Well its almost at and end.. funny because we have been away 2 months today!! Our Thai Visa runs out on 22/7 so we are either going to fly or bus to Pedang from Phuket, which is where we currently are...
Anyway continuing on with our last story, we stayed in Ko Lanta for another 5 days but we moved to a cheaper and better place, which was closer to the pier.. It was called New Beach and for 250bht we had a room with TV, fridge and a fan.. we even had hot water!! It was right on the beach altho the beach was a bit dodgy at low tide when several hundred rocks appreared.. There wasnt that much to do on Ko Lanta as most places were closed because of low season. We ended up playing a drinking game one night called 'Ring of Fire' with Ian and Vicky.. It is basically a series of games you play depending on the card that you pull out of the deck.. needless to say we all got a little bit tipsy.. some more than others...no names will be mentioned. Its funny looking back because we had a really good time but we didnt leave the resort.. we just sat by the beach/pool drank, played guitar and ate the local food and talked shit for hours as usual.. there was 2 restaurants to choose from so we toggled between day to day.. Funnily enough there were a few other things on offer apart from food - they werent on the menu either... strange? Something green and some sort of fungal shake haha.. the second restraunt had the best fried rice ever and it was only 50 baht.. ohh also the lady of our resort kept trying to chat up dale cause he was playing guitar..it got me quite annoyed actually but i kept my cool..anyway Ko Lanta was very relaxing and it was good to just stop and really chill out.
We booked a ticket to Krabi for 250bht each.. Ian and Vicky headed straight for Phi Phi (via Krabi) but we wanted to check out a beach called Rai Leigh.. Im so glad we did because it was amazing. We had to get a long tail boat from Krabi which made it all the more exciting.. We got an amazing room at Diamond Cave resort for 500bht which had everyting and was realllly nice.. the best room weve had (apart from the BKK room which Mummy dear paid for). The beaches were amazing. We took some amazing photos of the sunset so we'll try to get them up soon. We got takeaway food the first night, and can you believe it, on my return from pick up a chick flick called '13 going on 30' came on TV so Samina was stoked.. we had a pizza, a massive jacket potato with chicken, a chocolate pancake, drinks and a chicken burger (which all cost $16au).. I thought I was going to get some relief when that movie finished but to my amazement '27 dresses' came on so again Samina couldnt believe her luck.. Ive never seen her cry so much in the 2.5 years that Ive known her. After Samina had cried herself out she basically fell asleep, lucky because Die Hard 4 came on.. I think I went to bed at 4am. What a day.
We left Rai Leigh and got a boat to Phi Phi. It started with an early morning, which for us is 9am.. haha. We waited for instructions from the boat guys but got none.. no one seemed to know what was going on or where the boat was.. we didnt know what to expect either.. eventually people started randomly getting on this longtail boat.. we asked a thai guy and he said it wasnt for phi phi.. but as it goes in thailand, we asked the same guy 5 min later and it magically was for phi phi. Amazing. We followed the other sheep into the water.. just as we got to the boat and the water was past our knees (keep in mind that we are carrying 2 backpacks, 2 small packs and a guitar) the boatman said it was full (longtails hold about 10-15 ppl max).. we were getting pretty annoyed at this point but had to keep calm. Eventually another boat came so we got on.. The guy started the engine but he seemed to drift out to sea.. why waste gas right? We're only falangs (foreigners)! Anyway..the guy was taking his time..no one knew what was going on.. after 15min a large ferry came and we had to do a small mission to get from this small longtail onto a big ferry in the middle of the ocean. This task is something that would be on Survivor.. Once youve done it you feel like youve made a great achievement. You would never be able to do that in Australia or NZ unless you signed your life away before hand but its an everyday thing in Thailand and no one bats an eyelid, so to speak. Samina got a little sea sick as it was a long ferry ride... As we got closer to Phi Phi you could see the water turn crystal clear and aqua blue.. It is an amazing place.
Phi Phi.. Hmm.. We managed to find a place about 200m from the pier.. It was run by a strange thai guy.. the room was pink and the building felt like it was about to fall down but hey, it was 450bht (but we paid 500bht to contribute to building repairs - youll see why in a bit..). the bed was freaking massive..they had 2 double beds joined together..it was crazy..didnt know they made bed sheets that big..it was soo massive there was literally no room to move around.. when we went to sleep we got 2 tin cans and tied a piece of string between them so we could talk to each other.. I had to text Samina goodnight...anyway we were exited cause we were going to meet up with ian and vicky again.. we managed to catch up with them for lunch and just as were were about to go for a wander it started pissing down with rain..and im talking pissing..it was insane..trees were about to snap and signs were flying everywhere..we managed to run into a bar where they were about to start playing anchorman.. even after the movie it was still crazy raining..we still all went for a wander around town..phi phi is really cool..its got an awesome feel to it..not only are the beaches amazing but the town is like a laid back australian town..i know it probably doesnt make sense but its just got a great vibe..loads of shops..awesome fashion and heaps of restraunts and bars.. we went back to our rooms for a quick nap so we could go out again at night.. its was still raining hard core but we made it to reggae bar where they were having a free bbq and there was going to be thai boxing..omg this was crazy..first they just get random volunteers to fight..the first one was these 2 big guys from the uk i think..it was insane..they were just smashing the shit out of each other.. the second fight was with this canadian and a russian who was double the height of the canadian..the canadian just walked off stage as the second round was starting..we made friends with the russian guy after the fight and he said the canadian guy got soo hurt in the first round that he didnt want a second round and bailed..then it was these 2 chiks from the uk who were best friends..we couldnt believe they were fighting..it was insane..they were beating the crap out of each other..they had smiles on their faces but it was crazy how hard core they were going at each other.. The final fight was between 2 professional thai fighters.. what a difference. These guys knew how to fight.. they kicked the crap out of each other.. one guy got knocked down twice and the other 4 times.. most of the knockdowns were from kicks to the head. Pretty brutal really, but sadly rather entertaining. These guys didnt even wear head gear.. We also suppossedly met the mother of the thai guy that won.. He is like some medalist winner but what got us is that his 'mum' was a white lady.. ohh man we are sure gonna miss thailand!!!
We ended up heading to Tiger Bar after the fights for some free buckets.. pretty cool bar.. We all just ended up dancing all night and having tequilla test tubes haha..we met the owners of the bar who were these arab/britsih guys..pretty funny night really.. We all ventured out wasted aboout 4 am and were all craving some food.. Ian suggested 7 eleven burgers..unfortunately they were out so we settled for pizza.. we ended up back at our rooms like 5 am.. It was storming like crazy when we got back..our roof was seriously about to fly off and our room was leaking everywhere.. We had enough of the place so Dale went out in the morning to find a better place.. Unfortunately he slipped down the stairs and really hurt himself.. He still went to book this amazing room.. A bit pricey - 700bht but it was amazing..had a massive bed, balcony, a/c, tv, dvd and a really nice bathroom.. He also bought me the coolest dresses.. I was very happy so i carried our bags (with Ians help) to the place as dale was hurting really bad.. Ian and vicky came over and we watched dvds all day.. Vicky made the guys watch PS I Love You!!
The weather wasnt that great so we ended up spending quite a bit of time inside watching tv/dvds... We did go out the next night and had a few drinks..and a few more.. some had a few too many.. We went to slinky bar which was pretty cool but full of falangs.. Actually PP was full of falangs considering it is low season. The club was cool.. we stayed there for a while and headed back about 6am..after some amazing burgers! There was some drama this night/morning..probably abit too hard core to write in the blog..needless to say it was a really cool night..hours of dancing and just mingling..
We were all hurting the next day so we just chilled in our room again.. Vicky again made the guys watch another dvd..this time it was twilight haha.. Vicky is obsessed with the books and the movie was a let down for her.. We got take in and just chilled out.. The weather was still no good.. Vicky and Ian headed to Phuket.. We stayed on for another 2 days to see more of the islands.. We went to Phi Phi Lee beach which is where 'The Beach' movie was mostly filmed.. What an experience. We hired a longtail boat just for ourselves from Phi Phi Don for 1000bht - our guys name was Mui. It took about 20min to get there.. we went to the other side of Maya Bay and had to jump off the boat as it was to rough to moore the boat against the 'jetty'.. we snorkled for about an hour and saw some amazing fish.. when it was time to go to the beach, we had to swim to some ropes and climb up to a steep wooden ladder, up some rocks.. the main problem was that it was so rough that we were getting washed into the rocks everytime we got close.. Again, something from Survivor and definately not allowed in Oz. Samina eventually got up the ladder but I had to get our bag with camera etc.. I had to carry this above my head while getting washed into rocks which made it interesting. Anyway, we got to the beach and it was amazing apart from the 400 people that were already there not to mention the 20-30 boats. The beach is only 150m long so it was packed. A little disappointing really but the water was amazing. It was crystal clear and aqua blue.. We had a quick swim but had to jump out as more boats were pulling in.. We chilled for about half an hour then headed back to our boat.. Now this was crazy.. Back to trying to get the bag on the boat with out getting it wet.. Another massive tourist boat had pulled up with about 100 people trying to get up this tiny ladder that we are under.. The waves were hard and people were pushing everyone.. After waiting for 20 mins Dale took charge and managed to somehow get the bag on the boat and come back for me..I have no idea how he did it.. He's soo pro in the water.. He came back and got me and off we were again.. Mui took us for a tour through the lagooon and to the Viking Caves. He also took us to the other beaches on Phi Phi for free.. The beaches were amazing...It was an awesome experience.. Hiring the boat for ourselves made things soo much cooler.. We had the best time.. We headed back to our room and pretty much straight onto another boat for Phuket.. Ian and Vicky came to pick us up and took us to their hotel. We ended up in this amazing room with a massive window (which is very rare in Asia) and tv fridge dvd a/c hot water for 500 bht.. After a really long day we decided to go to the cinemas at 10:30 at night to watch the new transformers - and we loved it haha..we all crashed at about 2am..
We got up late as per usual and went for a look around Phuket.. It was ok.. very westernised/touristy but kinda cool. There are loads of shops and a big shopping centre Jung Ceylan.. We ate subway and had coffee.. We went out at night to the markets and had a cheap dinner.. the markets were pretty funny as the ppl were really after your money and literally pulled you into their shops, not to mention the 100 thai chicks sitting at bars grabbing guys to come into their bar.. Its quite freaky really.. We went back to the room and watched movies till 5am!!
I think we woke up at 1pm and went for another walky with Ian and Vicky.. we went and got Subway and chilled on the beach. We had a wicked swim and made a pyramid made of balls of sand.. everyone stopped to look. We had a huge feed of KFC for dinner and went and watched more dvds as we didnt want to drink.. We watched Australia which we thought was quite good considering the bad reviews. Ian and Vicky left the next day heading north so we said our goodbyes in the morning.. which sucked. We went back to bed..actually Samina did and I went and got her Subway (we've been getting sub of the days to save money haha). I must admit, Dales taken the best care of me so far.. He really has.. He will step on the sharp bits of a rock so i can step on his feet and not hurt myself.. He's pretty special like that.. But mind you he can be an absoulte jerk sometimes..
Anyway we left Phuket the next morning at 7am for Penang (North Malaysia). We had a 13 hour bus ride ahead of us.. We survived it ok.. Slept a bit and just laid back as much as we could.. We finally made it to Penang at 10pm and went to find a room.. Every place we went into was filthy.. It made us realise how much easier thailand was and how you got better value for your money in regards to rooms.. We stayed at a place called Love Lane.. Pretty shit actually but cause we were soo tired we just booked it..The rooms were made of plastic and we could hear everything next door..and they just wouldnt shut up..they talked through till like 2 am..it was really annoying.. The hotel owner was nice though..
We have a bit of a change in plans.. We will be heading to India in 2 weeks to sort out the property.. We are getting our visa soon and then heading over after 3 weeks of travel in Malaysia. Anyway this is a crazy long blog so will end it in a sec.. We are really going to miss thailand. We had the best time. We admit it was very relaxing and we are now ready for some hardcore backpacking but still we will truly miss the place.. 2 months is no where near enough.. We still have a month or so in North Thailand so hopefully it will be as good as the South.
Take care and hope you guys read this cause it takes ages to write!!!!!!
Dale and Sem xxx
