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Published: March 18th 2010
Hope everyone is doing ok and that the longest winter in history has finally come to an end! I cant believe how cold it's been since I left...seems like a million miles away! Its hard to know where to start...it's been another completely crazy 2 weeks!
It wasn't so much of a shock flying into Bangkok for the second time, but it still isn't a city that i'd like to stay any longer than a few days in a row...its too busy, humid and smelly. It was kind of strange going back to the same places we'd been when we first arrived a month ago, as we felt so much more confident this time round! We were going to be spending the next two weeks travelling with Intrepid, another tour company, so we were pretty excited to meet some more people! It was really surprising actually because there were only 6 of us altogether, which seemed like such a contrast from our last group of 16..but it was nice to have a change all the same! We spent our first day in Bangkok on Kho San Road, where we had spent our time on the first tour, just exploring and
buying lots of cheap clothes at the market! We met our group in the evening and then travelled to the train station by taxi to catch a 12 hour overnight train to Surat Thani- we really didn't know what to expect. The train itself reminded me of the trains that we used to have in the Uk years ago, with no automatic doors and those pull-down windows! It was like we had travelled back in time. The train was pretty crowded and so SO hot, since it was only fan cooled, with NO air conditioning. The whole experience felt completely surreal; there was even a 'party carriage' at the very end of the train with a bar and loud music- so funny! It has got to be top on the list of one of the weirdest things i've ever done. The seats pulled out into beds at about ten, and we attempted to sleep but it was kind of hard when you have bright lights in your eyes, a really bumpy train and loud doors banging all night, but it was an experience all the same!
When we arrived in Surat Thani, we had breakfast and then caught a
Songthaw (kind of like a pick up truck but with a roof) to Koh Sok National Park. The ride was really beautiful with huge cliffs and bamboo trees everywhere...hard to believe we were still in the same country as we were 12 hours before! Our hotel was in an amazing location, just on the outskirts of the National Park, and pretty much in the middle of a jungle! We had little log cabins with hammocks and absolutely stunning views..plus so much wildlife- Monkeys, Gibbons, huge lizards! AND we had a swimming pool- it felt like luxury! We spent the afternoon enjoying the pool and the amazing food that the hotel provided (Even if it was a little more expensive than what we were used to!) Me and Jade went and explored the National Park area late afternoon, and what an experience it was! We trekked 7K through the jungle to find three so-called waterfalls which we had seen on the map, but only found monkeys, bamboo trees, mosquitoes, Lizards and THOUSANDS of very steep steps- plus amazing scenery! The sounds in the were jungle are crazy-its like an orchestra of animals, water and trees! We were sweating buckets by the
end.. the heat here is completely ridiculous! Imagine a Sauna that you would normally only chose to spend 10-15 minutes in and then imagine that when you want to get out you can't- this is basically what it feels like all day and night!
The next day me, Jade and another guy from our group booked ourselves onto a tour of the lake in the National park and it was stunning! We squeezed 12 of us into a songthaw and enjoyed the views on an hours jouney to the lake itself- it really is such awesome scenery in this area. When we arrived we all boarded a long tail boat with a guide and drove half an hour or so to our first stop. The water here was just SO turqouise, clear and calm, and I was really surprised because it was the complete opposite of how I had expected it to be. The lake was almost completely deserted and surrounded by limestone cliffs, so you can imagine how stunning it all looked! For the first few hours of the tour we trekked 7k up a cliff through the jungle to a viewpoint and back down again the other
side. It was really fun, if a little tiring, and we saw some pretty cool wildlife on the way, as well as getting eaten alive by bugs and insects in all shapes and sizes. The boat was waiting for us at the other end in a little cove which literally looked like paradise, so we all boarded and headed to lunch on some floating rafts! It was like a small villiage area with a restuarant, toilets and little floating houses where people could sleep if they wanted to stay overnight- it was really pretty. After a lunch of lots of fresh sea food, we went for a dip and spent the afternoon kayaking and swimming, before heading back to the songthaw for the hotel. (Perhaps i'd had a little too much sun; or at least my skin thought so!) We spent the evening with the whole group in a regae bar, where there were no tables, just cussions on the floor- they have a lot these types of bars in Asia!
Our next few days were spent in Krabi, three hours South of Koh Sok, on the West coast of Thailand- it was LUSH! We travelled there in style-
an air conditioned mini-bus, and arrived at our hotel early afternoon. Our tour guide, Molly, gave us a walking tour of the area, and it was perfect because we were only about 10 minutes walk from the beach. Although Krabi is a very toursity area, it's still got a really nice feel about it! The beach itself is really lush, although the other side of the road is lined with market stalls and bars, which i guess is a good attraction for tourists. It seems as if the beaches in Southern Thailand have been taken over by tourists- but at least Krabi is the least busy compared with Phuket and Ko Somui! We spent the afternoon exploring the area and the beach, and then went out for a dinner in a local seafood restaurant- everythings so much more expensive here than in Chiang Rai, but the food was lush, if a little too spicy.
The next day, we all booked ouselves on a Phi Phi island tour for the day, which visited 4 islands in total. We stopped at two pretty awesome snorkelling spots, one on the open water, and another on monkey island. The first stop had LOADS
of jellyfish but the second was completely amazing- SOOO many colourful fish! We also stopped at Maya bay (The beach that they used on the film set of 'the beach') which was pretty amazing, or at least it would have been if there weren't about a thousand other people on the beach! The water here was stunning, but tourism seems to have ruined the scenery- so many boats and even more people. We stopped for lunch on Phi Phi island and then headed onto Bamboo island, which were both awesome- especially Bamboo Island because even in the shallow water, the fish surround you! This beach was much much quieter and the water was so lush...so we definitely finished the day on a high. We headed out for some local CHEAP food later, and then spent the evening exploring the bars in the area-always good fun! The next day, we had a much more relaxing day- Me and Jade headed to the far side of Au Nang beach, on Krabi, and found hundreds of monkeys on the beach- it was soo random, they were everywhere. We treked over the other side and found a completely deserted private beach, and had a
quick swim before heading back to meet the group. The beach was stunning, completely clear blue waters - it certainly helped that there were no people to spoil the scenery. We took a longtail boat over to one of the islands, Railay Beach, and spent the afternoon and evening chilling out the beach- felt like paradise. We watched the sunset, and then caught one of the last boats back to Krabi- a PERFECT evening.
The next day was pretty much consumed with travelling (Ten hours!) to Malaysia; so we didn't actually arrive until late afternoon. The border crossing seemed relatively stress free compared with our border crossings into Cambodia and Vietnam. I'm not really sure what I was expecting of Malaysia, but it wasn't this -it seemed so much richer there. You could tell almost immediately just by looking around at the transport; instead of tuk tuks and mopeds, people were driving expensive cars- It's mad how quickly it changes when you cross 5 minutes across the border! I hadn't really realised that it was Musilim there either- this was such a change in itself, since we were so used to the Buddhist religion in all the other countries
we'd visited. We drove four hours before we crossed the longest bridge in Asia (13.5 Km) to get into Penang, and the views were really beautiful. There were so many sky high buildings here - it was all a bit of a shock, having come straight from Thailand. Penang itself seemed like a fairly rough area- I didn't really feel safe walking around at night; but saying that, there seemed to be a fair amount of tourists about. Our tour guide gave us a walking tour of the city, which is fairly small, before we headed out for some food and a few drinks- they have a pretty good nightlife in Penang! The next day, we spent the morning on a short tour of the city- with the main attractions as 'the beach' (Although it's not really!), a small villiage on a jetty, a small Burmese and Chinese Temple, a Penang chocolate factory and the largest Chinese temple in Asia. The tour was pretty cool, since it gave us a good introduction to the city, and the huge Chinese Temple was amazing...especially since you could climb hundreds of steps to get a completely incredible view of Penang! Me, jade and
another guy from our group enjoyed lunch in 'Little India'- this is an experience I will never forget! We walked into the restaurant and i'm pretty sure i've never felt so out of place in my life- we were on the only Westerners and it was PACKED...everyone was staring since we had no idea what we were doing - EVERYONE was just eating their food with their hands off bamboo leaves- I felt like I had stepped into India! We spent the afternoon exploring, and visited the local Mosque and you could sense almost immediately that it was much stricter than the Buddhist religion, as we had to have a guided tour, rather than just wander in and out and have a look around. We happened to be in Penang just at the right time to enjoy the Chinese New Year celebrations (The year of the tiger) and a parade that they only hold once every twelve years- we were pretty chuffed. The evening was completely consumed with the celebrations, and the streets were so busy and bustling with people- the parade was amazing and so loud and colourful; it's obviously a really big event and it was quite an
experience!
The next day we had a fairly short drive, in a luxurious local bus to Kuala Lumpar. The shock of a arriving back in a huge, hot and humid city again was massive, and we had to trek for fifteen minutes with our bags through the centre of town- we were all soo hot and sweaty by the end. Our hotel was situated in the centre of Chinatown, which was pretty awesome, as we were right in the middle of a massive market- PERFECT. We had a pretty relaxed afternoon, before heading out for a meal- we had planned to go to the Patronas Towers and the sky bridge but a HUUUUGE storm hit the city meaning everything shut down and we couldnt go anywhere, so we tried to make the most of the a quiet evening and enjoyed a few drinks in a local reggae bar. Determined to make the most of our only full day in Kuala Lumpar, we got up pretty early and headed over to a huge park situated in the west of the city, home to the Kuala Lumpar monument, a butterfly farm and the biggest avery in the world. When we evenutally
found our way back to the main city, we met the rest of the group before catching taxis to the third tallest Telecom tower in the world (420 METRES!). I've never been so scared about going up in a lift in my life; you could actually feel your ears popping because it was shooting up so fast! The view at the top was completely worth it though- felt like we we were on top of the world- we even watched the sunset over Kuala Lumpar, which is something i'm not going to forget for a while! After a good few hours at the top of the tower, we headed over to the Patronas Towers to see them by night-it was soo amazing- and the lights were incredible- the towers were HUUUGE, and the fountains surrounding them were awesome. I really didn't think that I would enjoy the big cities as much as i have!
The following day, we endured the mammoth trek back to the local bus station and drove a short way to Melaka. Melaka was my favourite city so far- it kind of reminded me of Penang in a way with the small, narrow streets, but it
was nicer and much cleaner. Our accomodation here was the worst so far, as we had shared accomodation and shared bathrooms- but it still wasn't bad AT ALL, and it was in a perfect location. Our next fews days in Melaka were pretty relaxing, as there actually isn't that much to do here after you have covered the few main attractions. Its actually kind of nice because almost everything that you would want to do is within walking distance, which is such a contrast to Kuala Lumpar where it just seems so hard to get around- I much prefer the smaller more walkable cities. Our leader gave us a short tour of the city, as usual, and gave us lots of historial information about the area- including the British, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese and Indian influences! Afterwards, we climbed up to a lush view point of Melaka, and then had a quiet evening, enjoying some drinks on the balcony of the hostel. We booked ourselves onto a trishaw for the next day; a small very colourfully decorated carriage attached to a bike, that takes you on a short tour of the city. It took us to various places all around the
city, including three temples and a local persons' house. One of the temples we visited was an old wooden temple made with NO nails, which seems completely crazy- I just couldn't understand how it was even standing. I love seeing the Buddhists go about their daily routines- everything just seems so peaceful. We spent the afternoon wandering around the shopping centre (they actually had some western style shops!), and then we all went for a nice refreshing swim in the local pool. The evening was spent around the local area, enjoying the atmosphere with some local food and a few drinks.
The following day we had an early start in preperation for our 5 and a half hour journey to Singapoore- i'm getting used to all the long journey's now! It was 2 and a half hour journey before we reached the Sinagapoore border and it was a very long process before we actually got through. At first, we had to jump off the bus, queue for a good half an hour to get our passports stamped, before jumping back on the bus to drive to the next area. Then, we had to carry our bags across the border
to get them scanned- they're VERY strict in Singapoore about what you can and cannot take through; but at least it was in an airconditioned building rather that outside in the heat, like the previous border crossings! (LUXURY!) When we arrived in Singapoore it was all a bit of a shock; its just so built up here- for all I knew I could be walking around an American or Australian City. They speak English here too, although its a different kind of English to us- kind of hard to understand at times. Plus, it is SO clean and Westernised and there are SO many different nationalities here, its crazy-Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, Singapoore, English etc. Our hotel here was lush- so big and so funky- plus there was a massive area on the roof, with a huge fountain, where you could enjoy drinks and an amazing view of the city. (Especially at night!).
The next few days in Singapoore were pretty busy as we wanted to fit as much in as possible- theres so much to see and do. They have a really efficient underground train system there too- the trains always seem to be on time and its
pretty easy to get around. ( Much less stressful than the London Underground! ) We visited Sentosa, which is basically a fake beach that they have built, with a theme park and lots of attractions. It was kind of surreal being on a beach in Singapoore because I really didn't expect to be doing that, but it was really pretty anyways. We even went on a luge and sky ride around the park, which was really fun, if a little expensive!! We visited the Merlion Statue, which is a huge lion statue on the riverfront- apparently if you havent seen this then you haven't been to Singapoore, so we felt the need! In the same area was a lush walk by the riverfront; lots of shops and restuarants and we even managed to catch an amazing sunset here- looked really nice when all the buildings went red and reflected on the water! Other main attractions included the Singapoore Flyer, which is like the London eye but BIGGER, and the Buddha's tooth temple- a HUGE temple explaining the ins and outs of Buddhism- VERY interesting! We spent our evenings relaxing on the rooftop with a few drinks- this is the life!!
This whole trip has been completely amazing- i've loved the group and the all the places we've visited; a perfect mix of city and beaches. It's really sad to have to leave Asia after so long, but it's not like we can complain- and i've got a sneaky suspicion I will be back one day!!
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