next stop!

we finally decided to leave koh lanta, after 11 nights! such a nice town heap of diving, load of expats with businesses, french and german bakers, poms buying bungalows, aussies getting hammered! haha the usual. getting to recognise a few of the over our stay, the night before we left headed to the pub on my own, was a good as night ppl buying me beers chatting meeting new ppl.

of course traveling on a boat n in a cramped van for 3 hours is way to easy, so what do i do, get hammered the night before just to make it interesting! haha waaaaa. trip wasn't to bad part form Jess' bag fell off the top of the van! oops, that's thai style! the driving still makes me uneasy, overtaking whenever, round blind corners, best one was a bus overtaking round a blind corner which happened to be a bridge! nice! HAHA n the scooters with 8 year old driving, whole family's on, mum, dad, 2 kids on the back, a baby, and a toddler stuffed between the drivers legs standing up! o and the food vendors, with hot deep fryers loaded with oil, gas bottles packed to the hilt with food, 3 wheeled scooter! nice n safe! haha

so we're back in krabi now, heap more tourist orientated, staying at good dream backpackers, best part about it, free net! woot and really fast! catching up on a few new albums, new ski movies just out the usual! so i've uploaded a heap of pics on facebook! have a gander, some golden ones!

thought i was in for a bout of food poisoning yesterday, at the markets they have delicious thai satay sticks, cheap as and so epic! but not this one. few bights in and mat n i had a bad feeling bout it so braced ourselves for the next hours entertainment! never came, so relieved! i was dreading staying at a hostel with a shared bathroom and then proceeding to destroy it! ah well wonder what culinary delights await today!?

Big day of firsts!
Still in koh lanta so good here all up 11 nights with a few more to go, epic! Yesterday we hired some bikes, no big, but I thought I’d try a manual for the first time, all good, bit sketch but not going to die, yet. We planned to go for a mission down the island and see a waterfall. On the way saw an English guy I’d met the night before, he hadn’t see much of the island yet so he hopped on the back of my scooter, first time for that as well! Real sketch at the start but I got the hang of it. The road to the waterfall was a mix of streets dirt tracks winding narrow roads n just kept getting worse, with massive ruts and at one point it was so steep Dan had to get off cause we’d topple over backwards. Their roads my old subi might not be able to handle! Not a street scooter with thin as tyres with 2 blokes on it! Haha was funny as but a few hairy moments!
Another first for me was seeing elephants! Woot so huge! We headed in search of the alleged waterfall, via almost getting lost a few times seeing a bat cave on the way, and Dan almost dying! We thought he’d been bitten but turned out to many beers the night before n not enough water, made him wig out, dizzy, tunnel vision, couldn’t see properly! The usual shit! Haha the waterfall was a bit shit but refreshing for a shower, the jungle was the best bit epic plants, huge trees, leaves my arm width across! Was sweet, and the noise, shrieks, buzzing, bugs doing their thing, was so loud! Couldn’t see any animals but prob didn’t want to! Bugs like basketballs the usual jungle caper.
Later that night went back to mong bar, the one with the snakes in bottles! Couldn’t resist! Dans crew came as well all Poms real nice bunch, had a few beers n the rest. Mong the owner came out with the snakes in bottles again n the Poms all had a go “when in rome”. Then cause he knew we had the snakes before he said you have to try this one, “makes you smart” was crushed monkeys brains, in alcohol! no shit! haha so of course I had a go! Bits of bone n junk in my mouth! Ahhh! Took a bit to overcome the idea, but whatever! n the night was only young!
The boys form the bar put on a fire show fire poy and fire staff, was really epic seeing good ppl doing it! Of course I had a go of both! Haha bit nervus n very hot but I didn’t catch myself on fire so happy days! Few more beers n other business, thought it was a good idea to have a go at fire breathing! Never done it so y not! The heat was insane and took me till this morning to get the taste out of my mouth n stop kero burping!!! Haha
N that’s my big day/night! Ask me about it I left some details out, got to leave some good storied for later!

Dam hot!

Dam this place calls for some hectic amounts of lotions, screens, sprays n nets! E.g. get up in the morning put on sunscreen, then bushman’s bug repellent, which is that strong 2 mins after applying I can taste it in my mouth! Rank. Head into the sun more sunscreen; head anywhere that’s not the beach, bug stuff + sunscreen! Even bedtime more bug stuff check! Light citronella candle check! Make sure drink bottle is inside the bug net, check! Get in bug net, check! Fill the bug net with “Instakill, extreme tropical strength, kill everything spray”(napalm), check! And I still wake up bitten!! On top of that cause of all the stuff on my skin + sweat the sheets stick to me n I always wake up rolled tighter that a mykonos kebab! If anyone thinks of something I’ve forgotten please email me!

hey all, my trip in thailand has been so fun, wanted to write t all down! share it as well!

i'll keep it updated when there is net! woot

Phuket

Landed in Phuket was the biggest shock for me, for starters the heat was like a punch in the face and a wet one at that bout 30 deg, night and humidity to boot. The culture was next shock with about 30 Thai blokes yelling at us “took took” where you go? Taxi? You pay? All at the same time, ahhh! Hasn’t really stopped with varying degrease of harshness. Rolled into Phuket town at night on the way to the backpackers, biggest blow out with scooters bikes n cars flying about in a messy dodgem game with no rules. Even the red n green lights have countdown timers so you can speed up from ages away so you can shoot through at the last second. Fun only if you’re driving!
In Phuket town staying at a backpackers pretty basic but the air con was lush even though the unit was the size of a mini van, sounded like a waterfall and I slept within a foot of it, Bit it was cold so all good. Session a few day markets an early morning one where the restaurant owners shop was interesting as, heap of produce, piles of fish, spices and pastes, which smelled awesome! Thai pancakes, which are really thin dough with sugar and condensed milk wrapped in paper, at 20 THB, bout 60c can’t go wrong.
Travelled about Phuket n onto the coast where we found ourselves (like many times in the last few days) drinking 6.5% beer which usually come s in a longneck ad costs about 3$, before midday! Haha bit jetlagged still! Harassed about on the beach drinking and getting burnt as. Fun as!

Phi Phi

Early buss trip in a cramped as mini buss dropped us at a port where a ferry was to take us to phi phi, along with 100+ Indian men all taking enough still images if edited together would make a high def video of the whole boat ride. Not really sure why but some of them started taking pics of matt jess n I! Prob cause we were still white as with patched of red burnt skin! Now that I think of it prob looked like a magic mushroom! Hahaha
The boat took us past the back of phi phi n around to “The Beach” bout a million boats crowded around looked epic but decided to give it a miss, good thing to cause the best was still to come.
We had arranged via some ppl selling accommodation on the boat (cause we hadn’t organize anything at this stage, hehe) to stay a few beaches away from the main beach, such a good choice, we burned up to thin place with shanty bamboo huts, with Rastafarian flags flying, to the friendliest ppl. I was wondering at this stage y everything was looking a bit run down and ppl frantically building things n cleaning. We’ve arrived in Thailand at the start of the busy season so there all trying to get things sorted, Thai style! Very slow! Haha was sic as tho, relaxed on the beaches, and went snorkelling to near buy beaches!! Soooo good with like 2 ppl on them! N THE FISH! WOW so amazing, have never see so many types. No wonder mum n dad are advanced divers! I took a heap of shots with my underwater camera but its a bit old n showed it cause it’s now busted! Oops! Got a few good ones tho.
Met a few French boy’s n went into phi phi main town! So hectic, so many tourists from all over! Sic night jumping through fire hoops n skipping ropes on fire wan fun as, o yeah n the local bar ppl giving you shots every time you did! To say the least I did it quite a few times! Tried to learn a bit of French from them but was waster n forgot most of it! Haha.

Krabi
Early start morning, n we’re off to Krabi, not sure if I’m feeling ok or still drunk! Found out bout ten mins into the hour n a half boat ride I was still pissed n was all down hill from there, curled up on the handrail of the boat, asleep for most of it, matt n jess got a few good shots of me as a sleepy pirate! Arrrgzzzzzzzz!
Heap pf locals trying to get us into taxis and buy accommodation awaited us on arrival, spoke to a bloke who was really nice called JP he had cheap rooms on krabi town. Sounded good at the time n ended up being awesome, close as to the locals market where it seemed all the locals were eating, awesome fruits and curries, mainly Muslim area.
Went for beers at a local tattoo place, spoke to the artist there ended up being number one in Thailand! Matt decided to get the tattoo done that he’s always wanted, few beers n shots with the Thai boys, one tattoo and a sing along followed, epic night!

Met bloke who came for a holiday 2 years ago n hasn’t left yet, told us we should head up town to a 10-day festival. Ended up being awesome local music, covers of old school American classics (they love it there). Big blow out with all the stalls selling flick knives butterfly knives swords replica handguns as bb guns! Haha funny

Thought we might hire some scooters for the day so we headed out in search of the hot springs, finally made it with a few navigation issues, hectic Thai traffic, a scooter with no Speedo (not that it matters here). O yeah almost forgot got pulled over by the Thai police!!! Shitting my pants when he asked for my licence so excited getting on my scooter totally forgot!!! Through broken English the cop wanted 300! I was awww no! 300 American!! Had to pay, no arguing with these ppl, so went over to the cop shop on the side of the road n only ended up being 300 bart bout 9$ aus! Few!!! So relieved! Bach on the road n into the jungle. AMASING crystal clear waters and 42deg!!! Wow so hot! Soooo nice, had minerals n some other natural junk in the water, felt good as getting out of the water n feeling cool again, even just or a second!
Waterfalls were next on the list! Burning about this beautiful country on a scooter is so nice, seeing all the farms and local ppl, trucks packed to the hilt, usually of a fruit that smells like S#!T. Saw an elephant, matt n jess saw a snake, Epic shear cliffs and dense as jungle. Found the waterfall along with a million types of bugs, not my favourite, but the water was fresh and the falls spectacular.

Decided to go on an organised long boat snorkelling trip with few other tourists, went to a reef and 3 beaches, apart from the Asians, squealing if a fish the size of your hand came within 10 meters of them. It was awesome, I recon the Vis would have been at least 20m, saw so many types of fish, little ones big ones, meter long barracouta! Eeek! Had to be after my camera broke so no under water pics WAAAAAA! O yeah n we found nemo!!! So epic and perfect in a soft wispy long choral with the whole family bout 5 all up bout 80mm to the baby one bout 15mm, so cute! Went to a place caller Rae lee, has an epic beach but if you’re a climber, or even impressed by the sport this place is amazing with 100+ shear cliffs, caves n countless climbs to do it’s paradise buy this time mat n jesses camera had run out of battery! Dimmitt!!! Heading back on the boat you could see tiny specks on the cliff face ppl climbing such an impressive sight.


Koh Lanta
Headed off from krabi by van and ferry, took about 3 hours but soooo worth it, this place is to be said as the new place to be. Well it will be in a few months, a lot of building going on amping up for summer. Found a place to stay called Lanta beach resort, 200 bart a night, dbl bed with fan and own bathroom! Epic. Came home yesterday to find a woman making my bed! Hahahaha sweet!
The Thai ppl love Rastafarian life and Bob Marley! So many flags flying and a heap of the locals sporting hemp t’s. Went to a bar called Opium! No shit! Haha epic party free bbq, met a heap of ppl form England getting married here, such an epic place to splash out in luxury, well as long as the “magic menu” doesn’t take all your cash!!! Hahaha no shit we followed some painted signs that said mushy shakes on the scooters, took us to an amasing beach bar with blokes whacked as cats. Had a few beers deciding on what to do next….. the owner comes over with a tray of bottles. All with a different snake inside!!!! Sea snake some brown one a small sea snake n some other random snake. He said “for you to try” wow hell yes! they keep the snakes in the bottles for 5 days then fill up with whatever booz, I think it was the local spirit! O yeah n the one we chose also had a scorpion in it as well!!! Can’t remember if leo out of the beach had snake blood or venom! But hey whatever this is Thailand!!! Craziest thing yet……. Hahaha YET

Night out in lanta

Night started with a walk along the beach, relaxed as, no to hectic, flat out doing nothing as usual! Got invited to a party, some xpat hang out where everyone was a dive instructor, master or just arrived for a 6-month holiday WTF! Haha matt n jess left so chatted to some locals friendly as. A Scottish couple just bought a resort here n are doing it up, what a life! Got offered a job at a place about to be opened call jackaroos, not that keen but owner kept buying me beers so what the hell! Hahaha. Got a scooter ride home with some other ppl I just met, 2’s company on a scooter but 3 dodge as hahaha!!!


Been here in koh lanta for a bit now been so nice relaxing, eating from the on street food venters, and pretty much flat out doing bugger all! The food here is amazing! An old lady selling meat balls n snags on a stich covered in chilli sauce, epic at 10 bart! Our favourite place so far is a little place on the street with the best fruit shakes, and noodles, soup n curries! The food here still blows me away, so much flavour n so tasty all the time! The food looks like it’s going to kill you, sitting on the bench all night just waiting for someone to by it, steered away from most places with chicken pre cooked. But we have all been pretty adventurous with what we’ve been eating. No idea what we are ordering but mast of the time lush as.

Matt had a dish the other night in krabi “like no meat I’ve ever tasted!” haha. Same night jess got wailed buy a sneaky green chilly; it bought tears to her eyes for about 10 mins! I’ve never seen anyone react like that to a chilly!