Met Dot in Saigon airport on the 14th August, flight went very well with the exception of some serious turbulance halfway through the journey. Was so exciting seeing Dot come through the arrivals gate (lots of hugging and squealing ensued) then got well and truely ripped off with a lift into the city - we did however have a brand new chevrolet with blacked out windows and free water - but for 15USD, a bit steep, although arrived in style. Checked out a hotel but decided we could get a better deal so popped to a 'saloon style' bar and got [View Full Entry]

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Got a taxi to the bus station and went in search of the kiosk that services buses to Pai... a bit of a mission as it turned out to be out of the main station and hidden round a corner but eventually found it and asked to book onto local bus with fan at 11am ... turns out the timetable i'd read was a wee bit out of date and the next bus was not leaving until 2pm (it was 10.30am...) so i opted for the slightly more expensive (..minibus with aircon over scary looking local bus with fan..) option that [View Full Entry]

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... So made it back to thailand. Met a Canadian girl called Amanda and we shared a taxi to Khao san and shared a room in Orchid Villa Guesthouse to save some pennies. Ended up going out for dinner and beer and met 2 guys from Germany and stayed out drinking with them for a while, also met a couple from UK called Chris and Paul who were heading up to Chang Mai the next day so we exchanged numbers and they said they'd call when i was up there to meet up. Next day checked out of hotel room and [View Full Entry]

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Soooooooo ...... apologies all, have been completely rubbish, and to be frank was having far too much fun in Taipei to dedicate sufficient time to Travelblog i'm afraid so again i find myself very very behind! in an effort to catch up quickly i have decided to let this entry be more of a story by pictures... i.e. a lot less text (... i hear some of you exhaling a sigh of releif!!...) Sooooo, TAIPEI, TAIWAN!! It all started off very well, had booked my flight with KLM and was so excited about 4 fun packed days in Taipei with Jo [View Full Entry]

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Part 1 - the scary night boat... So thought i'd try and save myself a few baht and a nights accommodation by taking the night boat to Surat Thani, glossy picture of a room full of bunk beds on the boat in the travel agent didn't look too bad, and surely there will be loads of other penny pinching backpackers doing the same thing eh? it'll be fine, i told myself.... ... was dropped off by the taxi to port at around 8.30pm, boat wasn't due to sail until 10pm however i'd been told that the beds go really quick and [View Full Entry]

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... Ko Tao = closest to paradise i've ever been... Fairly uneventful trip down to Ko Tao - arrived in Mae Haad at around 6am and got in the back of a pick-up for our journey to Sairee beach. The sun was shining and the beach deserted at such an early hour - absolute paradise. It felt amazing to be back knowing i was here for at least a week and could fully relax and enjoy this incredible island. We'd decided on staying at Sairee Cottages but the office didn't open until 8am so Caroline and i relaxed on the balcony [View Full Entry]

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Next day caroline and I went to a cooking course (Siam Cooking School) - we were collected at 8am, by Lucy, our teacher who was brilliant!! he spoke excellent english that he had learnt from films in 4 years, was extremely camp and had the best facial expressions ever - he was hilarious! Met up with the others on our course (12 of us in total) and we got taken around the market by Lucy teaching us about the various ingredients we would be using. Once we had collected those we headed to the cooking school. Lucy is quite a hard [View Full Entry]

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...another smooth journey back up to Bangkok on boat and coach, sad to wave the sunny beaches bye bye but its only for a few days. Arrived in Bangkok at 1am and went to check into Villa Cha Cha (lush little boutique hotel with pool and really nice rooms - thought Caroline and I could do with a bit of luxury before 2 weeks in basic beach huts!). they wouldn't let me check in until 6am unless i paid for a nights accomodation - so to save myself 800bht i decided to stay up until 6am..... Khao San road is quite [View Full Entry]

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I booked an overnight air conditioned bus to Ko Phanagn through a fixer called Jimmy (as he kept proudly exclaiming like 'Jimmellfixit' - and yes he had a sign with it spelt like that!) at the Veng Thai Hotel bless him he was very enthusiastic and sorted out all the arrangements, 800bht for coach and boat. I even got walked to the check in point and then onto the bus! Was slightly dubious about an 8 hour coach ride overnight with a load of strangers - still very green to the traveling thing and still over suspicious of everyone! Got my [View Full Entry]

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The Journey...hadn't really paid much attention to various friends and relatives comments on 'how brave' i was being.... this has always been the ultimate dream for me, i've longed for this opportunity for over ten years and always was so focused on the going that hadn't really spent much thought on the actual getting on a plane by myself to a country where i knew no-one and having to work everything else out along the way, by myself. this didn't hit until i said goodbye to Dad at the departure lounge entrance and put my bags through the X-ray machine... [View Full Entry]

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