More Dives, Surfing and Mummy has Landed!

And enjoy island life we did, due to a religious day where the Balinese honour the spirits of the water by not going in and on the water we were stranded!  No boats, no diving, no swimming!  So we had a day of walking around the island, visiting the mangroves and up to the cliffs to watch the crashing waves. 

The next day, with all water gods happy, we were back in the water for our next 2 dives.  We were told that ‘it’s like being in an aquarium’ and that description did not disappoint at all!  So many fish, you could feel quite dizzy trying to take it all in!  The water was much warmer too, a delightful 27degrees and we even saw a turtle (much to my excitement!)  And this was our first go at drift diving, we got in and let the current take us along the reef – which seemed to go on for miles, then the boat just picked us up when we popped up an hour later!  Our second dive began brilliantly, we went down and instantly found a 2m tall Mola Mola staring at us!  They are really ugly but cute kind of fish, rather rare and almost never seen at the spot we were diving – so lucky!  The rest of the dive again was like being put in a tropical aquarium, we saw huge schools of BIG trevley and tuna.  We thought a huge boat went over, there was a huge vibration that was so loud we all had to cover our ears – when we got out we were told it was a 6.8 earthquake!  Luckily no Tsunami waves followed, although there was a tremor later when we headed back to land.

After our dives and a little short on cash (no ATMs on the island) we headed to Bali and Kuta.  Kuta, well is the Ausie Benidorm we soon got used to seeing stag dos having Bintangs for breakfast!  The plus side to Kuta was the cheap, good food that we found at ‘Gongs’ and the surf!  We signed up to a surf school and with our 2 metre longboards we headed out to catch them waves!  Chris really picked it up quickly and was paddling himself out and catching (or not!) the waves.  He stood up really quickly too and makes it look fairly cool in the photos!  I was a slower bloomer, the guys would help take me out, they’d push me into a wave and shout “stand up” and watch as I fell down!  I did get it a few times though, my first stand was magnificent and I sailed all the way to the beach...where I promptly face planted into the sand!  But when you get it, it feels good and we’d have loved another go, but the swell got a bit wild for us beginners so maybe next time we’re in Kuta we’ll try again if its calmer!

Rhona & Kat at Git-Git Waterfalls

Mum arrived and we met her after jogging to the airport – we had planned to walk to save on taxi money, but a road was closed and it added 2km to our journey, worrying we’d be late we jogged the rest of the way to greet mum with a sweaty hug!  We stayed in Kuta for the night then whisked mum off to Lovina to a beautiful hotel with a pool (ahhh a pool!)  We had a great day visiting GitGit waterfalls, a Buddhist Temple and Banjar Hot Springs which left us all feeling thoroughly relaxed.   The next morning we woke for sunrise and got on our tiny boat to see the Bottlenose Dolphins.  There were hundreds, swimming all around the boat it was amazing to see them all.  Today we have moved onto Amed and we have all been snorkelling off the beach, the reef is only 10metres out and it has an array of tropical fish and coral to see, really good fun!

So Many Dolphins!

Lots of love Kat & Chris xxxx

Climbing Volcanoes & Diving with the Ray’s

We booked a two day trip to visit Mt Bromo and the Ijen crater (sulphur mine) from Yogyakarta. This trip included all transport along the very potholed ‘roads’, lovely expensive hotels (but they are in the middle of nowhere) and two breakfasts consisting of bread, jam and a tiny inch long banana and the next day a boiled egg and a chocolate sprinkles sandwich – just what you want when you’re about to visit a sulphur mine!

Mt Bromo was amazing, we had a jeep transport us just before sunrise to a viewpoint high up in the nearby mountains where we saw all three volcanoes in the area surrounded in low lying mist slowly being lit up as the sun turned the sky pink to clear bright blue. After an hour and a half and the sun firmly in the sky the jeep took us down to the base of Mt Bromo so that we could climb to the top (there are sand covered steps) and peer into the smoking crater. We liken the landscape to how you would imagine Mars or the Moon to look just desolate desert stretching for miles in every direction.

The following morning we visited Mt Ijen where there is an active sulphur mine. Upon arrival we climbed up an exhausting 3km track along with some of the very friendly miners some of whom were on their third trip to reach the crater and then we descended to the bottom of Ijen’s interior to admire the turquoise sulphur lake and all the hard work transpiring at the mine. We found the trip hard work but the miners do it all whilst carrying up to 100kg (H&S Regulations?!) of sulphur freshly chiselled from the bowels of Ijen and they earn about $13 (US Dollars) a day for their efforts, yet still they have the cheer to say “hello” whenever you pass them!!! Kat and I both think that the miners keep a tally of nationalities somewhere as every one of them asks you “Where are you from?” and then nods sagely at your response. It was a fantastic trip and testament to the human spirit that the miners can wake up each morning and do 3 or 4 more trips. As with all of Java the scenery was amazing.

We caught the ferry over to Bali later that day and made our way to Sanur which is described in our collection of used pages from 2005’s Lonely Planet as ‘Kuta with a Cardigan’ – what a lovely description! Kuta is a bit of a rough and ready beach resort for heavy drinkers looking for sun, sea and surf. Sanur has all this but with a bit more class and naturally, higher price tags L First impressions of Bali are that it’s a lot more built up than Java (besides Jakarta) and traffic seems congested in the main cities but there is still beautiful coastlines, coconut trees and rice paddies to brighten up the views.

The main reason we stopped in Sanur besides a day off from travelling every day and early sunrise starts was to get the slow boat over to Nusa Lembongan to do some more dives. Little did we know when we booked the ticket and got told to turn up at 7:30am the next day that we were still running on Java time which is an hour behind Bali – we did think the sun went down early! So we missed the first slow boat but luckily transferred to the 10:30 boat with no issues except for the locals laughing at us.

Nusa Lembongan is a small island with a penchant for seaweed cultivating / harvesting to be exported and then used in cosmetics, shampoos etc. I think we were expecting another Perhentian Islands (where we dived in Malaysia) experience with nearly deserted beaches and a handful of guesthouses and cafes so were initially disappointed with the small boats everywhere, coral strewn beaches and rectangular patches of seaweed filled sea (like a farm’s fields) and the island seemed pretty built up and busy. Then we realised how great it is to sit back and watch the local seaweed fishermen go about collecting, drying, packing and replanting their seaweed in the crystal clear waters and the tourism hasn’t affected this one little bit.

This morning we did 2 freezing cold dives (18 degrees at one point!) with the main aim of seeing Manta Rays and what a sight they were as they gracefully swooped over our heads! The biggest was about 2.5 – 3 meters long and there were about 5 or 6 rays in the area we dived which is a cleaning station for the Rays. The next dive had a visibility of 25 meters and the coral and fishes we saw were so vibrant because of the clear water. We had some fairly strong currents and it was distractingly cold but it was another great dive.

We’re now weighing up whether to do some more dives in the area before we head back to Bali and meet Kat’s mum on the 16th. In the meantime I think we’ll enjoy island life some more.

Love Chris & Kat xxx

End of Malaysia, A Memorable Entrance to Singapore & Java First Thoughts

So our return to Kuala Lumpur was soured by us both picking up the flu!  We stayed a couple of days to organise a few things (like our Indonesia visa and picking up the fixed Sony Camera) but then once both us could survive without being next to a toilet we headed to Melaka!  Melaka was where we chose to recuperate and as we were both still a little ill, we decided to spend almost a week there – almost unheard of for us to stay somewhere so long!  It’s a nice little town, full of history of English, Portuguese and Dutch invasions, full of culture having a China town and a Little India and it had nice cafes, a big shopping mall and home comforts such as Pizza Hut for when we started to eat again!  We didn’t do a lot but the week went quickly and soon we were feeling well enough to move on again.

Our next destination was Singapore.  We had been very lucky and met a lovely English couple (hello Alice & Con) when we were in the Perhentian Islands and they very kindly offered us their spare room in Singapore!  This was great news as Singapore is expensive.  As any good house guest we brought a bottle of wine with us as thanks; not realising that you are not allowed to bring anything over from Malaysia to Singapore!  So we got stopped at the border, Chris got taken into a room and after some form filling the great ‘fine city’ issued him with a $8 bill and we were on our way...or so we thought!  The bus had only gone and left us there!  And we had only 1ringgit and 1Singapore Dollar (courtesy of Canadian Kyle) and not an ATM in sight.  After a minor panic, lots of pacing up and down and worried looks, a coach driver took pity on us and let us on his bus for the measly 70p we owned!  Sadly his bus went in the opposite direction to where we wanted to be – but we made it into Singapore and to Alice & Con, only a mere 2hours later than planned – they appreciated the wine too.

Pulau Ubin

We had a great few days in Singapore.  We enjoyed a walk, hawker food, beers and some drunken tree climbing on our first night at the East Coast Park.  On the 2^nd day Alice & Con took us to the beautiful Pulau Ubin.  We went over on a bumboat from the mainland and then hired bicycles to explore the island.  We admired the scenery, from turquoise lakes to the mangroves and we saw plenty of wildlife; hornbills (!) monkeys, lizards, fiddler crabs with their one huge pincer and lung fish - it was great.  The 3^rd day we explored the marina area to see the skyscrapers, shopping malls, theatres and huge casino that has 3 hotel blocks with a huge boat lying on the top of them on the 57^th floor – it was very Vegas!  Our last day we decided to go to the zoo as so many people have told us how good it is and it didn’t disappoint.  The enclosures are all quite big (the Orang-utans are free roaming) and the animals seem well stimulated.  We spent the whole day there, mostly entertained by the various monkeys, gibbons & apes!  We also saw Komodo Dragon being fed, Giant tortoises, White Tigers and Pygmy Hippos to name but a few! For our last evening we were spoilt by Alice & Con and we got taken to an Ex-pat place that did amazing egg, chips & beans and had a big cider collection!  We enjoyed a Westons Cider & a Hobgoblin – oh how we’ve missed them!

Over to Java and back to haggling Asia!  We had almost forgotten what it was like after being spoilt in Malaysia!  Everyone has been very friendly so far, although they normally want to sell you something!  We have done a lot of travelling so far, as we didn’t want to spend much time in Jakarta.  The trains have been really nice as we’ve plumped for slightly more expensive business class (less chickens & goats!), the journeys scenic – paddy fields, hills, volcanoes and coconut trees and the temperature has been surprisingly pleasant, not nearly as sweaty as we expected!  We are now in Yogyakarta which has a nice backpack feel to it.  We went to Borobudur today, a cool Buddhist Temple which has dozens of latticed stupas (look like bells) which each contain a Buddha.  The scenery was amazing with volcanoes in the distance and the early morning light (we were there at 6am!) made it look all the more impressive.

Next we head to Mount Bromo (a volcano) and another early morning wake up; as every tourist knows – you need that sunrise picture for your collection!

Lots of Love K&C xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kuching = Cat

Our week in Borneo has come to an end but what a brilliant week it’s been! We’ve been staying in Kuching which means ‘Cat’ so whenever we see one we’ve enjoyed pointing and yelling ‘Kuching!’ at it. Kuching is the capital of Sarawak and a great hub for travelling to the nearby National Parks and wildlife centres. Whilst we’ve been staying here the Regatta festival which involves long rowing boats racing each other and the World Wakeboarding Championship have been taking place on the waterfront making for some great viewing when we’ve had the time!

Whenever anyone hears the name Borneo they think of orang-utans and we travelled to see these marvellous ginger apes for their breakfast hour at the Semenggoh Rehabilitation Centre. They slowly swung their way over to the feeding platform for fruit, rocking thin trees or branches back and forth until they could gracefully get to the next tree. It was really amazing to see the orang-utans so naturally using all four limbs going hand over foot spinning like a Catherine wheel to get down ropes and when they walked on two legs they looked so very human. An hour soon passed by and as the fruit ran out the seven orang-utans that had come to see us slowly climbed and swung their way back into the jungle where they emerged from.

Shortly Before I Dragged Kat in to the Waterfall!

We visited Bako National Park by bus then speedboat where we met Kyle, Simon and Michelle from Canada who we did some trekking with that day and have met up with numerous times since. We headed to the waterfall which we didn’t intend to swim in as we’d forgotten to bring our trunks and bikini but as we were dipping our toes in I slipped and dragged Kat with me – fully clothed! After that we figured we might as well enjoy the cool water seeing as we were wet already! We then headed to a private beach where we were the only people for a while and enjoyed some more swimming and watching the crabs scuttling by. Along the way we saw some very ungraceful Proboscis monkeys with their big bellies and long red noses, some bearded Warthogs snuffling around and wild monkeys who attacked me for my bag of rubbish. All in all a great day with a few beers to round it off!

For the rest of our time in Borneo we visited a crocodile farm and saw the crocs jumping high in the air for fish at feeding time. Michelle’s very kind local friend Vincent drove us (all five from the Bako trek) to an Indonesian market where we crossed the border into Indonesia without needing a visa, to the Fairy Cave to explore and we stopped off on the way home at a Chinese food street where he bought us loads of delicious local food as the sun was setting. We visited a Cultural Village to see local tribes traditional houses complete with a dance performance and we also all visited Kubah National Park on our last full day where we trekked to a ten foot high waterfall - with the intention of swimming this time! We had a few more drinks with the guys in the evenings and even tried the local rice wine which tasted a lot like strong cider but you drink it in a shot glass and it is bright green!

We’ll be heading back to the big city of Kuala Lumpur tomorrow with its HUGE shopping malls and interesting Mosques and Chinese temples. We really enjoyed our two days there before Borneo and we’ve got a few more planned when we get back to get our Indonesia visa and do a few day trips out of the city.

Hope everything is okay back home!

Love Chris & Kat xxx

Cream Teas, Turtles & a Rainforest!

Each place that we’ve visited in Malaysia has been very different – Temple hopping to tea plantations and rolling countryside to beautiful clear waters and beaches to vast rainforest – and we’ve loved each part of it. 

The culture is also very diverse in Malaysia and we find ourselves often saying “doesn’t that remind you of China” or “not had Daal like that since Nepal” and perhaps more strangely – “don’t you feel like we’re in Devon!?” – that last one would be directed at the Cameron Highlands.  It is a strange mix, but it seems to work together well.  The Malaysians are really very friendly and all seem pretty laid back.  Everyone speaks good English, which makes travel easy.  The plugs are English sockets!  They drive on the left side of the road.  They enjoy a good brew and they sell Cream Teas!  Diversely, we’ve eaten mainly Indian food here!  There is Chinese influence in all their temples and for the first time in our trip we’ve seen lots of ladies in burkas and Mosques are found all over the place.  So it really is a mix of cultures and landscapes but its proving to be one of the most interesting places we’ve visited.

Us at Robinson Falls

So the day after our last post we had our English Countryside day, we had scones and tea then went for a country walk to visit a couple of waterfalls.  It was lovely and that evening we curled up in our blankets (its a chilly 23 degrees in the Highlands!) and watched a film on the laptop.

Our next destination was the Perhentian Islands, recommended by Greg & Jade for its diving.  So a long bus journey and then a speedboat over and we landed on our little stretch of paradise – Kecil Island.  No roads or cars just the 2 main resorts, Long Beach & Coral Bay which are on either sides of the island, but easy to reach either side by walking the 10min jungle path.  Our main purpose of being here was to do some diving, so we booked on for the next morning.

The whole diving experience was different this time.  The resort was so quiet that we could choose which dive sites we wanted to go to, we could pick the time and we would go out just for one dive rather than the usual daytrip on a boat.   The boat was a small speedboat and instead of having to go to a pier by car to catch said boat, it just pulled up to the beach and you’d carry your gear the short distance from the shop to the boat.  The other BIG difference was that when we arrived to the dive sites – we were the only ones there!  Even though there are loads of different dive companies we never met anyone else which makes it an even nicer experience!

Coral Bay

We did 3 dives in all.  The first and probably our favourite was the pinnacle.  Visibility was good there were schools of fish all around us, we saw lots – particularly liked the stingrays, squid, batfish and ‘tripod’ a sea turtle that only has 3 legs, he was sleeping when we passed him!  Our 2^nd dive was to a shipwreck.  It was quite poor visibility (which meant I missed seeing the bamboo shark sitting under a rock!) but it was  cool to swim over and under the masts and we went into the cargo hold which had an air pocket – so 12metres underwater we had our face out of the water in the air pocket!  The last dive we did was at a site that has a series of rocks underwater, so there you could swim through some rock tunnels which was cool, there were lots of small fish here, nemo clownfish, bannerfish, angelfish, shrimps and these tiny things called nudibranch.  The diving was really good fun and we enjoyed doing an early morning dive then relaxing with our books in the afternoon.

We are now in Taman Negra – a huge jungle/rainforest National Park.  We arrived yesterday after an epic journey!  The town is a little odd in that it is under major construction and we’re not sure what is open and what is closed.  But we have a bed and we have located cheap riverside restaurants!  Today we ventured into the jungle – totally covered up after hearing leech horror armpit stories from G&J! – and off we went to the canopy walk.  Set 30metres up in the trees is the canopy which allows you to walk above the jungle to view it from above.  The National Park is said to be 130 million years old and it is a vast sea of greenery.  The canopy walk was great and with no signs of the leeches, we headed up to a viewpoint where we found a couple of sleeping bats!

Tomorrow we change from rainforest to city as we head to Kuala Lumpur.  And our flight to Borneo is on the 13^th so there will be many Orang-utan photos to view soon!

Love & Miss you all.  K&C xxx

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