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We survived the border crossing despite the fact there were several times more people and rucksacks than seats; it didn't make for the comfiest journey but there's definitely been far worse!
Most people spend as little time as possible in Bangkok but after a night out, Jen found love in Aum. We went to the Grand Palace and did a bit of sight seeing around the city with Aum as our local guide. Sal decided to get her fortune told which was a very funny experience. After telling him her age and when her birthday was he was able to predict how old she would be in 2009…and he got it right, what are the chances?!
After a week we headed south to Krabi. We were a little disappointed as lots of people had said how nice it was there. There's nothing wrong with older company but it was literally Saga Holidays top destination. Men in trunks is bad enough but sagging older men is just wrong. We did a day trip to Railay beach which was gorgeous; limestone cliffs that jut out of the sea make a beautiful photo.
A few days later we headed to Ko Phi Phi, an island that had been wiped out by a tsunami in 2004. Here we met up with Hannah and Ellie, two girls that we'd met on the bus from Cambodia. We also met up with Aum and some of his friends that were working on the island. We had such a good time that we stayed for 2 weeks, the weather was great most of the time so we'd spend the days on the beach and the nights watching the fire poi shows at Blue Moon bar where Aum's friends worked.Sal did her PADI Open Water diving course with Hannah which she absolutely loved! She got to see sharks, turtles, moray eels and loads of pretty colourful fishes. Phi Phi was like a little village set up for tourists, lots of really nice restaurants and cafes. Our favourite was called Papaya, the restaurant where the cats sit in the fridge to cool down! The food was so good; had some gorgeous Pad Thais, green Thai and Mussamum curries, yum!
After entering and exiting Malaysia in the space of 5 minutes we now had another 30 day visa to see the islands on the east side of Thailand. After an awful catamaran journey to Ko Tao (everyone being sick!) we spent a week on the very chilled out island where we literally did nothing other than eat, sunbathe and sleep.
We then moved onto the next island, Ko Phangan. This is where we celebrated Jen's birthday and went to a world famous full moon party! It was a lot better than we thought it was going to be and we even lasted til 8:30am, good going for us!Aum came to meet us as he had other friends working on this island. We did a little bit of sight seeing (visiting different beaches!) and after Jen's persistence we rented some mountain bikes for a leisurely afternoon ride.Five minutes later with a hill in sight, Sal was complaining how uncomfortable the saddle was while Jen propped herself up against the bike mumbling "I'm going to be sick, I'm going to be sick". We would have carried on but Aum was adamant that we stopped at 'The Mason's Arms' for an English fry up!
The next island we got the boat (not catamaran) to was Ko Samui; we were very excited about meeting up with Dan, Lee J, Mark, Kelly and Justin (Jen's family) who had come out for their holiday. We were also looking forward to staying in another nice hotel, using the last of our free vouchers from Hotelclub.co.uk. We spent the day time in our infinity pool and on the beach and the evenings eating the local food at the street markets. We had a great but very strange Christmas - Thai green curry and spaghetti bolognese didn't come close to the lunch we'd have back at home! Thank you to everyone for their messages, cards and presents; they were very much appreciated. It's not rained for weeks, typical that on Christmas and Boxing Day it didn't stop!
As the others caught their flights, in true money saving backpacker style we got up at 5:30am to catch a bus, then boat and then another bus to Phuket. We cope well with these journeys now, well that was until we were stranded at sea for 30 minutes on what seemed like a little dinghy because of the severe weather conditions!
Met back up with Jen's family and saw in the New Year on Bangla Road; real good atmosphere, loads of people as well as silly string and fireworks!
We went on a boat trip the one day to Freedom Beach which was fun; as was the very competitive game of volley ball! Jen's team did have 1 extra player, but then again, it was Justin!
After a really good fortnight it was time to say bye to the Leamington guys...AND Thailand! It has all gone so quickly, great to see everyone again though.
Thailand has been absolutely amazing, even after 3months we could have easily stayed longer. The people are so friendly and adorable, the food has been our favourite (Pad Thais, curries, papaya salads, lots of fresh seafood); we've just loved our whole time here and would recommend it to everyone.
It hasn't been as cheap in Thailand as we thought it would be; accommodation would cost about 4 pounds each a night, meals, 3 and our favourite Samsong Whisky buckets about 4 pounds each!
We've not done as much sightseeing over the past couple of months but the islands are mainly about relaxing and partying...we've definitely done that! We've met some amazing people, Thai and other travellers and definitely hope to see them again.
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