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Matt Goes RTW!
Hey Everyone..guess where i am!
Has been a little while since my last email so i thought it was about time that i gave you bored people sitting in your offices whilst its cold and rainy outside a little update!!! hehe :D
I think that the last time that i emailed i was sitting in Chang Mai. From there i got the 12 hour bus back down to Bangkok where i spent another day or so on the wonderful Koh San Road! whilst i was there tho i did manage to pick up some IPOD speakers which are quite cool :D
After another day or so on Koh San i started the 12 hour bus journey then 3 hour minibus trip down to Krabi (The place that i have the picture of on the front of my website : www.statraveljournals.com/doylieisaway (encase you have forgotten!). We stayed on a small beach on an island just of the mainland called Ton Sai beach. It was amazing. There were massive sheer cliffs coming out of the sea (which some nutters were rock climbing) palm trees lining the coast and the clearest blue sea that still impresses me everytime. After a quick hunt for accomodation i hit the beach as by this time i had been travelling for about 15 hours and it was around 30 degrees already!! I shared a room with a guy from Korea that i had met on the boat in a small hut about 5 mins walk from the beach. He had already been round all of Eurpoe so was on his last week or two of his travels before heading home. The rooms were very basic, but were cheap and had everything that you needed / came to expect of island life (cold shower, electricity only from 6pm - 6am! that kinda thing)
After a day on the beach we met up with some of the other people that we had bumped into on the way over (3 oz, 1 uk, 1 canadian) for some drinks. The bars along the beach are very chilled out, most being lit only by candles or indiana jones style torches with chilled out music playing and hammocks and cusions everywhere. After a couple of drinks, then some food we decided that we would buy some drinks and play some cards to keep it nice and cheap (true backpacker stylie!). After a bit of thinking we ended up with two big bottles of Samsong (the local whisky...think i have mentioned this stuff before) and a couple of bottles of coke...Once we had decided this, we were tought how to play the drinking / card game "ring of fire" which didn't seem to involve much game, mostely drinking! Anyways after comsuming both bottles we hit a bar for some chilling out in hammocks, then contunued onto a nice little bar whose main attraction was the tight rope around 3 feet off the ground that they had between two trees over the sand. As there was not much else to do, and because we'd had a few drinks this obviously seemed like a great idea, so we all gave it a go..without much luck....i wonder why!!! After a few hours happily passing chatting, trying to walk on this 2 inch thick peice of elastic type material and with the sun looking like it was threatening to come up we decided that it was time for some kip!
The next morning i had to move on to Phi Phi so that i had enough time to fit in my scuba diving course before leaving for Singapore. With not much sleep and a bit of a headache from the samsong i started the 2 hour ferry ride to Phi Phi. Luckily the weather as usual was good so there was not much problem there...it was a little touch and go for a bit tho!!
Once i arrived back on Phi Phi i headed back to the place where we stayed previously and bagged myself a good room for a decent price then headed off to book my course for the next day. That night i had an early night (as i had a manual to read a bit of before we started in the morning) The first day we did some basic skills and some theory with our divemaster Tina. She was from Sweden and was on a tough schedule of spending the summers in Sweden then heading to Phi Phi for there winters where she spent her time diving and drinking!! Anyway, we went through some basic skills just on the beach, firstly getting used to the breathing under water thing (which is very weird at first), then stuff like getting water out of your mask, retrieving your regulator, bouyancy control and some of the signs that she would be using. Once we had used a tank of air we headed back tot he shop to do some more theory then off home for another early nigh (and no drinking as we had to be up for our first dive at 7:30!)
After around 12 hours sleep and still feeling tired i went to the shop to find out that one of the girls in the group had dropped out because she'd drank too much and was puking all night, and the other didn't like it so i had my very own divemaster for my dives. at Around 8 we headed out to Bida Nok around a 30 min boat ride where we did two dives at 12 metres. Whilst struggling with my bouyancy control we managed to see a sea turtle, two leopard sharks (around 2 metres big) and several of the other amazing tropical fish and reefs that you would expect to see...lion fish, angel fish, parrot fish. It was absolutely amazing and so peaceful. That evening after two dives i took my PADI test and passed (only getting 6 wrong...get in!) so i am now certified to dive anywhere in the world. It will be a little scary to dive without the instructor tho. On the third day we went to two more dive sites where we dived to 17 metres saw more sea turtles, a sea horse and we found nemo...and i had an underwater camera so i have evidence!!!how cool :D Just to give you an idea of what the sea is like over here...Tina said that the water was 30 degrees!
That night I had a bit of a big night out with 2 Ausie girls and a Ausie guy to celebrate which turned out to be again a bad idea as i had another 2 hour ferry ride over to Phuket, then an hour mini bus ride to get back to Patong, where i was staying for the night before flying to Singapore in the morning....again, i was not feeling too clever....think its the samsong!
With an early flight booked, i had another early night before flying over to singapore (about 1 1/2 hours) I was only there for a few hours, so i didn't really see much but i had my first dorm room experience where everyone was sitting around watching telly and playing pool etc..just as you imagine them to be! Another early night, as i had another early flight to Hong Kong followed. Unfortunately after being so busy in Thailand i hadn't really had much time in Singapore which was a shame. It seemed just much like any other big city, but i am sure that i will get the chance to come back and investigate more :D.
I was a little sad to leave Thailand as i'd had a really good time and met lots of people etc. The country was amazing and just incredibly friendly..everyone saying hello and good night in the streets. I will definitely be heading back there...island life definitely appeals to me and there is still lots that i didn't get the opportunity to do.
Anyways, i turned up probably looking tired in my flip flops (which i have been living in for the last 6 weeks) to check in when i was told that i was going to get a free upgrade to business class.........RESULT!!!!! I quickly, put a nicer pair of trousers, and a smarter top on and preceeded to the departures before they changed there mind!!
What can i say...seriously, that is the way to travel...i dont think that i have ever been so comfortable on a flight...i was wishing it was longer!! the chairs were like armchairs and had enough room for me to be able to stretch my legs out and only come up to the back of the chair in front...i had my own little table that folded out, and my own telly and control. After getting free champagne on arrival we were then given a warm towel then a menu for a choice of what we wanted for dinner! For dinner i had a king prawn salad with a roll and cold beef, followed by roast chicked with vegetables and rice accompanied by a nice australian chardonnay!! for afters I had some fresh fruit. I couldn't manage the cheese and buscuits or the missisippi mud cake that was on offer tho!! seriously, this is the way to travel!
I think that is the longest paragraph that you are ever going to see describing a air flight...impressive!
Anyways, i am now in Hong Kong staying with Neil who did a fun filled stint at the lovely CAF.. I have been here about a day and a half now and have had a little look around a bit of the city, seen the impressive lights show on the harbour accross all of the huge buildings and met some of the guys that he is working with who all seem really nice. I am here until Saturday when i am flying out to Oz (praying for an upgrade!) There is lots to see with amazing views from Victoria peak, and monkey mountain reccomended by Neil so i will probably hit these in the next day or so.
I think that is about it for now (your probably thinking, thank god!), but i will make sure that i rack up plenty more stuff for next time!!
Hope that all is well with everyone, and i will try and post some more pics onto the website (I have made a special effort to take some more with me and other people in them as requested!!!)
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