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Published: February 24th 2007
Travels around Samui
Emily & I in the jeep Since my last entry I have been in three separate countries so I better get cracking as I know how long I take to write these once I get started...
So the last port of call on my blog was the beautiful Phi Phi Islands where we then ventured onto the East coast of Thailnd to Koh Samui in order to be on the right side of the country for the full moon party which was being held on Friday the 2nd of February.
Unfortunately this journey took nearly a full day when we were told that it would take a few hours (a lot of hanging around took place) so after another day of busses and boats we arrived in the resort of Chaweng on Koh Samui and then spent the next two hours searching for accomodation within our price range whilst getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.
We had planned to spend a few days sunning ourselves in Samui before heading to Koh Pahgnan but unfortunately the weather was pap so we decided to hire a jeep for one of the days and take a look around the island to see what it had to offer. This
turned out not to be a fat lot and I would now liken Koh Samui to the UK's equivalent of Blackpool (appologies to those who live in Blackpool or like to holiday in Samui........ it would be pretty sad if you met both of that criteria though). In Koh Samui there are McDonald's, Burger King's, Boot's, Pizza Hut to name but a few and generally I have no problem with such establishments but it wasn't really what I was looking for when I decided to see a bit of the world and learn more about various cultures!!!
As mentioned in my last blog, I had (and still have) gammy eyes and as it was getting to be close to the two week mark I decided that I needed to get to the international hospital to get it looked at. The Doc gave me some eye drops and assured me that it would be cleared up in a few days. He lied. I still have it and it's been about FIVE weeks now but I will go into more details about that later but I have basically lost all faith in Asia's Doc's and am now waiting until I get
Sunset in Langkawi
from the Mutiara resort to Oz to get it looked at.... AGAIN!
After a few days amusing ourselves on Samui it was time to shoot to Koh Pahgnan. After a pleasantly short but very congested boat journey we arrived at this sunny islands and to our accomodation within about an hour (we had sense this time and pre-booked a room) only to find that the place we had reservations at was party central and was advertising a pool party for that very same evenig which we joined in with (I wore swimming goggles in the pool due to my manky eye and got a few strange looks)
The following two days were spent relaxing on the beach, around town and bumping into some farmiliar faces who we had met over the last few months which was great, but in order not to burn ourselves out for party night we kept in low key (getting old now... I can't handle these big nights out)
On the evening on the full moon party we met up with all the gang again and made our way to Hat Rin beach only to be greeted by thousands on revellers dancing (well, jumping about anyway) to
all manner of harcore music, but we were OK though as we found a spot that was blaring out some oldies so we were sorted. Due to the large numer of folk in our clan and the even larger number of people on beach it was really hard to keep everyone together which was a shame, but everyone had a good night whch was the main thing. Unfortunately I was weary by 3am so I made my way back to my room with some fried chicken and a bag of M&Ms whilst the others partied the night away (Kelly was double hard.... she made it in at 10am!)
After a day of recovery it was time for me to make a move on my own back to Koh Samui (joy) as the following day (Monday 5th) I was flying from there to Phuket and then cathcing a flight to Kuala Lumpur to meet Pete who was flying out from the UK to meet me for a couple of weeks bimbling around Malaysia.
This turned out to be quite an expereince for me anyway as by this point my eyes had gotten extremely blury so as you can imagine
trying to make your way from one Thai Island to another with hardly any vision was some challenge. Well, I did it and had a relaxing afternoon on my own on the beach and then in the evening a manicure and a rather dodgy hair removal experience which I won't share on this site!
At the airport the following day a group of folk from Manchester took me under their wing as I couldn't read any of the signs but I had to navigate myself around Phuket for a few hours which turned out to be quite comical (another laugh or cry moment), but no worries I thought, as soon I will be meeting Pete in Kuala Lumpur airport and then he can be my eyes until mine get better..... or so I thought......
On arriving at the airport and still not being able to make out peoples faces I plonked myself outside by the exit from arrivals waiting for Pete to find me. After an hour and a half I thought something was a bit funny as he hadn't made an appearance (his flight was supposed to get in before mine) so off I toddled to ask
Full Moon Fun
neon pics you csn have drawn on you someone about this mysterious flight which hadn't arrived. My first suspicion that something wasn't right was when I looked at the arrival board and there were only AirAsia flights on there (Hmmm, he was flying with Emirates). I then discovered from a lady in the terminal building that there is indeed TWO international airports on Kuala Lumpur (rediculous), which is when I made a quick dash over to the OTHER airport only to find that he wasn't there. Luckily we had made reservation for a hotel in KL which is where after hours of landing we eventually met.
Due to being fully booked we did get an upgrade to a rather posh room with a separate lounge and swish bathroom. Unfortunately we had only reserved a room for the first night and they didn't have any rooms for the second night so we had the task of finding another room which we did at the Crown Plaza Hotel. Once again on arriving they said that they didn't have any of the rooms which we had reserved but for the same price they were going to upgrade us to the 'Executive Suite'. Cracking we thought and then got on with
the day around KL as the room wasn't ready for us to check into just yet. Well, I wish they would have told us what the 'Executive Suite' was going to be like as I think that we would waited around for it to be ready as it turned out the be the BEST place either us have ever stayed!!!!
Basically it was like an appartment with two loo's, an amazing bathroom with a double sink, the best shower in the world, floor to celing windows with quality views of the city from our 26th floor. There were also sliding doors by the bath tub which when opened looked out through the bedroom out to the city..... we were definately spoiled! Can you tell how excited I was (am still am) about it????? I don't even think that's it's because I have had months of guest houses either. It was just amazing!!!!
The following day we got booted out the room at the usual time of 12noon so we had a snooze by the pool for a few hours only to wake up and see the one and only Sir Cliff Richard reading his book then taking a
Kuala Lumpur
similar to backpacker accomodation??? I think not! nap opposite us! Ha! I wasn't brave enough to ask him for his autograph (I don't think Pete would have let me anyway) but I did manage to take a sneaky picture of him catching flies. Pretty impressive hey???!!!?!?!!?
That evening we caught the over night sleeper train from KL (splashed out on our own cabin)up the coast to Butterworth and then a ferry over to Penang where we spent two nights. In Penang we caught the local bus (Pete's idea - those who know me well know I would always opt for a taxi!) anticlockwise round to the top of the island to the resort of Batu Ferranghi where we initially missed our stop and then had to get another bus back to. On our second day here we hired a driver through the travel agents for 6 hours and managed to see some of the sights of Penang (although there weren't many) and nearly managed to get into fisticuffs with the uncle of our driver (long story) but it was all sorted out in the end.
Earlier on in our trip we had decided to visit the island of Langkawi which is north of Penang so
Sir Cliff!
catching flies on the following day we hopped on a boat for the 2.5 hours crossing across the water and then onto the hotel which we had pre booked. Unfortunately our hotel was in the middle of nowhere (as in there was nowhere to walk to) so we hired a car for most of the days and managed to see the majority of the island in our time spent there. We did have our own private beach which was a treat, except for the water which was really murky (Pete wasn't happy that he couldn't use his snorkelling equipment - boo)
During our time on the island we visited many beautiful beaches which for the most part were practically deserted, a trip on the world's longest free span single rope cable car which offered us some spectacular scenery of the island (although I found it a scary ride as i'm not too hot with heights) and the Seven Well's Waterfall which was about 600 steps to the top which nearly killed me. When we had made it to the bottom of the steps after visiting the waterfall we bought ourselves an ice cream and made ourway back to the car only
Our carriage
Overnight sleeper to Butterworth to get ambushed by a gang of pesky monkeys who had decided that they wanted to have our sweet treats. Well, it reminded me of something you would see in a film where someone is walking along minding their own business and then a gang comes out of nowhere and mobs them (except this was with monkeys!). Scared to death of them attacking me I threw my lolly on the floor as one came running towards me and as I walked backwards away from a few of them I ended up treading on another monkey which screamed at me, which made me scream and then run back to the shop! In the end we couldn't get back in our hire car as they monkeys had decided that they were going to lie all over the roof and in the end the shop owner had to come out with a catapult which made them scarper quick sharp.
The highlight of Langkawi had to be on the one and only organised day trip that we did which was a snorkelling trip to a coral reef. Due to the cloudy waters that we had experienced so far in Langkawi we were a
Beautiful beach in Langkawi
one of the beaches we found bit sceptital about the 'crystal clear waters' that they advertised, but they were right and the waters were beautifully clear and the snorkelling was a real treat. Rather than wading into the water off the beach we decided to go for it off the jetti and within about ten minutes we had two baby sharks swim past us! At first I was in total shock as I didn't expect to have sharks swimming past me, but after a while I got used to them being there and they didn't hassle you as long as you didn't hassle them (rules to which I wasn't going to dare go breaking!) Along with the sharks there were baracuda (I saw a few baby ones) but there was one huge which swam right past my face which admittedly scared me a little and two grouper fish (stone fish) which Pete had to point out as I couldn't see them at first. Man, these fish are big.... and REALLY UGLY!!! Apparently another fish which won't bother you unless you bother it, but I didn't want to stick about to find out! During lunch the dive instructers fed the sharks and at one point I counted
view of cable car
Extremly high. no wonder I was scared! 9 which were around Pete which was awesome to see.
After 8 days in Langkawi it was time to make a move back to KL for Pete to catch his flight back to Brum and for me to meet up with the girls in order for my travels to continue and although we did toy with the idea of getting the overnight sleeper again we went with a flight as time wasn't really on our side, so on Sunday I sadly bidded Pete adieu and on Monday caught a bus with the girls out of Malaysia and into Singapore which is where I stayed for two days.
Singapore is a very beautiful place and a stark contraxt to other countries in South East Asia. It's clean, it's smart, it's EXPENSIVE!!!! Well, comparable to back home which is not good on my measly budget (I spent 4 days budget in 2 days). In the city we did the obligatory whistle stop tour of the city including going Raffles Hotel for their world famous 'Singapore Sling' cocktail (very nice..... so it's should be for 7quid!), the botanical gardens, Orchard Road (great shopping area. Would have been nice if I could
walkway by the cable car
From here you could see some amazing views of the island have bought something but I haven't the funds nor the room in my backpack!) and Clarke Key which is a lovely area on the water with very nice, but very pricey bars and restaurants.
On Wednesday evening I flew to Cairns in Australia to start the next amazing leg of my adventure and to top it off I met two of my Penk mukas in Singapore airport who are joining me for two weeks of travel down under! How exciting?!?!
So alas it is goodbye from South East Asia and G'day from Oz!!!!!!!!!!!
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Mom and Dad
non-member comment
Singapore Sling
Hi Lucy, Your Pic's are great, we do enjoy reading your Blog, every where looks amazing. Dad's impressed about the sharks etc. I would have loved to have a Singapore Sling in Raffles, looks like I will have to settle for a Stella down the pub. Enjoy Australia, keep writing. Love you loads Mom,Dad and Alan XXX