[Battambang to Bangkok, Thailand] We woke up this morning and on the spur of the moment decided to go to Thailand for a holiday 🙂 okay maybe not, but we are excited about it.

Cambodia was fantastic and has left us with unforgettable memories like Angkor, Ta Prohm and the boat ride to Battambang. I can see us going back there one day as part of our ‘Motorcycle South East Asia’ dream. It would be great to get off the tourist trail in Cambodia and still have access to cafes like the ‘Blue Pumpkin’ for when we get sick of rice.

Our bus left Battambang on time (thanks again Capitol Tours) and after two hours we transferred to a minibus for the short hop across the flooded part of the road near Sisophon. The road itself didn’t look in bad shape to us but all heavy vehicles were being stopped. I guess they don’t want to damage the road surface or possibly the smaller bridges. The surroundings countryside was pretty much underwater. The kids were having a ball, swimming and fishing in what was, until recently, their front yards. We now see the justification for the stilted houses!

After an hour long wait we joined the passengers on the bus from Siem Reap and headed to the border. With a guide (supplied by the bus company) border procedures were simple. We had no problems and our anxiety over not having proof of flights/bus out of Thailand turned out to be unwarranted. The only downside of crossing the border by land is that we only got a 15 day visa. We like walking across borders. It just feels more real than being in a plane. No-mans land here houses a few casino resorts so that the Thais can pop out to gamble without having to enter Cambodia (casinos not allowed in Thailand – odd).

Another short transfer, this time in a converted bakkie, and we found ourselves at a restaurant (there is always a restaurant) where we sat, and sat bored for 3 hours while waiting for our bus. As we headed towards Bangkok I could not help noticing how well Thailand seems to be doing. 2,3 and 4 lane motorways with overpasses, fewer motorcycles and outrageous numbers of fancy cars. The traffic around Bangkok was severely congested, even on the elevated expressways, but our bus managed to deposit us a hundred meters from the tourist ghetto of Khaosan Road around 8pm. It was a long day of travel and we settled, without too much effort, for a dingy little hole off the main drag. So after 10 years I’m back in Bangkok. In the dark it’s hard to say what has changed. The next few days should be fun!

[Pictures: Another border crossing on foot. A Casino in no-man’s land!]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Bangkok, Thailand] Sleep, Shops and Sights. After our noisy night in the Orchid we got up early and went in search of better accommodation further from the noise of Khaosan road.

The roads were deserted and most shops closed since they are open until the early hours of the morning. We spent a bit of time checking options and settled on ‘The Happy House’ with better quality quite room. It’s not far from where I stayed 10 years ago but the area is barely recognizable. The street has been paved and is overwhelmed by flea market type stalls but at least they made an effort to keep the trees so it feels cooler. I was able to match one upgraded restaurant with my fallible memories. An obvious omission is the call of ‘Cold water, five Baht’. It seems the ever present ladies with buckets of government standard drinking water have been replaced with a 7-11 every 100m selling brand name bottled water and everything else a traveler could want in convenient travel sized portions. Our new hotel was comfy. Maybe too comfy… V passed out and didn’t wake up until it was dark 🙂 Now we’re on holiday!

Day 2 in Bangkok started off with a walk to the Grand Palace. We don’t normally get caught by scams but neither of us (me especially) were firing on all cylinders. At the entrance to the Palace we were directed away by an official looking guy and after walking some distance were told by another well dressed guy posing as a tourist policeman that the palace was closed until 13h. He then tried to hook us up with a tak-tak tour around some other sites. Confused and annoyed we decided (well thanks to V) to change our plans and head back to the hotel instead of being dragged around town in a tak-tak. Turns out the palace was open. All we needed to do was walk in. The entrance is not obvious and we guess these guys work in teams to get people onto the well known tak-tak tours of selected clothing and jewelery stores! After that failure and reboot we opted to go shopping instead and grabbed a taxi to the MKB shopping centre in the heart of the city. MKB is insane. It’s a packed with every shop imaginable and then stuffed with floors and isles of flea market style stalls. V found a couple of things she needed (like flip flops – so she can get rid of that strop tan!) and I got some more memory cards. For sups we managed to meet up with Manouk from our Tibet tour. It was great to see her again after bumping into her in Luang Prabang but she’s heading home now so we’ll just have to keep traveling around the world until we get to Holland 🙂

Okay. Day 3. Time to get serious about the sights (well just a little). We got to the Grand Palace and attached wats without trouble. The place is still amazing even with severe dejavue buzzing my brain. They are doing a lot of restoration work at the moment and I seem to remember it being much shinier close up but the overall effect is still one of WOW. Thankfully it was a little overcast and after walking our feet off around the Emerald (jade) Buddha, Grand Palace and museums we headed for Wat Pho and the Reclining Buddha. Still lazing about after 10 more years – same silly grin. It’s a hard life being an icon.

With those sights ticked off we were starving and decided to make good on our promise to find an Outback Steakhouse. Siam Centre, the largest shopping complex in Asia, had an Outback so it was back to the city centre for us. We gouged ourselves on steak and polished off a monster chocolate brownie. Too stuffed to shop we headed back to the Khaosan area.

Bangkok’s been an interesting (at time challenging) stroll down memory lane for me and I think a great experience for V. We are both very excited about our PADI course in Khao Lak next week but that will have to wait. Tomorrow we head out early by train to Kanchanaburi so V can pet a tiger.

[Pictures from the gallery: Chicken Men and the Emerald Buddha. The Grand Palace and gardens. English guards paying Royalties 🙂 The Lazy Buddha.]

Pilgrims/Tourists making noise and apparently wishes at the Lazy Buddha

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

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[Kanchanaburi, Thailand] Up early for our train ride to Kanchanaburi. First up, getting ripped off by the local taxis! All of them refusing to turn the meter on for a trip to the nearby train station and instead demanding a flat fee of 200 Baht for what should, in our estimate, have been a 50 Baht trip.

We arrived at the train station, our wallets somewhat lighter, and hung around people watching while we waited for our train. There were maybe 4 other honkies catching the train this morning. We suspect that most people take the much easier and faster option (and cheaper since it cuts out the cheeky taxi driver) of a minibus that picks you from your hotel. We like to be different sometimes.

We arrived in Kanchanaburi and can now say we have been on the Eastern Orient Express. Even it was for all of 5 seconds as we clambered through it to get from our train to the platform. It did look very larny though. The dining car was elegantly set with cup crystal glasses and shiny silverware.

After walking a looong roundabout way to the backpacker area we eventually settled on a room at the Tamarind guesthouse. It had quite a lovely view of the river and we were glad we had found it. Usually we are lazy and settle for the first place we look at but this time we looked at at least 3 other guest houses.

We immediately organized transport to our main reason for coming to Kanchanaburi, to touch the tigers at the controversial Tiger Temple. Apparently it started out with a few tigers that had been rescued from poachers being given to the local monastery. It has since grown to 75 tigers, a leopard, goats, horses, buffalo, wild pigs, deer and whatever else seems to come the monks way. There have been accusations of the tigers being drugged and mishandled, and not properly cared for. It’s hard to say though, it’s definitely a bit of a zoo/circus, but the reports about them being cooped up in tiny cages was definitely wrong.

We arrived at the ‘tiger canyon’ to find about a dozen tigers all chained up. Some on some rocks, but all in the shade and all but one fast asleep. After a brief intro on how it all works we paid a thousand Baht extra to have a photo with the both of us together and me holding one of tigers heads in my lap. This is an extra on top of the individual photos you get of you on your own with the tigers which is included in the entrance fee. All the tigers had one handler looking after them and we were led by the hands by one of the many many staff to our first tiger. The Tigers head was plopped directly in my lap and he barely moved he was so fast asleep (I can understand why there are rumors of drugging). Our guide then snapped photos of us with the huge beast before leading me on to another tiger to get a shot of me on my own. We were then led by hand back to the start to drop Sim off so that I could be led around to get my picture taken with about a half dozen different tigers before they did the same with Sim.

It was all a little bit surreal. They whip you round pretty fast so I was a little bit disoriented and like a complete gonk, I landed up not looking at the camera for most of the pictures. Sim did much better than me managing even to catch one tiger by his tail.

It was a unique experience. The tigers were all sleepy and docile but this is what they have all grown up with since they were cubs so they are used to the handling, and it’s only for a few hours in the afternoon that they do this for. These tigers would not survive in the wild so they are better off in captivity having grown up in it. They are no worse off here than if they were in a well run zoo.’There are quite a few western volunteers there and I would have thought that if the bad rumors were true, the place would have been shut down by now.

We wandered off after our pics and got a couple of up close snaps with some young tigers. Then wandered around the rest of the ramshackle temple grounds before heading back to the canyon to watch the big tigers for a while. We are glad we did as at closing up time, the handlers were taking some of the tigers back to their enclosure and we got another photo opportunity with them.

BTW the foto with me standing next to a tiger with Sim looking down at something? He was looking at a big steaming stream of tiger pee as the big male marked his territory on the way back. It just missed our feet! Apparently getting sprayed with tiger pee is good luck in Thailand. So I guess we have got ‘almost’ good luck then.

[Pictures from the gallery: Mom can we keep him ? I really hope he doesn’t turn around and take offence]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Kanchanaburi, Thailand] Today we decided that instead of taking a tour including the sights around Kanchanaburi, we would see if we would try to do it the old fashioned way – as ‘independently’ as possible. We did well I think. The tour would have cost B1300 and we did what we wanted in our own time for B400. We got a ride on one of those scary side saddle tak-taks to the local bus station. Our driver was cool. He told us B60 for the trip and when we agreed he haggled with himself to bring the price down to B40. We are really bad at haggling. He dropped us at the correct bus (one of those municipal red and chrome ones) and we were on our way – eventually. There was some confusion with the money tube wielding ticket collector about our destination – as soon as you are off the typical tourist route English is an issue, but he was able to find someone who could translate. Two hours later we were deposited outside the Hellfire Pass memorial centre.

The centre was built by the Auzzie veterans association. The museum is well presented and all free (including the audio guide). We walked down to the cutting and strolled along listening to the history and personal accounts. It was a great place to visit. Horrid what happened here but it was definitely an amazing achievement under the worst possible circumstances.

We managed to catch a bus going the opposite direction and got off around 2km from the Nam Tok train station (which is off the highway). We were running a little late and could hear the train hooting. A bit of speedy navigation by V and a short jog got us to the train with time to spare. The afternoon passed as we trundled from one empty platform to the next. Very few people were on the train up to the wooden bridges where a few tour groups joined us for 30 minutes. The views were wonderful and the beams of the spans below creaked as we passed. We finally crossed the Kwai river in the dark (the train was running an hour late) and hopped on the back of a motorcycle (both of us on one) to get back to our end of town.

It did feel good to be out ‘in the wild’ once again and the only honkies around. No being herded from one attraction to the next with an annoying group of kids (Gibbon and Tibet buddies excluded). The down side was being restricted by public transport schedules (there was only one train in the afternoon) and the extended travel durations – but that gave us a chance to hang out at bus stops and do some ‘local’ people watching.

[Pictures from the gallery: Hellfire pass cutting. On the ‘Death Railway’]

A short clip of the wooden bridges and views from the train on the ‘Death Railway’

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Kanchanaburi to Khao Lak, Thailand] It’s been a long two days with over 24 hours of travel. We left Kanchanaburi by minibus and were delivered to Khaosan road in Bangkok within a couple of hours. A much easier trip than the train and honestly about as scenic. V took the opportunity to do a little more shopping. She needs to be in the mood for shopping and she was in fine form. Unfortunately we still had our packs with us but this did not deter her in the least.

We eventually ditched our packs at the travel agency and wandered around a little more to kill some time. In the evening we were led, by a fat lazy guy on a scooter, to an assembly point on the main road where we waited for our bus. The bus was late and then spent another 2 hours in Bangkok collecting and waiting for passengers before setting off.

Watching and listening to travelers is sometimes fun. There was an annoying and loud blond Bosnian bokkie spinning a story to two chaps. Dollars to dough-nuts her name was Marina – due to her the colour of all her matching clothing and accessories. She had been traveling all over the world for 3 years after completing her degree in aeronautics/mathematics and working for NASA. She had traveled to South Africa and had some odd stories about the place. The boys ate it up. V and I became increasingly skeptical. Apparently condoms that are so large you can wear them as rain boots are issued at passport control on entering SA. Yeah. And there are lions on the streets too 😉

It was an uncomfortable night that we passed with some Boston Legal and a lot of wiggling on our seats. We arrived at Suritani very early and were transferred to another travel agents office where the owners were trying to convince people to change their destinations to Phuket. The news cast on the TV was showing heavily flooded areas in Krabi. All boat services were suspended. We became concerned but insisted on going on to Khao Lak. More waiting and another 4 hour local bus journey and we arrived knackered in Khao Lak’s main street.

After securing reasonable accommodation at a fair price (along the beach the bungalows are 4 times what we are paying) we noticed that our bags had been burgled. Our packs had been completely emptied and repacked. Every nook and cranny was searched but the only thing stolen was my old company credit card. First robbery since we started traveling and these guys were very good. Didn’t bother taking my fake wallet with the expired card, travelers cheques or any gear. We did score an extra pair of mens underwear that we found in V’s pack. So either they went through everyones packs during the night while we were all sleeping or V has got some questions to answer 🙂

We also collected our PADI course material but were too tired to even open it. Tomorrow we’ll have to knuckle down and do some studying.

[Pictures: Jai’s guesthouse in Khao Lak – hope the pic is ok. Trying the new (still terrible) WordPress app]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

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So on the 5th we have officially been on the road for half a year ! We can hardly believe it ! In fact we only realized the date and that it was 6 months when we signed the forms at the dive centre on the 8th. LOL. So that just shows how much attention we are paying to time at the moment. I know we’re behind posts and photos at the moment… Will catch up shortly – been ‘busy’ funning and scaring ourselves. If you are still reading this blog after 6 months (family excluded) then what on earth is wrong with you ? 🙂

Bring on the next 6 months I say !
and as always…. My V is the best. Love you Rexie.

[Khao Lak, Thailand] Yesterday, after a breakfast/lunch and a stroll along the stunnning beach just down the road from our hotel we hit the books. We were told that the theory homework for the PADI course should only take us 5 or so hours. By the time we had complted a third of the material it was dark outside. We are either just incredibly slow after not having used our brains for 6 months or are taking it too seriously.

Today was perfect weather, but no renting a motorbike and cruising the quieter beaches up and down the coast. We still had a large chunk of stuff to study. At lunch we took a walk (that turned into a hike) to the local market just outside town to find a reasonably priced barber. Khao Lak is filled with expensive hairdressers, fancy tailors, the usual holiday stores and far too many dental practices for such a place. We got the timing wrong with the market as it was just getting set up. All manner of stalls were being unpacked from fresh fish to beauty salons but no barbers. So we took another long walk back and eventually found a more reasonably priced haircut less than 100m from our Bungalow!

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent once again in the books. I’m sure we are taking it too seriously. Most of the information is just common sense. Anyway we are both really excited to get started with the course tomorrow. Should be fun.

[Pictures: A friendly visitor while we were studying]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Khao Lak, Thailand] Today is the start of our 4 day open water dive course at Sea Dragon dive centre.

We met our instructor Eleanor and after the usual pleasantries got down to business. Sitting and watching a DVD covering the sections we reviewed in our book yesterday. After each little section we were given a simple quiz. They were pretty easy. Sim did make a mess of his one quiz though but only because he started it on the wrong page and messed up all the little boxes. It was all about the basics of scuba diving, nothing too taxing.

After lunch we kitted up in our wetsuits ( Sim looks good in one by the way ) and started the practical parts of the course. My mask and fins were to me extremely uncomfortable and foreign. The first three of five confined water ‘dives’. which are all about practicing in a pool various different skills. I have never been a ‘water’ person so I was especially nervous. Sim is also not really a water person, but he was much more relaxed about the course and the idea of going under water.

We were shown how to set up our tank and buoyancy control device (BCD) and check everything before finally climbing into the shallow end of the pool. The strap on Sims mask broke immediately and we had to get him another one. Not exactly a good sign. The first thing we did was put our faces under water and start breathing through our regulators. I can not describe to you how freaky the feeling of breathing underwater is. And to be honest it panicked me a little bit. But we were still in the shallow end of the pool and I could get my head clear of the water just by standing up on my knees. Not so bad. New things can be uncomfortable. I figured I would get used to the feeling and the fear would go away. Then we moved to the deep end of the pool. Oookay a little more scary. We practiced removing our regulators and putting them back in, clearing them in different ways. Grabbing each others spare regulators for an out of air situation and so on. So far so good. As long as I was concentrating ferociously on the task at hand I was able to ignore thinking about breathing underwater. Allowing our masks to partially fill with water was not so great though, but I managed it. Then came the big one. Completely removing your mask for a minute, breathe with your regulator and then put your mask back on and clear it. It was more than I could handle. The sensation that I was about to breathe through my nose was too great and I shot to the surface. Sim offered helpful solutions like going back to the shallow end and practicing some more, but our instructor was adamant that these tasks had to be done in the deep end and that I must never just go to the surface like that again. After exchanging my mask for a more comfortable fitting one we tried again. I was able to compose myself long enough to perform the mask removal and replacement properly this time. Whew. The rest of the pool time was used to practice much easier things like floating on our fins or pushing each other round the pool.

The both of us finished the day exhausted from the exertion of having to use our brains and the new and alien experience of being under water. Sim did fantastically even though he had been a little nervous about it all. For me it was a tough day. I really did not like sensation of the regulator and it felt like we were progressing too quickly for me to just relax and get used to breathing underwater. I was not exactly looking forward to getting back in the pool the next day but hoped it would go ok.

[Pictures: None at all for the day.. to busy learning.. so we nicked one off their site]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Khao Lak, Thailand] Woke up extra early this morning. Tried to practice just breathing through my mouth only while I lay in bed waiting for a reasonable hour to actually get up. My stomach was not happy and neither was my bladder. I had to pee a dozen times before we even got to Seadragons premises. I was dreading having to get back in the pool. I was hoping that I would be able to relax by the time we were scheduled to do our last two practicals which was after lunch.

When we arrived Eleanor informed us that the pracs were having to be re-scheduled for the morning as they had too many other people needing the pool in the afternoon. This did not sit well with me. I had to pee another dozen times before I even got my wetsuit on. We got in the pool and Eleanor had me take my mask off at the surface and just try to breathe with my regulator in while holding on the side of the pool with my head just below the surface. It was horrible. The bubbles from the regulator kept getting up my nose and again I could not keep from thinking that I was accidental going to inhale through my nose. I was able to keep it up long enough to satisfy the instructor that I could do it though.

We returned to the bottom of the pool where we were going to practice two more things. One, was the same one as the previous day, which was removing the mask, breathing for a minute then replacing and clearing it. Then we were going to has to remove our masks and swim to the other side of he pool and back. Sim did the exercises first and as I waited for him to complete them I could feel myself getting into more and more of a panic. You are supposed to breath slowly and calmly underwater but my breath started getting short and shallow. Eleanor signalled for me to try calm down. But every time she signalled for me to take my mask off I just shook my head. I just could not do it. I wanted to get out of the pool and go home. I did not want to be here. I couldn’t stop thinking if I could not feel comfortable being in a pool, being in the open ocean was just going to be a thousand times worse. Eventually she gave up and we ascended to the surface.

Sim was still trying to convince me that I could carry on, but I realized I would need a lot more time in the pool for all of this anxiety to work itself out and we simply did not have time for me to mess around in the pool for a week. I made the decision to quit. Sim was pretty disappointed as we only got into this diving thing so we could dive together. He finished off the other tasks easily enough and we both completed the theory test in the afternoon.

The guys at Seadragons dive centre were good enough to refund me some of my money most of which I spent again when I signed up for snorkeling for the next day so that I could at least be out on the boat with Simon in between his two dives out at the Similans.

Tomorrow we will be taking a 3 hour boat ride out to the islands. They are supposed to be very beautiful. Hopefully Sims dives will go great and I will be able to see some pretty fish when I snorkel.

[Pictures: Sim and Elanor in the pool]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Similan Islands, Thailand] I was excited about my first open water dives and it was a real pity that the day dawned, once again, overcast and windy (This is what the Similans should look like!). We were collected at our hotel and transferred to the pier where the Nam Sai, Sea Dragon’s monster boat, was waiting for us. We cleared the calm of the harbor during a short briefing and it became clear that this was not going to be a smooth ride! Fetching us tea, V was particularly impressive carrying two cups along the upper deck without spilling a drop in what felt like 45 degree pitching (at times we could not see sky on the far side of the boat). I don’t normally get motion sickness but the huge bacon and egg breakfast and 5 seconds of looking at a book on the sea life left me feeling terribly green. I went down to the lower deck to prepare my gear and successfully managed to project my breakfast (and what felt like 3 previous meals) into the ocean. I was the first to hurl for the day but by no means the last. I felt instantly much better – one poor guy was feeling so sick he decided not to dive in the end. V, who normally gets sick even in a car, had no trouble with the help of a tiny pill.

After three hours of that nonsense we arrived near Koh Bangu Island. V and the rest of the snorkelers were sent off by rubber duck to Sail Rock beach while Elanor and I were dropped in the rolling seas at ‘Three Trees’. We descended immediately and what an amazing experience! 40m of visibility. Everything felt calm even with a light current and surge – we just went with the flow. The sea life was stunning – we saw a pair of cuttlefish courting, a very large trigger-fish and a mid sized turtle amongst thousands of other fish and corals (I was concentrating on breathing and my skills so my recollection is just one of ‘WOW’ with very little detail). It was awesome. We were down at 12m (the max allowed for the first dive) for 56 minutes – I would have loved to have stayed all day!

Getting out of the water was a mission in the rough seas but sounded like V had an even worse time of it on the rubber duck. The surf on the beach was too much for most of the snorkeling group – bit of a wash out for V I’m afraid. I avoided lunch for fear of losing it as we headed to the second dive site, ‘Turtle Rock’. After the last experience V opted out of the second snorkel session – my dive was once again brilliant. Slightly less visibility, much stronger currents and surge and less fish but the terrain was fun. Huge boulders gave me lots of practice with buoyancy control and we did see a Lion fish (dangerous, spiky little thing).

After the hour long dive and we were back on board and heading home. While I was underwater a friendly turtle had been performing for V and the others on the boat. Apparently they really love bananas and this one had no problem swimming playing on the surface with one of the crew. The ride home went quickly and the sea was a little calmer. One of the crew had been filming all day both above and below the water. Before we got near the port he had edited the day into a slick DVD production. V was amazed at how clear it was underwater. We would have bought the video, but the price was unfortunately a little high. Tomorrow I have my final two qualifying dives – here’s hoping for better weather!

[Pictures: Unimpressed V in getting back onboard. Ok, you try smile with a mask on :)]

A short clip. V getting back aboard after the aborted snorkeling attempt

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Khao Lak, Thailand] More overcast conditions ! This is getting annoying but at least the wind had died down. I opted to do the last two qualifying dives at a local reef (the Similans are very expensive) and I headed out with a full long-tail boat around 11am. V decided to sit the day out – good thing too. The boat was full and the conditions were shocking but at least it was only a 20 minute ride to the dive site (Nam Khao Lak – I think).

I still had a number of silly skills to complete (like swimming 200m, treading water etc) so we concentrated on those. Both of my dives for the day were less than 30 minutes each. Strong surges and less than 2m visibility in a thick soup made it far less fun but challenging none the less. My navigation skills are shocking on dry land so I was thankful to have had Elanor right next to me – otherwise we could have ended up swimming to Phuket! If/when we get a chance to do more advanced dive courses, navigation is going to be high on my list. I recall seeing only 2 fish the entire time we were down. It was a bit of a disaster but now at least I have my qualification. Not much else to mention about the outing or the day for that matter. V spent the day back at the bungalow reading – I think she is already getting annoyed that she didn’t get back in the pool.

[Pictures: Sorry – We got nada]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Khao Lak, Thailand] Up extra early to catch our minibus for our visa run to Myanmar as our 15 day visa exempt stay officially runs out today. Sadly when the minibus arrived there was only one seat available. Big oops. The driver made some calls first to his other buddy in the convoy to see if he had any space, then to the office. Turns out the lady we had arranged with on the phone had messed up and had only reserved one place instead of two. We decided we would do the run tomorrow and the visa run company said they would pay our overstay fine. We thought that was pretty decent of them.

We were mostly miffed that it meant that we had gotten up early for nothing and would have to get up early again tomorrow. As we have mentioned before, we are not morning people. We trudged back to our bungalow where Simon promptly fell back asleep.

The weather for the rest of the day was completely rubbish. Drizzly for most of the day with some very heavy rain in the middle. But since all we did for the rest of the day was stay indoors watching Boston Legal on my phone and eating chips and sweets it was perfect weather for us.

Tomorow we will try the whole visa run thing again.

[Pictures: Milo- we have been drinking liters of this stuff]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Khao Lak, Thailand] Lunch in Myanmar – why not 🙂 Take two for the visa run and thankfully there was space in the minivan for us. We were getting a little worried about it since V had read some stories about people being thrown into jail for overstaying their visas (I assume the couldn’t pay the fine or bribe). Even after yesterdays problems we can still highly recommend ‘Eve Visa Tour’ (Tel: +66 81 535 2637) – what a slick service. The ride out to Ranong took around two and a half hours where those (including us) with visa overstay fines to pay were split into another group and shuttled to a customs office at the port. We were marched to the front of the line and everything was processed for us efficiently and at the companies expense (B500 each) because of the mess yesterday. From there we transferred to the Andaman Club pier where, after being stamped out of the country, we boarded a waiting boat and headed out to Myanmar (well, sort of).

A 30 minute ride across the mouth of the Kwai river got us to the Andaman Club (www.andamanclub.com). What a place! :gps:(GPS)::9.950587::98.546143:gps: This is how the other half (ok maybe 2%) must live. The resort IS an island. Good to see that in a military dictatorship like Myanmar there is a place where the upper classes can relax – all that power must take it’s toll. At the dock we handed our passports in to the clubs very own immigration officials (who all had their uniforms hanging in the closet at the back of the room) while we went for lunch at the resort. A simple and good meal in a 5 star setting with stunning views out across the sea – too easy.

We were in the country for less than an hour before collecting our processed passports (stamped in and out while we had lunch) and heading back to Thailand and another two week visa. It seems crazy to us. Everyone knows that this is done so why not just charge B1800 (£38) for a two week visa extension. Maybe someone’s brother has shares in the visa tour companies. Our driver kindly presented us with ice cold drinks and a bag of snacks before shuttling us back to Khao Lak. It was a waste of 8 hours but not at all difficult.

Tomorrow we move on to Railay. We’ve got itchy feet and this is the longest we have stayed in one place so far. The only reason to be here was the PADI course at the Similans (See what I mean), we just had a little bad luck. I really hope the weather improves down south.

[Pictures: The view from the Andaman Club. Our boat at the pier – border crossing in style]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Khao Lak to Railay beach,Thailand] Finally we are leaving Khao Lak. It’s been nice being in one spot for a week. Having our own fridge and being able to have cereal for breakfast has been a novelty. It’s not a bad little town,  a characterless strip though and the weather has been total rubbish so can’t say much for the beach. Lots and lots of Germans around including restauranteurs and dive operators.

We were picked up from our hotel at 8am and the minivan took another half hour picking up people from lots of different resorts and then pfaffing with getting all the luggage on the roof. Sim and I are still chuffed that our bags are almost always the smallest.

We had been told that we would arrive in Railay by 11am, but at around 11 the minivan pulled into… surprise surprise a restaurant. Sim strangely is also suffering with motion sickness. It must be something about the minivans as the roads aren’t very windy and I have also been suffering.

Over the course of the next 2 hours about a dozen other minibuses from various places pulled into the roadside restaurant and offloaded their tourists. After what seemed like ages we were amongst the last to be reshuffled and herded onto another minivan for a 15 minute drive to the pier. Can you believe it after all that waiting, we were only a short drive to the pier where we could catch a longtail boat to Railay!

The boatride over to Railay bay or Railay East couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes. We pulled into the muddy mangrovey bay, hopped out and immediately made our way over to Railey West (the side with the nice beach and stunning limestone cliffs) for some lunch.

Our lunch spot  was a place that Sim and his mates had dined at many times when they had come climbing here some 13 years ago. Sim was having a fine old time reminiscing. A lot has changed since then and since he last visited 10 years ago with Jackie & Shane and the evil bitch.

After a nice relaxed lunch we set about the usual tedious task of finding a place to lay our heads for the night. We enquired at one of the beach front resorts but at 2000 Baht (+/- £40) a night for a room, we moved on inland, waay inland. We found a nice little wooden bungalow for 300 Baht in a pleasant setting up against the jungle and the cliffs. There are some serious wood borer or something munching away in the wooden columns though. We could hear them gnawing away. Dont know how long these wooden places will last. Guess that is why they are building new concrete ones.  There are also loads of cats in this place! We counted half a dozen on the walk to our bungalow alone. Some cute friendly kittens too. Not just by us but also all around the peninsula.

We plonked our stuff down and hit the bed for a well deserved afternoon nap. We were both completely knocked out for a couple of hours. We really should have pulled the mozzie net down though as in predictable fashion Sim got munched. The mozzie that feasted on him must have been a monster as the size of the welts that came up were humungous.  Seriously they were the size of an English penny. Poor guy. He has such juicy blood. As usual, I was left well alone as the mutant mozzie chose the tastier option.

[Pictures: Extra passenger 🙂 ? Our little hut]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Railay, Thailand] Warning! This post is a bit nostalgic.
Well the bungalow is still standing in spite of the borer (or whatever it is). Perfect blue skies and baking hot sun for the first time in ages! Today we decided to explore the peninsula so that I could take a stroll down memory lane and share some of this place and my memories with V. We headed from our bungalow over to Railay east and along the mangroves to the far northern end of the ‘waterfront’. A lot has changed here (actually a LOT has changed everywhere). Shacks and ramshackle bars have mostly been replaced by large concrete resorts and very fancy private houses glued together in typical Thai style by those familiar little stalls and alleyways.

After a quick bite we headed for the ‘Muay Thai’ and ‘1-2-3’ crags at the far end of the waterfront. The place was busy with the mornings guided climbing tours but not as busy as I remember it. It was wonderful to stare up at the climbs. I can still pick out the first route Al, Andrew and I tried in Thailand along with the 6b+ that kicked my butt, the 6a+ that Andrew bailed off because Al wasn’t paying attention and the 7a that was my best redpoint of the trip (I can still remember the moves!). It was just brilliant even though everything seems smaller – possibly it shrank after the tsunami.

From the crags we headed around to the trail that leads up to the viewpoint. The scramble was steeper than I recall and slippery after the recent rains but worth the effort as I’m sure Jackie and Shane will remember 😉 The views are amazing. What a spot. We passed a few others on the way down managing to escape with less red-clay splodges than most (our climbing skills hard at work). Following the path around brought us to the still perfect Pra-nang beach with it’s crowds, crystal clear water and towering limestone cliffs. After a walk along the beach past Happy Island we took a short dip. As I got out a storm cloud rolled in sending us looking for cover and some lunch.

The path from Railay East to West is now a twisting concrete ribbon between the fancy renovated resorts. No more tree-houses or shacks. I was however able to recognize, behind a mountain of concrete, the bungalow (and palm tree) at the Sand-See resort where I stayed 10 years ago but it looked disused – possibly to be rebuilt soon to the higher standard of the rest of the resort. We ate again at the Railay Bay resort restaurant next to the palm under which Al, Andrew and I collapsed when we arrived (the same palm under which we scoffed dozens of Ola ice creams). The little shop has been replaced by a swimming pool but the sad looking tree under which we spent many a lazy afternoon is still part of the restaurant. Plastic tables and chairs have been replaced by fancy wooden ones. Waiters have uniforms and food orders now arrive together. It felt good to be ‘back’.

V and I spent a lazy hour soaking up a little afternoon sun on the beach while people watching. The place has a different vibe. I guess it’s not the peak season yet but it feels empty and more about holiday makers with babies and pushcarts than climbers. We headed over to the end of the beach and the scramble over to Tonsai. Again memories were flooding back. ‘The Lion King’ the 6c+ that beat us every time and Al’s favorite route (Pan Talod) which V and I plan to climb – as an homage to our friend.

Dum’s kitchen (the dodgy little spot where eating could seriously affect your climbing for the next few days) is gone, replaced with rough but reasonable looking bars and tour offices. The rest of the beach all the way down to the stagnant water at the end is completely different. The thick jungle, up against which we camped, has been hacked out to house a string of bars, shops and bungalows extending hundreds of meters back. The area is far more ‘climber/backpacker’ than Railay but now instead of the empty beach where we prepared oats and washed dishes you can get a beer while hooked up to high speed WiFi. V and I sat at a bar near the one of the trees that looked familiar (possibly where we camped) and enjoyed the view of Tonsai and Railay with its Thaiwand wall.

There is now a new path linking Tonsai with Railay. It is a long route around the back of the peninsula but V and I decided to check it out. It wasn’t much fun. A long schlep through the jungle chased by more of those genetically modified mozzies. We arrived back at our bungalow hot, sweaty and, in my case, very itchy! It was a long day out – a complete tour of Railay, Tonsai and some of my very rusty memory banks. We miss our friend very much and the time Andrew and I spent here with Al will never be forgotten.

[Pictures: From the viewpoint over Railay. A typical longtail shot on Pra Nang. Could this be my old tree ?]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Railay,Thailand] We were both looking forward to the half day, 4 island snorkelling tour we had booked. We got to the tour operators office early and it was still all shut up. Odd. We had breakfast and then at the designated time we moseyed on over to the office again. Still all shuttered up. There was a young French girl hanging around outside that we initally assumed was another tourist waiting but, who as it turned out to be, was our snorkelling ‘guide’. I use the term guide here in the loosest form as she turned out to be utterly useless. Gina informed us there was a problem with the big boat and we would be using a longtail instead. We were also the only two people on the tour today. No problem for us though, we were just hoping the grey rain clouds would wait till after we were done snorkelling.

We hopped on the longtail along with Gina, our boat driver and a seriously gap toothed boat drivers buddy, declined the offer of a beer from gap tooth and made our way out to the islands. About 20 minutes in we pulled into a beach. Our guide did not know what was going on and initially seemed to think that this was where we were going to go snorkelling. Turned out, boat driver and buddy had forgot the snorkelling gear and had pulled into a mates spot to borrow some. We got going again and shortly thereafter anchored at what looked like a nice deep rocky spot next to a pinacle of rock in the middle of the sea. Unfortunately our borrowed snorkelling gear turned out to be complete rubbish. Sims snorkel leaked and the strap on my mask didn’t tighten which made it unusable.

We pfaffed around trying to fix them ourselves. Gina and the crew showing no interest whatsoever. We eventually gave up after receiving no help and told them the gear was unusable. We were both really miffed. So they steered us over to another island, where another tour operator was doing a deep water soloing tour, to borrow some gear off of them. Then instead of going back to our starting point, they just motored on over to the second snorkel spot (round the back of chicken island)!

There were loads of these little black and yellowy green striped fish where we got in. Sim had thoughtfully bought some biscuits with him and these little fish (+/-10 cm) swarmed to his mesh pocket on the outside of his swim shorts. These fish are just too cool. Turns out they like bananas and rice too. They must be the most common fish in Thailand but they are colourful and there are lots of them so they swim right up to your face. Just too cool. We like them a lot.

There wasn’t a great variety of fish where we snorkelled. The coral sadly is completely dead. We did see some large parrot fish (we both dig these guys) and some beautiful angel fish (Sims favourites). We still thought it was great though.

Island number three was beatiful but crowded. It didn’t matter though. It was the typical Thai postcard setting. Brilliant blue water and white sand. We fed the fish some more biscuits. They were coffee flavoured butter biscuits by the way – so watch out for vicious caffiene driven mutants. Then snorkelled in the very shallow water. One or two different types of fish here. A massive parrot fish different from the previous ones and some spiky sea urchins that we steered well clear off. Unfortunately the strap on Sims mask broke but it was time for lunch anyway.

On the way to island number 4 we swung by the deep water solo guys to return the gear. We tried to tell them the mask strap had broken but no one seemed interested. Guess some other poor tourist will find out soon enough. Sim was looking on at envy. Think he is keen to give it a go sometime.

Island number 4 (Poda) was also very pretty and also full of other people stopping for lunch. It would have been lovely to have snorkelled there also but due to complete incompetence we had no gear and had to be satisfied with strolling along the beach or just trying to see the fish from the surface.

I absolutely loved feeding the fish with some left over rice. It’s wonderful how close to the shore these guys come. Less than 2m into the water and you can be surrounded by them. They get a bit cheeky though and occassionaly nip your legs in the feeding frenzy. I know that the fish and snorkelling here are pretty boring compared to the rest of Thailand, but I had a ball nonetheless and so did Sim.

After that it was back to Railay. Before we left the island Gina presented us with a plastic packet with two little black fish in it for us to ‘release’ back into the sea, supposedly for good luck. It was a cheesy touch. Poor little buggers they got dumped into the sea and swam off in opposite directions. I think they were just severly disoriented after swimmin in circles in a bag all morning. Sims seemed to think he was a land animal as he headed straight for the beach:)

We can NEVER recommend Phranang Travel and Tours. They were completely incompetent and the ‘guide’ was beyond useless. Honestly she need not have bothered to come with us as she added nothing to the tour. No information, no organisation, and a halfhearted apology over the gear. We were supposed to have snorkelled at 4 islands and because of their mess up we were only able to snorkel at two places plus we lost a lot of time messing around with rubbish gear. Whilst 750 Baht per person may seem cheap to some people, we expected something a tiny bit more jacked up than what we got especially since the outfit puts on a western face (guide and office lady).

We probably should have complained bitterly to Gina or her boss and insisted on a discount, but we had ended the afternoon nicely and didn’t want to sour the experience further. Plus it didn’t rain. Instead we left without saying goodbye or getting one either, and headed off for a drink on the beach. A white Russian for Sim and a Pina Colada for me.

Next up. Climbing! Sim is already drooling over the route guide and gear we have rented for tomorrow adventures.

[Pictures: Chicken Island – no kidding… and no KFC! Us on Poda. Feeding frenzy]

V’s little yellow friends

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Railay, Thailand] A day out climbing and the weather was looking good. We were both very excited to get going and had rented the gear at some expense (£41) from the climbing shop alongside our bungalow. Breakfast at our resort restaurant (Phurit Valley Resort) was excellent and cheap in comparison to the places along the beach with a great view of the rocks and sea out towards Railay east.

We headed for the ‘Muay Thai’ wall but by the time we had arrived the blue skies had been replaced with thick cloud. The only people at the crag we managed a couple of occasionally wet routes (including one of Al’s faves – Huat Hin aka ‘Massage the Rock’) before the rain came bucketing down. We retreated to a nearby pagoda and let it pass. The routes were much harder than I expected and having to lead again ads extra weight (assuming fear has mass). The climbing schools started filling the crag in the rain but it soon eased. Traversing to the ‘1-2-3’ wall V managed to slice open her baby toe on a barnacle (somewhat reminiscent of Al wanging his toe on coral the day we arrived). Being the trooper she is she taped it up and we had a go at another route as the rain came back with vengeance. We tabled the climbing and went to make arrangements for our ferry to Phi Phi tomorrow. With nothing to do but watch the rain pouring down onto the empty beaches we sat and had lunch. This weather has been really annoying!

A decent pizza later the clouds started to clear and the sun came out. We were both glad we had decided not to pack it in for the day and headed off to Tonsai beach. Al’s favorite route (Pan Talod) was very busy with a queue so we sat in the shade and watched. Eventually we decided to head over to the famous ‘Groove Tube’ at the other end of the beach. A muddy scramble, a battle with vicious mozzies and a short wait for the route got us a turn. What an amazing climb – we thoroughly enjoyed it. The views from the top did not disappoint. I remember lugging Andrew’s camera up to take shots of him and Al coming up through the ‘tube’. This route deserves it’s almost legendary status.

It was then back to the business of what we had planned to do since before leaving the UK, climbing Pan Talod. Seems either I have the name of the route wrong (not possible) or the route directory we used today calls it by another name (Schlingel Moritz). In any event it didn’t matter. I know the route well. It was undoubtedly Al’s favorite route in the world and the best rated 6a in Pra Nang. Not a terribly difficult route back in the day. Extremely long reaches to good holds around some impressive roofs make it look very cool and a lot harder for shorter people. Big power moves on good jugs – Al’s kinda climb 🙂 As I got ready I felt nervous about making it to the top – 15m with 2 bolts and 3 slings after the hardest day’s climbing in years and 10kg extra on my belly.

Well I made it. Probably the most memorable ascent I have ever made. Every move flowed. Every placement was precise. The fear of leading vanished. For a brief moment at the upper crux I thought my knackered little arms were going to give up but I really was spurred on by the memory of my friend. I was relieved and elated. It rocked!

Mission accomplished – nothing left to do after that but head back to the bungalow. My V has been truly amazing these past few days in Railay, putting up with my stories and sharing the memories with me. We ARE going to get back into climbing. We just love it and no matter how old, fat, lazy, weak or unfit we get, the rock will always be there.

[Pictures: at the bottom of the Muay Thai wall just before the rain came down. The view from the top of Groove Tube. Sim at the top of Pan Talod – we miss our gri-gri]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Railay to Phi Phi, Thailand] This morning we said our goodbyes to Railay as we boarded the Ao Nang Princess ferry to Phi Phi. The Pra Nang peninsula was marvelous in the end, even if the weather was terrible, we only had a cold water shower and the WiFi was expensive. The weather today started off perfect and it was an easy hour long cruise out to the island (not even a hint of sea sickness because it was so calm).

We were a little concerned about finding accommodation on Phi Phi (the place is always busy) but the touts at the dock had plenty to choose from and it was a relief not to have to schlep around looking for something. The hotel even came to fetch us and transport our luggage (first time that has happened). We’re happy with what we found (Uphill Bungalows) and it seems like a reasonable deal since we have hot water, aircon and most importantly free WiFi. We grabbed a quick bite and spent some time internetting ourselves in the bungalow. As luck would have it the wind and rains started up ferociously giving us no choice but to keep playing online (there is always something to download or news to read).

By 4 the rain had gone and the sun was back out. I managed to convince V to go and chat to dive school about completing her course. She was not wild about the idea, the fear is still fresh in her mind, but we found a PADI 5 star company (Barakuda Divers www.phiphibarakuda.com) online that made special mention on their website about giving more time to ‘nervous’ students. We went looking for them in the maize of streets that is Tonsai village where dive centres pay instructors on commission only. The result is that the western instructors lurking outside of the dozens of dive operators hardly let anyone by with trying to sell a course or outing. We found Barakuda and were greeted by Stephane (a French fire fighter and rescue diver who has been an instructor for about 25 minutes). Explaining that V needed to finish her course he got the branch manager involved. They were great to chat to and we felt completely comfortable in spite of Stephane’s recent graduation to ‘Instructor’.

So it’s all set. Tomorrow my brave little V will be facing her fears once again. I’ll be able to dive with them for free to just watch and fool about while they do the confined water dives. After That excitement we spent the rest of the evening strolling down the island and back along the beach. It is a beautiful place.

[Pictures: Cattitude at the local restaurant. Our new little ‘Bungalow’]

Goodbye Railay

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Phi Phi, Thailand] Don’t think V got much sleep last night – she was anxious about getting back under water. The dive centre was kind enough to let me join V and Stephane for the confined water dives in the harbor. It gave me a chance to play around a little and keep an eye on my V. I have to admit that we were not that impressed with the gear at the centre, compared to Sea Dragon in Khao Lak it was in bad shape but we kitted up fully and marched down the main street to the beach. That knackered us out immediately, the stuff is heavy!

With all the time in the world to complete the skills and Stephane’s calm tone (our kind of tone) we got in the water and V spent around 10 minutes just ‘acclimatizing’. It just felt more comfortable and less pressurized and a much better environment than the pool. Lots of space, warm, varying depths and cool little fish to watch. V’s previous wide-eyed expression was replaced with total calm, control and enjoyment after her little swim around. She cruised through the first exercises (even the dreaded mask removal) without any problems. At one point I was just cruising around and found V and Stephane on the bottom at over 4m in the deepest area doing mask removal. I was impressed!

After a short break to warm up V completed the final two confined water dives, again with ease, although she always moans about having to take the mask off 🙂 Two and a half hours is all it took for the 5 skills sessions. We’re both really chuffed. It was a major fear for her to overcome after the last experience. V rocks and I love seeing that ear to ear grin on her face. She’s genuinely excited about the dives tomorrow.

In the afternoon we took a walk around town and purchased an el-cheap-o underwater camera (£10) that may (or may not) produce some shots of V’s qualifying open water dives. Feeling a little more energetic than usual we headed up to the Phi Phi view point. It was a hot, steep hike but rewarding with the view of the island. We decided to wait for the sunset but as soon as the sun dropped below the sea cliffs to the west the mozzies launched an offensive. We didn’t last long! Not to worry – we needed an early night – tomorrow we hit open water.

[Pictures: From the viewpoint on Phi Phi]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Phi Phi, Thailand] On the way to the dive centre there are two bakeries on opposite sides of the street with irresistible hoards of fresh pastries. That was breakfast and then on to the pier. Barakuda have supplied V with a prescription mask if you are wondering why she is wearing her glasses in the photos. They made a huge difference to her yesterday – one less thing to worry about I guess.

Our first dive site (Ban Nok) was just off a small island 40 minutes from port on flat seas under sunny skies. That’s more like it ! No rough pitching seas to remove our apple dough-nuts. The boat wasn’t full and we busied ourselves with setting up the gear and chatting to Stephane about the dive. Dive 1 would be a ‘no skills’ fun dive just cruising around. The boat stopped just off a stunning little bay – we jumped in and paddled to the shallower part (12m) to start the dive. Just treading at the surface Stephane spotted a baby black tip reef shark swimming beneath us. At that size they actually look cute. The dive was perfect. Great visibility and a lot of life on a beautiful reef. V didn’t remember much. That’s what happens on your first dive – as soon as you go under your memory switches off. We did see, besides countless others, a scary scorpion fish and a small Morey.

For an early lunch our captain pulled into Maya Bay. Yip – the one from the movie “The Beach” – which they are STILL playing in bars and restaurants on Phi Phi over 10 years after it screened. Your could barely see the sand through the swarm of speedboats, long-tails and 450 person ferries. A special trip there won’t be necessary or worth it. V had the boring task of swimming twice around the boat and then treading for 10 minutes while I had lunch. I was kind enough to have a cup of tea waiting for her when she got out.

The second dive site was just around the corner from Maya bay – a site called Malong. The visibility was not as good but the terrain was interesting and we saw a lot of lazy turtles munching coral and I got up close with a giant puffer fish (they are very cool). V took in a lot more on the dive and also completed the prerequisite skills and then some. Instead of just filling the mask and clearing it she removed it completely. So that fear is obviously gone and has been replaced with an even bigger grin.

I took a lot (well it’s a film camera so 24 is a lot) of photos and I hope they turn out but we will have to wait as there isn’t a photo lab on Phi Phi. After snoozing and inter-netting all afternoon we popped out for a meal and then straight back to bed. This diving thing is exhausting. Just two dives left and V will be certified. Tomorrow should be a breeze.

[Pictures: On the way out to the dive sites. V swimming around the boat in front of Maya bay]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

200 Days on the road !

Even we are impressed. That is a long time to be traveling around for people like us who don’t even like going out to the shops. The down side is that we can definitely feel that the trip is coming to an end 🙁 we could use another 3 months to get through Malaysia, Indonesia and Borneo but time and money are now on our endangered species list. We have been looking for flights to New Zealand and it looks like we will be arriving there at 23:45 on Christmas day or New Years day – still need to hit the ‘buy now’ button but those dates have by far the best fares. So little more than a month left in the paradise of South East Asia before the great Middle Earth adventure begins in New Zealand.

We just don’t want it to stop. Ever! Maybe we should become climb/dive instructors and just not leave Thailand. Sounds like a plan. At the moment I can’t think of anything better than spending a few years on a tropical island with my V.

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Phi Phi, Thailand] Uugh. Woke up at 4am with the runs. Last nights Mexican (that should be a sign in Thailand) food did not agree with me and today I have my last two qualifying open water dives. Oh well hope the imodium works.

Was feeling pretty grim by the time we got on the boat. Sim reckons I need to learn when to say enough and cancel instead of just carrying on and being miz (aka stubborn).

The ride out to our first dive spot (Viking cave) was very calm, but my upset tummy meant that I still got a case of sea sickness. Wasn’t sure I should be diving but after we got in the water I felt much better. After completing a couple of tasks we were cruising around an artificial reef at 18 METERS (that’s a long way down to me). I must say I was feeling much more comfortable in the water and was able to pay more attention to the fish and the coral. We saw lots, including a large Giant Puffer Fish with a cleaner fish suckering onto him. Also saw a big Moray eel entwined around a piece of coral. Lots and lots of little Nemos. It was lovely.

Our second dive was at Palong. I was feeling pretty grim during the break, but again felt better once in the water. My last few tasks included BCD and weight removal (easy), hovering (also easy) and the dreaded mask removal. I absolutely detest this task and for me it is always the hardest. Once done though, it meant that I had completed all my skills. Stephan then let Sim and me buddy each other and lead the way while he trailed behind keeping an eye on us. It was great. Visibility wasn’t as good as the other dive site, but it was nice to cruise around and get used to just swimming near each other and checking out the sights at our own pace. We both got a bit of a fright when we spotted a black tipped reef shark, and then another and another – they were surrounding us! There were probably half a dozen of these ‘harmless’ adult sharks maybe 10m away from us. Scary and awesome at the same time. We finished off our dive exhilarated and completely knackered in my case (also with numb thumbs and toes again).

Back at the bungalow I was feeling even worse than earlier. That damn Mexican food really did me in. Slept for a few hours then set off with Sim to find some celebratory Scotch. We found one of our favorites (Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban) at a local bar. It was yummy and worth the price. Then off to go get my certification signed off at the dive shop.

Stephan has been an excellent instructor. Turns out I am his first Open Water Diver that he has qualified. Barakuda divers have been pretty good. Their gear and boats are not as nice as Seadragons but I was more relaxed doing the confined water dives in the shallows by the beach. We also didn’t have to worry about getting things done in time for a visa run. The sunny weather helped too.

I am so grateful to Sim for encouraging me to try again. He knows me so well and knows when to push and when not to. My darling man is a wonderful companion and after 200 days of traveling together I still love him to bits and always will.

Tomorrow we are off to Koh Lipe. Well to Pak Bara the ferry point at least. We will have to overnight there before taking the ferry across in the morning. Not looking forward to the long minibus drive – the direct speedboat is just too expensive.

[Pictures: A little taste of the views on the ride out. V’s log book and temporary PADI card – yippee]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Phi Phi to Pak Bara, Thailand] The beaches and islands have made us soft. Today’s hour long ferry ride followed by 6 and a half hours of minibuses felt much harder than the 18 hour bus rides we were doing in China.

The weather was great when we said goodbye to Phi Phi and the ferry ride was smooth and easy. A minibus was waiting for us in Krabi and we set off almost without delay, which was good – not like the other day with the long wait at the hub. We tried to doze with limited success but at least the roads were smooth and straight. Heavy rain in the afternoon hit as we pulled into a fancy minibus station near Hat Yai. A short wait and we were on another van to Pak Bara. We still can’t get over how easy it is to travel here. We were deposited outside a travel agency near the ferry dock in Pak Bara who sold us speedboat tickets for tomorrow and arranged a really cheap (beyond basic) bungalow for the night – they even got the minibus to drop us off at the bungalow!

Pak Bara is dead. It’s primary function I suspect is the ferry to Koh Lipe. It seems they did have a KFC, but the closed signed indicates it has moved 10km down the road and even I won’t walk that far for KFC. We found a pleasant little restaurant (Red Boat). There were maybe 3 open, all empty, but Red Boat happened to have an open WiFi point nearby. We were the only patrons and the old husband and wife holding down the fort weren’t prepared for any customers (I guess they normally run the kitchen). We managed to communicate an order once the lady had found her specs (thankfully the menu was in English and Thai) but when a second couple took a table panic set in. In no time a young chap, I assume their son, arrived to take over the waitering duties. It was quite sweet.

[Pictures: Bara Guest house – good for a night :)]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Koh Lipe, Thailand] Just arrived.. Got an amazing spot up on the hill above the beach for (GBP10).. No internet.. but what a view… We’re on ‘Holiday’ for the next few days and with no WiFi don’t expect any updates 🙂

Flights to New Zealand booked.. We depart KL on 31 December, spend New Year’s day in the Gold Coast airport (Australia) and then fly on to Christchurch to arrive at 23:45 on January 1…that’s 2011 !

[Update: Just Filling in the details]
It wasn’t a challenge to get out to Koh Lipe. Just a little expensive. We had breakfast at the Red Boat and sat around abusing the open WiFi point while we waited for our speed boat ferry. The boat was packed full of cargo before any passengers got near it – just goes to show that everything on remote islands has to shipped in. What a mission.

We headed out at around 50km/h (I checked) and had no trouble on the calm seas. First stop was at Koh Tarutao (an island that is a national park/marine preserve and was once a prison – it now has a few parks board run cabins). Then on to Koh Lipe. Getting to the beach on Lipe is a little cheeky. The ferries stop at a barge about 400m out to sea and you have to pay B50 for a longtail to shore. Anyway we arrived and strolled along the beach until we found a good spot at Pattaya 2 Bungalows. It was a choice of B800 a night for one with electricity and pay-as-you-go WiFi that was set off the beach or B500 a night for a basic spot overlooking the entire beach from the far end. We chose the latter.

The afternoon was spent wandering the island. It’s not very big and not at all busy. A couple of Internet cafes all use satellite connections that are dodgy at times. The usual shops and restaurants (but no 7-11’s). It was VERY hot. Tomorrow we are doing absolutely nothing. Should be fun.

[Pictures: The view from our porch… Lucky us]

– Posted via Satellite internet connection

[Koh Lipe, Thailand] We’re pretty much all beached out for now. Three full days of baking hot sun, soft white sands and crystal blue water will do that to us. Being held up here in our little bungalow above Pattaya beach has been a fantastic little break in our travels. The bungalow has been acceptable. The cold water shower is not too cold and we have electricity from 6pm to 7am – although during the night the power dips up and down making the ceiling fan seem possessed. Sitting on our shaded porch and just watching the idillic beach has consumed many an hour.

We have wandered down to the beach occasionally to explore the rocks, take a quick dip in the very warm sea or find some food. We’ve become regulars at the Pee Pee Bakery for a breakfast pastry and in the evening all the beach restaurants move their tables out onto the sands – a great spot for a beer shandy while the sun sets. We decided to do some more diving here so have had to tighten our meal budget a little (to the cheapest item on the menu) but probably still eating double what we ate in China.

Yesterday we went diving with Forra Divers at a group of islands known locally as ‘The Far Islands’, because they are far away. They seemed a bit disorganized but friendly enough and the gear was in good nick. We got another Frenchman (Etienne) to lead our dives and after two hours on the painfully slow converted fishing boat we arrived at Koh Pung. The dive site was a 20m deep channel between two small islands. Above the water it was stunning but below was less than ideal. V had a terrible time and I fared only slightly better. 3m visibility and an incredibly strong current that we had to fight continuously. You could see that the soft coral forests were unbelievably beautiful but in those conditions and at that speed it was not fun. The conditions were marginally better at the end of the dive in the shallows where I got to watch a massive Morey for a few minutes.

For lunch we stopped in between two islands – the most amazing setting. It wasn’t very deep but the water was perfectly clear and full of sea-life. V and I did a little snorkeling and that more than made up for disastrous morning dive. The second site at Koh Sarrang was a short distance away. Sarrang is a tiny island with a reef extending down to 20m or so. It was perfect. 10m+ visibility and no current. We cruised around the island through beautiful soft coral forests. I love the round blue ones (that’s the technical name I believe) and the wavey green ones that always have a Nemo (Clownfish) in them. We saw (amongst many) Lion Fish, Scorpion Fish, Moreys, Emperor Angelfish, a huge Parrot fish (V’s fave), Moorish Idols (my faves), friendly Pufferfish and a decent sized Batfish as we were coming up. This diving thing is just too much fun and it seems we are getting better at it.

Besides all of that and snoozing afternoons away we have been plotting the next leg of the trip. The budget is getting a little tight (thanks largely to diving) so at this stage we want to head to Kuala Lumpar reasonably quickly and fly to Kota Kinabalu. We’ll spend three weeks around the Malaysian part of North Eastern Borneo before heading back to KL and on to New Zealand. It’s a pitty we can’t just keep going – looks like we are going to need another adventure to hit the spots we’ve missed!

[Pictures: Beach Views, Sunsets and Lunch time snorkel spots]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

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[Koh Lipe, Thailand] Moving on to another country today. Thailand has been great. The weather was pretty terrible for the first couple of weeks but since we got to Phi Phi it has been amazing. Thailand will always hold some old emotional memories for me (and some awesome new ones for both of us). Bangkok with it’s palace, shopping and mouthwatering steak, the big kitties at Kanchanaburi and the moving story of Hellfire pass.Our cool yellow/green fishy friends that are everywhere. Ups and downs learning to dive at Khao Lak. Climbing at Railay. Relief and joy at trying the diving thing again at Phi Phi. Black tip reef sharks and countless cool underwater critters. Unplugging for a day or two with awesome views at Koh Lipe (and more wonderful diving). It’s been quite a ride! The scuba diving especially has given us a new passion to play with – V is already plotting more diving off Borneo. Sipidan – Google it. It looks unbelievable.

Unfortunately Thailand has been more expensive than we expected, but we have been living it up, diving and eating way too much. We have passed the limit on our original budget (when we should have left for New Zealand), but are still okay with our 10% budget increase – hey, it’s inflation I tell you 🙂 It has been worth it. So out of original plan we’ll be skipping Singapore, Indonesia and East Timor (plus the ‘optionals’ of Nepal, Philippines and Australia). We have to leave something for next time.

[Pictures: Ahh.. we’ll miss those longtails]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi