Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

We had a couple days before we had to be in Kuala Lumpur so decided to go into the mountains for a bit of nature. The bus took about 5 & a half hours although most of that was spent in 1st gear getting up the mountain: CH is about 5000m above sea level, which is where we were coming from. Unlike the Thailand bus trips, the lunch stops here were really good, my personal favourite being 'cup of corn', a cup of sweetcorn with lots of butter for 50 pence, whilst Jacqui delved into the packets of fresh fruit at 20 pence a pop. 

We managed to find a cute guesthouse called the Hillview Inn just outside the 'main' strip in a tiny hilltop town called Tanah Rata. There really wasn't much there except for a few restaurants & travel agents. The whole area is famous for it strawberries, and scones with strawberry jam (scrumptious). 

For our first dinner, we ate at one of the many Indian restaurants, we shared a chicken claypot and a lamb tandoori with garlic & cheese naan. Even though we were full we pursued with hot choc's and pudding which was a mistake, but we will learn....although we have been saying that the whole trip!

It is a lot cooler up in the mountains & rains in the afternoon so we even managed to whip out our only pair of jeans & tracksuit tops for a rare outing. We proceeded to arrange a day trip for the next day but found out that the Boh tea factory is closed on Mondays- bugger. And that was the one thing Jacqui was looking forward to. The sight-seeing tours involve visiting all the local attractions. A very unintentionally honest tour organiser lady told us the bee farm has no more bees, the strawberry farm involves buying a strawberry milkshake, etc so we decided to get a map and do a 3 hour hike by ourselves through the mountains. 

The next day we set off for our hike after having hot oat porridge with honey and banana for breakfast- such a cute place this! Its such a good feeling as the mornings are very cool. The mountain is thick forest and the path doesn't get walked much! It was very enjoyable as it was a nice change to all the beach and city activities we have been doing. The peak was at about 6100m although there was not much of a view to speak of. On the way back down the mountain, we took the wrong path, well it ended up not being a path at all! After slipping, sliding and jumping through steep virgin rainforest and hanging on roots and branches for about 15 minutes we decided we were lost. I think it was the having to crawl on our hands & knees & make our own path which gave it away! So we turned back & now had to crawl vertically back up the mountain to where we went wrong which luckily we found. Part of the problem was the trails were so old & washed away it was very difficult to actually differentiate between path & bush. We were covered in mud and scratches by the time we finished! We finally found the beautiful waterfall and rewarded ourselves with delicious local Boh tea and scones with fresh strawberry jam (still covered in mud) which is the best we have ever had! I had to buy 2 jars to take back with me!

We spent the late afternoon drinking more tea in the beautiful hotel garden. We watched a movie in the common lounge area (very cute) before heading out for dinner. We had western food for dinner which wasn't the best.

We left early the next morning on a VIP bus to KL.Cameron Highlands was a really pretty and relaxing stop, and those scones with cream and strawberry jam will never be forgotten!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, or KL as it is affectionately known, was next on our agenda. We stayed in Tune Hotel which is run by AirAsia- everything branded in the companies colours, very cheap compared to the rest of KL but anything extra was charged for. You had to rent towels, buy aircon & wifi vouchers and everything had advertising. We had a Pensonic hairdryer advertised on our door, and inside we had McDonalds, Maggi & some tour company pasted round the wall. Still it was nice & central-ish, fairly new & modern, & most NB, cheap!

Our bus got in 2 hours earlier than expected so we jumped on the tourist bus & did a circular of the city in rush hour traffic before jumping off in China Town to hit the main market on Petaling Street. After a brief taste of the pestering and over eager shop assistants we decided we needed some food before taking it on. Nando's looked very inviting & so we scoffed down a half chicken each (what fat pigs!) & instantly felt a lot more like shopping.

It really is difficult to describe the market, firstly it was packed, secondly there were just so many over-crowded stalls & shops, and lastly, the people at the shops are virtually pulling you in by the arm. I got tapped & grabbed a couple times which was pissing me off, luckily they weren't doing it to Jacqui but they were the normal chirps. I obviously look British as I seemed to get 'yes, mate' & 'oi mate' in there best cockney accent.

All the hassle was just about worth it as there were some bargains but bargain was what you had to do in order to get them. Generally they start at 70% over what you should pay & it took us a while to get the hang of it & actually get some deals, Jacqui got a Prada bag for £20 down from about £35 which we should have got for less! As for shoes, well with both of us being yeti’s with massive feet, only the guys shoes fitted Jacqui & nothing fitted me so they were out. Feeling battered & exhausted we managed to escape the market & make it home.

KL is really sticky & hot, & very uncomfortable when the sun is out. Luckily it was overcast a bit while we were there which made it just about bearable. It is the exact opposite to London, here you can't wait to get on the tube/monorail as it is super cold & as soon as you get off it, you are hit by the wall of heat, oh & you have to stand on the right on the escalators to let people past....more confusing than it sounds!

Christmas Eve was spent sightseeing although after waiting for our tourist bus for 30 mins, it preceded to break down in the middle of a highway 15 mins later in the middle of nowhere. So instead of waiting even longer for another one we had to walk about 3km to our destination, the Petronas Twin Towers. Sweating like....well.....sweating profusely we took cover in the shopping center at the bottom to cool off. Next was the Menara KL tower, which at 421m is one of the tallest in the world. They made us buy a stupid package ticket which included daft things we didn't want do like an animal petting zoo & a 'winter' park, I use the word winter but it was literally cotton wool with a plastic polar bear & some fans blowing vapour, & it was outside so wasn't even cold!

Had lunch at the Hard Rock (for Keith) and the food was pretty good. We then visited a few hotels trying to find a traditional roast dinner for Christmas. We settled on the Concorde Hotel that has a massive Xmas buffet.

Christmas! Merry Merry! Happy Happy! Aaaah!

We slept LATE for a change, got on our Sunday best & headed out for lunch which was 12:30 to 16:00 & we were determined to use all that time to eat. We got there at 12:30 on the dot & proceeded to eat continuously till 4, we took it slow & it was hard at times, but we pulled through in the end. Starters, 5 helpings of mains, 2 helpings of pudding....the buffet was western, chinese, thai, japanese, malay and indian so we had to try everything. They had a Santa come visit the kids & hand out presents & a band singing Christmas carols who were highly entertaining, especially the huge fat gay one who pranced round like a queen shouting ho-ho-ho in her deepest voice!

There seems to be a lot of South Africans around, we have plenty in our hotel, a family of them sat next to us at Xmas dinner, some were on our flight to Singapore & you hear them in the streets all the time, definitely the accent we have heard the most in Malaysia. It makes you think if there are any left at home!!

After dinner we rolled out to the main shopping area of Bukit Bintang which has malls and malls of shops, starting with the Louis Vittons, Prada, Bvlgari etc etc & ending with Topshop, Gap & so on. We skipped the high-end stuff & settled somewhere in between & treated ourselves to some presents for Xmas & ended off a nice day at the cinema after speaking to all the family back home. We watched ‘Yes Man’ which I had heard a lot about & it was hilarious, although the funniest was laughing at all Asians laughing at the Western jokes, they were loving it! 

Boxing Day we went to Batu Caves which is the site of a Hindu Temple where millions of Hindus go on a pilgrimage every year & stick spears through their tongues & hooks in theirs backs, wear shoes made of nails & other crazy things. All in the name of religion of course! The caves were impressive but by the time we had climbed the 272 steps we were sweating so much we just wanted to get back in the shade. We scurried back down the stairs, passing a girl throwing up halfway up the stairs & headed back to the A/C.

Next up was the KL Bird Park, with the largest walk in aviary in the world. Most of the birds were pretty much what you could find in our back garden growing up, ostriches, macaws, lories etc. The best bit was definitely the bird show which had birds riding bikes, doing math’s sums and other such things birds shouldn't!

That night we headed to the Petaling Market again, we were very prepared this time: we spent time formulating an action plan- we had a list of what we wanted & what we were willing to pay. We were prepared to bargain hard with those guys & we did! Generally you should be able to get your item for 50-70% less than the starting price, after 4 hours of wheeling & deeling as well as fighting of various salesmen, we struggled back to the hotel with all our bags & got onto the task of getting them into our bags! We don't have too much luggage, our backpacks are basically full but our hand luggages are empty so we are sorted me thinks...

Me thinks wrong! Bladdy Air Asia has a limit of 15kg per person, we knew that but were a little over last time & they didn't mind, we came in at a slightly heavy 37kg (but no hand luggage) & after being quoted an exorbitant fee we went off to the luggage shop & had to buy a small bag & repack. After which we weighed 32kg....& the cheeky so & so still moaned, we argued with him for a while & he said we need to remove another 1kg!!! So Jacqui promptly tied one of my belts and a towel around her waste, & put a pair of pants under her arm & told him to weigh it again, after which he reluctantly said we could go through...

Singapore here we come!

Penang (North-west Malaysian Island)

From what we had read before coming to Penang, the main reasons for visiting it is to see the mix of cultures that exist and see how they all coexist peacefully. It is difficult to imagine but when you arrive and are greeted by an indian taxi driver, taken to our chinese/indian/malaysian run hotel, go out for a quick bite of japanese food before having a drink at a british pub. That is Penang and the whole attraction of the place!

We arrived late at Mingood hotel and headed to the Red Garden hawker center, the Penang food scene is very hawker based. You find a table, remember the number & then walk round the various stalls & order your various dishes quoting your table number each time, then as the various colored plates arrive, you pay for each, the different colored plates representing each hawker stall so then know which plates are theirs. We settled on Japanese, but had the choice of any asian food really, but with most menus having the local names we went with the safer options, chicken katsu and salmon teriyaki.

Hotel Mingood is a nice hotel, only about a 2 or 3 star. Its old but very very clean and the room is massive! There is internet in the lobby and breakfast (corn flakes) on the roof. It is run by a very strict, grey haired, friendly lady.

We started sighseeing the next day but the heat really was unbearable so decided to hire a scooter to take us around Georgetown. Everything in Georgetown is fairly close but the scooter just helped a little, although the 1 way system proved hard to navigate & it was our first time on a scooter in an actual city which proved more hair raising than when on a laid back island!

Basically on 1 street in G'town you can visit an Anglican church, Catholic cathedral, Chinese temple, Hindu temple and 2 Muslim mosques, all within 1 km. Crazy stuff. The only mistake we made was doing this on a Friday afternoon which is when prayers all happen I believe, Jacqui being nosey as she is was kindly asked to leave the grounds of the one mosque as it was all men praying, no women and she wasn't exactly wearing traditional dress! Really don't know how they wear all those clothes in that heat.

To escape the heat we headed to their massive shopping centre, Prangin mall, which was rather huge but full of pretty random junk and nothing really worth buying unless you are into psychodelic girls clothing and other typically asian crazy things.

For dinner we went to the best known hawker center on the island on Gurney drive, again a massive selection of all types of food. We had some chicken satays, fried cuttlefish with chili and some local malay dish, can't remember the name but it was similiar to a pad thai. Also tried the local freshly made sugar cane juice- was very nice! The little kids seem to help their parents run the stalls so you end up getting served drinks by a cheeky 6 yr old boy who runs around saying "drink?, drink?.

Went to the Gurney plaza, another HUGE shopping centre, this time with proper shops, Guess, Adidas, Starbucks and suprisingly a Nandos. Jacqui as usual managed to find something to buy :) Tried filling our scooter up on the way back and put 5 ringgits in which is basically a pound, and we were on empty empty, next thing the tank is overflowing down the side of the bike. Those bikes have like a 2 litre tank or something stupid. Jacqui thought it was funny until she realised there may be petrol all over her new dress but luckily its packet protected it.

The following day my human GPS system went haywire & instead of a 5 min ride down the road to the museum, we ended up far out of town in the middle of nowhere on some highway. Being the humble male that I am....we stopped & asked for directions & were at the Penang museum in no time, albeit a little hot & sweaty but not too worry as the museum was fully air conditioned!

Penang has a pretty colorful history as it has been a Portuguese, Dutch & English colony as well as being the base of the East India company which we all learnt about in primary school history. Then there is how all the different cultures and nationalities have all collided there over time. Francis Light (British) requested Penang in about 1857 to become a trading post for the British from the Sultan, and then later it was declared it a british colony. He was basically responsible for developing the island and creating all the main infrastructure. Its crazy how the transition from a British colony to an independant Malaysian island was so smooth. I think we see a trend... All countries that were previously British are 'successful' but SA was part-dutch so is that were we went wrong?

After that we briefly visited an elegant mansion and a Chocolate Boutique before having a nap and heading out to the night market and hawker center in Batu Ferringhi, which we thought looked pretty close on the map so decided to scooter it. . .bad mistake. We had been going for about 25 mins when we came across a sign saying it was still 11km away, which is a lot in scooter kilometres! Then it got worse as the 2 lane roads became narrow single lanes winding through the mountains, reminding us of our fateful trip to Luang Prabang. We got there eventually unscathed but very nervous for the return leg in the dark.

The beach in BF was pretty dire, very much like Durban beach, tons of people, jetskis, 4 X 4's, horse riding etc. Am glad we decided to stay in G'town and not near the beach. We scurried off to the markets and bought a couple football shirts for peanuts and ate some good spring rolls from the famous spring roll lady and Jacqui had a vegetable noodle hot plate, I had a erm... Oh, chicken with cashews again.

The journey back was a little hair raising but in the end I drove like a granny in the yellow line (when there was one), held up the traffic and we got back in one piece.

We got up early'ish the next morning to get a taxi to the bus station for our 10am bus to Cameron Highlands. We departed over the connecting bridge to the mainland- pretty impressive!

So all in all Penang was thoroughly enjoyable on our scooter and we enjoyed learning about the interesting history of the area!

Vanilla Coke, Langkawi (Malaysia)

The island of Langkawi (the archipelago is 99 islands) is beautiful, it has long blonde beaches, lots of forest, duty free shopping and magical legends that explain its geography. As it is school holidays, total silly season, it is a complete mix of all eastern nationalities and religions- there are muslim woman with colourful headscarves and full length skirts and blouses, chinese ladies in mini skirts and tank tops, and hindu woman in saris with their red forehead dots.

It is quite a large island but we were staying in Cenang which is on the best stretch of beach and the main tourist area with all the restaurants etc. We were staying at the 5 star Meritus Pelangi Resort and after much deliberation when choosing a place for Langkawi, we were very happy indeed. They really did think of everything ( although made sure they charged for most extras!)

On the first night we headed to the highly recommended Orkid Ria restaurant which was rather pricey compared to what we had been paying in Thailand although a 5 star experience would only be complete with a 5 star meal...and it was. We had a dozen chicken satays to start, Jacqui had amazing indonesian style duck and after eyeing up the tiger prawns the whole trip I opted for 3 butter tiger prawns and boy were they worth it! They were absolute monsters, have never seen so much meat on a prawn (pronounced prown), they were deep fried and then cooked again with an egg yolk, flour and sugar mix sprinkled on the top, like little strands of it. I would highly recommend it! All in all it came to about 120 ringgits (£24)

The following day was put aside for sightseeing so we ambled through town in the stinking heat looking for a car to hire, but as it was school holidays...we ambled for awhile. Finally got a cute Kia Rio for about £12 a day. Was a sweet little car with all the fittings, most NB was aircon, and Langkawi FM blasting on the speakers. Now we were sorted. We headed up to the 7 Wells Waterfall which luckily had swimming pools at the top as we were dripping by the time we climbed the 700+ steep steps to the top. Was funny seeing all the muslim women in the full lengths climbing the stairs and jumping into the water fully clothed. At least I will still be slightly fit for football when we get back!

Then off to the cable car which was very similiar to the table mountain one. After a long wait we hopped into a cable car and started the 700m ascent after which I had to put my hands in ice as Jacqui crushed them the whole way up. The 3 yr old opposite us was less scared!

At the top there is a massive suspension bridge joining the 2 peaks, quite an impressive engineering feat but it does wobble a little when you walk across. Jacqui got about 3m down it and decided it was best from a photography point of view so she stayed on the solid bit and took pictures while I walked across. We got there just in time as they closed the bridge as we got off as there was a storm brewing. Reluctantly Jacqui got back on the cable car, closed her eyes and we headed down. When we got back to the hotel we jumped in the pool to cool down and Jacqui calmed her nerves with a strawberry milkshake...

Dinner time we ate at Rasa, I had barbequed fish with garlic & lemon and Jacqui had the ginger & mushroom beef, wasn't the best meal we have had, although we had banana fritters and ice cream for pudding which were very good.

Up early the next day for our half day tour which involved jumping into local speedboats and holding on for dear life as the driver sped across the Andaman at high speeds with little regard for, well anything. First stop was the Island of the Pregnant Maiden, there is a rather complicated legend about it but I won't bore you with the details. It is basically an island with a mssive lake in the middle. Quite pretty and worth seeing but with it being school holidays it was very busy and the weather was't particularly great either. After that we went to a small bay full of mangrove trees to watch the eagle feeding- was cool to seem them swooping down and picking up food from the water up close. After 10 mins there (it had now started raining) we headed to White Rice Island, again there is a story, but basically it was a beach...and you could swim....and it was raining....and we have just come from the paradise that are Thailands beaches so we kinda sat under a tree and looked at out photos and cleaned up the memory card. That was pretty much the tour, so not the best we have ever done.

With the bad weather we headed into Kuah town which is where all the duty free shops are and managed to find a few things but not that much. Altbough we did have the most amazing double cheesburger meal at McDonalds. . . maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it was amazing, and only £2 for a meal, bargain!

Back to our abode and a late dinner at a local place, Jacqui just had stir fried mix wegetables which were the best we have had, delicious! I had a green chicken curry but they brought me a veg one meant for a local and my mouth nearly exploded, it was SO SO SO hot! They definately tone them down for us tourists.

The next day was a lazy day, chilling round the pool, drinking tea and milkshakes and reading a book. It was our last full day not in a city sort of a place so though we should appreciate it. For dinner we ventured out to Wonderland Foodstore which was the number 1 rated restaurant in Langkawi on Tripadvisor.com. It was a bit of a drive but well worth it, I had butter prawns again and Jacqui had some local chicken dish, can't remember the name right now but it was good and well priced restaurant, all in all, 40 ringgits (£8).

The following day we piled into the all you can eat breakfast again, then rolled back to our rooms to check out before relaxing by the pool and J went for a reflexology foot massage. From what I understand, the guy was pretty good but tried to explain how each part of the foot corresponded to a part of her body but most was lost in translation. We returned the car and got a taxi to the jetty and did some more shopping there before we got on the 3 hour ferry to Penang.

Langkawi was fabulous- we loved it! It was so much fun exploring it in our li'l blue car and staying in a palace fit for royalty with the most scrumptious brekkie! Oh, and the vanilla coke!

WOWAWEEWA!!! Langkawi, Heaven in Malaysia

What more can a girl ask for? So it's my turn to report on the blog, and how appropriate. I thought it couldn't get any better than Ko Lipe, but now we are staying at a 5 star resort on Langkawi as my present.

We arrived at the resort and had the concierge take our bags to our palace - chalet 3205 over looking the Cascade pool and surrounded by a lake. The room is huge! We have a balcony, lounge area, tv, desk and work area. The bed is the size of some of the previous hotel rooms we have stayed in, it's about 3m x 3m! We have a huge walk in bathroom with mini bar, fridge, cupboards etc, there is then another door leading in to the shower and toilet area. The chalets are made from dark wood and resemble Malay houses built on stilts. The decor and wood engravings are exquisite. We have some sort of throw thing on the bed with a big gold metal pipe on either side: every evening they come and make the bed for you and give you more free toiletries, drinking water, fruit and a english newspaper! The staff are wonderful and have been trained very well.

At the moment I'm chilling under a bonsai tree on the lawn alongside the beach recovering (again!) from my very decadent and extravagent breakfast! We get brought tea and coffee before digging into the fruit- the most sweetest and juiciest papaya! Oh how I miss paw-paw! So many things in Malaysia remind us of SA. There is also watermelon, pineapple, melon and bananas. Then onto the dried fruit and nuts, cereals and wonderful selection of yoghurts. There is a smoothie man who makes anything you ask for, with any fruit you want. There is a great selection of breads and health breads with different jams and spreads. They have one of those large oven toasters which makes the toast just perfect! Then you have the eggs, anyway you want, just ask the chef. Fried, boiled, scrambled, omelette, sunny-side-up, mixed with onions and mushrooms, anything you want! The only bummer is no bacon... This is muslim country! So beef bacon and chicken sausages. Next onto the waffles and pancakes: scrumptious! Then onto the banana bread, danish pastries, croissants, doughnuts, scones with cream and jam, and muffins. I don't think that I'll be moving from this spot for a while! All I see is one horizontal stripe of sky, then green mountain, then blue still Andaman sea, then a huge strech of white sand full of shells, then the lawn, and then my toes at the end of my deck chair. And the cherry on the top, we have vanilla coke (OMG Luke is over the moon) and Top Deck (yes remember Top Deck!) waiting for us in our chalet! This place is just full of all things nice!

Bye-bye Ko Lipe

So, the rest of our stay on Lipe involved lying under our favorite pine tree, eating yummy food and watching movies and live footy at Pooh's bar. They show DVD's every night on a big screen, we watched a 100% legal copy of the new James Bond. . . and I stayed up till 2.30 watching Spurs v Man U while Jacqui had a head, neck, back and shoulder massage that was out of this world from Tonsai massage opposite Pooh's massage!

We had a few snorkels out to the edge of the reef in front of our bungalow, about 200m offshore, which at low tide is only about 0.5m deep. We tried to go out then but with all the coral, was not easy. There are plenty of fish right close to shore and get quite big, most of the coral is dead which is a pity but I guess with all the boats and the tide getting so low everyday + all the snorkellers it would never have stayed alive.

We had some great meals on Lipe & I know how Ted likes a good report on food! Hot hot hot penang curries at Thai Hut Resort, Chicken with ginger and oyster sauce, iced milo shake from The Banana Tree, cheap Pad Thai(£1), 200g of fresh barbequed prawns, a 300g mackeral steak, green curry, Ho Muk(steamed fish with yellow curry served in banana leaves), chicken with cashew nuts(a favorite), Massaman curry and amazing deep fried bananas and ice cream from Zanom!

It was with heavy hearts we bode farewell to Nun & Nick from Idyllic and jumped on a longtail to Pattaya beach to get the speedboat for 1200 baht to Langkawi which is in Malaysia so involved passport control at a beach hut/restaurant. It took about an hour to get there and apart from a brief rainshower which left everyone sopping wet, was uneventful. We always seem to get caught in heavy down pours out at sea!

Some Pic'cies

Wading at low tide on Lipe

Our view during breakfast on the 1st morning on Lipe at Mountain View Resort

The private beach next to Idyllic Resort on Lipe

Climbing the small island 200m out at sea near Idyllic

Jacqui with the local fisherman, getting ready for his "babacue!"

Getting back onto the boat after a scuba dive

Jacqui eating her thai curry on the beach in Lanta

Lukes ramblings

So now we are officially living in paradise, yes there are a few glitches with this new resort but we have hot water! And waking up, drawing back the curtains to see the blue blue sea waving back is breath-taking, need to try get some pics of the view up. We were served breakfast on deck chairs on the beach and are now just lying under a pine tree, listening to some music accompanied by the crashing waves, cool sea breeze on my face, waiting for my first watermelon shake of the day!

The only decision I have to make is should I walk the 5 metres to go snorkel or should I run it?

The Islands

So a brief synopsis of the last week or so on the islands. After our nightmare 30 hour journey from Chiang Mai to Krabi, we stayed on west Rai Leh, which is the much nicer side with the main beach and clear blue sea. The resort was the Sand Sea resort, a bit of a splurge but was definately worth it, for the all-you-can-eat delicious buffet breakfast & the amazing pool overlooking the beach.

We didn't do all that much; just chilled with Gary, Troll & Glen which was cool. We went kayaking with them, played in the sea, played footy with the locals/jogged on the beach and ate good food. We saw really beautiful sunsets over west Rei Leh beach.

We were supposed to head to Ko Jum for 4 days (together with Giada and Lauren) but only got into Krabi Town in the afternoon & they only have 1 ferry in the morning. They are meant to have 2 but because everything is fairly quiet because of the Bangkok airport closure, one
has been cancelled- no one in Rei Leh knew this! So instead we jumped on a ferry to Phi Phi (real last minute spur of the moment decision). Jacqui had been before but I hadn't and it was definately worth a look. It has lots of shopping, nice places to eat & just a good vibe all round. Stayed in a cosy guesthouse on the hill in town (Calamero) for 1500 baht(£30) a night, had a/c and breakfast and great views of the town and the ocean. It was on the hill where all the Tsunami evacuation signs lead to so at least we knew we were safe! For anyone that has been before, it is up the little alley way where Tiger Bar is. It had only been open for a few months so everything was very new and clean, we seem to be making a habit of staying in brand new
places!

Had the best pizza & panang curry at Cosmic restaurant and just did some shopping & booked a snorkelling trip for the next day. Jacqui bought lots of pearls!

The day trip wasn't the best run trip, was basically a bunch of farang piled into a long boat with snorkels & fins & a guide who couldn't speak english. The snorkelling was pretty good and Maya bay (The Beach) was stunning! And still fairly unspoilt which is good. We had lunch on monkey beach which was a bit of a disappointment, the monkeys have become so tame they literally take the food out of your hand as you eat it. . .and all the stupid tourists think it is hilarious when
the monkeys are drinking their cokes out of a tin or opening up a packet of biscuits. When you are a kid in SA we were always taught not to feed wild animals as it harms them in the long run as they can't fend for themselves but obviously not everyone believes it ;) makes us so angry seeing naive morons destroying coral and feeding stray dogs/cats/monkeys.

The monkeys got their own back by commandeering one of the girls towels for some sexy time with a female, they spent about half an hr afterwards "cudding" & picking tics off. Everytime she tried to grab it, the male went to attack her, serves her right!

Shortly after that we were out & sea & the heavens opened and it went all scary and dark, we were now all sopping wet getting sprayed as it was so windy, but we decided it was warmer in the ocean so all jumped in for another snorkel. Apart from some monster sized fish we spotted a chair and table. . . And then jumped into the boat and made a hasty exit back to Phi Phi for some hot chocolate & doughnuts. We were sopping and freezing after our strong shower with sea water and rain water!

After dinner we had some cocktails and watched the fire dancers on the beach down by Carlitos/ Hippies Bar. We tried the famous Singapore Sling- very strong but very tasty! Oh and we also booked our ferry to Lanta for the next day.

Arriving in Lanta (again the ferry time on the ticket was wrong!), we headed to a place recommended by a travel agent in Phi Phi, but it was clearly on the wrong beach as apart from the fact there were rocks in the sea and the beach was very narrow, it resembled a ghost town, it
was overcast and raining but still... The room was tiny, no hot water, had spiders living in the roof above the bed and just had no character. The people were unfriendly so we decided to leave which was a pity because the pool and sea view was amazing! We hired a moped (haha) and dodgy helmets and headed up the coast in search of greener pastures. . .we found it in the shape of Long Beach Bungalows, they were amazing & right on the beach but at £100 a night: not in this holidays price range. We ended up booking at Palm Beach for our second night at a measly 800 baht (£15). Wonderful, large comfy room with tv, hot water and a pebbled shower right on the beach! We had a delicious seafood barbeque in a bamboo hut on the beach for dinner and rode back on the moped in the rain & mud for some kip in our not so nice room.

The next morning, much to the dislike of the owner we checked out of our hotel & made the move to the new one (I delivered my bag and then returned for the 2nd trip with Jacqui and her bag, little scooter has come in handy), after which we relaxed on the beach and enjoyed the
great weather- me in the shade, Jacqui tanning. Had a monstrous Massaman curry and a duck curry for lunch on the beach before the heavens opened again, so after some shopping decided to be lazy & watch tv and eat takeaway pizza, just like being at home.

The next day we were off to Ko Lipe by speed boat for a whopping 1800 baht(£35) each, travel is definately proving to be one of the biggest expenses. Going by speedboat did cut the trip by nearly half to 3 hours, and although a bit bumpy, I still managed a nap. We flew threw the ocean with Captain Jack Sparrow at the helm. All in all Lanta was very chilled & relaxing but at times seemed far to quiet for this time of the year. All the resorts were charging off season prices & most restaurants were empty. The locals said it has been quieter than post-tsunami. . .I guess with the airport only being open 3 days, people will only just be filtering through. We feel so sorry for these locals as tourism is their main source of income.

Onto Lipe, one of the most southerly islands before getting to Malaysia. I had done a lot of research whilst trying to find accomodation but still wasn't sure what to expect. Coming in from the sea, the entire island is surrounded by shallow, sky blue water, littered with coral. It really is a little paradise, but with that comes the downside & we had been warned it was growing quicker than it could sustain itself. There is still no ATM and not all accommodation has 24 hr electricity, as well as there being a lot of rubbish littering the beaches and inland, but we had read about that so knew what to expect.

We are staying in Forra Bamboo Resort which is only for scuba divers but I have decided to do a 1 day introductory course so that solved that. The bamboo huts are pretty cool, upstairs on stilts with an open air downstairs bathroom. . .the downside, not much electricity, no hot water, no flushing toilet and a simple mattress as a bed with a mosquito net. Very simple and sustainable which is probably what they are going for but a shock to the system for us! The little village on
Lipe is very cute, similiar layout to Phi Phi, just much much smaller. I'd imagine this is what PP was like 10 years ago. Its small enough to be able to walk everywhere. Good choice of restaurants and the most amazing pancake place, Thai Pancake Lady- Banana, Nutella & ice cream, a winner.

On returning to the bungalow that night, within 2 minutes, Jacqui had a massive beetle fall onto her shoulder, not a great start, but suprisingly that was the only bug we saw. . . A quick cold shower & then we secured ourselves into the mosquito net on the hardest mattress in the world. . . The next morning we decided we would stick it out one more night but couldn't do another 4! The bamboo doesn't keep noise, light, wind, heat and bugs out. We really take concrete houses with water, electricity and proper sanitation for granted! There is a lot of accomodation on the island, just not much cheap and decent (flushing loos seem to be a luxury here), so we decided we would have a treat & chose the Idyllic Resort, still not finished being built but we could get the beachfront bungalow for about half price at 3600 baht(£70) a night. Hot water, proper toilet, massive LCD TV, A/C and most importantly the best view we have seen the whole trip. The sea around Lipe really is crystal clear blue, scattered with coral, perfect for snorkelling right off the beach. Our bungalow is surrounded by white beach sand and maximum 15m from the sea!

We just spent the day chilling on the beach and going snorkelling, definately the best snorkelling we have done, so many colourful(and big) fish, only about 2m deep all the way out. Unfortunately my underwater camera packed up so no pics :( We watched James Bond at a
bar in the evening (all legal of course) and then back to the pancake lady...

The next day was SCUBA! Had been looking forward to this, Jacqui came along but decided not to scuba so just snorkelled while we were diving. Was suprisingly easy to learn all the breathing and buoyancy techniques and once you have those down and get relaxed, it really was one of the best things I have ever done, you just wish you could talk to the other people when you are down there. Not sure what all the things we saw were, need a book to tick off all the fish I saw like you do in the Kruger Park, but my 3 favorites were a massive puffer/porcupine fish, moray eel and a trigger fish. . . And nemo of course. After lunch we did another dive before heading back. I pondered doing another 2 days of diving to get the certification but it just seemed a waste to have such a nice new house and beach to relax on and spend the time out on a boat as a billy. Think I will definately do it another time, just not now.

Had the hottest penang curry and tom yam we have had so far, sweat was literally dripping off our faces, you can't really taste the food its so hot. Must start saying no chili again, because no chili to them is still hot for the farang!

Went back to heaven on earth for a good night sleep. The next morning we awoke to the most spectacular view I have ever had from a bedroom window. This sea is bright turquoise filled with long tail boats and white sand. The manager Noon, and her side kick who won't leave her
side, served us breakfast on the beach. We are now enjoying every second on this beach, reading on the deck chairs under a large pine tree.

Jacquis ramblings part deux

After spending a few days with Gary, Glen and Orli which was really cool, we wandered down to our beach which is about 10m from the pool and about 50m from our bungalow (such a pleasure) and watched the sun starting to set over the sea surrounded on both sides by enourmous, breath-taking cliffs. The locals started playing soccer and Luke joined in. I went for a run up and down the beach twice which is just less than a km so about 3/4km in total. There is nothing better than running on the beach at dusk, wearing just a bikini, making footprints in the sand and listening to ocean. And there is also nothing better than to be able to run straight into the refreshing ocean after working up a sweat!

After sunset, we then had the most delicious, massive, fresh kebabs at the restaurant next to our hotel right on the beach. Luke had chicken and I had beef- both on a 40cm squewer with peppers, pineapple, onion, courgette, tomato and onion. And they came with the most delicious sweet and sour sauce and yummy salad.

To end off the most fantastical evening, we walked to the massage ladies, and watched our smiling moon light up the sea :) , to have an hour full body aroma therapy massage to help ease the sun burn pain from the day before. Full body included the ears, face, sculp and fingers- so theraputic!

What could possibly be better than all that? Actually maybe one thing, having Giada and Lauren here to do it all with us!

The amazing race...continued

Excuse us if these posts are a few days old but we write them and then post them up when we get a chance, such as the airport below which is now open!!!

Bangkok airport is still closed so we can't fly to Krabi via Bangkok. (and meet Giada and Lauren)

We were going to books flights on Thai Airways to Phuket for about 6000 baht but when we went to book they were sold out.

So the Amazing Race continues...

After our rush around the night before on the pimped tuk-tuk to the bus station and back to get tickets, like the last 2 tickets to bangkok, we got up while it was still dark to get to the bus station for our bus which leaves at 7am. The pimped tuk-tuk, who promised to fetch us at 6am never arrived, so luckily the lovely Nine helped us flag down a local bus. The bus to Bangkok was ok. It had reclining seats and air con but was pretty dirty and had broken foot rests which was cool if you were lying back, but was impossible to sit up straight! The really stupid 'bus hostess' gave us a lunch box with a naartjie and weird custard cream donut.

We stopped for lunch at the dodgiest side-of-the road set up in the middle of no where. Oh how we would do anything for a Engen/ Wimpy one-stop after having eaten almost nothing all day! We then figured out that you get free lunch at this place if you have a bus ticket - a cold thai concoction with delicious fly and fingernail germs. After my sickness we have decided to be careful and try eat fresher food than that! Thank goodness, just before the bus was leaving we saw some garage with a shop in the distance so ran there and managed to get a hot dog!!

We ran back to the bus with our hot dogs to watch a movie they put on the tv. OH MY WORD! It was like a porn movie, with actors who I'm sure are not paid actors! They would try and blur parts of the body as soon as there was any nudity! When we thought the acting, dubbed in Thai, couldn't get any worse, aliens appeared in black full body leatards with blurred faces and they ran around like cats. Then everyone kinda become hypnotized and walked around all spaced out and started eating each other. Like pulling out intestines. It was just the worst thing we have ever seen! Of all the counterfeit DVD's they have in Asia you think they could have rather played some new release!

On the way to Bangkok North Bus Terminal, we went past Don Muong airport which was empty with police at the entrance not allowing anyone to enter. We saw all the protesters chilling inside. The next day we found out that a grenade went off that evening!

On arrival at the north bus station 2 1/2 hours late (suppose to arrive at 4pm), we met a lovely american girl called Grace and she was so graceful! She was trying to get to Phuket to fly home from there because of course Bangkok airports are closed. Her flight was at midday the next day so HAD to get the 8pm bus south! We then realised that to get buses south you have to go from the south terminal so the 3 of us managed to find a meter taxi to take us there. We knew the last buses to Krabi leave at 8pm so we are cutting it fine now.

The traffic from one station to the next was AWFUL! We got to the station at about 7:45 and devised a plan. Grace would pay for the taxi while I got the bags out and luke ran to find tickets for the 3 of us.

All tickets to Krabi were sold out! No no no, we ran from one counter to the next and eventually found 1 ticket and tried to convince them to let Luke sit with the driver but no luck.

It was total chaos and we were panicking. The one lady at the counter who could spk english suggested we buy a ticket to Surat Thani (10 hours) and then Surat Thani to Krabi (2 hours). So spur of the moment decision, we did. It was now 20:00 and sprinted to find our bus. The friendly lady threw me the change, can't remember how much we actually paid, and shouted RUN!

Our smiling moon with 2 eyes was definitely watching down on us because we got the last 2 seats on this bus! We were given bizarre but delicious chelsea buns for dinner. We had no time to get food or even go to the loo between changing buses! The seats on this bus also reclined and they even gave us each a blanket which was great because the a/c's on the buses are freezing!

We arrived at Surat Thani early, like 5am, and what an awful place. We got a local bus to the central bus station to get a bus to Krabi. Why do none of the buses ever leave from the same place? They really know how to confuse the hell out of tourists. We were dropped off on some dark road outside a dodgy travel agent. We asked almost everyone we saw, including official, non-corrupt people where the bus station is and they just say, 'here'. Its 5am, we are starving, have not brushed our teeth since yesterday morning, have hardly eaten and stranded!

We walked a bit down the road and saw another travel agent with loads of tourists outside it so figured this was safer than the 1 we got dropped off at. All these tourists were trying to get to either KL or singapore on buses via Hat Yai because of the bangkok airport closure. Such chaos and these cheeky local bastards are making a killing as a result.

Our 7am mini van to Krabi was late and we then had to collect about 10 more people from some guesthouse the driver had trouble finding so we were finally on our way at about 8am. We found some peanuts which we had for breakfast.

I called these guys cheeky earlier and they really are scaly liers. They bloody dropped us outside of Krabi town on a main road with nothing else around and wanted us to pay another 100 baht each for their taxi- ohh it makes me so mad! We absolutely refused. Luke and a few others had a few words with them, how much they actually understand and care I don't know. Luke thankfully flagged down a local red bus for only 20 baht each so we called everyone else and off we went. Screw you scaly company!

We got a long tail boat from the pier to east Rei Leh and then walked to our hotel on west Rei Leh which lauren booked for us. It was gorgeous!

Luke jumped straight into the pool in his clothes!! What a nightmare of a journey and thank the pope its all over!

Chiang Mai, Thailand - 27/11 - 01/12 2008

Arriving in Chiang Mai, you can tell instantly you are back in 'civilisation', 7/11's, Burger King etc. This Guesthouse we are in is fabulous, Green Tulip House, it is run by 2 wacky ladies, Nine & Stella. It is bright green and purple, spotlessly clean and just a cool, fun place. It was Stella's birthday when we arrived so she whipped up all the guests a free noodle meal and some birthday cake and was well on her way, she is 51 but looks about 30! Stella said to us when we got there that Nine is like a mother and will help us with anything and she honestly was the most gentle, helpful and caring lady whose guesthouse and guests mean everything to her. She booked all our tours for us, and got us a discount! It was the best guesthouse we have ever stayed in, no wonder it has fourty 5 star ratings on trip advisor!

Jacqui was still not well with bad nausea and no appetite so to be safe we went to the hospital up the road just to check it was nothing seeeereeeas. The hospital was really clean and well run, we were in and out in an hour, and got a course of antibiotics for 'Gastro intestinal traveller infection', common in travellers. The doctors were really good & spoke great english, although Jacqui was a bit shocked when the doc said "kiss me" and then lifted her top up a little. . .still getting our heads round the fact 'kiss me' is excuse me with a thai accent! Cost about a tenner for the whole process including medicine. Thank goodness for those doctors and drugs because Jacqui thought she was about to die.

We didn't join in the drunken antics when we got back as sicknote needed sleep. The following day we just walked round town, checked out the tours, cooking schools etc. Had an extremely hot penang curry for £1 and then headed off to Doi Suthep, another temple! Way up on a mountain overlooking CM. Met a friendly dutch guy on the way up, practiced our afrikaans which was just as well as we bumped into a friend(Nadia) from South Africa. . . On a mountain, in CM, really bizarre. May see them again in Krabi by the sounds of it.

Went to watch a Muay Thai fight in the evening, seemed like mainly tourists and not the most important fights, mainly youngsters, and it was bleddy cold, much cooler at night up in the north. The locals play crazy loud traditional music the whole way through. Fights consist of 5 three minute rounds and contestants where either red or blue shorts and gloves. Any part of the body except the head can be used to strike although didn't see anything that violent.

Saturday morning we were up nice & early to go to cooking school, we had been looking forward to this the whole trip. After much deliberation we decided on Baan Thai cooking school, mainly because you had a choice of dishes and all the choices looked good. They picked us up from the guest house and we were unfortunate to have 'Frommers' from the movie €urotrip with us!! The kind of guy who has recited the lonely planet word for word and can't stop talking. Luckily when we got there the groups were split so
we managed to get ourselves away from Frommers. Met a cool english couple who we had some crazy coincidences with. She was from Halifax and went to Newcastle University. My mom is from Halifax and went to Newcastle University, and all of her family live in the same small town in Wales as where all of my dads family live. It is such a small place, chances are they know each other.

On to the food, we tried to do different dishes to each other to try everything, I ended up making a hot & sour prawn soup, penang red curry and fried prawns in roasted chili. Jacqui did the green curry, chicken in coconut milk soup & chicken with cashew nuts. Then we both did deep fried coconut bananas and spring rolls. All the food was really good but I think the penang curry, the chicken with
cashews and spring rolls (suprisingly easy) were amazing. They take you to the local market & teach you about all their fruits & veg's, some really bizarre ones we definately don't get in the UK or SA. Will have to try get some substitute ingredients when we try replicate this at home. Our instructor Ning was pretty cool, she had a mouth full of metal and couldn't really say my name, "Loooik, I chop your fingers off". Oh yeah, and we also had to make the curry pastes from scratch, crushing them on a rock with a mortar thing, very primitive!

On one of the dishes we were told if we like it hot we should us 4/5 chilis, I used 2 and Jacqui, half a one! Apparently a thai would use 10-15!!! They probably feed their babies chili milk after they are born too!

We managed to get some of our food to takeaway so ate it later in the evening before we headed off to the Saturday market, bought a couple of things and headed back to wake up early for the next days activities.

We had a slight crisis as we checked the flight availability from Chiang Mai to Phuket for 2 Dec & they were all full, as were basically any flights out of Chiang Mai. It didn't look like the airports would be open by Tuesday so we chatted to Nine at the Guesthouse and it looks like two 10 hour bus rides to Krabi. Damn protesters, how can you protest against someone democratically elected, fair & square, no vote rigging, no intimidation ala Zimbabwe. Yes, the guy might be corrupt but the people voted for his party. Been reading lonely planet and it looks like thailand has a huge history of coups. The military over threw the democratically elected government in february 1991- this was the 10th successful coup since 1932! So the current situation seems common but surely they learn from their mistakes? ! Other than the corruption and coups, we have been quite impressed with the thai political system. Voting is compulsory and there is free education for all for 12 years. Thailand managed to stay independent throughout the 1800's when its neighbours were ruled by communists and taken over by europeans (laos-france). Anyway enough school history stuff!

Rant over, we had booked a 1 day excursion for the Sunday, orchard and butterfly farm first, was amazing, interesting, enlightening and unbelievable. . .well not really, but get the worst one out the way first I always say. Next up, elephant trekking. We had an extremely greedy elephant called Doi (or something like that) he basically walked the whole trip with his head in the air, and trunk stretched backwards to us wanting bananas, and when it wasn't there it was rummaging in the greenery for some fresh. . . bush?

We weren't that keen on the elephant riding as the elephants we saw in Laos didn't look healthy but these ones looked about as happy as an elephant can look :) We managed to get one command to kinda work, "huoi", which meant go, we used it quite a bit! He was a good little guy!

After a hasty exit from the ellie we ziplined in a cage across the river and onto a 45 min trek to a waterfall, now our guide 'Craig' came into his own, he was rather erm special, he kept coming up with strange outbursts and practical jokes while we were walking, the welsh guy and kiwi couple, we had met, and us decided he was more than likely pissed. Sure enough at lunch he whipped out what he liked to call 'local water', corn whisky, about 80% proof and it tasted like it was. He made all the guys take a swig, then he downed a third of the bottle and proceeded to chuck it all up a minute later.

The 2 polish guys then started sipping it like it was a nice cold beer, now when they say it would put hairs on your chest, well lets just say the one polish guy must drink a lot, he was rather erm how do you say, fuzzy.

Lunch was pad thai wrapped in banana leaves and fresh papaya, very enjoyable. Onto the waterfall, twas a little to cold to swim in the water although the polish guy whipped his kit off, revealed a baby blue budgie smuggler (speedo to the uninformed) and dived straight in, it wasn't a pretty site. Us non-speedo guys had a good chuckle at his expense, apparently it was cold. . .

Our drunk guide who looked more red indian than thai, then got landed with the nickname'lady boy' by myself as he decided to brush his long hair whilst walking along through the forest, the name kind of stuck for the rest of the day which I don't think he liked, will try get a pic of him up.

Onto the next activity, white river rafting, the water was freezing and the rapids not that big but big enough to enjoy, only had about 40 mins of that and then jumped onto a waiting bamboo raft for the last leg of the journey.
Then back to town for a quick shower and then we had to come up with a plan to get to Krabi by Tuesday to meet Gary.

The girls (Giada and Lauren) we were meeting from SA & UK are not coming as far as I am aware, and not sure if Gary will get home either.

We headed up to some travel agents but all the buses to Bangkok the next day were full, we needed to get a bus first thing Mon morning so we get to Bangkok Mon evening and then an overnight bus to Krabi, but it appeared everything was full until a really helpful lady suggested we head out to the bus station about 30 minutes out of town and try get a ticket from some other companies. By this stage it was about 19:00 but we thought what the hey, jumped into the first tuk tuk we found which was the most pimped tuk tuk I have ever seen, it looked like something out of Pimp My Ride, maybe over here they have Pimp My Tuk Tuk! It had a Tv screen with DVD player, massive speakers with an amplifier, leather seats, flashing lights and the mandatory blue light underneath the tuk tuk.
The driver proudly told us it was number 1 tuk tuk in Chiang Mai and he can take us straight to bangkok in 2 months, and if you can't trust a tuk tuk driver who can you trust. . .

Somehow we were at the bus station by 19:10, so much for half an hr, although said driver thought he was in a need for speed game! We managed to sort a ticket with some overly friendly ladies (yes real ladies!) and they promised an onboard massage the next day, unfortunately not by them though as apparently the chairs have a massage function! We hopped back into the number 1 taxi in CM and were back in the market where we started by 19:45. It definately felt like we were in an episode of the amazing race, pity there was no million dollar prize at the end though!

We had a walk through the sunday market and got some food - we decided to try exactly what we cooked at the cooking school and compare it. . . Ours was definitely better, but theirs was a close second!

I managed to watch some footy the soccer Green Tulip while Jacqui showered and packed. Getting up at 5:15 tomorrow morning for our 24 hour plus journey to Krabi! Still so angry we have to lose our flights via bangkok because of these protests. . . Arghhhhh.