Week 7 - Koh Tao Fun

"Mountainous Ko Tao perches on a ledge of coral reefs like a sunbathing turtle (Tao means 'turtle'). The island is famous as a diving and snorkelling mecca thanks to the water's high visibility, abundant coral and diverse marine life"

We knew what beah to head to as Vicky, a pal at home had written me a book of places that she had been to. So we got in a taxi and headed to Sairee Beach. It took a good few hours with lunch to help along the way to find a place to stay as it's slightly hardfer for 3 people. Especially within the budget. But just as I was saying to Rachel how these things just seem to sort themselves out, a man approached us asking if we needed somewhere to stay. And sure enough he had a vacant 3 person hut much closer to our budget than the others. So we spent the rest of that day and the next just chilling on the beach and checking out the nightlife. The day after that some of Stephen's friend's arrived. Billie, Hollie, Sam and Rosie. So we were now 7.

As we had a few days on the island we decided to do a couple of day trips.

Quad Bikes
I was a bit dubious at this having heard the horror stories of people losing limbs on holiday and stuff, but we wanted to drive round the island. As there was 7 of us, we hired our 4, which meant one of us would be driving solo. I hesitantly volunteered, but am so glad I did. I think I had the easiest ride... We set off, went and got some petrol and then headed for a part of the island. I think this is phase one in my year out of ovrecoming certain fears. For some weird reason I have had a fear of going up for a fair few years. Odd I know but can't be helped can it. I have nightmares about it and everything. So I was non too please when the roads started getting really hilly. We got to one path which could have been something out of Alton Towers. "'The fatal drop'' perhaps!? The breaks went on and after a bit of perspiration we all got to the bottom in one piece. It was harder for the others as the breaks weren't as effective with 2 people on board. So our first hairy moment. But I was glad we were going down that hill and not up. We parked up and went for a wander. Climbed down to some rocks, and had a swim. The water wasso clear and there were hundreds of fish. Rosie and Sam hired a snorkel for an hour. It was just fascinating watching all the sea life. Like something out of Wildlife on one. But the live version! So an hour there, and then the realisation that the only out was the way we came. Back up 'The fatal drop'. There wasn't much we could do but go for it. I was tempted to close my eyes and just keep my thumb on excellerate but figured I should probably keep an eye on the road. Actually going up was so much better than going down. I felt I had slightly overcome a bit of my fear which was a cool. Except now I felt a slight fear of going down...


So the rest of the day we spent going up and down even more hairy hills than the first one. They weren't quite as steep but the roads were really holey (not in the biblical sense unfortunately) and dusty and rocky etc. So it was tough work to keep the bike in control and on the straight and narrow. I'm sure the boys reading this think I'm maybe being a bit dramatic... I definitely prefered being the solo driver to either having someone with me, or being the passanger. We stopped at a few other beaches, and had lunch etc. It was a really fun day. That evening we went for the best BBQ ever. It took a while to wait for, and we considered starting on the ketchup without the food, but when it came it was scrum.


Snorkelling
This is one of the best days I have had on my travels so far. The snorkelling was just so much fun. Again, I was a bit dubious but only because I hadn't done it before. Now that I have I even want to do my diving PADI course. We got taken to different parts of the island on a boat, were given out snorkels and flippers and away we went. Just mooching around the corals etc. The sea life is truly amazing and is just such a great experience. On one of the stops we saw sharks as well. They were only friendly ones and were scared of us so we had to be as still as we could for them to come out and play. We then had a bit of lunch on the boat. Bit of rice with egg and something a it spicy on top, and were taken to a national park. They were a bit cheeky here as didn't tell us we'd have to pay extra to get in to the park. But nevermind. It was the hottest beach, but with some beautiful scenery, and a little bit more snorkelling around.

Nights out

There were quite a few great nights out as we were there for about a week. One bar called 'The Fizz Bar' played good music, and they had cushions on the beach so you could just chill out there and watch the sea, have a drink and get ready for the next bar along... Lotus. Lotus played every sort of music there is. Except classical unfortunately. Although I'm sure they prob played one of those classical mixed tunes that completely ruins it. Anyho, the long and short of it was that we had a lot of fun...

Week 7 - Rachel arrives

So I was really sad to leave Chiang Mai and could have stayed on there but it was time to move on. My friend Rachel was coming to Thailand so we headed back to Bangkok. A rather tame journey. We left it to the day we were leaving to decide how to get there. Planning ahead isn't really our forte. All the

buses were booked up as there was some sort of long wknd celebration

going on in Bangkok. Again. We never learn do we. So we got a train instead. 2nd class this time

and it was great. We even got a meal. Although I think that's what made me feel sick during the night but never mind. We left at 9pm and arrived in Bangkok 12 hrs later. The bus would have taken 10. Still puzzles me how train journeys take longer than buses! When we arrived we had an hour or so to wait for Rachel. I checked that there were enough tickets for the 1pm train we planned to get down south. Yes. Plenty. Rachel arrived and after a quick hug and hello I returned to buy the tickets. I didn't want to get them before in case there was some sort of hold up.

""3 tickets to Chumpon please"
"Ahh sorry, sold out"

Perfect.
So instead of waiting a further 3 hrs for the next train, we headed to the bus station and were eventually on our merry way. After 8 hrs of food stops, toilet stops, catching up with life at home with Rachel and of course some neck-paralysing broken sleep we arrived at Chumpon. We had originally planned to catch a night ferry to our destination of Ko Tao but missing the train earlier had thrown this out of the bus window. So I called a guesthouse who said they would pick us up from the station when we arrived. So I did but they then told me we needed to get in to town in order to be picked up. Imagine a bus stop in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. We had a man hassling us to take us to town for an exhaustionate rate. I think Rachel thought we were silly for trying to haggle him down considering our situation but it's so annoying when you know how much it really should cost. In the end we lost the bartering battle and relentlessly paid the guy to take us straight to our guest house. I was glad to put my head down after 2 days of not much sleep.

Up bright and early the next day and we were picked up in a bus and taken to the pier. I was impressed by the boat as me and Stephen had actually imagined some more bamboo rafting to get us to the island... but no. It was very boat-like. 3 hrs and a lot of swaying later we arrived in Koh Tao. As we got off the boat we were rather concerned at all the miserable looking people waiting to get on...

Week 6 - Saying Goodbye to the Orphanage

The saddest moment of Chiang Mai was saying cheerio to the kiddies. I'd enjoyed going to the orphanage every day for 3 weeks SO much it was a truly sad time to leave them. I've started the adoption process for Tom Thumb and Thumberlina though so they should arrive in the post soon...

Week 6 - Stevo, Kimbo and Anyario's Excellent Adventure (Well, a day trip!)

Chiang Mai is known for it's treks to hill tribes and such like adventure days out. There's plenty to choose from, so one day whilst I was practising my bartering for a much needed dress, Kimbo and Stephen booked us on to a trip. So a couple of days later, at 8.30am we eagerley awaited the private bus to take us away. Actually me and Stephen had only managed to grab a pot noodle for our breakfast which was the spiciest one we'd had. We had a few mouthfuls that stripped a layer of skin off our tongues, binned them and jumped on to the bus. Using the word 'bus' losely! There were people already on board. A few from Italy and a couple from Spain. Everyone was really nice. An hours drive and we arrive. We had 5 minutes to use the non lit dump-esk hole in the floor (aka. the toilet) and to buy a bunch of bananas, and before we knew it we were up sitting on Nelly. That was our ever so original name for our elephant. However, as we were in a 3 and there was only room for 2 people on the actual seats, Stephen was told to hop on to Nelly's neck. We all laughed and thought the guy was joking but it turned out he wasn't. This part probably goes in to my top 3 funny moments so far in my travels. According to Stephen, balancing on an elephant's neck is pretty hard. Especially when Nelly stopped for water and his head went down, us girls grabbed Stephen's shoulders, Stephen grabbed our legs and we all let out a bit of a yelp. Well, Stephen's was more like a girly shrill... All the other couples took plenty of pictures of this as it perhaps looked like some sort of slap stick Laurel and Hardy type routine... It wasn't long before we realised that we had the rogue elephant. Obviously. Why would it be any different?! To start with he went in the opposite direction to the others, then there was the drinking routine, and then there was the over taking all the other elephants. Nelly didn't like to be last. He had to be first, so he'd overtake the others. This wouldn't have been such an ordeal if he didn't choose to do it on the narrow paths with the high mountainous drops which were to our right! Just charged right on without a care in the world, stopping for bananas. Good job we bought some too as if you didn't feed him, then he wouldn't budge. So a bit touch and go at times but a lot of fun.

Next up was a little walk down some steps until we came to the river. Our transport to the other side was a box made of bamboo hung from a rope. You can add your own speech bubble to the picture above as that was my reaction. Fun though. And back in to our 'bus' to take us to the start of our trek though the jungle to the waterfall. This is where I found a flaw in my crocs which I'd been praising for the previous 5 weeks. My mum and dad (big hugs to you both by the way) had suggested I get some for my travels as they are like slippers. And they are. You can wear them anywhere, completely blister free. Except when trekking through jungles. Any mud made them oh so slippy to climb the ricks and balancing whilst doing trapeze acts over logs. Or twigs. Stephen still takes the mick out of me, Eliza style, for my reaction to one of the stream crossings...

"How the bloody 'ell am I meant to get over that?"

... ok I do agree I may have been a bit dramatic but it was pretty much a twig. And was with my slippy crocs...

So apart from the near death by slipping down mountains I so enjoyed just trekking along, singing classical music to myself like the geek that I am. The scenery was truly amazing, with the tallest trees I've ever seen. Also at one point I smelt eurocamp. You know when a smell gives you a memory. Well as a family we used to go to eurocamp every summer. So I was lost in my own happy thoughts and music until we arrived at the waterfall. Absolutely stunning. Clear and cold. Everyone whipped off their clothes (with swimwear on) and had a swim. After failing to strike sexy poses under the fall of the water (not sure how models do it as it's strong enough to strip your bikini's right off), we sat on a rock and ate our lunch which was handed to us. Pad Thai wrapped in a leaf. The best Pad Thai I'd had so far. And then it was the trek back to the 'bus' which drove us down to the river bank. Now, earlier in the day we had joked about the river. It was so filthy and dark green, with as many bugs as you can think of hovering over it, and other animals we've probably never even heard of. Basically you wouldn't make your ice cubes from it. So we joked about it being the waterfall river and we would have to swim in it. The waterfall was actually fresh water and clear and lovely. Just remember that joke anyway. We waited for our white water rafts to turn up, got our life jackets and helmets on and got given an ore, gathered round for a short lesson...

"Forward" = row back

"Back" = row forward

"Get down" = Get Down

"Get back" = Get back up

It was only slightly amusing that one of the thai men who was to be a captain of one of the rafts didn't really understand any of the above. We got the other captain who didn't know much more, and we only got told " Forward". We think he possibly may have said "Get Down" at one point but by intinct we had all done that anyway. This was due to the rapids and a big wave of swamp water diving in to our raft. Us girls couldn't help but scream, obviously just because we are girls. Although I should have made the conscious effort not to because I got a mouthful of swamp water. Great. 'That's a guarenteed bout of travel tummy for me', I thought... But the white water rafting was definitely the best part of my day and I wish it could've gone on for longer than it did. After a couple more rapids we pulled up next to some bamboo rafts and get told to get on to them. This is the part you remember what we joked about. We were completely submersed. Bamboo rafts only seem to float a few inches BELOW water when 6 people are sat on them! It was still fun, although I did keep a close look out for snakes. When we stopped at the next bank, we didn't stop close enough so we had to wade through a few metres. I could feel my feet sinking under the swamp floor, with whatever it was oozing between my toes. I didn't really imagine what I was treading in there!

A quick pit stop where we had an ice cream and dried off and then it was back to the 'bus' to take us to a hill tribe. A bit of a mock hill tribe though as they were just waiting to seel us stuff. We didn't stay there for long before we started making our way back to Chiang Mai. We were like kids. Couldn't keep our eyes open. 'We' being Stephen, Kimbo and myself. I don't think anyone else fell asleep. One more quick stop at a butterfly/Orchid farm (and another ice cream) and then we made it home.

Kimberley then had an hour to shower and pack as she was catching a bus backto Bangkok. I'm pretty sure she would have slept the whole 12 hr journey. So we said our final goodbyes as she was soon to be flying back to the UK and we wouldn't be travelling together again.

All in all and excellent and memorable adventure.

"Catch you later Bill & Ted!"

Weeks 4, 5 & 6 - Shits and Giggles in Chiang Mai

You won't really get most of this, but it's just so that I don't forget some of the funny moments and times we had in Chiang Mai...

- Not being able to go to the loo for days at a time

- Not stopping going to the loo for days at a time

- Pub quiz in the UN Irish Bar. Calling ourselves 'Winstone Churchills Barmy Army' which Stephen swiftly changed when we thought a german family were joining us! They turned out to be dutch, but we had change it to Queen Vic's Barmy Army by then! Oh and we got the loser's jug of beer at the end because we came last. We did, however, get our picture taken for the Chiang Mai Post so we're going to be in the paper some time this week. I'll post the link when it's on there.

- Foot + shoulder + back massage = bruises

- "Does it have A/C?" ..... "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

- Going to see BATMAN!! It's was awesome!

- Disco tuk tuk that took us to the cinema to see Batman, playing Bryan Adams at 2000 decibels.

- Steve the Gekko. Our pet in one of the rooms we stayed in.

- The longest EVER wait for a milkshake @ The Golden Fern. We thought she must have gone somewhere far far away to get the fruit.

- Fish n' Chip shop with the old guy from NZ who claimed not to work there but was just a customer for 12 yrs and kept giving us trek info.

- "Thai Masssssaaaaaaaggggggggeeeeeee?"

- "Hey you. Tobby Tobby"

- "WOW!"

- That night of the lethal bucket

- The old granny ghost that I saw. Ok so I saw her after the lethal bucket.

- Playing pool with a french couple and forgetting the white ball existed. Ok this too was after that lethal bucket.

- A bloke saying hello to us and Stephen responding well, having a chat with him while I stood puzzled at who the hell he was. When he went I asked Stephen who the hell he was and he replied 'I haven't got a clue'!! Ok so this was the day after the night of the lethal bucket so we figured we may have played pool with him.

- "Hey Buddy" - the Canadian girls that Stephen happily annoyed.

- Eating at the street stalls each day by the roadside.

- The Bee Cafe - lovely breakfasts

- Thai Karaeoke

- Roof Top Bar - a bar on a roof, funnily enough. The floor is just made from bamboo though so it's a bit worrying when you start feeling it moving when the bar is really jam packed. Very cool bar though.

- Spicy disco

- The Michael Jackson bar with the barman who was brilliant at pool. He potted alot, where as I think ahead of the game...

- The Bob Marley bar - "I wanna Love you every day and every night' has been stuck in my head every day since we heard it.

- Those banana and chocolate pancakes.

- Kimberley rejoining us after travelling to Cambodia. Her night time sleep talking.

- The witty letter box

- The BBQ lady with the best EVER BBQ Pork. Yummy.

- The Pirate Pub. Australian breakfasts that saved certain days.

- Mike's.

Places we stayed

- Eagle Guest House 2 = stinky - first use of mosquito net

- Julie's Guest House - great place but we only had 3 nights. They were fully booked after that so we asked to book the week after but they said to come back and ask... how do you book Julie's?!

- Grace's Boutique - Favourite except the random egg smelling water and the granny ghost

- The Hotel - cheap with swimming pool and TV with one of the worst films ever - Bad Santa. Please don't ever put yourself through it.

Weeks 4,5 & 6 - Chiang Mai days

Rather than boring you with every detail of every day, I'll just sum up what we got up to for 3 weeks in our temporary home of Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai Zoo.

That was really fun. Not like any normal zoo that has cages. No this one didn't really have cages. There was just a bit of water in front of a low wall which I wasn't convinced by really. Especially when getting eyed up by Leo! The zoo is situated on a bit of a mountain, so to say that we had a bit of a walk round is an understatement. They did offer a train thing or a car to take you round but we thought it'd be nice to wander round ourselves. It was loads of fun but hard work. And we've since read in a guide book that you shouldn't attempt to walk round the zoo unless you're a bit of a professional at hiking, haha. So at least we know our fitness levels are up to scratch! All the usual animals that you'd expect to see but with amazing scenery as you go around. Another Jurassic park setting. I actually found the controls to the T-Rex pen so turned them all off before we left :) Oh and the best thing we saw was possibly the biggest spider I've ever seen. It wasn't part of the zoo or anything. Just chilling out in it's web being big. We couldn't catch it on our cameras (not because of size but the light) but we found it on a website anyway and it's not a dangerous one or anything. Probably a common house spider over here. The map for the zoo was comic as well as it didn't really take you to any of the right places. Not unless giraffes these days have big teeth and live in the water... the aligators were huge! And the wooping monkey! It wooped and wooped, until all the other monkeys has a massive woop back at him which shut him up.

The Tribal Museum

We actually agreed with the tuk tuk driver who did fully understand when we asked to go to the National museum of Chiang Mai. But he took us to the tribal museum. It was quite interesting though with lots of facts about the tribes around Chiang Mai. I'm sure you'd learn more by actually going on a hill tribe trek but tht wasn't really on the agenda for us. It was a little out of the center though and it took us a while to get back in as there weren't any tuk tuks.

The National Museum

So the day after next we tried our luck again, and hey ho we managed to make it to the national museum of Chiang Mai. It took about 2 hrs to make our way round, learning about the history and how it's progressed. Was another interesting morning. Here are a couple of facts:

1. King Mairai founded Chiang Mai and had an opening ceremoney on 12th April 1296.

2. Chiang Mai sits in between the River Kok and Mai Rim.

Our Day adventure trek!! I'll put another day to write a separate page for that one but it was just so much fun and i'd love to do another one.

Wats

A Wat is a temple. There's a huge amount around CM so we ventured out a few mornings and visited them. They're all pretty much the same thing really but good to go and see. I am Wated out now though so probably won't really see any more. Oh except Bangkok and Cambodia...

Night Bizarre/Day Market/Saturday Market

Always a market or two to look around. And yes I have resisted temptation to most things. Although I didn't really want to give Stephen any more ammunition to take the mick out of my bartering skills... a new one (apart from the Eliza Doolittle) is to tell them that 'I'll come back later'. Knowing full well I won't. It just came out my mouth though, I don't know why I said it. I have since then stopped though. I'm pretty good now.

Doi Suthep

Another temple but actually one of the most important. I won't go in to the story of it, but basically they put a relic of Buddha on a white elephant and sent him off packing and said that whenever the elephant stopped that is where the temple with the relic in will be built. They say it's a miracle as the elephant made a noise before it stopped and died. A sort of sign that it's work was done. We weren't taking the mick, but maybe poor nelly was just knackered and made the noise coz he was dying??!! Anyway Doi Suthep is up the mountains. We got taken up there and then had to contend with 300 steps. We had been told by a few people that it was quite a trek so be prepared. It actually wasn't bad at all and we made it up without any help from paramedics. There was a line of ancient bells up there which specifically said 'no pushing bells'... there were people ringing them though!! Poor monks probably thought lunch had come early or something! So we had a wander, took some pics and listened to a concert being performed by some kids. They didn't seem to have any sort of order of coming in together, or any conduction. But this pretty much matches most other things in Thailand, so it's no surprise!

And then of course the orphanage...

It has been my favourite part of the 3 weeks. They run about with their flips flops on the wrong feet. I actually bonded with Tom Thumb. Actually he bonded with me first, which is lucky seeing as I'm going to adopt him. We used to sit and blow rasberries at eachother which was funny. Although it didn't bode too well for me on the day we arrived there and he had a mouthful of cake...and then there was the day that a little girl found a dead frong and was chasing about with it scaring the others. Including me. Yuk. And the food the supervisors used to give to us! I think Thai's are slightly offended when you say no to food they offer. We had:

- Ice cream sandwich - although not convinced it was proper stuff. We're sure it had an egg and some sweetcorn in it

- coconut wrapped in a lead - except it was all mushy and I can only describe it tasted of slime, so again not convinced. We got over this by feeding it to the kids when the supervisors were'nt looking. Genious.

- Pork Scratching sticks. These were pretty gross. The worst was all the kids hands going in the packet as well...

- Fruit that didn't taste but looked like beetroot