We were lucky to get to bed at a civil hour on New Year's Eve as our journey turned out to be a 14 hour ordeal. It started with a minibus from the hotel in Phuket town to another minibus. From this minibus we transferred to a big bus, which took us as far as Surat Thani (7 Hours). From here we transferred by tuk tuk to a place to eat and then took another tuk tuk to a fancy bus. We arrived in Bangkok at 4am and took a tuk tuk (The last of the day) to our hostel where [View Full Entry]

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We had decided to spend New Year's Eve (Unlike Christmas it's something the Thais definitely know how to celebrate) in the most touristy sport in Thailand - Patong Beach. However, we had failed to see just how many people had the same idea as us. After our ferry and upon reaching Patong we realised there was not a bed to be had in the area. After walking around for two or three hours in the heat we conceded defeat and got a Tuk Tuk to Phuket town. Unfortunately, the budget didn't allow for another visit to the "Metropole Hotel" so we [View Full Entry]

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We got a mini-bus to Phuket harbour and from there a 2 hour ferry to the island of Koh Phi Phi (Famous like Phuket for the Tsunami and the devastation it received). We got a water taxi/Skiff to some cheap accomodation we had heard about on the far side of the island, on a place called Long Beach. The beach was beautiful and we got a lovely bungalow along it. We had some food and walked along the beach looking for a good bar. There wasn't one so we headed to bed. The next day we headed straight for the beach. [View Full Entry]

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We arrived after a very short flight from Ko Samui in Phuket airport. We had decided we were going to treat ourselves to a posh hotel for Christmas. We arranged at the airport to stay at the "Metropole Hotel" in Phuket town and got a taxi directly there. The hotel was a million miles away from anywhere we have stayed in for the past 5 months and a nice treat. After some dinner we had an early night as we were exhausted from our long day and the previous night. After breakfast the next day we headed to the pool in [View Full Entry]

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Well we got much more peaceful ferry to Ko Samui and from there made our way to the most touristy area called Chaweng beach. As unprepared as ever, we wandered in the midday heat trying to find somewhere reasonable to stay. We eventually came upon a small set of bungalows well off the main stretch but still right on the beach. The price was great even though our first room had a full grown tree in the bathroom. We had to wait till the wind moved the tree before we could get in or out of the bathroom. The lock however [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Ko Pha Ngan after a short but very bumpy ferry ride from Koh Tao. We organised our accomodation on the pier when we arrived, which wasn't exactly difficult as we were surrounded by people offering to take us to see their resort. We picked one just south of the pier, where it is supposed to be quieter than the busy beaches of Haad Rin. Phrueska Resort was indeed very quiet, we booked three nights in a nice bungalow right beside the beach and pool. After a swim and some food, we had an early night. We spent the [View Full Entry]

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Our mini-bus arrived late to pick us up and then spent an hour and half driving around Bangkok before we eventually met up with the big bus. We were sitting in the back seat, which was not very comfortable. We were then dropped off at some random village at about 3am. We were told we would be picked up in 10 minutes. Over the next few hours we were joined by numerous other people who were dropped off too. We were kept entertained by a crazy Aussie called Stephen and also got talking to a Canadian girl, Jules. Eventually a bus [View Full Entry]

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After a short flight we arrived safely in Bangkok, and after a bit of confusion we managed to find the cheap metered taxis. The day we arrived was the Kings 79th Birthday, which actually worked in our favour as there was no traffic on the roads, and we made out to the hostel in no time. After checking in, we met two of our room mates. Steph from New Zealand and Tim from Tasmania. That evening we had some food in the hostel, and played some cards and pool with them and two Aussie girls heading home the next day over [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Hong Kong and grabbed a subway to Causeway Bay, the journey was pretty painless as we are now fairly good at finding our way around this city. Checking into the guesthouse took a while as they didnt have a word of English, but they were incredibly nice so we didnt mind. That evening we just watched a bit of T.V before heading to bed. The next day we headed to the Hong Kong History Museum, which is pretty much the only tourist attraction we had left to see. It was an excellent museum and very detailed. Afterwards we [View Full Entry]

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The journey from Kyoto to Tokyo by train took about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Ronan was feeling unwell most of the day and even vomitted on one of Japans shiny platforms (Not that anyone seemed to notice). We took a train followed by a subway to our hostel which was in the North-Eastern part of the city in a place called Asakusa. Once we settled in we decided to test the myth we had been hearing from everybody on our travels about the Japanese $18 dollar Big Mac meal by visiting a MacDonads (Turned out to be cheaper than home). [View Full Entry]

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