Today we roamed around looking at temples in Chiang Mai - 'wat' is the Thai word for 'temple' and there are hundreds within the city; almost as many as Bangkok, which has 10 times the number of inhabitants. So there are a lot of wats in this city. Chiang Mai is an unusual city in that remnants of a masonry fortress wall and moat still exist, to protect the ancient city from its Burmese enemies in the 13th century. The city is half-ruin half new development, but still not so modern and technologically advanced as Bangkok. The square-shape of the fortress [View Full Entry]

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Friday night was our last night in Koh Samui, so we decided to go back to Chaweng Beach to celebrate in style. We started the night off with $4 cocktails, moved on to $8 gin and tonics and ended the night in $22 vodka and red bull buckets. Yes, you read that right, BUCKETS of alcohol. In Sydney there's a big fad of serving alcohol in teapots (hello, is there nothing classier than a trashy girl in the X with smeared black mascara running down her face and skirt hitched so high you can see her arse, drinking out of the [View Full Entry]

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I'm sitting here in our bungalow with the sounds of Thai Dubbed Juno filling the air and faraway monkey's looking for mates. We are prepping our cameras for tomorrows safari adventure (hoorah!) and I can't stop the desire to brush my teeth. Over and over and over and over and (yep- I'm going there) OVER again. Why, I hear you ask? (you all lean forward in your chairs...) Yep. I told that wasp from last night where to go. Down my insect eating thorax! Booya! So yeah, Jian and I went to dinner at a little off the road restaurant. There [View Full Entry]

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Jian: We have taken the last couple of days quite easy as a) aaron is recuperating from minor ear is-sues and b) jian is feeling rather lazy. We spent most of Tuesday looking for an ear doctor in Nathon, the 'commercial' district of Koh Samui - when travelling it's easy to forget how easy you have it back home when you have a health problem - you just go to a medical centre and get it bulk billed on your medicare. In Thailand, most GPs aren't open on the weekends and if you don't want to pay exorbient 'farang' fees you [View Full Entry]

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Rule #1 when travelling in Thailand: never NEVER EVER catch a bus from one city to another. No matter what they tell you. I've made this mistake twice now. The first time was a couple of years ago when I came on my own, and organised to get a 'joint ticket' from Koh Samui to Bangkok. This involved getting a 2 hour ferry trip from Koh Samui back to the mainland, and a 12 hour overnight bus trip to Bangkok. This would have been okay if the trip hadn't turned into a 20 hour trip. And the air-conditioning unit didn't break [View Full Entry]

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Okay, cue the music! (think King Kong inspired jungle beat…) Yesterday Jian and I ventured via foot, bus and boat to Koh Phi Phi and surrounding Islands off the coast of Phuket. This was an organised tour, so I went into it with the philosophy of friend-making. But alas, all we got were snobby Sweedes, two ultra-cutesy Asian girls and a small spattering of other closed off and generally unfriendly people, who adamantly refuse to look you in the eye. This can be said about Thailand in general, the locals are wonderful but all the tourists are generally rude and disrespectful [View Full Entry]

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Spent the entire day chilling out at the resort, as I was sick and therefore Aaron was having a sick day too :) Think the change in temperature (it has been hot then humid then rainy then hot again) has screwed around with my body, and it is also probably getting used to the change in food. Aaron has been fine though, the bugger. Said goodbye to Rohan and Jodie and Jodie's parents, who were off back home tonight. Was very sad, but so glad to have the opportunity to holiday with them at the beginning of our trip - it [View Full Entry]

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Today was Aaron and I's four year anniversary, and I spent the whole night sick in bed. We'd spent the day with Rohan and Jodie at the Gibbon Rehabilitation Centre, which essentially takes in gibbons from around Thailand who have been mistreated as circus animals in bars, elephants and even private homes, and rehabilitates them in prepration for potential release back into the world. This involves teaching them to drink water from their hands again, to swing from branches and to eat fruit again (and not human food/alcohol). After this we went to Phuket Town, about 30 minutes in the interior [View Full Entry]

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Oh my dear... did I feel worse for wear this morning! Jian, typically, bounced back from last night with full flight and fancy. I however, was slower to start my engines. We met up with Rohan and Jodie, and Jodie's parents and set out to Kok Chang, where we would ride elephants. Riding an elephant is a strange and wonderful experience. Rohan and Jodie had researched the establishment we chose, on the basis of the treatment of the animals. We didn't want to throw money to people who were cruel to their animals. This place was pleasant, well run and the [View Full Entry]

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