the way from the airport, our taxi driver was feeling just a little bit sleepy. Infact, thats a lie, ... read more
January 5th 2007
We had a very early start this morning to catch the 6.40am ferry to Sydney, followed by a train to the central station where we caught the 8.20am train to Katoomba. The journey took 2 hours where we finally arrived in the heart of the Blue Mountains. We gathered together some information, food and drink, and walked through the town to see the main attraction. The Three Sisters are three large and weathered rock columns that sit next to one another before a majestic view of a deep and wided forested valley, with its characteristic blue haze. The main viewing platform was incredibly busy, as were several more platforms directly underneath the large rocks. We followed a route know as the Giant Staircase - a cliff-hugging path with around 1000 steep steps, which takes you past ... read more
Day 59 - More of Sydney
Published: January 9th 2007Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Opera HouseJanuary 4th 2007
Today was the last day we'd have to explore more of Sydney so we did as much as we could. We headed back to the Botanical Gardens to see how they looked in the daytime, when they are not packed with 25,000 new years eve revellers. The views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera house were fantastic, and the gardens offered a huge variety of interesting and different types of trees - many different shapes and sizes. After looking around the Botanical Gardens we followed the path around to the harbour, passing a constant stream of joggers, to the Opera House. The Opera House is an impressive building with lots of interesting design and patterns to take in. It was also particular busy and we'd be forever walking into someones photograph. Walking back to Circular ... read more
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