The story so far...

Friday 28th November 2008-

After a rocky start to our travels (due to protestors in Bangkok) we arrived in Singapore. The hostel was a lot shabbier than it was advertised on the internet, and the air con machine dripped water all night in our room, leaving us both feeling a bit sorry for ourselves. The next day however, we went to singapore zoo. The weather was very hot and humid. The zoo was amazing, with many of the monkeys not in enclosures, although they stayed up in the trees. We saw lots of really cool animals and managed to see 3 shows, which demonstrated some of the animals tricks and talents. Took us most of the day to see everything as it was so big.

Tuesday 2nd December-

Left early for a bus to Malaysia on Saturday. It took 5 hours to get to Kuala Lumpur, but the bus was nice and comfy and we got a meal on board and the tv was on. Our first impressions weren't too good as we had to get on a small monorail train to our hostel that was absolutely rammed. We had to fight our way off it and Chris thought he felt someone try to pick-pocket him but luckily nothing was in there. Our hostel (Classic Inn) was nice. The room was good, with an ensuite, and the staff were friendly. Every morning we got an Indian breakfast, which involved fruit, a pancake thing, sometimes toast, and a tea/coffee. We went to the aquarium one day which was quite good, had an impressive tunnel tank to walk through. We also visited the Petronas towers although we didn't get a chance to go up them. They looked brilliant at night when they were all lit up. We also took a walk to Chinatown to see some culture and architecture...however it turned out to be pretty dingy and just a sort of busy street market, although there were a few mosques and things. Overall we didn't think much to Malaysia; there wasn't much to do and we didn't feel particularly safe or welcome.

Got another coach to Penang which took 5 hours again. Was raining and stormy the first night, but it brightened up after that. The hostel was OK, except there was a mosque behind it that blasted out singing every morning at about 6am. We went to the beach one day, which was quite nice but small. Chris had a dip in the sea, but later we heard there were some interesting creatures in there! Some man in a turban came and sat with us and told Chris his fortune...even though we didn't ask him too. He was actually quite accurate about his personality, but he got angry when we wouldn't pay him. I think he cursed us because our next few days weren't too good!

Got a mini-bus to Krabi on Friday. It was supposed to take 8 hours, but when we changed buses at Hat Yai, we were given an awful driver who kept stopping and was constantly on his phone. It took about 10 hours altogether in the end. There were some nice people on the bus though who we chatted to- a young Canadian couple, a guy from new zealand, a woman from turkey and a man from Germany (we think). In Thailand there were hardly any normal cars, just motorbikes or pick up truck things. It's weird to see all the women driving motorbikes, especially older people. Sometimes we'd see 3 young girls or even a family of 4 squeezed onto one bike, with only the driver wearing a helmet. It was also common to see about 8-10 people sat on the back of the trucks. The driving is crazy here too as people seem to just weave about wherever they like. We stayed in Krabi for the night before going to Patong in Phuket. It rained hard for the couple of days we were there. Our hostel room was not so great; the room wasn't very nice and we were behind some noisy bars. Chris fell down the concrete stairs and grazed his arm and ankle, so my trusty first aid kit came in handy. The streets were lined with stalls and we couldn't walk a metre without being stopped by someone trying to sell us things us asking us "taxi? tuktuk?".

Thursday 11th December-

After a rubbish time in Patong we decided to head further along the beach to the next area called Karon. We stayed at a lovely place called Baan Suay. It's a bit further back from the beach but was a lot quieter. The hostel had a little swimming pool and a nice bar area. The owners were nice and friendly too. It was sunny the whole time we were in Karon so we spent a lot of time on the beach, which was nice. Chris managed to burn himself on the first day though so we spent a lot of time under a beach umbrella! The sea was nice and refreshing and we saw some little fish in there.

Saturday 13th December-

Back in Krabi for a bit before we head up to Bangkok. The hostel is nice, although Chris reckons he saw a little black lizard thing (that may have been an insect) run behind the wardrobe. We booked a day tour for yesterday which was great! We went elephant trekking through the jungle. It was very cool but a little wobbly and scary at first. Didn't help that the tour man kept pointing out massive spiders too. We fed our elephant some bananas at the end, and if you said thank you to her she did a little head nod thing. We also went to Tiger cave temple, which is a big Buddhist temple thing in some caves up a mountain. There were loads of monkeys running around all over the place and you had to be careful they didnt steal anything. There were a lot of big gold Buddah statues and shrines. It was over 1000 steps to the top of the mountain, but we just did about 200 to find a cave and a 'big tree'. We were also taken to a natural 'emerald clear pool' which we took a quick swim in, and to a natural spring that was 42 degrees! Having a relaxing day today, just wandering around the town and browsing shops.