Thailand Summary

Days travelled - 53 days (7 weeks, 4 days)

Distance travelled - Approx. 2,887 km (1,794 miles)

Hours travelled - 78.5 hours (3 days, 6.5 hours)

Destinations - 13

Top 3


3. Chiang Mai

The major city in Northern Thailand has plenty of activities to offer the backpacker, wether you feel like taking on a jungle trek a snake or monkey show, or even go petting the tigers at Tiger Kingdom, you can get everything in Chinag Mai. The nightlife is bumping and the city has plenty of restaurants with a selection of worldwide cuisines (Particularly the Mexican joint we found). Chiang Mai is well connected with Bangkok even though it feels a world away.


2. Rai Leh

An island that offers beautifully peaceful beaches, plenty of chilled bars and restaurants, CHEAP accomodation and some of the best rock climbing walls in the world. World renowned for the climbs it has on offer has made Rai leh pretty famous for excursions from the island of Phi-Phi. The lagoon is not to be missed, neither is the lookout point. A very memorable day........if you can handle the challenge (Eh-hem, Cough!, Vish, Cough!)



1. Koh Tao

In total I spent 2 weeks on this island and I can say I enjoyed every minute of it. Personally, I feel like it had everything. Cheap accomadation (if you know where to look), great nights out on the beach side bars and clubs, amazing scenery to explore (if you can handle the hills) a number of hidden bays with some of the prettiest beaches in Asia, and of course, you can do some diving, lots and lots of diving. The small thai boxing gym took up a lot of our time as did the lovely cafe opposite thecabaret show. Backing paradise = Koh Tao (but will it make the overall top 5 in Asia?)



Final Advice

For many people, Thailand is an essential country to travel with it's chilled out culture and the parties they boast about. Thailand has been the most touristic country that we have visited, which is a downside but we have loved it that much, that we visited this country twice. Starting off in Chiang Mai and working our way down to the full moon party was the route we took the first time and the second time round, me and Danny did our own route, due to different reasons and met in Bangkok before we flew home. A lot of people visit Chaingmai, Bangkok and do the islands in the south but we stopped off in Sukhotai and Ayutaya to see the Khmer styled temples, which was definitely worth the visit.

Thailand is a country that is moving forward and I completely understand why people move over here, generally because they're looking for thai brides, but the thai ladies are looking for the rich old men too. To us, the weather is warm all year around and there are plenty of beautiful beaches (south) to sunbathe during the day and party at night. The Thai food is nice too, especially for people who like coconut/lime flavoured curries, but because Thailand is a well visited country, you can easily find places from all over the world especially in the main cities. The cost of living is cheap, with good quality accommodation and food costing a little. The only thing that seemed expensive was with the travel and that was only if you booked through tourist travel agencies, which is what most people do. The second time I travelled around, I got on the government buses, which were a lot cheaper, generally better quality and the had no tourists on so you can experience the culture better.

Thailand is the place to shop but also the place to get hustled. The main cities, Chiang Mai and Bangkok are the best place to shop for fakes, but you have to hustle hard. They always start at ridiculous prices and work their way down. If you're clued up like me and Danny, you'll have a chance to pick up a bargain. If you'r in Bangkok for a while, there are loads of markets that you can go to but if you're around on the weekend, Chattuchak weekend market is the one to visit for presents.

From personal experience, If any of you are interested in doing Thai boxing out there, then I would definitely train in Bangkok but the only problem is that you're staying in a muggy city, where Chiang Mai is a lot more of an open city. It is expensive to train and you have to be careful not to get skanked, but remember you are getting trained by the best. i trained in Chiangmai for 2 weeks, Krabi for 1 week and Bangkok for 3 weeks and enjoyed it more in Bangkok. I've done Thai boxing before so I enjoyed a more serious training style but if you're a beginner, than you may prefer somewhere else.

Full Moon Part 2 and Back to Bangkok

With all the training in Ko Tao, I trusted Vish was now mentally and physically prepared for the fun and games in Ko Phangan. Bring on the full moon party! We arrived a few days before the big night so that we could guarantee some digs. Plus, enjoy the antics of full moon build up. Of course this includes; pool parties, magic mushrooms, multicoloured buckets, bonfires on the beach, hong thong whiskey, M150, a hired scooter, and lots of body paint. But of course Ive been through all this before.

The actual full moon party was far busier than it was back when me and Maj were here in May. Only problem this time round was that we were leaving the following day, at 7am! So good preperation of packing our bags the night before was a MUST. (Me and Maj didnt get back from our first full moon until 11am, it was going to be difficult). We managed to make it back in time for our transport to the dock and even got to give the teeth a quick brush. The tiredness kicked in whilst on the boat across to the mainland, and I ended up passing out on the top deck of the boat, half in the sun and half in the shade with my sunglasses on. The panda eye was disgracefull, the burns were sore and my skin peeled for the 2nd time on the trip. Only problem this time was that home was only a few days away.

The long bus ride to Bangkok took about 12 hours. From there we grabbed a cab to Majids new apartment where he had been living for the past 3 weeks whilst doing his Thai boxing. It was good to see the old lad again.

Our last 2 days of our trip were spent in the Thai capital. We managed to go on a big shopping spree for all the pressies for everyone back home and have one final night out in Asia with Maj's mate Krissy. A great way to finish off the travels together. Me and Vish went out looking like the chukle brothers (according to Maj) and we tried hard to see a ping-pong show, but the season had finished, so we just settled for strippers.

So that was it for us. We had to make our way to the airport and make the emotional travel home (with a quick stop off in Egypt). Vish on the other hand still had another 10 days left of travelling and would be heading to Cambodia with the all the advice he needed from the pro's. We both told everyone that we would be arriving home on the 5th of September, so a few suprises were on the cards. It was just as exciting to be going home. At the beginning we had a plan of what we wanted to do. Now we can say we accomplished everything we set out to do and a hell of a lot more.

Ko Phangan Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/snapfishuk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5506229011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/

Bangkok Photo Link:

http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/snapfishuk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4774856011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/

The Art of Muay Thai

You're probably sick and tired of hearing about Dan's travels so I thought I'll make a guest appearance and fill you in with what I've been doing for the last 6 weeks of the trip. I couldn't have finished my travels without experiencing some real Muay Thai training (thai boxing) so this is what I basically did for the 6 weeks. From Borneo, Dan went to the Philipines and I ventured off to Thailand, starting in Chiangmai for the start of my training. I was looking forward to it as I was craving for some training and I will be learning from the best. Vishal, my school friend came and met me here, so it was good catching up with him. I trained for 2 weeks here, whilst Vish chilled and did all the activities that I did when I was here last.

We moved on down to Krabi via Bangkok, where I stayed and trained for 4 days, while Vish and Tam did all the tourist shizzle. We then got the boat across the waters to Koh Phi Phi for a reunion with my boy Danny, as well as Becky and Ellie, who we met in Borneo, and Lieve, our dutch compandre through Indonesia. There was some great moments here for example, Vish's legendary push kick, climbing down to the lagoon and a lot of time staring at the stars. However this was where I got my infection, and had to suffer some pain with a bandage around my leg looking like I've been through battle. It was time to leave these party animals and ake a solo trip to Bangkok, where I trained for 3 weeks solid with the big dogs.

The last time I was in Bangkok was when all the riots were going down, but the city has calmed down since and they has just got on with it. Jitti's gym, where I trained was far from the tourist area, so I was focused training out there, with a morning jog at 6am in a nearby park, followed y a gym session until 9 am. Training started again at 3pm until 6 pm, followed by a visit to the chicken lady and an early night. I stayed in a pimped out apartment, where none of the workers spoke english, so it was always a laugh communicating with them. This was more or less my routine for 3 weeks, which helped me lose a stone and got me fit. Dan and Vish came and met me on the last full day before we left, after they had a busy time partying at the full moon, where we had a night to mark the end of a legendary full year away. Krissi came and joined us with a special guest appearances from the chuckle brothers, which ended up being a very random night but a quality one. Peace out x

Groundhog Day in Tao

Vish had to leave early in order to complete his visa run to Myanmar, he got a 15 day extension, which would just be enough to see him over the border to Cambodia. We met each other in Chumpon with the intention of catching the night boat to Ko Tao. Unfortunately we missed it because of my mega slow bus and had to stay the night. It was a strange feeling makiing my way back to Koh Tao, the first place I have actually seen twice throughout my travels (though, Bangkok and Ko Phangan are gunna get to see me again too).

Everything was so much easier this time round for obvious reasons. We got a great place to stay with fridge and t.v, 2000 baht for 6 nights.

We had a daily routine in Koh Tao, which basically included. Waking up about 2pm, grabbing a mango shake and eating at our favourite sandwich shop, doing about 2 hours training at the thai boxing gym, resting for 1 hour, freshening up, eating dinner, buying a bottle of Hong Thong, consumimg Hong Thong, partying the night away and getting in for sleep between 6 and 10am. And repeat. Times 6.

It was a tiring week, let's put it that way. On one day I did pass on the thai boxing to go on a night dive with Maxine, Katie and Zayn (a guy we met at thai boxing). Not the best idea when hungover. I was pretty clueless about my equipment, but luckily Zayn was a diving instructor and so he was my saviour. The dive was cool, very different from your standard day dive. We saw a 6ft barracuda, a huge hermit crab, and some sandy coloured sea bed dwelling fish thing. With it being an adventure dive it would help towards my advance diving qualification if I decide to do it in the future.

That was basically Koh Tao. Oh, I did begin to realise that I had a very, very short time left travelling too. Maj was in the process of buying our return flights home. Seems like I have been writing this bloody blog forever!

Ko Tao Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/snapfishuk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5505941011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/

Khao Sok Monsoon

In order to break up the time we were spending at Thailands amazing beaches we decided to go to Khao Sok National Park, located between Phuket and Chumpon provinces.

The clan had now depleted to 2 remaining vets, Vish and myself. We booked our accomodation in advance at the bus station because we would need to be picked up to enter the park area. We stayed at Khao Sok Island Guesthouse, with our host (and now our own Thai fairy godmother) Ratana. She has definately ranked as one of the kindest and friendliest people I have met on my travels. She used to give us money off our meals, free bottles of water and helped us so much with our onward transportation.

For our first day in the park we went for a trek to see Thailands oldest rainforest. I reckon we a did a good 5 or 6 hours walk, but we were pretty restricted from seeing most of the park since the monsoon season was in full flow and flood warnings were in place. We had some chill time on a rock right in the middle of a river only reachable by crossing a uprooted tree trunk. Chill time was cut short when a sudden downpour kicked in and we were forced to find some shelter. After the rain had done its damage, we made the slow and sludgy route back to base.

We did plan to go to a nearby lake the next day to do some caving/potholing, but again the monsoon made this impossible. Instead we planned to do a traditional Thai cooking class with Ratana. We were shown the ancient recipes for chicken Thai green curry, pork pad thai, seafood tom yum soup and a papaya salad. To no surprise we had a blast with Ratana, especially learning some extra Thai words that she found hilarious. Farang and cak dam were her favourite (meaning white tourist/black tourist). Vish now had his nickname for the blog.

Khao Sok Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/snapfishuk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7666244011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/

Residents in Phang Agn

Only me Vish and Beccy moved onwards to Phang Agn since the other girls wanted to see the hot springs in Krabi (how gay). Not to rub it in or anything, but our overnight stay in the Muslim village off the coast of Phang Agn was incredible. We hung out with a group of locals who made us some 'special' ice tea, mixed with cough syrup and coke. They enjoyed our company and wanted us to meet them again the following day. It would have been rude not too.

We had a kayaking trip arranged for the following day but that got postponed because of crappy weather. Which meant we got to hang out on the island for the day. We visited the evacuation point for Panyee island, which was basically an upturned table. The rest of the entire day was taken up with a game of football with some local kids. We must have been playing for a good 3/4 hours barefoot of course. The kids loved us being there. We arranged them into teams and did little racing games with them. Oh, and bulldog also, hopefully an island favourite now. I reckon one of my favourite parts of travelling is being welcomed and respected by the locals. They were sad to see us leave.

We met the elders again that evening and hung out by the islands pier listening to music and being told stories about how life was for them living here. Most worked as fishermen, some worked for the kayaking rental companies near-by. A really great bunch of guys, they took great care of us and even treated us to ice tea and biscuits.

The boat trip took us through a mangrove forest in the sea, a bunch of caves within the karsts and to 'james bond island'. Named after 007 for appearing in the Roger Moore movie 'the man with the golden gun', the island was the location of the bad guys hideout, I aint seen it, so I was a bit clueless to all the fuss. Nice looking rock I guess?

Phang Agn Photo Link:

http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/snapfishuk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7666561011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/

Rock Climbing In Railay

The 6 of us made the boat ride over to Railay Beach on the Friday, we also regrouped with 2 girls we had met on the snorkel trip earlier in the week, Katie and Maxine.

I had been looking forward to Railay since we first passed through Thailand as it is a world renowned rock climbing area. The whole group except Maj got involved with the climbing. Some enjoying it way more than others. The most memorable climb was our final one, where you had to start off by using upper body strength to scale a hanging stalactite. Maxine 'hench gal' represented the ladies by completing the climb with myself and Vish. I had a great day climbing, and I may have possibly found a new hobby. The Peak District better watch out!

The next day Maj made a deal with us that he would be 90% sure of coming to the next full moon party in Ko Phangan, which would be absolutely awesome, if........ me and Vish escorted him to the lagoon and view point in the morning. Fair deal we thought. The view point was tougher than expected to reach, with no actual pathway, just rocks and tree roots to clamber over. The lagoon was another thing entirely. It was so sludgy, wet and steep that made this a real ball ache to descend. Vish pussied out of the challenge, so it was left to me and Maj to finish our final task together. After much hard work (and Maj getting stuck with a rope between his legs, got video evidence for ya) we hit the bottom and walked round the hidden lagoon. It made a great final adventure for the two of us to witness together. We made the hike back to the hotel in time for Maj to say his goodbyes to the gang and get some grub down himself. He later reported that he had a nightmare of a journey back to Bangkok, he had to walk to the opposite beach with his bags, over the rocks, then he and his bags got drenched on the boat ride to Au Nang, and was boarded onto an aircon bus to freeze the 7/8 hour journey back to the capital. You think he would man-up after 10 months of this shit ehh?

Me and Vish ditched the ladies later that day to check out a cave (weak) a penis temple (you heard correct) and another cove area with great scrambling and cliff jumps to reach. We met up with everyone later to watch some fire dancers doing a show (best I've seen yet).

We had a similar dilemma with our boat ride, except I was at the back and made it out dry as a bone. The sea was really choppy that day so we were hustled into paying double for the boat ride to Au Nang. Whatever. I have lost my bartering motivation these days.

Railay Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/snapfishuk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7665691011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/

Phi Phi Phu Phu

Ko Phi Phi, another place blessed with the karst mountainous scenery jutting up from out of the sea. Many guesthouses and hotels and bars and nightclubs make up the rest of this tropical island. Much time was spent soaking in the sun and sea here, awaiting the arrival of Majid and company. We did take a snorkel boat trip around the islands close by to check the coral situation, hidden coves and picture perfect beaches. The most famous being Maya Bay, the beach used in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie 'The Beach'. The infestation of farang (tourists) took away all of its magic personally speaking.

The reunion with Maj, Vish and Tam was quality. It didn't seem 2 minutes since we had seperated in Borneo. Vish would be joining me for the rest of time away, before moving onward to Cambodia. Tam planned to join the girls on a mission to KL and Singapore. Maj would be heading back to Bangkok for his final 3 weeks of intense ballet dancing.

Phi phi remained a piss-up for the rest of our time there. Except for our final day, when we made the climb to the view point and over to another beach. We had a small bonfire on this beach before hopping a long tail boat back to the other side. It was night-time boat ride too, so it was another new experience.

Ko Phi Phi Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/snapfishuk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7665227011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/

Phuket About It!

In Phuket I stayed at Patong. Another beach side resort area with plenty of nightlife and water sports available. I got a good deal on a room, then went to get my first cheese and ham toastie from the 7-eleven, it felt good to be back in Thailand. My thai chicken green curry was the highlight of my day, no little philippine portions here. The following day Becci and Ellie arrived and we had a chill day since they were both shattered from there journey from Bali. Other than taking a big walk about the beach and eating some great food, I bought a bunch of dvd's for real cheap. There wasn't much appeal in Patong so we wasted no time in moving onwards to Ko Phi Phi. With the '04 boxing day tsunami, all of the places on the west andaman coast now have evacuation areas. The map to the evacuation area in Patong was very confusing. At one junction you have the choice of two different routes, not ideal for the indecisive.

East Thai Islands, Koh Tao

We got an overnight bus to the docks for Koh Tao and slept very little on the journey. Which was probably a good thing since there have been many reports of people getting robbed whilst sleeping on the buses moving south of Bangkok. Luckily, we were not the days targets. After another 2 hours on a boat ride over to the island we were moving through an electric storm in the middle of the sea. The lightning just surrounded us for at least 20-30 minutes, that was cool. We managed to get some half decent digs in Koh Tao for 300 Baht a night and we also regrouped with the 4 skanky mancs, Beth, Kate, Kim and Clair. Not only that, but we also got to see Tom again who we met back in Vang Vieng and his buddies from Phi Phi Island, Alex and Anton. On top of that still, Eddie Gordo (Black Chris) also managed to catch up with us, so we had a great ensemble once more.

Koh Tao is one of the biggest spots in the world for diving and snorkelling and is second only to Cairns in Australia (Great Barrier Reef) for dishing out diving qualifications. Me and Maj gave the diving a miss here, since we plan to get qualified in Malaysia, but I think we will try out some diving here when we return for Thailand Part 2. We spent a good week in Koh Tao, mainly relaxing and partying, but of course we have the significant memories to share with you.

The beach nearest to where we were staying wasnt too impressive. It was really shallow, full of dead coral and packed with taxi boats. We spent our first days sunbathing and cotchin here but needed to get exploring the beauty of this place. I cant forget to mention that Clair climbed a slanted palm tree with me and managed to get herself stuck up there. Funny, because she was giving other climbers grief when they were up there. There some really great rocks on either side of the beach that I couldnt resist to have a scamble about on. I took Kim with me on a mission and she hated me for it. Clair nearly had a search party scouting the beach for her. I thought it was great :)

On one of our days we wnated to head the south side of the island where the better beaches are located. The island isnt big at all, only 21sq km, so the journey was quick. Only problem was, that the bikes we hired were rubbish and completley unsuitable for the terrain of the island roads. I had a little slip with Kate on the back, luckily no damage to either us or the bike, but Clair and Kim also fell, and managed to break a wing mirror and scratch up the side of the bike, not to mention some horrible booty bruises to go with it. They ended up having to fork out about 80 pounds for repairs, but it could have been worse I guess. The beach we went to was beautiful though, definately worth the damage to their backsides. Clair brought some goggles and the water was unbelievably clear, this inspired us to do some snorkelling later in the week.

It turned out to be a very unlucky day for the ladies since pastey Beth was incinerated by the power of the sun. She got burnt up pretty bad, and had to be known as hell girl for a few days.

One of our highlights of Koh Tao was going to watch the ladyboy cabaret show. I didnt know what to expect from these weirdoes, but it turned out to be really fun. But boy, were there some strange looking characters. There was Jigsaw (the doll from the saw movies), monkey girl (who had incredible concentration), mega mouth (mouth bigger than head) and everyones personel favourite....the pisshead (a man/woman who was so out of sync with eveybody else, great entertainment). One of the acts was when a ladyboy came out dressed as a female (whilst frank Sinatra's 'I did it my way' was playing) and slowly re-arranged her hair, face, clothes until she was back to his original self. The best part of the night was when Maj was asked to join them on stage, before he could even decline, Chris had threw himself at her/him and was taken to be dragqueened up. He definately stole the show, and made a great a woman. He said he looked like his sister, although Im sure she would think otherwise.

On another one of our days I joined the ladies for a day of snorkelling. Maj didnt come along because he wanted to Thai box. We got a taxi boat to take us all the way around the island, stopping at the best snorkelling spots. The water was really clear and we saw so many kinds of different fish. The highlight was the spotting of a baby shark by yours truly, it had some fishing line dangling from it mouth and I was tempted to have a tug, but though against it. It may not have been Jaws but it could have nibbled my finger, or worse.

On our last day we took Chris for a Thai boxing session and the girls came to watch. They were not impressed at all, and said they would be able to take us on without any training. They were probably right on that day, since the Hong Thong (whiskey) from the previos night was still swirling around inside me. After training we went to have an all-you-can-eat BBQ. I think I ate more than I could eat. Chris took the winning trophy with 6 and half skewers of meat packed away. Fat bastard.

We had to steal our photo's from Beth for Koh Tao, since we are having camera trouble. Not to worry though, we got the important shots.

Koh Tao Photo Link:

http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5505941011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Bangkok Dangerous

With the sitaution between the government and the protestors (red-shirts), we were unsure about wether we should visit the capital, especially when our travel insurance may be void by entering Thailand. We didn't have any choice in the end because Danny has to pick up his new passport from Bangkok and plus, we understand how the media works and know they portray ten times worse then it actually is.

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We arrived in the afternoon and got a taxi straight to Kao San Rd, which every backpacker talks about, and is just full of bars, restaurants and markets. More importantly, we saw a subway and that was one of our first ventures once we found a place to stay. To say that Bagkok is in 'a state of emergency', there's still loads of foreigners getting pissed up without a worry in the world, but that was not on our itinerary. We spent the evening at a cinema, which was a taxi ride away. Taxi's are so cheap here and because some areas are more dangerous than others, this is probably the safest way to get around. We drove passed the embassy area (which is now closed), where the roads were blocked off and patrolled by the cops and then made our way to the cinema. We ended up watching Iron Man 2, which was good and then made our way back, stopping off at one fo the street stalls for some cheap but filling Pad Thai (our local food for the next few days).

The next day was dedicated to a muay thai (thai boxing) session at jitti's gym, which is one of the gyms we will probably train at when we come back in July. Training lasted for 3 hours and the heat made it feel like days. After all the padwork, stretching, technical work, bagwork, he makes you go for a run-HARDCORE., so we're proper looking forward to that when we come back HA. Our evening was spent chilling with Kristian (a mate from university) and his friends, who are all teaching english in the local area. They loved Thailand that much that they were trying to find every way possible to stay as long as possible.

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Sunday was pretty much a right off as we came in late from a night with Kristian, so we just booked our bus/boat ticket to Koh Tao, the first island of the three. We did plan to go and visit Sukhumvit, the modern upbeat area of Bangkok but with the riots moving closer to this area and some taxi's refusing to even go there, we decided it was time to watch another movie at the cinemas. Robin Hood it was and it was great finally hearing some sort of yorkshire accent, it was refreshing i tell theee!

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Our bus left at 8pm on Monday evening, so we filled our day by walking around Bangkok. We visited the Grande Palace and the huge, well decorated temple inside it's walls. This was probably visibly the nicest temple I have seen, with decorations of rich gold and silver twinkling at every angle. It didn't really hold any history but it was a masterpiece in it's own right and obviously expensive if it's in the king's quarters. After strolling around the palace, we thought we should do our bit and eat from a street stall, to show gratitude for what we have got lol. We got the boat across the river to go and see another temple and then made our way back. It turned out to be a very sweaty day and we still had little time to kill so we decided to play an hours worth of snooker, which we both improved on since we first played a couple of days ago. However our main priority was to leave Bangkok the way we came in, so we went for another subway and made our way for the bus to Koh Tao, but as we left, we saw crowds surrounding the big screens in the streets to see that the rebels were starting to burn buildings down after they refused to evacuate. What a perfect time to leave!

Bangkok photo link:

http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4774856011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Histories 2nd Capital, Ayutthaya

So as you can gather from the post title, Ayutthaya was Thailands 2nd capital city. Back in 1700 the city reached a population of 1,000,000. Making it one of the biggest cities in the world at that time. In 1767, the Burmese army invaded and destroyed the city, leaving behind ruins what is known today as Ayutthaya Historical park. The population today is a mere 55,000. Compared to the current capital of Bangkok with a population of 9,100,000. Bangkok became capital of Thailand in 1768 after the demise of Ayuthaya.

We preffered the setting of Ayuthaya to that of Sukhothai, so if you ever want to see some of historical Thailand, Ayuthaya is the preffered option.

We hired bicycles to make the sightseeing easier. We stopped at three different sets of ruins and then made 5km cycle over to Wat Chai Wattananaram, where it was recomended to watch a great sunset, it proved worthy, but weve seen better. Maj also broke an ancient statue of a buddha here, so if the Ayuthaya police question you about it, tell em nothing!

The greatest thing I witnessed on my travels so far was in Ayuthaya. A dog sat on the back of motorbike whilst a woman was cruising down the main road, and he looked so content. It was brilliant. The 2nd time a camera was not at a hand to record such a sight. (The first being the duck sacrifice back in Siem Reap, because of Abbie's shitty camera).

Ayuthaya Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4701658011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

The Sukhothai temples

We finally left Chiang mai, although we weren't ready to, and made our way to Sukhothai to carry on with our travels. Sukhothia is known as Thailand's first capital and holds the Khmer style temples that are one of the most visited ancient sites in thailand. The temple area (Sukhothai Historical park) is classed as the 'old town' and the new thriving area of the town, where we stayed is labelled as the 'new town'. We stayed at Banthai guesthouse and it seemed that all the guesthouses for foreigners are next to each other on this one strip by the river.



We got up early the next morning and hired a motorbike for the day. We rode to the old town, which was 12km from the new town. It didn't take long for us to look around, probably because we had a motorbike and the main temples are situated in the centre of the park. Like Angkor Wat, these temples were originally for Hindus and then later converted for Buddhists, so you can still see both styles. We've seen a lot of temples so we're starting to wizz by them and if they are nice to look at, then we will stay there a bit longer and take our pics, but if you're either Hindu or Buddhist and are interested in their history, then this place is worth visiting.






Danny hasn't slept for the past couple of days, so I dropped him off back at the guesthouse and I went and visited Si Satchanalai Historical park, which is 50km from the new town. It was nice ride up but there was nothing in between so if i got a puncture, i'd have been stuck in the heat! the Si Satchanalai park is based in the same style as the Sukhothai historical park but the LP book says that it is in a more peaceful surrounding and is almost untouched, so i thought I should check it out for myself. It was indeed very peaceful as I was the only foreigner there. the only other people i saw were a van full of thais doing theire sightseeing. I also preferred the temples here because there were a lot more bigger temples, instead of them being in the centre like Sukhothai Historical Park. I spent about an hour riding about and taking pics and found out that here is an excavation pit in the park, where they have found remains of bodies that date back from 2-4 BC, which is quite interesting and it seems that the royal family at the time were cremated and their ashes were scattered here.






I got back from my eventful afternoon and felt really cultured, until Isaw chris (Wakey), who we originally met in Vang Vieng, then again in Luang Prabang and Chiang mai, and he brought me back down with his dirty northern accent, and I felt common again lol. We spent the evening chilling, had dinner at Poo restaurant (it had to be done) and they served food on a plate with a smiley face-Love it!

Sukhothai photo link:
http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4682186011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Trekking, Tigers and 7-11 in Chiang Mai

Getting to Thailand was really strange at first. With 7 months of travelling behind us, this point once seemed like a lifetime away, but it finally arrived. Let me tell you we were we glad for it. After all the talk of the protests in Bangkok and that they had moved northwards to Chiang Mai, we were pretty nervous about the exact situation. Especially with our travel insurance becoming invalid. After seeing the place with our own eyes, we can definately tell you that there is nothing to worry about up to this point, the city is more than stable.

With the worry of my passport becoming full before the trip had come to close, my first priority in Chiang Mai was to visit the U.K Consulate and send off for a new passport. I had to send the application to Hong Kong and it will be getting returned to the embassy in Bangkok. This way I dont have to wait for its return in Chiang Mai. Still got hit by -150 squids, ugghhhh!

Chiang Mai felt so good to be in, after spending the last few months in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, the amount of shops (7-11's and McDonalds) and the cheapness of food (pad thai plus the red, green and yellow curries - very descriptive) and accomodation was amazing. We could finally go back to budgeting this trip.

We met back up with Kate and Beth (Skanky Mancs) and booked a three day, 2 night trek into the jungle with them. Oh and me and Maj got a hair cut from a gay dude called Eddie. We found this out because Maj got 'The Ricky Martin' cut. Eddie was all goose pimply, hahaaa.

Because some other people who were supposed to be trekking with us had to delay by one day, the hotel gave us an extra free night! To postpone for one day - fine with us. Instead we had such an action packed day. First off, we visited the tiger kingdom, where you are able to enter the tigers cage's and lay next to them for some amazing pictures. The tigers look more sedated than a crack addict, but we were told (after our visit) that a German girl had been bitten really badly back in January (sucks to be her) so I guess we caught them on a happy day. Next up, we went to watch the snake show. They had cobras, king cobras, Burmese pythons and some little jumping snakes doing all sorts of crazy Steve Irwin stuff. The highlight was when they had a boy of 4, max, taming the snakes and missing some of their strikes by millimeters.

Me and Maj wanted to check out one of the local Thai boxing gyms in Chiang Mai in case we do return in July. The gym was outdoors, so it didnt take long at all for both of us to be completely drained. It was a great session though, and Maj (pro Thai boxing champion) gave it the thumbs up. That night we actually did go to see the pro's in some Muay Thai action. The highlight being Sagat V.s. Tony Jaa V.s. Bruce Irvin in a threeway blindfolded match! Ok, that didnt really happen, but there really was a threeway blindfolded bout, dont believe us? Wait till we get home for the exclusive video. theres a great part where the referee takes a haymaker, but soon gets his revenge on the unlucky swinging fool. The fights were great entertainment, although the final fight was definately fixed, since an Aussie fighter kicked the shit out of a Thai for some title, but ended up losing from the judges decision. Bias.

So next up, the trek. The gang from Vietnam were the ones who recommended us to do the trek here in Chinag Mai, and it was great advice. We travelled north of Chiang Mai towards the jungles and started things off by going for an Elephant ride. With us having already travelled India and the other south-east asian countries you'll probably be surprised that this was our first elephant ride of the trip. We were saving it for Thailand, the elephants here are more magical and grant you a wish if they like you. They didnt like us. My elephant (since I drew the short straw, (literally) and I was with a French couple) sprayed me with water every chance he got, my trainers were soaked! Im glad in a way that I got to travel on the other elephant since I got to sit in the drivers seat, but elephants have a really spiky head, serious chafing. The girls and Maj went on the big poppa elephant. Before we even headed out on foot, we had a sleep at a small village waiting for the heat to cool down a little, it wasn't far to the next village so we were in no particular rush. During the village to village walk we passed loads of lychee trees, and since they were not fully ripe they were still sour, but tasted gorgeous. After reaching the village the lads headed out to have a footy match, which ended in a 7-6 win to the fricking tribes people. They were good players. The Frenchy on our team was weak though, should have fed him to the pigs on the sidelines (not you girls). After washing up, we ate some lovely green curry, and then waited for the nights entertainment, which consisted of the children from the village dancing and singing for us, to sound of the opium mans guitar. By the way, Mr Opium man needs a mention. Throughout the trek this guy constantly smoked opium and from we knew, never slept. He would smoke till the early hours then go hunting rabbits at night. A true legend from the trip, he was the most insane shot with a slingshot too. Even better than Zelda.

Day two involved a shitload more trekking, with a stop at a waterfall to cool down. We saw a green snake in tree too (hows that for descriptive). When we reached the nights destination we had a few drinks and played some games. The funniest being black pancake - a quick thinking game where if you messed up the sequence you got the black hand of Diddie wiped on your face. You can check the pics to see who the worst players were.

Our final day was a little more walking (for the record, this trek was the easiest walk of my life, me and Maj travelled further in 4 hours in Nepal, than we did in three days here). The last segment of the trek was to bamboo raft down a stream covered with bamboo reeds and low trees. With it being the hottest time of year, the dry season meant the stream was particularly low, and we had to get off the raft several times for it to move forwards. That was annoying. But at least it made up for our loss back in Guilin, China on the Li river.

Chiang Mai Photo Link:

http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4647123011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/