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Published: April 14th 2009
Toasting Bo Phut
Pete, Cathy, Maria and I sharing cocktails, and about to share the best Tuna steaks (with yum mash potato)Hi Everyone,
Welcome to the next instalment of our travel blog. (Feeling like Judith Charmers a bit here). Just so you know we are far far away from all the hassles in Thailand at the moment so no need to worry on that one.
Thailand (again) Ok, so from the last time we were on the marathon journey from Cambodia, into Thailand to the island of
Ko Samui. After a bus, mini bus, over night sleeper bus, bus terminal, ferry, wet tuk tuk ride and a 20 min walk we arrived in the beautiful
Bo Phut on the NE side of the island.
After ditching our bags and showering we headed for some much deserved food and beer at the nearby beach bars. Having just ordered hot sarnies Maria noticed someone in the next bar along the beach from us who was an absolute spit of our friend Pete (from London). To which I replied well if it is Cathy can't be far away.... and as if by magic! Incredible,, 10,000 miles away from home we bump into two good friends from London (Maria went to school with Cathy). None of us aware that we were going to
Hitting the Baize
Cathy lining up saying she'd never played much before, and beating us! be in the same country at the same time, let alone the same island, resort, street, bar! So for the next couple of days we had a great time with them playing pool, eating great food, drinking quite a few beers as well. The other great thing was that Pete and Cathy had travelled much of the areas we'd been to and about to go through as well, so even better to get excellent advice. The beach was pretty awesome too. Just to say again, thanks Pete & Cathy for the advice, postal service and loaning of gear! :-) (see pic of us all at the 'Shack' with cocktails).
So after waving bye to Pete & Cathy and loaded with a great place to stay at the next resort we headed to the ferry terminal to hop over to
Ko Phangan. An island about 20 mins away by speed ferry. A very bumpy 45 mins by tuk tuk later we arrived in
'Thong Nai Pan Noi' a cute little backpacker resort on the NE side of the island. We struggled a bit to find somewhere to stay because everywhere was full. The last resort had one place left,,, a
View from our Shed
On Ko Phangan at Thong Nai Pan Noi beach. Great waking up to this in the morning. small shack, more akin to a garden shed,,, but was only 6 quid a night and it looked over the bay, good enough for us. During the time here we got back together with nature,,, Maria was surprised by a snake crawling out of a tree during dinner; we had a lizard in the roof (inside) of our shed; several pet gecko's; and the lizard Maria scared into the toilet, next to the frog. The last day to really feel good we had an hour long massage on the beach, well Kev's was ok, Maria had a few bruises after hers.
An early start meant we were heading for the West coast, toward the town of
Krabi. We decided to stay in the cheaper
Ao Nang instead of Rai Lei beach as we'd hoped, though did make it there for a day on the great beach. A day trip to
Ko Phi Phi's fabulous beaches with snorkeling was great. Including 'The Beach' from "The Beach", we weren't the only one's there unfortunately. It turned interesting when during the last dive of the day a thunder storm arrived, turning the sea into 2 metre high swell and the hour ride
'The Beach'
Maya Beach from the film 'The Beach' on Ko Phi Phi island. With a couple of others there as mentioned. back to port very eventful,,, and wet!
All during this time we'd been having problems getting photo's off our camera, hence the delay on the blogs. Basically the Memory Card got a virus,,, so after 4 hours (Kev and his old school DOS magic) it was sorted.
Next we were going to go to an island called Ko Lipe, but because of the Thai holidays we couldn't get accommodation to headed further north to an island called
'Ko N'Gai'. A little known place with just one beach and not too much else. We made friends with a Polish lady called Dorota and her little daughter Anouska, who entertained us every day and taught us what Gecko was in Polish. Sorry, we can't remember what it is now! A lovely beach, lots of relaxing apart from a 'short' jungle trek to the best snorkeling area on the other side of the island. Where,, we woke up a swarm of mossies, to our cost. Lovely place though, hopefully it won't change too much in the years to come.
Malaysia From the islands we headed to the mainland, south and then west to avoid the troublesome area in the
Relaxing by the sea
Maria lazying in a hammock on the island of Ko N'Gai far south of Thailand. Another border, but this one we walked over with no problems. A taxi ride to the nearest town of
'Alor Star' and we had a problem. A 9 hour wait before the next bus to the East coast of Malaysia. So many games of cards, ice creams and books read we finally left. Kev made friends with a local guy on the bus who then invited both of us to his brothers wedding,,, would have been interesting crashing that one, but we didn't have time.
We were heading towards the
Perhentian islands, a nature reserve 20km of the coast. Again great beaches, awesome snorkeling,, we saw so many fish, a turtle, a sting ray and dozens of "Nemo's". More nature back at our bungalows in the form of 'Malaysian Water Monitor Lizards'. 5 foot long beasts that hung around under the walkway we had to go along to get to the beach. Also foot long Gecko's in the reception kept us amused.
Back to reality,,, after the great time on the islands we headed back to the mainland and
'Kota Bahru'. A very muslim area (not much beer), where we got several stares just
Gorgeous chalets
Perhentian Island of the East coast of Malaysia. walking around. Found out that the bus was fully booked to
Singapore, so had to spend another day in the quiet transport hub town. Watched a very bad copy of the latest James Bond film that skipped chapters, had dodgy sound so had to turn on the subtitles, only to find that the subtitles had been written by someone with not much English or a finger missing.
Next day,,ahhhh the bus to
Singapore! Vik and Rob already know this,,, but having left at 8pm we were making great time. By 2am we were half way there, getting some sleep,, great! When BANG.... a bit of a skid and no lights we stopped. Feeling a bit nervy, people got off to see that we'd actually hit,,,,,, a Cow. Poor Cow . The bus had not come off too well either. A ruptured radiator meant we were scuppered, especially when the bus driver confirmed another one would not turn up until 6am. So back on the bus and we slept til 6, then 7,, and tried to sleep til 8. Eventually then another bus did turn up, we moved all our stuff and got on that,,, to
Foot long Gecko
Gerald, looking cute,, and even better, catching the mossies. find it didn't work. Back to our bus, patched up somehow, we started again. At 10am. 8 hours wasted and still on the same bus! Another 8 hours after that and we just about arrived at the Singapore border... another bus ride from hell, and to top it off, a tropical rain storm hit so our bags in the hold got soaked too. Not that we're whinging,, honest.
Singapore So on Easter Monday we arrived in Singapore, after a 24 hour journey instead of the 14 hour. Basically losing us a day here, but not to worry. Our guesthouse is funky, small and has two cats that Maria has already fallen for.
Today we were up early and headed into town to Sentosa Island. A small theme park just 30 mins away on the truly brilliant MRT (Tube) system they have here. To get to the island there's a 10 min cable car ride that is really high. Great views over the city and harbour and we enjoyed a spot of Luging down the hill, great fun. In the afternoon we headed to
"Raffles" hotel for our obligatory 'Singapore Sling' cocktail and monkey nut shell tossing in the
Vertigo feeling?
Cable car from Singapore to Sentosa Island. Long Bar. Interlaced with all this were so many shopping malls. They're everywhere!
Another day sightseeing tomorrow and that's it for the whole of Asia. :-( Just over 2 months gone and we'll be heading to Perth, Australia. :-)
Hope you all had a great Easter and enjoyed the long weekend for those had one, with out too much chocolate.
Speak to you all soon
Maria and Kevin
PS - Quick shout out to Sara back in Norwich for her 30th Birthday, hope it was a good one.
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