Lins and Rich’s Travel Blog

Roll up, roll up. Do you want to spend all day on a bus, five minutes at each site and eat authenic thai food with no taste at all, then join the package tourist circus. For only 500 baht you too can see nothing and learn nothing but the photos will look pretty when you get home. Rant rant rant.

I have a cold and being a bloke im feeling pathetic and my tollerance to anything is very low. Yesterday Lins and I headed off to Kanchanaburi to see the bridge over the river Kwai and learn more about the “death railway” constructed by POW under the Japanese. Being in Bangkok for only a few days and feeling a bit lazy we paid for a tour which on paper looked promising. All the sites we wanted to see, lunch and all transport. God how wrong we were. It was package tourist hell!!

We were told we would be leaving around 7.00am so bright and early Lins and I jumped out of bed (well Lins sort of stumbled!) and come seven we were waiting to be collected downstairs at the guest house. At around seven thirty we were picked up driven round the corner and then waited 45 minutes for the guys to sort us out into who was doing what. Finally sorted we were on our way…….. around the corner to fill up on petrol! Finally we got going an hour and a bit late!

The taxi driver took this late departure as an excuse to drive like a rally driver, bearing in mind we were in a mini bus i was impressed. The final straw came when he undertook a whole row of traffic on a none exsistant inside lane at 60mph. One of the girls in the back went mad and his excuse….. well were running late. Well whose fault is that we wondered!!

Arriving in Kanchanaburi our first stop was a cemetary housing over 6000 allied dead, all of whome perished completing the railway. As we got out the minibus the guide announced that we had 10 mins! Bearning in mind it took three minutes to reach the entrance it gave us a clue as to what to expect. It was sad to see so many graves and the ages of the people buried. While not on the scale of the european graveyards of the first world war battlfields they are still a poinient reminder.  It struck home with Lins (as her Grandad helped build the railway) how it could so easily have been him and she would not be here today. The casualties were horrendous and it was shown in the little graves.

After the graveyard we got back on the bus and were wisked round the corner to the museam and the “river kwai” bridge. The actual bridge does not exsist but instead there is a rail bridge built as a monument. We were given again very little time in the museam which was a dissapointment to us both as we were keen to learn alot about what went on. The museam was quite neutral in its presenting of the facts and I got the impression that alot was waterered down as they seemed to imply that the conditions were not really that bad, thought the casulaties and photos suggested otherwise .

One shocking fact is that alot of the publicity concerns the allied pows working on the railway but the number of dead are dwarfed by the thai and burmese workers forced into building by the Japanese.

There was also horrific tales of the Japanese forcing the POWs on to the bridge to try and stop the bombers destroying the bridge and removing the flags from the camps that show they were POWs. Initially I was outraged but then though, would the english have done the same in the circumstances?I would like to hope that we would never but, we were not so virtuous ourselves if you look at Dresden makes you wonder. Also got to look at the way its reported. Think its true a comment i read once that “history is always written by the victors” 

I will say though the conditions in the photos were beyond belif and I can not comprehend why anyone would infilct such suffering on anyone.  What Lins grandad went through we will never comprehend.

The most amazing thing was in one photo there were four guys, all with limbs missing, severly malnorished and they were all leaning an each other for support and they were smiling huge grins for the camera. I think if i lived what they did I would never smile again and the strength of there spirit was moving.

Anyway, enough analitical comments, back to the tour. After the brief stop in the museam  (must do some more reading about it when we get home) we were taken to a small station and got to travel along the railway. The train was entirly packed with tourists and though you could imagine the POWs and local workers slaving through the harsh torrain, it is nothing like that now and just a mass of gift shops!

After lunch (going to cease moaning there, its our own fault for booking a tour) we headed for a waterfall which was amazing. It was full of thai families who treated it as a waterpark, kids flying off rocks into pools everywhere which was most amusing.

Anyway, been on the internet too long now so im signing off there. The next post will be from Oz. Thats grouse mate!

So, we’re back in Bangkok after an uncomfortable and boring 12 hour journey by bus from Chiang Mai - we were promised a movie, a blanket, a toilet and air-con.  We got the toilet and air-con!  We also got windows held together by tape and seats that had had the tables removed and that reclined into the lap of the person behind!  Fortunately the bus ws only half full so we were able to have two seats each which meant that the reclining seats were not such an issue as we weren’t too crammed in but the lack of tables and the fact that the lights went out at 8pm meant we couldn’t even play cards.  My i-pod was well utilised!  Still, it was cheap!

We had a great few days in Chiang Mai after we finished trekking.  On Sunday, having planned to go out for drinks, we started to walk down to Thae Pae gate where we’d arranged to meet Becca and Sarah and found that we had to walk through the Sunday market - and it was enormous and had so much on sale in the way of appealing merchandise that it’s just as well this was not my last stop or I would have spent a fortune.  The market was absolutely heaving with locals and tourists alike and is clearly the placeto spend a Sunday evening in Chiang Mai so we went for a bite to eat and then headed back to the market.  We had decided that we would get a dessert at the market as there were food sotres galore, and once we got there, we also decided we’d treat oursleves to a massage to ease our post-trek aches (we weren’t really aching as the trek hadn’t exactly been tht strenuous but, any excuse!).  So we bought fruit shakes, small cakes and settled down to devour them while the Thai masseurs set about massaging our feet - sheer and utterly delightful indulgence!  After the foot massage we decided that it would be cheaper and healthier to have a full body massage than it would be to go for a beer, so that’s what we did!  Fully relaxed and floating on air, we then went to bed in preparation for our courses the next day - it’s important to get a good night’s sleep between massages!

While Becca and Sarah went off to learn how to cook Thai food, Rich was learning Thai massage and I was the model.  This meant that the masseuse demonstrated on me, then Rich practised on me so I didn’t just get free massages; I got double massages!  Rich is now able to do a one hour Thai massage, though he’s had a bit of a cold so hasn’t practised since the course - I may have to persuade him I need one to ease the aches from the journey (and these aches are genuine!)

That evening we met up with the girls again - they’d bought us a present of steamed banana cake that they’d made on their course which was the clincher in helping us to decide to do a cooking course of our own.  We went to grab a quick bite to eat then went to watch some Muay Thai boxing - we had spoken to a guy who’d been a few days before so we knew we may be watching juniors fight and indeed we were.  We settled at one of the ringside bars and watched 2 children who could only have been about 12, step into the ring.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about watching kids beat each other up - I get to see that enough in the playground but at least I can step in and break it up in that setting!  But it wasn’t much different from watching them do any other martial art as they didn’t yet have the strength of the older boxers.  As the evening went on, the fighters got older, stronger, and more aggressive.  That said, as I understand it, the levels of violence we saw are nothing compared to what goes on in the big fights (which we may go and see on Sunday) but I was still cringing on occassions when I heard the cracks across the nose.

Inspired by good reports of ‘Classic Home Cooking’, and with a couple of days to kill but not long enough to head south to the islands before we needed to be back in Bangkok, we got up on Wednesday and went without breakfast as we’d been warned how much we would eat while doing our cookery course - and we weren’t disappointed! We began the day with a trip to the local market which services the restaurants of Chiang Mai and were introduced to the local ingredients. 

The advantage of this cookery course over the others was that we were able to choose what we wanted to cook.  We had to select one curry, one soup, one noodle dish, one stir-fry dish, one salad and one dessert or snack.  Rich and I chose to do different dishes so that we had a wide repertoire for that dinner party when we get home!  The course was great.  There were 16 people taking part and somehow the couple teaching managed to co-ordinate all our different combinations of dishes.  What was particularly good was that everyone was really friendly and we were all trying each other’s dishes so we got to see what we liked and what we didn’t - the recipe book we were given includes 75 different recipes and we probably had tasters of about half of them throughout the day as we all tucked into each other’s food.  I now do a mean pad thai, sweet and sour curry, glass noodle soup, papaya salad (somehow the combination of fruit, carrot, chilli, shrimps, lemon juice and green beans does actually taste really good), chicken and cashew, and I obviously also opted for that steamed banana cake which was resoundingly the favourite dessert of the day (mind you, other desserts included sweet potato with coconut cream and pumpkin balls in some wierd sweet soup so my competition wasn’t that great!).

Our final day in Chiang Mai was spent just catching up with boring things like banking and sending stuff home we no longer need before catching the bus back to Bangkok.  We’ve found a great place that will upload stuff to your i-pod just near our guest house so we’re currently having a couple of films put on and a few more albums to make sure that we get a movie on our next bus journey!  They’re also uploading our photos as the internet in Asia has been so slow we haven’t been able to upload nearly as many as we would have liked to the internet.  Hopefully this will be rectified in Oz (3 days to go) but, just in case w’ere making a back up on the i-pods so we don’t lose the photos before we get to put them all on a the computer for everyone to see. 

xxxxxx

Hi all, been a long time since my last blog entry but been really busy in Chaing Mai. Just arrived back in Bangkok this morning after a thirteen hour bus journey so today is a lazy day and a chance to catch up on things.

Since Lins last updated our website we have been busy busy busy! After getting back from the trek we went out with Sarah and Becs, two english girls we met who are a great laugh. We all decided to go and watch a Muah thai fight the next night which i was really up for after trying it out but more of that later.

There are so many diffrent activities in Chaing Mai and we took the oppertunity to try as a few out. First course I did was a one day introduction into Thai Massage. (Lins did not as she claims it hurts her hands!) Unlike the wishy washy massages you get back home Thai really gets into the muscles and though a bit painfull at the time feels amazing. The course was great and was a one on one with the instructor, a cheerful thai woman. lins got to be the model for the day and had the massage demonstrated on her, I then practiced the same so she was, as you can imagine in here element. Thai massage is hard work and involves using your body weight and following certain muscle lines to release tension. After five hours i can now perform an hour thai massage. Need to get some practice in now and I should be up to scratch in no time. Again Lins is gutted about this!!

After the course we met back up with Becs and Sarah and after a nice thai hot basil chicken we were off to the Muah Thai. They had been to a cooking course during the day and recommended it so we decided to do that as well at a later date. Turning into quite a cultural person (despite what Larry says about me being northern!) Wont last.

The Muah Thai was and experince that was mixed. Arriving at the venue we were told it was juniors fighting by the Lady Boys outside (more about them later) but this went up to about 18 so we paid our money and went in.

 Well the first fight was between 11 year olds. Lins was horrified and I expected her to go all teacher and leap in the ring and break it up. Given there age you would expect a little bit of caution but they really went for it.

After that it looked up and the fighters were alot older (probably about 16 to 18). The fighting was really good and brutal, they obviously take the training very seriously from a young age and really go for it!

Half time we were treated to the “Blue Diamond Caberat” which was a ladyboy show. It was hillarious, not only did they not look like women, with the exception of the fake breasts but they could not dance or sing. In the first dance they held coloured cloth and two of them managed to drop them. It went from bad to worse and I thought it was very funny.  I gave them a tip when they came round much to everyones disgust but It was so bad it was genius!

After a few more fights of higher standard and one knock out we watched a scouser and a korean champion do a bit of show fighting and then crawled home at about one oclock.

Next day after saying goodbye to the girls (they were off to laos) we did some boring sorting stuff and booked our cooking course for the next day.

At nine oclock we were picked up and taken to a local market where a husband and wife walked us round and introduced us to the important ingrediance in thai cooking. I loved the market, the hussle and bussle as well as the colours and sights made it well worth visiting. Took a picture of the meat counter with a big pigs head to put here but not upload on this computer so watch this space for that!

After the visit we went to the family home where we picked six dishs each. I cooked yellow curry, hot basil chicken (my favortie thai dish), chaing mai soup (really not but tasty), fruit salad (complete with chilli, shrimp and garlic, its really tasty) , chicken and rice soup and thai fishcakes.

The food was beautiful and the course was amazing. Everything we cooked was down to us and it was really hands one, really good group of people and everyone tried everyones food so between us we covered a large percentage of the menu. We all came away so full and with complimentry cook book so when we get back we will do a thai night for everyone!! May have to remind us though, its a while yet.

After the cooking we headed back to Bangkok on the bus overnight. The bus was empty but there were some right muppets on it. One girl decided to have her mobile on full voume and kept typing text messages. Really grates when your trying to read and all you have in your ear is “BEEP BEEP..BEEP BEEP…BEEP BEEP”. At one point it was going out of the window but she put it away. Then out came the food, “MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH” Im a tollerant person but she really was one of the most annoying people I have ever shared a journey with and thats saying alot after three years of London comuting (rant over!)

So only three days before we leave Asia and head to OZ. Really sad to leave it behind, would love to have time to get across to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia but theres always another time. Love the Asian people, they are so friendly and there is so much to do and see and met some really cool people.

On the other hand we will get away from the tuk tuk drivers and tailors as well as the women selling wooden frogs. Off to Kantangburi tommorrow to see the bridge over the river Kwai which will be fantastic and going to see if i can fit one more Muah Thai session in as its amazing.

Hope everyone is good and not getting too cold in the dull  Britsh weather. Off to pick up my ipod now which im having movies added to for 80bht each (sure its all above board!!) Take care all

As I mentioned, I spent most of my time in Bangkok under the weather and on top of the toilet so we ended up spending a couple of extra days there so I could rest up. On Sunday, Rich decided he would make the most of the extra day in the city by doing a Muay Thai training session. After I spent some time sat in the hostel cafe, staring out at the heaviest rain I’ve eve seen, I ventured out through the river of water which Rambuttri Road had become and wandered down to watch the last 40 minutes. By this time, Rich had been completely broken by the trainers and I have never seen him looking so exhausted (including after the marathon - but then he just looked sick and grey so I guess it’s not really fair to compare!). I spent a very pleasurable 40 minutes watching the men train; they made Rich look fat and I think that’s quite a feat!

The following morning, my health restored, we set off for Phitsanulok on the train. The train itself was old looking with plastic chairs and we weren’t expecting a very comfortable ride, however, we found the price of the ticket included meals, snacks and drinks so it wasn’t all bad. I also remembered that, when I last came to Thailand and did this trip by road, the scenery was lovely and it was proved to be so. We had a very pleasant journey through the paddy fields for 5 hours. I couldn’t remember anything about Phitsanulok, though I knew I’d been before, and I got a shock when we turned the corner to our ch That was real deja-vu! That evening we wandered down to the river where there was a night bazaar and had some great Thai food and got a one hour massage by the side of the road for a mere 100 baht (that’s less than 1 pound 50!)

The reason we’d come to Phitsanulok was to visit Sukhotai, a historical park which is home to ruins of the ancient city. I’d been before but remembered it being so spectacular that I thought Rich should see it too. I hoped I hadn’t built up the expectation too much in my ravings about it, but, after a wasted morning trying to find the bus station, which was about 2km from where the hotel receptionist had said it was, we arrived and hired bikes to go round the park. It fully lived up to my memories - it truly is a beautiful place - the ruins are well preserved and are set among acres of greenery, trees and lakes.

Visitors simply ride around well-maintained paths from one old temple to another to take in the chedis (towers) and Buddha statues. Well, I say ’simply ride’; actually, the mud guard fell onto the front wheel of my bike quite early on, sending me skidding to a grinding halt and doing the same to Rich just behind me. He was just about to shout at me for stopping so suddenly when he realised it wasn’t my fault and he spent the next 15 minutes removing the mud guard from the wheel!

That evening, not fancying rice or noodles, we bought dinner from the local market - we walked from stall to stall selecting our chosen goods and then took them back to the hotel for a feast! We had bought a sausage, a pork skewer, a salad, a bag of rice, 2 portions of bbq chicken, corn on the cob, orange juice, grape juice and a doughnut, all for 120 baht (under 2 pounds). Delicious!

The next day we had a lay in and lazy breakfast ready to catch the train to Chiang Mai. It was delayed by nearly 2 hours! We arrived in Chiang Mai just in time to get to the guest-house to see England lose to Russia before going to bed!

Rich is keen to do a massage course so we went to the massage centre where Rich had seen a course he fancied. We decided it was best to try before we buy so we both had a full massage. It was the most expensive one we’ve had since we’ve been away and it was seeming as though it may be worth it, until the final crunching move put my shoulder out! Needless to say, he isn’t learning that one! Instead he’s booked on a one day course tomorrow with a massage centre just a few doors down from where we’re staying - we went to book it and the woman said I could come along to be her model for the day if I wanted - uh, yes please! So I’m spending the whole of tomorrow being massaged for free: Can’t wait!

The last 3 days have been spent in the hills around Chiang Mai as we have been doing the trekking this area is famous for. We got up early Friday morning and were picked up, along with a Malaysian couple and two Aussie girls, by the truck that took us first to a market, then to have a look round a Hmong village, then on to lunch. After lunch we began our 2 hour trek to the Karen tribe village where we were to spend the night. The walking was pretty easy going after our last venture into the jungle and we soon arrived to be swarmed by tribeswomen wanting to well us the jewellery and scarves the had made. We felt it would be rude to buy nothing as they were opening their home to us for the night so I bought a beautiful scarf and a couple of bracelets; we saw them weaving the scarves the following morning on the loom. En route, the guides had opened up some bamboo in order to find bamboo worms: grubs that look like caterpillars and, you may have guessed from the title, these were fried when we arrived at the village and I tucked in! I surprised myself somewhat in my keenness to try them and I had one first, then the 2 Aussies, leaving Rich feeling as though he would be a real wimp if he didn’t, so he had no choice but to eat one too! I thought they were quite tasty and ended up eating 3!

The second day involved much more walking, though there were plenty of rest stops along the way; particuarly as the Malaysian couple had done no walking in the past, and it showed! They had to stop every few metres up the hills, much to the frustration of the guide! I did force one stop though when I fell into some deep mud, absolutely coating my shoe so we had to stop by the river so I could wash it! The Aussie girls had gone as they were doing a 2 day trek, but at lunch in another Karen village, we joined up with 2 English girls, Becca and Sarah, who we had great fun with.

After more trekking we arrived at the waterfall; the setting for our second night. I went swimming in the river with the guides and the other girls and then I climbed into the waterfall itself, guided by one of the guides over the rocks. The force of the water was like a massage on the back so I sat under it for some time! Dinner was taken by candlelight with the waterfall in the background - I’m sure there are few finer ways to eat than that. The rest of the evening was spent drinking local whisky and vodka (it quickly ran out even if it did taste a bit like vinegar) and playing card games. We played a game called Peter Pan which involved the loser of each game having all the other players wipe a finger on the base of the wok (which was covered in carbon as dinner is cooked over a real fire) and then drawing on the loser’s face - the consequences of which made the young girl whose family run the camp fall into fits of laughter. In fact, we all found it pretty funny and the losers took more of a coating in charcoal with every game! We slept on large pieces of foam on raised platforms under a wooden roof and with 2 wooden walls, but we were virtually sleeping outside, the sound of the plunging waterfall as our lullaby.

This morning we did our final walk to the outskirts of a small town where we had dinner, then we were driven in another truck to the river - in my newfound adventurous spirit and desire to try everything, I spent the drive sat on top of the roof of the cab! The last leg of the journey was a bamboo rafting trip along the river - they’re pretty sturdy but not exactly waterproof! We were fairly wet by the end, but we needed a good wash!

So, I’ve had a hot shower, am going for a few drinks this evening with Becca and Sarah and then we’ll get a good night’s sleep - after all, I’ll need to be in good shape for tomorrow!!!!!

Well we are still in Bangkok, poor Lins was still really under the weather this morning when we woke so we took the decision to stay another day and give her a duvet day as the Americans like to call them. Happy to say shes sat opposite me looking alot better and has her usual spark about her so tommorrow we head north on the train.

I took the decision that i didnt want to just lay around today and so (as ive been tempted by it) went and enquired at the muah thai gym down the road about taking a session there. I was told to report back at 3pm and could join in. More of that later though

Yesterday was spent sight seeing, after a lay in we got up and headed to Wat Trammit (or as its original english name is Temple of the golden buddha) which suprise suprise contains a large golden buddha. The temple was a long way accross the city so we tried to get a tuk tuk there. Tuk tuk drivers are however only intrested in getting you to shops that scam you so after a bit of arguing we jumped in a taxi with possibley the worlds most vacant taxi driver. We got in and he just drove off before we could say where we were going. Asked him to put the meter on and he just looked at us blankly. Eventually after alot of pointing we got the meter switched on. Then we told him where we wanted to go, he knew no english, we knew little thai and he just stared at us very blankly and carried on driving. Eventually linds managed to pronounce the place in a remoltly thai accent and he came alive, smiled and off we went.

The traffic in Bangkok is horrendous, its never ending and you spend most of the time just sat there breathing fumes. Can se why the locals love the ferry so much. After an hour we reached the temple. The temple itself was very simple but the buddha image was impressive. Three metres tall and weighting 5.5 tonnes its made of solid gold. It was orginally covered in render but a workman chipped it while moving it and revealed the gold. If only all mistakes by trade opperatives were so prosperous!!

After twenty minutes we headed off through the fumes and complicated road networks to the ferry port and caught the ferry to Wat Arun. This is a temple complex with a huge 40m spire inthe middle clad in pottery left by a chinese ship years ago. From a distance I did not think it was very impressive while Lins loved it. Getting closer i was quickly proved wrong and the workmanship and colours were really special. Lins thought it beat the grand palace but i can not agree with that.

We got the chance last night to see England beat Estonia which was good to see but we both cried off getting up for the rugby, a mistake as I love the fact in the last two games we have beaten the Aussies and the French!!  (Ripper Malc!)

Back to today i turned up slightly early at the gym and was welcomed in. The area was a big open plan room with a boxing ring, and a large collection of punch bags and mats which stretched outside into the street. It quickly became apparent that some of the people their were not just doing this as a hobby. One Swiss guy was an ex world champion and there were a number of others who were obviously professional fighters.

There were a couple of other guys and a girl there who were just training for fun and its run by a number of guys who specialise in training people and are ex fighters.  I can say now without exageration the Muah Thai is the most brutal sport i have ever tried. Lins came to watch for a bit and said it was like miss world with men. Alot of the serious fighters did not have an ounce of fat on them and watching the world champion spar he was possibley the toughest guy I have ever seen. The power and the speed of the kicks and punchs were frightening.

The training started and I soon got to see why these guys were so fit. After skipping we went on to stretching and warming up. From here shadow boxing and learning correct technique, then to heavy bag then to ring work with and instructor and then more of the above at random followed by the warm down. This went on for two hours and i can say it was brutal. im not super fit but i class myself as reasonable but i was dying after half an hour yet you carried on and on. My knuckles are raw from the punching and my feet are full of broken blood vessell but I can sit here with a sense of achievement. I loved every second of it and would happily do it again. The professionals train  like that twice a day so you can see how serious they take it. Maybe if i took a few sessions may get rid of my surveyor flab from sitting behind a desk eatting bacon sandwichs.

After the session I had a needed shower and we set out for some food as I was starving. Stopping at  a nearby hawker store I ordered a nice basil chicken and rice. “you want spicy hot” the women asked.  “Medium” my reply came. All I can say is good god, if thats medium, was proper fire breath stuff, i downed my juice and my mouth was burning for twenty minutes after.  Lovely flavours but my poor tounge feels like my legs and knuckles.

Right, enough internet time, theres life away from the computer. Well done england in rubgy and football and fingers crossed for the city who look to be sliding to oblivion.

I am not happy as I have just typed this entry and it didn’t save so I’m having to do it all again. Here goes…

The test results are not quite as impressive as they seem as the exam was a series of just 50 multiple choice questions, but still, after passing the exam and having completed 6 dives - 2 in confined (shallow) water and 4 in open water, we became certified divers.

The two confined water dives involved just practising the skills we would later use in the open water, though most of them were intended as safety measures if anything ever went wrong, so hopefully we’ll never need any of them! The first open water dive really wet our appetite as we saw a whole shoal of bumphead parrotfish; there were about 25 of them and the biggest ones were about 2 ft long and nearly as tall. We were also shown a cleaning station in which a pufferfish was being cleaned by the samll shrimps eating from it’s scales! The following few dives did not turn up anything quite as exciting but we still saw lots of smaller fish and beautiful corals and sea anenomaes.

After completing our PADI and with a thirst for more, we went out on a fun dive to D’Lagoon, where we’d seen the parrotfish, and, although they weren’t there this time, we were with an instructor who’d realised that we were really interested in being able to identify what we saw so he brought an etch-a-sketch along with him and pointed out the fish as we went and wrote down their species. IT was a fascinating dive and we both learnt a lot and will now be able to recognise some of the fish we see rather than just talking about the ‘orange and purple stripey fish’ or other similarly useless descriptions!

In spite of having now completed 5 open water dives, we still hadn’t seen a turtle, even though, on one of our dives, some Malaysian divers who were on the same boat as us and who got into the water just a few minutes after us at the same site, did see one on their descent. I was thoroughly disappointed.

We had planned to do another couple of fun dives or to do our advanced PADI after a rest day but, when we went to get the bus tickets the following morning, with Hari Raya approaching (this is a bit like the Muslim Christmas in that it’s a religious festival in which everyone goes to visit family - and I mean everyone!) the whole of Malaysia wa son the move over the next few days, therefore, we either had to leave the following morning or we wouldn’t be able to leave for at least another 10 days. Although the idea of diving for another 10 days was fairly appealing, it would also have been very expensive, so we headed back to the dive shop to pay for the dive we’d done the day before and they offered us one last dive that afternoon as they had a boat and a divemaster (Jimmy) available.

As I still hadn’t seen a turtle, we took them up on their offer and Jimmy took us back to Tanjung Besi, where we’d dived once before and where, alledgedly, Jimmy regularly sees turtles. We had a great dive and did see a black tip reef shark and a barracuda - it was huge and Jimmy was terrified, removing all his silver as apparently this attracts them! However, after an hour in the water, still no turtle.

In a last ditched attempt to spot a turtle, I went snorkelling as I was told this was a good time of day to spot them off the rocks, but once again, I returned dejected! Jimmy had a plastic turtle that he gave me as a consolation in the end - I floated it in the sea! When I returned to the guest house, the owner said “What, you haven’t seen a turtle in the whole time you’ve been here. That’s not possible. They’re everywhere.” I beg to differ!

So, without a single turtle sighting on or around an island apprently surrounded by them, we left on a boat the next morning and headed back to the mainland.

From there we headed to Jerteh, a very islamic town that clearly doesn’t see westerners that often as we were stared at once again - it was like being back in India, and from there we caught the overnight bus to Butterworth. This dropped us off at about 5 in the morning and the first ferry to Penang starts at 5.30 so we caught that across and spent the day and night there (an island with little in the way of real sightseeing but very pleasant to walk around with some interesting colonial and religious buildings from a variety of faiths - it certainly had character) before catching a flight to Bangkok the next morning, from where I am writing now.

As Rich has already written about our day yesterday and I have been on the internet for hours now typing this out again, I’ll just add that I too found the Grand Palace and Wat Pho absolutely amazing and awesome (and I mean that in a very non-American way, just that they wered awe-inspiring). They beat the Taj Mahal for me! So much grandeur and intricate detail on each of the buildings, monuments and statue; the Buddhists know how to build to impress! And with that, and a quick mention that today’s a rest day so I don ‘t have to go too far from the loo, I’ll leave it there! xx

Well Lins and I have arrived in Thailand for the fourth country on our little holiday.  Shes currently laid up in bed with a bug and is asleep in our hostel room (shes fine but very tired so an early night is called for) , gone for luxury today as the price of dorm rooms in Bangkok for both of us equals the same as an air conditioned room with hot shower and private bathroom (ahhh bliss) Im sat downstairs trying to upload more of these bloody photos. We have too many and have let it build up. Another 28 up, 200 to go (arghhhhhh)

 Been in Bangkok a day and a half now and I really like the place, its mental, full of scam artists, dirty yes but its also packed with sights, sounds, colours and an incredible vibe. Will never get bored here thats for sure.

 Yesterday was spent finding accommodation, we had booked a hostel on the far side of town but it took an eternity to reach anywhere so we have moved. Now near the famous Ko San Road (aka the start of the beach)

 Its packed full of backpackers and stalls and is a great place to relax and see the sites of Bangkok from. Would like to be out at the moment but Lins (bless her cottons) just needs to relax so having a quiet one.

had a really weird experience yesterday on the metro. Arrived at the hostel and dropped off the bags and decided to see how far it was to the centre. Jumped on the metro and I heard on english guy behind me, turned around and came face to face with a guy called Scott Counstable or at least his spitting image. We both did a double take and then got off the train. After stating to Lins im sure i went to school with that english guy we jumped on another train and there he was again. Having to know i asked him his name and it was him.  He was on holiday with his missus and child .

 Weird that in a city of 6 millon+ and the other side of the world you can get on a train and meet somone you last saw 13 years ago at school!

 Today we visited the most amazing set of buildings I have ever seen. The royal palace in Bangkok is an amazingly lavish set of temples and palaces, drapped in gold and vibrant colours. Having seen the Taj Mahal and the Aya Spofia and beliving them to be impressive this blew us away. I was particularly impressed with the statues and the expressions as well as the workmanship that goes into both creating and maintaining this amazing place.

After the Royal Place we wandered to Wat Po (wat means temple in Thai). This was an equally as impressive set of buildings with a 46m long buddha. Especially good was the wat po massage school on the grounds. Stopping for a massage they were the most brutal but rewarding massage I have ever experinced. The guy got bones to crunch that im sure wernt meant to but afterwards you feel like you floating. Lins decided to get her feet done as well but as Im stupidly ticklish I sat outside watching the world go by.

 Im getting bored uploading photos now, the Bourne Ultimatum is starting and there is a cold beer calling me so Ill sign off there, stay happy all.

Not sure how long I’ve got before I run out of time and this logs out but I’ll do my best to summarise our time on the Perhentian Islands in the time I’ve got!

First and foremost, they are beautiful: the beaches are of white and golden sands; the water is azur blue in places and crystal clear in others; and the two beaches on Perhentian Kecil (Small Island) are separated by a small jungle. We stayed on the ‘Coral Bay’ side of the island but walked over to the other side between 1 and 3 times a day as we were diving on the ‘Long Beach’ side.

We both took our PADI studies very seriously and were told we should not spend so much time studying as we’d fry our brains! Still, it all paid off as O got 90 % in the exam and Rich got 94% - and yes, he has been very smug about it!

I’ll finish this tomorrow as I have just 2 minutes left! xx

Hi, back again and still trying to update both the blog and the photos. Quickly become apparent that when you go to places without internet access, they tend to be very photographic and as such you have to spend a few yours in front of a computer uploading the photos before you can take more BORING!! Still it gives me time to update after last post yesterday.

 As I left it yesterday we were going downstream to head to the Perinthians. Journey downstream is so much faster, especially with flood water. We got chatting to a girl called Hannah from cornwall who had the same plane ticket as us, she had just done it in reverse and was heading up to India as her last stop. Chatting away with her the journey flew by and before we knew it we all found ourselves in Jerantut ready to catch the famed Jungle railway.

The jungle railway runs from Singapore through the rain forest centre of Malaysia up to Kota Burh and we joined it just before the jungle stage. It was an impressive journey of about eight hours, however having lived in the rain forest for 4 days I think it was a little bit lost on us. An amazing feat of engineering and with stunning views of jungle clad mountains it keeps you entertained but when your trundling through normal forrest its a case of seen one bit, seen it all!

It was amusing however the timekeeping that it operated. Stops at stations seem to depend on how long the driver fancied and often he would walk outside the station to shop quickly before getting back on. When break fast came at sunset (its a very muslim country and there all fasting for ramadam) the train was parked up and off he went for dinner. We took this opperuntity to walk to a petrol station and stock up on snacks!

Arriving in Kota Bhuru at around eight we caught a cheap taxi to the hostel and together with Hannah and Jenny and Carl (two others we met on the way, Jenny swapped books with me at jerantut so she had reading material for the eight hours much to Carls relif) we headed out for some food.

Finding a busy little food hall we tucked in to noodles and fried rice. Whiles i was munching away the biggest rat I have ever seen walked across my foot! Its the second time its happened it Malaysia and shrugging our shoulders we carried on with dinner. Its remarkable how quickly you get used to less than clean standards!!

Next morning it was off to the Perinthians to learn to dive. The perinthians are truely stunning islands. Golden beachs and turquosise sea they really are paradise and to make it even better, not busy at all as its getting towards closed season. We stayed on the very quiet side with an English guy called Pierre in little beach side rooms. Huge monitor lizards stalked the perimeter of the ground like short nosed crocodiles and cocconuts lay strewn in the sand outside. Not a bad place to stay!

After dumping the bags we quickly walked the five minutes throught he jungle (yes more jungle!) to long beach to check out the dive operators. We decided on one called Quiver, everyone there was a brilliant laugh and very passionate about diving and conservation. Having origianlly planned to have a day off we quickly found a gap to do our padi open water so without further hesitation booked to start the next day.

Our instructor was a chinese guy called Brian. After hearing some of the places and situations he had been in  I renamed him Dangorous Brian. Anyone who dives to 120m is mad and some of the thing he has done like retriving bodies from pitch black ships where military divers have failed show how good he really was.

Four days instruction from him and Mark the shop manager improved our diving exponentionally we both love it. We have picked up and expensive hobby but there is no feeling like it on earth.

Some of the highlights of our six dives were swimming amongst a school of metre long giant bump head parrot fish (each weighing about 50lbs) and gliding through shallow waters near a rock cove with a four foot long black tipped reef shark and a monster of a barracuda. If travel had worked out better I think we would have stayed and done our advanced course but we had to leave due to hari Rayh, all the buses and trains are solidly booked.

Current we are staying in a Hostel in Georgetown, pennang, a nice ex east india trading company outpost and tommorrow we fly up to Bangkok. Going to try and update the photos over the next couple of days as its so time consuming. Keep checking the link from here and stay happy all.

Hi, back in civalisation for a little while at least, currently sat in a small internet cafe trying to update the photos we have taken over the last week and a half and think back to what we have been up to.

Since I last wrote Lins and I have made it our mission to tour areas of Malaysia where there are not internet connection, namley Tamra Negara (Malaysias rain forest) and the Perinthina island (Paradise!!) So here goes, monster updates from both of us!

After another day in KL we decided to head to Taman Negara (National Park) which is an area of rain forest 130 million years old covering over 4300 km. The park holds a large part of Malaysias rare wildlife but unlike Mr Charles who randomly stumbles into animals emerging drunk from his tent at 2.30am the animals here are incredibly hard to find. Due to increased tourist pressure the holy grail of animals such as the black lepord, malaysian tiger and wild elephant are found at the very heart of the jungle where humans seldom tread. That said its an amazing place and like knowhere I have ever been.

After a few buses and a three hour boat ride we arrived at the park HQ from KL. Whilst waiting for the boat we decided to stay at Nusa camp which was deeper into the forest than the other accomodation. We got talking to another couple (Carol and Rob) who were also staying there so we stuck together and off we went.

Arriving in Nusa, we were in for a shock. There were two other people in a huge camp and we were outnumbered by the staff 2:1. Turning round to get the hell out of there we were told that the last boat out was gone and we would have to spend the night there!! Lins and I checked into the dorm and met Carol and Rob for dinner at 8. To say the staff were hostile was an understatement. You actually felt guilty asking for food and the food when it did arrive was miles apart. I ate my rice and half an hour later the accompanying chicken arrived. Very funny, after being ignored by the staff for another couple of hours and watching a so bad it was good horror film we snuck back to the dorm and vowed to catch the first boat out in the morning! Rob and Carol were waiting for us despite having paid for three nights
I took a photo before we left of Nusa during the morning breakfast rush, just for a laugh before we went! How the place was buzzing!

After getting the boat back we quickly checked into a small guest house called Durian challets and spent the rest of the time in a lovely little wooden challet with very basic amenaties but it was heaven!

Finally at one we arrived at the park HQ and booked a cave exploration and a night jungle walk. Lins and I also booked to stay in a hide deep in the forest the next day.

The cave exploration was in a cave called Ear Cave, big on the outside, narrow in the centre (like an ear hence the name!!) In the booking Lins and Carol had both asked whether it was narrow at any point. “No not really” came the reply and arriving the reality became apparent that this was going to be a squeeze! Setting off slowly we clambered over rocks thorough an ever narrowing space untill we reached a chamber that contained at an estimate 1000 fruit bats. It was amazing watching them sway in the slight breeze not even blinking at our prescence.

Of course all these bats lead to a problem, Guyana (Bat Crap to most people!) It covered everywhere, add to  this the fact that it was near pitch black and you can imagine how messy we got. I got away lightly as I managed to stay on my feet but Carol and Lins were covered after gracefully sliding down the slope in the room on their arses! Couple this with the fact a stream ran through the centre and it got narrower and narrower and an hour after we went in we came out soaked, dirty but beaming from ear to ear at what we had seen.

After a shower and dinner we headed back to take on a night walk with our guide. I found it really intresting talking to him as he explained the problems that they had with poachers and also the pressure that toursim creates with the fragile eco system. He had untill recently done deep jungle treks and informed us to see anything you had to be miles away from civilisation. Even then in 7 years of deep jungle treking he had only seen and elusive tiger twice!

Walking through the jungle at night is an experience, shreiks, hoots and ribbits echo round and the blackness is claustrophobic and my torch did not make a dent. Luckily the guide was better prepared and produced a massive torch that lit the way. Walking a small distance from camp we saw a viper.  A tiny little green snake that can easily produce enough venom to kill someone and the second most posionous snake behind the cobra. We since discovered that this snake may not be real as three days later it was in the same place!! Further along we saw huge hunter spiders that made the spider in India look like a little baby, black scorpions that blend into the night and again are very dangorous and numorous harmless snakes, stick insects and other creepy crawlies. Retiring to our challet we were left with a clear indication that the jungle is not somewhere you take lightly.

In the morning we were due to trek to the deepest hide but after the night before and seeing how dark it got and how nervous Lins was about it all, I let her off the experince and we decided to get a boat up stream the next day and walk back the 10k.

With no agenda we headed to the famous canopy walkway, a short 1.8 km trek away. Along the way a huge tree had blocked the path, turning round we met a guide who stated that you just climb over it. We nearly all made in unscathed. Poor Rob lost his balance and undertook the slowest fall I have ever seen in my life onto a branch, this then broke and he ended in a crumpled heap on the path. Once we knew he was ok it was quite funny!

For Lins however the canopy walkway was not. Twenty five meters from the ground does not sound that much but when your walking on scaffold planks and rickety ladders all the while swaying backwards and forwards its one of the scariest things ive done. Lins well known for her hatred of heights and rickerty bridges went through hell but came through it with alot of swearing and willpower. I took a photo to record the fact to everyone that she braved it, bearing in mind this in a long way up in the trees

The afternoon was spent on terra firmer with us shooting river rapids and getting soaked.

After a good nights sleep we caught a taxi boat to Kula Tegganan, an abondonded lodge 9.5km from the main camp and set off on the trek back to civilisation. Two things became quickly apparent, 1) that walking in a rain forest is like exercising in a greenhouse and 2) leechs are merciless and well designed for getting your blood out of your body. After three hours of treking through amazing jungle scenery our socks were soaked with blood and we were running low on water. It hammered home how inhospitable the jungle is and how hostile.  9.5km flat is a doddle but imagine having to leap fallen trees, crawl through gaps, clamber accross streams  and haull yourself up steep leech infested slopes by ropes as well as narrow ledges and roots everywhere and you have some idea of the terrain. We had not prepared enough, not enough water and food, no sports drinks to replace to salts e.t.c Six hours later we emerged and boy did we feel ill, behind attempting to run the marathon this was the toughest thing i have ever done and both Lins and I felt ill all night.

Deciding we needed proper food and running low on funds (no cash point in the jungle!!) we headed to the posh resorts restaraunt to pay by card and gourge ourselves on the overpriced food!

Setting off there was not a cloud in the sky but an hour into dinner a gayle force wind came out of knowhere and rain started coming through the open plan eating area sideways . It proceed to bucket it down for the next hour and a half in torrents, finally a waiter appeared with umbreallas for resort guests. We decided our need was greater as a km is alot further than waddling 3 steps to the luxury room so we stole one and scarpered (we did leave it at the room for the next people to bring back so our conscience is clear! Just!)

Next day feeling a little worse for wear we caught the early boat and set fourth to the Perinthian islands.  That leg of our trip will have to wait though  and my stomach feels like my throat has been cutand food and drink is the order of the day.

Stay happy all, and as a final note can i Just say well done to Russ and becks who got married at the weekend!