The Turtle Island

After a short boat ride we arrive in Koh Tao and headed to Sarrie beach, the heart of the diving island. We checked into our beach front hostel which is litterally 2m from the sea.

We were blessed with some scorching sun shine and spent our days on the beach and snorkerling in the bay. Food on the island is unreal as we ate on the beach front and feasted on the fresh fish.

We had a few nights out in the town, heading to a Lady Boy Show and watching the ladies perform a nunber of pop karaoke numbers in their skimpy dresses! Some very convincing, others not so.

On one of the days we rented a canoe and headed out of the bay and into some rock pools; here you could see the crabs running on the rocks and tropical fish swimming on the sea bed. We spent the afternoon snorkeling here.

However as there is little to do on the island, other than enjoy the stunning natural landacape, theres sadly not much else to report. Tan line has come along well over the last few days though!

Our next stop is the final Gulf island of Koh Samui.

Koh Pang Yang at Full Moon

So the internet has been pretty bad in the hostels over the past 10 days, hence the back log of blogs; that and when the sun is out and the beach is calling, its hard to get motivated to write!

Safe to say its been a relaxing ten days with nights our partying and lazy days spent on the beach. After our 'billionth' sleeper train we find ourselves heading to our first island Koh Pang Yang.

The island is famous for its Full moon parties, which is exactly what we headed to. We booked three nights here in a set of beach bungalows around the corner from Haad Rin beach.

After topping up the tan the full moon finally arrived, we got our UV rave gear in check and painted ourselves head to toe in fluorescent paint. There were thousands of people on the beach drinking buckets, skipping in fire and dancing the night away.

Our first point of call was getting a few buckets down us as we explored the music stands and watched cocky tourists get burnt on the flamed skipping ropes...

...things get a bit hazy after this. I know we had some food,  danced on many stages, found a group of people from Finsbury Park, had a few more buckets, fell off a stage, ate a doughnut,  found a UV hat, got chatted up by a gay man and called father christmas!

Next thing I know the sun is starting to rise and we leave to get one last kebab and head back to our bungalow to rest our feet! We slept through till the afternoon and ventured out for food and to sun bathe the alcohol out. 

Not a lot happened the day before and after the full moon party. We sunbathed and swam in the sea mostly. A very chilled island when your not off your nut at somesort of rave.

Next stop is the turtle island of Koh Tao.

Bangkok has you now!

We have now landed in the more relaxing part of our trip, so unfortunately this blog has taken a bit of a backseat. Mainly because our days at the moment, are consisting of sunbathing on the amazing thai beaches and eating our body weight in carbs. So, here is an update finally as we are having an 'admin' day due to the storm here in koh samui.

We arrived in bangkok from Vientiane, Laos 3rd October. Our journey took 15 hours. We took a train across the friendship bridge into the thai border then a night train to Bangkok. 

We stayed at D&D inn on koh san road for one night. We hoped to stay here for 3 nights but we had a bit of a mare as the only room available was street facing with a window. This resulted to a night with the Dj, drunken shouting and disco lights blazing through our window. We attempted a night out on koh san road in the hope that we would be too drunk/tired to notice the loudest nights sleep ever. But after 15hours of travelling, our age got the better of us and we had to endure the boom box bedroom. The next morning we checked into tranquility. A hotel on the road next to koh san. Such a good decision. 

We had 3 days in bangkok...

Day 1: the plan was to get a taxi to MBK Shopping mall but whilst trying to hale a taxi, Cj became the ultimate tourist and agreed to do the temple run with a tuk tuk driver for 40 baht each We knew about the scams so we were dubious as to whether we'd actually see the temples. And yes, after seeing two temples, the tailor factory and several random 'tailor made' market shops (so the tuk tuk driver could get his petrol coupons) we got screwed over. The plan was to end our temple run at MBK where we originally wanted to go, but of course on the last temple sighting our driver did a runner and left us stranded. Luckily, we hadn't paid anything yet and we were only a few miles from MBK so we just walked and got the temple run for free. 

We hit koh san road in the evening and ended up at 'the club'. The military curfew kicked in at 2:30am so we moved onto 'lava' club where that didn't close until 3am. It was a good night out which consisted of buckets, beers, dancing and scorpions. Oh yeah, Cj bought a fried scorpion on the street for us to eat. It wasn't that bad, just really salty and crispy.

Day 2: regretting our decision to go out the night before a 6am alarm, we made our way back to D&D inn at 7am to wait for our mini bus to the floating market. We stopped at the train market first, where the market moves out the way every time a train goes through the middle. You literally stand inches away from the train. The floating market was really good. One of the most cultural (as well as touristy) things we have done. 

Day 3: we had a mare this day. We wanted to go to the top of sky bar where the hangover movie was filmed. We arrived at the entrance, only to be turned away because Cj was in shorts. Its about 1pm so it's probably empty. So, instead we walked around waiting until 7pm for our night train to surat suani. We then had problems with our train. The AC wasn't working in our carriage so just the last carriage had to get off and wait for the train people to fix it. We were left on the platform whilst the train drove off, no one knew what was happening, so we didn't know if we were even getting a train that night. Luckily after an hour the train reversed back into the platform with a new carriage and we continued our journey down south. 

Elephant camp in Chiang Mai

I had one aim for Chiang Mai, and that was to see the elephants. So after a few hours researching elephant camps in Siem Reap i found Ran-Tong elephant rescue centre. I knew i didn't want to ride an elephant with a basket or go to a place where the mahouts use sharp spears so i was happy to spend £80 on elephants at Ran-tong so we could ride bare back. I will also admit that i didn't really discuss my elephant plan with Cj so he did end up With 2 very un-manly days on the itinerary. 

The journey to get to Chiang Mai was long and involved an 8hour bus from Cambodia, a dodgy walk across the border from Poi pot to Thailand (Cambodian beggars were literally grabbing my ankle to get money as we walked to the Thai immigration office) and a 15 hour night train from bangkok to our final destination. We arrived at our £3 a night hostel Teeraya boutique, which had a pool, the next morning. As nice as the pool looked, as soon as we got in it we realised it wasn't very clean, the hostel was nice though and we managed to bag a free upgrade from a dorm room to a private room with a balcony and a free nights stay, all due to Cj writing the wrong room number on his elephant form and confusing the receptionist by taking up beds in the dorm room. Pretty good tactic in the end.

Our first day at elephant camp was a half day ride on Ku moon, which was the elephant given to us for the trek. She was 18 years old and the staff were trying to match- make her with a male in the hope that she will get pregnant at any time. Therefor she was uber confident and always wanted to be at the front of the trek, leading the other elephants the way. the mahouts taught us some elephant commands, how to climb onto the elephants and how to look after them. 

The commands (sound like):

Pi- Go

Sur- left

Qua- right

Hull- Stop

Milong- lie down

The chinese pair who were on the trek too  loved the 'go' command and all we could hear the whole way on the trek was  'Pi, pi, pi, pi' which sounded just like the seagulls from Nemo. 

After feeding all the elephants several bananas we trekked on Ku moon around the camp then went into the pool to bathe her. Ku moon seemed to prefer to sit and roll throwing Cj straight off her back into the mud bath. So, whilst everyone else was just wet up to their waist, Cj was drenched head under.

Our second day at camp involved the baby elephant Tun di who is 1 and a half. I signed us up to the full day baby program. We learnt how to make Tun di's baby food and feed her. She was so cute. In the afternoon we got to join the elephant trek and ride Ku moon again. 

After our adventurous 2 days with the elephants we had another day left in Chiang mai. We did a bit of exploring taking a look at night bazaar and visiting a very cool market with many things for me to buy. 

We departed Chiang Mai after 4 days by bus to the border to then head into Loas. I wanted more time in Chiang Mai as i would have liked to see the hill tribes and maybe visit Pai, so i definitely want to come back here. 

Vang Vieng Tubing

After yet another 8 hour bus journey across the winding rural landscape of Laos we arrive at our second destination, Vang Vieng. Famously known for its adventure tubing and party scene.

We arrived in the afternoon and got to know our bearings in this small town they call a city. We decided to go tubing tomorrow so we could rest from the days journey.

Our trip tubing starts with a tuk tuk ride up the river to the first bar and cast off point. Here we meet up with a few friends from Laung Probang and the beers begin to flow with beer pong, free whisky shots and a dj blasting out the tunes. Its just gone 13:00 pm...

After a few hours here and many beers later we finally get into our tubes and set off down the river to the next bar. There is about 60 of us taking the trip this afternoon. Our next bar is a short drift down the river as you gaze at the fjord landscape and try your best to fight the rainy season current.

I am chucked a plastic bottle on a piece of string as the locals rein me in on a make shift fishing line. Safe to say I've already lost another set of flip flops at this point!  The second bar is busy with more beer pong and a game of boules. We play basket ball and volley ball in the afternoon sun, with the sound of beer "shotguns" and free shots ringing in our ears.

A few hours pass and we're heading to our final bar, back in the tubes we float "gracefully" down the river. For those who dont know; tubing was banned in Laos as too many tourists were injured or died. It started up last year with limited bars, but the dangers were always in the back of my mind especially as the sun had started to set and as we left for our final stop at the end of the town.

The sun sets very quickly in SE Asia so a mad panic was on to get the tubes back and out of the river before dark. We managed this just  before it got pitch black. There was a bit of panic as the strong currents tried to sweep you beyond the port and local attempts to fish you out the river. We arrived at around 18:30 pm.

Battered and bruised (literally) we had finished our tubing. Safe to say a bit of a nervy experience but accomplished none the less. I was so tired after the afternoons antics that I crashed after dinner and slept through till morning!

You will be pleased to hear our second day was much more chilled. We rented a motorbike and headed out to the numerous lagoons and caves that surround the town. We found ourselves at the blue lagoon for most of the day. Here we chilled in the natural lagoon pools and explored a cave. The sun was shinning and we met up with a few friends from tubing to compare bruses and stories.

Finally we took the motorbike for a ride around the town and the local villages. We watched the sun set over the mountains as it brought our hectic time in Vang Vieng to an end.

Im finishing this post on a bus to the capital Vientien. We are here for a few days before we head back into Thailand for the beaches and gulf islands.

Luang Prabang, Laos

So after leaving our rural days in Chang Mai we embarked on our two day trip to Laos. This trip was an experience in itself. Lasting two days and using three different modes of transport we took to the mountainous landscape that seperates the Thai and Laos borders. Our first day was in the mini bus as we took on the long winding roads that delivered us through some breath taking views of the rocky landscape and rice fields. We spent most of the day riding through the clouds at altitude with our driver speedily taking the corners of these shear drop cliff edges.

After 8 hours in the bus we finally make it to a sleepy border village. Here we are granted our visas for Laos and check into our old school accommodation on the Laos border. Here I got eaten alive by bed bugs and still have the hideous scars on my leg as I write this, almost a week later.

The second day we start off early again and head to the port. Here we jump on a long boat and head down the Mekong river to Luang Probang. The journey is amazing as we cut through the mountainous landscape passing small rural villages and fishing communities. The ride is very slow and takes well over 8hours. But the views keep you entertained, for a bit...

Finally we arrive at our first destinantion in Laos. The riverside city of Luang Probang is a world heritage town. Its architecture and charm suit the French influence and laid back vibe that Laos is famous for.

On our first day we explore our new home. We take in all the sites this small city has to offer. Here we took on the museum, local temples (all five of them) markets and views. We spoke to local buddahs and chilled at bars overlooking the Mekong river. We also took full advantage of the all you can eat night market and local delicacies, such as goats hoof!

Once we had exhaused the city we headed for the renowned countryside. The city is locked in by two rivers and a mountainous landscape littered with waterfalls, local villages and tribes. On our second day we rented a motorbike and headed to the mountains. Our first search was of some local villages.  We did find a few, however did mange to get lost on the dirt roads up in the hills. The views here were stunning as we went deeper in to rural Laos life, where English was less and less spoken.

Our next stop was one of the many local waterfalls nestled in the hilly backdrop. Here we climbed the waterfall, swimming in the lakes and soaking up the sun. I lost a flip flop straigh away, and now find myself on my third pair, in as many months.

The final part of our day trip saw us explore the edges of the city on the bike, taking in the sunset over the Mekong river and city backdrop.

As our time is short in Loas we are moving every 2 to 3 days. Our third day will be on a bus to Vang Vieng. We did however get up early to to watch the morning alms take place. Here monks will walk through the town blessing the local people in exchange for food.

Next stop is the renound tubing town of Vang Vieng.