Bucket filled Thai Islands.

So As eager as ever to get away from the Asian Magaluf that is Khoa San Road in Bangkok we left for the eastern Thai island of Koa Tao which 4 hours of arriving from Cambodia. A 8 hour bus ride, 3 hour wait and 3 hour boat ride was all made istantly worth it when we were greated to emerald waters and white beaches lined with Palm trees. We wanted to head away from the action and catch some relaxation  in preparation for the full moon party weekend on the neighbouring island of Ko Phangan. We headed to a small bay on the east of the tiny island (30 mintues to drive anywhere) called Tanote Bay. Now in our travel guide it had very little in way of restaurants,bars,shops so i assumed it was down to the fact there wasnt much to recommend there where as in reality its because there was no shops, bars or restaurants it was just a spotless beach with 4 hotel receptions on the beach front and behind 'bungalows' (shacks) dotted over the hill side. Unbelievably isolated... a little bit of paradise.  However everysingle person was in a couple so that made it look like a romantic getaway for me and Bill , perhaps it was..... Surprisingly after a day of snorkeling the crystal clear waters there wasn't a whole to do. Bill even enquired in a very optimistic attempt if he could send a taxi to the nearest shop to gain a bottle of vodka! PICTURE we quickly relized that perhaps this was too quiet even for ur relaxation time before the full moon so we swifty made our way to the main town on the island the next day.

The idea of having a quiet few days evaded us completely that night and courtesy of a bottle of Uncle Toms miscellaneous clear spirit i don't remember past 11.30 ( it was a cross between vodka and rum and didnt state what it was on the bottle. Bathtub moonshine was my bet.). As a result of our achohol induced coma we missed our 9am boat to Ko Phangan, whoops. Eventually on a boat we were told it was an hours journey but over my time here i have learnt do not trust a thai persons timing. you tkae the time you given and multiple it by three! they must work on a different time scale over here cz its not the one we use! We arrived in Ko Phangan and met up with a group of australian girls we met in Chaing Mai (north thailand) for a Elephant Trekking reuion party!

The town of the full moon party is called Haad Rin and they say that the parties on the beach are better on occasion than the actuall moon and although maybe not better theres barely any difference other than a bit less moon and a few less people. ON our Chaing Mai reunion night there was a foam party on the beach and i now no never to mix sand and foam (not should when i would of anyways..) as it quickly turns into quicksand and ruins and clothing your wearing!

After two nights of Partying the full moon party night came around and it consists of about 15,000 people on 1km streach of beach all drinking cheap wiskey and coke out of multicoloired litre buckets. Theres flaming 2 metre skipping ropes, everysingle kind of music, 15 ft high slides, laughing gas, magic mushroom milk shakes. The whole Place is absolutely crazy. Oh and a truck load of UV paint over everyone! All in all an amazing time!

After threes night of wiskey filled, paint encrusted, beach partying the whole island could not wait to leave. It was amusing to watch everyone scramble on to boat at midday hungover begruding dragging along 20 kilos back packs. Actually it wasn't amusing then as i was one of those people! Defiantly something you look back to and thinks funny! Normally the boast are fully booked for three days after the full moon party as every has had more than there fill of partying!

(A mention should definatly go to two woman we met in Chaing Mai who very kindly  put us up free of charge for our nights on the iisland in a beachfront resort with a pool, jacuzzi and air con! Thank you!)

From Ko Phangan we were heading for PHiPHi the island from the film the Beach. (i implore you to watch for the sole reason of making you extremely jealous) Before we reached there we had a stop over in Krabi, a town with nothing to offer for story purposes other than this. I went to buy some shower gel and picked up the nearest bottle (/cheapest) came back and showered and squirted it into my hand only to find out it was moisturiser. On closer inspection it was actually whitening lotion. Now if theres a person who doesn't need whiteneing lotions its 100% me. It fasionable in south east asia to be pale and funny opposite to the scores of orange umpa lumpa girls you see on a night out back home.

After THe full moon party our fiancal resources were depeleting and a strict budget has now come into to place for our remaing time in thailand ( 8 days). I've complainign bitterly about it - i travel the world and still find something to comaplain about! Its not hard at all to stick to our 20 pound a day budget until you factor in alcohol haha. So we've obviously comprimised on eating so we can save our drinking habits!

Phi Phi wasnt the relaxtion paradise we envised as its amazing filled with British people ( who we avoid like the plague) It just party party party all over again which isn't awful by any means by were getting tired and my hangovers are horrendous. We did however goin on a tours of teh bays and did some snorkelling which was prety epic as there was fish everywhere and swimming into your googgles to the point where i got fish claustrophia! We then went to the famous Maya Bay (Google it ) Me and bill bunked in on a tours free buffet lunch yday and today didnt get charged at the restaurant as the waitor forgot, and we certainly werent going to remind him!! More money for cheap wiskey buckets right!

Thats all i got for now and im partied out.

Thailand & Cambodia.

Of course your dieing with excitement to hear about Thailand but first before divulging those exciting tales there's a few things I've previously forgotten to mention. Firstly, for those who know Bill will also know of his vast collection of about 15-20 bracelets on both arms, some are more classy than others, I'm pretty sure ones made from the plastic ties from a joint of pork. Anyway in the eyes of India it turns out Bills a bit of a stud as the bracelets in India signify a gift from a sexual conquest, so there was a whole torrent of comments from tour guides, hotel owners and rickshaw drivers congratulating Bill on his talent in getting the opposite sex into bed, Bill wishes. And also we went white water rafting in Nepal and in horrific monsoon rains which caused a landslide which in turn took a lorry over the cliff top road in the river behind us. The river swept the lorry and its contents (packets of dried noodles) past us down the river just minutes after we came shore. I turned and said to Bill that i hope the driver got out before the lorry was swept in, in contrast a group of Nepalese girls in front of us were cursing the loss of 'good noodles' to the river.

Anyways back to the more recent From Nepal we flew to bangkok but via singapore so we had 12 hours to kill in singapore airport between flights. Not greatly looking forward to the wait we asked a australian couple in front of us and our excitement for the wait was no hieghtened for the response of its ok i guess. However on a arrival the airport was a sensory overload. The airport had several indoor gardens ranging from a ferns orchids and sunflowers complete with koi karp ponds,free cinema, a gym,free television, and about 30 diffferent restaurants, needless to say the 12 hours flew and i got to watch the David Haye fight so that was a bonus.

We had been heavily recommend by other travellers in Nepal to stay on a road in Bangkok call Khoa San road so we headed there on arrival into Bangkok. Now after Nepal this road seemed Chaotic and worse of all tacky as hell. Its a road that is lined with useless trinekts, fake t-shirts and happy hour bars. It in essence is the asian cousin of a Magaluf. It sounds a tad hypocritical as im well known for like a drink or ten but this was not what i had in mind when i traveled half way around the world. So we escaped the hordes of English drunks for something somewhat more traditional a city in the north called Chang-Mai. Chaing Mai was exactly what we were after it was a quieter than Bangkok and filled with other backpackers not people on a drinking tour of Bangkok.we went and watched some traditional Muay Thai boxing fights which akwardly had Ladyboy bouncers on the door which was a special sight!  And then are other two days were spent on a jungle trek to an elephant camp, where you got to ride the elephants and feed them at night you slept in an open air hut with mosquito nets so that was pretty cool experience. The second day was rather wet as it was filled with yet more white water rafting and a visit to a 20ft waterfall which doubled up as a rather painful slide into the plungepool below. We left that night at 7pm on a 12 hour sleeper bus back to Bangkok and in our eagerness to avoid Khoa San road we were on a bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia but 8am the next day. The reason for the 3day visit to Cambodia was to see our last temple of the trip ( i hope! After India,Nepal and Bangkok I had a severe case of Temple overload fever) so we though we'd finish on a high as Angkor Wat is one of wonder of the world it was also we wanted to see where tomb raider was set. After the disappoint of Sunrise at the Taj Mahal we were up and in a tuk-tuk at 04.30am to see Angkor Wat illuminated in the suns early morning glow only to find it was so overcast there was no sunrise just more of a gradually lightening which you were blissfully unaware of so before we knew it was daylight and we'd see no sun. Yet again I'd some how been tricked by the sun. Angkor Wat is one main temple surrounded in a vast wooded areas of about 70 other temples ( i could the temple fever edging its way in again after noon) but at least unlike all the domed roofs of Indian temples and all thee gold dragons in Thailand they were more rustic and unique, with trees growing through the walls and decrepit ruins which made it interesting. As mentioned one of the temples was used in one Tomb Raider films so the day was spent eagerly anticipating this temple only to find neither me, Bill or our two new Portuguese Friends we were temple hopping with could even remember a single scene from the film, so our excitement was somewhat ebbing away after the 20th question of do you recognize this building. After our 4am we made it home by 3pm (eleven hours of temple fever) pleased with the knowledge there would be no more temples and there was a bed waiting for us (Bill nearly fell out the tuk tuk asleep on the way home, only to save his balance last minute.)

And that takes up today which has been spent recusing Bill's Ipod from death. On just the second day both my Iphone and Bills Ipod were wiped out as a bottle of Beer Exploded in my bag leaving a two inch pool of beer at the bottom so up till now has been musicless. This was the first chance to repair it as in India you were lucky to have electricity letalone a shop capable of fixing Ipod. Luckily saving myself 150 quid Bill ipod was repairable for 15 dollars and they gave him new music far better than his old music collection (which to be fair wasn't hard, some of the highlights were Pink and Justin Bieber) and were now currently waiting for a night bus back to Bangkok as were Prepare or our assault on the Southern Islands and the Infamous Full Moon Party ( and i was complaining about hordes of English drinking excessively in Bangkok right, Definite hypocrite, HA!)

Peace! 




(photos will follow however the camera lead is behind the hotel reception and buried deep within my bag, cocooned even, and i can't be bothered to make the effort for you lot just yet :p)

Nepal - Pokhara & Kathmandu.

So yer it was left as we'd been to Lumbini, which is still near the indian boarder, and after our day of sunburn and a overload of temples on a cycle tour we had in mind a visit to Nepals Second city, Pokhara.

We boarded a local bus and got the last two tickets on the bus, what a result we thought... there was a reason there hadnt been taken up. The space in which our seats sat at the front of the bus wasnt really enough room for me alone (something i've come to relize travelling around nepal and india now is the seats are not designsed for people over 5'8, Bills in his element, he finely average size, its also just as well he doesnt read my blogs otherwise i fear i'd get an earful. Anyway ive digressed).

The monsoon season was none exsistent in India, in Nepal not so much, it rains for hours at a time and can lead to landslides, so theres two ways to pokhara over the mountains ( 7 hours ) or the long way (13 hours). After hearing four buses went over the edge last month we opted for the extra five hours of torture. It weird with me and bill seating arrangement its just a given that he gets the window these days which steams from me needing the aisle space for my lanky extremities but on india buses at the front that doesnt count as i cant stretch my legs as theyd be in the lap of the driver. Regardless we take our usual positions after an hour the monsoon hits and the shitty locals bus shows it true colours and the windows start to leak, causing Bill 13 hour of chinese water torture form the window frame. Also there was a cut out hole in the front of the bus so they could fill the window fluid, it meant we could see the tyre, which in turn meant water being flicked and gushed through the hole, it was in truth a superb bus ride.

So we arrive in Pokhara happy to be there after a monster journey, we decide the natural thing to do is some boating. Pokahra is situated in between rolling hills, bordering a valley type sceranio and the whole town is on the lakeside, so we rowed to a temple in the middle of the lake and then went to see a waterfall called Devi falls which we were informed was named as just because a swiss tourist, called David had fallen over the side into the abyss below and dragged his girlfriend. If thats true RIP but it sounds like utter bullshit. From there we TREKKED up to the summit of a hill to view the peace pagoda. Now i fort i was in decent shape i dont know whether i was kidding myself or it was heat ( i know which one i prefer) the 3 KM uphill walk absolutely destroyed and reaching the summit was an achievement in my eyes! However upon reaching the top it was well worth the effort as the views were absoltuely stunning. The eveing was finished in style with a 3 inch thick steak for the grand total of 3 pound and i needed the calories after the hike!

View from the peace pagoda

We left for Kathmandu the next day and over the next couple of days (thursday-sunday) we met a lot of other travellers which was nice as they'd been pretty thin before Kathmandu but i hear travellers are like buses! *cringe at the poor attempt at a joke* Whilst in Kathumandu we stayed in a budget hostel the first night in view to switch after however in the district we was staying in,Thamel (think the crowds and narrowness of china town but nepalse and tibetan food), it was the cheapest thing by a long way so we stayed the whole stretch at hotel Potalla. Nepal after India was so relaxing and such a contrast, one that was most welcome in fact, we were barely hassled and with fellow english faces and alcohol about it proved a massive contrast.

The sights in Kathumandu were pretty special with a hill top temple named swayambunath being patrolled but at least a gang of fifty monkey. Also we visited Bodha, one of the most buddiest places in the world, where the tibetan exile monks roamed round the stumpa ( look at the pictue the big thing and always work clockwise round the stupa remember!) in there marron and yellow robes, so that was pretty special to see but it was not as astounding as the next sight we visted, Pashupitnath. Its divied in two the temple for Nepalese Hindu followers and the surrounding grounds for everyone else. High on his sun tan and Jacks (Billys dad) origins he was outraged he was turned away from the Hindu temple, i didnt like to point out the obvious fact he's not religious let alone a Hindu. The most astounding and interesting fact of this holy place occurs ont he banks of the river that flows through the middle of the holy ground. Families take and burn the bodies on roaring fires overlook the river of pasted on loved ones and then sweep the ashes into the river as a form of releasing them in tune with the elements (fire,water...). This all occurs within the view of of tourist and locals and people selling horrendous wooden statues. Along way away from the private idea of a english send off but obviously different cultures. Overall Nepal was a delight and if i can i will try my hardest to visit again and perhaps even attempt a everest base camp trek!

The Stupa In Bodha

The beginning of the cremation process