Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hello readers! What follows is a very brief (beach life makes one rather lazy! Woe is me )Â description of our last month in South East Asia, spent 'island hopping' as us back packer types like to call it.....
It began on Monday the 26th March with Ko Tao: we spent 4 days on this beautiful island burning our pasty selves and eating meat and potato pies and fish and chips whilst listening to the arctic monkeys in an australian bar (how very Thai!) We also rented scooters to explore the island, a pink one for me and a blue one for Ms. Simon (this was perhaps one of the scariest experiences I have had yet as the Thai's drive like made men and the roads are made of sand - sorry Mum); had our first Pad Thai (the infamous egg noodles - yummy for my tummy); and saw Fat Boy Slim perform on the beach (advertised as such but was in fact only a DVD of his Brighton concert!). Â
We spent a day on Ko Nang Yuan - one of the most beautiful places in the world (no plastic bottles or bags are allowed on the island to prevent litter!) This is three tiny islands joined together by sand bars. Here I did my first ever snorkelling with about 3 tiny fish - see the photos, I was at one with the ocean. Simon was a merman.
The 30th March to the 3rd April were spent on Ko Phangan - we heartily enjoyed our time here with Mr. Iaiaiaiaiain Ramsay and his girlfriend Kirsty. The 'Full Moon Party' was Monday the 2nd April and was brilliant fun, the beach was pack a jam with thousands of party goers. There was a UV paint extravaganza during which I painted a Wednesday Owl on Simon 'blade till I die' Colton's back (not pleased), while the artist formerly known as I. Ramsay did some excellent abstract work on my arm (hmmm). The night ended in illness for my good self (definatley due to that dodgy chicken!) and a dip in the sea and two random flip flops for SGC. Â
We headed to Ko Samui on the 4th April till the 6th - here we relaxed on the beautiful beaches, and absorbed the local culture when we visited both the 'Big Buddha' (a buddha which is very big) and the Star Bar - home to a very entertaining transvestite Cabaret (who performed an excellent medly from Dream Girls everyone in Housing Services will be jealous to here, during which there was a very interesting wardrobe malfunction - I will say no more). Sarah is the Hopscotch champion of Ko Samui. Just a point of interest, open sewers line the streets of Ko Samui.
By the 7th April we were in Phuket where we went to the fabulous Keith Floyd's restaurant! Appetisers only. On Easter Sunday we spent the day on Coral Island, sculpting a beautiful mermaid in the sand (just for Ms. Hallam) and getting our moneys worth by eating our own weight in pineapple, and the night in search of a roast dinner - surprisingly we found the most delicious beef and yorkshire puds at Scruffy Murphys - hoorah.
The 9th to the 11th of April were spent on Ko Phi Phi (my favourite!) Here were stayed in a guest house made of bamboo (**cockroache incident**) the owner of which greeted you with 'Morning' all through the day and night, 'Morning', 'Morning'. On Emily's Birthday we did a sunset trip to Phi Phi Leh - home of the glorious Maya beach (where 'The Beach' was filmed) - this involved what I fondly like to call 'the desperate swim of death' to the teeny tine hole in the cliffs through which you had to crawl through to then come out on the wonderful white sands at the other side. We also did some kayaking and some MEGA snorkelling here which was fab.
Our last days in Thailand were spent in Krabi - here we did some serious rock climbing on the limestone cliffs (the highest climb was 22 metres!) and celebrated Songkran which is the Buddhist New Year with the crazy people of Thailand - the celebrations consisted of a massive water fight involving about 500 pick-up trucks with barrels of water on the back and families chucking water at each other, people we armed with water pistols and a lovely talcon powder paste which is wiped all over your face for good luck! After about 5 hours and a thorough drenching we headed home in a pick up truck which should seat 8 people comfortably, but which instead carried 30, on the roof and all!! A great last day in the Kingdom of Thailand.   Â
- comments