The K-Lo World Tour

So we did it! We climbed Mount Kinabalu! It was one of the most challenging, painful things I have ever done, both physically and mentally but man was it worth it! The views at the peak were immense and the sunrise was just stunning. All in all a fantastic experience and a great achievement for us both and definitely something that will stick in the memory of our travels! I'll describe our two day climbing experience from the beginning...

We were picked up at 7.30am on Saturday morning by a rep from the tour company we had booked through (Eddie, a Chinese/Malaysian), to be driven the one and a half hour journey to the mountain. In the car we met the other guy we would be climbing with - Steve, an American guy in his forties who turned out to be a great guy and a really motivational climbing buddy! Throughout the journey to the mountain Eddie kept us entertained with some ridiculous stories and his crazy laugh (a bit like Mr Chow from The Hangover for those who have seen it!) We arrived about 9.45, registered, got given our packed lunch and passes, then got on a bus to take us to the starting point of out climb, Timphon Gate (which is actually 2000 metres up already, you don't actually start at the very bottom thank god!)
We were dropped at the gate, met our guide (Rosalia, Malaysian girl, pretty young, didn't speak great English) and began our ascent about 10.45am. We would be walking 6km that day, up to Laban Rata which was the resthouse where we would be spending the night. I know 6km doesn't sound like a lot but when you factor in the steps...and boy were there a lot of steps...
The first 2km seemed pretty easy and we seemed to be covering ground fairly quickly – the trail was a mixture of flat and steps so it wasn't to difficult and we managed to keep up decent conversation. Around 3km it started to get a little tougher, more steps began to appear and the heartbeat started to increase. It was 4km however that the challenge really set in – the air was getting a lot thinner by this point as we got higher in altitude and the steps were coming on thick and fast now! It also started to spit with rain at this point so we had to get our rain macs on and be extra careful not to slip.

The last kilometre to the guesthouse was REALLY hard. This is where mind-over-matter kicked in and I was just telling myself over and over how close we were and how it was nearly over and I could do it, blah blah. The legs were screaming and my heart was racing but we made it to Laban Rata about 3pm, 4 hours after setting off. It was SUCH a relief to have arrived, we went to reception and checked in to our room, a 4 bed dorm room which we would be sharing with two others. All I could think about at this moment was having a hot shower as it was pretty cold this high up...well it turns out a hot shower was not an option. Apparently they do not have hot showers at all up there. Still, I thought, I was all sweaty so could do with just having a quick rinse in the cold shower anyway...BAD idea, the shower was like ice water,I was literally in there a minute, barely enough time to rub myself with soap, it was just unbearable! Got back to the room, put on all of my clothes and still felt freezing. Thankfully the day before me and Joe had both bought cheap hats and gloves, which were definitely necessary! We decided to head to the restaurant and wait for dinner to be served as it was probably warmer in there.

We sat down at an empty table and were joined by an English girl and Canadian guy (Cheryl and Ryan) who were both teachers in Singapore and had just popped over to Borneo for the weekend to climb the mountain (as you do!) They were really nice, we chatted for awhile, then dinner was served at 4.30pm. It was a buffet of rice, noodles, chicken, beef, soup, and a load of little desserts, plus bottomless tea and coffee. We both went to town on the food, after all the energy we had expended that day it was amazing how hungry we were! After dinner, Steve came and joined us (he had been for a nap), we all sat talking and drinking tea (I had about 10 cups to try and warm up!) About 6.30pm we headed off for bed, as we would have to be up at2am for the climb to the summit! I barely slept at all it was so cold, there were sheets and a blanket on the bed and I also had my sleeping bag liner but I was still freezing. It didn't help that the people we were sharing a room with were also sharing a bed, where there were all kinds of giggling/breathing sounds coming from under the covers (thank god for ear plugs!)

The alarm went off just before 2am and good lord it was chilly getting out of bed, and very very dark! We went up to the restaurant for a 'light breakfast' of scrambled eggs etc (not that anyone really feels like eating at 2am but you kind of force something down anyway!) We met our guide and began our ascent up to the peak just after 2.30. Most other climbing group left at the same sort of time so it was a bit slow going up for the first hour as there were so many people. Everyone has head torches on as it is so dark and when you turn around you can see a whole trail of lights below, it looked really cool! Also there was a full moon which looked absolutely awesome and really helped with lighting up the mountain – we felt pretty lucky!

After about an hour and a half of climbing steps, we began to get towards the actual mountain face. There were ropes to help guide you and to use to pull yourself up, which was pretty fun! Once we got past the steepest part, the ropes continued to guide everyone in the right direction but it wasn't necessary to hold on to them as it was walkable here – still steep but there were rocks and flat areas you could zig zag between. It was getting really tough at this point, the air was even thinner then before so I could feel my heart beating in my head and was pretty out of breath! I was pleased not to have a headache or feel sick though as that had been something I had worried about before climbing.

The last km to the peak was, again, the hardest part of the climb! It seemed like the peak was getting closer all the time but then you'd get to the top of one bit and you'd look up and there would be so much higher to go! The top was finally in sight after 3 hours climbing and I was pretty much on my hands and knees at this point - I just left Joe and Steve behind and focused on getting myself to the top. The moment of dragging myself on to the very top of the mountain on clutching the sign was just amazing. I had done it, my first mountain climb and I had made it to the top! It felt pretty special. Joe joined me minutes later and we both grabbed a few pictures then went and sat on a rock a bit further down and watched the sunrise, which was spectacular. The views from 4000m above the ground are pretty unbelievable! The weather was clear so we could see everything, and the sky was such an array of wonderful colours. The only thing I didn't like about being up there were the two massive rats we saw, one of which ran right past my foot! Eddie had warned us about mountain rats but I hadn't really believed him, let alone expected to see two!

After about half an hour watching the sunrise and enjoying the views we decided we were ready to trek back down, mainly because it was beyond freezing up there and I couldn't feel my hands (my gloves had got wet on the ropes so I couldn't wear them anymore, it was sooo painful!) The walk down was actually really pleasant for the first hour or so, as we were just walking down the face of the mountain. Myself and Steve were talking about families, hopes and dreams (he brought out my American side a little ), all sorts, it was really nice. Then we reached the ropes and had to abseil backwards down them which was, again, pretty fun! Then came the steps. This is when my legs started to ache. Apparently going down was going to be more painful then going up. We kept chatting away though and at about 8am, 2 hours after beginning our descent, we arrived at the restaurant for yet MORE feeding! No-one is really hungry at this point, it was another buffet of the same sort of thing as the previous (ie, more noodles for me), but you tell yourself you need the energy so you end up forcing a load down (well we did!) It was then time to check out of our room, grab our bags and make our final descent down the mountain. We were both feeling pretty tired, it kind of felt like the whole thing was over once we got back to the restaurant but oh no, another 6km to go before we would be done!

We left the resthouse about 9.30 and started walking down the way we had ascended the previous day. At first it wasn't so bad, Joe went on ahead a little bit and me and Steve just carried on talking, it was all ok...until about an hour in when my legs really started to bother me. Walking down the steps suddenly became really hard work and I was having to grip on to the bannisters to help with every step. We just kept aiming for the kilometre marker signs which were really motivating – every time we saw one we knew we were that much closer to the end!

The last 3km was the toughest part of the entire climb for me. I really had to dig deep mentally to keep myself going. Joe seemed to be fine, although even he slowed down a bit towards the end with achy knees. Towards the end my legs just kept giving way and I nearly slipped a couple of times! I kept focused though, and when we saw the 0.5km sign, that was it, 500m metres to go, one last set of steps to conquer. I made Joe hold my hand as we walked up the steps and passed through the gate at the same time. Finished! We had done it! It was 1.15, almost four hours to get down. The two of us and Steve all had a group hug, delighted it was over with, I honestly don't think I could of managed another kilometre, I felt broken! We had one more meal to get through (another buffet, none of us really ate anything, although Steve paid about 5 quid for a can of beer!) We were then picked up about 2ish to be taken back to our hotels to collapse! The drive back was pretty sketchy, it had started raining heavily and thundering pretty much as soon as we had got down from the mountain (talk about timing) and it was literally pouring, so much so you could barely see the road – not that this seemed to bother the driver, who continued to drive ridiculously fast (I actually told him to slow down) it was horrible, didn't feel safe at all! Luckily the rain stopped after awhile and we arrived back at our hostel about 4. We said goodbye to Steve (poor man was flying back to KL that night to be at work at 8am the next morning! Mentalist!), then had a lovely hot shower and collapsed in our room.

We had been lying in bed for about an hour when we both began to feel poorly. Both of us felt sick and I felt really shivery. Soon after, we were both violently sick, me twice! We went to sleep shortly after, hoping it was something we ate and we would feel better the next day...well we didn't. The next day (Monday) we barely left our room. My whole body just ached, head to toe, I could barely move, walking was a nightmare! We both still felt fragile aswell, neither of us had an appetite and we were pretty dehydrated so we focused on just drinking loads of water and resting, We did venture out so sort out our laundry and pop to 7-11 but that was pretty much it! We watched a film that evening then went to bed, again hoping to feel better the next morning!

Today I woke up feeling much better, no sickly feeling and a little less achy. We decided to pop out and have a wander round the shops, stretch our legs. However being out and about made me realise that, actually, maybe I wasn't feeling so great after all. I still felt nauseous and just totally knackered! So Joe went to the cinema to watch The Avengers and I went back to our room to chill. Didn't really do anything for the rest of the afternoon, Joe came back, we just hung out, I started packing as we leave tomorrow to fly to Singapore – we are staying with Joe's old uni housemate Sheepy (Iain) who lives and works in Singapore. We only have one night there as we fly to Bali the next day, however we are going back to Singapore after Bali for 5 days so we should get to chill with him and see a bit of the city then which will be good – looking forward to staying with someone, not in a guesthouse/hostel, will be a nice change!

So now off to Bali for two weeks of sun, beaches and more diving hopefully! I thought I was all beached out after Thailand and the Philippines but two weeks in Borneo with no beaches has made me realise I miss them! Also the tan has started fading rapidly so best get to work on that before we hit Australia and the weather goes all cold on us!

Lots of love to everyone x x x x x

Hello from Borneo!

What a lovely contrast to the skyscrapers and smelly busy streets of Kuala Lumpur! It's Rainforest galore over here, lots of flora and fauna (and far too many mozzies, back to being eaten alive again!) Before I begin I will, as usual, rewind a week or so and start from where I left off...

As told in the previous blog we had two days of sightseeing in KL – two days which were definitely enough for me! The city just seems to lack any kind of charm (compared with Bangkok which is awesome!) and the smell of sewage never seemed far away! We had a fun two days though, just spent the time wandering the city, went and saw the Petronas towers and all the skyscrapers around the financial district (or should I say 'The Golden Triangle'), looked around the markets, just a lot of walking really. Had a really good authentic Indian meal in 'Little India' the first night but it was back to Nandos on the second – we were too tired to traipse around looking for a place! Nothing else to tell really, we were glad to have our flight to Borneo the next day...

Our flight to Kota Kinabalu (the capital of Borneo) wasn't until 2pmthe next day so we arrived at the airport about 12, had a bite then got on the plane. The weather was terrible, pouring with rain and the ounds of thunder could be heard very near to the airport – not a good thing for me! Thankfully it all died down by the time we took off, although the 2 and a half hour flight was bumpy throughout. It was a relief to land in KK (which we did through another storm!) and I was glad there would be no planes for two weeks! We got a taxi to our hostel and arrived early evening. Hostel was nice, room was clean and cool (all rooms had aircon, woohoo!) and the beds had actual duvets which was incredible (sleeping with just a sleeping bag liner or single sheet can get a bit old) we ventured out for some dinner and ended up finding the night market where we had a delicious and super-cheap meal (5 ringgit mine cost, about one pound!) - finally some good, cheap food, this is what we had been waiting for!

The next day we got on a bus to take us to our next destination, Sepilok, where the Orangutans were waiting for us...6 hours later we arrived (I don't know why but day bus journeys always seem to feel sooo much longer then night ones – 6 hours felt like 10!) We got to our accommodation and were delighted – it was hidden away in the jungle, all lodges and cabins, it was just beautiful. We had booked beds in the longhouse, a dorm which can sleep 12 people. As far as dorms go, this was luxury, a huge room with wooden bunk beds, crisp white sheets and towels provided! The best part was that we were the only ones in there! We assumed others would arrive but we were there four nights and not one person came to stay, all other guests were in private cabins!! What a result for us! The food was delicious too, you had to pre-order your dinner every afternoon (this place was in the middle of no-where so you had no choice but to eat there!) the breakfast included was really good too, you got to choose how you wanted your eggs cooked (it annoys me that most places generically serve fried eggs, to me the worst way!)

Our first full day in Sepilok was to be the Orangutan sancutuary (to be fair, the main reason we were there) the lodge offered free shutteles to the sanctuary at 9am so we had breakfast then hopped in. 5 minutes later, there we were. It cost 30 ringgit to get in (about 6 quid) and you had to pay an extra 10 ringgit if you wanted to take your camera in which I thought was a bit cheeky- obviously everyone is going to want to take a camera in!! We headed straight to the feeding platform for the first of the two daily feedings at 10 (there would be another one at 3pm). I'll be honest, it was disappointing. Only one orangutan showed up for the first feeding, we waited a good hour just watching, waiting for some more to arrive but nothing happened. We then carried on walking through and ended up going round in a big circle until we were back to the front. That was it. One viewing platform. We were pretty peeved and felt quite ripped off by the whole thing! We ended up having some lunch, watching a 20 minute movie about the work of the sanctuary then going for a random walk to nowhere to kill some time, as we decided to go back for the 3 o clock feeding to see if we would have better luck – thank god we did! 5 orangutans showed up for this one, and one of them had a baby with her! It was wonderful, we watched them all eating together on the platform, one would decide to have a little swing around the ropes every now and then, it was great! We hung around as long as we could before leaving to catch the shuttle back at 4. Didn't do much after that, as we were staying in the jungle you cant just pop out for a wander or to the shop so we just had dinner and watched a movie in our private dorm!

The next day we went ot the rainforest Discovery Centre, which was also just down the road. It was basically just a massive garden with a canopy walkway (that is still in construction so we only got to walk half of it) and a bunch of trails. Walking the trails was fine at first but then we began to get deeper in to the rainforest and it all got very muddy and slippy and we were both wearing flip flops which was far from ideal! Joe got bitten by a leech and I cut my foot, it was all a bit disastrous at the end but nothing too serious, we just washed the mud off then went to wait for our shuttle to pick us up at 2 – we had about 45 minutes to wait and of course the heavens decided at this point to open up and release a ridiculous amount of rain! We both got totally soaked, neither of us had thought to bring our rain macs (turns out we weren’t best prepared that day!) Finally our shuttle arrived and we went back and had hot showers!
The next day was our last in Sepilok. After this, Joe would travel down to Semporna to do his Advanced Diving course which I would have loved to do but definitely couldn't afford!!), and I would...well...we weren’t quite sure at this point so we took a bus in to the nearest town, Sandakan, to see if there was anything for me to do there (there wasn't any point in me travelling to Semporna, apparently it a place you go purely for diving, the actual town itself is a dump with nothing to do!) We would meet back in Kota Kinabalu on Friday in time for our mountain climb on Saturday.

We arrived in Sandakan after about 45 minutes on a local bus (super cheap, like 60p for a ticket) we had a walk around, I decided I could stay there for a few days so I booked in to a hostel I had been looking at online. There was a really helpful scouse guy at the desk who gave us loads of info and recommended an English tea room for us to visit so we went there for snack, then got back on the bus to take us back to Sepilok. I hadn't been feeling too great about being left on my own in a random place before but after going there and seeing it for myself I felt much better about it (I think Joe did too, I think he was feeling a bit guilty before) I figured I'd just chill there for a few days and then head back to Kinabalu a day or two early if I got bored.

The next morning Joe had to leave very early to catch his bus (like 8am) so we said goodbye and that was it, I was on my own for the first time in nearly 4 months! Not usually a big deal for me being alone, I'm an independent person and I like my own company but when you have been with someone 24/7 for so long it just didn't seem right. Atleast it was only four days I told myself, time would fly by!
I caught the bus to Sandakan at 9 and was there by 10. I checked in to my hostel and chatted to the friendly scouse guy (John) for a bit – it was nice to have friendly face around,he was working on the desk but was staying in my dorm aswell. It was just the two of us in there so nice and quiet. About midday I decided to venture out and get some food. John told me there was a cinema a little walk away down the main road so I decided to go and hunt this down. The walk itself only took about 20 minutes but the journey was not pleasant – locals (male AND female) were whistling/pointing/staring and shouting things at me the whole way! I hadn't noticed it being that bad anywhere else, maybe it was because I was a blonde western girl on my own, all I know is it was horrible and I was glad to arrive at the cinema! The only thing showing at the time (it was about 1.15) was The Avengers, something I had no interest in watching whatsoever, but there was no way I was hanging around waiting for the next movie so I bought a ticket and went in. 2 hours later it was over – I daydreamed for the first hour and a half then paid a bit of attention near the end when it actually got good (I know, lots of people love that sort of thing but I really don't get the appeal!) As soon as the film was over I missioned back as quick as I could, had a shower, grabbed a quick dinner then just holed up in my room surfing the net and watching a film. I was literally the only backpacker there, and anywhere in Sandakan I think, so apart from scouse John there was literally nobody to talk to! That god for the internet!!
The next day I didn't really do much – wandered round, went for lunch at the English tea room (that me and Joe had gone to a few days ago) and that was pretty much it. At this point I decided to get the hell out of Sandakan the next day and get the bus back to Kota Kinabalu – atleast there would be things to do there! And the six hour bus journey would certainly kill some time!

So the next day (Wednesday) I got on the 10 o clock bus. Thought I'd get lucky and be able to spread over two seats but I ended up having to share so was a rather uncomfortable journey (can't really spread yourself out over a stranger the way I normally would if I were sitting next to Joe!) 6 hours later we arrived. I had a massive headache as I hadn’t drank any water that day (I always dehydrate myself purposely on long bus journeys just so I don't have to endure the toilets, if you can call them toilets!), so I couldn't be bothered to faff around with another bus so I got a taxi to the same hostel we had stayed in on our first night in KK (the driver struggled to find the place and tired to charge me more but I was having none of it – don't mess with a tired, irritable, hungry and thirsty Karen!) I checked in to a four bed dorm room where it looked like another girl was there (judging by the contents left on one of the beds) but no-one else. I showered and went for dinner and when I came back the girl was there. She was lovely, we chatted for ages and she gave me two books and a magazine. Was just so nice to have someone to talk to!

The next day the girl left early as she was climbing the mountain so I was on my own again. I decided that rather then do the tourist things and sightseeing, I was going to do a tour of my own...the shopping malls! There were three of them and I went round them all, mainly just browsing (though I did buy a half price pair of shorts), was just so nice to be able to wander round without harassment! I ended up going to the cinema AGAIN (is a great way to kill time when on your own), watched 'The Cabin In The Woods', which I wouldn't recommend to anyone, especially not as a film to watch alone! By this time it was late in the afternoon so I went back and two people checked in to the room shortly after, an Austrian girl and a German guy. They were both very nice and we ended up going for dinner together at the night market which was great, lovely not to have to have dinner alone again!

This morning I woke up about 9 and jumped out of bed – Joe should have arrived by now and I was desperate to see him! I checked what room he was in, ran in and definitely woke him up! He had arrived at 5am and hadn't been able to get in to the hostel til 6 so poor thing is exhausted. Glad to have my boy back though, have missed him lots! I left him to sleep for a bit longer while I packed my stuff and moved everything in to the room. We are just going to have a proper chill today and do nothing as we are being picked up at 7.30am tomorrow for our Mount Kinabalu climb. I'm both excited and ever so slightly nervous about the whole thing, just hope the weather is kind to us!

So that's it for now, I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about the climb so will post again in a few days. For now, wish us luck...

x x x x

Happy Sunday evening to you!

At the end of my last blog I predicted I would like the Philippines....I LOVED it! We both did, the weather is amazing (no storms there!), the people are the friendliest in Asia so far, the drinks are ridiculously cheap (40p for a bottle of San Miguel), it's just great.

The only downside was the lack of planning we put in to our two week trip there; we assumed that we would be able to hop around the islands like we did in Thailand – unfortunately, that was not the case. Everything is a lot more spread out in the Philippines, it would take us two days to get to Palawan (the place we desperately wanted to go and now must come back for one day!) and atleast a day to get anywhere else so we decided after a week in Boracay to just cut our losses and stay for another week, almost like a little vacation from travelling (ridiculous as it sounds!) - to be fair we have travelled around so much and done our fair share of 20+ hour journeys, packing our bags every few days; we both reached a point where we were just ready to stay somewhere for a bit and relax, not really do a lot, save a bit of money aswell (the travel costs in Thailand were pretty budget-crippling!)

We really liked Boracay and enjoyed just chilling and doing very little here; it's a very easy place, a whole strip of bars and restaurants line the beach, there is a shopping mall, you can get a ride over to other beaches on the island very easily, it's a good place to spend a bit of time. We spent most days on White Beach reading (I've got through so many books since hitting the beaches 6 weeks ago, there are places everywhere you can trade and buy books cheap which is awesome! I've even got properly in to the Twilight saga!) We took a trip to the north of the island the other day, to Puka beach, which was just gorgeous! Similar in appearance to White beach in terms of white sand and crystal clear sea but it was much more deserted and less built up, Joe had a great time snorkelling there (while I read!) We also went diving again for the first time since our PADI course which was absolutely AWESOME! We saw sooo many fish, so much more then Thailand, and the reefs were just stunning. Best of all it was just the two of us with an instructor and he let us stay down until our air was out, we lasted 62 minutes! Time goes by soo quickly when you're down there, I love the buzz when you come up, just want to dive again straight away! We were so hooked that Joe did two more dives on his own and we both did one on our last day (although it wasn't that great, too much current, we ended up floating miles away from all the fish, so far that we had to float in the water for about 15 minutes at the end waiting for our boat to find us! Good job there were no sharks in the area!)

Apart from the diving there really isn't that much more I can tell you about our time in Boracay – it was like a holiday, we literally just chilled on the beach everyday, had a sunset drink every night, went for dinner, occasionally went out (got pretty drunk twice). It wasn't what I would call a 'backpacker' destination but we had a great time, the people were so lovely, one place we ate a few times asked us to come back just so they could get a picture with us! We definitely want to go back and do Palawan and a few other islands that were too far for us to make it to - just need to plan our route better next time!

The only bummer of the fortnight is that I have got infected toes on my right foot – I cut one of my toes in Koh Lanta on the rough sand and it just got worse and worse here, really painful to walk so I went to the medical clinic to get it checked out and it appears the cut got infected and spread to my other toes! The doc gave me some cream to put on which didn't work so had to go back for anitbiotics which will hopefully do the trick - it better bloody do as doctors fees are not part of my budget and I do NOT enjoy paying for medical treatment (although thanks to mummy and daddy for lending a hand ) Long live the NHS!!

We left Boracay on Friday and got a boat/bus to Kalibo to catch our morning flight the next day. Glad we didn't spend any time there as there was nothing at all around, the only place we could find for dinner was a Filipino version of Maccy D's! Luckily we were out of there pretty sharp the next morning (6am to be precise) to catch our flight back up to Manila to then fly back to Kuala Lumpur. We arrived in Manila (well Clark, just outside Manila) about 10am (after a 40 minute flight which seemed ridiculous!) and got dropped off at a HUGE shopping mall. We decided to go in and have a browse rather then going straight to our hotel as we had a whole day to kill...7 hours later we left! It was just so big, so many shops and food outlets – we even ended up going to the cinema (watched 'Battleship', was pretty good!) I felt like I was in America (the Philippines is veeery Americanized) but I enjoyed it a lot! We then got a tricycle (ridiculous contraption that consists of a motorbike with a one-wheeled side car loosely attached to it) to our hotel. The room seemed pretty nice (aside from the two MASSIVE cockroaches Joe had to dispose of in the bathroom!!) so we just had a chilled night before waking up early again the next day for our flight to KL, which is where we are at this moment! The flight was pretty funny, we have been flying with Air Asia who I couldn't recommend higher, lovely new planes with good legroom, nice food and always on time (as opposed to certain UK carriers!) what was funny was the safety demo at the start – the guy who was giving the instructions was just really jokey and just seemed to make a mockery of the whole thing – he ended with “this is a no smoking flight – if you want to smoke, please step outside the aircraft” which got a big laugh from everyone. And at the end of the flight all of the crew assembled to clap and tell everyone what a great flight it was! Very random and bizarre, never seen anything like that on any other flights I've been on, I think other airlines should catch on!

We arrived about 5pm at our hotel, not too far from where we stayed two weeks ago – the hotels/guesthouses are pretty grotty here, the rooms are like prison cells and the shared bathrooms are pretty gross – however we got upgraded to a room with a window so all is not too bad. Just had an amazing dinner at Nando's, a place I have never really understood the fuss over in the UK but tonight it tasted SO GOOD! We had been travelling all day and eating rubbish food in the Philippines for two weeks (lovely people but without a doubt the worst food so far in Asia!!) We have do days here to explore the city and do the touristy things before flying to Borneo on Wednesday – pretty excited for that, we are all booked up to climb Mount Kinabalu on the 5th/6th May which I'm very much looking forward to! Going to see the Orangutans and maybe do another dive aswell, we'll see when we get there. Can't believe our time in Asia is rapidly running out, we only have 5 weeksleft before we fly to Australia!! Got to pack in as much as we can and keep having the best time ever!! Not saying I'm not excited for Oz, just a little scared of the expense of it all (we actually moved our flight to New Zealand forard by 2 weeks the other day as I was worried about Australia sucking away all my money!) We'll just play it by ear and see how it goes, no doubt we will have an amazing time there aswell, despite having to sleep in a tent and survive on instant noodles for 5 weeks

That's all for now, fairly short and sweet for a change! Hope everyone is well, miss you all!!!

Lots of love xxxxxxxx

Ok so here is part two of our Thai Island escapade - a little later then planned (so hard to keep this thing up to date!) and as this all happened awhile ago there may be some gaps in my memory! I'll do my best though, back to southern Thailand....

So we caught the night boat from Koh Tao to Surat Thani at 9pm – when I say 'slave boat' I think I'm being too kind; there were literally dozens of narrow, dirty mattresses all lined up next to each other (literally side by side) and one fan on the other side of the boat from us. It was boiling in there! We met a couple of European loads who were drinking whisky and beer so we chatted to them for a bit until some really annoying young Canadian girls came over and latched on to them. I chose this point to try and get some sleep, reckon I managed a couple of hours until our boat docked at 5am. We then got off the boat and on to a bus which took us the three-ish hours to Krabi. We decided to pay a little extra to be taken to Ao Nang, the beach resort as opposed to staying in Krabi town as we had heard there wasn't much there. We arrived in Ao Nang in the afternoon, managed to find a cheap guesthouse very quickly (it was a cool one, like an attic room, outdoor bathroom, you could see the sea from the shower!) we then went for a mooch around. AoNang is nice, very touristy but a nice resort – we went and got a half price massage (can't get enough massages over here, so cheap and SO GOOD!) The next day we went on a boat trip around some of the surrounding islands; Poda, Tup Island, Chicken Island and Pranang Caves on Railay beach. I was a great day, the islands were gorgeous, we had snorkel equipment included aswell which was great as the water was the clearest I have ever seen! Tup island was my favourite, was literally like paradise, I couldn't believe what I was seeing around me, just like a postcard. The next day we just chilled on the beach and sorted out transport to our next destination: Koh Yao Noi, an island our friends from Swindon (a couple we met at the very beginning)told us about; apparently it was a lovely chilled island with very few tourists about, just the kind of place we were looking for.

We got the afternoon boat to Koh Yao Noi the next day; I was enjoying the ride at first, just reading my book, when I looked out the window to see some very grey clouds....then came the rain, it started hammering down! We docked at the island but the rain was so heavy they kept us on the boat for a bit, thinking the rain would pass....It didn't, this was when the thunder started. Now those who know me well may know that thunder and lightening are not my favourite things....Let's just say I was scared! Eventually they let us off the boat and we ran to a tuk tuk which again we sat in for a bit waiting for the storm to pass. Still didn't stop so the driver (who looked pretty freaked out himself)just hopped in the driver's seat and drove us to our bungalows. Thankfully the drive wasn't far, it was like a monsoon out there by this point! Luckily there was a guy waiting for us at the bungalows we had booked so we got the keys and took shelter in our simple little bungalow (very basic, just a bed and mosquito net and then a toilet and shower, just what we needed). We were told there was no power, as the island electricity supply is shut off during a storm. So we just sat and waited for it to stop. The storm carried on for atleast another hour, it was evening and dinnertime by this time – we couldn't eat at the restaurant at our place due to the power shortage so we popped down the road and ate at another hotel which had power.
The next day we hired a motorbike to explore the island properly. There is only one road around the island and I'd say it took us about an hour in total, including stops, to get around the entire thing! It really was beautiful, lots of empty beaches, a little town with a 7-11 (they really are EVERYWHERE in Thailand!) and a couple of restaurants. That was about it. Was strange not seeing lots of people, especially tourists around but we loved it! The next day we walked to one of the little beaches we had seen the day before and just spent the day there, not another soul on the beach! We then had our last night before moving on to the next island, Koh Phi Phi, the island made famous by the movie 'The Beach' – we had friends currently there and from what we had heard it was a bit of a party island, totally different to Koh Yao Noi. My only hope was that there were less storms, as there were ferocious thunder storms every night we were in Yao Noi and they scared the hell out of me!!

We got a morning boat the next day over to Phuket to then catch a boat to Phi Phi. We arrived in the afternoon, got off the boat and were immediately hit with a bustling beach town, packed full of near-naked girls and boys, many of them looking like they hadn't quite reached their twenties! We found a bungalow at the top of the hill, showered then went for an explore. We ended up bumping in to two of the guys we had travelled with before (John and Ade) and it just so happened they were about to walk up to the Phi Phi viewpoint so we ended up joining them...my god what a walk, there were about a million stairs to climb, followed by a load of paths, all uphill! It was absolutely boiling aswell, despite being early evening, and we were all dripping with sweat by the time we reached to top! The view was pretty impressive and we stayed up there to watch the sunset which was lovely.
That night we met up with the boys again plus some of the others for a night out. We had a great time but the evening didn't end terribly well as Joe ended up falling down a concrete step back at our place and cracking his head open – for those who want the full story, ask him to explain – it was ok in the end though, I got him to a medical clinic the next morning (he was being a boy and saying he didn't need stitches but I was insistent!), where he ended up having 8 stitches and also given a sling for shoulder which he had also hurt in the fall. E didn't do much the rest of that day, both quite worn out from the night before! The next day we went to the main beach on the island (Long Beach), which was a good 45 minute walk but definitely worth it, lovely white sand and clear water (which is becoming the norm). We decided to book a snorkelling boat trip again for the next day as I was quite keen to see the island where they filmed The Beach, so we booked an afternoon/sunset trip. The next day we got on the boat about 2ish and were taken to another island where we stopped off for a swim and some snorkelling. We got to Maya Bay (The Beach Island) and were given an hour there to have a look around and take pictures. It was a beautiful place, much bigger then I thought it would be. We then had one more snorkelling stop, then watched the sunset on the boat before being taken back.
The next day would be our last in Phi Phi - originally I wanted to leave this day but Joe was still struggling with his shoulder so we stayed the extra day. I was ready to leave at this point, Phi Phi is beautiful but just a little too overdeveloped and hectic for me, I think I would have loved it a lot more 5 years ago (gosh I sound old!) Joe decided he wanted to see the beaches on the other side of the island, which would involve walking up to the viewpoint again. I agreed, as he assured me the beaches were just on the other side of the viewpoint....oh how wrong he was, we ended up walking through what can only be described as the jungle for about half an hour, getting bitten to s***by mosquitoes and me being terrified of seeing a snake/spider, it was horrible! We eventually got to the bottom and found the beach, which was perfectly nice but not worth that trek! I ended up getting a longboat back to the other side while Joe offered to walk back, as we didn't have enough money on us for us both to go on the boat. We got back, packed, went for dinner and that was it for our time in Phi Phi.
The next day we got a boat over to Koh Lanta, our last island stop – we had been hoping to get down to Koh Lipe, a little island just up from Malaysia, as the diving is meant to be great there, however it was just too expensive to get there in the end.

Koh Lanta did not disappoint in any way – we ended up staying at an awesome resort, same price as we had been paying everywhere else but here we got a huge room (was nice to stay in a room again after staying in bungalows for so long!) plus the resort had a swimming pool! Even better it was right on the beach, it had everything! We had a really chilled few days, relaxing by the pool, hiring a motorbike again and driving all down the coast, walking along the beach for a cocktail in one of the beach bars, it was heaven!
On the last day I decided to finally get my tattoo. I'd been meaning to get one all through Asia to commemorate the travels, I just hadn't got around to it yet. I decided the end of the thai islands would be a perfect opportunity. We found a tattoo shop, I gave them my chosen design (the Japanese symbol for 'love', I wanted it in Thai but it was too complicated and I only wanted something small) and told them where I wanted it to go (my neck, easy place to cover up if necessary). The guy then got to work, using a bamboo needle (very common in Thailand) to ink me up. It took about half an hour and hurt like hell but then that was it, all done, I now had a second tattoo (should probably stop here but never say never ) we didn't do much for the rest of the day, just relaxed and enjoyed the pool – we had a mammoth 20 odd hour bus journey to Kuala Lumpur the next day which neither of us were looking forward to. However we were catching a flight to the Philippines from KL which we were very excited about so swings and roundabouts I suppose!
As we had our last Thai meal I found myself feeling quite sad at the prospect of leaving Thailand; I love everything about the place, the food, the people, the culture, the scenery. There's no doubt at all that I will go back one day, maybe for a holiday, see what it's like to be able to live it up a bit and not have to worry too much about money!

The next day we were up far too early at 7am to catch the bus. It was actually on time for once, although for some reason it was only a minibus and as always, was packed to the brim, too many people and too much luggage, not terribly comfortable! We drove a few hours, got on another minibus the same, then were transferred to a pretty nice bus with big seats for the remainder of the journey. We were switched to this bus in Had Yai, where we saw the burnt out remains of a car that had been blown up by a car bomb the week before, killing a few people and injuring others. I must say we were glad to be passing though this part of Thailand so quickly, a lot of unrest going on there at the moment due to religious clashes.
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur at about 11pm that night, earlier then we thought (we thought we wouldn't be arriving til about 5am). We walked around china town for a bit with this South American couple trying to find a guesthouse. We found one eventually (just us, the other couple carried on), it was pretty grotty but it was midnight by this point and we were knackered so we took it! The next day we got up and checked out of our room (we would be spending the night in the airport, oh the joy!) We then spent the day wandering around KL, had a subway wrap for breakfast which tasted divine (amazing how much western food can sort you out after weeks living off noodles and rice!) bought a cheap casio watch from the market, bought some fancy chocolates from the mall (yes ok, we wandered around shopping!) and read our books by the river. We had dinner then we'd finally killed enough time to get the bus to the airport at 10pm. Bus took an hour and a half so by 11.30 we were there – unfortunately our flight was not until 6.45am! We had a long night ahead....
After about an hours sleep on the cold hard floor with only my sarong as cover, the time finally came for us to board the plane! We flew in to Manila (capital of the Philippines), arriving about 10.30am. We then had a few more hours to kill until our next flight to Kalibo, where we were flying to get to our final destination of Boracay. Our flight to Kalibo left at 2.45pm and we were on the ground again in less then an hour! We then got a van, followed y a boat over to Boracay. We arrived about 6pm, both delighted to have finally made it, having both had about 3 hours sleep in the last 36! Think I'm going to like the Philippines though, they are so friendly and polite here, they call you 'sir' and 'ma’am' everywhere you go (although being called 'ma’am' makes me feel a bit old!) an the beach on Boracay is gorgeous, it's called White Beach and it definitely lives up to the name!

Phew, so that's it, Thai islands done,time for the next chapter in our adventure! I'm finally up to date with the blog, woohoo! I will really try my hardest to stay on top of it now, it's just so easy to get caught up here!

I'll also point out that we've been travelling for exactly three months now, thats a quarter of a year already! It seems to have flown by in a whirl of amazing sights and experiences, and I just know the rest of the year is going to whiz by too! It has been absolutely amazing so far, we are having the best time and I look forward to sharing our stories on this blog for many more months to come!

I hope everyone at home is well, I miss you all very much!!

Lots of love xxxxx

Hello and greetings from the white sandy beaches of southern Thailand! First of all, I must apologise for the delay with this blog, we've had internet issues etc but all is good now – as it has been nearly a month there is obviously a lot of news so this blog will come in two parts . Part one starts way back about 4 weeks ago when we were killing our last couple of days in Vietnam before flying back to sunny Thailand...The last blog left off with us about to visit a little town called Ninh Binh for the night to get out of Hanoi, so I'll start from there.....

Ninh Binh was, in the nicest possible way, a shithole (excuse language here but it is necessary!) It was rainy and grey when we arrived and stayed that way for the entire two days we were there. Our hotel was nice enough (apart from the bed, which was like sleeping on a plastic box, worst bed I’ve slept in in Asia so far!) but it was in the middle of nowhere, totally out of town. On the bus there we met a Portuguese girl (who was nice but a bit nuts) and a guy originally from Canada who had spent time living in England, Wales and New Zealand, so had the weirdest combination accent I have ever heard. We ended up spending our first afternoon with them, wondering about the town – not that there was a lot to wonder round, it was basically a main road with some appliance shops dotted around, no bars or restaurants, a local market and that was about it. I was feeling pretty low at this point, tired, cold and a bit fed up, the first little twinge of home sickness started to creep in – all I wanted at that moment was to be at home in my parents’ house with a cup of PG tips and a gossipy magazine (two things I definitely miss over here!)
That night we decided to go to a restaurant we had read about in the Lonely Planet as there was not much else on offer. We got a taxi there, had a nice meal, got a taxi back, then went to bed! The next day we were going to hire a motorbike and go and see the caves but the weather was rubbish yet again so we decided we couldn’t be bothered so we ended up watching a movie on Joe’s lap top, checking out, then getting a taxi to the next town where we had to catch our bus back to Hanoi. I was actually quite relieved to get back to the capital, atleast there was stuff around! We found a place to stay for the night, booked our taxi to the airport for the next morning (6am, ouch!) then went for dinner at a lovely restaurant we wish we had discovered sooner – the best baked aubergine, springrolls and chicken with cashew nuts I had in the whole of Vietnam I rekon!
The next day we were up bright and early to catch our plane to Bangkok – we were both pretty excited at the prospect of flying, after all the long bus journeys it was quite a novelty! We arrived in plenty of time, checked in, had an outrageously over-priced breakfast then got on the plane – one hour and 45 minutes later, we were in Bangkok! Was impressed with Air Asia; cheap, cheerful and good legroom (good job as we have 6 other flights booked with them!) The feeling of heat that hit us when we got off the plane was amazing – just like getting off the plane on holiday! I was so glad to be back! After queuing for immigration, getting bags/food/etc we hopped on the train to take us in to central Bangkok. Once we arrived there we had to get off and get a taxi to the southern bus terminal to catch an overnight bus down to Surat Thani, to then get a ferry over to Koh Samui. Sounds fairly straight forward right? You’d think so, but the journey we had tells another story…
We arrived at the bus station at about 3pm after an hour stuck in rush hour traffic in Bangkok (it was Saturday afternoon which didn’t help). We went to get our bus tickets and were told there was not a bus until 7.40pm. No problem, the bus station also has a massive shopping mall inside so atleast we could kill some time. We had a mooch around, got some food, sat around a bit, then when the time came, went to find our bus. It was actually a really nice bus compared to some of our previous, and our seats were right at the front so maximum legroom! The bus was fairly empty, turned out we were the only westerners on there! At this point we were both pretty tired so went to sleep pretty much straight away, and slept fairly well throughout the night, despite the numerous standard night-bus stops. We pulled in to a bus station around 6am, although we were both a bit groggy, we weren’t sure if we had arrived in Surat Thani yet – a guy then gets on and shouts “Koh Samui”, so we both get off, the guys is then hounding me, telling me we have arrived at the old bus station and we need to get a taxi to the new bus station - he is saying this as he is dragging both our bags over to this taxi. I told him to stop so we could work out what was going on, but we were both so tired and disoriented that we just went with it, even though 200 baht seemed a bit steep as we assumed the bus would be taking us straight there. Well it turned out the taxi was obviously on commission to take us straight to a travel agent to get boat tickets, which we weren’t too happy about because we definitely got ripped off for them (but it was 6am, nowhere else was open, and there were no cabs around so we didn’t have much choice!) We were told a bus would pick us up at 7.30am, so that meant another hour waiting around, this time with nothing to do but sit on plastic chairs. At 7.30, a tuk tuk arrived; this was apparently to take us to the bus that would take us to the boat (seems ridiculous but that is just the way they operate here) so we got on there and were driven about 10 minutes to another bus station. It was here that Joe noticed his bag had been opened at some point (two of the bottom straps were undone) – he had a look inside and said his new shorts (which he had bought the night before at the bus station) were missing. Before he had a chance to investigate further, and before I could check mine, the bus arrived. We both spent the entire one hour journey fretting about what might have been nicked from our bags. As soon as we were dropped off at the ferry, we both opened and went through our bags – I had a half empty bottle of next perfume taken from mine; Joe had his flip flops, swiss army knife, reading light, electric shaver and charger, a few loose pound coins, mini speaker, laptop case (thankfully without the laptop!) and some camera lens covers all stolen from his bag. The thieves had literally been through the whole thing. Not cool, we were both pretty pissed off, however we reassured ourselves with the fact that nothing majorly valuable was taken (ie, passports/cameras, etc). It just seems to be part and parcel of bus travel over here, that route we took is apparently notorious for it.
After a bit more waiting around for good measure, we finally got on the boat. The journey took about an hour and a half and was choppy as hell, not at all enjoyable! We arrived in Samui, got a minibus to our guesthouse and arrived about 1pm – nearly 31 hours after our journey began in Hanoi the day before. We were both sweaty and exhausted but just plain relieved to finally be there! After one of the most needed showers of my life (as good as a post-festival shower) we got some food then hit the beach. Chaweng beach is touristy as hell, full of sunloungers, massage huts and people walking around selling stuff but it is gorgeous! White sand and clear blue sea, some of the warmest sea water I had been in so far in my life! We had a lovely chilled afternoon, had diner then went to bed pretty dam early. I forgot to mention that our guesthouse was next door to the towns’ main nightclub, which didn’t OPEN until 2am! Earpugs and extreme tiredness prevented this from being an issue however!
The next day involved more chilling, we found a nicer guesthouse in a quieter location (and a bit cheaper) and that night we had a beautiful dinner on the beach (Joe treated us both, two courses and a glass of wine, absolute heaven!) The next day was the arrival of J and Kez, who appeared on the beach about 1 in the afternoon. Was great to see them and spend the afternoon catching up! That night we went for dinner then went out for a few drinks which was wicked fun – we stupidly arranged to meet up at 11am the next day despite getting in at 3am, a task which was extremely painful when we woke up with pounding hangovers! We met up on the beach, got food then just sunbathed, me and Joe treated ourselves to some oil massages (absolutely amazing, 5 quid for an hour of pure and utter bliss and relaxation). We decided to keep things chilled that night as we had booked on the 10.30 ferry to Koh Pha Ngan the next morning (we were heading there for the half moon party that Friday night)
The next day (Thursday, not that it means anything here) we hopped on the one hour ferry over to Koh Pha Ngan. Once there we got a tuk tuk, and after a sketchy as hell, off road journey we arrived at our beach bungalows – what a stunning location, the place was right on this gorgeous, secluded beach, barely anyone on it! The bungalows were basic but really cool and there was a beachside bar and restaurant aswell – it was perfect! After a little look around the town we just hung out at ‘our beach’. I had started feeling a bit rough that day, sore throat, headachy type thing so I went for a nap, although thankfully Joe woke me up in time to watch the sunset over the beach, which was INCREDIBLE, so many colours, was just stunning! The kind of sunsets I had always imagined seeing.
The next day, J and Kez had booked on a boat trip/elephant trekking day so they went off fairly early leaving me and Joe in charge of preparation for the half moon party that night (for those who haven’t heard of the moon parties, there is a full moon party every month in Koh Pha Ngan, on the beach, tens of thousands of people wearing glow paint and raving all night; the half moon is basically the same but on a smaller scale and in the middle of nowhere as opposed to the beach). We went to town and bought the necessary glow paint, I got a themed vest and we scoped out ferry times etc for the next day (as our diving course was due to start on the Sunday we had to get a boat over to Koh Tao on the Saturday, no recovery day unfortunately!) J and Kez arrived back that afternoon, we went for dinner, then went to town and bought our ferry tickets and a load of booze for pre-drinking.
We set off for the half moon about 1am after a few hours of drinking and covering ourselves in glow paint. We walked to town then got a taxi there. It was awesome, like a music festival, loads of food stalls as you walk in then a massive dance floor in the middle, loads of strobe lights, pumping trance music, you get the picture. Unfortunately me and Joe only lasted until 4 (J and Kez stayed) as someone (not me) had had a little too much to drink! (I was annoyed with him at the time but he groveled the next day ) We didn’t actually get to bed til about 5, and the alarm was set for 10! Bad times!
Got up the next morning all in a bit of a daze, grabbed some fruit shakes to wake us up a little then got on our tuk tuk to the ferry. It was pretty boiling that day which didn’t help matters, as soon as we got on the ferry me and Kez lay on the floor and slept for the whole 2 hours! When we arrived in Koh Tao we were taken straight to our dive school in this taxi which was like a tuk tuk but had no back or roof – you could fall out the back pretty easily! When we arrived at the dive school it appeared we had been booked in to an 8 bed dorm instead of the private rooms we were expecting – now don’t get me wrong, I’m no snob, I’ve stayed in dorms but this one was pretty horrible. It stank, the beds were creaky as hell, the pillows were plastic, the shower was almost non-existent! J and Kez got themselves an upgrade pretty sharpish, whereas me and Joe (on our travelers’ budget and all) decided to try a night and see how it was…
The next morning at 9am I was in the dive office requesting an upgrade! I had a terrible night sleep, the bed creaked every time you moved, the room was BOILING all night then freezing in the morning and the sore throat was now a full on cold and I just knew I couldn’t hack that room for another 4 nights! So we moved next door to J and Kez and did NOT regret it – one of the nicest rooms we’ve stayed in so far and it’s only a couple of quid each more a night! Worth it while diving, early nights and early mornings, need good sleep conditions!
We officially started our diving course yesterday but it was only an hour and a half of watching videos and answering questions, eased in very gently. Today was where it really began…
We were up and ready for 9.30 - all the equipment was laid out for us to put on, and after a brief explanation of what everything was and all the functions, we did just that. Once we were all geared up, we got in the pool and stared learning the techniques. We were in the pool for two hours, in this time we learnt how to breathe properly underwater (slowly and deeply, never holding the breath), clear your eye mask underwater, breathe out of someone elses mask and a load of other skills. It was so much fun and all four of us were at the same level and picked everything up the same which was a relief! We got out of the pool and had an hour lunch break followed by a couple of hours theory in the afternoon. We were all nakered after this so spent the afternoon chilling!
The next day it was time for us to take the exam before our first dive in the sea – the 'exam' took about 45 minutes and we were allowed to help each other so it is safe to say we sailed through (no pun intended!) it was now time to chill for an hour before heading out to sea - scary but very exciting!! We went out on the afternoon boat at 12, took about 20 minutes to get to the first dive site, where our instructor (Chris, really nice guy, from Cheltenham would you believe!) briefed us on what to expect, then helped us get in to our gear. Me and Joe and Kez and J were buddies for the first dive, so we checked each other out, made sure all the equipment was in place (pre-dive safety), then got in the water and headed down the rope in to the sea....was such a weird and awesome experience, being so deep, seeing fish and coral all around! My ears hurt a bit at first but I soon got used to it. That dive lasted about 40 minutes, then we came back up, had a break and went back down for the second dive, which was much better then the first, a lot clearer! The only issue I seemed to have was buoyancy control, I actually floated up to the surface in both dives, not supposed to happen! We were all buzzing when we got back though, couldn't wait to dive again the next day!
The next morning we were up for 7am to get on the morning boat. Once again we had two dives, both of them even better then the day before as each of us grew in confidence and improved our techniques. Me and Kez and J and Joe decided to switch it up and be buddies that day, as we seemed to be naturally swimming together anyway. At the end of the last dive our instructor announced we were now all open water divers! Amazing! It was actually quite sad the course was over as we had enjoyed it so much, however we still had one more free dive the next morning as part of our package so that was something to look forward to. That night we met up with our instructor, did paperwork, got our PADI cards and watched the video a girl had made of us diving that day (a great souvenier but she was charging 50 quid for it so we all politely declined!) We then went for dinner with Chris which was a lovely way to end our course he was trying to tempt us all with advanced courses, stories of being a divemaster...I think Joe was quite taken in by all this!! The next morning we were up for the morning boat again, only doing one dive this time. I must say this was my least favourite dive, my ears were hurting a lot throughout (I had had a cold that whole week which makes it harder to equalise underwater which can make it painful) – I was actually glad when that dive was over which was a shame, however me and Kez had a lovely time sunbathing while the boys went down for the second dive.
The boat got back to shore about 12.30, by which time J and Kez needed to get their stuff together as they were leaving to go back to Bangkok at 2. We had a final lunch together and said our goodbyes – we were sad to see them go, we all had such a great two weeks together, was really nice to see them and have that connection with home (they are such a lovely couple aswell )
Me and Joe now had the rest of the day to kill as we were catching the night boat that evening over to the other coast (Krabi). So we just chilled and read all afternoon until it was time to leave.....

Right that's it for part one, the night boat will be the start of part two – this will be posted shortly, not in a month's time don't worry!

Part two coming soon.....