End of Thailand and Start of Malaysia

A Mini-van – Bus – Ferry – Bus – Pickup Truck – Bus – Mini-van – Ferry – Walking Taxi – Pickup Truck journey later we arrived in Koh Phi Phi! There are no roads on Phi Phi which is lovely as it’s only a small place; basically a sand bar full of pubs, accommodation and shops between the islands iconic Karsts.

Kat at the Viewpoint during a break from the rain!

It rained most of the time we were in Phi Phi but we really enjoyed our time there. We wandered around the shops and restaurants during the day and ventured up to the Viewpoint when there was a break in the rain for a fantastic view. At 10pm each night all the bars along the beach put on a ‘Fire Show’ so we walked the length of the beach enjoying them for free. On our last night we watched a boxing show put on by a bar where Farangs (foreigners) boxed each other to get a free bucket and we also saw two traditional Thai Boxers take to the stage. In comparison to the clumsy attempts of the foreigners the Thai boxers were very slow and methodical probing the other boxer’s defences and when they were sure there was an opening they put huge amounts of power into a punch or a kick sometimes sending the other boxer flying into the air!

Leaving Phi Phi we took a bumpy ferry over to Phuket where we then flew down to Penang in Malaysia. We’d booked into a hostel that had a recording studio as they advertised that you could jam with the owner! We had to take things at quite a relaxed pace in Penang as everywhere was hugely busy because of a national holiday and celebrating the end of Ramadan. The first day we went to the nearby National Park and had a nice walk seeing crabs and monkeys. In the evening I had a jam with Aslan (like the Lion from Narnia) the owner of the hostel and a few of us then helped him prepare a curry for the next day’s festivities although for some reason we only started to make the curry at 10pm. We went to bed just after 12am and it was still being made...

On our second day we had a walk around Georgetown with Tim and Anya from Wales who we met at the hostel. Georgetown is the historic quarter of Penang that is filled with British Colonial Architecture, Mosques, Chinese Temples, Indian Temples and a Fort! We had lunch at Little India (a cluster of Indian shops and restaurants) and enjoyed seeing the Chinese Clan Jetties near the docks that house a lot of Chinese families and even a temple at the end of each Jetty.

Later that night the celebration was in full swing at our hostel and we were given free curry and cakes! Kat and I thought we might watch a movie in the lounge whilst everyone else was drinking and getting ready to go out. I asked Aslan (the hostel owner) if he could show us how to switch on the TV’s 5.1 surround speakers. He said no problem he’d show us after he finished getting ready. Clearly already drunk he came into the lounge a few minutes later and had obviously forgotten what I’d asked him to do as he said to me “you should play the drums” and then we had a 40 minute jam session where he kept forgetting the lyrics to songs until he announced “I need a drink” disappeared and we didn’t really see him again that night!

The next day due to the busy holiday traffic we squeezed onto a very full bus heading towards Georgetown and decided instead of sweating for an hour journey on the bus we'd visit the Floating Mosque just a few kilometres down the road from us. As it was nearby we also visited a Toy Museum which was full of Chinese and Japanese tourists all taking millions of pictures. I got to meet Batman and Leonardo the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Kat saw Shrek and Po the Kung Fu Panda.

Kek Lok Si Temple

Our final day in Penang we woke up early and went to the Chinese Kek Lok Si Temple and what an impressive and lovely sight it was! We both thought that the restoration work seemed a lot better than the restored Chinese temples that are actually in China! After seeing the Pagoda and 30.2 metre high Buddha statue we headed back to Georgetown again and shopped around the tallest building in Penang the Kom Tar where everything was really cheap!

Yesterday we caught a mini-van to the Cameron Highlands which is the largest of the Malaysian hill stations. It’s a cooler climate up here and seems completely different to a lot of Asia and more like an Alps resort. Today we did a half day countryside tour to a tea plantation, a rose centre, a bee farm, a butterfly farm and a strawberry farm. The weather was fantastic; sunny but not too hot! We enjoyed a cup of Boh tea, fantastic countryside views, had a shot of honey, I held a scorpion, enjoyed Strawberries with cream and a Strawberry muffin. A great day!

Fields of Tea!

We’ve got one more day in the Cameron Highlands where we’re planning to do a few walks before we move on to the Perhentian Islands to do some dives.

Love C&K xxx

Living the High Life

After our last post we went out and had a fabulous evening with the very fabulous ladyboys of Bangkok!  It was a very fun evening – the outfits where impressively flamboyant, the dancing was entertaining but it was surprising to us that they don’t sing – just lip sync (often badly!) to the tracks.  I particularly enjoyed All That Jazz and the four of us were equally fascinated of where and how ‘things’ were tucked and hidden away!!

From Bangkok, with Lianne and Simon, we braved the bus to Koh Phangyan (Gina & Jeremy wisely joined us by plane a day or 2 later) – before we even left Bangkok we waited for 3 hours on the pavement with a shop awning for cover whilst we watched a HUGE thunderstorm!  So it started badly and really didn’t get much better but we survived the epic 22hour journey and eventually arrived! 

When all 6 of us where reunited it was the eve of the full moon party – and party we did!  After a 7-11 booze run and drinking on the porch we went to a restaurant to line our stomachs and more importantly acquire neon paint!  Our painting antics delighted the restaurant owner so much that he took our photo!  Jeremy had the best look with yellow glasses and a green moustache (designed by Gina & Kat) the glasses soon got turned into a mask though by Lianne and it looked like a super hero – Justice to the rescue!!  Simon sported some wavy lines and later a brilliant pink headband to finish off the look.  Chris had stars and a lightning bolt.  The girls had glamorous spot designs and I had some flower power going on!  The party was great, lots of whiskey buckets, dance podiums, neons, fire poi, fire limbo, fire skipping, slides and general merriment!  It was a great night and it felt like something you must do as a traveller, frankly, a great experience.

The following day, it was decided that our budget bungalows, were rather too budget (i.e. the bed filled the room it was that small and a visitation of a ‘beetle’ didn’t help)plus the sea had a hundred crabs in it and was too shallow for swimming. So we headed over to Hat Yao and the High Life.  Well this place was far too nice for the likes of us – but we loved our stay and could easily get used to this kind of resort!  Set in the cliffs above the beach you can look out along the bay from your infinity pool whilst you sip your Pina Coladas!  LUSH!

When we could drag ourselves away from the pool we went on a group activity day!  Our day was action packed starting with a sweaty walk to see a waterfall (there was more sweat than waterfall!) and a nice viewpoint, then followed was a visit to a Chinese Temple.  Next was archery – which Simon showed a real flare for (well at least for the first round!) And following this we went to Ko Ma, a beautiful beach which has a sand bar connecting a tiny island (Ko Ma) to Koh Phangyan, here we did some snorkelling.  The fish were really impressive, we saw HUGE parrotfish only 10 metres from the beach.  Our adventure day didn’t end here though after lunch we headed off to meet some elephants – Gina fed them some bananas and got lifted up by one (as did I!) and we even watched one play the harmonica.  Next we headed to the jungle and to the canopy walk – some very wobbly bridges and 4 ziplines later, I think we were all glad when we reached solid ground!!  We headed to the herbal sauna next, which Lianne & Jeremy enjoyed – and Gina briefly experienced too!  We were too late for Thai boxing L but the tuk tuk driver stopped for me to pose in the ring for a photo!

Our other trip was just me, Chris & Jeremy and we headed out to Sail Rock for some diving.  For us, the dives were AMAZING!  In Vietnam it’s a novelty when you get a school of fish – in Thailand, well schools of fish are common as muck – almost boring!!!!  There were hundreds of fish down there, far too many to list!  My favourites where the very big and pretty Angelfish, the schools of Barracuda and the massive Grouper Fish.

Angthong Marine Park

We are now in Koh Samui, sadly no infinity pool and our bungalows feel like they are at the end of the airport runway as the planes fly so low!  But we are having a good time.  Yesterday we all headed to the beautiful Angthong Marine Park.  We all did a huge 500m climb (not walk – climb!) to a gorgeous viewpoint of all the Park Islands.  It was a really tough hike, but when we got back down to the beach and into the cool, clear turquoise sea - it was bliss!

Me & Chris move on tomorrow and leave the group behind *sob*  We’ve enjoyed so much having more company, having goodies from home brought out, being able to share decision making and to have a bit of luxury; it’s going to feel really strange it just being the two of us again!  We’re off to Koh Phi Phi for 2 nights to see what the other side of Thailand has to offer – hope it’s as beautiful as the Gulf side! 

Safe journey home L,S, G&J – we miss you already!

Love K&C xxxx

Beaches, Books, Beers & a Boat

Kat in a Princess Chair

I think the title sums this post up really as our last week and a bit was spent in Cambodia relaxing in the Serendipity beach area of Sihanoukville. We got ourselves a little bungalow and didn’t do much except read a lot of books. Most days we headed down to the beach for a walk, to play Frisbee or have a fruit shake and sit in a princess chair at one of the many beach bars. The biggest decision we had to make most days was where should eat tonight? Most nights you could find us sat under the stars on the beach enjoying 50 cent draft beer and occasionally the BBQ seafood that all the bars cooked such as barracuda! Every night of course these romantic moments were tainted somewhat by the continuous flow of beggars, hawkers and the hundreds of other backpackers who surround you at every turn. A deserted paradise this was not.

Ordering Drinks

The bar attached to our bungalows had a night called tutu Tuesday where if you wore a tutu you received half price drinks all night. A great deal and Kat was very keen to wear a tutu for a night! So both of us did and the highlight of the night was trying out the fire cocktail that was our bar’s signature. The next day unsurprisingly neither of us felt very well so we stayed off the beers for a night. Of course this only lasted one night as in this area of Cambodia when you eat out beer is cheaper than soft drinks or bottled water!

The other notable thing we did was a boat trip to a protected Island called Koh Rong Samloem. First stop was for some snorkelling in a cove where we saw lots of little fishes and I took the opportunity to jump from the boats top deck into the sea which was a scary 7 meter free fall! Next the boat docked near the Island where Kat and I swam the 200 meters to shore and did our best James Bond coming out of the water impressions as we arrived onto a pristine white sand beach that was deserted except for us and the 10 other people that got off the boat. We went on a river walk to see where the mangroves grow on the island and then gave the jungle walk a miss to enjoy the clear blue waters of the beach some more with a beer J it was a really great day.

We’re now in Bangkok again and have met up with Lianne and Simon and it’s lovely to see them! We all went to China town yesterday and did a bit of shopping. Today it seems more shopping is on the cards as Kat needs some new clothes and later on tonight we will be heading to a Lady boys of Bangkok show called Calypso!!!

Love Chris & Kat xxx