We're in Au Nang and we like it here but we miss you!
We were tired, bruised and scracthed after our diving course so its great to be somewhere nice where we can chill and recover. The course was intense. 3 days of busy physical activity and we had to learn a book for a written diving exam. It felt strange to get our heads down and learn stuff but rewarding to acheive something on our trip. Think Rachel found the written stuff easier than me, she was coaching me some of the time. She is like Aqua Marina. Diving was great. It felt awesome to be under the water and to see things in real life that you normally only see on the telly or in aquariums. We saw Nemos and loads of other pretty fish i don't know the names of. I'm clearly one of those heavy breathers as i spent my air very quickly underwater which ended our dives prematurely which was a bit frustrating for us both. (I blame my asthma.)
Our instructor was great, although he talked too much. We treated hem to some beers after the course and he could not stop talking about himself!
We have finally found a room on Koh Pha Ngan which was difficult as the whole island gets busy at Full Moon time for the parties. Its our next destination in Thailand and we are looking forward to some Full Mooning on the beach on Monday.
Rachel is still tasty meat for the mozzies.
We had our first Thai massage yesterday which was nice but a little painful. My masseur (not a ladyboy) stretched me so i feel a little bit taller. She also said i needed a pedicure so i guess i should trim my toenails.
Today we are going to catch a quick boat to Railey. The beach and cliffs are supposed to be beautiful there. (Riley has also got some beautiful features)
We will take some piccies!
p.s. Congratulations to Debbie and Eyob on their new baby. More fantastic news!
Wednesday, 28 March 2007
Sunday, 25 March 2007
I Wanna Ko Phi Phi (Yeah You Know Me)
Congratulations to all the beautiful new babies in Linden! Nice one Becki and Kate.
And Congrats also to Julian and Kristina on their good news! Fantastic. (I think 'Jared' is a nice name for a boy.)
...we arrived in Phuket on Thursday and eventually found a room in a guesthouse. (The original hostel we wanted to stay in was unmanned, insecure and like a ghost town) It was a good guest house. Nice and cheap and to our surprise they cleaned our room everyday which made us feel guilty as our stuff was everywhere. It was a little strange as it felt like our Mum's had been in and worked their magic. The place was spotless and all our stuff was piled very neatly.
We enjoyed one day on the beach but left soonish as there was not much to stay for. It was very busy and over developed. Another place that felt more like Spain than Thailand.
We are now in Koh Phi Phi and it is backpacker central, but we like it. The food is great (and cheap) and the beaches and cliffs are beautifu. Today we started a PADI diving course which will take 3 days in total. It was great! The morning was all theory based watching cheesy DVDs. (a bit boring, our heads ached!) The afternoon was awesome as we practiced various diving skills in the sea. We did a few underwater swims and saw some fish including a Nemo! Tomorrow we go out in a boat, do 2 more longer dives and have more theory in the afternoon. Can't wait! (Can wait fir the theory) It feels good to be learning something new on our trip and trying new things. Just call me Hasselhoff and Rachel, Pammy.
Families here are still recovering from the Tsunami. Apparently 2 waves hit from 2 sides and caused a load of damage. People are still rebuilding their homes and businesses, but tourism here is booming. We've seen some of the homes here and families are living on building sites, rebuilding their homes around themselves. I think it must take ages as everything needs to be brought in by boat because Koh Phi Phi are 2 islands. (The other one is protected and can only be visited by boat, there is no accomdation and it is where 'The Beach' was filmed)
And Congrats also to Julian and Kristina on their good news! Fantastic. (I think 'Jared' is a nice name for a boy.)
...we arrived in Phuket on Thursday and eventually found a room in a guesthouse. (The original hostel we wanted to stay in was unmanned, insecure and like a ghost town) It was a good guest house. Nice and cheap and to our surprise they cleaned our room everyday which made us feel guilty as our stuff was everywhere. It was a little strange as it felt like our Mum's had been in and worked their magic. The place was spotless and all our stuff was piled very neatly.
We enjoyed one day on the beach but left soonish as there was not much to stay for. It was very busy and over developed. Another place that felt more like Spain than Thailand.
We are now in Koh Phi Phi and it is backpacker central, but we like it. The food is great (and cheap) and the beaches and cliffs are beautifu. Today we started a PADI diving course which will take 3 days in total. It was great! The morning was all theory based watching cheesy DVDs. (a bit boring, our heads ached!) The afternoon was awesome as we practiced various diving skills in the sea. We did a few underwater swims and saw some fish including a Nemo! Tomorrow we go out in a boat, do 2 more longer dives and have more theory in the afternoon. Can't wait! (Can wait fir the theory) It feels good to be learning something new on our trip and trying new things. Just call me Hasselhoff and Rachel, Pammy.
Families here are still recovering from the Tsunami. Apparently 2 waves hit from 2 sides and caused a load of damage. People are still rebuilding their homes and businesses, but tourism here is booming. We've seen some of the homes here and families are living on building sites, rebuilding their homes around themselves. I think it must take ages as everything needs to be brought in by boat because Koh Phi Phi are 2 islands. (The other one is protected and can only be visited by boat, there is no accomdation and it is where 'The Beach' was filmed)
Monday, 19 March 2007
As Requested...
big spiders
tea
more tea
a plant that eats insects
more tea
Langkawi Cable Car Ride
Kickapoo Joy Juice (tastes like sweet lemonade)
The Petronas Towers, Kuala LumpaFriday, 16 March 2007
More injuries...
More sunburn. Our white bits are slowly disappearing.
More mozzie bites. We may resort to walking around in spaceman suits.
More clumsy injuries. I managed to slice my sole on coral whilst bathing in Langkawi, i bruised one toe playing football on the beach with loads of Malaysians, (vests and skins, they all had they're shorts up towards they're nipples Grandad style) and i bruised another toe on my other foot by dropping a full beer can on it. Owch!
We enjoyed Langkawi though. Met loads of nice backpackers and generally lolled about with them all day. Found some beautiful beaches, hired another moped, (no bribes this time) bathed in a breathtaking freshwater lake where according to myth, female fertility is blessed (cue loads of pregnancy comments from you lot) and we both got a bit scared on a cable car ride that went 800 M above sea level. Beer was so cheap. We bought 8 cans of Tiger for 2 pounds at one Duty Free Shop.
We also tried a fruit called Durian (Malaysians worship them) which is banned in most hotels, trains and taxis cos it mings. It tastes pretty bad too, like cheese and onion crisps.
Off to Cameron Highlands tomorrow for some hiking, strawberries and tea. We're staying in a place called the 'Father's Guesthouse.' Sounds a bit Catholic so i'm getting my 'Hail Mary's' ready for Confession.
Will promise to post some new photos soon when i have more time.
More mozzie bites. We may resort to walking around in spaceman suits.
More clumsy injuries. I managed to slice my sole on coral whilst bathing in Langkawi, i bruised one toe playing football on the beach with loads of Malaysians, (vests and skins, they all had they're shorts up towards they're nipples Grandad style) and i bruised another toe on my other foot by dropping a full beer can on it. Owch!
We enjoyed Langkawi though. Met loads of nice backpackers and generally lolled about with them all day. Found some beautiful beaches, hired another moped, (no bribes this time) bathed in a breathtaking freshwater lake where according to myth, female fertility is blessed (cue loads of pregnancy comments from you lot) and we both got a bit scared on a cable car ride that went 800 M above sea level. Beer was so cheap. We bought 8 cans of Tiger for 2 pounds at one Duty Free Shop.
We also tried a fruit called Durian (Malaysians worship them) which is banned in most hotels, trains and taxis cos it mings. It tastes pretty bad too, like cheese and onion crisps.
Off to Cameron Highlands tomorrow for some hiking, strawberries and tea. We're staying in a place called the 'Father's Guesthouse.' Sounds a bit Catholic so i'm getting my 'Hail Mary's' ready for Confession.
Will promise to post some new photos soon when i have more time.
Saturday, 10 March 2007
Penanging Around...
We're in the Island of Penang now in Malaysia. It's a little strange ole place. It's quite charming though. It seems like we have stepped back 40 years. (Thats the sort of thing my dad would say!) Lots of old colonial houses, messy streets, funny smells, seedy back lanes. The people all seem to be particularly friendly and helpful. Our hostel here is great and thats importrant because we are finding out that we need a good base to come back too. Most hostels are grim. This one is comfy, brand new and clean. We were the first people to use the room, the bed was still wrapped in plastic. Last night, we saw our first lady boys and ladies of the night. I'm sure we'll see a few more of them on our travels towards Bangkok.
We went up a hill today on a cable car and visited the largest buddhist temple in Malaysia. It was massive but we had to struggle through a busy, narrow and sweltering hot market to get to it. We're off to a tropical fruit farm and maybe also a beach tomorrow. Then more beaches next week in Langkawi (sounds Welsh doesn't it?) before we go hiking through jungle, tea plantations and strawberry fields in the Cameron Highlands. It should be a good few weeks.
Rachel is slowly being eaten away by hungry mosquitos who seem to have a taste for her flesh. We have bought another load of spray to deter the little blighters. She had another bout of Delhi Belly yesterday but is better today. And she broke the record for going to the toilet the most times in one day.
We are both doing well at the moment, life on the road is a bit hectic with lots to plan and think about but we're looking forward to it and looking forward to seeing Billy, Rachel Brown and Wendy on our travels in the next few weeks.
My rucksack is slowly rotting away but its holding itself together at the moment, wonder how long it will last? (Sorry Leon, Virgin Airways broke it initally and now its getting worse and worse) The string and masking tape help!
Stay close!
We went up a hill today on a cable car and visited the largest buddhist temple in Malaysia. It was massive but we had to struggle through a busy, narrow and sweltering hot market to get to it. We're off to a tropical fruit farm and maybe also a beach tomorrow. Then more beaches next week in Langkawi (sounds Welsh doesn't it?) before we go hiking through jungle, tea plantations and strawberry fields in the Cameron Highlands. It should be a good few weeks.
Rachel is slowly being eaten away by hungry mosquitos who seem to have a taste for her flesh. We have bought another load of spray to deter the little blighters. She had another bout of Delhi Belly yesterday but is better today. And she broke the record for going to the toilet the most times in one day.
We are both doing well at the moment, life on the road is a bit hectic with lots to plan and think about but we're looking forward to it and looking forward to seeing Billy, Rachel Brown and Wendy on our travels in the next few weeks.
My rucksack is slowly rotting away but its holding itself together at the moment, wonder how long it will last? (Sorry Leon, Virgin Airways broke it initally and now its getting worse and worse) The string and masking tape help!
Stay close!
Sunday, 4 March 2007
Moving On
Well we are leaving Singapore today and catching the train to Kuala Lumpur. We have enjoyed our week here, the highlights being the amazing Singapore Zoo (theres almost no cages and many of the animals are free roaming, we were walking down a path and a kangaroo hopped past! and there are monkeys everywhere!) and the Chinese New Year celebrations running all week providing free music and entertainment that ended last night with an enormous fireworks display over the river! Apparently Jared is the year of the horse and I (rachel) am the year of the dog! read into that what you will!!
Jared also walked into a group of Buddist monks in a museum the other day, he trod on one of their feet! thankfully they laughed about it!! We have seriously enjoyed the food here. Every type of Asian cuisine is here, but we mainly enjoyed the chinese food, wanting to save ourselves for Malaysian and Thai cuisine when we are in those countries. It puts british chinese take aways in their place, you can get fish head soup and frogs legs porridge, we werent brave enough for these though.
Thanks for all your comments, we have now worked out how to put photos on, so there should be plenty more in future. Tim Brown- a contact in NZ would be lovely if you dont think they would mind?
Good luck to all the soon to be mums, cant wait to see all those new faces. Perhaps we could see some photos when the time comes?
Jared also walked into a group of Buddist monks in a museum the other day, he trod on one of their feet! thankfully they laughed about it!! We have seriously enjoyed the food here. Every type of Asian cuisine is here, but we mainly enjoyed the chinese food, wanting to save ourselves for Malaysian and Thai cuisine when we are in those countries. It puts british chinese take aways in their place, you can get fish head soup and frogs legs porridge, we werent brave enough for these though.
Thanks for all your comments, we have now worked out how to put photos on, so there should be plenty more in future. Tim Brown- a contact in NZ would be lovely if you dont think they would mind?
Good luck to all the soon to be mums, cant wait to see all those new faces. Perhaps we could see some photos when the time comes?
Thursday, 1 March 2007
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