The Thailand Tour: The Islands

Hopped off our plane in Bangkok Thursday evening, toured around the next day only to head off down to the south on an overnight bus that night. This was only the first of many nights in transit.. why pay for hostels and accommodation when you can "sleep" while you're on the move around the country?

Out of the 14 nights we spent in the country: two were on a bus, two were on a train, two were in the jungle, and one was on a ferry aaaand to top that all off the plane ride home was also through the night... so I guess its safe to say that sleeping was anything but restful luxury, or priority.

Phuket

Our first overnight bus brought us to Phuket. Rather than staying in the crowded tourist areas we opted for a cute little hostel in the heart of old Phuket Town that ensured us a good night sleep for the next two nights.

Daytime included shopping around the markets and clothing stores in Phuket Town and also heading up to Karon Beach where we did the same thing... with the addition of swimming, rolling in the sand, and getting our feet cleaned by fish!

Nighttime included a trip to Patong Beach... where we were convinced: to participate in street magic tricks, to observe a ping pong show (which we may never be the same after), and that our hostel in quiet Phuket Town was the most ideal place to stay if you wanted to sleep at night.

Koh Phi Phi

With no more than just a day long speed boat tour away from Phuket we were able to take in the beauty that these little Thai islands have to offer. Stops en route included: Maya Bay where we snorkelled in the same waters where Leo DiCaprio filmed the movie "The Beach", The Viking Cave, Monkey Beach where we discovered that monkeys do like bananas, and Koh Khai where we discovered that fish also like bananas and become quite aggressive once they've gotten a bit of sugar in their tummies.

It just wouldn't have been quite the same without our tour guide who claimed that the monkeys are his cousins and brothers... although he spent his spare time listening and singing along to Katy Perry on his iPhone I couldn't help starting to believe his monkey claims after he introduced himself as King Kong, and used a monkey call to summon us to gather as a group.

Koh Pha Ngan

The one night we planned our entire trip around was approaching. The night we were to party under the full moon.

Now, how did we get there? ...an overnight ferry boat cargo ship that chugged along at about 5km/h and was loaded with eggs, bottled water, various vegetables, close to a hundred tourists, a kitten, and as we were to find out at 6:00 a.m... a rooster. On each ticket you are assigned a "bed" number on the full floor coverage mattress that allotted you about 40cm to yourself, leaving you squished shoulder to shoulder with a stranger.

Anyways... didn't realize there was a rooster on board until we heard the cock-a-doodle-doo at 6:00a.m as we docked in the pier of Koh Pha Ngan. We checked into our resort and killed time on Haad Yao Beach and by the pool while we waited for the moon to come up...

An included buffet breakfast feast at the resort in the morning was just what we needed before the long journey ahead of us. A 3.5 hour ferry back to the mainland, an hour bus ride to the train station, and an overnight train later... we were back in Bangkok for the day... then another overnight train and Chiang Mai here we come!

Sincerely,
THAI

The Thailand Tour: The Big City

Home from the Grampians, out for Amy's birthday, jet off to Thailand... this all occured within about 15 hours and then 10 hours later I was landed in Bangkok!

Bangkok

We spent a grand total of 3 days in the city of Bangkok within the two week span of our trip. We landed there, pit-stopped there between trains from the Islands to Chiang Mai, and then flew back out of there at the end.

Here is the low down for March 22, March 28, and April 4:

Rules of the road: N/A.

- If you're in a car the rules are more difficult to avoid because your vehicle is too large for the ridiculously packed streets but traffic lights might as well be Christmas decorations.

- If you're in a Tuk Tuk you can drive on either side of the road, regardless of the direction the traffic is flowing.

- If you're on a scooter or motorbike you absolutely never have to stop, and you are able to constantly weave in and around anywhere you want whenever you want.

- If you're a pedestrian... you have absolutely never have the right of way and you pretty much have to pray someone slows down or stops for you as you step out into the mayhem to cross the street.

As we were to find out later that the 10฿ each Tuk Tuk tour ride that we were sold on is one of the biggest scams you can come across in this city... but we thoroughly enjoyed our little tour!

 Buddhist temples may have some of the most beautiful decor you could come by. Sparkling gold and coloured mosiacs on roofs and gold painted molding on doors and entry ways. We explored the grounds of the Grand Palace and Wat Pho where we saw a spectacular reclined Buddha.

Whether it be at the enormous Siam Shopping Centre, markets in squares, on the streets, or floating on canals you can buy anything from fresh fruit to knock-off designer anything to a $2.50 eyebrow threading session...

I got a taste of pretty much everything Bangkok had to offer in the short amount of time we spent there in between destinations. We only slept there one night so we didn't hit up the night life on Khao San Road but I got a nice feel of the extremely touristy street on my last day there where I grabbed some lunch before my flight home.

Keep checking back in, I'll be doing a post for every place we went! 

Sincerely,
THAI

Good On Ya, Grampians!

feet are back on the ground, for now.

So, we're back from a Sunday to Wednesday extreme camping trip to the Grampians National Park! Lead by the "Outdoor Guru" who is actually the most amazing, informative, knowledgeable, active, intense, nice, jokes, everything good you can think of 60 year old man who knows this rock scape like the back of his hand, and an actual pirate.

So camping, right? Easy, peasy. Until they tell us that they don't use tents. This is what we slept in... and yeah it does get cold in Australia... two pairs of leggings, sweatpants, t-shirt, two sweaters, two pairs of socks on my feet and one on my hands, scarf, headband, sleeping bag completely covering my face, spoon train. We survived somehow...

So other than sleeping outside, we climbed, abseiled, belayed and lowered each other up and down cilffs from 20 to 42 metres high and climbed walls from grade 5 to grade 18 levels (by Australian standards) ...if that means anything to anyone!

I'm running short on time so here are some pictures to get a bit of a feel of what we did!

 Just so you know.. this is school. This was a field lab for practical evaluation for our Theory and Application of Rock Climbing class. It was probably the coolest thing I've done thus far and the people in our class are all really cool too. I also think my calling might be rock climbing and after our next "field lab" I might have to start getting serious about this sport....

Anyways, it was a great week and a reallly great experience although I'm so pooped I feel like a bus ran over me. I'm off the rocks for now and back on the ground at home to get a couple short hours of sleep because in the morning I'll be back off in the air on my way to Thailand until April 5!

Sincerely,
AUS