Blogs from Asia - page 14838

Long journey by taxi, ferry and bus to Krabi. Checked into Chan Cha Lay guesthouse. Booked tickets for trip to Ko Phi Phi.... read more

Got into Beijing today. The boat from Kobe was pretty uneventful, and I had oodles of time which I mainly used looking through my guide, studying Chinese, and writing in my book. My room had 3 other people in it, and everyone on board was Chinese or Japanese. There was a kid in the room, who got pretty antsy and followed me around at times, which was amusing, but we were a bit limited by lack of common language. It was a good transition period, spent mainly with myself, aside from a few conversations I had with one English speaking crew member (he'd worked on cargo ships going all over the world, really cool!). After I got into port, I was accosted by taxi drivers, and it was rather intimidating not knowing the language at all, ... read more

So headed over to Hassan and arrived at 2am. Found a hotel...a bit expensive but at that time in the morning I couldn't be bothered trekking around the town. The next day I was on a bit of a mission to see masses of stuff. Despite this I didn't head off until 10am! First stop Sravanabelagola....The place with the big naked statue, which apparently means Monk on the White Pond. It's a really important Jain Pilgramege site. The statute is of Gomateshvara, a Jain deity. Apparently it's said to be the world's tallet monolithic statue. It's a very impressive and religious place. Every 12 years there is a massive pilgramage there. 2006 was one of those years...but it happens in January. However for the next few months Sundays are dedicated to the pilgramage and loads of ... read more

**If you dont want to read about the travelling experience from Phuket to Koh Pangan then miss the first paragraph!!** After Phuket we decided to travel over to Koh Pangan for the Full Moon Party. The travelling however was a disaster! We expected a coach at 7.15 so at 7.45 when a 10 person mini bus turned up we didnt know what was going on. With the mini bus pretty much full we went on to pick up another 3 people so were very overloaded especially with everyones huge backpacks etc! We carried on as we were told we were being dropped at the coach depot. Half way there suddenly very hot water starts leaking on one of groups legs and smoke starts filling the mini bus; the driver then decided to stop for about 10 ... read more

Upon reaching Bangkok, I made a new goal for myself, to get invited into an Opium Den and play poker with some old Thai gangsters. Why would I want to do this? Why wouldn’t I want to do this is the better question. I’d be taking a stroll down the Ko San Road, minding my own business, possibly with my head phones in, quietly bumping along to some King’s of Leon or maybe even The Killers when I’d be approached by a Tuk Tuk driver that has spotted the glimmer in my eyes that is craving something a little more dangerous than what’s available to most travelers. He’d be a younger driver, maybe twenty seven or less, too young to have already succumbed to the monotonous life of ripping off tourists everyday while he silently dreams ... read more