Glen A little retrospective blogging: Destinations ThailandBangkokHua Hin ChumphonKo TaoKo Pha NganKo SamuiKrabi Ko LantaKo BubuKo Phil Phi DonPhuketMalaysiaKuala LumpurGenting HighlandsPulau PinangSingaporeSingapore CityAustralia Queensland BrisbaneGold Coast Sunshine CoastSydney The Kingdom of Thailand ราชอาณาจักรไทยBangkok or as known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha NakhoWe had saved a deposit for a house but decided we should see the world, we both felt brave and handed in our notices, packed up our processions (leaving at least 20 bags of rubbish as a parting gift to the miserable git that worked below our flat) and boarded a plan from Heathrow to Bangkok. After about 12 Hrs 48 Min's in the air and who knows how many hours on trains buses and in the airport lounge, we arrived. What an introduction, the whole country it seems were celebrating the 80th birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest serving monarch. Thousands and thousands of Thais wearing yellow T-shirts apparently the colour associated with the king. I mean huge crowds on the streets and a taxi driver that didn't know where he was going (he claimed). I was exhausted a "little" stressed, tired, dazed, & we were walking round and round in circles trying to find our hotel (I know, Aww Diddums) and its fair to say I was annoying Charlotte, but it was found and we realised "everything in Bangkok takes longer than you think it will" the adventure had begun.That night we ventured out to take a look around the Democracy Square area where we were staying and get some food, we stumbled upon a local Thai restaurant which was so so cheap, I mean 5 or 6 courses for pennies, we then judged everything we brought for the next few weeks against this place and thought everyone was trying to rip us off when in reality we were buying loads of food / drink for a few pounds. You do bizarrely get used to walking passed prostitutes everywhere you go, and these aren't restricted to ladies of the night, its 24/7 and of course they aren't all ladies (the hands give it away), men rocking the towel look, elephants walking in the street & kamikazy tuc tuc's. If you think London is polluted you aint been to Bangkok, unbelievable, like everything else in Bangkok but I would visit again. Hua Hin We weren't after all that clichéd bulls*** about finding ourselves and looking for culture and enlightenment, we were on a mission to explore new places and to do a hell of a lot of sunbathing maybe some swimming in a hotel pool more sunbathing and drinking excessive amounts of Chang (with lime of course for Charlotte) and more sunbathing, basically an extended holiday, once your seen one temple you have seen them all right? So next stop Hua Hin, jumped on a train monk in front of us (don't believe that nonsense that they all live a simple and meditative life, this guy smoked 40 a day and had a ipod under those robes). Hua Hin is the oldest beach resort in Thailand and being just outside Bangkok is popular and has retained some of its fashionable past. We came out of the Railway station and straight into a Songthaew (which is basically a shared taxi either converted from a pickup truck or small van with a bench in the back) to a posh pre-booked hotel Charlotte had arranged. We spent a few nights at the posh hotel and another in a hotel close to the station in the main part of town, where the bloody lift malfunctioned, lights went out and dropped to the bottom floor in a couple of seconds with us inside (scary stuff). This town was a superb stop of point with a nice beach, hotel, bars, restaurants. ChumphonWe stop over night stay in Chumphon before catching the Catermarange to Ko Tao the next day, we found the first cheap hotel we could, weird to have a private TV channel. The best hawker food ever round the corner if you don't mind seeing people being sick into a bag whilst they serve you but apart from that not much to do. Ko TaoKo Tao translates to Turtle Island and is a small island just of the coast of Thailand, its absolutely beautiful and is mainly famous for scuba diving. The night life is great we first stayed in a bungalow right on the Mae Haad beach where we could watch the sun set from our balcony then moved on to Sairee Beach for a bit more serenity and layback atmosphere. Ko Pha NganFamous for its full moon parties we stayed a few days in Had Rin (Drop in Club yuk), and then visited John for the day a few months later after we had visited the other side of the south of Thailand) Ko SamuiWe loved Samui and visit the island twice the second time for a month, Samui has everything and has a broad appeal to everyone. We first stayed in Lamai at a place called Spa Samui we both chicked out of the complimentary colonic irrigation didn't fancy filling my bowels with some sort of coffee, but I loved the hotel and the Thai massage. On our second visit we stayed in Chaweng and pretty much chilled out on the beach everyday until the sun set and then we would check at the night life. The shallow calm water was great for a dip after sunbathing we had to avoid the baby jelly fish though. We saved a bit of cash during the second visit after blowing a lot of cash for the first few months, including going to the Big W supermarket, for some reason Charlotte didn't fancy the pig face for dinner. Krabi First we visited Ao Nang and Sabai Mansion (your cazzzy man) and liked it so much we came back another 2 times and spent New Years on the beach which was amazing watching all the lanterns drift into the night sky after a fireworks display. Ao Nang has honestly the hottest beach in the world you sweat more than you would in Swedish sauna but you could jump in a long tail boat over to Railey beach.Krabi is the birth place of the Electric Kool-Aid & Crocodile Cooler (bloody dangerous drinks that don't taste like any alcohol has been poured into the glass), and some people may get a bit violent after a few. Ko LantaWe spent Christmas on Ko Lanta, you cant beat Christmas dinner on the beach, we found a couple from New Zealand and quite a few of us devoured an original Christmas dinner (well as close to as possible) after which my abdominal swelled like a beach ball, almost as bloated as a visit to Harvesters. The beach is full of holes made by millions of baby crabs poking their little eyes out of their holes. Ko Bubu ("How do you know about Bubu")If you want to know what it is like to be Chuck Noland or Wilson from Cast Away, you have to visit Bubu. Paradise if you don't mind no electricity after 9 and washing in rain water, which we didn't well in didn't anyway. Bubu is a small island with 9 bungalows that you have to catch a tail boat too, a place where you can completely relax and chill out (watch out for the falling coconuts) and on the way back we passed a national park with monkeys running around and I swear there where eagles flying above us. Ko Phi Phi DonPhi Phi is an over hyped expensive mummy and daddies boys living in a hut with tons of cash in their trust funds sort of place and we didn't spend long here at all, the fact that it pissed it down didn't help improve our opinion, although in its defence the bars and resultants seemed cool. PhuketAhh Phuket, utterly loved this place, my favourite stop in Thailand. We first stayed at Karon Bungalows right across the road from the beach, which has pure white sand like talcum powder that sweaks when you walk on it. I loved Karon as it has everything you need and if you want to see something different you can walk to Kata Beach, on jump in a tuc tuc to Patong. We also rented a car which looked like a left over American 4x4 from Vietnam and cruised around Phuket until we found Bang Tao and stayed there for a while, unluckily I eat a dodgy piece of chicken or something and spent a few days on the toilet. The hotel pool was fantastic and so was the beach, more elephants walking around. Surin beach wasn't far, which has a heavy Italian influence. One phase will get you through Phuket "No I don't want a suit, massssssage or a f***ing tuc tuc".

Glens mum hi glen if read this before i speak 2 u can u ring me please mum xxxx

ashley

Megan hi glen and charlotte... i had a really nice birthday thank you for the text! x hope your having a nice time..mum says when are you coming home?? thats it..x love megan x

Glens mum this is megans doing last message she had 2 help

Glens mum hi glen terry has done u r car its all done and it only coast 3 hi glen terry has done ur car for u and it only came 2 £185 with new number plate its megans birthday 2 morrow dont forget r u 2 coming home yet still cold here at last u have updated the blog speak 2 u soon love mum john ashley megan xxxxxxxx

Sarah Thank you Lotte!! Can't beleive you've gone back to Thailand it must be like a second home now! Thought you were going to Oz at some stage! What's the plan? Speak soon xx

glen mum we will have 2 put our heads together and come up with something sarah i can tell u that thay are now in malaysia got a text on wedensday

Sarah They find time to go on facebook it seems, but no time to update us very important people with details of their trip of a lifetime! I think we should stage some kind of protest!

Glens mum well done sarah u are right they are not keeping there word we need this blog up 2 date now come on u 2 take 5 mins and up date us love mum xxxx

Sarah Charlotte i know you have more interesting things to do but you promised me you would keep this blog up to date - i'm so sad!! I want to know where you are, where you've been and where you are going! Pleeeaaaasseeeee xx

Glens mum charlotte please make sure glens clothes match when in pics glen ring mum ashley x

Glens mum at last pics and very nice 2 hope u are ok ash getting on ok at work auntie nancy came over last week and had look at blog speak 2 u soon love mum john ash and megan xxxx

kar I thought you'd of had a tan by now Char x

glen mum glen i keep missing your calls. i have been out with ash on job interviews at last he has got a job at lakeside jd sports. starts friday the 18th jan at 2 pm thank godness. might speak to you on the 17th as you know its my b-day. megan is typing this she is faster guess what she is having braces. please update this blog. with pictures love mum and megan. xxx