ajbetts
Alan Betts Joined: July 23rd 2008
Logged in: March 1st 2010
Logged in: March 1st 2010
Travel Blog Posts
Chiang Mai Temples
In the end i ended up staying the night at sarahs place in bangkok, as she had a power shower, swimming pool and good food, which seemed too much of a luxury to pass up! So because of this i missed my bus to chiang mai from bangkok, soooo i then had to book myself a flight from bangkok the next day to chiang mai which cost something silly like 25 pounds....It turned out to be such an easier way of getting here, and i got a taxi from chiang mai airport to town which cost like 1 pound. So i arrived and obviously being the rich traveller splashed out 650 baht (10 pounds) on a luxury hotel with a swimming pool, air conditioning and hot water, yes thats right hot water! Although not that u ... read more
Sea snake
Is what awaits me later today anyway! 14:00 my ferry leaves and arrives in bangkok at 5 in the morning, ive then got a day there and my bus to chiang mai in the north leaves at 6pm to arrive yet again at 5-6 in the morning! The only bonus with this is that ive saved on 2 nights accomodation and no doubt when i arrive here, i will be bombarded with offers of treks through the mountains as ive heard it is very touristy. You get to visit the "hill tribes" on these treks as well, i say this loosely as ive heard lots of stories about treks to some villages where they are all on mobile phones, sattelite tv on the top of the mud hut, and a mcdonalds round the corner (maybe not ... read more
Kayaking on Koh Phi Phi
Ok so its been about a week since my last entry and ive been up to loads! and to be honest im probably gonna miss a few things out!! I finished my time on koh phi phi island with 2 swedish girls that i met, and did some kayaking, fire show watching and general walking around! I had to make myself leave really as i was getting so comfortable with it, i could have stayed there for weeks! I left koh phi phi on the good advice to visit an island called Rai Leh (might not be spelt right) just off of the coast of krabi, which was a 1 and a half hr ferry ride from Koh phi phi. Im glad people told me about this island as it was stunning, it was just a ... read more
Me on maya beach!
Im getting to the point where i keep extending and extending my time on koh phi phi island, as the hotel im staying in is gorgeous, the place im staying in is spectacular and its all only costing me about 30-40 quid a day! Im a regular at the local womans food stall, her spring rolls are amazing! And im even not getting hassled by the "taxi-boat" men as much as they have seen me walking around everywhere loads! Ive been here about 6 days so far and it has been really nice to just drop the bags and just generally relax, and i think the easy option is to just stay in the same place (although i can see why people stay here for ages!). Theres always irish people wherever you go and what does ... read more
Ko phi phi don
Ko phi phi don is the most gorgeous island ive been to! I think half of that is attributed to the fact that there are no cars on the island. You have to walk everywhere (or cycle), and the beaches are just stunning! So much for the rainy season as well, ive had nothing but hot blazing sunshine since i arrived! It took me an hr and a half by boat from phuket boat terminal to get here, and i made the mistake of booking my accomodation before i came, if you pay in phuket you end up paying over the odds and what u end up with is a small cramped room with no air conditioning and a very very cold shower! But since i payed for my 2 nights before i came, i had ... read more
Kata Beach
So ok now i am in thailand, land of the ladyboys! Arrived quite late a couple of nights ago not without stress......started with my transfer from the airport not bothering to turn up.....queue a frantic scramble for my services in the millions of taxis waiting outside phuket international airport! Managed to share a taxi with an american dude ive met who was heading in the same direction and from what i worked out, didnt get too stung! Then followed a frantic search for our hotels after he assured us he knew where they were, we ended up driving around the whole of phuket for at least half an hr!!! finally got to my hotel relieved to see someone still awake to give me a key so i could sleep!!! Staying in a pretty nice hotel, hot ... read more
Sipidan Island
Travelling again, and after some awesome dives in sipidan it really made my trip there good.....got a lot more relaxed with the town and actually found a few things to do in the end, and by the time i was leaving i pretty much knew everybody there! as they were all on my boats going scuba diving everday....lots of frenchies out here for some reason as well! well ive changed all my money i have now into thai baht and i am off soon on a plane from kuala lumpur to phuket in thailand! definately gonna go to ko phi phi to see the island where the beach was filmed and am hoping to maybe catch a bit of surf in kata beach where i am staying tonight. met this american dude called travis who is ... read more
Turtles!
So i arrived in semporna expecting the diving paradise of the world! instead i was greeted with something that was like romford market on a dodgy afternoon! Semporna itself where i am staying is very basic, veeerry basic! im paying like 50 ringgit a night which is like 6 quid a night so its dead cheap i suppose, but bugger all to do! But apparently for what it lacks on land, it makes up for once i go diving.....this was true as i went to an amazing island off the coast today and dived a stretch known as sibuan. I did a refresher course today as the last time i did my padi diving was about 4 yrs ago and thought it best! Proved myself right when i got all the equipment and didnt have a ... read more
Pygmy Elephants
Ive just arrived back from my 3 day, 2 night stay in the jungles of sabah, and most of it which we entered was via the rivers of kalimantan. It was a long 3 hr drive to the point where we had to enter the river so we could get further into the forests. Then we took a boat which was the start of our jungle safari, where we saw many many monkeys, probiscus monkeys and long tailed macaques being the most common, did see some orangutans but miles into the distance within the trees so very out of site. It would have been really good to have had a decent camera, as with any wildlife phototaking i rarely got close enough to take a decent one. And with everyone else in the boat happy snapping ... read more
Proton Power!
48 hrs of plane flying, probably the most boring 2 days of my life! did meet some jolly characters though. Met this indian family travelling from mumbai who were really friendly and the dad who had great pride in telling me about hes working for prudential insurance company so hes the guy who answers my calls when i get transfered to india! Probably one of the hardest things ive had to do so far was climb this mountain! and if i do it next time i will choose a hut at base camp which has heating and not go for the cheaper option!! I think being on planes for 2 days didnt help my cause either. The first climb was from kota kinabalu lodges at 1500 m to the base camp climb of about 3300m. This ... read more
