Last day in Asia

I cant believe my time in Asia has come to an end, but without a doubt, i will be back. After meeting countless people along the way, and hearing their stories of their travels and what they have seen. All i wish to do is to see more.
I certainly plan on returning to Cambodia and visiting Sihanoukville and Siem Reap, travel up to Laos and do the Tubing in Vang Vieng and loose myself for a while in Vietnam. I have learned so much over here, whether it be how to be more independent and organised or whether it is that i have learned much about the way people live in parts of the world other than my own.
I have loved every second of my trip so far and have been very lucky over the past month that nothing serious has gone wrong. Losing my ATM card in Bangkok, was a little bit of a hiccup, but even still, i was prepared enough for it not to be a big problem.
To be honest, i was expecting something to go wrong, whether we'd get robbed or we'd miss a flight but everything has gone off without a hitch.

Tomorrow, i really am not looking forward to the flight to London, departing at 9:10 in the morning. You may think thats a fairly reasonable time, but i will need to be at the airport at 7:00am, and it will take me about an hour and a half to get there. So looking like it's going to be an early night for me.
Goodbye Malaysia, Hello United Kingdom.

Kuala Lumpur

Past few days have been pretty relaxed, haven't been out sightseeing or anything like that because Jarrad and I were able to see most of the attractions on our first visit to Kuala Lumpur.
I have spent most of my time planning out what i am going to do when i arrive in the United Kingdom on Monday. I am looking forward to it, what I'm not looking forward to is the flight over there.

This has been the first part of my trip where I have been travelling alone, so far its been pretty good. I have met an English girl in the hostel and i we spent yesterday and last night wandering around town and going out to eat. Last night we went to a Reggae bar, which is just down the road from where we are staying, had a few beers, met some more people, before we knew it we were on the roof of the hostel drinking through a bottle of scotch.
The food here has been great, you can find nearly everything you are looking for out on the street, most of the meals i have eaten have cost me around about $2.50 AUD and because they are mostly rice or noodle based, they're very filling.
Only a few more days to kill and ill be away from these gorgeous 30-35 degree days and ill be in sunny London-town.
As for tonight, its looking like a few beers and a wander through the Petaling Street Night Markets.

Final Destination in Asia

Cambodia is absolutely amazing, the people there are so incredible nice. You walk round the streets and ride around in the back of the Tuk Tuk's and people smile and wave to you. There is a much smaller presence of Caucasian people there then there is in say, Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur.
I guess that comes from the fact that most people visit Cambodia, and in particular Siem Reap and Phnom Penh to learn about the people, as opposed to party and buy fake sunglasses, flip flops and rolex's (Thanks Phuket).
The traffic there is more insane than anywhere else, the drive on the opposite side of the road to begin with , there are no stop signs, no give way signs, maybe three sets of traffic lights in the whole city and perhaps one round about.
It is chaos, you are more likely to see 3 or more people on a Scooter then to see someone riding solo, the road is covered in pot holes and you will see truckloads, literally, of people, standing in the backs of trucks on their way to work. This morning we seen a truck which would have had perhaps 40 people standing and clinging onto the sides of the vehicle. its incredible.
Besides the traffic, Phnom Penh is generally fairly sleepy and wasn't too much of a night life.
That said, i had a couple of my biggest nights drinking in Phnom Penh, but it is much different to going out anywhere else that i have been, we settled in at the bar each night, it was the same pub in which we were staying.
Beers were about a dollar and you could get a really good scotch for around three dollars. One of the nights, the bar manager allowed us to bring our own bottle of Vodka to share with our friends, which was totally awesome. We met a bloke named Steve, who was a couple years older then us. He had been travelling from New Zealand for four months, he'd been all through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia and hadn't planned a single thing, he was just living day to day. I really envy that.
Oyur Our final night in Phnom Penh was spent in our room, sleeping, which was definitely the order of the evening due to our early morning flight the next day back to Kuala Lumpur.
Jarrad and I spent a couple hours in the City, wandering around the markets, he needed to buy some last minute gifts for family and friends, we played some pool and said our goodbyes to each other. Jarrad is heading home today, it was very sad to see him go, a bloke who I've shared the last month or so with. I don't know what it's gonna be like without him, we've built onto an already rock solid friendship, and its sad to think i'm not going to see him for a long while. But while we were together, we had an absolute blast, we have a million new stories to tell our mates back home.
This leaves me alone in Kuala Lumpur for four days, i don't really know what to do, as Jarrad and I did most of the touristy stuff on our first visit three and a half weeks ago, i think what i need to do is to start planning for my trip over to Europe, which begins on the 1st of August, with me landing in London and heading down to Maidstone, Kent to see and stay with a friend of mine from school.
I really can not wait.

Cambodian Killing Fields

As our plane descended over the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I looked out the window wondering when I would start seeing some civilization. Rural farmlands, flooded rice fields, dirt roads.
There are only a handful of buildings in the city which you would consider sizeable, but mostly, very basic shops in the centre of town, and when you head to the outskirts the streets are lined with small shanty houses, makeshift shops and empty plots of land. Only a few kilometres from the centre of the city, there are vast rice fields, and swamp lands.
The people here are incredibly friendly, all looking to help, also theyre all really good at English in comparison to the Thai’s because they all learn it through school. Most children here do go to school, as opposed to perhaps, 20-30 years ago when most of the children would have worked with their families from a very young age.

Last night was spent in the bar downstairs from where we are staying, watching the F1 Gran Prix, had beers ($1.50) and some delicious scotch ($3.00), met some people, got pretty merry and wandered up to bed.
We hired a driver for the day to take us to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in the city and to Choeung Ek, which is the name of the Killing fields, located around 15kms out of the city.

First stop was Tuol Sleng, which in the early 70’s was a High School, which was then transformed into a prison and interrogation centre for the inhabitants of Phnom Penh. The walls are still covered in barb wire and spikes, the front of a few of the buildings were still also covered in wire, the gallows were still set up which they used to hang some of the prisoners as an interrogation or torture technique.
Our tour guide took us through the cells, which were crudely constructed from bricks and were maybe a 1m x 2m in size. She shared with us that it was not uncommon for a woman and all her children would have to share this space.
There was room after room of paintings, sculptors and shines which were very impressive, but the most incredible sight was the thousand and thousands of photos of those who had been imprisoned there. Each had a mug shot taken which was now on display.


On the second floor of one of the buildings there was a floor of cells, which unlike the rest, were made from wood, all of the windows were boarded up, it was very eerie, I was in there by myself and it was a very powerful experience.
There was a man selling books inside the prison yard, I learned that this man was one of the last survivors of the Prison, it is said that of the 17,000 people who were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng, only seven lived. To this day, there are only a few still alive.
We jumped back in the Tuk Tuk, and travelled to Choeung Ek or the Khmer Rogue Killing Fields. Records say that over 20,000 people were slaughtered here, and buried in mass graves.
Most of the graves have been unearthed, and forensic investigation has been done to identify, count and determine the causes of death of the bodies found there.
Once liberated, forces set out to excavate the fields, all of the skulls were all collected together and put into a large stupa, which towers up in the middle of the field. It was very surreal seeing 9000 skulls on display in a tower.
It was incredibly moving to think that these were all innocent men, women and children, all of whom had their lives cruelly taken from them by Pol Pot and his communist rule.

As we were walking, you could see bones, teeth and large pieces of clothing which was being washed out of the ground after the past few showers. That was difficult to see.
The whole experience was very difficult to get your head around, definitely happy that I got to go and see it, although happy isn’t the best word to use. It was very moving, and very sad, but if you were to take a positive out of it, it would be the fact the Cambodians, after being through something which was so traumatic on such a monstrous scale have been able to move on, learn from it themselves and also be able to teach the rest of the world about the atrocities that took place there.

My 21st in Bangkok

So we celebrated my birthday in style, starting at the bowling alley at MBK shopping mall in Bangkok. We bowled out a few games, Jarrad won the first one and I won the second.
We then went to the Thai version of Gold Class cinema and watched the new transformers movie, which was pretty impressive, had a few more drinks, did some shopping, purchased a new pair of shoes (bright orange) and a pair of thongs.
by this time night was about to fall, so we grabbed some Japanese food for dinner, had a few beers and went down to Khao San Road, one of the entertainment districts in the city, this one is particularly frequented by backpackers.
We walked down the street til we found a bar, sat down, ordered beers with Jarrad and Gussie, had a round of shots, which quickly became a few rounds of shots, moved on to another bar, started chatting to three Scottish girls, who were sitting on the table next to our own, invited them over, went to a club for a short time, wandered about and someone suggested we go to a ping pong show.
I kinda had a fair idea of what I was going to see, but nothing can really prepare you. I wont go into details, but because it was my birthday, I was asked up on stage, asked to pull things, hold things etc…. basically I was in the thick of the action.
We said our goodbyes to our Scottish friends, who had to be at the bus station a few hours later, and we went home.
It was very special to spend the night with such good friends in Jarrad and Gussie.

Today, getting out of bed was really tough, didn’t happen til about 2:00pm, I went and got myself a new thai haircut, which was a bit of an experience, as the hairdresser didn’t understand any English. Turned out to be the best haircut I have ever had.
This was follower by a late lunch, early dinner at the local Pizza place, which was so filling I couldn’t eat it all. It started to spit rain on our way back to the hostel, and then BANG, its probably one of the heaviest downpours of rain I have seen coupled with the loudest most violent thunderstorm.
Looking like a good night to be spent inside, next to the warming glow of my Laptop.

A Cultural Experience

Second day in Bangkok, started fairly sluggishly, long sleep in, some breakfast and then back to bed for a short while.
I decided to go for a wander around, packed my bag and caught a cab to the Royal Palace, leaving Jarrad in bed.
Jumped off the cab, looked at my map, and because EVERYTHING is in Thai, i had no idea where i was. So walked around the huge walls guarding the palace and Wat Phra Si Rattanasasadaram, generally called the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
Before i went inside, i thought id grab something to eat, walked down to the water front, sat down in a little restaurant and noticed a girl sitting on her own on the other side of the room, so i offered for her to join me, which she did and after lunch, spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around a few of the amazing temples and china town, which was a sight.
We even sat in on a chinese funeral, which was very interesting. There is such a massive cultural difference here, its a very spiritual place and seems that the majority of the people living here follow one religion or another.
We walked through several monasteries and seen a load of monks, who's lifestyles and religious views are quite interesting.
China town was pretty crazy, the walkways were less then 2 meters wide, and still scooterists seen it as a 'shortcut' between streets. so we'd have to watch out for scooters down every walkway, there just isn't any law to stop them using what clearly is a walkway as their own micro-highway.
Was great to spend a day running around with my camera taking photos of the buildings and some of the temples, they're truly beautiful and inspiring, their architecture and creativity showing in the colours and designs of the Wats and the monasteries are really something special.
Had some dinner, and went back to the Hostel, joined Jarrad, who had news that one of our mates from Koh Samui, Gussie, was coming over to hang out with us. she arrived at around about 10pm, we went out for a late dinner and a few beers, watched the clock tick over to midnight for my 21st. went to bed preparing ourselves for a long day of birthday celebrations.

First Day in Bangkok

After landing in Bangkok, we had to find our way to baggage claim, which seemed like it was a mile away. We collected our belongings and shot down to the train station. It was only 45 baht (AUD $1.50) to get the train to the city.
A cab would charge hundreds of baht, looking out the window, all of the buildings look old and poorly maintained, clothes hanging out of every window to dry.
When we arrived at the train station, we walked down to street level and the traffic is insane, so many taxis, so many scooters, pedestrians crossing the road where they please. If someone was to drive in Australia, as people drive here, they would cop so much road rage, not to mention the police would certainly fine them with a handful of traffic offences..... i.e. driving down the wrong side of the road......
Our driver took us down the alleyway that leasts to our hotel, we pushed open the gate and we were greeted very warmly at reception, showed our identification, paid for our room (with the money we got yesterday from Bangkok Airways) and went to our room. Once again, we were pleasantly surprised, for AUD $10.00 a night, i expected something pretty average, but this place is perfect, comfortable beds, a clean bathroom, free internet. Even the staff here are friendly from what we have seen so far.
We slept for a few hours to catch up on all the sleep we didn't have the previous night, woke up and caught up with our friend Jake, who we'd met on our tour of Koh Phi Phi, about a week ago. He'd been in the city for a few nights and had a pretty good grasp on where everything is and how to get there, so we went down to Patpong, which is the nightlife area not too far from where we are staying. Didn't take long to realise that it was true when they say this is the sex capital of the world, every bloke down there was advertising strippers or ping pong shows, all of the go-go bars had their doors wide open so you can see all of the girls inside. Prostitutes and lady-boys all over the place, but for tonight.. all we wanted was a quiet couple of beers.
We found a place called the Happy Bar, i think... and that was at the end of the main drag, a little out of the grips of the Ping Ping shows, but one thing you can never get away from are the lady-boys.
Most of the bars employ them for 'entertainment' purposes, so we had one hanging around the bar all night, talking to everyone and dancing around and generally being very flamboyant.
It was starting to get late, so we called it a night, Jake was flying out the next day so we said our goodbyes and caught a tuk tuk back to our hotel.

Last Night in Koh Samui, amazing.

Our last day in Koh Samui was probably one of the best!
It started in the morning with Jarrad leaving to go on an adventure around the island on a scooter with a friend Augusta who he'd met a few nights ago. I opted to hang around in Chaweng Beach, near the hotel as I am not insured to ride a scooter.
I got onto Emma, who'd moved in to our hotel, to see what she was up to. We wandered down the street until i got a message from a friend from Adelaide, who said we'd just walked past them in a Pub on the main street. We walked back to the Pub, sat down with Ben and Marcus for a few beers, split up for a while and met again at our Hotel, the Ark Bar, for lunch and a few more beers.
This quickly turned into a few beers, some shots and a drunken Thai massage on the beach (which Emma and I both fell asleep during).
After a much needed nap, Emma and I met Marcus and Ben again down at the Ark Bar, caught up with Jarrad and Augusta had more beers, more food, a few bottles of Vodka.
Before we knew it, it was 1:00am, the bar was looking like it was about to close and we walked down to a club called the Green Mango, it was insane, one of the better clubs I've been to in my life.
Even though it was about 3am, genius me decided to buy a Bucket of Vodka & Redbull which had about 5-6 shots of vodka, intense.
Once the club closed, we wandered down to the beach in front of our resort and went for a late night swim, Jarrad and I had a long chat about how amazing Koh Samui was and about how much we'd enjoyed our time there.
I think that the time was made the best by the fast we'd met and spend so much time with such amazing people. Emma especially.
It was quite sad to say goodbye to her, but we certainly have made a really great friend who we have every intention of keeping in touch with.
This morning, we were in a mad rush to get all of our stuff together and get to the airport, neither of us actually got any sleep, and as i write this, Jarrad is snoozing on a couch in the departure area of the Koh Samui Airport.
Our first flight was overbooked, so we were offered 2,500 baht ($75AUD) and an upgrade to go on the next flight, we took it.... that will almost cover the cost of our Hotel in Bangkok.
Looking very much forward to getting there, wouldn't mind a nap myself.
Catchya Later!

The Full Moon Party

Jumped on the Speedboat over to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party.
The sun was still up and Jarrad and I were PUMPED.
We didn't really know what to expect, we didn't wanna go into it with too higher expectation, as we didn't wanna be disappointed.
We got to the island, and the streets were buzzing with tourists wandering about and stalls set up everywhere selling buckets of alcohol, fluorescent coloured clothes and body paint.
After we had a bite to eat, we met up with Emma, Alex, Chris and Daniel who we'd met a few nights previous in Phuket. We wandered to their hotel to find them in the bar, so we had a couple beers, walked to the nearby 7/11 and bought up some booze.

After a few vodkas, the body paint came out, and we were all covered in writing, Daniel, affectionately known through the night as 'Gastro-Boy' had it written all down his arm, we were covered in little pictures, writing and hand prints.
Once this was all done, we walked down to Haad Rin Beach where the festivities were held. First step onto the sand, and it really just took my breath away, there was a sea of people, loud music, alcohol, fire twirlers the works.
It was like a giant nightclub, which stretched for 3 kilometres, music coming from everywhere, the foreshore lined with people selling literally buckets of alcohol.
We got a bucket and just danced up an absolute storm, it was so fun, and everyone there was having a great time. Although, we did see the odd person passed out along the beach, but never far away was a mate looking after them.
There's a health clinic right next to the beach for anyone who isn't well, rest places and plenty of guards and medical personel around to keep everyone safe.
Back to the party, we danced on through the whole night, until not long before sun rise, Jarrad and I parted ways and i joined Emma, Alex, Chris and Daniel back at their hotel to sit by the pool and reminisce on the night and look at all of the photos i took.
You certainly don't need to go to the party and get drunk, the atmosphere is intoxicating, i think that the excitement of the night and a couple cheeky buckets is enough to ensure everyone has a great time. and most importantly is safe.
If anyone is anywhere near Koh Phangan during the festival, they would be mad to miss the Party.

Sick Day

Yesterday was one of my major down days.
Not only was i incredibly hung over after a monster night with Ali, Jarrad and Soph, but i think i must have eaten something that just wasn't agreeing with me at all.
I was very worried at the time, as i felt like death, spent the morning in bed, with stomach pains and frequent toilet visits. Sweating and my temperature was through the roof. With the Full Moon Party tomorrow, i was very worried i wouldn't come good.
I grabbed the kit i bought at the Travel Doctor in Adelaide, had some rehydration powder, some water and an antibiotic tablet.
The door swung open, and Ali, Soph and Jarrad roused me out of bed, i felt like a corpse. marched me down to the beach hired a couple kayaks and rowed out to an island which is just over a kilometre off the coast of Chaweng Beach, Koh Samui,
Got out there, and my stomach just turned on me again, i left the gang out there and paddled back and put myself back in bed with a monster bottle of water and the air conditioner pumping.
Miraculously, when they returned, i felt like gold. walked down to the bar at our resort, had a burger and a beer and then i was good as new.
Jarrad went out and catch up with the others during the night, and i stayed in, i had a few people to catch up with over Skype and a stack of emails to reply to, so i stayed in.
I also didn't want a late one because of the fact i have the Full Moon Party tonight, which is going to be a long one.
it seems as if every single person we have seen and met here, are planning on heading over there for tonight.
I don't know what to expect, its just going to be HUGE, and on top of that, its probably the most beautiful day that we've had the entire trip, about 30 degrees and clear blue skies.
I have had a few people tell me that there has been a bit of media attention at home regarding the Full Moon Party. but with Jarrad and I looking after each other, I'm sure we will keep each other out of trouble.
Tonight will be madness.
Laters.

First day in Koh Samui

Taking off from Phuket Airport to head to Koh Samui, in a tiny little twin propellor plane, in horrible weather wasn't the safest thing i have done in my life. The safety talk the stewardesses gave was barely audible over the intercom, the inside of the plane cracked as we launched off the ground, but once we were in the air, it was one of the smoothest trips i have taken.
on the plane, of the 38 people aboard, there was one asian fellow, and the rest were caucasian sorts, heading to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party on Sunday (tomorrow).
Once we'd landed and grabbed our baggage we caught a cab to our hotel, it looked really nice from outside, but the moment of truth is when the door swings open and you look inside.
I was definitely impressed, we once again had exactly what we needed, a fridge, a safe, a couple beds and a big bathroom. What topped it off was when i found out we had free wifi.
We left the hotel and went for a long walk up the street which seemingly circles the entire island, we walked a couple kilometres past stacks of gigantic resorts and a a load of suit shops, massage parlours, counterfeit clothes stores and restaurants, much the same as phuket..... but the difference was, we barely got heckled.
once and a while we'd hear 'G'day buddy, ya wanna suit mate?' in a terrible australian accent put on my a greasy indian or middle-eastern salesman. Besides that, we didn't head much.
We took a left turn somewhere up the street. and suddenly the paradise and palm trees turned into an absolute ghetto, rubbish, dump houses, seedy massage parlours and scooter mechanic stores. it looked as if it was hit by a bomb, and they were trying to rebuild everything out of the rubbish which was left behind. It was awful, and i started wondering if all of Koh Samui was going to be like that.
We got a hold of our friends, Ali and Soph, went up to their hotel, wandered down the busy end of town, and started on the cocktails over lunch at around about 2:00pm and kicked on from there. beers and cocktails 'a' plenty.
Jarrad and Ali then thought it was a great idea to buy some fireworks from a street stall.
We were getting questionable looks from all of the other street vendors and some chuckles from the tourists as Jarrad was walking around with a monstrous rocket in his hand.
We went back up to Ali and Soph's resort, wandered to their private beach and set them off, was awesome..,
the first one didn't leave the ground though and exploded about a foot off the ground, but that was a part of the fun.
After this we demolished a cheap bottle of Finlandia Vodka up in the room, the 'lads' went to find more fire works, Soph and i watched BBC News and i tried (in my drunken state) to get philosophical, talking about human rights and filling her in on some of the headlines..... when the words weren't really coming out as i'd wanted them, i sent my self home to bed.
I'd had a cracker of a night.
But I've lost my thongs.... which may have been the only pair of REAL Havianas on the entire island.......

Expecting a bumpy ride

Sitting in Phuket airport, looking outside at the weather. It's really miserable, thick clouds and plenty of rain. Thanks to me being a monstrous tight-arse, were flying in a Bangkok Airways Turbo-Prop, which is a twin propellor aircraft, which i can imagine would be a nightmare in the skies today in the clearest of skies.
Should be a good laugh. If our speed boat ride was anything to go by, it should be fun. (even though most of the people on the boat thought they were going to die......)
The last couple days in Phuket were very low-key! Last night we scaled out building, got out onto the roof and climbed a ladder to get to the top of the elevator shaft. the view of Phuket at night was really nice, it was rather quiet and it was warm.
Jarrad and I took up the camera and a few beers, talked about the highs and lows of the trip so far and our expectations for the rest of our time in South-East Asia.
I can tell you, i am very excited for this leg of the trip over to Koh Samui and Koh Phangan, especially now we've gathered a little bit of a friendship base to meet over there.
I don't know exactly what to expect, but im sure its going to be HUGE.
Anyways, ill have to leave it at that, we will be boarding shortly.
Bye.

A Lazy Day in Phuket

I managed to spend the whole of today doing nothing. The weather wasn't so flash and i was terribly hung over after another monster night at Seduction and Diamond Bar.
Jarrad and i woke up nice and early, walked 20m down our street and got an hour long Thai Massage, it was awesome, i was very sore after the bumpy speedboat ride yesterday. once we'd done that, we hunted down some wifi, uploaded a few days of photos and had a couple coffees.
In the afternoon, went for a bit of a wander by myself around some of the shopping areas in town then met up with Emma, who i'd met the previous day on our tour. We had a quiet drink and a epic chat about movies, music, television shows, travel the works, was fantastic how much we had in common and its great to hear about the things she has done on her trip and where she'd been. Just giving me ideas on what to do next time i come through Asia.
Once the sunset, we wandered up to a restaurant down the quiet end of the road and had pizza, a beer, a bit more of a chat and then wandered home.
It was excellent to just have a really cheap, quiet and relaxing day after the last few have been so crazy.
Now I'm back in my room, watching movies, and will shortly doze off.
Perhaps i will think of something to do tomorrow.
Catchya!

Koh Phi Phi

Yesterday (Tuesday) we went on a full day, speedboat tour of Koh Phi Phi and its surrounding islands. We’d had a really early night so we were good to leave the hotel early, but still slept through our bus ride.
After about an hour or so we arrived at Phuket Marina, I took a load of sea sickness tablets and had a couple coffees. Or tour guide (pretty sure it was she-male) gave us a hilarious talk. It was hilarious because he was charismatic and his jokes were hilarious, and also the fact this English wasn’t the best. While we were sitting there we met two people who’d been travelling Asia for a few months named Mick and Emma, they were from Perth and Melbourne respectively.
We boarded our boat, a monstrous vessel with three 225HP engines on the back, I was very nervous after my last boating experience, which ended in my spending about 6 hours vomiting over the side of the boat (sorry Speedy).
We departed, the waves were quite small, so we sat up the front, but of course there wasn’t going to be any waves in a marina. Once we left, the driver pretty much stayed full throttle the whole way there, we were flying, bumping and bouncing over all of the waves, it was fantastic. Every time we launched over the top of a wave and the bow was dropping It was a little freaky.
We pulled into a little bay, protected from the crashing of the waves and went for a paddle in the crystal clear waters. It was so refreshing, the sun came out and I was definitely getting a little sunburnt. After about half an hour, we swam back to the boat and shot off to another island to do some snorkling. Everyone lined up at the back to drop in using the stairs…. All of us thought it was a great idea to jump in from the front of the boat, little did we know where we jumped was about 1.5m.
It was pretty cool, there were schools of colourful fish everywhere, one of the blokes we were there with said that he’d seen a sea snake swimming around. The coral was quite nice too. We’d been warned about sea urchins. Pretty sure jarrad managed to kick one on the way into the boat, which was hilarious for everyone, except him.
our guide (getting more flamboyant by the hour) came and looked at it, and said smacking his foot would help to break up it little piece in his foot. So grabbed a snorkel and started smashing jarrad’s foot, It was HILARIOUS.
after this, the skies turned grey, and it started raining, the wind was insane. The group of aussies the we’d met on the tour all decided to sit in the back of the boat for a smoother ride.
The waves were getting fierce, the boat was getting tossed around, and there might have been a couple times where I did fear for my safety. The first time was when the driver put on a helmet….. and the second time was when all of the Indian blokes and all of the asian tourists started putting on life jackets.
They were all freaking out, and our little corner of Aussies were all having a laugh, making jokes and talking about the movie The Perfect Storm with George Clooney.
for a few, the vomit bags came out and were well used, as for me, I was fine, it was probably my favourite part of the trip, we also got to know a brother and a sister, Jacob and Kaitlyn who were travelling with their parents from Brisbane.
The final island we went to was like a mini-paradise, trees, white sand a bar in a palm hut, was beautiful, so Mick, Emma, Jarrad and I started having beers and cocktails.
Jumped back on the boat, sat right up the front and bounced around all the way back to Phuket Island. We jumped off the boat, and Emma announced she was gonna have all of us back at her hotel (Jarrad, Jacob, Kaitlyn and myself) for pre-drinks and head down Bangla Road for a big one.
We went home for a shower, rushed over to their hotel and she had a stack of her old contiki friends there with her too, so there was about 12 of us, ready to go.
After a few Changs and a few Mai Tai’s at the hotel, we went to dinner (which was more about cocktails then food) I took them back to the same bar that we’d been at a few nights before, had more cocktails and plenty of shots. Went to Seduction Nightclub, probably the best club I’ve ever been to. Then I wandered back to base for some much needed sleep.
I would have to say that today was my favourite day of the trip. The speedboat is what won it for me.
Today will be a much needed rest day.
adios amigos.

Elephants, Rapids and Motorbikes

Jarrad booked a tour for us today to go Elephant-back riding, white water rafting and on an ATV tour.
We were picked up very early from the hotel, and after the night we had, we weren’t the cheeriest looking pair on the bus.
We met a couple that were travelling for a few weeks from Queensland, Andrew and Jenna. We buddied up with them for the day and did all of our activities together. First stop was at an Elephant camp in Phang-Nga. This was the first time I had ever seen an elephant, and it was magnificent. Jarrad and I jumped onto this monstrous bull and went for a long walk through the forested area around the camp.
I was surprised at how easily the beast was able to walk up and down steep slopes and embankments with the weight of us on its back.
Only a few minutes into the ride, our driver jumped off the elephant and put us in control of it. It was crazy! It was hard enough for us to keep our balance when the elephant was going up and down the embankments while we were sitting in our chair with something to hold onto. When we were driving it, it was totally the opposite; we were right up with our legs dangling behind its ears and nothing but its head to hold onto. Was quite a challenge.
After the ride was over, we bought some fruit for the elephants to eat, jumped in our bus and went to our net destination, the white water rafting centre.
Obviously because of the volume of people visiting every day, everything was done in hurry, perfect example, the safety talk.
Jarrad, Jenna, Andrew and I walked up behind a group that were listening to the concluding points of their safety talk. Without listening to a thing and not having a clue what was going on, one of the guides grabbed us right from the back, helped us into a vessel and we went on our way down the river.
It was quite a laugh, we joked about it, but at the end of the day, the thing we thought was most important was to hold on.
We shot down through some rapids, nearly losing Jarrad, smashed into some rocks, the river’s edge and some trees and we were having a great time, then when the guide found a part where the water was still for the most part, told us to jump out and swim to the opposite side of the river through the current.
The water was beautiful, warm and quite clear. Was very refreshing to jump in there after paddling so hard to stay out of the rocky parts of the river.
I was very surprised that Jarrad made it through the torrent, I was exhausted and gave up, swam back over to the boat, climbed back aboard with the rest of the gang and continued down the river to the bottom.
We then travelled a short while away to a huge waterfall with a gorgeous pool at the bottom of it, it was a short stop over for the majority of the Tour groups through the area and was swarming with tourists.
the didn’t stop the four of us from stripping down to our shorts, diving in and having a good paddle around the pool, it had just rained so the water was coming down quite heavy over the falls making it quite spectacular.
the last stop for our group was at an Adventure ATV (All-Terrain Vehicle) centre, we all jumped onto the bikes and followed the man who was in charge, he took us through some beautiful scenery, along precarious roads and up and down steep hills, which had been very heavily eroded by the rains, and ATV use.
Wasn’t until about 5 minutes in I realised my bike didn’t have any brakes. Which, is very problematic when you’re heading down a steep hill, towards a load of trees, a bit of a cliff, some rocks, and no means of stopping. Managed to get away unscathed, was pretty exciting really. There was one bit where we were shooting down a hill and Andrew was in front of me, he applied his brakes, I couldn’t and he copped a pretty good hit to the back bumper, which was a good chuckle.
The blokes finally realised that my bike was knackered and gave me a brand spanking new one, which was a beauty.
All in all, the ATV trek was pretty good, Jarrad was very disappointed that we didn’t get any free time, and there weren’t any jumps around…. But I was quite happy putting along looking at the surroundings.
There you have it, today was probably our most eventful day, we got plenty of stuff done and met some really cool people on the way who we plan on catching up with really soon. I’m absolutely knackered, so I think its time for bed, we have a daylong tour of Koh Phi Phi tomorrow, so id better get some rest.
Good Night.

Koh Phi Phi

Today we went on a full day, speedboat tour of Koh Phi Phi and its surrounding islands. We’d had a really early night so we were good to leave the hotel early, but still slept through our bus ride.
After about an hour or so we arrived at Phuket Marina, I took a load of sea sickness tablets and had a couple coffees. Or tour guide (pretty sure it was she-male) gave us a hilarious talk. It was hilarious because he was charismatic and his jokes were hilarious, and also the fact this English wasn’t the best. While we were sitting there we met two people who’d been travelling Asia for a few months named Mick and Emma, they were from Perth and Melbourne respectively.
We boarded our boat, a monstrous vessel with three 225HP engines on the back, I was very nervous after my last boating experience, which ended in my spending about 6 hours vomiting over the side of the boat (sorry Speedy).
We departed, the waves were quite small, so we sat up the front, but of course there wasn’t going to be any waves in a marina. Once we left, the driver pretty much stayed full throttle the whole way there, we were flying, bumping and bouncing over all of the waves, it was fantastic. Every time we launched over the top of a wave and the bow was dropping It was a little freaky.
We pulled into a little bay, protected from the crashing of the waves and went for a paddle in the crystal clear waters. It was so refreshing, the sun came out and I was definitely getting a little sunburnt. After about half an hour, we swam back to the boat and shot off to another island to do some snorkling. Everyone lined up at the back to drop in using the stairs…. All of us thought it was a great idea to jump in from the front of the boat, little did we know where we jumped was about 1.5m.
It was pretty cool, there were schools of colourful fish everywhere, one of the blokes we were there with said that he’d seen a sea snake swimming around. The coral was quite nice too. We’d been warned about sea urchins. Pretty sure jarrad managed to kick one on the way into the boat, which was hilarious for everyone, except him.
our guide (getting more flamboyant by the hour) came and looked at it, and said smacking his foot would help to break up it little piece in his foot. So grabbed a snorkel and started smashing jarrad’s foot, It was HILARIOUS.
after this, the skies turned grey, and it started raining, the wind was insane. The group of aussies the we’d met on the tour all decided to sit in the back of the boat for a smoother ride.
The waves were getting fierce, the boat was getting tossed around, and there might have been a couple times where I did fear for my safety. The first time was when the driver put on a helmet….. and the second time was when all of the Indian blokes and all of the asian tourists started putting on life jackets.
They were all freaking out, and our little corner of Aussies were all having a laugh, making jokes and talking about the movie The Perfect Storm with George Clooney.
for a few, the vomit bags came out and were well used, as for me, I was fine, it was probably my favourite part of the trip, we also got to know a brother and a sister, Jacob and Kaitlyn who were travelling with their parents from Brisbane.
The final island we went to was like a mini-paradise, trees, white sand a bar in a palm hut, was beautiful, so Mick, Emma, Jarrad and I started having beers and cocktails.
Jumped back on the boat, sat right up the front and bounced around all the way back to Phuket Island. We jumped off the boat, and Emma announced she was gonna have all of us back at her hotel (Jarrad, Jacob, Kaitlyn and myself) for pre-drinks and head down Bangla Road for a big one.
We went home for a shower, rushed over to their hotel and she had a stack of her old contiki friends there with her too, so there was about 12 of us, ready to go.
After a few Changs and a few Mai Tai’s at the hotel, we went to dinner (which was more about cocktails then food) I took them back to the same bar that we’d been at a few nights before, had more cocktails and plenty of shots. Went to Seduction Nightclub, probably the best club I’ve ever been to. Then I wandered back to base for some much needed sleep.
I would have to say that today was my favourite day of the trip. The speedboat is what won it for me.
Tomorrow will be a much needed rest day.
adios amigos.

Natural wonders of Phuket

Our second day in Phuket was much less eventful as the first, still gorgeous weather. Kinda getting my head around ignoring the approaches by all of the people in the streets.
The most part of the day was spent sleeping under the air conditioner in our room and in the swimming pool. After the previous night, it was definitely much needed rest and relaxation. I had a ripper session in our swimming pool, followed by some Thai take-away, which I picked up just down the street.
Once night fell, Jarrad and I went for a walk and yet again bumped into Sophie and Ali, had a bite to eat, a couple beers and then back to the hotel for an early night.

Today we woke up early to take advantage of the free breakfast which is put on by our hotel, it wasn’t fantastic, but I cant really complain too much about free food I suppose.
We went back up to our room, had a quick nap and walked to the beach. We bartered with a few taxi drivers to see how much it would cost to do an elephant tour, ATV riding and some white water rafting. They’re all fairly competitive with one and other so it is easy to knock a few hundred baht of the prices.
Just for today we settled on going to the shooting range near the Kathu Waterfalls, we didn’t muck around and took charge of a .45 magnum. The blokes ran us through how to hold the gun, how to fire it and let us have some shots at some targets.
It was insane how much power there was in this thing, I’d hate to imagine how much damage it would do to a person.
From there, the tuk tuk driver we’d hired drove us over the Kathu Waterfalls and we spend some time wandering up to the top there, we got some amazing photos. It was very nice to see the natural side of Phuket, as opposed to the side where its all built up, and you’re treated like a giant walking wallet.
After this Jarrad and I sat down to a generous helping of Thai food and walked to the beach. I grabbed a book and sat on the beach reading while Jarrad took the chance to hire a Jet-Ski for half an hour. He looked like he had fun.
The weather outside is very hot, its kind of uncomfortable out there, so we have retired back to our room, for a bit of a nap and perhaps a dip in the pool.

Phuket.... Awesome.

Kuala Lumpur was something, Phuket is something else
We landed in the late afternoon, the weather was beautiful, not as humid as Kuala Lumpur, but still around about 30-32 degrees. We made our way through the Thai immigration, and onto a taxi.
The drive to Patong Beach was unbelievable. I thought the traffic was intense in Kuala Lumpur, and the people on scooters were all insane, but in Phuket, no one wears helmets, they ride with as many as four people on one scooter, they carry large televisions around with them while they’re riding, they even drive on the wrong side of the road to get to where they’re going.
There is absolutely no way you would get me on a scooter, riding the streets of Phuket.
We made it to our hotel, which we are very impressed with, it is clean, we have a television and a fridge a bathroom, everything we really need. I think that we have done really well for ourselves.
We wandered about last night for a bit until we found a place to eat, a really nice restaurant down the quite end of one of the main streets. We flicked through the menu and all of the mains were around 100-120 baht, which is around about $4.00 dollars.
attention quickly turned to the beverage menu and we had a handful of beers and a handful of cocktails at incredibly low prices, I was shocked. After we fixed the bill, we wandered back up the street, found a bar which was showing the A.F.L., in which Geelong got beaten, again ……
Watched the start, left to head back to the hotel when I bumped into a mate Ali, who I played football against while I was a junior at Happy Valley. He and his girlfriend Sophie also had just flown in and were stopping off in Phuket and were heading over to Koh Samui in a few days to go to the Full moon party, which Jarrad and I will be attending.
It is amazing how small the world is, but I wasn’t surprised that I ran into someone I knew, as I think there are more Australian here then the native Thais.
Which brings me to all of the people who work down the streets, whether as someone who works in a shop, someone giving massages or taxi drivers. They’re incredible, Jarrad and I was down the street and we are heckled constantly to buy, eat or do something.
The girls from the countless massage parlours will whistle at you, tell you how handsome you are, grab your hand, spank you etc, just to grab your attention. It’s really tiring walking from one end of the street to the other because you’re constantly dodging people’s approaches from the shops.
Anyways, Ali, Sophie, Jarrad and I wandered back to a bar called Shakers, and jumped on the Long Island Iced Teas, it was safe to say the rest of the night got very hazy and we all woke up with cracking headaches.
The food here though, is amazing, its cheap and delicious, and you can find nearly any type of food you want within walking distance of the Hotel, we have a Thai, and Indian, a Italian and a Nepalese restaurant just outside the front door, and plenty of others just around the corner. Today’s lunch consists of a Thai Green Curry and a Chicken and Veg dish with rice. Delicious.
Ill leave it at that for today,
So long.

First rainy day of the trip

We thought it would be a brilliant idea to go and visit the Batu Caves, north of the city. Mike, an Australian guy we met the previous night, Jarrad and I opted to catch the bus up there, as it left from just around the corner of the Hostel… I think it was going to be around 100 ringgit each way to jump in a taxi, and the bus was 2.50 Ringgit.
While waiting at the bus stop, we met a girl who was travelling from France, we offered for her to tag along. She had some interesting things to say about her travels and was very friendly too.
While we were on the bus, I seen a few flashes of lightning, and thought nothing of it. Then the rain came. It absolutely bucketed down and it didn’t look like giving up. It was still about 30 degrees, so it wasn’t too bad, so we arrived at our destination, and walked up the 272 steps, to the entrance of the cave with no cover from the rain. I think the sound of the thunder was made more intense by the fact we were high up on the side of a mounting and it echoed so loudly through the cave.
Thanks to the rain, we were all saturated, clothes wet, shoes and socks wet, everything wet..... so we all kicked our shoes off and spent most of the day barefooted.
The size and structure of the cave is absolutely breathtaking, I believe the roof is around about 100m high in some parts and is full of Hindu shrines. Its really quite beautiful. It was made better i think by the fact that it was empty, not too many people came to see it today because of the weather, so we were nearly undisturbed. It helped us all to appreciate the magnificence of the caves. I'd highly recommend visiting them if you ever find yourself in Kuala Lumpur
Once we found a bus back, Isabella, our new French friend departed and left us boys to go out and find some lunch. And yet again, I had Indian food. I dined on a really awesome chicken dish with some awesome naan bread. was really tasty and will most probably visit it again tomorrow before we set out for Phuket, Thailand.
I’m not too sure yet as to what the plans are for the evening, but I’d better look at getting some food into me, as I am starving.
Selamat Jalan

Living it up in KL

First real day as a tourist was well spent in Kuala Lumpur was a very interesting one, we visited the KL Bird Park, The cities Aquarium and foot spa, the Petronas Twin Towers and revisited the Petaling Street Night Markets.
We will go from the top, we purchased tickets through the hostel for the bird park, caught a cab down with no idea what to expect. it was very close to the city, i think the cab fare was about 8RM, which in australian dollars is less then $3. We walked in to the entrance of the avery, and the place was huge, it is the biggest free-flight avery in the world. There were all sorts of birds, from peacocks and hornbills to macaws and even a couple Galahs. Jarrad and I wanders about for hours, took plenty of photos and even got a few shots holding some huge Macaws.
Once we'd exhausted ourself in the heat, we jumped into another cab and drove into KL city centre and once again, the traffic was ridiculous, and how we haven't seen any fatalities is beyond me these guys are insane (and Jarrad is adamant on hiring a scooter at some point in the trip). We visited the aquarium, it wasn't too bad, a good way to kill time and stay out of the heat. To be brutally honest with you, it wasn't the greatest aquarium I've been to, Melbourne's is a load better. BUT, in saying that, they had a fish foot spa. If you're not familiar, you put your feet into a pool full of little tiny fish, which come up and suck the dead skin off your feet, which is exfoliating and surprisingly relaxing. It took Jarrad five minutes to laugh so hard he knocked his iPhone 4 into the water..... somehow it survived and is working fine. But the spa was cool, air conditioned and very relaxing once you got used to the feeling of the fish going crazy over your feet.
From there we headed to the Petronas Twin towers, which are an incredible spectacle, they're the second talles structures in the world and are 88 storeys high. At the foot of them, there was a huge shopping complex. we wandered around them for about an hour and grabbed lunch, we had indian food. It seems the be the cheapest food here.
We arrived back at the hostel, met a lovely girl from Holland called Evelien. its great talk to other travellers who seek the same adventure as you do. She was at the end of her trip through Malaysia and Singapore and is heading home today. She, and another guy from our hostel joined Jarrad and i for a really nice sit down dinner at an Indian restaurant in Little India, the four of us had a serve of Naan Bread, a main, rice and a drink and the total bill came to 100 Ringgit, which is around $30-35AUD, i cant believe how cheap everything is here.

We visited the Night Markets on Petaling Street, wandered about, haggled with a stack of street vendors, Jarrad has it down, but i was a little timid, they all expert salesmen, they just have poor english skills. most of the stuff they're selling is rubbish, but we still found some cool stuff in there. I got approached by a guy to head into a tattoo parlour to get some work done, but i politely turned him down.
After buying a bottle of cheap vodka, we all returned to the Hostel, sat on the roof with Evelien and two blokes from Australia who had been living in remote Indonesia for a few months. we talked about our trips, where we'd been and what we'd seen and by the time we had been through that and got to know each other, we'd knocked off two bottles of vodka and i was time for bed.
Jumpa lagi.

First Impressions of KL

After jumping onto the plane in Melbourne with the temperature at a very mild 8 degrees to jump off the plane a few hours later in Kuala Lumpur and for it to be 35 degrees and about 60% humidity was a massive shock!
I have never been in such a sticky temperature before, was probably made worse by the fact I was wearing a beanie and a pair of jeans, but still. It was horrible.
Went through customs, which was a test of patience, about four plane-loads of passengers were queuing up for quite some time before we were able to go to baggage claim, after that it was quite simple, purchased my tickets and found the bus which was to take me to KL Sentral.
I didn’t know what to expect for the ride into town, it took around an hour or so. Palm trees were everywhere and ferns line the roads for the most part. Monstrous apartment buildings were dotted all over the place and weirdly enough, there were entire communities of 200-300 houses which were all identical lined up for kilometres. That was certainly something very interesting.
The traffic was immense, nothing I have ever seen before, thousands of scooters and motor bike darting in and out of the traffic, I can’t imagine anything more dangerous then riding a scooter through peak-hour traffic in K.L.
The highlight was probably coming over one of the hills and seeing the PETRONAS’s Twin Towers standing in the middle of the city, that was quite spectacular.
Once I was dropped to the Train Station in KL Sentral, I jumped into the most suspicious looking Taxi I have every seen, the driver asked me to wind the windows down because there was something leaking from behind the engine into the passenger side foot-well, and that was the least of the car’s problems, I was surprised the thing started to be honest. Made it safely enough to my hostel.
Walked into the lobby of the Explorer’s Hostel and Guest House and was very pleasantly surprised, the staff were friendly and helpful, the room is quite large, has two beds and a life-saver of an air conditioner unit. It’s in a great place right beside China-Town. I couldn’t be happier for about $13.00AUD a night.
After I’d settled in, had a quick shower, night fell and I strolled through the Petaling Street Night Markets looking for some food. I found a place down a dirty looking side street and ordered a chicken clay-pot dish with some rice and a can of cola ($6.00AUD). I was unsure whether the food that would get dished up would even be clean, let alone delicious. It was probably the best chicken dish I have had in my life. I was absolutely stoked. However, I did jump when I pulled a fully intact chicken claw out of the soup. But ya know, tasted fine.
Jarrad should only be another hour or so away, looking forward to seeing him. We will probably go for a long walk around the place, get our bearings and work out what we will get up to tomorrow.
Ciao.

The Flight over

After a long night of no sleep due to the fact I was so excited about travelling, I got to the airport just after 5:00am, ready for my flight to Kuala Lumpur.
I am around about 6 hours into my journey and so far it’s gone without a hitch.
It was amazing of my family to drive 5 hours from Red Cliffs, Victoria just to see me off at the airport, I really appreciate the love and support they have shown me over the last few weeks. I can’t say mum is too thrilled about losing her son for such a long time. I hope she trusts that I will be safe while ill be away.
I was a little worried this morning about my flight in Adelaide being delayed because if it had have been, I would most certainly have missed my Air Asia flight from Melbourne. My main concern of course being the weather, the past few days have been some of the most miserable that I have seen, cold, wet windy and we’ve even had a little bit of hail. But fortunately, on take off this morning, the weather was cloudy (which made for a very bumpy ride) but good enough to get off on time.
While in the air, there was an announcement that we could have to wait a few extra minutes before we were able to land due to congestion at the Melbourne Airport. Started to worry then that check-in for my next flight would close and I would be stuck in Melbourne.
Once we had landed in Melbourne, I was in a mad rush to get off of the plane, down to the baggage claim and over to the next terminal.
I was surprised at how quickly I was able to find my way between the domestic arrivals terminal and the international departure terminal. I reached the counter, checked in my bag and after that was smooth sailing.
Jumped onto the plane, a monstrous Air-Bus and after another slight delay, took off.
Safe to say, I was very worried about missing my flight, I’ll know for next time I will leave a little more time between my connecting flights to allow for a little bit of a delay.
I wish we would hurry up a little but and get to Kuala Lumpur, I don’t know how many more times I can read the in-flight magazine. Ill know to pack a book for my next long flight, which will be on the first of August from Kuala Lumpur to London.
Hopefully Jarrad, my travel partner finds, his was over safely, he is flying another Airline via Perth, and the plan is for us to meet at our Hostel as we have no other means of communication other than Facebook until we get our phones sorted out.

Last Goodbyes

Well, here we are, 30 hours till take off. so far all has gone well. Finished my last shift at the Glenelg Jetty Hotel, said some goodbyes and came home to dinner with my family.
My mother, father and little brother made the trip from Red Cliffs, Victoria to be with me for the remainder of my time in Australia.
Saying good byes at the Jetty Bar wasn't easy, particularly to the staff and regulars who have become some of my closest friends. I will do my best to stay in regular contact with everyone.
Its really touching for me to have the support of all of my friends and my family for the adventure I'm about to undertake and was amazing to see how many people are genuinely going to miss me while ill be away.
But in saying that, i will be back, someday. I still haven't put a single thought towards when i will look at coming home, nor have i considered where i want to settle and find work while i am there. The answers to all of this will come in time, and will be defined by the my experiences and by the people i will meet while I'm away.
I have put a little thought into the kind of work i'll try and find over there. At this stage i believe a bar role would be the best suited for me, as bad as the pay might be, i don't think i can put a value on the fact i will be in such a social environment.
At the moment, i am in a fantastic mood, i am excited to see how this is all going to unfold, not as nervous as i have been over the last few weeks, but i'm sure that will peak while i'm driving down to the airport.
As for packing, i am saving it for my final few hours, i have a list of everything i will need, i have hardcopies and digital copies of all of my important documents stored away. I have purchased locks, a first aid kit and all that sort of stuff as i am going to be very vigilant in regards to my personal safety and security of all of my possessions. Just in this past week talking to people who have travel experience i was able to gather some fantastic tips about keeping myself safe and what to watch out for.
In saying that, one thing i have been told over and over, is that no matter how prepared i am and how many steps i take to keep myself out of trouble, something will go wrong.
Best thing that i can do is to be prepared for that and know what to do if i find myself in tricky situations.
Adios.