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Thursday 2 June: I arrived in Sydney at 11.40 am and my flight to Bangkok would leave at 4.55 pm so I had some time to kill. I had 50 Australian dollars left from my time in Australia and I wanted to spend them on a new bag or trimmer at duty free. Stupid enough I forgot to put the money in my hand luggage in Nadi (Fiji) so I couldn’t access it in Sydney. I went to Mc Donald’s for some food and there was free Wi-Fi so I went on the internet. Then the plane left at 4.55 pm and I arrived in Bangkok at Suvarnabhumi International Airport at 11.15 pm. I got my luggage and Joella was already waiting for me. We went outside and I immediately felt that is was very humid. We took a taxi for 400 bath to a small street close to the famous Khaosan Road in the centre of Bangkok and checked in in a guesthouse called Happy House. I dropped my bags, changed clothes and then we went to Khaosan Road where I tried 2 different Thai beers called Singha and Chang. We went to bed around 4 am.
Friday 3
June: we woke up at noon, because we stayed up very late the night before. We went for breakfast at a place 2 streets away from our guesthouse and had an omelette and bacon on toast and a pineapple shake. Then we went shopping, because Joella needed a new scarf and I needed a new rug sack and new flip-flops. We went to different shops, but buying things in Thailand is a pain in the ass. Every time you have to bargain things down and that takes a lot of time. We didn’t buy anything that day and walked over the Khaosan Road to see how it looked during the day. I checked out a sports bar, cause I wanted to watch the two semi-finals of the French Open (Roland Garros) Nadal-Murray and Federer-Djokovic. I found a place called Gulliver’s Traveler’s Tavern on Khaosan Road and on our way back to the guesthouse we bought water and crisps at 7-eleven (shops you see everywhere in Thailand). There was free Wi-Fi in our guesthouse so I went on the internet and just before the tennis match started, Joella and me went to to Gulliver’s Traveler’s Tavern to have dinner there and
I ordered spaghetti Bolognese. We watched the first match between Nadal and Murray and after that we walked to our guesthouse. I also watched Djokovic-Federer till the end, but Joella was too tired and already went to bed.
Saturday 4 June: we woke up around noon again, because the matches didn’t finish till late at night. We went for breakfast at a different place today. I took scrambled eggs on toast again and a mango shake that didn’t really taste like mango. We brought our laundry to a shop down the street, bought a map of Bangkok in the guesthouse, I bought a sim card (one-2 –call) at 7-eleven and then we took a long tail boat (full of locals and for only 14 bath) at Phan Fa. The boat took us to Siam Square where we went to a big shopping mall called Central World Plaza. We bought tickets for the movie “The Hangover 2”. We really wanted to see this movie in Bangkok, because that is where the movie was filmed. “The Hangover 1” was my favourite movie so far, so I was really looking forward to see the second part. We found out that the movie
would start at 5 pm, so we had some time to do grocery shopping in a supermarket nearby. I bought an apple and a peach and fresh orange juice and then we went to see the movie. It was awesome and it’s hard to say which part I like better. After the movie, we wanted to take the same long tail boat back to our guesthouse, but we found out that there were no more boats going. Taking a taxi or a tuk tuk was also not an option as it was rush hour around 7 pm. That is why we decided to go for a walk and it took us about 3 hours to come home. On the way we stopped for some Thai food at a local restaurant where a lot of children were working (it’s all possible in Thailand). We took fried prawns and rice and when we came home we went out to Khaosan Road again. First we went to a bar where they showed football (England-Switzerland) and after that again to the bar where we were on Thursday called “Center Khao Sarn” (24 hours open).
Sunday 5 June: We went back to the same
place where we had breakfast on Friday and I took muesli with yoghurt, milk and fruit. Then Joella and me walked passed the National Arts Gallery, the National Theatre and the National Museum. After that we passed the Grand Palace, that was closed for tourist that day and finally we arrived at Wat Po, where we saw the big lying Buddha and a lot of temples. We picked our laundry up at 1 pm and brought some new laundry (first colours, this time whites). Then we went to a travel agency where we picked up our tickets (night train Bangkok-Surat Thani, bus Surat Thani-Krabi and boat Krabi-Ko Phi Phi Don) to go to Ko Phi Phi Don. We got some new credit for our phones at 7-eleven and then we took a long tail boat at Tha Phra Athit over the Chao Phraya River to the State Tower. We went to the Sky Bar, which is the highest open bar in Bangkok and enjoyed a spectacular view over the city. We took a taxi back and arrived just in time for the final of the French Open between Nadal and Federer at 8 pm. We watched it till the end
and I was happy that Nadal won the title and he is now tied with Bjorn Borg as the only player who has won the French Open 6 times.
Monday 6 June: we went back to our favourite breakfast place where I had an omelette with cheese, bacon and vegetables and a pineapple shake. We checked out and left our luggage in a storage room. I bought flip-flops and a rug sack and Joella and me went for a massage. Joella did a Thai massage and I chose for a Swedish oil massage, both for half an hour. We picked up our laundry and then we went to Wat Indrawihan where we saw the big standing Buddha. We walked back to our guesthouse, took our bags and took a long tail boat again from Tha Phra Athit to the Bangkok Railway Station (Hua Lam Phong). Our train left Bangkok at 5.25 pm to Surat Thani and we would travel overnight. We had chicken and rice and cashews for dinner in the train and in the evening our seats were changed into beds. We went to bed early, because we would arrive in Surat Thani at 5.48 am.
Tuesday
7 June: we arrived in Surat Thani at 5.48 am and from there we took a bus to Krabi. We arrived in Krabi and from there we took a boat to Ko Phi Phi Don, where we arrived around 3 pm. We met a Spanish guy on the boat called David and a girl from Belgium. When we arrived in Ko Phi Phi Don we had to pay 20 bath for a clean-up of the island. We arrived in Ton Sai Bay and walked all the way to Loh Dalum Bay where we found a cheap guesthouse called Golden Hill. We found a double room with fan and cold shower for 400 bath. We checked in, dropped our bags and went to the viewpoint where you had a great view over Ton Sai Bay, Loh Dalum Bay and Ko Phi Phi Ley. Then we walked to the beach at Loh Dalum and we went for a swim. We went back to our guesthouse, had a shower, changed clothes and went for a pizza and a pineapple/vanilla ice shake. In the evening we went to two beach bars called Slinky and Apache after buying some beers at 7-eleven and enjoyed a
fire show.
Wednesday 8 June: Joella and me booked 2 more nights in the same guesthouse, went for breakfast (American breakfast: tea, pineapple juice, toast with scrambled eggs) and booked a half day snorkelling trip to Ko Phi Phi Ley. We had to gather in front of the shop where we booked the snorkel trip at 1.50 pm, got lunch and a bottle of water there and left toward s the long tail boat that would bring us to Ko Phi Phi Ley at 2 pm. When we arrived at Ko Phi Phi Ley we went to monkey beach first, where we fed the monkey’s bananas. Then we went to Viking cave and after that we went for a swim at Ao Phi Ley. Next stop was Ao Maya where we did some snorkelling and I saw a moray eel. Finally we went to ‘’The Beach” where the movie from Leonardo di Caprio was filmed. On the way back I found out that my phone got wet and didn't work anymore, so when we came back at 6.30 pm I bought a package of rice to try to bring the phone back to life. We went for dinner at
the same place where we had breakfast. We had grilled pepper steak fish fillet with baked potato and salad. After dinner we went back to the same two beach bars Slinky and Apache like the night before.
Thursday 9 June: Joella and me went to Long Beach after breakfast. A nice long beach about half an hour walking from our guesthouse. We went for a swim there, laid in the sun and then we walked back to our guesthouse. We took a shower, changed clothes and went for dinner in one of the streets near our guesthouse where there were lots of restaurants. We had pepper steak with French fries and salad. When we walked back to the guesthouse we ate a pancake with nutella and banana. I put my other phone that already broke in Newcastle, Australia and my iPod that broke on Ko Phi Phi Don in rice and then I went on the internet, because the guesthouse had free Wi-Fi. We packed our bags and went to bed.
Friday 10 June: we went for breakfast before checking out and had muesli with yoghurt, fruit and milk. I went on the internet again for a bit.
Then we checked out, walked to the pier and had to be there at 10 am, because our Songserm boat to Krabi would leave at 10.30 am. We arrived in Krabi around 12 pm, took the bus from Krabi to Surat Thani at 12.30 pm and arrived in Surat Thani at 3.30 pm. Then we took another Songserm boat from Surat Thani to Ko Samui at 4 pm and arrived in Ko Samui at 5.30 pm. At the boat Joella became very ill, she had acute tonsillitis (tonsels were infected) There we took a songtaew (sort pick-up truck) for 100 Bath each to Lamai on the orther side of the island. We wanted to stay there, because it was less loud and touristy then Chaweng, but there were still enough restaurants, bars and a nice beach. Like every time in Thailand we compared the prices and looked at the different guesthouses before we made our choice. We checked in in a nice guesthouse called Big Bell Bungalow where we would stay for the next 4 night for 400 Baht per night (which is 200 Bath per person). After dropping our backpacks we went for dinner and had pad Thai. After
dinner we went back to the guesthouse and I watched the Stanley Cup ice hockey final between the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins.
Saturday 11 June: I woke up around 9 am, send some text messages with my Thai number, walked through the main street to look for a hair cutter, a place to do laundry, motor bike rentals, 7-eleven, a travel agency to book a boat ticket to Ko Phangan and a doctor and pharmacy for Joella. Then I went to Lamai beach, where I went for a swim, laid in the sun, took some pictures and walked along the beach. Then I arranged tickets for the boat to Ko Phangan and for a trip the next day to Ang Thong National Marine Park. After that I went to the hair cutter. After having mushroom soup and chicken salad for dinner I met up with the Canadians (Lyndon and Dillon) that I met at the boat/snorkel trip to Ko Phi Phi Ley. We met again in an Irish sports bar where I wanted to watch the semi-finals of the Men's tennis tournament in Queens. The Canadians where watching ice hockey there. We went to watch Thai boxing
at a bar called Mama's Bar.
Sunday 12 June: I had to be ready this morning at 7.30 am to be picked up for my Ang Thong trip, but at 7.50 nobody showed up. That is why I walked to the travel agency where I booked it and at that moment the taxi arrived at my guesthouse. The lady that owned the travel agency, brought me on the back of her motorbike back to my guesthouse, but unfortunately the taxi couldn't wait and was already gone. I change my ticket so I could go to Ang Thong the next day and Joella and me decided to rent motor bikes for that day. First we had scrambled eggs and fruit juice as breakfast as usual at 9 am and then we rented motor bikes at 10 am. We got a helmet with it and rented the motor bikes for 24 hours for 200 Baht each. We drove around the whole island and stopped at a few places like 7-eleven for water and credit for my phone, a petrol station, a waterfall, a big shopping mall called Big C where we went to KFC, a big Buddha, Chaweng beach and finally
we came back in Lamai again. We picked up our laundry and brought the motor bikes back. At 8.30 pm I met the Lyndon and Dillon again in the Irish sports bar and we wanted to watch the men's tennis final in Queens, but unfortunately the play was suspended due to rain. We bought some beers at 7-eleven and walked up and down the main street and sat down on a bench. Here we met a German boy called Moritz and a girl called Elena and they joined us. We all went to a night market and were amused about the fact that everybody in Thailand wants to sell you something and is interested in you because you are a tourist. They try to sell you the most crazy things for crazy high prices and people on the street scream: "massage" or ""taxi" or "tuk tuk". Lady boys try to look at you and want sex with you and waiters try to pull you in their bars.
Monday 13 June: I woke up early again for my trip to Ang Thong and this time the minibus was on time to pick me up. The minibus brought me to Na
Thon pier and from there I went on a boat to Ang Thong. We first got croissants, banana's and tea for breakfast on the boat and the whole day coffee, tea and soft drinks were included. Ang Thong is a National Marine Park and consists of 42 islands with coral reefs, white sandy beaches and forests. They were a harbour for pirate ships before, but now they are used as a training base for the Thai Navy. First we went to an island called Mae Koh (known from the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo di Caprio), where we climbed to a viewpoint and we saw a beautiful green lake. We had the opportunity to go kayaking, but I didn't do it, because that was much more expensive. I took some beautiful pictures and then we got back on a long tail boat that brought us back to our big boat. We arrived just in time for lunch: rice, potato, chicken and pineapple. Then we went to another island called Mue Koh, where we went to a beautiful cave called Tham Buabok. It was quite a difficult climb to reach the cave and on our way we saw monkey's. When we
came back from the cave, I went snorkelling, but there wasn't much to see so I went for a swim instead. We went back to our big boat with a long trail boat and made our way back to Na Thon pier on Ko Samui. From there a minibus brought me back to Big Bell Bungalow and I was back around 6 pm. Then Lyndon, Dillon, Moritz, Elena, Joella and me all went for dinner to a nice restaurant where we all ordered spaghetti carbonara. After that we went to the 7-eleven to buy some beers (Chang/Thai beer) and went to a street with some pubs. Then Moritz, Elena and Joella went home and I followed Lyndon and Dillon to their guest house. After a while they went to bed and I walked back to my guest house.
Tuesday 14 June: Joella and me checked out, got picked up at 9.40 am by a minibus and were brought to Na Thon pier where we went on a Songserm boat to go to Ko Phangan. In Na Thon we had enough time to quickly eat a ham and cheese baguette and then our boat left at 11 am. We already
arranged a guest house in Ko Phangan when we were in Surat Thani, because it gets really busy on Ko Phangan around the Full Moon Party and then it's hard to find accommodation. We would stay at a place called Laem Son 1, where we would sleep in a bungalow right on the beach. We paid already for a songtaew that would bring us from the pier to Laem Son 1. We should arrive in Thong Sala at 11.45 am, but our boat had a delay and that’s why the songtaew from Laem Son 1 was already gone. On the boat I made a call to Laem Son 1 to tell them that we would be late, but they didn't pick up the phone. When we arrived at the pier we had to arrange our own transport and another songtaew brought us to Laem Son for 150 Bath each. When we arrived we asked if they could pay us the 150 Bath back, because it was not our fault that the boat was late. Strange enough they said no, so we were very surprised and not amused. The good thing was that this guesthouse had the best view from all
the places we stayed so far. We were on a white sandy beach, with palm trees and the sea right in front of us. I slept for 3 hours in the afternoon and after dinner I went on the internet (free Wi-Fi) and had two beers (Leo/ Thai beer) with a Belgian guy who was staying two bungalows next to us.
Wednesday 15 June: I started with the same breakfast as usual: scrambled eggs and pineapple-juice, but this time the eggs came with onion and tomato. Joella and me went for a walk and bought water, crisps and credit for our phones in a 7-eleven store. We also compared the prices for a boat ticket to Ko Tao at different travel agencies. Then we looked for some restaurants and went in a shop to look for new swimming pants. When we came back in Laem Son 1 I watched the two movies “Functioneel Naakt” and “Tegen Beter Weten In”( from Theo Maassen) on YouTube with Joella. I had cordon bleu with mashed potato and salad for dinner and after that I worked on my blog and photos and skyped with my mom.
Thursday 16 June: after having muesli
with yoghurt and fruit for breakfast I uploaded my travel blog and pictures from Fiji. We walked to 7-eleven, where we bought ice-cream. I asked a few songtaew drivers how much they would charge to bring 8 people to the Full Moon Party and back. I met one driver who wanted to bring us for 100 Bath a person one way and after that another one that charged 87,50 Bath one way. I put the drivers’numbers in my cell phone. After that I bought the pink Billabong swimming pants I saw the day before and then we walked back to Laem Son 1. I ordered a ham/cheese/egg baguette for lunch, went on the internet and worked on my blog again. Joella went to buy boat tickets for us to go to Ko Tao, but we were unfortunate, because the Songserm tickets were already sold out. That's why we had to buy more expensive tickets for a boat called Lompraya. Around 7 pm we went for dinner at another place in a street just outside Laem Son 1 and we ordered a pepper steak with French fries and salad. Then we walked back to Laem Son 1, I took a shower,
changed clothes and Joella and me had a few beers with some people we met at Laem Son 1 and that were also going to the Full moon party: a Turkish guy from Holland called Taner, a Russians couple that lives in Germany: Vitaly and Lena, 2 guys from Houston Texas: Joseph and Michael and a Belgian guy who lives in London called Caleb. Around 10.45 pm I called the cheapest taxi and he brought us to the Full Moon Party. The Full Moon Party is on Haad Rin Beach on the south of Ko Phangan and every month when it's full moon 20.000-30.000 people party on the beach until sunrise. I painted "Pas op drempels" in orange on Vitaly’s chest, an orange star on Taner's forehead and somebody painted my name in orange on my arm. We bought some big Chang beers at 7-eleven and partied on the beach. At a certain point I fell asleep at the party between 3 and 6 am and woke up again when Joella and Taner tried to call me. I met them again and I called the same songtaew driver that brought us to the party. He brought us back to Laem
Son 1 for 100 Bath each.
Friday 17 June: I woke up around noon and then Joella and me went for a swim in the sea. After that we had a club sandwich with French fries for lunch. Then the power in the whole resort fell out and there was no internet. I was still very tired from the Full Moon Party and slept the first part of the afternoon in a hammock and the second part in my bed, when the power was working again and I was able to put the fan on. Then we went for dinner around 7 pm and we had schnitzel and mashed potato and salad. After dinner we played Texas Holdem Poker with Vitaly, Lena, Daniel, Joseph and Michael. We went to bed early, because we had to check out the next day and had to leave to Ko Tao.
Saturday 18 June: we woke up around 9 am, had scrambled eggs on toast with tomato and onion and orange juice for breakfast and checked out before 10.30 am. A songtaew brought us to Thong Sala pier at 11 am and our Lompraya boat left at 1 pm to Ko Tao.
We arrived in Ko Tao at 2.50 pm in Mae Haad. From there we got a free ride with a golf car to Ban's Diving Resort in Sairee Beach, where I was going to do my advanced open water diving course. With this course we got 1000 Bath discount on our accommodation, because one night in a double room with tv, hot shower and airco normally costs 1000 Baht, but we had to pay 500 Baht per night for the first 2 nights. The diving course cost 8500 Bath and included 5 dives, 3 on the first day and 2 on the second day. You also got a book about diving and they would send my diving license to my home address in 4-6 weeks. After we checked in in the nicest room we stayed so far, we went for a walk through a street parallel with the beach where we found a 7-eleven, ATM's, travel agencies and restaurants. I went to an ATM first. After that we compared some prices of a combination of a boat/train ticket to Chumphon/Bangkok/Chang Mai and bought the cheapest one. Then we ate a pizza in a restaurant and we went to bed early,
because I had to start my diving course the next day at 9.30 am.
Sunday 19 June: I woke up at 8 am, had scrambled eggs and mango juice for breakfast and went to the reception at 9.30 am. There we got our diving book. Our instructor was a 25-year old guy from Sweden called Magnus and in our group we had one guy from England, one from Ireland, one from Canada, one guy from Austria and a girl from France. The instructor started with explaining what we were going to do the next two days and he gave us more information about how to navigate during diving. He wrote his 7 golden rules on a white-board and also 7 important things for natural navigation. Then we took some compasses and went onto the beach to navigate while using a compass. First we tried reciprocal heading, which meant we had to go with 5 steps in a certain direction. After that we had to turn the ring on the compass 180 degrees and come back in the same direction with 5 steps. Next exercise: we had to make a square, starting for example in an angle of 30 degrees,
taking 5 steps with your buddy (my buddy was Justin from England) in that direction. Then we had to turn the ring of the compass to 120 degrees and take 5 steps in that direction. We had to repeat the same thing turning the ring of the compass to 210 degrees and finally 300 degrees. We had a lunch break of 1 hour between 11.30 pm and 12.30 pm, so I quickly bought 2 ham and cheese sandwiches at 7-eleven. We met again at 12.30 pm outside the reception and first went to get our diving gear. We collected a BCD, fins and a mask and put all our stuff in a bag. Then we went with a songtaew to the pier where we went on a big diving boat. We went to our first diving spot called “Chumphon pinnacle” where we did our deep dive of 30 meters first. The visibility was great (20-30 meters like every dive) and we saw yellow tail barracuda’s, groupers, nemo and sweet lips. After 40 minutes (like every dive) we came back on the boat and went to our second diving spot called “Red Rock” where we did our navigation dive. After that
we came back to the pier at Mae Haad where we all went for dinner and I had a Panini Parisian. Then we went for our last dive of the day and something totally different, a night dive. We went to a spot called “White Rock” and we saw a squid, some great barracuda’s, a giant crab and a blue spotted stingray. At a certain point my torch broke, so I saw nothing but darkness which was quite scary. Then we all sat down on the bottom and put our torches out for a few minutes. If you moved your hand in front of your face you saw green coloured plankton and that looked really amazing. We returned back to the pier, then with a songtaew back to Ban’s Diving Resort and we put our bags with gear in a storage room. Then I took a shower and went to bed.
Monday 20 June: I woke up at 6.30 am, had breakfast and we were meeting again at 7.30 am for the last two dives. We took our bags and a songtaew brought us to the pier again. We went on the big diving boat, prepared our gear first
(like every dive) and then went to the upper deck for our briefing. The first dive was at “Twins” and we did fish identification. The second dive was at “White Rock” like the night dive and I learned perfect buoyancy. Then we came back to the pier again and we went back to Ban’s Diving Resort. First we washed all our gear and then we had to do some final paperwork. We wrote all the dives down in our dive log, Magnus had to sign all our dives and we also needed stamps for every dive from Ban’s Diving Resort. Then I had to present 2 photos for my diving licence. I got a temporary one which is valid for 3 months and the official one will be send home to the Netherlands within 4-6 weeks. Then I went to my room to take a shower and changed clothes. After that Joella and me met up with the Lyndon and Dillon again and we had a cheeseburger and French fries for lunch. Then we bought some water and beers at 7-eleven and chilled out at the beach. We met up with the Moritz and Elena for dinner and went to
a lady boy show in the evening.
Tuesday 21 June: I woke up at 9.30 am, took a shower, went to the ATM, paid for my diving course and the accommodation, got my bags and at 11 am we had to check out. Then Joella and me walked to a restaurant where there was free Wi-Fi and we had breakfast there. We took some final pictures and at 2 pm we had to be at a place where we got picked up with something which looked like a motorbike to go to the Songserm pier. Our boat left at 2.30 pm and arrived in Chumphon at 6 pm. From there we got picked up by a bus that brought us to the railway station. Our train would leave at 11.23 pm so we had enough time to go for dinner. We had garlic bread and spaghetti bolognaise for dinner and I went on the internet. Then we walked to the railway station and we took the night train to Bangkok.
Wednesday 22 June: we arrived in Bangkok at 9 am in the morning and we put our bags for one full day in a storage room at the
railway station Hua Lam Phong for 100 Baht. Then we avoided all the crazy taxi and tuk tuk drivers and took a free bus (53) to Phra Athit Road near Khaosan Road and close to the guesthouse (Happy House) where we stayed before in Bangkok. Then we asked if Lyndon and Dillon were staying in Happy House, because we recommended that guesthouse to them. Unfortunately they weren’t so we went for breakfast at our favourite place in Bangkok. Then we went to some travel agencies to find out how many days it would took us to go to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. We found out that we needed at least 3 days and that would mean we would have only 2 days in Chiang Mai. We decided to go for a longer time to Chiang Mai (because we wanted to do a lot of activities there) and to come back later in the future to see Angkor Wat. Then we walked to 7-eleven to buy water and credit for my phone and then to Phan Fa to take a long tail boat to Siam Square to do some shopping there. Joella wanted to look for a new watch and a
new bag and I needed a trimmer and an Ipod. First we went to a shopping mall called Phanthip Plaza where you could buy electronics and that is where I bought my trimmer. Then we walked to another shopping mall called MBK, where Joella bought a Guess watch and I bought an iPod Nano. Then we took a long tail boat back to Phan Fa and we walked back to Happy House, where I went on the internet. We had spaghetti carbonara for dinner and watched Wimbledon. Then we took bus 53 to Hua Lam Pong, because our night train to Chiang Mai would leave at 10 pm. First we got our bags from the storage room and then we went into the train at 9.30 pm. We already chose what we wanted to have for breakfast and went to sleep at 10 pm
Thursday 23 June: I slept until 9 am and then Joella and me had fruit, sandwiches with ham and cheese, tea and juice for breakfast. The train should have arrived in Chiang Mai at 12.45 pm, but we had a delay of 3 hours, because the train in front of us had problems with the
engine. We took our bags and went straight to the tourist information. We wanted to go to Julie’s guesthouse, but we heard that guesthouse was full so we asked what would be another good guesthouse. They recommended S.K. House. We got a free ride and checked the rooms and asked for the prices. We wanted to compare first and walked around the area, but decided that we wanted to stay in S.K. House for the next 4 nights. After dropping our bags in our 250 Baht room we went to a couple of travel agencies to ask how much the activities would cost us for the next days. I wanted to do a one day trek (including hill tribe village, elephant riding, lunch, walk to a waterfall and swim there, white water rafting and bamboo rafting) and Flight of the Gibbon (zip trek in the jungle). Joella wanted to do the one day trek too, but she wanted to do one day elephant training instead of Flight of the Gibbon. Then we went to a Mexican restaurant to have a chicken burrito for dinner and after that to a sports bar called Thai 1 On to use free Wi-Fi and
watch Wimbledon. That bar closed at 1 am and Federer still had to play his match so I went to a bar called Smile bar till 4 am to watch Federer.
Friday 24 June: I slept until noon, took a shower, had scrambled eggs with bacon and a pineapple juice for breakfast and then we went to some other travel agencies to compare prices of one day trekking and Flight of the Gibbon. We also wanted to go one day to Wat Doi Suthep, which is the most imported temple in the north of Thailand, 16 km outside of the city and on the top of a mountain. We compared the prices of songtaew’s and motor bike rentals, because we needed transport to get there of course. Then I went to an ATM and after that we booked our activities and bus to Bangkok with a travel agency called Aura. Suddenly it started to rain heavily and Joella and me went back to our guesthouse. I cleaned my bags and worked on my travel blog. At 6 pm we went for dinner and after that we went back to Thai 1 On to watch Wimbledon at 7 pm.
Saturday 25 June: Joella and me woke up at 7 am, had scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast, bought water at 7-eleven and we had to be at travel agency Aura at 8.15 am. We got picked up by a songtaew at 8.30 am to go on a one day trek. We first drove to a hill tribe village, where we saw the long necks (they have golden rings around their neck to protect them against tigers), long ears and Mien Yao (they wear a special coat). These tribes all come from Burma and they came to Thailand, because of the war in their own land. We took some pictures and watched their primitive lifestyle. Then we went to the jungle where we stopped for elephant riding for one hour. After that we had rice and emo-egg for lunch and then we went for a a walk for one hour in the jungle to a high waterfall, where we went for a swim. We walked back for one hour and went to a river where we started with white water rafting for 45 minutes. Then we did bamboorafting for 15 minutes and then a songtaew brought us back to our
guesthouse in Chiang Mai. We went for dinner at a place where we went for breakfast every time and had a mushroom and onion steak with French fries for dinner. Then I went to the bar Thai 1 On again to watch Wimbledon, but they closed early, because the next day it was election day. I tried to find some other bars to see if they showed tennis, but everything closed around 1 am.
Sunday 26 June: I woke up around noon, had fried potato, scrambled eggs, juice and tea for breakfast and went to travel agency Aura at 1 pm, to get picked up by a minibus to go to the jungle. I was going to do Flight of the Gibbon, which is zip trekking in the jungle: 39 platforms, 2 abseils, sky bridges and the longest zip line in the world (5 kilometre). It was awesome! I made some wicked movies and pictures and when we were finished, there was a dinner ready for us: rice, chicken, potato and vegetables. Then we got a free T-shirt and were brought back to our guesthouses in Chiang Mai by songtaew. In the evening I went to bed early, because
there was no tennis at Wimbledon and I was very tired.
Monday 27 June: Joella and me woke at 9 am, had a shower, packed our bags, checked out at 10 am and went for breakfast: muesli with yoghurt and fruit and a pineapple/banana smoothie. Then we brought our bags to travel agency Aura and took a songtaew to Doi Suthep, the most important temple in the north of Thailand, on top of a mountain, 16 km outside of the city. We took some amazing pictures and returned back to Chiang Mai with the same songtaew who had been waiting for us. Then we spend our last hours in Thai 1 On, where we had some drinks and we both took battered fish (snapper) with French fries for dinner. Then we had to be at Aura between 6 and 6.30 pm where we got picked up by minibus. The minibus brought us to the big bus that brought us to Bangkok. We would arrived around 5.30 am in Bangkok.
Tuesday 28 June: we arrived around 6.30 am (1 hour delay) in Bangkok near Kaosan Road, took our bags and went to Happy House to check in for our
last night in Bangkok. We dropped our bags in the guesthouse and went to Kaosan Road for some drink sand to see what was going on there. Some bars are 24 hours open and it is funny to see how some people are drunk and still partying, while others are having breakfast and going to work. After 3 drinks we went to our favourite breakfast place in Bangkok, where I had a chicken baguette and a pineapple shake. Then we went to bed for a few hours and woke up around noon again. We walked to the Grand Palace where we took some amazing pictures of temples, Buddha’s and the Kings Palace. We had to change close first, because we were not allowed to go in with shorts and naked shoulders, so I rented pants and Joella a shirt. The Grand Palace closed at 4 pm, but it started to rain very hard all of a sudden and we waited until it was dry. Then we walked back to Happy House, but first I bought a ticket for a minibus to the airport for the next day. Then we went for dinner in a restaurant a few doors away from
our guesthouse and we had pizza. After that I showered, changed clothes and took a tuk tuk (my first one) to a Ping-Pong show. People recommended me to go to a place called Pathphong and the price for a show would be 300 Bath. The tuk tuk driver told me that if I wanted to go to a legal show it was 800 Bath, the 300 Bath show was a lady boy show and I was not really interested in that. It was my last night in Bangkok so I decided to pay the money and go. I arrived in a really dodgy neighbourhood and I didn’t feel comfortable at all. The place the tuk tuk driver dropped me looked like a normal house, and there were some old people sitting outside. The tuk tuk driver told me there were 15 shows the whole night long and he would wait for me outside. I went in, paid the money and saw some crazy shows. One girl was shooting Ping-Pong balls out of her vagina into a glass bowl, another girl was drinking water out of her vagina, another one took razerblades out of her vagina, the next one was cracking
a bottle with her vagina, another one was smoking and so on. Every hour they repeated the same shows and after two hours I wanted to go home. Not really my thing. When I came out, the tuk tuk driver was gone so I had to take another one back to Khaosan Road. I met Joella for some last drinks at Khao Sarn Center. After that we went to a club called the Club, we came home around 3 am and went to bed.
Wednesday 29 June: we woke up at 10.30 am, packed our bags, checked out at noon, put our bags in the storage room and had breakfast at our favourite place. I went on the internet and picked up my laundry that I brought the day before at 2 pm. I got my bags from the storage room, said goodbye to Joella and the people from the guesthouse and had to be at a travel agency at 3.50 pm. A minibus picked me up at 4 pm and brought me to the airport. I checked in and my flight with AirAisia to Surabaya Indonesia was supposed to leave at 7.45 pm. I went to a VAT-refund
point where I got 7% of the money from my IPod Nano back. I used that money to buy a Whopper Meal at Burger King, because you have to pay for the meals on board. I went to the gate after that and heard that my flight had a delay of 1 hour. Finally the plane took off and I arrived in Surabaya around 00.30 am
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<3 <3 <3 Ik kijk uit naar Zuid-Afrika!