Bangkok and the Andaman Coast!

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Okkkk hello! It is now Jess again.
We are in Krabi now, on the Andaman coast in Thailand... about 2 weeks since Soph last blogged.
The most important change in the last fortnight has, obviously, been my age.

So after she blogged we left the hotel that the tour paid for - one that obviously had aircon, a tv and a lovely clean bathroom. The most important thing being, obviously, that there were no cockroaches. They are becoming somewhat of a... common-vomit-inducing-nightmare.
Annnnyway, so we went to the hostel that we had booked called the Real Darling Cafe. We still had our reeeeeeeeediculous bikes (yes the ones that repeatedly had broken, and i had to go to a vietnamese mechanic to fix it.... where i seemed to amuse them greatly. humilitating. anyway, so we decided to travel between the hotel and the hostel carrying our bags on our bikes. actually turned out to be more effective than not. especially because we now vaguely knew the route. slightly.... wobbly... when we first set off. but gravity didn't let us down. the hostel turned out to be clean. some boys from the tour that we were on were also staying their so we slipped them a 'pigeon' note under their door and headed off into Hanoi.

We love Hanoi, it has so much more character than some capital cities - say, Phnom Pehn - and isn't too gigantic so you can vaguely learn it. we went to the military museum which was quite cool, the one pillar pagoda, and just generally cycled around Hanoi. which to be honest, is an event in itself. all the traffic lights have timers which count down to green... but we learned some things. when its red, if it says less than 05 (seconds) left, its green. a one way street is actually two way. finally, that the line in the middle of the road does not separate the two lanes - if driving on the other side gives you more room, apparently you can do it. if a PUSHBIKE that is in the correct lane is in your way... honk, it will make them move.

That last rule is wrong. in fact, it will make the pushbike cycle more determindly in your way. swear at you. and voice a noise that is essentially her own horn.

Anyway... so we met up with the others from the hostel and managed to find a really nice place to eat. Ultimately, you sit down on cushions and eat on shallow little tables. They sold these fruit liquors... which tasted very similar to schnapps. So we got the apricot one, which was ultimately the least discusting. Anyway, the stairs were a hazard. I found myself slipping down the wet-stone-steps into a puddle at the bottom. With a bruised bottom and a bruised ego, the Vietnamese seemed amused. Frankly, i see why.
The others went home soon after, but Soph and I decided to see abit more of Hanoi. Bizarrely, everywhere in the capital is supposed to be closed by 11. Nowhere does. It did feel like whenever you got comfortable in a place that seemed cool, you would quickly be shunted out when the police arrived. At around 2 we found ourselves with some people we met on a 'boat-bar'. Ultimately a boat shoved into the mud, with a walk-way, turned into a bar. It was good fun, mainly because of the Vietnamese dancing. The closest thing it can be compared to is a hamster/rabbit cleaning its face looking up at you from a crouched position on the floor. Just bizarre. Me and Sophie were in actual hysterics, and preceeded to spend the evening (/morning?) copying every move he made.

The next day, obviously, every idea we had about doing cultural things, had to be changed. In fact, we preceded to not leave our hostel, watch mtv, and play cards drinking coffee in a cafe when we eventually decided to leave. I love vietnamese coffee, especially over ice. Just, amazing.

We flew to Bangkok on the 12th, and planned to spend the day booking a bus straight down to the South. We hadn't had any beaches in awhile, and needed some vit.D. We had heard it was Songkran (the Thai New Year) from some people we met in Hanoi - they mentioned we might need a bag cover... but we didn't think much of it. We reached Khao San Road, the main backpacker hostel road where we thought we could get a cheap bus, it was mayhem. Water fights, and chalk everywhere... Blatantly, we had to stay a night, so we checked into the first hostel we saw just off the road and booked a bus for the following evening. We spent the next day covered in water and chalk. It was pretty cool actually, and everyone was so happy. Which was good, cause it seemed to deter the riots which had been in Bangkok.
When we went out that night, every moment dry was a waste of time, since we were soaked to the skin in seconds. That white top was a bad idea as well...

Our bus left at about 7 the following night. We hadn't done much that day, except more water throwing. The attempt to find a post office had once again gone wrong, it was a holiday. We ran into Tom and Lianne from Sri Lanka, and Ellie and Charlotte from our tour - its wierd how small the world can be!

The bus itself was fine, the chairs reclined enough and it was relatively quiet. I did end up sitting next to someone who later - whilst asleep - revealed themselves as a 'snuggler' which was an unwelcome delight... but it was nevertheless a fine journey. Until 6am, when we were turfed off the bus in Surat Thani and told to wait until half 7 for our transfer. That was late. Then we got another bus, where we were turfed off 15 mins later, to wait over an hour for another bus. Then ended up on a bus to Krabi where we were.... DUMPED.... again. Eventually made it to PhiPhi, only to find that it was VERY expensive, and it took great effort to find even a reasonably priced place. On our way to our hostel - looking at our sweatiest, uglyest, and moodiest - was obviously the time that fate decided

Exhausted, and boiling hot. Our room was clean but our bed consisted of a mattress, and the shared bathroom lacked the necessary sink. We went to the 'sunflower bar', had an iced tea, watched the sunset, and then had dinner on the beach before an early night...

The following day was mostly spent on a bikini hunt, ruthlessly, for Soph. This took days, literally. We went to the beach, which was stunning, and didn't do much to be honest. Except die in the heat - but today it was welcomed. We went out that night for our first taste of PhiPhi. Most bars simply sell buckets of mixers - mostly Thai Whisky... so that bascially was how we spent our night. It was great fun, and we stayed on the beach until sunrise. Spent a fortune, and felt rubbish, but it was good...
Not much to say about the next day. Couldn't sleep in our SWEATY room, or even be in it, after 11. Spent the day at a quieter beach, I burnt my nose, then we had dinner and an early night in preparation for birthday time!

MY BIRTHDAY! I woke up to a very cute-cringy-postcard from Soph. We had breakfast, and then looked for a boat trip over to PhiPhi Lay. We didn't really want a group planned tour, since we gathered they were exhausting, and didn't want to have a rubbish night. We managed to rent a longboat for 4 hours in the afternoon that took us to all the places. It was sensational, the sea was so clear. We first went to a bay to snorkel, where there were hundreds of gorgeous fish, and we went for a swim. There was a jelly fish - including a giant one that i got obsessed with, but they are bulbous and pink so easy to avoid. Like a burnt fat-mans face. We saw one being eaten at the second place we went to snorkel, by all the other fish. That was quite amusing. The fish were also biting us though, which was less so.
We went to Maya Bay where they filmed "The Beach". There were quite a few people there, but it wasn't spoiled or anything. No restaurant - nice, unless you're hungry, like we were. It was nice actually, very pretty. Obviously, our disabled camera ran out of battery at this point, but we managed to squeeze a few out of it. Beep. On the way back we went to 'Monkey Beach' which was cool. There were loads of wild monkeys living on the beach. We got some photos, but the moment i got in the position that would be out of the monkeys strike zone, yet within a picture, the camera decided enough was enough. Oh well, we got some.

That night was similar to the first night in PhiPhi, but we knew where we were going this time! We managed to leave the town bars get to the beach before the earlier bars closed, so we could do a bit of the dancing we missed last time! But obviously ended up in Stones bar, which is the only one open until dawn... Didn't see the point in sleeping, so we went swimming at sunrise, and picked shells. Sophie got a sea-urchin in her hand, which is when we decided to go home and sleep. WHAT a mistake, just made us more tired for our booked ferry at 11...

Got to Koh Lanta, feeling similarly tired as when we arrived in Koh Phi Phi. We really would appreciate somewhere better if we didn't feel terrible... managed to find some cute bungalows, much cheaper and nicer than the ones in Phi Phi. Lanta was a very chilled few days, we fancied some quiet after the manic Phi Phi Don. Played cards, read around the pool (yes, we got a pool!), and had early nights. Thus, not spending much.... finally. On the first cloudy day, about 3 days later, we decided to leave for Krabi - where we are now, arriving yesterday. It had taken a lot of planning deciding where to go, since we have 5 more days until we need to be in Koh Phangan when our hostel booking starts, but we don't want to travel too much. We finally decided we really wanted to Kayak in Krabi.

We found a cheap hostel from the guide book which is perfect. Even half the price of Lanta. And today we went kayaking around the sea caves. There are some old drawings in there. They might not be incredibly artistic, but it is quite cool. The mangroves were really gorgeous, and doesn't feel at all like there are beach resorts like within half an hour. So quiet.

Sophie had woken up to bed bug bites all over her neck and shoulders today, so tonight we will be sleeping with our bed bug sheets taped to us!
Expect another update in the next few weeks! We leave for Koh Samui on Friday!

Lots of love, XXXXXX

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