We arrived in Surranthani at 4.30am & were told to look for a sign saying Chow Wang Tours, there was no one with this sign so I asked someone where we were to go, they told us to get in a minibus & we got taken around the corner to a dodgy looking travel agent with no name. The lady inside tried to tell us that we had to pay an extra 250 baht to get to Ao Nang, (the beach resort in Krabi), as the ticket we had paid for was on to Krabi town. We were all annoyed at [View Full Entry]

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We took the express boat to Koh Tao on Monday afternoon & arrived at about 4pm, the five of us slept all the way there & struggled to find rooms in one resort for the five of us so ended up getting one big room, which was amusing! We headed straight out for food & afterwards sat at a bar on the beach front watching the sunset, it was beautiful, we ended up staying out for the remaining part of the evening, J & I went home first as we were shattered & Claire, Rich & Dan followed a while later. [View Full Entry]

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When we landed in Ko Samui we got a taxi to the Ferry Port & a Catamaran to Kho Pha Ngan. We arrived at Kho Pha Ngan's port at about 10am, (I was feeling tired at this point). We got a taxi to Ibiza Bungalows, (where Claire had stayed before) & checked in. We had breakfast & headed straight to the beach & lay in the sun all day resting. In the evening the four of us, (Rich, J, Claire & I), went for dinner at a restaurant on the beach & then went to a Reggae bar. Dan arrived Friday [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Bangkok at 5.30am after a relatively smooth journey on a VIP bus, the five of us, (Justin, Dan, Rich, Claire & I), headed straight to McDonalds as we were hungry & a bit fed up of Asian food. We went back to the hotel where Claire stayed the first time we came here & were amused to see a sign on reception that stated extra charges for bringing back prostitutes, Thai men or women. We got a room for Justin, Claire & I, (as Justin had decided to travel with Claire & I for the foreseeable future) & [View Full Entry]

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The bus bumped into Vang Vieng at about 2pm on Friday afternoon, it was warm & sunny. Two girls we had met in Phonsavanh had told us about a place to stay in Vang Vieng so Claire, Giles & I got a Tuk Tuk to Champa Laos Bungalows which was right on the river with amazing views of the Limestone Mountains & we managed to get a bungalow with a veranda & a hammock. We went out to explore & in the evening went across the bridge to Sunset Island to go to a place called Smile Bar, Claire & I [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Phonsavanh on Wednesday at about 4pm, the public bus wasn't as bad as I had expected although there was a man with a rooster & several sacks of rice down the aisle. We got a lift to a guest house with a local man called Mr. Kong, (the guesthouse owner), along with several other people from the bus. We met Giles who is originally from Birmingham but now lives in South Wales, his accent drifted between Brummie & Welsh; it was quite funny as I could mimic both. Mr. Kong swore like a trooper in English, although it [View Full Entry]

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After an hour delay, our plane landed in Luang Prabang airport at 5.30pm, just as the sun was setting over the mountains. It was the smallest plane I have ever been on & I think there were less than 30 people on it & the plane wasn't full, only two of them weren't western. The airport was one small building that closely resembled a shed, when I went to get my visa I handed my photo & form over & about five Laos men started laughing at me, one of them said it was a nice photo. We got a taxi [View Full Entry]

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The night train arrived back into Hanoi at 4am; as there were no guesthouses open we had to sit by the lake in the cold & dark watching all the crazy people do mad exercise routines & thai chi. We put our i-pods on & decided to join in to keep warm & amuse ourselves so in the end we looked just as silly. About 6.15am we found a coffee shop that had opened so had a coffee & then checked into a gueshouse near to where we were staying when we were last in Hanoi. We got showered & headed [View Full Entry]

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The night train arrived in Lao Cai at 5.30am, I had slept quite well on the journey as I had been so tired. We had to sit & wait in a mini bus until it was full, (about an hour) & it was cold. It took about an hour to get from Lao Cai to Sapa & as well as being cold there was thick fog, as Sapa is high in the mountains & you couldn't see anything. We found somewhere to stay, put on 4 t-shirts, 2 pairs of socks & a pair of trousers & had a sleep, I [View Full Entry]

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We got picked up just after 8am & arrived at Ha Long City at about 11.30am; we had bumped into the Bristol Boys again but didn't expect them to be on the same boat as us, funny enough they were. They also managed to bump into Cliff Richard on the Pier & spoke to him & got a photo. I was so gutted that I had managed to walk past Sir Cliff & not even notice! We had lunch on the boat & met two Irish girls, Sinead & Rachel, they were good fun so we after lunch the eight of [View Full Entry]

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