Asia

Singapura

ainsandtim — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:24:00 GMT

We have finally made it to the end of the trip and ALIVE!! We are having a great time in Singapore except for the rain - is is pouring - we had to leave the Zoo early yeasterday - we took shelter in the food court waiting for the rain to stop and then the food court started to fill up with water so we went home. Today we are wandering around Bugis (pronounced "Boogers" by the MRT announcer lady) and also little india - The smeall and sounds and sights here are wonderful. I am going to try and have my fortune read by a parrot and have one last massge befor we leave. We are off to Mohammed Mustafa's for lots of duty free fun for all!! See (some of you) tomorrow! Take Care

Phuket - what can I say about Phuket??

ainsandtim — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:20:00 GMT

We I can't say I wasn't warned - I can't say I will be returning to Phuket any time soon but it's all experience right!! :-)

It was a bit smely, a bit pushy, a bit over the top but glad we went and saw it (once).

Our hotel was fabulous great service and lovely staff and room was incredible. Tim was devasted when the satelite sports channel went out but the tv guy came and within 10 minutes we had it back - huge sigh of relief - could have gone a whole day without watching a soccer game (gasp!)

We actualy had a rest in Phuket which was god - no boked tours - it was nice to wander around the streets and have a look at everything that was happening (except all the stall holders - more pushy than any other place I have been).

On Tuesday night we went to Thai boxing (Muay Thai, 9pm Bangla Boxing stadium stadium stadium, tonight, tonight tonight tonight, champ of the champ - no joke I was ready to rip my own ears of after about 90 mins if that repeating over and over - It was surprisingly interesting social excercise though - there were little kids fighting - normally anything to do with little kids is cute but this was just a bit weird - grown men screaming and yelling and jumping up and down watching 10 year olds kickboxing. There was even a match between a Swede and a Thai and when the Swede one it was almost silent except when the 3 swedish tourists in front of us jumped up and clapped and cheered.

It was pretty funy as the second last match was an Ausie and Thai and in the first round the Aussie hurst his foot - so Tim bet 200 BT with a Thai supporter that the Aussie would win and then the Aussie pulled out before the second round started - you win some you lose some it was a crack up to look at Tim's face though.

This morning we were off to KL - it has been very easy compared with Thailand - easy to communicate and easier to identify food you are eating of get an answer you understand when you ask "What meat is it??"

So we have have settled in a bit had two satay dinners already tonight and tomorrow we will tour KL.

Hope you are all well,

Love Ains

If anyone reading this is in touch with Kelly please tell her Happy Birthday for me for the 11th, thanks.

Bangkok Pt2/ Krabi

ainsandtim — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:05:00 GMT

Hi All,

We arrived back in Bangkok on the 8th of March for one night before we flew to Krabi.

We caught the 1st class bus (same as the 2nd class but if had a toilet on it, and still intact cup holders) which cost us a whole 200B ($6) for both of us to travel for 2 hours. we were both sad to leave Kanchanaburi as it was an amazing place with really nice locals. but we were also looking foward to getting back into Bangkok with some shops around. so we got into Bangkok at about 2pm and then went to Bangkok's biggest retail shopping centre for 6 hours worth of sales.... we ended up buying lots of cloths, and an ipod for a grand total of $120 (which would have cost us about $300/400 in aus).

the next day was another travel day as we went to the hectic bangkok airport to catch the plane to Krabi. we finally arrived in Krabi and then had to take a bus to the town of Ao Nang where we are currenlty staying. Ao Nang is a bit of an eye opener, as there are hardly any Thai people to be seen, appart from the ones that try to drag you into their tailoring shops from the street. this place is right on the ocean, and is a purpose built tourist town, with most of the population seeming to come from scandenavia (and they are all red raw from sunburn). in Ao Nang it has been the first time that we have actually seen the sun and the blue sky, as Bangkok was so poluted that everything was hazy, we couldn't even take photoes of buildings in the distance as the camera would not pick them up through the haze. so we have actually had to use sun screen for the first time... yesterday we went on another day trip, where we went out to Phang Nga Bay were we went out in the sea for a day trip around the many islands aroud. we went to an amazing floating village that is attached to one of the many islands. most of the islands in the bay are made of limestone cliffs that are about 50-100m high, so are uninhabitable. within the cliffs there are caves everywhere, and we then went on a kayaking tours through some of these caves which were breathtaking.

so at the moment we are sitting waiting for a few hours for the ferry to pick us up to go over to Phuket, where we will be spending the next 3 nights.

will give you an update as to how Phuket is when we get some free time over there.

hope to hear that you are all well.

love Tim and Ains.

Tiger Temple

ainsandtim — Thu, 6 Mar 2008 22:09:00 GMT

We had an amazing day today, we went to the war museaum and walked around - it is quite small so that didn't take very long. Apparently there are two different museums and we went to the older (less renovated) one. Maybe tomorrow we will try to find the other one. The most exciting part was the ride there - we got a lift with a guy in a rickshaw sort of thing - I think it is built for 1 person passenger but the guy assured we that two would fit - the poor man was sweating draging Tim and I around behind him (I reckon he only weighed about 40 kgs and we were about 200kgs to lug!! Or course he got a tip!!.

Then we went to the Tiger temple and it was awesome! Got the pat the tigers and play with cubs which was fantastic.

Hope everything is ok with all of you at home haven't heard much from you guys - a flood hasn't wiped out Brsibane has it :-) ?

Chat tomorrow!!

Kanchanaburi Pt2

ainsandtim — Wed, 5 Mar 2008 22:10:00 GMT

Hi All,

We are currently at the end of our second day in Kanchanaburi, we have spent the day today on another tour - thank god we did not get sent to another jewellery shop!!.

In the morning we went on an Elephant ride and then we went "river rafting" it was not as exciting as it sounds -however it was very beautifual floating down the River Kwai.

Then we had lunch and a long trek up to beautiful waterfalls and swim in the beautiful green water which was great, very cool after a long hot climb up the mountain. You have to be careful though there are some huge fish and they nibble your legs and toes ewwww.

Then we had a ride on the train that runs on the Thai Burma railway and also stopped at the Bridge over the River Kwai - it was packed with tourists and didn't quite have the atmosphere I was expecting.

We met some very nice people and had a lovely day, now we are exhausted(again) and are setting off to find something for dinner.

Kanchanaburi

ainsandtim — Tue, 4 Mar 2008 21:29:00 GMT

We are still alive - I know it's amazing!!!

Even after the deadly cobra show where a guy was demonstrating how to catch snakes - he had three and caught one in each hand - then the announcer said "how will he catch the last snake?" and Tim cracked up because of course catching snakes with your mouth is a capitol party trick that I will remember forever an always feel a little shudder :-)

Here is a Tip: if you ever go to Bangkok and want to see the "Rose Garden" - no flowers in sight, not a single Rose - it's stage show about the history of Thailand - whilst very entertaining (the fake Thai boxing was tops!) it wasn't exactly what we were expecting.

After three day tours and three "surprise" stops at the Gemstone factory we nearly ended up with a dead tour guide - apparently they get kickbacks for taking you there at the end of every tour.

So Today we braved it on a public bus to Kanchanaburi fron Babgkok - (we were kicking ourselved because we thought all of the buses were the same) then we found out that the nice buses were only an extra 20 BT/ 70cents -(really nice ones). SO we arrived in one piece without any booked accomodation I may add....so after we found out that the place we thought we would stay was booked out we then had a walk around and found a place that was $20 a night so we weren't too disappointed - it's on stilts on the River Kwai so we really are roughting it ;-)

We are booked in for elephant trekking tomorrow - the girl was very clear for us to bring mozzie repelant so I can see how this is going to turn out already - hope to get some pics to you soon.

Hope you are well

Love Ains and Tim

Arrived in Bangkok

ainsandtim — Sat, 1 Mar 2008 12:24:00 GMT

Oh my god

It's absolutely crazy here, the traffic is insane and we got lost walking around the block...

we arrived yesterday after a very interesting and eye opening bus ride. the driver decided taht he didn't want to drop us off at our stop, ao we had to try and make our way from the other side of the CBD. eventually we got a taxi to drive us (was interesting as he spent most of the time on the wrong side of the road...)

in the afternoon we deicided to go for a walk around the block. on one street we found that there were 10 gun shops (intersperced with mower shops) in the middle of the city. one building was nothing but gun shops (pistals and rifles), and they were even selling sights on teh side of the road in little stalls.

the hotel there we are staying in is nice (appart from the shower head that is 3 feet off the floor. so to wash our hair we have to kneel on the bottom of the bath). but it is all part of the experience :-)

well, gotta go, as we are going on a tour to the templates around the city, and then going to a massive market tonight to buy the clothes for the rest of our trip.

Tim and Ains