Thailand Update

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Hi everyone

Apologies for being so slack with the group emails but things have been hectic (and overpriced!) on the beaches of Thailand. Almost a month of our trip has passed, the first two weeks went very slowly but the second two have flown. Until yesterday it's felt very much like a holiday from work rather than a big trip, but making the overland trip from bangkok to siem reap makes it finally feel like we're properly travelling now.

So here's what we've been up to:

Our first stop was Ko Lanta, which was prettier than i remembered, possibly because it was our first stop. It;s a lovely chilled out island and was a good place to get over our jetlag and relax for a few days. We were fairly lazy, especially because paul was still quite poorly. The most dynamtic we got was the day we hired a jeep and drove around the island.

Next stop was Ko Lipe, my favourite island in Thailand, and one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. It has grown dramatically in the last four years and now even has shops on the island! Our bungalow was practically on the beach and apart from mulititude of ants that liked to invade our room every few days was very peaceful. There's very little to do on Lipe apart from veg out, take a snorkelling trip or do some diving. We opted for the latter, and spent five of our eight days there diving. We both took the Advanced Open Water course and are now (supposed to be) much more competent divers, insured to dive to 30 meters. Obviously no diving was booked for the 18th March as we both knew we'd be nursing horrible hangovers. My 30th birthday (ek, ek, ek!) was spent proping up a
beach bar with some friends from our dive boat, drinking Thai WHiskey buckets. We had a fab night I think!

After Lipe we spent a day travelling up to Phi Phi. For those of you who don't know, Phi Phi is quite a developed island and whilst it is a beautiful place to pass some time it is such a change of pace from the other islands we visited. Our first impression was not good as we ended up in a very noisy guesthouse full of 12 year old pi$$heads. There were lots of drunk people wandering the streets and it seemed an awful long way from the quiet stolls down the beach in search of food and beer we'd become used to. The next day we moved to Gypsy Village, a collection of 25 bright pink bungalows set around a spacious garden (space in phi phi is very rare!) This was a much needed improvement. As the week went on and we became more used to the hustle and bustle we started to enjoy the nightlife a lot more and found some lovely bars, including one called the treehouse which was as the name suggests is in a treehouse. Whislt on Phi phi we did some more diving (racking those dive up!), took a brilliant sunset snorkelling trip that involved some pleasent kayaking (yes I know I said I'd never do it again!), made the hotter than hell trip up what seemed like a thousand steps to the viewpoint and soaked up the rays on long beach.

The final leg of our beach time was spent on a Similan island liveaboard. Having done the trip before in perfect conditions I was a little worried it would be a disappointment the second time around, and when we set off in a torrential storm on Sunday evening and were given sea sickness tablets 5 mins after we stepped onto the boat we both wondered what the hell we'd let ourselves in for! Thankfully after a sleepless, rocky first night the weather picked up and was perfect for the rest of the trip. We saw sharks, octopus, turtles, loads of beautiful fish and coral and lots of Manta Rays on our last dive. It was just perfect and just as good as my first trip. It sounds like we were very lucky with the conditions as the week before had been terrible in terms of visibility. I was just so pleased we got to see so any Manta Rays and so close!

Next stop is Cambodia and I think we're in for a very challenging journey over there!

Hope everyone is well. Please keep us posted with all the gossip back home because it's nice to know what everyone is up to

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Photos

Beautiful Ko Lipe
The beach outside our bungalow

We found Nemo!
Snorkelling off Pataya beach on Ko Lipe

Celebrating Andi's 21st Birthday
In Pooh bar on Ko Lipe with our dive buddies

Ko Phi Phi viewpoint
Worth the hike up the never ending steps!

Which way's up??
Paul decides to ignore gravity!

Comments

[Mum in Stretton]

Lovely photos!
The photos are brilliant! Stunning! All looks wonderful. Where are you now/next?