ScrewYouGuys!

Greeting boys and girls from sunny Australia!!

Boy is it hot here and its not even summer yet! we’re currently hiding out indoors but the aircon has packed up which is a nightmare!
Just about to get the photos updated but its a shame because the Sipadan diving pics look so amazing!
But Sam and I have been in Australia now since August, we haven’t travelled all that far yet, just been hanging about in Queensland started off arriving at Coolangatta on the Gold Coast and staying in Brisbane city. Wow that place isn’t cheap! Gone are the pond a night hostels and it was a harsh realization that the cheap old days were over. we stayed at a place called the chill backpackers which is a really nice place and one of the cheapest around, you can get a deal there for about $130 a week in a dorm room, if you want a private room you’re looking at $100 a night! I think not.

So with that we decided to get ourselves a camper van and head off while we still had a few pennies left! We bought the green machine from a French couple who had drawn a frog on the back with a marker pen, classy, it had to go and fast we didn’t want people thinking we were French. The van is awesome!! fully equipped with fridge and cooker and a bunderberg rum box for the car speakers

We travelled from Brisbane through the Tambourine Mountains which are beautiful and stayed the night at Rathdowne on one of the free campsites, it was here that we discovered our fantastic van was even better than we had at first thought, it has a cool retro awning on the side too!! awning-tastic.

We met up with a friend in Beenleigh and from there we haven’t gone very far! We’ve all had a bit of work coming in and so have ended up staying. The lads are working on the house of a nice Australian family decking their pool area and an endless list of other jobs, meanwhile I filled in for someone packing at a strawberry factory for a few days not good on the back and since have been working for an auctioneers, I need to stop buying the things though! We’ve been working markets at the weekend which are good fun and a great way to make some money.

We’ve been fishing at a few different places, best way to chill out after a day working in the heat is to sit by the beach or river side with a cold stubby. the lads have caught bream, jewfish, dartfish, and shovelnosed sharks which are beautiful looking things but also taste lovely!

We’ve been staying on out on acreage of the family who we’re working for, its been great for us a free place to hang out, swimming pool, internet and they keep feeding us, they’ve been fantastic to us. The amount of land people have here is amazing, our family has a 10 acre garden but many have 100+.

The wildlife is incredible, parrots flying about everywhere, dolphins in the bay and wild roo hanging about we’re loving it!! The weather is beautiful and the people are so friendly and relaxed we’ve met some really nice locals so far.

We had a trip down the coast to surfers paradise, Brunswick Heads and Byron Bay. Byron reminded me of Bali, its a nice place and the beach and sea is lovely there, its rammed with backpackers, shops and bars. To be honest its not what we’re after, we seen so many beaches that we’re not that fazed by them and so the countryside and outback is the place for us. We went up to the lighthouse there and were luckiy enough to see Humback Whales breaching all down the coast, definately need to try and go diving near them or whale watching at least.

After leaving Ko Lipe and talking more about the possibilty of making a trip home we checked flight prices and realised that they weren’t too bad and so we decided to make a visit home. We had struggled so far to find a solicitor to sign some of the forms so we just thought it easier all round plus it would give us chance to catch up with friends and family and enjoy some of the British weather for a bit!

We had arrived back to Pak Bara then made our way by bus to Hat Yai which took 2hrs and cost 140 Baht. We just had time to grab a bite to eat and then jumped on a tourist coach to Kuala Lumpur which took 8-9hrs and cost 600Baht which was about the same price as the train but took half the time. We have found this in Malaysia and Thailand that bus journeys can be far quicker than the trains although they stop many times for toilet breaks and food stops.

The coach was extremely plush and had plenty of room but even so neither of us slept. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur just after 3am and made our way to an open Indian restaurant for a strong coffee and a seat next to the monks.

We had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would not be able to find any open accomodation at that time in the morning and so we went for a wander. We thought we’d try our luck by asking a taxi driver if any accomodation was open and he pointed to a man stood at the taxi queue. He worked at a guest house called Wheelers and kindly offered us a free room to rest in until morning when we then had a choice of room at a very reasonably rate of 25MYR. We followed him into chinatown nearby and was nicely surprised by what greeted us when the lift floors opened to the reception. They certainly have made the most of this place, not so keen on all the large fish and small turtles kept in tank but they have tried their best to turn this into a special place. They have the offer of free mash and a meal on friday nights and on other nights they sometimes have free curry and rice in the evenings in the rooftop terrace bar. I think we were lucky to find thi splace, all the staff are lovely and althought the rooms and shared bathrooms are basic they are at least clean.

We had two days to spend in Kuala Lumpur and spent them mostly looking around the large shopping centres where you can pick up some real bargains. Not as cheap as last time I was here but I still found pairs of shoes for a pound!

A great way to get around is the skytrain, very cheap and regular service means you can zip around all over the place. KL isn’t too bad for a city, Chinatown is a buzzing little area with lots going on, you have the petronas towers and other tourist sights plus you can meet some interesting people as we did. One of which was a man named Jimmy Ko originally from Burma who calls himself a power massage master, a lovely man to talk to but not conviced by his massage which you could do yourself by sticking the blunt end of a screwdriver down your back, even so its good to try new things, he also gave us some cream which is supposed to be good for migraines, “Jimmy Balm” has not yet been tested out but we will report back…

We caught a ferry from Langkawi to Tammalang in the Satun district of Thailand, the crossing took approx 1hr and cost 30MYR. On arrival there we were trying to figure out the best way to get to any of the islands but as it was classed as out of season many ferry services were no longer running from here. We thought a better bet would be to head to Pak Bara which had more options. After resisiting all the tours offered by touts we knew we could get there cheaper than the price they were offering which was 300Baht so we started walking, there were no rickshaws or even much traffic on the road but the first man who went past on a moped stopped and said he could go and get his rickshaw and give us a ride and then the next was a pick up truck that stopped after passing us and gave us a free ride to Satun town and dropped us off at the bus stop we needed for La-ngu. from there we caught a mini-bus which cost 60B and then a songthew (20B) to Pak Bara.

Arriving in Pak Bara we struggled to find accomodation, even though the town itself was deadly quiet all the accomodation was fully booked. We headed away from the jetty up the main street and found a nice place called Pakarand Resort, rooms were clean and spacious and had air conditioning and free bottled water all for 400B. Expensive for us but the other options were more expensive and certainly not the same standard.

We had wanted to vist and island called Ko Bulon Leh but being out of season all services to this island had finished, we were told that we could hire a long boat ourselves if we arranged a day for it to come back and get us and we would have had the island to ourselves, we were sorely tempted and still are but £70 for the return boat was too much. Instead we booked a round ticket to be used whenever from Pak Bara to Ko Lipe then to Tarantao and back again for 1000B.

The next day we set off on what we were told was a 2.5hr boat trip leaving at 12:30pm. The sea at the port looked like Blackpool in winter, brown and full of rubbish but we were confident that it would get better the further out we got. The sea was extremely rough and looking back the boat and its captain shouldn’t have taken a cargo full of tourists out that day as neither were up to the task. As we sat rocking back and forth getting no where we watched a beautiful sunset and finally arrived just before 9pm, tentions from the other passengers were high and when they found out that the boat didn’t go into a jetty but that we had to transfer into a local fishing boat just off the shore of Ko Lipe and then pay the fisherman 50B each just to take us into the beach. After much discussions and arguing we finally made it and booked into a beach hut at the Barracuda Resort on Pattaya beach (300B) by 11pm, it had been a long day but we were just glad to be there and looked forward to daylight to see the island properly.

We woke to a beautiful day yet again and went for a walk around the entire island which took about half a day. It is a pretty place with very clear water and some good snorkelling to be done and the island in general has a nice feel about it. Plenty of bars, restaurants, shops and accomodation but it doesn’t feel as if its been too ruined yet. We had a nice evening in Pooh’s bar one night with all the locals one was a lovely lady-man from the pizza place next door and another was called Nuon who Sam had to peel off the bar later when he had collapsed!

The next night we went and had really nice pizza next door and met up with them all again. The following afternoon we sat down to finish off our takeaway pizza only to discover that some of it was missing, strange as it had been hung from a nail in the wall. Personally I thought Sam had eaten it but it wasn’t until we noticed a hole chewed in the box that we thought maybe it was a rat and sure enough that evening as we lay under the mosquito net a little white ratty face was staring down at us. There was no pizza for him that night but the next morning we found that he had tried to make do with our soap bar instead!

With news from the Australian visa company that we may need to send Sam’s passport to them we started to talk about the possibility of making a trip home to get things sorted. After 4 nights on Ko Lipe we caught the ferry the next day heading for Tarantao.

Leaving Batu Ferranghi on Penang we caught a bus and arrived at the ferry port terminal (not the same port as where you arrive from the mainland, but not far) you can’t buy tickets there but there are local offices nearby where you can purchase one. We caught the 8:30 ferry and had to endure the worst happy hardcore music I think I’ve ever heard whilst waiting to set off. It seems to be a big thing in Malaysia, everywhere you go happy hardcore seems to be played!? The crossing took 3hrs and cost 60MYR (approx £11) During the crossing we stopped off at an Island close to Langkawi called Pulau Payar and it looked beautiful. We asked if we could get off there but were told that there is no accomodation or facilities on this island, day trippers on snorkelling trips are the only visitors and judging by the amount of fish and varieties we could see just by the jetty we both decided we were going to look into coming back here. The water was alive with the most vibrant coloured fish and unlike other places we’ve been these were bigger in size, parrot fish, morish idols etc.

When we arrived on Langkawi we were greeted the taxi drivers trying to gain your business, due to the size of the island we had presumed there would be buses but soon found out that taxis are the only transport available. After asking around again for where the cheapest accomodation was we headed to Pantai Cenang by taxi which cost £5 and took just over half an hour. We were taken to a place which is apparently in the lonely planet (we don’t use them anymore) can’t remember the name but ask anyone and they’ll suggest that place, it looked fine but was very busy and only had dorm rooms. I’d spotted a sign next door for a place called Daddy’s so we thought we’d check that place out first. As you can see from the pictures it was nice and clean and had a bedouin style room and hammock outside, they wanted to charge 40MYR but when we said we could get one next door for 30MYR they agreed to that price (approx. £5.50) We were relieved we’d been told accomodation was expensive here.

As like everywhere else we’d been the place itself was quite deserted and the beach only had a few people walking on it. It wasn’t bad a bit of rubbish on the beach but we’ve found thats common for most places. Unlike Penang Langkawi is a tax free island and so alcohol is much much cheaper, we were also happy about that!

Langkawi is a big island and so we decided to hire a car to have a proper look around, moped hire was 30MYR and a car was 40MYR a bargain really. If you have the money this placed is all geared up for you to spend it! there are lots of things to do with trips etc unfortunately none of them were in our budget, about £100 for a 6 hour fishing trip we didn’t think so! One big disappointment was that we thought we could go snorkelling here as that is what is advertised everywhere when you search for Langkawi, what wasn’t clear to us that what is actually meant is the island that we passed on the boat is the place to go snorkelling and that will set you back £45 for a few hours trip. Instead we visted everything that there was to see on the island like the Temurun waterfall and all the beaches. The best of which by far it has to be said is in the north east by Tanjung Rhu resort, there is no other accomodation near here and we wouldn’t like to guess how much it is to stay at that place with its library and selection of fine cigars and various dining rooms. We spent an evening there watching the sunset on the beach (which has apparantly been in a James Bond film) so we walked past an impressive looking pool and the fine dining and mediterranean restaurants to the pool bar where I discovered what I’d seen earlier wasn’t actually the pool but just a water feature!

We decided to keep the car for another day so we could finish off seeing all of the island and had decided that to save money we should check out of Daddy’s and spend the night sleeping in the car. That day we visted the Argo Park where you can go on a fruit tour! For £2 they drive you around the fruit plantation explaning what everything is and how it grows, then they pick some and you get to eat your body weight in fruit, a bit of a bargain we thought. On our trip we were told it was out of season for many things and so we only got to sample star fruit, dragon fruit, pomela, papaya, pineapple, banana and jack fruit…lovely! We planned to camp out on a beach somewhere and make a fire so armed with potatoes, cheese, bean, beer and a squirrel we headed back to Kok beach to make a fire and camp for the night. The squirrel and jackets went down well and it was beautiful sat out on the beach under the stars just listening to the sea. Next morning I went for a swim in the sea and leaving Sam to sleep I tidied the camp and set myself up on the beach with a book and crisps for breakfast. That was until I was bullied my some local monkeys who ransacked the camp throwing the rubbish everywhere, chased me down the beach and knicked off with the crisps!

Feeling we’d seen the most of Langkawi we headed back to Thailand to visit some of the islands in the Satun province, first stop Wilf’s recommendation of Ko Lipe with the water like gin.

From Bangkok we took a sleeper train straight down through to Butterworth in Malaysia. Compared to India the train was much cleaner and the sleeper beds were locked up until a man came round and lowered them, he then made the beds with fresh linen and provided pillows and blankets. All sounds lovely but if you are tall or infact just an average height for the uk then you might be cramped as the beds are only short, I had no problem! you do get a curtain to pull across you so more private and feels more secure than the Indian sleepers but we had the worst nights sleep because they kept the lights on all night and being on a top bunk it is right in your face.

Crossing from Thailand into Malaysia we expected the landscape to look pretty much the same but its quite different, the usual lushious flora but dramatic hills gave it a very different feel.

The  boarder crossing was quick and easy, the train has a scheduled 40min stop here but it is simply a matter of going into the immigration office on the platform station, quick bag check and a stamp and you’re back on the train.

We caught a ferry over to Penang which cost about 20p and doesn’t take long. We were both surprised by the size and skyline of Penang, even though I have been here before 7 years ago with the girls from Uni we flew in and in my mind it was a small island which is what I’d also told Sam, it is nothing of the sort. McDonalds, Starbucks and KFC signs meet you when you arrive, not really what we were looking for but we asked a taxi driver where the best place to head for cheap accomodation was and he suggested Batu Ferranghi. We caught a bus which took 1hr 20mins and again cost 20p, can’t remember the number but there are no worries here because everyone’s English is impeccable. At Batu Ferranghi we passed big hotel after another clearly a suitcase traveller destination but a local food seller pointed us down a street which led right to the beach and there are a few guest houses down there all at about 35Rm (approx £6.50). We decided on Shalini’s Guest House, a home from home it states and that’s exactly how we felt here. We had a nice clean room with air conditioning pure luxury for us! The owner is a lovely man and you can join him and his family watching tv or help yourself to making a brew in the kitchen.

The beach was nice and lined with bars and restaurants but take lots of money if you fancy a beer, a small can of the cheapest lager will set you back about 7.5 Rm (approx £1.30)! The area around here is all geared for tourists with street vendors selling exactly the same items as in Thailand but charging 2 or 3 times more, jet skies off the beach and fancy restaurants charging uk prices. But we kept it cheap by eating in local places where you help yourself to a selection of pre-cooked dishes, all very nice and a good choice such as catfish, stingray, chicken, veg and noodle dishes.

A good place to visit is the National park which wasn’t there last time I was here. We caught a bus to the fishing village 20p again! The national park is free but you do need to sign in before entering and tell them roughly where you are heading and return your ticket on leaving. There are trails to turtle beach where at the right time of year the turtles come to lay their eggs and also to a place called monkey beach where I had been before and we were swaped by the monkeys when we arrived by boat so we headed there.

The trail starts off a clear path but after an hour or so it is more like jungle and mosquitoes are a problem, worth it though because if you watch the shore line as you’re walking you can see monitor lizards in the sea and even sit next to them on one of the many little beaches you come across on the way. We stopped to watch little monkeys playing a game of pushing each other off the branches or biting each others tails until they fell into a stream, we’d never seen a monkey swim before I think we could’ve stayed and watched them all day really cool and they didn’t mind us being there.

We’d been on Penang 2 days and decided to treat ourselves to a bottle of red wine surprisingly only £5, and we sat on the balcony and watched the sunset. Already there was a lovely man called Wilf, he’d already had a couple of drinks before our arrival but we stayed up and chatted with him all evening and he has invited us to stay at his house in Malaysia, an offer which we gladly accepted. His wife Maggie, lives in Darwin and he bsaid he will also contact her and tell her about us, she will help us out he said after all she’s English and we’re a couple of pommes starting out how can she refuse! Wilf talked to us about an idyllic island called Ko Lipe very close to Langkawi which was our next port of call, water like gin he said so the very next morning we left and caught a ferry to Langkawi.

Arrival at Bangkok was painless. Immigration posed no problems and we were soon outside looking for the cheapestway to get to the city where we would hopefully find accommodation that wouldn’t cost a fortune. There was a ticket office right outside the doors for buses to take us to whichever area in Bangkok we chose. We decided to head to the famous Khaosan Rd, it cost only 150 Baht each and after being dropped off less than an hour later we found good, cheap accomodation at “7 Holder”. Basic and clean it has since been our first choice on a couple of occasions when we have returned after jaunts to other areas, it costs 250 Baht a night, bargain. It’s situated on the road parallel to Khaosan at the burger king end of the street, only bad thing to say on it is depending on where the room is the rock bar next door can keep you up but if you don’t mind listening to GN’R and Metallica its not a problem!

We spent a couple of days in Bangkok walking the streets and getting a feel for the place, Bangkok is huge and the best way of getting around, surely has to be the river boat, don’t get conned into buying a long boat ticket, just get the local ferry, costs about 26p. This seems to stop running around 21:00 though, so best not to get stranded and have to pay a fortune for a rickshaw to get back. China town is well worth a visit, culture is everywhere, Thai and Chinese intermingled is a wicked combo and no matter how many tourists visit there I can never seeing it changing and bowing to the needs of day trippers, which has to be a good thing. The inevitable shark fin and birds nest soup is everywhere though and neither of us agreeing with the morality of it all, decided we would put off eating in the restaurants that sold that type of thing, we settled for a road-side fish curry which was superb.

After reading Internet reviews and talking with fellow travellers, we formed a shortlist of places that we thought may be suitable for a family holiday. Koh Phi Phi and Koh Chang were on the list, having a limited time to explore we decide to head to Koh Chang which was relatively easy to get to and promised plenty of entertainment to keep us occupied for a couple of weeks. KohPhi Phi, we had heard, was tourist ville and expensive as well as more difficult to get to meaning we’d have to waste another day in Bangkok before catching the 18:00 flight the following evening, this was enough to put us off and we were keen to explore the quieter eastern islands off the coast of Koh Chang.

We headed back to Kathmandu and due to our early start at about 6am for the Everest fligt in the morning we found a hotel near the airport called Hotel Vision, a room was 8 pounds a night and quite cosy with a tv and sofa in each room. We decided to have a nigt in and so Val and I went out for a takeaway and some gin. We found a local restaurant and ordered a lot of dishes as they were only about 30p each, we were told it would be 10mins.

About 2hrs later and now joined by Sam and Blair we were still told it was 10mins but when we eventually got the food we were not disappointed.

The next morning we went to the airport at 6:30 as instructed but the airport didn’t actually open until7. We boarded the flight slightly later than planned as they had been unsure about the weather and sent another plane up first to report on the weather status.

As you can see from the pictures the flight was amazing, definately a once in a lifetime experience, what a nice job those pilots have!

After the flight we tried to nip into Kathmandu fo rlast minute shopping and for Sam and I to book our tickets to Bangkok the following morning. Some VVIP apparently was driving through the streets and so police were everywhere and traffic was brought to a standstill. Our taxi river had tried to turn his cab around but was stopped when a policeman put his arm through the open window and walked off with his car keys!

After seeing Val and Blair off that afternoon we went back and enjoyed the luxury of our room and flew out to Bangkok the following morning.

Arriving back in Pokhara I was kean to get back to the Jellyfish hostel where I hoped I would meet up with a newly medicated Sam.

Walking down the main street by the riverside I heard “Hey Kelly, man” and there was Anand sat drinking coffee still dressed as we saw him last in the Andamans in his orange robe and staff which he found from there. It was such a delight!! I smoked a few cigs with him and had a coffee and then head off to find Sam after aranging for Anand to come to our hostel, keeping it as a surprise for Sam. I stoked up on beer and goodies on the way and went back to find a much better looking Sam, then sat and waited on the balcony over looking the river in the afternoon sunshine for the reunion.

We had a great night, drank many beers and tungba, then went and had a meal with Val and Blair where the merriment continued.

We spent the next 8 days in Pokhara mainly just chilling out and sight seeing. We took a local bus riding on the top to another riverside called Begnas Tal, there wasn’t much there but we enjoyed the relaxation and had a traditional Nepalese song sung to us, it did go on a bit though…

We also hired motorbikes for 2 days and got to see more of the area and visted the Gorkha museum and bat caves. On the second day we had gone quiet far out of Pokhara when Sam and my bike chain kept coming off, next thing Val and Blair had a flat so the decision was made for the guys to head back on our bike while Val and myself stayed by a little shop at the roadside. Luckily for us we found that they had cheap beer and so we happily passed our time chatting and drinking and weren’t ready to leave when the guys came back to collect us. The bikes were good fun but the roads are quite dangerous there, not only for dodging the occasional cow but most of the bends are blind corners and the buses go hell for leather around them with people hanging onto the top. Whilst we were there a bus accident had happened when the bus broke suddenly to avoid hitting someone and a few people sitting on the roof were flung off and died, brings things back to a harsh reality of the dangers. 

On the last day in Pokhara Val had decided to go paragliding and so Blair, Sam and myself all sat eagerly awaiting to see her come down. Val loved it and wants to go again, next time sam and myself are back in Nepal we will definately be bringing more money for a few ourselves.

We left Pokhara back on the local bus heading back to Kathmandu, Val and Blairs time sadly was nearly up but we had one last big adventure before we left which was a flight around Everest!

First day of the trek and we arranged for a taxi to take us from Pokhara to the start of our trek at Phedi, the ride took about an hour and a half the sun was blazing as we slowly climbed higher than Pokhara.

We walked to a small village called Birethani which looked like a beautiful scene from the lake district in England, here we registered our permits and were ready to get going!

The walk was beautiful by the lakeside past trees with bright red flowers which stood out against the landscape of the scenery. We decided to stop at a small place called Shinning River which was a beautiful little lodge set by a beautiful garden with views out down to the river which is where we sat after the days walk and relaxed with a few beers.

The next day we headed to Gandruk, it was a day surrounded yet again by beautiful scenery and we knew we were getting ever closer to the Annapurna range. Unfortunately though illness was setting in Sam had already been unwell and Val became quite ill that day. We decided to stop for the day at a lovely lodge called Hotel Sherpa which had a back lawn for campers and provided an excellent picnic spot. We sat in the sun drinking rum and playing cards and haggled a price for a massage for Val.

The following day Val had had a very poorly night and with Sam still suffering we decided to just travel the hour walk uphill to the main village of Gandruk where we had heard there were museums and lots of things to see.

We stayed at yet another lovely place called Buddha view hotel and the view from our room was unbelievable fishtail to our right and Annapurna I to our front, as we sat in the courtyard no words were needed as the view was simpily breath taking and we were so lucky that day as there weren’t many clouds until late afternoon when the enourmous masses were hiden partially from sight.

The next day we stayed in Gandruk and went and looked around the little village which was fasinating with the little local houses and people going about their daily business tending to their land and crops.  With illness still at ba, we decided to start heading back and so spent day walking for about 5 hours in a steep decent down to a place called Beehive, so called because of all the massive beehive attached to the rock face at the side of the river.

The following day we headed back towards Pokhara which took about 7 hours to reach Birethani, Sam did it in less time as he had gone ahead keen to get medical treatment in Pokhara.

The Annapurna base camp wasn’t to be for us hindered by illness but perhaps it wouldn’t have been anyway as we met a guy at the beehive whom we had met on our trek and nicknamed him “Whiffer”. Whiffer told us that he had tried for base camp but the snow and rain had made him turn back.

We had however seen the most stunning scenery and enjoyed it all from the comfort of Buddha view courtyard garden sitting in the sunshine so we didn’t feel as if we had missed out at all!

After a 7 hour bus journey from Kathmandu Val, Blair, Sam and myself arrived back at the Silver Oaks Hotel in Pokhara and managed to haggle a good price for the rooms.

We spent the next two days planning for our trek of the Annapurna base camp, shopping and arranging permits and visas. To do the trek we had to obtain a TIMS permit which is free and also a permit for the region which was about 20 ponds.

Across the Phewa lake in Pokhara is a stupa on the hill so the day before our trek began we decided to have a little warm up by hiring a rowing boat again and rowing across the river to climb up to the stupa. From there we got our first clear view off some of the amazing Annapurna range with the fishtail clearly visable which made us all even more excited for the trek.