woolster

There I was stood in Heathrow airport wondering how to get up to Manchester thinking 'If this was another country it would be so easy to find out the transport links' I went to the train station information desk, they didn't know times or costs of trains to Manchester, just the time of the next underground tram. I got some sterling, £100, that wouldn't last long, and found the real airport info. I decided to get the train as it was quicker than the bus. Even still I had to take the underground into London (it took over an hour) then the train from there up to Manchester, you would have thought they would have a better transport system really. I got off the train at Manchester Piccadilly and expected to see my parents waiting ... read more

I arrived at Ko Tao in the afternoon, got off the ferry then caught a shared taxi to Buddha View Dive Resort in Ao Cahlok Ban Kao. A friend of mine, Jo, who I had met in New Zealand was there and had been doing her Advanced Open Water course. I arrived at reception and spoke to a guy named Tom. He said I could start my Open Water Course tomorrow so I would have an induction talk at 4-30pm that day. They didn't have anywhere for me to stay at Buddha View but there were some rooms just round the corner at Tropicana. I checked into my room. It was really nice, it had a double bed and a single bed, it's own bathroom and a balcony. I opened the balcony door to let ... read more

We got to Ko Pha Ngan late so spent the night at the town where the ferry dropped off. The next morning we caught a shared taxi to Haad Rin, home of the full moon party. We found accomodation in 'Same, Same but Different' guesthouse then went down to the beach. I was really suprised by how nice the beach was, though it was very busy, especially with Swedish and Israelies. It was coming up to half moon, we wouldn't be here for for full moon, but there was still many parties going on. The first night we stayed up until 2am when England were playing a qualifiying game against Israel. I had some M150 (concentrated redbull like drink) to keep me awake for it! Most days were spent down by the beach working on ... read more

We pulled into the bus depot just outside Siem Reap in the early evening. The large gates of the depot were closed behind the bus as we entered. Our bags were unloaded, before the gates were opened again. At which point about 100 Cambodians came running through the gates towards the bus all shouting. They were Tuk-Tuk drivers. They all had cards reading "Go anywhere for 100 riel". We wanted to get our bearing and work out where we were but it was impossible. They kept tugging at our shirt sleeves and shouting constantly. We had to make a decision, which Tuk-Tuk driver to go with. Mr Sovann won the job! He quickly guided us to his Tuk-Tuk, a moped with trailer, fighting off the rest of the drivers who sill thought we might change ... read more

We left Mui Ne on the 2pm bus arriving in Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City to use its official name, at around 6pm. A little old lady wanted to show us her guesthouse when we got off so we took a look, wasn't great so we made our excuses and left, the end of it? No. She followed us out and tailed us into a different street where she would run upto the next guesthouse where upon arrival it would be full, hmm suspect! This happened at about 3 or 4 places so we were starting to get pissed off by this point. So while she was 'showing' Matt a place that we both knew was to expensive, I took the opportunity to sneak into another place and get a price, it was okay so ... read more