HAHA here is the video. I've got loads more from other places, but this is the best and funniest by far!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ4j61yK40E
Friday, 29 February 2008
Kuala Lumpur
Well, we've only been here about 36 hours, and we're already about to leave. We're going down to Singapore on the night train (it takes about 10 hours, but we have beds). We should get there just after 08:00, then we'll need to find a hostel.
Anyway, yesterday, we did go out around town, and we obviously saw the Petronas Towers (tallest twin towers in the world!) but it was too late to go up them. After wandering around there for a while we went to the tourist info centre, as we needed to find out how to get down to Singapore in one go. They suggested the train and a bus, but the bus was more expensive (just with seats?!) We wanted to try and get it booked during the night as it would save on accommodation, so we went to the main train station (about 6 stops on the monorail) and managed to book it for just 40 ringgits! (which is about 6.5 quid!) We wandered around the train sation for a bit, but then realised we were wasting our time, as there was nothing to do there at all! We came back to the hostel and all spent about 1-2 hours on the PC and then went out. We actually made it out at about 11pm, and just managed to make it to TGI Friday's by half past (last orders). We were all going to have the smallest meal, but as usual we all went for the 3 courses for about 6 pounds. Ohh and we also pretended it was Stu's birthday, so they sang him an embarrassing song and gave him balloons and chocolate cake! I'll post the video up on YouTube when I have time. We ate so much and got back to the hostel at about 1am. I got up at just after 8 (same with Alex) as we wanted to go to the Petronas Towers (you have to get your tickets early, as it gets fully booked really quickly) Ours were given out for 11:30, so we went for a walk around the park and then came back to the hostel. Stu and Mike were still in bed at this point (as usual!). We went back out a bit late, and we went the wrong way, so we missed out time slot, but they let us in for the next one, which was good of them. We had to go throught the same security checks as they have in an airport, and then got in a lift to the 41st floor (only halfway, as tourists aren't allowed to the top, but still at 150 metres) and got out onto the Skybridge. We spent about 10 minutes there before we were asked to go back down. It was really cool, but the view was quite restricted. We then went to the KL Tower, where we thought we'd meet Mike and Stu, but as we were too late, they'd already gone. We went up the top (to about 270 metres) so we could see a lot more. This time we had to pay, but it was only about 3 pounds (and we got a free pencil - woohoo...) We stayed up there for about half an hour and then went to get some typical Malaysian food - KFC!!! it was better than in England and about a tenth of the price, so we win both ways!
Now we're just waiting to go to the train station, as we have about 2 hours to kill!
I'm a bit aprehensive about Singapore, as we were looking at some of the laws earlier, and you get the death sentence for drug dealing (people could easily plant drugs on us while we sleep), a big fine for littering, selling chewing gum (I have eaten a whole pack today!) and not flushing a public toilet (wierd!)
You will all find out if we made it by my next installment of this blog.
Oh, and sorry for any earlier confusion, when I mentioned the Shroom Bar, but none of us have taken any.
Chris
Anyway, yesterday, we did go out around town, and we obviously saw the Petronas Towers (tallest twin towers in the world!) but it was too late to go up them. After wandering around there for a while we went to the tourist info centre, as we needed to find out how to get down to Singapore in one go. They suggested the train and a bus, but the bus was more expensive (just with seats?!) We wanted to try and get it booked during the night as it would save on accommodation, so we went to the main train station (about 6 stops on the monorail) and managed to book it for just 40 ringgits! (which is about 6.5 quid!) We wandered around the train sation for a bit, but then realised we were wasting our time, as there was nothing to do there at all! We came back to the hostel and all spent about 1-2 hours on the PC and then went out. We actually made it out at about 11pm, and just managed to make it to TGI Friday's by half past (last orders). We were all going to have the smallest meal, but as usual we all went for the 3 courses for about 6 pounds. Ohh and we also pretended it was Stu's birthday, so they sang him an embarrassing song and gave him balloons and chocolate cake! I'll post the video up on YouTube when I have time. We ate so much and got back to the hostel at about 1am. I got up at just after 8 (same with Alex) as we wanted to go to the Petronas Towers (you have to get your tickets early, as it gets fully booked really quickly) Ours were given out for 11:30, so we went for a walk around the park and then came back to the hostel. Stu and Mike were still in bed at this point (as usual!). We went back out a bit late, and we went the wrong way, so we missed out time slot, but they let us in for the next one, which was good of them. We had to go throught the same security checks as they have in an airport, and then got in a lift to the 41st floor (only halfway, as tourists aren't allowed to the top, but still at 150 metres) and got out onto the Skybridge. We spent about 10 minutes there before we were asked to go back down. It was really cool, but the view was quite restricted. We then went to the KL Tower, where we thought we'd meet Mike and Stu, but as we were too late, they'd already gone. We went up the top (to about 270 metres) so we could see a lot more. This time we had to pay, but it was only about 3 pounds (and we got a free pencil - woohoo...) We stayed up there for about half an hour and then went to get some typical Malaysian food - KFC!!! it was better than in England and about a tenth of the price, so we win both ways!
Now we're just waiting to go to the train station, as we have about 2 hours to kill!
I'm a bit aprehensive about Singapore, as we were looking at some of the laws earlier, and you get the death sentence for drug dealing (people could easily plant drugs on us while we sleep), a big fine for littering, selling chewing gum (I have eaten a whole pack today!) and not flushing a public toilet (wierd!)
You will all find out if we made it by my next installment of this blog.
Oh, and sorry for any earlier confusion, when I mentioned the Shroom Bar, but none of us have taken any.
Chris
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Some Photos from Thailand
Its hard to upload photos onto Picaso, so I thought i'd put a few up here. 
Kohsan Road, Bangkok, Thailand
Golden Mountain Buddha, Bangkok
Haad Son, Koh Phangan, Thailand
Half Moon Party, Ban Tai, Koh Phangan
Haad Son Beach Resort (Our Room!)
Haad Salad, Koh Phangan
Stu with his T-shirt underwear
A guy with a fire stick thing
The Villa!!!!
Sunset from Thong Yang beach
Us on the way to Thong Sala on our last day
Kohsan Road, Bangkok, Thailand
Golden Mountain Buddha, Bangkok
Haad Son, Koh Phangan, Thailand
Half Moon Party, Ban Tai, Koh Phangan
Haad Son Beach Resort (Our Room!)
Haad Salad, Koh Phangan
Stu with his T-shirt underwear
A guy with a fire stick thing
The Villa!!!!
Sunset from Thong Yang beach
Us on the way to Thong Sala on our last day
Our last night in Koh Phangan and the journey to Kuala Lumpur
On our last night in Koh Phangan we went to Haad Rin beach for old times sake, but we didn't have anything to drink (well, I didn't). We just sat on the beach (which was a state from the night before) We watched a couple of the Thai guys do fire poi, then decided to head to the other beach in Haad Rin, but as the tide was too far in, we couldn't actually get to it!!! We got a taxi back to our place and played a few games of poker, before going to bed.
We got up at bout 12 and had another big breakfast, which consisted of French Toast and Muesli (again!) The owner of the Bungalow said he didn't mind what time we checked out, as our room was not in use for another couple of days, so we didn't bother packing much up. We went with Tom, Jane and Polly to Thong Sala as they were heading off to Koh Tao to do some diving and to relax more (?!?) We wondered around the town for a bit then realised that we had to fix the bed! (a few nights before, I think 5 people were on it, and the side beam went "snap". It didn't look very good afterwards, as there were quite a few bits of wood dangling down!!) We managed to find some Gaffer tape and made a good job of it, but we hope the next set of guests don't break it too soon! We finished the bed, and then went for one last swim in the sea, before getting some more food to eat at the Blue Lotus (our new Absolute Restaurant!) I ate soooo much, but I knew we wouldn't get the chance to have much on the boat and bus later on in the day. We got back to the bungalow at about 7pm and had our last showers (which weren't too hot, as there was a power cut!) I handed in the key to the owner's wife/chef/cleaner... and then we went to wait for our taxi - What could be simpler?????
I thought I wouldn't have much to write about one simple bus journey, but...
Well, we were supposed to get a taxi transfer included in out ticket price, but as we experienced earlier on in the day with Tom, Jane and Polly, they were not very reliable. We waited, and waited, and waited until about 9pm (it was supposed to arrive at 8pm!!) so we thought we might as well get our own one, and stop off at the travel agent to have a go at the lady, but the amazing people from our bungalow offered us a lift to the port, as they were heading up that way! (this made us feel even more guilty about the bed!?!) He said it was no problem to take us so we thought we might as well make the most of it. Things were made worse, by the fact that he didn't want any money off us! Anyway, we said goodbye to him and got our tickets for the boat (a big sleeper boat) We all had bed numbers that were around 110, but after a couple of checks around the boat, we found there were only 90 beds (1st problem). We tried to ask someone, but they kept on ushering us away or telling us to go to see someone else. We finally gave in and sat down by the door, and prepared for a 6 hour trip (we thought it would be a 1-2 hour crossing...???) We fell asleep pretty quickly and woke up just in time for docking at Surat Thani in Thailand. We found a man telling us that our minibus was waiting so we just went over to it, to find it was full. Another cam within a couple of minutes, so we got into it. It took us to the travel agent's office, and the moody lady told us that the bus wasn't for another hour and a hlaf (it was at 6am and it was 4.30am) We sat in the office, wasting away the time until 6am finally came. We got into the pickup truck(!!) and were worried it would be taking us all the way to Kuala Lumpur, but 2 minutes down the road we stopped off at another travel agents and were told the real bus would arrive in about 10-15 minutes (good... we thought) While we were waiting, we were told to go into the office and show our passports. They then tried to con us, saying that we need 300RM (Malaysian Ringgits) to enter Malaysia and they gave us a crappy exchange rate (3RM to the pound, instead of 6!!!) Luckily I already had them, so she seemed pretty p*ssed off with me lol. But she told some random Thai guy to take Alex, Mike and Stu to a cash machine. On the way they realised she was trying to con us and refused to withdraw any money. They told her they didn't need any money and she just laughed and said we'd need to get a taxi into the town. We finally got onto a bus (a minibus!!) and asked the driver if it was going all the way to KL, which he said "yes". He then drove us to a rough part of the town, and we sat there between a shanty part of the area. I honestly thought we would be ambushed by his friends. But actually he was just waiting for his wife (I think) We carried along the main road, until after about 10 minutes we picked up two Norwegian girls, who were really nice, but seemed to have the same sort of problems as us. Then we thought we were on our way! - NO. We stopped off at a university and picked up 5 muslim girls, and I was forced to move seats by the driver, so they could sit together! Anyway, we put the problems aside and we got on our way. We made it all the way down to Haad/Hat Yai, when one of the girls had to get a train. I was forced out of the minibus to let her out, but then I got back in; to the crampt, over airconditioned bus. Oh and also he had a massive subwoofer in the back, which was pretty much full, and he was playing some rubbishy Thai rock! I had to turn my iPod up full, and I could still hear it!!!!! We drove around the streets of Hat Yai until we got to another travel agents, and we were ushered out of the bus and told to wait for another one! This was turning out to be a shambles! We exchanged words of anger with some other tourists, who had been treated in a similar way, and then finally got on another bus!!! The passengers on this one were all heading in the same sort of direction (Butterworth/Penang/KL/Singapore), so we thought we had finally made it! We crossed over the boarder, which had a really tight security area, so we had to keep on jumping out of the bus to get passports stamped, then checked, then we had to get our bags screened, but I suppose its better to be safe than sorry. It already felt so much hotter at the boarder than we had ever felt in Thailand, but we were much closer to the equator.
Anyway, back to the story. We continued along the motorways of Malaysia for another 4 hours and got to Butterworth at about 4.30pm local time. This was the biggest shock. Ready...????
Our driver had said we'd missed our bus by 20mins! WTF!? He then got into the minibus and drove off to take the people to Penang! There were 7 of us, left standing outside a dingy travel office, where we were told we could leave our bags. We took them up on their offer, as it was soo hot. The next bus wasn't until 10pm! We all conteplated on what to do, and decided food was best. The Norwegian lady, and the English couple went to a restaurant nearby (over the dual carriage way!) and we went to change our Thai Baht to Ringgints. We found the Norwegian lady sitting in the restaurant with a Malaysian lady, and they invited us to join them. It turns out that the Thai lady was the owner of the restaurant and she was really sympathetic. She gave us some chicken and rice, and then offered us the use of her bed and shower!! We didn't want to intrude too much, so we went to the 7 Eleven to get some water and snacks (for the bus, if it ever came!) After this we went back to the restaurant and asked if we could use her shower (its really, really hot!) We were led to a small room with a matress on the floor and shown the bathroom. I tried to use the shower, but ended up spraying water all over the place (there was one main control tap, that I turned on, but there were about 5 other taps it controlled. They all started spraying our water!) I gave up after wetting my hair (and the floor) and just went for a lie down in the room. Stu and Mike fell asleep, but Alex and I just sat there. The time passed quite quickly, and at 8pm we were about to leave, when a Makaysian boy came in. We thought he was going to ask us to leave, but actually his Mum (the restaurant owner) had asked him to go and take us out for dinner! We got in his car and talked to him about Butterworth and KL (he went to college there) He took us to the beach area and bought us all chicken and rice (again) and he paid for the whole thing! He even got us a bit plate of chicken satays to share as well! This certainly made up for the shambles of the bus journey. He gave us a lift to the bus station/travel agents where there were 3 big, air conditioned coaches waiting!! (Wooooo!) We said goodbye and thanked him again, and he went home. Its so cool that people are like that in such a bad area of town (Butterworth is apparently full of offices, so no tourists ever go there). We got our bus tickets, and found we had the 4 seats on the back row, which was even better! The only problem with this bus, was that the staff were really unhelpful. The bags didn't all fit in, so they pulled them alll out and told us to pack it for them!! By this time it had been 25 hours since we'd left our bungalow, so we didn't want to argue. I fell asleep for most of the journey (the seats reclined really far; almost like bed!), and woke up when we got into Kuala Lumpur. We got off the coach, to find ourselves in a place that was very much like Hong Kong (not what we really wanted!) Alex had been given a few names of hostels that his friends had given him, so he went to an internet cafe to find out where they were. This left Stu and I on the side of the road with loads of bags, and lots of strange people, offering us cheap taxis and cheap hotels. But by now we were used to declining any offers from people like that. After about 15 minutes, AJ and Mike came back and had addresses for 2 hostels. We jumped into a taxi and got dropped off at the first one. We rung the doorbell, but were told that it was too full, so we tried the next one. However, this was harder to find. The owner of the 1st place said it was "just around the corner", so we decided to walk. We made a few wrong turnings, but asked a few locals, who directed us to the hostel (Trekker Lodge)
We made it in and were shown to a small dorm with 2 other people in. I think we fell alseep almost straight away, and it seemed like no time before Alex had woken me up to go and get some breakfast (included in the price!) It turned out to be toast and jam, but it was still really good. Stu and Mike went to bed after that, and they're still there, but Alex and I came to use the internet (also included in the price!) We're probablt going to see the Petronas Towers this afternoon, but we'll leave tomorrow to go up them, as they shut the doors at about 11am!
I thought it was a lot like Hong Kong, which wasn't a really enjoyable city, but everyone here is really friendly, so hopefully it willl be much better!
We got up at bout 12 and had another big breakfast, which consisted of French Toast and Muesli (again!) The owner of the Bungalow said he didn't mind what time we checked out, as our room was not in use for another couple of days, so we didn't bother packing much up. We went with Tom, Jane and Polly to Thong Sala as they were heading off to Koh Tao to do some diving and to relax more (?!?) We wondered around the town for a bit then realised that we had to fix the bed! (a few nights before, I think 5 people were on it, and the side beam went "snap". It didn't look very good afterwards, as there were quite a few bits of wood dangling down!!) We managed to find some Gaffer tape and made a good job of it, but we hope the next set of guests don't break it too soon! We finished the bed, and then went for one last swim in the sea, before getting some more food to eat at the Blue Lotus (our new Absolute Restaurant!) I ate soooo much, but I knew we wouldn't get the chance to have much on the boat and bus later on in the day. We got back to the bungalow at about 7pm and had our last showers (which weren't too hot, as there was a power cut!) I handed in the key to the owner's wife/chef/cleaner... and then we went to wait for our taxi - What could be simpler?????
I thought I wouldn't have much to write about one simple bus journey, but...
Well, we were supposed to get a taxi transfer included in out ticket price, but as we experienced earlier on in the day with Tom, Jane and Polly, they were not very reliable. We waited, and waited, and waited until about 9pm (it was supposed to arrive at 8pm!!) so we thought we might as well get our own one, and stop off at the travel agent to have a go at the lady, but the amazing people from our bungalow offered us a lift to the port, as they were heading up that way! (this made us feel even more guilty about the bed!?!) He said it was no problem to take us so we thought we might as well make the most of it. Things were made worse, by the fact that he didn't want any money off us! Anyway, we said goodbye to him and got our tickets for the boat (a big sleeper boat) We all had bed numbers that were around 110, but after a couple of checks around the boat, we found there were only 90 beds (1st problem). We tried to ask someone, but they kept on ushering us away or telling us to go to see someone else. We finally gave in and sat down by the door, and prepared for a 6 hour trip (we thought it would be a 1-2 hour crossing...???) We fell asleep pretty quickly and woke up just in time for docking at Surat Thani in Thailand. We found a man telling us that our minibus was waiting so we just went over to it, to find it was full. Another cam within a couple of minutes, so we got into it. It took us to the travel agent's office, and the moody lady told us that the bus wasn't for another hour and a hlaf (it was at 6am and it was 4.30am) We sat in the office, wasting away the time until 6am finally came. We got into the pickup truck(!!) and were worried it would be taking us all the way to Kuala Lumpur, but 2 minutes down the road we stopped off at another travel agents and were told the real bus would arrive in about 10-15 minutes (good... we thought) While we were waiting, we were told to go into the office and show our passports. They then tried to con us, saying that we need 300RM (Malaysian Ringgits) to enter Malaysia and they gave us a crappy exchange rate (3RM to the pound, instead of 6!!!) Luckily I already had them, so she seemed pretty p*ssed off with me lol. But she told some random Thai guy to take Alex, Mike and Stu to a cash machine. On the way they realised she was trying to con us and refused to withdraw any money. They told her they didn't need any money and she just laughed and said we'd need to get a taxi into the town. We finally got onto a bus (a minibus!!) and asked the driver if it was going all the way to KL, which he said "yes". He then drove us to a rough part of the town, and we sat there between a shanty part of the area. I honestly thought we would be ambushed by his friends. But actually he was just waiting for his wife (I think) We carried along the main road, until after about 10 minutes we picked up two Norwegian girls, who were really nice, but seemed to have the same sort of problems as us. Then we thought we were on our way! - NO. We stopped off at a university and picked up 5 muslim girls, and I was forced to move seats by the driver, so they could sit together! Anyway, we put the problems aside and we got on our way. We made it all the way down to Haad/Hat Yai, when one of the girls had to get a train. I was forced out of the minibus to let her out, but then I got back in; to the crampt, over airconditioned bus. Oh and also he had a massive subwoofer in the back, which was pretty much full, and he was playing some rubbishy Thai rock! I had to turn my iPod up full, and I could still hear it!!!!! We drove around the streets of Hat Yai until we got to another travel agents, and we were ushered out of the bus and told to wait for another one! This was turning out to be a shambles! We exchanged words of anger with some other tourists, who had been treated in a similar way, and then finally got on another bus!!! The passengers on this one were all heading in the same sort of direction (Butterworth/Penang/KL/Singapore), so we thought we had finally made it! We crossed over the boarder, which had a really tight security area, so we had to keep on jumping out of the bus to get passports stamped, then checked, then we had to get our bags screened, but I suppose its better to be safe than sorry. It already felt so much hotter at the boarder than we had ever felt in Thailand, but we were much closer to the equator.
Anyway, back to the story. We continued along the motorways of Malaysia for another 4 hours and got to Butterworth at about 4.30pm local time. This was the biggest shock. Ready...????
Our driver had said we'd missed our bus by 20mins! WTF!? He then got into the minibus and drove off to take the people to Penang! There were 7 of us, left standing outside a dingy travel office, where we were told we could leave our bags. We took them up on their offer, as it was soo hot. The next bus wasn't until 10pm! We all conteplated on what to do, and decided food was best. The Norwegian lady, and the English couple went to a restaurant nearby (over the dual carriage way!) and we went to change our Thai Baht to Ringgints. We found the Norwegian lady sitting in the restaurant with a Malaysian lady, and they invited us to join them. It turns out that the Thai lady was the owner of the restaurant and she was really sympathetic. She gave us some chicken and rice, and then offered us the use of her bed and shower!! We didn't want to intrude too much, so we went to the 7 Eleven to get some water and snacks (for the bus, if it ever came!) After this we went back to the restaurant and asked if we could use her shower (its really, really hot!) We were led to a small room with a matress on the floor and shown the bathroom. I tried to use the shower, but ended up spraying water all over the place (there was one main control tap, that I turned on, but there were about 5 other taps it controlled. They all started spraying our water!) I gave up after wetting my hair (and the floor) and just went for a lie down in the room. Stu and Mike fell asleep, but Alex and I just sat there. The time passed quite quickly, and at 8pm we were about to leave, when a Makaysian boy came in. We thought he was going to ask us to leave, but actually his Mum (the restaurant owner) had asked him to go and take us out for dinner! We got in his car and talked to him about Butterworth and KL (he went to college there) He took us to the beach area and bought us all chicken and rice (again) and he paid for the whole thing! He even got us a bit plate of chicken satays to share as well! This certainly made up for the shambles of the bus journey. He gave us a lift to the bus station/travel agents where there were 3 big, air conditioned coaches waiting!! (Wooooo!) We said goodbye and thanked him again, and he went home. Its so cool that people are like that in such a bad area of town (Butterworth is apparently full of offices, so no tourists ever go there). We got our bus tickets, and found we had the 4 seats on the back row, which was even better! The only problem with this bus, was that the staff were really unhelpful. The bags didn't all fit in, so they pulled them alll out and told us to pack it for them!! By this time it had been 25 hours since we'd left our bungalow, so we didn't want to argue. I fell asleep for most of the journey (the seats reclined really far; almost like bed!), and woke up when we got into Kuala Lumpur. We got off the coach, to find ourselves in a place that was very much like Hong Kong (not what we really wanted!) Alex had been given a few names of hostels that his friends had given him, so he went to an internet cafe to find out where they were. This left Stu and I on the side of the road with loads of bags, and lots of strange people, offering us cheap taxis and cheap hotels. But by now we were used to declining any offers from people like that. After about 15 minutes, AJ and Mike came back and had addresses for 2 hostels. We jumped into a taxi and got dropped off at the first one. We rung the doorbell, but were told that it was too full, so we tried the next one. However, this was harder to find. The owner of the 1st place said it was "just around the corner", so we decided to walk. We made a few wrong turnings, but asked a few locals, who directed us to the hostel (Trekker Lodge)
We made it in and were shown to a small dorm with 2 other people in. I think we fell alseep almost straight away, and it seemed like no time before Alex had woken me up to go and get some breakfast (included in the price!) It turned out to be toast and jam, but it was still really good. Stu and Mike went to bed after that, and they're still there, but Alex and I came to use the internet (also included in the price!) We're probablt going to see the Petronas Towers this afternoon, but we'll leave tomorrow to go up them, as they shut the doors at about 11am!
I thought it was a lot like Hong Kong, which wasn't a really enjoyable city, but everyone here is really friendly, so hopefully it willl be much better!
Monday, 25 February 2008
Koh Samui and the FMP
So, we're now back on Koh Phangan, and its the afternoon after the FMP. So here it goes...
On Saturday night we went to the hotel in Koh Samui to meet Paul. It was relly nice! The reception staff bowed at us and took us to the room the wedding reception was in. We stood outside chatting to a couple of people we met in Hong Kong for a few minutes, until they said we should go in and get a drink (free bar!!). We wandered around the linedancers and just ordered our drink, when the bride came over and said "before you get your drinks, this is not a public party!" This shocked us a bit, as we thought we'd be welcome, but evidently not! We told her that we knew Paul, and she had no idea who he was, but she went away anyway. About 2 minutes later, a lady came over and said "Oh, I didn't see you at the wedding. Who do you know???" This was turning out to be more trouble than it was worth! In the end Paul came in (after hiding outside to get out of the linedancing!!!) but only after another 2 people asked who we were. The rest of the evening went well and we left the hotel for the villa at about half 1.
We got there and had a few drinks, only to find it wasn't the one we were staying in! But it was very posh all the same! We got a taxi to Paul's place at about 3am and were stunned! It was a massive villa, with a huge pool and a garden that went straight onto the beach. We had quite a few beers and then all went for a swim in the pool and then the sea. I've no idea what time we went to sleep, but the beds were sooo soft. We woke up at about 12pm and Paul said we could have breakfast. We walked down to the pool area and the table was laden in food. There was a chef behind us who cooked us all bacon and eggs as well. This was certainly living! We ate loads and then went out to go to the waterfall nearby, and ended up doing some elephant trekking, whichis something i've always wanted to do. It was really bumpy, but we felt more sorry for the elephants being chained to the trees when not in use. Mike also made friends with a monkey he called Leonard!! We went for a walk up to the waterfall after the trekking, and then saw there was another path that took you up to the top of it, so we thought we might as well. I think we all regretted it as soon as we were halfway up, as it was so steep and slippery, we all thought we'd die! We made it to the top after about 45 minutes and stood up there for a while until we realised it was 3.30 and the BBQ started at 4!! We tried to race down (as quickly as we could) and got caught in a downpour, which soaked us all, but it was kind of refreshing. We got a taxi back to the villa and I had the best shower i've ever had! We asked the maids to dry our clothes, but they actually washed them for us, which was even better! We had a few more beers, until the speedboat arrived on the beach. It was raining when we got in, but as soon as we set off it seemed to stop. We had a few more beers on the boat journey (which took about and hour) We laned on the other side of Haad Rin (it has 2 beaches and we got off on the sunset beach rather than the sunrise) We bought Paul a bucket to say thank you (not the normal size bucket, but one that had a litre of whiskey in!!) He seemed greatful, but then poured about 3 pots of rave paint on me, but it made me look cool in the UV lights! When we got on the beach, I was shocked at how many people were actually there! There must have been at least 15,000 along the main part, then another few thousand in the town. The whole atmosphere was the thing that made it so special. There was really loud music everywhere and loads of ravers just drinking the night away. We went to the bar on the side of the hill for a few drinks then went down to the Drop In (it took us about an hour to make it 500meters as it was so packed!) The rest of the night was a blur, apart from when two people from the group had their bags stolen. Luckily only cigarettes and some clothes were in them, but the person that did it was very quick.
I can't really remeber the time I got home, but I woke up at about 2pm and had a big bowl of muesli and some toast which was such a good "morning after" meal.
We're leaving Koh Phangan tomorrow to go to Malaysia, so I won't be able to update this until Wednesday or Thursday (but I doubt a 20 hour bus journey will have that many things for me to talk about!)
On Saturday night we went to the hotel in Koh Samui to meet Paul. It was relly nice! The reception staff bowed at us and took us to the room the wedding reception was in. We stood outside chatting to a couple of people we met in Hong Kong for a few minutes, until they said we should go in and get a drink (free bar!!). We wandered around the linedancers and just ordered our drink, when the bride came over and said "before you get your drinks, this is not a public party!" This shocked us a bit, as we thought we'd be welcome, but evidently not! We told her that we knew Paul, and she had no idea who he was, but she went away anyway. About 2 minutes later, a lady came over and said "Oh, I didn't see you at the wedding. Who do you know???" This was turning out to be more trouble than it was worth! In the end Paul came in (after hiding outside to get out of the linedancing!!!) but only after another 2 people asked who we were. The rest of the evening went well and we left the hotel for the villa at about half 1.
We got there and had a few drinks, only to find it wasn't the one we were staying in! But it was very posh all the same! We got a taxi to Paul's place at about 3am and were stunned! It was a massive villa, with a huge pool and a garden that went straight onto the beach. We had quite a few beers and then all went for a swim in the pool and then the sea. I've no idea what time we went to sleep, but the beds were sooo soft. We woke up at about 12pm and Paul said we could have breakfast. We walked down to the pool area and the table was laden in food. There was a chef behind us who cooked us all bacon and eggs as well. This was certainly living! We ate loads and then went out to go to the waterfall nearby, and ended up doing some elephant trekking, whichis something i've always wanted to do. It was really bumpy, but we felt more sorry for the elephants being chained to the trees when not in use. Mike also made friends with a monkey he called Leonard!! We went for a walk up to the waterfall after the trekking, and then saw there was another path that took you up to the top of it, so we thought we might as well. I think we all regretted it as soon as we were halfway up, as it was so steep and slippery, we all thought we'd die! We made it to the top after about 45 minutes and stood up there for a while until we realised it was 3.30 and the BBQ started at 4!! We tried to race down (as quickly as we could) and got caught in a downpour, which soaked us all, but it was kind of refreshing. We got a taxi back to the villa and I had the best shower i've ever had! We asked the maids to dry our clothes, but they actually washed them for us, which was even better! We had a few more beers, until the speedboat arrived on the beach. It was raining when we got in, but as soon as we set off it seemed to stop. We had a few more beers on the boat journey (which took about and hour) We laned on the other side of Haad Rin (it has 2 beaches and we got off on the sunset beach rather than the sunrise) We bought Paul a bucket to say thank you (not the normal size bucket, but one that had a litre of whiskey in!!) He seemed greatful, but then poured about 3 pots of rave paint on me, but it made me look cool in the UV lights! When we got on the beach, I was shocked at how many people were actually there! There must have been at least 15,000 along the main part, then another few thousand in the town. The whole atmosphere was the thing that made it so special. There was really loud music everywhere and loads of ravers just drinking the night away. We went to the bar on the side of the hill for a few drinks then went down to the Drop In (it took us about an hour to make it 500meters as it was so packed!) The rest of the night was a blur, apart from when two people from the group had their bags stolen. Luckily only cigarettes and some clothes were in them, but the person that did it was very quick.
I can't really remeber the time I got home, but I woke up at about 2pm and had a big bowl of muesli and some toast which was such a good "morning after" meal.
We're leaving Koh Phangan tomorrow to go to Malaysia, so I won't be able to update this until Wednesday or Thursday (but I doubt a 20 hour bus journey will have that many things for me to talk about!)
Saturday, 23 February 2008
Chilling in Heaven!
This place is amazing! I've lost track of what day it is, so if this seems a bit muddled, don't blame me!
On Thursday after the internet we walked along the beach, but got held up when we met Polly, so we all just sat on a rock chatting, while watching the sunset - really romantic! In the evening we down to Haad Rin again. It was just as crazy as the night before. We went up to the bars at the end of the beach (the ones that sell Shroom Shakes) and sat there for a while, just soaking up the atmosphere of the thousand ravers below us. Alex kept of falling asleep, so we thought we'd go and have a rave as well. The music seemed to change him!! He was going mad! We stayed in the freestyle trancey/techno area which is so much better than at the Drop In Bar (its basically Liquid music, but on the beach) We stayed there until about 4/5 again and then went back to our accommodation. We left Tom on the beach, as he seemed to disappear lol.
On Friday we got up late again and then wandered along the beach to the Blue Lotus Bungalows and had lunch again (well it was more like our breakfast/lunch thing, oh its not Brunch if thats what your thinking!) We went around asking loads of people about the FMP, and everyone said it had definately been moved to Sunday, which is not a problem for us, but there were loads of people that are now going to miss it! Its because of the election I think. And there were also rumours that there was going to be no alcohol on the beach (not a problem for me as I don't drink...ahem) After lunchy thing, we went to the internet cafe again (we seem to live in them!) and also booked our ticket to get down to Kuala Lumpur. We were just about to get a taxi back, when we all suddenly realised we were starving, and that there was a BBQ buffet just across the road. We had to try it! But it turned out to be a bit different. It was one of the places that you have to cook your own food on the pan in the middle of the table (food poisoning country!). We all made sure our chicken was cooked to a crisp before we ate it, but it was a laugh! It was so cheap as well! Only 99 baht each (so about 1.50 quid!) We got a taxi back to our place to find Tom wondering where we were (we said we'd be about an hour, but it turned out to be about 5!!) Oh before we went back we went to the 7 11 (the biggest chain store) to by some drinks, but they weren't selling any!!! NOOOOOOOO!!! But a smaller shop sold us some, so we were happy. I think a litre of whiskey was 2 pounds lol. We played some drinking games and then went to the beach. It was bad. No music and no bars were open. But luckily they had the stalls selling the whiskey buckets!! After a few of them we played some more games, which comprised of Alex singing to some random people, and Stu sticking a straw down someone's builder's bum!! They all laughed it off, so it was good. Then the big event of the evening happened: 2 Aussies started shouting for help, so we thought we would. Then we all got surrounded by about 8 Thai guys with "knives" (I think one had a pen, but that was it) They were saying that the Aussies owed them 1000 baht for breaking a chair, and we just got caught up in it. They seemed to realise it, but we didn't want anything to happen to anyone. We managed to calm them all down, while more Thai men sourrouned us. It ended in the Aussies agreeing to pay them later on Today. It was pretty cool, as they were really threatening towards us, until I stood up in one of their faces - he just took a big step back and told me to not do anything (I think he was scared about my size lol)
We also met Sam Peers on the beach as well, which was a bit surreal!
We woke up today at about 12 again, but didn't go out until 4, which is when we were going to use the internet. We got a taxi to Ban Tai and were sitting in the cafe, just emailing etc until we realised we had to get a boat to Koh Samui to meet Paul again. We knew about it earlier in the day, but we wanted to know the times of the ferries. We asked the lady and she said the last one was at 17:30 (and the time was 16:45!!!!) We aren't meeting Paul until 10pm, but it meant we had to go then! We ran out of the cafe and raced back to our place to get a change of clothes and then went to the Pier. It was such a rush but we managed to get there in time for the last one.
Now we're going to a really posh hotel to meet up with him and his friends (it was his mates wedding and we're going to have a few drinks) then we're going to his villa (which has an onsite chef and butler service!!!) to stay over, then have a BBQ and then go to the FMP on a private boat!!!!! WOW!!! I'll update this after the FMP, but don't expect much from me, as it lasts for 24hours and there will be loads of alcohol!!
On Thursday after the internet we walked along the beach, but got held up when we met Polly, so we all just sat on a rock chatting, while watching the sunset - really romantic! In the evening we down to Haad Rin again. It was just as crazy as the night before. We went up to the bars at the end of the beach (the ones that sell Shroom Shakes) and sat there for a while, just soaking up the atmosphere of the thousand ravers below us. Alex kept of falling asleep, so we thought we'd go and have a rave as well. The music seemed to change him!! He was going mad! We stayed in the freestyle trancey/techno area which is so much better than at the Drop In Bar (its basically Liquid music, but on the beach) We stayed there until about 4/5 again and then went back to our accommodation. We left Tom on the beach, as he seemed to disappear lol.
On Friday we got up late again and then wandered along the beach to the Blue Lotus Bungalows and had lunch again (well it was more like our breakfast/lunch thing, oh its not Brunch if thats what your thinking!) We went around asking loads of people about the FMP, and everyone said it had definately been moved to Sunday, which is not a problem for us, but there were loads of people that are now going to miss it! Its because of the election I think. And there were also rumours that there was going to be no alcohol on the beach (not a problem for me as I don't drink...ahem) After lunchy thing, we went to the internet cafe again (we seem to live in them!) and also booked our ticket to get down to Kuala Lumpur. We were just about to get a taxi back, when we all suddenly realised we were starving, and that there was a BBQ buffet just across the road. We had to try it! But it turned out to be a bit different. It was one of the places that you have to cook your own food on the pan in the middle of the table (food poisoning country!). We all made sure our chicken was cooked to a crisp before we ate it, but it was a laugh! It was so cheap as well! Only 99 baht each (so about 1.50 quid!) We got a taxi back to our place to find Tom wondering where we were (we said we'd be about an hour, but it turned out to be about 5!!) Oh before we went back we went to the 7 11 (the biggest chain store) to by some drinks, but they weren't selling any!!! NOOOOOOOO!!! But a smaller shop sold us some, so we were happy. I think a litre of whiskey was 2 pounds lol. We played some drinking games and then went to the beach. It was bad. No music and no bars were open. But luckily they had the stalls selling the whiskey buckets!! After a few of them we played some more games, which comprised of Alex singing to some random people, and Stu sticking a straw down someone's builder's bum!! They all laughed it off, so it was good. Then the big event of the evening happened: 2 Aussies started shouting for help, so we thought we would. Then we all got surrounded by about 8 Thai guys with "knives" (I think one had a pen, but that was it) They were saying that the Aussies owed them 1000 baht for breaking a chair, and we just got caught up in it. They seemed to realise it, but we didn't want anything to happen to anyone. We managed to calm them all down, while more Thai men sourrouned us. It ended in the Aussies agreeing to pay them later on Today. It was pretty cool, as they were really threatening towards us, until I stood up in one of their faces - he just took a big step back and told me to not do anything (I think he was scared about my size lol)
We also met Sam Peers on the beach as well, which was a bit surreal!
We woke up today at about 12 again, but didn't go out until 4, which is when we were going to use the internet. We got a taxi to Ban Tai and were sitting in the cafe, just emailing etc until we realised we had to get a boat to Koh Samui to meet Paul again. We knew about it earlier in the day, but we wanted to know the times of the ferries. We asked the lady and she said the last one was at 17:30 (and the time was 16:45!!!!) We aren't meeting Paul until 10pm, but it meant we had to go then! We ran out of the cafe and raced back to our place to get a change of clothes and then went to the Pier. It was such a rush but we managed to get there in time for the last one.
Now we're going to a really posh hotel to meet up with him and his friends (it was his mates wedding and we're going to have a few drinks) then we're going to his villa (which has an onsite chef and butler service!!!) to stay over, then have a BBQ and then go to the FMP on a private boat!!!!! WOW!!! I'll update this after the FMP, but don't expect much from me, as it lasts for 24hours and there will be loads of alcohol!!
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
The move from Haad Son to Thong Yang
On Monday evening we went to our usual place for dinner (the Absolute Restaurant) with each of our bills coming in at about 3 pounds lol and that was with a beer and two courses!!!!
After that, Alex, Mike and myself went to watch some Thai boxing in the main town of Thong Sala, and it was amazing!! There were 8 fights in total and I think 3 of them were K.O's! There was also a fight between 10 year olds! It all seems a bit strange to let people kick you in the face!
On Tuesday we had to get up a bit earlier, as we needed to check out by half 11. We went to our favourite place again for lunch and had a couple of games of pool, which they gave to us for free as we were such loyal customers! This end of the island is really nice if you want to relax in the sun all day and do nothing (which is what we did for the 1st week!) but down at Haad Rin, the night life is so much better, so thats why we wanted a change. We got a taxi down to our accommodation (which isn't the best i've been in) but we want to spend as little time as possible in it! We had dinner at our bungalow restaurant, which consisted of one lady in the kitchen who couldn't speak a word of English. They hardly had anything on the menu, but after about 45 minutes we'd all had our food. In the evening we went to the Jungle Experience which we thought would be like the Half Moon, but it turned out to be much smaller, so therefore not as good. I think we all fell asleep by about 3am, so we just got a taxi back not long afterwards.
Yesterday we stayed in bed for quite a while again (some people had hangovers, so they had to "recover") We went down to a restaurant on the beach that had internet, which was painfully slow, and it couldn't even access Hotmail, but the food was really good. We wandered back along the beach to our bungalow, stopping lots of times along the way to take some photos, so it took us about an hour! We then got ready to go out and headed off into Haad Son. We were meant to walk through the town looking for a place to eat, but the first place we saw had Family Guy on the TV, so that kind of persuaded us to go there. After another meal consisting of mainly rice and noodles, we went on to the beach, which was already alive with music and people. It was crazy! There were a few thousand people drinking the buckets and dancing all over the place, just a few metres away from the sea - the ultimate party place! And it wasn't even the Full Moon Night!! We got back to our place at about 5am and then went straight to sleep.
We all woke up at about 12 and got some food from the amazingly quick place (I just got toast to be safe!) and then Alex and I came to the internet cafe! We're all a bit worried as there is a rumour going around saying that the FMP has been changed to the 24th instead of the 22nd (tomorrow) I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.
After that, Alex, Mike and myself went to watch some Thai boxing in the main town of Thong Sala, and it was amazing!! There were 8 fights in total and I think 3 of them were K.O's! There was also a fight between 10 year olds! It all seems a bit strange to let people kick you in the face!
On Tuesday we had to get up a bit earlier, as we needed to check out by half 11. We went to our favourite place again for lunch and had a couple of games of pool, which they gave to us for free as we were such loyal customers! This end of the island is really nice if you want to relax in the sun all day and do nothing (which is what we did for the 1st week!) but down at Haad Rin, the night life is so much better, so thats why we wanted a change. We got a taxi down to our accommodation (which isn't the best i've been in) but we want to spend as little time as possible in it! We had dinner at our bungalow restaurant, which consisted of one lady in the kitchen who couldn't speak a word of English. They hardly had anything on the menu, but after about 45 minutes we'd all had our food. In the evening we went to the Jungle Experience which we thought would be like the Half Moon, but it turned out to be much smaller, so therefore not as good. I think we all fell asleep by about 3am, so we just got a taxi back not long afterwards.
Yesterday we stayed in bed for quite a while again (some people had hangovers, so they had to "recover") We went down to a restaurant on the beach that had internet, which was painfully slow, and it couldn't even access Hotmail, but the food was really good. We wandered back along the beach to our bungalow, stopping lots of times along the way to take some photos, so it took us about an hour! We then got ready to go out and headed off into Haad Son. We were meant to walk through the town looking for a place to eat, but the first place we saw had Family Guy on the TV, so that kind of persuaded us to go there. After another meal consisting of mainly rice and noodles, we went on to the beach, which was already alive with music and people. It was crazy! There were a few thousand people drinking the buckets and dancing all over the place, just a few metres away from the sea - the ultimate party place! And it wasn't even the Full Moon Night!! We got back to our place at about 5am and then went straight to sleep.
We all woke up at about 12 and got some food from the amazingly quick place (I just got toast to be safe!) and then Alex and I came to the internet cafe! We're all a bit worried as there is a rumour going around saying that the FMP has been changed to the 24th instead of the 22nd (tomorrow) I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Koh Phangan
On Saturday we went down to Haad Rin, which is the beach that holds the famous Full Moon Party. We had a wonder around the town, and saw that some shops were selling the buckets for on 120 baht! It looks like the FMP will be a cheap night. On the way back we stopped off at a hostel, which said they had room for us over the FM period, so we booked 5 nights there. I didn't actually go in, so we're relying on Alex and Tom! We got back about 9 and then went for a meal, but unfortunaltely it wasn't at our favourite place, as it was shut :( so we just went to one nearby, which was still as cheap. We watched the Liverpool match as well, which I won't talk about anymore...
On Sunday we did nothing in the morning, but in the afternoon, Alex and I walked to the beach next to ours, which is called Haad Salad, to go snorkelling. It was amazing!! There's a reef about 100m out, and we saw loads of fish. I saw a puffer fish, a few angelfish, parrotfish and other ones. It was such a cool snorkel spot. We had some lunch/dinner there and then had a chat with some of the locals, who played us some music on their wierd instruments, and then we played football with them. We walked back to out bay, and got grabbed by a lady at her restaurant, so we had another meal, which was good, but a bit more expensive. After that we went to our private beach and just sat there while Tom and Mike went for a swim. We went back to the room and fel asleep almost straight away, meanwhile, Stu made some underpants out of a T-shirt because he's run out of clean ones!!!!!!!
Today Tom, Mike and Alex went for a workout on the beach, which made Tom puke in front of some Irish girls we met last night!! HAHAHA!
On Sunday we did nothing in the morning, but in the afternoon, Alex and I walked to the beach next to ours, which is called Haad Salad, to go snorkelling. It was amazing!! There's a reef about 100m out, and we saw loads of fish. I saw a puffer fish, a few angelfish, parrotfish and other ones. It was such a cool snorkel spot. We had some lunch/dinner there and then had a chat with some of the locals, who played us some music on their wierd instruments, and then we played football with them. We walked back to out bay, and got grabbed by a lady at her restaurant, so we had another meal, which was good, but a bit more expensive. After that we went to our private beach and just sat there while Tom and Mike went for a swim. We went back to the room and fel asleep almost straight away, meanwhile, Stu made some underpants out of a T-shirt because he's run out of clean ones!!!!!!!
Today Tom, Mike and Alex went for a workout on the beach, which made Tom puke in front of some Irish girls we met last night!! HAHAHA!
Friday, 15 February 2008
Bangkok to Koh Phangan
Just a quick update of what we've done over the past few days:
We went out to a club on Tuesday, but you have to be over 20 for the clubs in Thailand, so we got rejected, apart from Stu and Mike who decided to jump over the fence to get in! Luckily they didn't get caught, because they'd probably have been shot! On Wednesday, we packed up and got some washing done, as its so cheap! I've eaten so much in Thailand as well! As everything is so cheap compared to everywhere else i've ever been to. We had our last meal in the hostel and said goodbye to people (especially Jenny, the receptionist, who we still don't know if he/she is male or female!) We got the bus down to Chumphon which took about 9 hours, but we all slept on it, which made it go quicker. We then got on the ferry which took us to Koh Phangan, via Koh Tao, which looked amazing! We were bombarded as soon as we got off the ferry by tour reps, all trying to get us to stay at their hotels. We finally chose a hotel, which was only 6-7 pounds a night! When we arrived there it was like paradise! There was a long private beach, just for us, and all of the staff we so friendly. We dumped our stuff in the room and then went for a swim in the sea, which wasn't too warm, but it seemed better because of the atmosphere. We all thought that we were going to be charged stupid amounts for the hotel, as its such a nice place, but no extra charges yet! We went to bed for a couple of hours after the swim and woke up at about 6 then we al went to explore the beach next to ours. In the evening we went to the Half Moon Party in prearation for the Full Moon Party next week, and it was mad! So many people in a secluded wood, all raving! We left there at about 7am and went back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. Today we just slept and ate more food, which is always the best! I bought a snorkel yesterday, so I got to use that for the first time. Anyway, i've got to go now, as there are some foreign people next to me that want to use the computer!
Chris
We went out to a club on Tuesday, but you have to be over 20 for the clubs in Thailand, so we got rejected, apart from Stu and Mike who decided to jump over the fence to get in! Luckily they didn't get caught, because they'd probably have been shot! On Wednesday, we packed up and got some washing done, as its so cheap! I've eaten so much in Thailand as well! As everything is so cheap compared to everywhere else i've ever been to. We had our last meal in the hostel and said goodbye to people (especially Jenny, the receptionist, who we still don't know if he/she is male or female!) We got the bus down to Chumphon which took about 9 hours, but we all slept on it, which made it go quicker. We then got on the ferry which took us to Koh Phangan, via Koh Tao, which looked amazing! We were bombarded as soon as we got off the ferry by tour reps, all trying to get us to stay at their hotels. We finally chose a hotel, which was only 6-7 pounds a night! When we arrived there it was like paradise! There was a long private beach, just for us, and all of the staff we so friendly. We dumped our stuff in the room and then went for a swim in the sea, which wasn't too warm, but it seemed better because of the atmosphere. We all thought that we were going to be charged stupid amounts for the hotel, as its such a nice place, but no extra charges yet! We went to bed for a couple of hours after the swim and woke up at about 6 then we al went to explore the beach next to ours. In the evening we went to the Half Moon Party in prearation for the Full Moon Party next week, and it was mad! So many people in a secluded wood, all raving! We left there at about 7am and went back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. Today we just slept and ate more food, which is always the best! I bought a snorkel yesterday, so I got to use that for the first time. Anyway, i've got to go now, as there are some foreign people next to me that want to use the computer!
Chris
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Monday, 11 February 2008
Just some Photos from Hong Kong
Thought i'd upload some of my photos. There aren't going to be many, as it takes ages, but i'll give you and idea of what it was like!
The top one is of Mike,Stu and Alex with a Guinness at Heathrow,
The 2nd is at Wanchai Market,
The 3rd is of the IFC 2 Building
The 4th is of Paul, Mike andAlex
The 5th is of Hong Kong Island from Kowloon
Saturday, 9 February 2008
Chinese New Year and to Bangkok
Well, I did say there would be a fireworks display, and there was one - the biggest one ever!!!! It lasted about 20 minutes, and they were launched from 4 barges in the harbour, so basically Brockham x 4!
On Friday we actually managed to get up relatively early (10am) and we went up to the Peak to have a look at the view of Hong Kong. The main way to get up in by the tram, which is apparently the steepest tram in the world (about 45 degrees!) Anyway, we made our way up there and spent a while looking at Hong Kong, but it was too hazy to see all of the detail. We got some lunch up there (Burger King) and it cost about 3 pounds! And guess how much it cost to "Go Large"?? $2!! which is about 17 pence! We stayed up there after that and just played on a random EA Games area, which had loads of X-Boxes, PS3s etc. We walked down from the top, as the queue was massive to get back down on the tram. It was pretty good actually, as we managed to find a cool path that took us through the mafia country. We were going to go back to the hostel before the fireworks, but it was already packed on the Avenue of Stars (the best place to watch the fireworks from) so we just tried to go straight there. When we got there, it was cordoned off by police (they always like to stop people getting to the best viewing areas!?!) but Stu managed to lie to one of the policemen, by saying that our parents were in there and we were supposed to be meeting up with them lol. We sat around waiting for the fireworks for about 2 hours, but it was worth it!!! See photos and videos for details!
On Saturday, Alex and Mike split up from me and Stu, as they wanted to go to an island called Lantau really early on in the day. We got up at about 1pm and went to an island called Lamma, which was such a contrast to all of the skyscrapers and people. It was a small island with a good touristy town and quite a few walking paths. The weather was amazing as well! We just went for a wander around the island, before getting the ferry back to Central, and then got the MTR back to Mongkok. As the rugby was on, we thought we had to go out and watch it in a typical Hong Kong bar - The Dublin Jack (Irish Bar!!) We met up with Paul there as well and started the drinking. This was at about 11pm, and we were supposed to be at the aiport at 6am! We had a number of pints before moving onto another couple of bars, and then to Fenwicks for some final drinking. Stu got ao drunk (I think to numb the pain of losing to France in the rugby) We didn't get back to the hostel until about 04:30 and we still had to pack. I got to sleep at about 05:00, and got up at 05:45. We finished off out Frosties (which I ate out of a glass again!) and then got a taxi to the airport. We managed to get to the check-in at just before 7, so we had plenty of time. However, we got to the lady, who told us that the flight was too full (oh yeh) and that they were looking for people to volunteer to go on a later Thai Airways flight. We thought we might as well, as she said we'd get $500 HK dollars and loads of other free stuff (breakfast voucher, free upgrade on our next Cathay Pacific flight...) We had breakfast and went back to Betina Kong (the lady lol) and she said that there were enough seats for us anyway (damn!)
The flight was pretty good; had our second breakfast and watched a few TV progs (its was only just over 2hrs, so no time for any film) We arrived in Bangkok all tried, and guess who was at the airport? Tom Ford!! He'd come down from the North to meet us. He took us to a nice hostel called Thai Cozy, which is in the centre of the party area and was cheap. For the rest of the day we just had a wonder round the markets (which sold all the usual - tasers, throwing stars, bongs...) In the evening Tom took us out for a few rounds of the infamous buckets, which are basically pure whiskey! Alex had a bit too much whiskey to say the least, and he managed to see his food again. The same happened with Mike as well, which means the night was a good one!
On Monday we got up at about 11 and had our free fry up which was a nice treat.We then went to the Golden Mountain, which is a big temple in the centre of Bangkok. It had loads of gold statues of Buddha and a massive gold thing on top lol. Pretty interesting to see. We walked back to our road, stopping off to buy noodles and melon from some of the sellers in the street, oh and a fresh smoothie from a bar. We went out again in the evening, but much later, as we only managed to make it to about 23:30 before falling alseep the night before. We went to a rooftop bar and had a bottle of whiskey between 5 of us, so all was good! We got back into the hostel at about 04:00 and went straight to bed. I had to get up early today just for the free breakfast, so now i'm tired and I know i'm going to pay for it later!!!! We're not doing much else today, just chilling around the hostel and Kaosan road, but will definately go out tonight.
Bye for now!
On Friday we actually managed to get up relatively early (10am) and we went up to the Peak to have a look at the view of Hong Kong. The main way to get up in by the tram, which is apparently the steepest tram in the world (about 45 degrees!) Anyway, we made our way up there and spent a while looking at Hong Kong, but it was too hazy to see all of the detail. We got some lunch up there (Burger King) and it cost about 3 pounds! And guess how much it cost to "Go Large"?? $2!! which is about 17 pence! We stayed up there after that and just played on a random EA Games area, which had loads of X-Boxes, PS3s etc. We walked down from the top, as the queue was massive to get back down on the tram. It was pretty good actually, as we managed to find a cool path that took us through the mafia country. We were going to go back to the hostel before the fireworks, but it was already packed on the Avenue of Stars (the best place to watch the fireworks from) so we just tried to go straight there. When we got there, it was cordoned off by police (they always like to stop people getting to the best viewing areas!?!) but Stu managed to lie to one of the policemen, by saying that our parents were in there and we were supposed to be meeting up with them lol. We sat around waiting for the fireworks for about 2 hours, but it was worth it!!! See photos and videos for details!
On Saturday, Alex and Mike split up from me and Stu, as they wanted to go to an island called Lantau really early on in the day. We got up at about 1pm and went to an island called Lamma, which was such a contrast to all of the skyscrapers and people. It was a small island with a good touristy town and quite a few walking paths. The weather was amazing as well! We just went for a wander around the island, before getting the ferry back to Central, and then got the MTR back to Mongkok. As the rugby was on, we thought we had to go out and watch it in a typical Hong Kong bar - The Dublin Jack (Irish Bar!!) We met up with Paul there as well and started the drinking. This was at about 11pm, and we were supposed to be at the aiport at 6am! We had a number of pints before moving onto another couple of bars, and then to Fenwicks for some final drinking. Stu got ao drunk (I think to numb the pain of losing to France in the rugby) We didn't get back to the hostel until about 04:30 and we still had to pack. I got to sleep at about 05:00, and got up at 05:45. We finished off out Frosties (which I ate out of a glass again!) and then got a taxi to the airport. We managed to get to the check-in at just before 7, so we had plenty of time. However, we got to the lady, who told us that the flight was too full (oh yeh) and that they were looking for people to volunteer to go on a later Thai Airways flight. We thought we might as well, as she said we'd get $500 HK dollars and loads of other free stuff (breakfast voucher, free upgrade on our next Cathay Pacific flight...) We had breakfast and went back to Betina Kong (the lady lol) and she said that there were enough seats for us anyway (damn!)
The flight was pretty good; had our second breakfast and watched a few TV progs (its was only just over 2hrs, so no time for any film) We arrived in Bangkok all tried, and guess who was at the airport? Tom Ford!! He'd come down from the North to meet us. He took us to a nice hostel called Thai Cozy, which is in the centre of the party area and was cheap. For the rest of the day we just had a wonder round the markets (which sold all the usual - tasers, throwing stars, bongs...) In the evening Tom took us out for a few rounds of the infamous buckets, which are basically pure whiskey! Alex had a bit too much whiskey to say the least, and he managed to see his food again. The same happened with Mike as well, which means the night was a good one!
On Monday we got up at about 11 and had our free fry up which was a nice treat.We then went to the Golden Mountain, which is a big temple in the centre of Bangkok. It had loads of gold statues of Buddha and a massive gold thing on top lol. Pretty interesting to see. We walked back to our road, stopping off to buy noodles and melon from some of the sellers in the street, oh and a fresh smoothie from a bar. We went out again in the evening, but much later, as we only managed to make it to about 23:30 before falling alseep the night before. We went to a rooftop bar and had a bottle of whiskey between 5 of us, so all was good! We got back into the hostel at about 04:00 and went straight to bed. I had to get up early today just for the free breakfast, so now i'm tired and I know i'm going to pay for it later!!!! We're not doing much else today, just chilling around the hostel and Kaosan road, but will definately go out tonight.
Bye for now!
Thursday, 7 February 2008
Hong Kong
So, we've been here in Hong Kong for 4 days, and its not really what I expected. We're staying in Kowloon on Man Fuk Road (haha!) and its so busy. We landed at about 08:05 on Monday 4th Feb and came through customs pretty quickly. Then it all daunted on me - we were in Hong Kong and our gap year had started, and we had no clue what to do to get to the hostel. We managed to find a customer service desk and asked the lady who told us to go to the certain platform and just change once, which wasn't too bad. We got to the hostel at about 10:00 and realised that we weren't allowed to check in until 14:00, but they let us anyway.
We went out to explore Kowloon, and the market areas, which were interesting to say the least. Some of the smells coming from the stands and shops are overpowering! We walked about 2 miles down to the harbourside, which was kind of a mistake, due to our severe jet lag - we regretted it on the way back! We got back to the hostel, and just collapsed with exhaustion and all of us fell asleep. We got up at around 22:00 and went out, expecting it to be dead (it was a Monday night!) but it was far from it. So many people were wandering the streets going into all the restaurants and shops.
On Tuesday (5th February) we went to explore Hong Kong island, which was so cool! We went to a place called Wanchai and walked round all the markets (not Redhill style, but with live animals being killed there and then for you!). We managed to use the tram system which they have, so that took us to and from Wanchai and Central (the central part of HK) We had no idea where to go so we asked a local, and they suggested the Escalator. Its the longest one in the world, so we gave that a go. Its not really what it made out to be. I thought it would be one continuous one, but its actually made up of loads of different ones, but still a good experience anyway. We stopped off at a bar on the way down and had a Guinness, which was much desired. We then had a wonder around the CBD area of HK, where there are the massive skyscrapers, including the IFC 2, which is maaasssiiivvve!!!
Yesterday (6th Feb) we got up quite late and just went to Hong Kong to meet up with Paul (someone that used to live in the same road as me at home). He took us to Lan Kwai Fong and to a bar called Dublin Jack's, which obviously sold Guinness, so we were obliged in drinking a couple of pints there! The same happened at another bar, then we headed for a Moroccan restaurant just a few minutes away from Lan Kwai Fong. We had loads of food (and more drinks!) and then went to a bar/club called Fenwicks. This place was such a contrast to all of the English bars! They had a live band that played classic rock, then a DJ played D&B during the breaks they had. After a few more beers, Paul left and we were alone again. It was a blur getting into the taxi, because of how tired I was (ahem). We all fell alseep straight away, and didn't get up until 16:00! What a waste of a day? It was worth it. We got some food from the local supermarket and took it back to the room to eat. Stu bought eggs for some reason, but we had no way to cook them, but we also had a kettle... Get where i'm going? They were pretty good actually. After the egg sandwhiches we went down to the main road that the parade was going to be on, to find thousands and thousands of people already there. We just wondered around aimlessly until we thought we had found a good spot. After standing there for about 20 mins, we asked a policeman if the parade actually came by, and he said no! Here we were standing on a road that was about 50metres away from the parade roads. WTF!? In the end we just found an entrance to the MTR, which took us right next to the main road, so we just stayed there. It wasn't the best spot, but we could still see all of the floats. We've just been out for a meal and I had some weird chicken and mushroom thing, which wasn't really that special, but only cost 3quid.
Anyway, its 00:30 now and we're about to go wandering the streets again. Tomorrow (actually today) there is going to be the massive fireworks display, so keep looking out for photos and more posts!
Chris
We went out to explore Kowloon, and the market areas, which were interesting to say the least. Some of the smells coming from the stands and shops are overpowering! We walked about 2 miles down to the harbourside, which was kind of a mistake, due to our severe jet lag - we regretted it on the way back! We got back to the hostel, and just collapsed with exhaustion and all of us fell asleep. We got up at around 22:00 and went out, expecting it to be dead (it was a Monday night!) but it was far from it. So many people were wandering the streets going into all the restaurants and shops.
On Tuesday (5th February) we went to explore Hong Kong island, which was so cool! We went to a place called Wanchai and walked round all the markets (not Redhill style, but with live animals being killed there and then for you!). We managed to use the tram system which they have, so that took us to and from Wanchai and Central (the central part of HK) We had no idea where to go so we asked a local, and they suggested the Escalator. Its the longest one in the world, so we gave that a go. Its not really what it made out to be. I thought it would be one continuous one, but its actually made up of loads of different ones, but still a good experience anyway. We stopped off at a bar on the way down and had a Guinness, which was much desired. We then had a wonder around the CBD area of HK, where there are the massive skyscrapers, including the IFC 2, which is maaasssiiivvve!!!
Yesterday (6th Feb) we got up quite late and just went to Hong Kong to meet up with Paul (someone that used to live in the same road as me at home). He took us to Lan Kwai Fong and to a bar called Dublin Jack's, which obviously sold Guinness, so we were obliged in drinking a couple of pints there! The same happened at another bar, then we headed for a Moroccan restaurant just a few minutes away from Lan Kwai Fong. We had loads of food (and more drinks!) and then went to a bar/club called Fenwicks. This place was such a contrast to all of the English bars! They had a live band that played classic rock, then a DJ played D&B during the breaks they had. After a few more beers, Paul left and we were alone again. It was a blur getting into the taxi, because of how tired I was (ahem). We all fell alseep straight away, and didn't get up until 16:00! What a waste of a day? It was worth it. We got some food from the local supermarket and took it back to the room to eat. Stu bought eggs for some reason, but we had no way to cook them, but we also had a kettle... Get where i'm going? They were pretty good actually. After the egg sandwhiches we went down to the main road that the parade was going to be on, to find thousands and thousands of people already there. We just wondered around aimlessly until we thought we had found a good spot. After standing there for about 20 mins, we asked a policeman if the parade actually came by, and he said no! Here we were standing on a road that was about 50metres away from the parade roads. WTF!? In the end we just found an entrance to the MTR, which took us right next to the main road, so we just stayed there. It wasn't the best spot, but we could still see all of the floats. We've just been out for a meal and I had some weird chicken and mushroom thing, which wasn't really that special, but only cost 3quid.
Anyway, its 00:30 now and we're about to go wandering the streets again. Tomorrow (actually today) there is going to be the massive fireworks display, so keep looking out for photos and more posts!
Chris
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