Well, we got Rai Lay after about a 90 minute boat trip which, to my surprise, ended with a short long tail boat ride to shore - which meant we were going to have to jump in all the water with all our stuff and trousers on - not amused! (Imogen note: I thought it was fun to wade to shore because I'm not grumpy and I know how to roll my trousers up so they don't immediately flop back down into the sea)
When we arrived and looked around, it was stunning. Rai Lay is an area of Krabi only accessible by boat and it is surrounded by huge limestone cliffs.
We went for a short walk towards most of the accommodation and ended up in a bungalow with 2 double beds for 500 baht a night!
First night was just a bit of exploration around where we had a nice meal in a little cafe type place, where Imogen didn't like what she got so we went to a beach side bar had some drinks and pizza!
Second day here we had a pretty horrible breakfast from our hotel's restaurant, we wandered around for a bit and then decided to go to Tonsai beach, which according to signs looked like it would be nice and easy to get to and nice place to go relax.
On the way to Tonsai we came across our resort's name sake - crystal cave. It cost 40 baht each to go in and it was really cool. It was creepy and you could hear bats on the ceiling. All the rock and stuff inside was really pretty, well worth the tiny amount of money and bit of time spent down there.
We then continued our journey to Tonsai, and came to sign saying it was 800m away and pointed towarded some forest... Being the adventurers we are we of course went for it. Early on the walk we came across what looked like abandoned housing, which in my eyes was the sort of place a mad murderer would hang out waiting for victims like us on our way past. Luckily, it was just some abandoned buildings. Eventually, we ended up on a really steep hill climb for a long time, while Imogen attracted every single mosquito in the close area. The climb involved the use of ropes which had been placed to make it slightly more manageable - eventually we came to some closed resorts, that were closed probably because of it being the off-peak season and then a short walk later ended up on the beach.
The beach itself was beautiful, perfect white sands with glistening water and hardly anyone there. We sat here for a while and had lunch because that walk definitely knocked the energy out of both of us!
We decided on walking back before sunset over getting a boat back, we weren't sure how to get the boat and this would be more fun anyway! The journey back was much quicker but with possibly more mosquitoes constantly chasing Imogen (and me this time, maybe they thought I would be easier with all their buddies trying to get Imogen). After this journey we, mainly Imogen, realised that mosquitoes can bite through fabric despite most people thinking otherwise, including through Imogen's shoe and sock!
The next day something very exciting happened... We had our clothes properly washed! After scrubbing them just ourselves for all this time we thought we splash out and get them cleaned, it cost 210 baht for all our clothes and because of the lack of clothes we decided it would be best to hang out and relax at the swimming pool for the day.
The day after this we didn't do much at all and ended up mainly at the bungalow, where we had some of the worst rain I've ever seen - which isn't so bad when you are chilling on your veranda watching the plants flood.
Today we did plan to go to the viewpoint somewhere south I think, but it is taking absolutely ages for our photos to upload, you had better appreciate every single one of them!!!
Bye bye!!
John
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Flickr
Just a quick update - a bigger one is likely to be up soon since it is taking ages to upload loads of photos - The first group of photos uploaded now all have descriptions if you are interested link is here...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63142467@N03/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63142467@N03/
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Phi Phi
Hi, writing this as my hands and probably my face glisten with sweat.
We have been on Koh Phi Phi for a few days. When we first arrived we are bit disappointed compared to Koh Tao, it is much more cramped, less relaxed and a bit of party island (definitely not our thing!)
After a proper nights sleep from the horrendous journey over and having a proper look around we liked it way more. We ended up in a decent sized room for 500 baht, with an actual flushing toilet!! We did have to drill a bit into the roof to get our mosquito net up but I'm sure no one minded/noticed!
After our original dislike of the island we did end up extending our stay from 2 nights to 4. We booked a half day snorkeling trip and did some wondering around. For lunch we had a massive barbecued fish and rise from a street vendor while sat on rubbish chairs + table and it was really yummy, even though some bits seemed a bit too soft to be the meat of the fish... That evening we walked up to the viewpoint over Phi Phi. It was really high and Imogen's lungs were not having a good time! The view at the end was definitely worth it, it was stunning and you could see so much and a bit of the sunset which ended up obscured by clouds. While we were up at the top the mosquitoes had started gathering for a feast (normally aimed at Imogen) so I started putting some repellent on, I started with my neck then as I went to put some on my arms there was one just about to bite! They never go for me and the one time I find one on me was while I was trying to repel them, not happy!
The next day, which was originally booked to go on our snorkeling trip changed because apparently the boat was broken but we changed our tickets for the day after not really expecting the best. The rest of that day was spent lazing on the beach not doing much at all, which was lovely! That night we ended up with a HUGE cockroach falling onto Imogen's face and scurrying across the room to go chill in the corner. We did already find a cockroach in our bathroom which was a bit smaller, which we forced into the drain on the floor by using the bum gun and showers to guide it. That night was particularly difficult to sleep, with every little noise and tickle of the fan perking us both back up in fear.
We went on our snorkeling/boat trip the next day. Our first stop was monkey island, which was a tiny beach with loads of monkeys where you could get really close (and if were stupid, you could also give them beer to drink!). Monkeys seemed very anxious about all the attention and after we took a couple of photos we stood back to try and encourage as little as possible. We continued our journey around seeing some lovely scenery and eventually stopped somewhere and went for a small kayak journey and then snorkeled a bit. The fish were then drawn to the boat by the people running everything as the through loads of food out to them. We then watched the sunset out at sea and went back to land on a very overcrowded long-tail boat to have a buffet, which was nice but we left shortly after when it began raining a little bit.
I think that's pretty much everything noteworthy from Phi Phi, we are on a boat in 30 mins to Rai Lay beach for probably even more relaxing!
Bye!
We have been on Koh Phi Phi for a few days. When we first arrived we are bit disappointed compared to Koh Tao, it is much more cramped, less relaxed and a bit of party island (definitely not our thing!)
After a proper nights sleep from the horrendous journey over and having a proper look around we liked it way more. We ended up in a decent sized room for 500 baht, with an actual flushing toilet!! We did have to drill a bit into the roof to get our mosquito net up but I'm sure no one minded/noticed!
After our original dislike of the island we did end up extending our stay from 2 nights to 4. We booked a half day snorkeling trip and did some wondering around. For lunch we had a massive barbecued fish and rise from a street vendor while sat on rubbish chairs + table and it was really yummy, even though some bits seemed a bit too soft to be the meat of the fish... That evening we walked up to the viewpoint over Phi Phi. It was really high and Imogen's lungs were not having a good time! The view at the end was definitely worth it, it was stunning and you could see so much and a bit of the sunset which ended up obscured by clouds. While we were up at the top the mosquitoes had started gathering for a feast (normally aimed at Imogen) so I started putting some repellent on, I started with my neck then as I went to put some on my arms there was one just about to bite! They never go for me and the one time I find one on me was while I was trying to repel them, not happy!
The next day, which was originally booked to go on our snorkeling trip changed because apparently the boat was broken but we changed our tickets for the day after not really expecting the best. The rest of that day was spent lazing on the beach not doing much at all, which was lovely! That night we ended up with a HUGE cockroach falling onto Imogen's face and scurrying across the room to go chill in the corner. We did already find a cockroach in our bathroom which was a bit smaller, which we forced into the drain on the floor by using the bum gun and showers to guide it. That night was particularly difficult to sleep, with every little noise and tickle of the fan perking us both back up in fear.
We went on our snorkeling/boat trip the next day. Our first stop was monkey island, which was a tiny beach with loads of monkeys where you could get really close (and if were stupid, you could also give them beer to drink!). Monkeys seemed very anxious about all the attention and after we took a couple of photos we stood back to try and encourage as little as possible. We continued our journey around seeing some lovely scenery and eventually stopped somewhere and went for a small kayak journey and then snorkeled a bit. The fish were then drawn to the boat by the people running everything as the through loads of food out to them. We then watched the sunset out at sea and went back to land on a very overcrowded long-tail boat to have a buffet, which was nice but we left shortly after when it began raining a little bit.
I think that's pretty much everything noteworthy from Phi Phi, we are on a boat in 30 mins to Rai Lay beach for probably even more relaxing!
Bye!
End of Koh Tao and journey to Koh Phi Phi
Ｈｅｌｌｏ ａｇａｉｎ ｅｖｅｒｙｂｏｄｙ！ Ｉｔ ｉｓ ＳＯ ＨＯＴ ｔｏｄａｙ！Ｗｅ＇ｖｅ ｇｏｔ ａ ｂｏａｔ ｔｏ ｃａｔｃｈ ｔｏ Ｒａｉ Ｌａｙ ｉｎ ｈａｌｆ ａｎ ｈｏｕｒ， ｓｏ ｔｉｍｅ ｆｏｒ ａ ｑｕｉｃｋ ｕｐｄａｔｅ！
Ｉ ｌｅｆｔ ｙｏｕ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｌａｓｔ ｐｏｓｔ ａｓ ｗｅ ｗｅｒｅ ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｏ ｇｏ ｔｏ ｓｈａｒｋ ｂａｙ！ Ｉ＇ｌｌ ｂｒｅａｋ ｔｈｅ ｔｅｎｓｉｏｎ ｎｏｗ －ｎｏ ｓｈａｒｋｓ．
Ｗｅ ｇｏｔ ａ ｔａｘｉ ｏｖｅｒ ａｓ ｉｔ＇ｓ ａ ｂｉｔ ｏｆ ａ ｄｉｓｔａｎｃｅ ｔｏ ｗａｌｋ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｆｒｉｅｎｄ ｗｅ ｗｅｒｅ ｗｉｔｈ ｈａｄ ａｎ ｅａｒｌｙ ａｆｔｅｒｎｏｏｎ ｂｏａｔ ｔｏ ｃａｔｃｈ． Ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅｎ＇ｔ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｒｏａｄｓ ｉｎ Ｋｏｈ Ｔａｏ， ｓｏ ｗｅ ｗｅｒｅ ｃｌｉｎｇｉｎｇ ｏｎ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ ｂａｃｋ ｏｆ ａ ｐｉｃｋｕｐ ｔｒｕｃｋ ｓｐｅｅｄｉｎｇ ａｌｏｎｇ ｂｕｍｐｙ ｔｒａｃｋｓ． Ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｄｅｆｉｎｉｔｅｌｙ ｌａｃｋｉｎｇ ｓｔａｂｉｌｉｔｙ ａｎｄ Ｉ ｇｏｔ ｈｉｔ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｆａｃｅ ｗｉｔｈ ａ ｂｒａｎｃｈ！
The beach was stunning when we arrived, though. Absolutely pristine and almost deserted. We rented a snorkel and fins and started wading out (the tide was really really low!). There was lots of coral to pick through and we were a bit worried. Then some Thai people started calling to us - a lady said "not there! There lots of coral, you die!!". We decided to move a bit further down the beach.
We couldn't get out far enough to see the sharks because of the tide, so we settled for snorkeling in the shallows - I saw a butterfly fish, a clam opening and shutting and lots of other fish - including a territorial black fish who darted at me from his coral. We also got incredibly, incredibly burnt. Mine was all of my legs up to swimming costume level and John's was a variety of bits like neck, arms etc.
The next day we got tickets to Phi Phi on the night boat and just hung around at the bar with various people til the boat left. We were told, excitingly, that there were actually beds on the night boat, rather than just reclining seats. When we got on the boat at 9 we were greeted with this sight:
That's right! Two rows of 20 narrow mats on the floor - it's quite dark but for reference each pillow is one bed, this includes bag space too! It was an interesting night, especially since the air con was FREEZING! John is pretty sure he ended up mostly in the dark haired girls bed in the middle of the night! It is pretty empty in this picture, but by the time we left every bed was full.We then got a bus to Krabi, where we found out we'd missed our morning boat! Rather than pay for another one we hung around til 1:30, then finally arrived in Phi Phi at about 3:30, having been travelling since 8 the previous night!
John is writing a post on our Phi Phi adventures, so that will come next! No photo dump today unfortunately, the internet is too slow to upload them all.
Love,
Imogen
Saturday, 21 May 2011
Flikr stream of all our random pics so far! More descriptions will come when we have more time! : )
Click me for photos!
Click me for photos!
Food Post
Third time writing this, power keeps dropping, so it is likely to stay concise.
Food on the plane was pretty nice for aeroplane food, we had curry for dinner and lunch and just a croissant for breakfast. The 2nd curry looked particularly phlegmy, but it did taste nice!
Our first meal in Bangkok was omelette and fried rice cooked on the street, this was really yummy and was eaten sat on some steps at the bottom of our hotel.
Most mornings in Bangkok involved getting some fruit from the nearby street vendors, which was almost always really nice! We haven't tried durian (look it up) yet but plan to at some point.
We mostly ate street food in Bangkok but there were a couple of times we wanted to sit down and eat. The first was when we went to the wrong hotel but we ended up in a really nice cafe where Imogen had a coconut for her drink! The other time we went to a restaurant, we ended up in a really posh hotel restaurant, dress horribly and probably sweating profusely. The food was amazing! We had starters which involved making a wrap with a little leaf with items from the centre. The whole meal with drinks was about 20 pounds, even with a random dish being added to our table.
In the coach station, we decided to go to a little fast food restaurant where through lack of choice and a bit of curiosity I ended up ordered pig ears. The texture of these was disgusting and the foul taste was only disguised by large amounts of chilli sauce, Imogen ordered something that turned out equally disgusting.
The only noteworthy food we ate on the coach to Chumphon were some seaweed flavoured crisps which weren't actually that bad, but we were pretty hungry by then.
In Koh Tao we have pretty much just been eating at the same restaurant, which is right by the beach a short walk from our bungalow and on average costs us about 2.50 pounds each time. We have tried loads of food, most of which has been lovely including pad thai, red curry, green curry, fried rice and something we were introduced to call No Name which is delicious. No Name is basically deep fried vegetables with a chilli jam for dipping at the side, introduced to us by one of our diving instructors.
Since having one sandwich to take onto the boat with us, Imogen is currently obsessed with sandwiches despite the massive variety of Thai food everywhere.
Hope you are all enjoying your food!
John
Food on the plane was pretty nice for aeroplane food, we had curry for dinner and lunch and just a croissant for breakfast. The 2nd curry looked particularly phlegmy, but it did taste nice!
Our first meal in Bangkok was omelette and fried rice cooked on the street, this was really yummy and was eaten sat on some steps at the bottom of our hotel.
Most mornings in Bangkok involved getting some fruit from the nearby street vendors, which was almost always really nice! We haven't tried durian (look it up) yet but plan to at some point.
We mostly ate street food in Bangkok but there were a couple of times we wanted to sit down and eat. The first was when we went to the wrong hotel but we ended up in a really nice cafe where Imogen had a coconut for her drink! The other time we went to a restaurant, we ended up in a really posh hotel restaurant, dress horribly and probably sweating profusely. The food was amazing! We had starters which involved making a wrap with a little leaf with items from the centre. The whole meal with drinks was about 20 pounds, even with a random dish being added to our table.
In the coach station, we decided to go to a little fast food restaurant where through lack of choice and a bit of curiosity I ended up ordered pig ears. The texture of these was disgusting and the foul taste was only disguised by large amounts of chilli sauce, Imogen ordered something that turned out equally disgusting.
The only noteworthy food we ate on the coach to Chumphon were some seaweed flavoured crisps which weren't actually that bad, but we were pretty hungry by then.
In Koh Tao we have pretty much just been eating at the same restaurant, which is right by the beach a short walk from our bungalow and on average costs us about 2.50 pounds each time. We have tried loads of food, most of which has been lovely including pad thai, red curry, green curry, fried rice and something we were introduced to call No Name which is delicious. No Name is basically deep fried vegetables with a chilli jam for dipping at the side, introduced to us by one of our diving instructors.
Since having one sandwich to take onto the boat with us, Imogen is currently obsessed with sandwiches despite the massive variety of Thai food everywhere.
Hope you are all enjoying your food!
John
Friday, 20 May 2011
Bangkok and Koh Tao
Sorry for the lack of updates so far, we've been too busy! This is going to be a bit long and rambly, but the next post will be pictures!
Bangkok
The flight was 16 hours, but we got 3 meals and free drinks and snacks, and the time went quite quickly. After each meal we got little packets of "after dinner mints" which actually turned out be seeds flavoured with fennel and mint - they were extremely odd, especially when you're expecting a mint imperial! The security in Mumbai, which was our stopover, was insane. There were guards with giant AK47s and there were about 5 different security checks.
Our first hotel, the Baiyoke Sky hotel, was amazing - the room was massive and air conditioned and the views were incredible.
We spent our 2 days in Bangkok shopping (hooray!). We visited MBK, which is a huge shopping centre, to get Thai sim cards and other bits, and the weekend market, which was astonishing. Both are warren-like with hundreds of different stalls. There's even a pet shop section at the weekend market, there were guys with boxes of puppies, we were sorely tempted to buy ourselves a little travelling buddy!
Koh Tao
We took the night bus to Koh Tao on Saturday, which was a bit of an adventure! We waited about 2 hours to get the 515 to the southern bus terminal, then overshot the terminal by miles! We had to get a taxi back to the terminal from some random village miles from Bangkok.
The bus took about 8 hours, but was pretty luxurious. The seats reclined almost fully, and we got some free crazy Thai snacks and drinks. We even had a hostess lady! We got another coach to the dock from Chumpon station, then finally got a ferry at 7am to Koh Tao!
We're staying in a little hut about a minute's walk from the beach (and the bar) with no hot water or flushing toilet! It's very basic, but beautiful. Koh Tao is really a paradise island.
We started our PADI SCUBA course the day after we arrived and have just finished the Advanced today. It is SO MUCH harder than it looks!! We've both got our sea legs now, I feel like I'm rocking just sat at the computer!
Diving is amazing, we've seen clownfish (Nemo!), angelfish, stingrays, loads of urchins and barracuda, triggger fish - there are so many fish! we're going to Shark Bay tomorrow to snorkel and hopefully spot lots of sharks!
We're going to stay on Koh Tao for another couple of days, then get the ferry to Koh Phangan, we'll give an update from there!
To follow is a post from John about food, which he is obsessed with, and a post full of pictures.
Bye!
Imogen
XXX
Bangkok
The flight was 16 hours, but we got 3 meals and free drinks and snacks, and the time went quite quickly. After each meal we got little packets of "after dinner mints" which actually turned out be seeds flavoured with fennel and mint - they were extremely odd, especially when you're expecting a mint imperial! The security in Mumbai, which was our stopover, was insane. There were guards with giant AK47s and there were about 5 different security checks.
Our first hotel, the Baiyoke Sky hotel, was amazing - the room was massive and air conditioned and the views were incredible.
We spent our 2 days in Bangkok shopping (hooray!). We visited MBK, which is a huge shopping centre, to get Thai sim cards and other bits, and the weekend market, which was astonishing. Both are warren-like with hundreds of different stalls. There's even a pet shop section at the weekend market, there were guys with boxes of puppies, we were sorely tempted to buy ourselves a little travelling buddy!
Koh Tao
We took the night bus to Koh Tao on Saturday, which was a bit of an adventure! We waited about 2 hours to get the 515 to the southern bus terminal, then overshot the terminal by miles! We had to get a taxi back to the terminal from some random village miles from Bangkok.
The bus took about 8 hours, but was pretty luxurious. The seats reclined almost fully, and we got some free crazy Thai snacks and drinks. We even had a hostess lady! We got another coach to the dock from Chumpon station, then finally got a ferry at 7am to Koh Tao!
We're staying in a little hut about a minute's walk from the beach (and the bar) with no hot water or flushing toilet! It's very basic, but beautiful. Koh Tao is really a paradise island.
We started our PADI SCUBA course the day after we arrived and have just finished the Advanced today. It is SO MUCH harder than it looks!! We've both got our sea legs now, I feel like I'm rocking just sat at the computer!
Diving is amazing, we've seen clownfish (Nemo!), angelfish, stingrays, loads of urchins and barracuda, triggger fish - there are so many fish! we're going to Shark Bay tomorrow to snorkel and hopefully spot lots of sharks!
We're going to stay on Koh Tao for another couple of days, then get the ferry to Koh Phangan, we'll give an update from there!
To follow is a post from John about food, which he is obsessed with, and a post full of pictures.
Bye!
Imogen
XXX
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
First Post
Hi.
This is the place where we will upload pictures and updates from our travels! Hopefully you are friends and family and not creepy strangers.
This is the place where we will upload pictures and updates from our travels! Hopefully you are friends and family and not creepy strangers.
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