Hey there,
Well, i'm in Koh Tau and so far i have been out for 3 dives. On the third i panicked a bit when i lost my air nozzle and breathed in a lung full of seawater. The instructor got it back for me and managed to calm me down, after that it was the best dive yet. I should be okay getting my padi licence but i'm not sure if i'm going to be the diving type. Todays dive was to 12m, tomorrow we leave at 6:30am and go for two dives at 18m. That is our limit as an open water diver. It's amazing though, and the fish aren't fussed at all about you being there. One of them kept nibbling at a cut on my leg.
I should be okay tomorrow, it was just today i had a real sick belly and was a bit dizzy. I'm glad i went in though, because my tum felt better underwater. I am pretty much okay now, just a bit worn out. I will go for an afternoon nap.
Not sure if you've heard of the social unrest in Bangkok. Don't worry about it, apparently we should be okay and the airport has been re-opened again. The fuss is over ANOTHER corrupt Prime Minister. It's crazy how often they get through them. I think Thailand became a democracy too soon and would be better off a communist country. The one way it will impact us is that the trains are on strike so we will have to go by bus. The bus is shorter but it's uncomfortable. It's going to be a rough journey.
Either way, don't worry about me, i will survive and am safely having a great time.
take care
-Aidan
Koh Tau was pretty much 4 days of being sick and diving... but loving it.
The resort we stayed in was really comfortable and the diving was amazing. Although i messed up a few things (see above) i got to see sooo many cool fish. The water was warm and ridiculously clear.
Hmm, to be honest not much happened. I was sick.
So back to bangkok for one night and spent a great evening with Tanya and Cat. It was sad to see them go, but i will get to visit them in Britain.
Speaking of Britain, i'm heading there next.
Standby please
So, that was my rollercoaster trip through Northern and Southern Thailand. I really recommend going but i wouldn't stay in Bangkok for long. go North AND South they are both very different but both very beautiful. Thailand was also one of the easiest Asian countries to travel through (after Malaysia) so if it's your first trip out.. go there.
I'm going to take a break, and will try to post the next series of posts (regarding the UK) very soon. Maybe even by tomorrow, who knows (not me)
Monday 27 October 2008
Koh Samui You're so kewl
We said goodbye to our friends in the other group and headed off to Koh Samui by boat.
Koh Samui is basically like Club Med. I've never been to Club med but i assume it's much the same. :P Yeah i'm getting sick of blogging for one day (this may be my last for today)
It was Jen's birthday and we went to a beach club. It was one of the best nights i had in Thailand. The music was actually really decent, the food was great and buckets of vodka were drank.
Big Thai beach parties are wicked. Though there are a lot of poor kids around coming in and trying to sell you stuff. You feel bad but then you quickly get annoyed. :P
Hmm, not sure what else to say. Oh yeah, we released this giant paper kite with a candle inside. It's meant to bring your wishes closer to heaven or something.
I also saw a boa constrictor, a giant iguana and a baby gibbon in the club. Stolen from the wild :(
Awesome night though :)
Woo :D
The next day or two we left for Koh Tau. Where we were to spend 4 days.
:)
Oh yeah, i also didn't take any pics on Koh Tau so the next post might not be that interesting. Sorry bout that.
Koh Samui is basically like Club Med. I've never been to Club med but i assume it's much the same. :P Yeah i'm getting sick of blogging for one day (this may be my last for today)
It was Jen's birthday and we went to a beach club. It was one of the best nights i had in Thailand. The music was actually really decent, the food was great and buckets of vodka were drank.
Big Thai beach parties are wicked. Though there are a lot of poor kids around coming in and trying to sell you stuff. You feel bad but then you quickly get annoyed. :P
Hmm, not sure what else to say. Oh yeah, we released this giant paper kite with a candle inside. It's meant to bring your wishes closer to heaven or something.
I also saw a boa constrictor, a giant iguana and a baby gibbon in the club. Stolen from the wild :(
Awesome night though :)
Woo :D
The next day or two we left for Koh Tau. Where we were to spend 4 days.
:)
Oh yeah, i also didn't take any pics on Koh Tau so the next post might not be that interesting. Sorry bout that.
Going South, in Thailand
We took the night train to Koh Sok National Park in the South, it was pretty good if you didn't mind cockroaches (which i don't) or if you don't enjoy sleeping.
Then a bus trip to the hotel
Nah, it was all good and any problems were made up by the fact that Koh Sok is beautiful. Our hotel/cabins were situated next to a big river and was shadowed by a giant limestone mountain (karst) which are typical of the area.
On the walk from my cabin to the bar i saw a group of 10 monkeys swing in the trees.
Oh i shouldn't forget to mention that i have seen more geckos here than ever and i love it. The clever little things hang out in lamp shades and eat the moths.
That night we went to the local bar and we happened to meet the members from my previous trip up North. We all got sufficiently drunk and probably patted the bar's puppy dog a lot more than was necessary (it was super cute though).
The next morning we all slept in then got up and went for a swim. I love being able to get out of bed and into a river, it's something i will rarely get to do in Britain i think. We all left for the national park and walked for about an hour only to find that the waterfall we hopped to swim in was just a few rapids. We hopped in anyway and i now have a few bruises to prove that fast flowing water is very difficult to swim in.
We headed back in monsoon rain and were greeted at our hotel by a group of about 20 monkeys that were swimming and climbing trees around the river.
We hopped in with them and watched them do a combination of eating, playing and **cough**, well you can probably guess what monkeys get up to. Best part of the swim was a snake happily swimming past my face. I think it was the same one i saw on the trek, so it was venomous. It wasn't fussed though and was more concerned with getting out of the water.
Then a bus trip to the hotel
Nah, it was all good and any problems were made up by the fact that Koh Sok is beautiful. Our hotel/cabins were situated next to a big river and was shadowed by a giant limestone mountain (karst) which are typical of the area.
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| From 8-26-2008 - Koh Sok NP |
On the walk from my cabin to the bar i saw a group of 10 monkeys swing in the trees.
Oh i shouldn't forget to mention that i have seen more geckos here than ever and i love it. The clever little things hang out in lamp shades and eat the moths.
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| From 8-25-2008 - Koh Sok NP |
That night we went to the local bar and we happened to meet the members from my previous trip up North. We all got sufficiently drunk and probably patted the bar's puppy dog a lot more than was necessary (it was super cute though).
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| From 8-26-2008 - Koh Sok NP |
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| From 8-26-2008 - Koh Sok NP |
The next morning we all slept in then got up and went for a swim. I love being able to get out of bed and into a river, it's something i will rarely get to do in Britain i think. We all left for the national park and walked for about an hour only to find that the waterfall we hopped to swim in was just a few rapids. We hopped in anyway and i now have a few bruises to prove that fast flowing water is very difficult to swim in.
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| From 8-26-2008 - Koh Sok NP |
We headed back in monsoon rain and were greeted at our hotel by a group of about 20 monkeys that were swimming and climbing trees around the river.
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| From 8-26-2008 - Koh Sok NP |
We hopped in with them and watched them do a combination of eating, playing and **cough**, well you can probably guess what monkeys get up to. Best part of the swim was a snake happily swimming past my face. I think it was the same one i saw on the trek, so it was venomous. It wasn't fussed though and was more concerned with getting out of the water.
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| From 8-26-2008 - Koh Sok NP |
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| From 8-26-2008 - Koh Sok NP |
Back to Bangkok.. sigh
Haha, okay i don't hate bangkok or anything. But it's not the greatest place on earth.
Anyway, we got back and had to say goodbye to half the group after which we said hello to our new half of a group for the southern Trip. It wasn't that bad either because for a little while the two groups will be staying together and heading down south.
But first we had a couple of days in Bangkok. Was a comfort day and we went for a walk through Chinatown.
We quickly decided to leave the crowded chinatown and head to the mall :P
This mall was the biggest i had ever been in. Every nook and cranny had a shops in it. It was mental.
We also had a western lunch. Massive burgers with the biggest steak knife i've ever seen offered in a restaurant.
We also managed to get 6 people in a tuk tuk, seven if you count a driver. It was precarious.
Next day we went for a boat ride through the canals of Bangkok.
Interesting, the river used to be the spot where only the poor lived. But now more and more, rich folk are moving in.
Thought there are few things you have to look out for living by the river.
Catfish
and
Monitor Lizards
As a result a lot of people have spikes on the walls leading up from the river to stop unwanted organisms (probably people more than anything).
After the boat trip i went to a temple nearby. To be honest i wasn't really paying attention so i can't tell you anything about it. I took lots of pics though.
Anyway, we got back and had to say goodbye to half the group after which we said hello to our new half of a group for the southern Trip. It wasn't that bad either because for a little while the two groups will be staying together and heading down south.
But first we had a couple of days in Bangkok. Was a comfort day and we went for a walk through Chinatown.
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| From 8-23-2008 - Chinatown |
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| From 8-23-2008 - Chinatown |
We quickly decided to leave the crowded chinatown and head to the mall :P
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| From 8-24-2008 - Bangkok |
This mall was the biggest i had ever been in. Every nook and cranny had a shops in it. It was mental.
 |
| From 8-23-2008 - Chinatown |
We also had a western lunch. Massive burgers with the biggest steak knife i've ever seen offered in a restaurant.
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| From 8-23-2008 - Chinatown |
We also managed to get 6 people in a tuk tuk, seven if you count a driver. It was precarious.
Next day we went for a boat ride through the canals of Bangkok.
 |
| From 8-24-2008 - Bangkok |
Interesting, the river used to be the spot where only the poor lived. But now more and more, rich folk are moving in.
Thought there are few things you have to look out for living by the river.
Catfish
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| From 8-24-2008 - Bangkok |
and
Monitor Lizards
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| From 8-24-2008 - Bangkok |
As a result a lot of people have spikes on the walls leading up from the river to stop unwanted organisms (probably people more than anything).
After the boat trip i went to a temple nearby. To be honest i wasn't really paying attention so i can't tell you anything about it. I took lots of pics though.
Chiang Mai, Ladyboys and 12yo kickboxer girls
Got back to Chiang Mai and went to a kickboxing event. Not normally something i'd go see but the whole night was actually really cool.
It was kind of creepy seeing 12yo female kickboxers kick the crap out of each other.
But then afterwards we had the ladyboy show. Although i've seen better drag shows, i have to say that some of them were rather convinving (like the one i met in Bangkok ;) haha, don't worry nothing happened).
Afterwards the lads went out for a drink and i experienced a Thai nightclub for the first time. It was okay, pretty full but not smokey and the waiters come up to you and bring you drinks.
Next day we headed up to a temple at the top of Chiang Mai. It was one of the nicest i've seen in Thailand as the surrounding area was so clean.
A lot of posing took place and we all managed to get inside a big bell for a picture.
The best thing about this temple was i could see a lot of people praying and actually using the temple for what it was intended. I took the opportunity to see a monk and get a protection band, as well as pay my respects.
A lot of the temples feature this 7 headed snake called Naga, this was one of the biggest and most ornate i've seen.
Oh yeah, i also went to a cooking school. Not sure where that tied in with everything. Hmm, i actually can't remeber. But the cooking school was awesome. We learnt how to make two curries, and pad thai noodles.
Ahh it seems my photos are all out of order for this bit. ... you'll figure it out.
More Pics
It was kind of creepy seeing 12yo female kickboxers kick the crap out of each other.
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| From 8-22-2008 - Chiang Mai |
But then afterwards we had the ladyboy show. Although i've seen better drag shows, i have to say that some of them were rather convinving (like the one i met in Bangkok ;) haha, don't worry nothing happened).
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| From 8-22-2008 - Chiang Mai |
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| From 8-22-2008 - Chiang Mai |
Afterwards the lads went out for a drink and i experienced a Thai nightclub for the first time. It was okay, pretty full but not smokey and the waiters come up to you and bring you drinks.
 |
| From 8-22-2008 - Chiang Mai |
Next day we headed up to a temple at the top of Chiang Mai. It was one of the nicest i've seen in Thailand as the surrounding area was so clean.
 |
| From 8-22-2008 - Chiang Mai |
A lot of posing took place and we all managed to get inside a big bell for a picture.
 |
| From 8-22-2008 - Chiang Mai |
 |
| From 8-22-2008 - Chiang Mai |
The best thing about this temple was i could see a lot of people praying and actually using the temple for what it was intended. I took the opportunity to see a monk and get a protection band, as well as pay my respects.
 |
| From 8-22-2008 - Chiang Mai |
A lot of the temples feature this 7 headed snake called Naga, this was one of the biggest and most ornate i've seen.
 |
| From 8-22-2008 - Chiang Mai |
Oh yeah, i also went to a cooking school. Not sure where that tied in with everything. Hmm, i actually can't remeber. But the cooking school was awesome. We learnt how to make two curries, and pad thai noodles.
 |
| From 8-22-2008 - Chiang Mai |
Ahh it seems my photos are all out of order for this bit. ... you'll figure it out.
More Pics
Elephants and stuff
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| From 8-20-2008 - Trek - Elephants |
We set off for our 5 hour hike. It seems long but we were fuelled by the promise of an elephant trek. The elephants were much bigger than i remember asian elephants being and seemed even bigger when you are staring at the ground from a top of them!
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| From 8-20-2008 - Trek - Elephants |
Although the elephants were fantastic, i have to say the trek was a little uncomfortable and i spent most of it holding on for dare life as my elephant stepped down into a river. At least we weren't on the elephant behind us who decided that he would much rather plough into bushes of Bamboo for a bite to eat rather than stay on the road :D.
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| From 8-20-2008 - Trek - Elephants |
We said goodbye to the elephants and got to our second village. This village had vehicle access and as a result was far more developed.
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| From 8-20-2008 - Trek - Elephants |
We played soccer with the local kids at the school and i gave out packs of toys i bought in the Chiang Mai market. We swam in the river alongside water Buffalo who seemed rather indignant that we had stolen their prime swimming spot. The evening was spent playing games and watching magic tricks performed by our man of many talents tour guide. The next morning we set off on some bamboo rafts for a 3 hour boat ride down the river. It was a little wobbly at first but once our tour guide jumped over to our boat and pulled me into the river i realised it was one waste deep water and quite safe. The rest of the trip was spent having a war with the other boats, including some spanish tourists who's male members would happily through their girlfriends in to save themselves. :D We arrived at our end point and caught a truck back to Chiang Mai.
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| From 8-20-2008 - Trek - Elephants |
Bonus pic, Cool cricket!!
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| From 8-20-2008 - Trek - Elephants |
And more!
Trekking across Chiang Mai
We drove in a back of a ute for about an hour and got to our first pit-stop, a little market with various tidbits for sale including snake, bits of chicken i've never seen before and fried crickets. I did sample the latter, once you pull off the wings and legs i found them to have the taste of honey soy chicken. A bag of them was bought and shared among the brave tour mates. Apparently i'm the only one willing to try random foods (and also the only one to be able to handle spicy food.. the english are real chickens!)
Our trip continued with a trip to a waterfall for a swim. I had forgotten how hard a waterfall can hit you. I couldn't stay under some areas for long, but then maybe i'm just a wuss :P Oh man, click on the next image, it's awesome but blogger messes up my formatting
Actually it was a bit of a sad story with the waterfall. We had been swimming for a while and then someone noticed that there was a half decaying dead dog in the corner. So yeah, that was a bit of a dampener on things and also made the girls freak out. Tony, our guide and the coolest guy EVER, took the dog out and gave it a more dignified place in the forest. He's really cool like that.
So with the dog gone and us not really feeling like swimming in dead dog water we headed up the road for a bite to eat and the real start of our trek.
The trek was pretty easy going, i thought. It wasn't too much different from what i had to do at work. The surroundings were lovely, and a lot like New Zealand forest. But then, i always say that. We did manage to find this little yellow snake. Which was quite venomous apparently.
So what do you do with a little venomous snake? Poke it with a stick and piss it off, apparently (if you're a local guide :P).
Poor little guy.
So other things we learned on the trip: how to throw a knife, that little lizards are cute and when you see a termite mound you should put a nice leaf on it and you'll get a nice girlfriend/boyfriend.
Almost got to the first village for a stop and the trek got a whole lot harder. All downhill and all really muddy.
The night was spent being entertained by Tony and eating the best spring rolls i've ever had.
More pics here, feel free to click away
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| From 8-19-2008 - Trek |
Our trip continued with a trip to a waterfall for a swim. I had forgotten how hard a waterfall can hit you. I couldn't stay under some areas for long, but then maybe i'm just a wuss :P Oh man, click on the next image, it's awesome but blogger messes up my formatting
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| From 8-19-2008 - Trek |
Actually it was a bit of a sad story with the waterfall. We had been swimming for a while and then someone noticed that there was a half decaying dead dog in the corner. So yeah, that was a bit of a dampener on things and also made the girls freak out. Tony, our guide and the coolest guy EVER, took the dog out and gave it a more dignified place in the forest. He's really cool like that.
So with the dog gone and us not really feeling like swimming in dead dog water we headed up the road for a bite to eat and the real start of our trek.
 |
| From 8-19-2008 - Trek |
The trek was pretty easy going, i thought. It wasn't too much different from what i had to do at work. The surroundings were lovely, and a lot like New Zealand forest. But then, i always say that. We did manage to find this little yellow snake. Which was quite venomous apparently.
 |
| From 8-19-2008 - Trek |
 |
| From 8-19-2008 - Trek |
Poor little guy.
So other things we learned on the trip: how to throw a knife, that little lizards are cute and when you see a termite mound you should put a nice leaf on it and you'll get a nice girlfriend/boyfriend.
 |
| From 8-19-2008 - Trek |
Almost got to the first village for a stop and the trek got a whole lot harder. All downhill and all really muddy.
 |
| From 8-19-2008 - Trek |
The night was spent being entertained by Tony and eating the best spring rolls i've ever had.
 |
| From 8-19-2008 - Trek |
More pics here, feel free to click away
Chiang Mai made me jump off a crane
ChianFirst day in Chiang Mai and the plan today was to Bungie Jump.
The bravest of the group, Olga, Cat, Brad, Tim and Myself got on the truck to surrounding jungle and looked up at the 50m crane we were going to bungie off.
Okay, i'm not the best on heights so needless to say i was shit scared about jumping off the crane. As you can see.
But with some encouragement from watching Brad jump first i got over to the crane, was tied up and taken up.
I wish i could have taken a picture from the top, it really was fantastic. You could see dark clouds in the high hills in the horizon and see the thousands of palm trees below.
But i didn't have time to admire the surroundings, and that's not what i was there for.
3
2
1
Are you ready?
No, not yet.
Then i started getting that horrible feeling in my gut and i knew if i didn't jump i wasn't ever going to be able to do it. So i jumped.
You get this crazy feeling that can only be described as "oh shit, i'm going to die, i'm going to die!". Then you bounce up, tense up and experience zero gravity. It was really fun, but also kind of uncomfortable hanging upside down. Oh and i didn't half crap my pants when i felt the roap slip a little. Though it was natural for it to do that and i wasn't in danger.
For my troubles, i got a certificate and t-shirt and then a stiff drink with the rest.
On the way back we experienced what i think was the first monsoon rain of our trip. Man, does that rain come down. It's no wonder Thailand can suffer from flash floods. It was sunny before, what happened?
That evening we went out drinking at an open air jamaican club in Chiang Mai (apparently the Thai people love Bob Marley, the whole rastafarian culture gels really well with them). Hmm, to be honest i can't actually remember what we did the next day. That's a worry. Ahh, i do remember we left for our 3 day trek into the jungle.
More pics:
The bravest of the group, Olga, Cat, Brad, Tim and Myself got on the truck to surrounding jungle and looked up at the 50m crane we were going to bungie off.
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| From 8-18-2008 - Bungie Jumping |
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| From 8-18-2008 - Bungie Jumping |
Okay, i'm not the best on heights so needless to say i was shit scared about jumping off the crane. As you can see.
 |
| From 8-18-2008 - Bungie Jumping |
I wish i could have taken a picture from the top, it really was fantastic. You could see dark clouds in the high hills in the horizon and see the thousands of palm trees below.
But i didn't have time to admire the surroundings, and that's not what i was there for.
3
2
1
Are you ready?
No, not yet.
Then i started getting that horrible feeling in my gut and i knew if i didn't jump i wasn't ever going to be able to do it. So i jumped.
You get this crazy feeling that can only be described as "oh shit, i'm going to die, i'm going to die!". Then you bounce up, tense up and experience zero gravity. It was really fun, but also kind of uncomfortable hanging upside down. Oh and i didn't half crap my pants when i felt the roap slip a little. Though it was natural for it to do that and i wasn't in danger.
For my troubles, i got a certificate and t-shirt and then a stiff drink with the rest.
 |
| From 8-18-2008 - Bungie Jumping |
On the way back we experienced what i think was the first monsoon rain of our trip. Man, does that rain come down. It's no wonder Thailand can suffer from flash floods. It was sunny before, what happened?
 |
| From 8-18-2008 - Bungie Jumping |
That evening we went out drinking at an open air jamaican club in Chiang Mai (apparently the Thai people love Bob Marley, the whole rastafarian culture gels really well with them). Hmm, to be honest i can't actually remember what we did the next day. That's a worry. Ahh, i do remember we left for our 3 day trek into the jungle.
More pics:
On the second day, Bhudha relaxed
Well, it turns out that most of the people on my tour were hungover. But for those that weren't we were on our way to a boat ride to the Royal Temple.
But before the Royal Temple we stopped in to see our old friend the Great Reclining Bhudha. It's fantastic, and although not the biggest Bhudhas i've ever seen it is probably the most beautiful.
Even the feet are carved in with encryptions, of which i am sure each have important meaning.
Nextdoor to the temple housing the reclining bhudha was another overlooked series of temples that were made from parts of Chinese Vases that were damaged on their way from China. They thought that they were so nice that they needed to be preserved, so part of the temple they became.
Next up we headed across the road to the Royal Palace. We were told again that the temple was closed and that we should get on a tuk tuk but i knew better. Okay i might have said to everyone that there is a possibility that the temple would be closed and that "that guy had no reason to lie to us"... but yeah.. I DID figure it out when i saw the Palace was well open.
The palace itself was pretty cool, and big.
But the best parts were the golden temples nearby. They were so ornate. Each one is covered in gold and delicate pieces of mirror. The phrase "Tone it down" doesn't occur in Thailand apparently.
That night we got on the sleeper train.. next stop: Chiang Mai
Here are some more pics from Day 2.
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| From 8-17-2008 - Bangkok |
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| From 8-17-2008 - Bangkok |
Even the feet are carved in with encryptions, of which i am sure each have important meaning.
Nextdoor to the temple housing the reclining bhudha was another overlooked series of temples that were made from parts of Chinese Vases that were damaged on their way from China. They thought that they were so nice that they needed to be preserved, so part of the temple they became.
 |
| From 8-17-2008 - Bangkok |
Next up we headed across the road to the Royal Palace. We were told again that the temple was closed and that we should get on a tuk tuk but i knew better. Okay i might have said to everyone that there is a possibility that the temple would be closed and that "that guy had no reason to lie to us"... but yeah.. I DID figure it out when i saw the Palace was well open.
The palace itself was pretty cool, and big.
 |
| From 8-17-2008 - Bangkok |
But the best parts were the golden temples nearby. They were so ornate. Each one is covered in gold and delicate pieces of mirror. The phrase "Tone it down" doesn't occur in Thailand apparently.
 |
| From 8-17-2008 - Bangkok |
That night we got on the sleeper train.. next stop: Chiang Mai
Here are some more pics from Day 2.
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