Thailand Islands and Malaysia

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Our second time in Thailand was very different to the first but It also started with a few days in Bangkok. This was like a familiar friend after a slightly negative feel to Cambodia. We stayed in a lovely new Hostel called Good One Hostel and Café. The owners were so friendly. We even got a few free drinks when the power went off on our floor. We didn't mind as we had stayed in a lot worse places that had electric.

We spent a few days exploring parks, massive malls and picking up our rail tickets. We were generally buying time until we got to travel to Koh Samui and start our ‘holiday’ with Sarah, a welsh girl we met in Africa who wanted to meet up with us again when we got to Thailand.

It was Bangkok that we also booked our flights to Australia and started filling out our Visa applications, not really the best order as we later found. I discovered that I needed my old passport number from when I entered Australia the first time. Not an easy task when I have no record of it and I’m halfway round the world. I emailed the passport office in Dublin and they helpfully suggested I should drop into their office as they can't give me the details over email. We decided to visit the Embassy in Bangkok as it was a lot closer than Dublin. When we got there it was actually closed!! We somehow were allowed to go to the 12th floor of the tower block to look for ourselves. The door was locked but there was still people inside. I thought that if anyone was going to let us in it would be the combination of the niceness of Thai-Irish. It was great to be back in Ireland after 5 months of traveling.

Koh Samui was amazing. It was just what we needed to de-stress and catch up with Sarah. We enjoyed the comforts of a Mecure hotel with an onsite pool and bar and the accompanying dry heat of the sun. For a welcome change we just lounged on the deck chairs around the pool. We loved catching up with Sarah. It was so good to share some of the things we had got up to and find out was life was like back home.
Koh Samui was also the place I discovered American fried rice. The thought of chicken, rice, sausage and tomato sauce mixed together sounds bad but it tasted a whole lot worse.
We also saw fire dancers performing on platforms on the beach and we walked home along the same beach in the dark with millions of stars above us.

Koh Tao was our favorite stops. It was so chilled out and the food, sea, beaches and island were amazing. Jodi and I joined a beginner course in open water diving which I expected to really enjoy but I just didn't really get it. I could get all the equipment setup and ready and I could dive quite well but I just found it a bit boring paddling around underwater. Saying that our dives were pretty perfect. The water was warm, crystal clear and there was loads of fish and plant life. It was bazaar sitting on the sea bed and looking up at 18m of water. The thought of dashing to the surface at any small issue is a hard one to handle.

After the course ended we rejoined Sarah for a spot of snorkeling. We hired a taxi boat for the day and circumnavigated the island stopping off at the best coral sites. The coral was amazing, full of so much colour and life. We saw a lot more fish than when we were diving. There were hundreds of zebra fish following us; swimming centimeters from us at all times.

Days later we made a short stop off at Koh Pha Ngan for some more beach time before leaving Sarah in Koh Samui and returning to the mainland to travel south on the late night train.

We made a pit stop at Gorge Town on Penang Island. Which is where the British Ruled Malay from back in the day. We expected some British Architecture but we were sadly disappointed. We travelled onwards by bus to Kuala Lumpur never quite knowing if we where being taken to the correct bus station.

Kuala Lumpur was pretty dull. We tried our best to explore but only the Petronas Twin towers and massive hillside monkey statue stood out. It wasn't lively or touristy which is very strange for a capital city.

We put all our energy into getting our Australia Visas here. We both had to get health checks and wait for a response from the border agency. This took forever, stressing us out a bit. Our flights to Sydney were only 4 days away when we both finally got approved. Kuala Lumpur became even less interesting now as we longed for our flights out.

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Comments

[Jayne]

❤️❤️❤️
Long time coming? But I love reading your blogs and the pics are amazing. Love and miss you both ???