KOH LANTA
Our bedroom at Baan Resort and Spa.
The view from our bungalow at Baan Resort and Spa.
View from Otto's Bar.
The elephants used for trekking.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Phi Phi and Lanta pictures
KOH LANTA
Our bedroom at Baan Resort and Spa.
The view from our bungalow at Baan Resort and Spa.
View from Otto's Bar.
The elephants used for trekking.
Sunday 22 April onwards - Koh Lanta and Phuket
Sunday 22 April:
We caught the boat to Koh Lanta and checked into a place called Lanta Pavilion Resort. There were a few locals on the boat ride giving out leaflets and we nailed the choice down to either Lanta Pavilion Resort or Lanta Paradise Resort. We asked for a sea view bungalow and we were assured that we would get one. We didn't but when we bent our head around the corner we could just about see the sea. This is called a sea view. When we entered the bungalow it still had evidence of last night's guests and I have no doubt that the smell was caused by the empty whiskey bottle in the bin. It didn't take them long to get our room ready though and in the meantime we walked along the beach. We stayed around the pool which was small but nice and then ate in the restaurant in the evening which was also nice.
Monday 23 April:
We caught a tuk-tuk to Lanta Paradise Resort and checked into a bungalow which had a full-on view of the pool and the sea. This is what we call a sea view. We went into the local town and bought the whole of Heroes Series 1 on DVD for six pounds. I'm not sure if you have heard of Heroes in England but it's fantastic. We got into it in Australia and had only seen three episodes. We liked it that much. We also visited Baan Resort and Spa and decided that we loved it so much we would book a room for a couple of nights.
We returned back to the resort to find that most of the island had suffered a power cut so we couldn't do anything apart from read on the balcony - which didn't last long because a couple were having sex in the pool - and eat under candle light. After we had eaten the power had returned. It took about three hours. We then moved into the bar and played Connect 4 with one of the barmen who just so happened to be the most stoned and best Connect 4 player we have ever seen and beat Carl hands down. The main excitement of the evening was watching the first two episodes of Heroes. At around 5am someone kept trying to get into our room. Luckily our door was locked but it went on for a while and we could see in the light someone running away. It really freaked us out and we were so glad that we had locked our door.
Tuesday 24 April:
A man from Baan Resort picked us up from Lanta Paradise Resort at 10am and we then checked into our wooden bungalow which was up quite a few steps. Wow. This is the best place we have stayed so far. The bungalow was beautifully designed and decorated and we had a view of the bay and the pool so it couldn't have been better. We spent the day by the pool which just so happened to be one of the best pools we have seen throughout our trip.
We walked along the beach to a bar at the far end and watched the sunset. It was perfect and is the first one we have seen which is ridiculous considering how many chances we have had. But we didn't have our camera on us so planned to return tomorrow night.
After some food and a couple of beers we retired to our bungalow and watched a further two episodes of Heroes. We can't watch too many at once because I don't think the second series is out on DVD yet but it's on TV over here.
Wednesday 25 April:
We had a dip in the pool before breakfast, after breakfast, in the early afternoon and in the late afternoon. We had a very bad storm last night which knocked off the electricity so the air con didn't work. It was very uncomfortable. Carl couldn't sleep because of the air con and I couldn't sleep because of Carl. So we both woke up at 6.30am. I don't even wake up this early on a workday so I wasn't a very happy person in the morning. We took a tuk-tuk to wonder around parts of the island and came across elephants walking down the road. They were with their owner who was taking them to a fresh piece of land with plenty of food. These elephants are used to take people trekking up to the waterfall.
I hadn't been feeling very well today. We ate in the bar next door to our resort and learned how to say thank you in Thai which we have been saying over and over again. Thai people love it when you speak even the smallest amount. Their eyes light up and they get really excited. If they had time they would give you a language lesson right on spot.
We had a three hour sleep and then went to the bar to have a few beers before food. We sat at the bar and the barman kept us occupied. He bought out a bottle of blood from a cobra mixed with tequila. It took Carl a while to get past the smell but he swallowed it in the end. I think with my poorly tummy it would have made me heave so I kindly declined his offer. That didn't stop him though. He then pulled out a bottle of lizard juice with the lizard still in the bottle for me to try. I declined again because I have become very fond of the lizards. Another two episodes of Heroes.
Thursday 26 April:
We took the four hour boat ride to Phuket today and saw a stingray jumping in the sea which we were very lucky to spot. We checked into Pacific Resort and Spa and this is where we have been holed up all day. We both have really bad bellyaches and bad toilet problems. Carl thinks it's because of the coffee he made in our bungalow yesterday. At the time I told him that we should use the mineral water but he said that the tap water would be fine because it was the drain that stunk not the water. So here we are. Carl asleep and me sitting in the dark doing our blog.
Friday 27 April:
Another day of starving ourselves and watching TV in bed.
Saturday 28 April:
We were feeling much better today after taking sickness tablets and, eventually, anti-biotics. We were careful not to do too much so we went into Patong and both got our hair cut in a shop called Hair Ways. While Carl was getting his hair cut I was having a vigorous head massage behind a curtain which was great but after about twenty minutes started to make me feel sick. And the women who cut our hair did a great job, although she almost cut my fringe back in. I also managed to buy my fly-electrocuting tennis racket for a little more money but this one worked.
Sunday 29 April:
We got picked up at 2pm and were taken to a sort of theme park where we did nine activities in one day. The activities were elephant trekking, Thai cooking, Thai boxing, ox riding, rice farming, monkey show, elephant show, kayaking and dinner. The elephant trekking was OK but the man was a bit cruel with the elephant when he didn't need to be so we didn't really like it and he was the world's worst pervert. The Thai cooking was just showing us how to make a simple Thai salad but they used fish sauce which was yuk. The Thai boxing was just a few kicks at a hand pad, the ox riding only took us round in a circle which took all of thirty seconds, the rice farming showed us how they separated the rice (that was fun because I got to sit on the water buffalo), the monkey show was a bit cruel but having my picture taken with Miss Monkey World 2007 was good especially when I got her signature, the elephant show was OK - a bit scary when the elephant put his foot on my back - but he gave me loads of kisses to say thank you and the kayaking was the best fun ever and we whipped everyone's ass although it wasn't really a race. The dinner in the evening was OK but we had about seven plates of different kinds of fish so it was all too fishy to eat. Oh and also on this tour was an English man in his 50s who had paid a girl from Ukraine, about 20 years old, to come to Thailand for a holiday with him for a week. It took her thirty hours to travel there. Duh!
We caught the boat to Koh Lanta and checked into a place called Lanta Pavilion Resort. There were a few locals on the boat ride giving out leaflets and we nailed the choice down to either Lanta Pavilion Resort or Lanta Paradise Resort. We asked for a sea view bungalow and we were assured that we would get one. We didn't but when we bent our head around the corner we could just about see the sea. This is called a sea view. When we entered the bungalow it still had evidence of last night's guests and I have no doubt that the smell was caused by the empty whiskey bottle in the bin. It didn't take them long to get our room ready though and in the meantime we walked along the beach. We stayed around the pool which was small but nice and then ate in the restaurant in the evening which was also nice.
Monday 23 April:
We caught a tuk-tuk to Lanta Paradise Resort and checked into a bungalow which had a full-on view of the pool and the sea. This is what we call a sea view. We went into the local town and bought the whole of Heroes Series 1 on DVD for six pounds. I'm not sure if you have heard of Heroes in England but it's fantastic. We got into it in Australia and had only seen three episodes. We liked it that much. We also visited Baan Resort and Spa and decided that we loved it so much we would book a room for a couple of nights.
We returned back to the resort to find that most of the island had suffered a power cut so we couldn't do anything apart from read on the balcony - which didn't last long because a couple were having sex in the pool - and eat under candle light. After we had eaten the power had returned. It took about three hours. We then moved into the bar and played Connect 4 with one of the barmen who just so happened to be the most stoned and best Connect 4 player we have ever seen and beat Carl hands down. The main excitement of the evening was watching the first two episodes of Heroes. At around 5am someone kept trying to get into our room. Luckily our door was locked but it went on for a while and we could see in the light someone running away. It really freaked us out and we were so glad that we had locked our door.
Tuesday 24 April:
A man from Baan Resort picked us up from Lanta Paradise Resort at 10am and we then checked into our wooden bungalow which was up quite a few steps. Wow. This is the best place we have stayed so far. The bungalow was beautifully designed and decorated and we had a view of the bay and the pool so it couldn't have been better. We spent the day by the pool which just so happened to be one of the best pools we have seen throughout our trip.
We walked along the beach to a bar at the far end and watched the sunset. It was perfect and is the first one we have seen which is ridiculous considering how many chances we have had. But we didn't have our camera on us so planned to return tomorrow night.
After some food and a couple of beers we retired to our bungalow and watched a further two episodes of Heroes. We can't watch too many at once because I don't think the second series is out on DVD yet but it's on TV over here.
Wednesday 25 April:
We had a dip in the pool before breakfast, after breakfast, in the early afternoon and in the late afternoon. We had a very bad storm last night which knocked off the electricity so the air con didn't work. It was very uncomfortable. Carl couldn't sleep because of the air con and I couldn't sleep because of Carl. So we both woke up at 6.30am. I don't even wake up this early on a workday so I wasn't a very happy person in the morning. We took a tuk-tuk to wonder around parts of the island and came across elephants walking down the road. They were with their owner who was taking them to a fresh piece of land with plenty of food. These elephants are used to take people trekking up to the waterfall.
I hadn't been feeling very well today. We ate in the bar next door to our resort and learned how to say thank you in Thai which we have been saying over and over again. Thai people love it when you speak even the smallest amount. Their eyes light up and they get really excited. If they had time they would give you a language lesson right on spot.
We had a three hour sleep and then went to the bar to have a few beers before food. We sat at the bar and the barman kept us occupied. He bought out a bottle of blood from a cobra mixed with tequila. It took Carl a while to get past the smell but he swallowed it in the end. I think with my poorly tummy it would have made me heave so I kindly declined his offer. That didn't stop him though. He then pulled out a bottle of lizard juice with the lizard still in the bottle for me to try. I declined again because I have become very fond of the lizards. Another two episodes of Heroes.
Thursday 26 April:
We took the four hour boat ride to Phuket today and saw a stingray jumping in the sea which we were very lucky to spot. We checked into Pacific Resort and Spa and this is where we have been holed up all day. We both have really bad bellyaches and bad toilet problems. Carl thinks it's because of the coffee he made in our bungalow yesterday. At the time I told him that we should use the mineral water but he said that the tap water would be fine because it was the drain that stunk not the water. So here we are. Carl asleep and me sitting in the dark doing our blog.
Friday 27 April:
Another day of starving ourselves and watching TV in bed.
Saturday 28 April:
We were feeling much better today after taking sickness tablets and, eventually, anti-biotics. We were careful not to do too much so we went into Patong and both got our hair cut in a shop called Hair Ways. While Carl was getting his hair cut I was having a vigorous head massage behind a curtain which was great but after about twenty minutes started to make me feel sick. And the women who cut our hair did a great job, although she almost cut my fringe back in. I also managed to buy my fly-electrocuting tennis racket for a little more money but this one worked.
Sunday 29 April:
We got picked up at 2pm and were taken to a sort of theme park where we did nine activities in one day. The activities were elephant trekking, Thai cooking, Thai boxing, ox riding, rice farming, monkey show, elephant show, kayaking and dinner. The elephant trekking was OK but the man was a bit cruel with the elephant when he didn't need to be so we didn't really like it and he was the world's worst pervert. The Thai cooking was just showing us how to make a simple Thai salad but they used fish sauce which was yuk. The Thai boxing was just a few kicks at a hand pad, the ox riding only took us round in a circle which took all of thirty seconds, the rice farming showed us how they separated the rice (that was fun because I got to sit on the water buffalo), the monkey show was a bit cruel but having my picture taken with Miss Monkey World 2007 was good especially when I got her signature, the elephant show was OK - a bit scary when the elephant put his foot on my back - but he gave me loads of kisses to say thank you and the kayaking was the best fun ever and we whipped everyone's ass although it wasn't really a race. The dinner in the evening was OK but we had about seven plates of different kinds of fish so it was all too fishy to eat. Oh and also on this tour was an English man in his 50s who had paid a girl from Ukraine, about 20 years old, to come to Thailand for a holiday with him for a week. It took her thirty hours to travel there. Duh!
Monday, April 16, 2007
Tuesday 10 April to Saturday 21 April - Ao Nang and Phi Phi
Tuesday 10 April:
We caught the free shuttle bus to the boat where it took two hours on a narrow boat back to Kuala Tembeling. Then we caught a bus to Jerantut, a train to a place called Pasi Mas and then a taxi to Rantau Panjang which is on the border of Thailand. We had been travelling all day, leaving Taman Negara at 9am and arriving in Rantau Panjang at around 9.30am. It had been a long day and this place seemed to make it worse. We got checked into a hotel and walked around looking for food. I don't think these people had seen a tourist in quite a while because they seemed to be amazed by us. They couldn't speak English either so we decided to go back to our hotel. As we walked past one cafe this guy waved us in so we sat down and talked to him. He ordered us food and made us feel very welcome. His English name is James because it's just easier to say.
Wednesday 11 April:
We met James for a coffee at 10am and then walked to the border where we crossed into Thailand on foot. It was a really strange feeling to be in Malaysia one second and then Thailand the next second. Once we got through passport control which was easy and friendly we walked to the train station where we caught a train to Hat Yai. The train journey was three hours and forty five minutes. Thailand are an hour behind Malaysia so England is now seven hours behind Thailand. We checked into the Grand Plaza hotel and went out for what we thought would be a couple of beers.
We started off at Pubb and only stayed for one drink and then moved on to Post Laser Disc Pub where we had quite a few. Carl ordered a litre of beer for himself. We then wondered back to Pubb where a band were playing and they were absolutely brilliant. They played anything you requested and because we were the only Westerners in the place and the band loved groups like Guns & Roses, they always played our songs. We got really drunk. We only intended to stay our for a couple but because the band were so good and we had such a horrible, long journey we needed to let our hair down. I had to carry Carl home and he can't even remember.
Thursday 12 April:
We were both feeling a little fragile this morning but especially Carl when I filled him in on his antics. We took a taxi to the airport hoping to fly to Phuket but they didn't fly there so then we got another taxi to the bus depot and got a bus instead. The bus journey was horrible. As we were the last couple to get on the bus was heaving and the driver expected us to sit on little plastic child chairs in the aisle for the seven hour journey. We got off the bus refusing to get on because there were no seats so one of the guys who worked on the bus kicked a man and woman off their seats and made them sit on the little chairs in the aisle so we had two seats together. It was awful. And then the guy came to the back where we were sitting and spoke to everyone so we couldn't understand and everyone just laughed at us. I was crying and Carl was trying to comfort me while trying not to be sick. It was not a very nice situation to be in but after a while when everything had calmed down it was fine. We decided to get off at Krabi as that was only five hour journey and we wanted to get off asap.
From Krabi we caught a tuk-tuk to Ao Nang. It's a beautiful place and we started to feel much better about travelling through Thailand. It's on the west coast and is lined with shops, cafes, bars, etc. We checked into Krabi Seaview Resort which was a little more than we should be paying but it was lovely and just what we needed to unwind. We were in our own lodge which was so nice and everything was wooden. We could also get free wireless internet.
Friday 13 April:
It's Chinese New Year. The whole place has gone mental. The roads are gridlocked. Horns are blasting. People are loaded up on trucks with big water barrels. Big water barrels all over the side of the street with people standing over them. Talc and water flying everywhere. This is a street festival for the Chinese New Year. One huge water fight. There was no way you could walk down this road without getting soaked through the skin by buckets of water or water guns which were being sold everywhere. It was so much fun. The roads were jam packed with trucks and people on the back soaking the people on the street and the people on the street were soaking the people on the trucks. We just walked up and down the street, soaked, watching all the fun. It was amazing and went on from about 10am until about 5pm and then everything went quiet - back to normal.
Saturday 14 April:
We took a boat to Phi Phi which took about one and a half hours. This we will call our second holiday - Carnarvon Gorge being the first. Actually, as we are now doing the islands of Thailand for about three or four weeks, let's call the next month a holiday.
Phi Phi island - nothing like we ever expected even though we knew it would be beautiful. This island is lined with lovely little cobbled streets filled with little craft stalls, bars, guesthouses, internet cafes, DVD shops (pirate of course) book shops, etc. It's such a lovely place and really relaxing. We checked into October Mini Boutique Guesthouse which was really nice. Small but really nice. We had a great view of the sea and also a DVD player so we watched Saw III in the evening. I'll talk about that when I get back home. Wow! What a great ending and the Jigsaw has managed to do it again but for the last time.
We went to the sports bar (there's one everywhere isn't there?) where we watched Arsenal beat Bolton.
Sunday 15 April:
We checked out of October Mini Boutique Guesthouse (no double beds) and into K House where we got a special rate which is a secret. We plan to stay here for about a week now and may do our PADI here as it only takes three days and is cheap.
There's nothing much else to say apart from the fact that we sunbathed on the most beautiful beach and lay in the most beautiful, warm, still, clear water ever! We then had a relaxing night watching a DVD which was also a pirate. They're all pirates out here and I wouldn't normally mind but they chop out half the film and the bits they do chop out are the important bits that need explaining.
Monday 16 April:
Bloody t'internet. All day. Luckily it had been cloudy all day.
Tuesday 17 April:
It was another cloudy day today so we wondered around the craft stalls that lined the pebbled streets looking for our next buy. The list was long.
The bars around here show movies, new and old, on the big plasmas. They are good pirate copies so we spent the evening watching Hannibal Rising. There's also English translation on the movies. If you were deaf you would definitely loose the plot of the film. A line such as 'I'm going to fry your liver and season it with pepper' would be translated as 'Isn't it such a lovely day today. Let's take a boat out and cruise the river'. Completely useless.
Wednesday 18 April:
Today we took a sunset tour which started at 11am and finished at 7pm. A very long day. A very old boat took us to the main beaches where we would stop for no longer than an hour which was a shame. The boat driver was deliberately slow, probably because we had to catch the sunset later and as he wouldn't allow us to spend a longer time on the beaches he had to waste time between the stops. We got talking to Andy and Emma, a couple from Manchester, and Jamie and Liam who where two youngsters out on the piss every night. We visited Maya Bay where they filmed The Beach and it was stunning. Didn't look as big as in the film but other than that, everything else was the same. There is where we had our longest stay which was only an hour. The boat driver was deliberately taking his time in between stops and all other long boats were overtaking us. If he had travelled a little faster we could have spent more time on the beaches. We got to the sunset point about 45 minutes early so we had to wait in this tiny boat for that long. Because larger boats were passing us our boat kept swaying sometimes making the edge of one side of the boat disappear under water. It was at this point that we all discussed the film Deep Water which didn't make us feel any better. The sunset was rubbish. It disappeared behind the clouds.
Later in the evening we met up with Emma and Andy and went to Reggae Bar which had a boxing ring in the centre. If you arrived there early, around 10pm, then you could watch the locals fight but after about 11pm all the drunken idiots you often see on the street at 1am in the morning get into the ring and fight each other. And some of them are legless and don't stand a chance.
Thursday 19 April:
As we didn't get in until the early hours we didn't get to see the morning. We made sure we had an easy day to recover and by the time the evening had arrived we came back to life and ready to party again. We made another visit to the boxing ring watching the losers fight each other.
Friday 20 April:
We got in even later this morning so decided that it was time to escape the noise of this part of Phi Phi. We took a boat to Long Beach which was only round the corner and happened to be the relaxing part of the island. We checked into our bungalow on the beach, took three steps from the door and laid our towels down on the white sand where we stayed all day. It's tiring to have to do nothing every day. The water was amazing and so clear, warm and deep so you could have a good swim. In the evening we watched a fire show in the bar along the beach. Four boys had fire sticks and one boy had two chains with fire balls on the end. He was really good but at one stage the fire balls stuck to the boy's back. He didn't look like he was in too much pain though. Earlier we bought the film Apocaypto so after the pub we settled down to watch it. It's a fab film but the film didn't fit onto the disc so it cut off five minutes to the end. Very annoying.
Saturday 21 April:
Sorry - another day on the beach and another night in the bar.
We caught the free shuttle bus to the boat where it took two hours on a narrow boat back to Kuala Tembeling. Then we caught a bus to Jerantut, a train to a place called Pasi Mas and then a taxi to Rantau Panjang which is on the border of Thailand. We had been travelling all day, leaving Taman Negara at 9am and arriving in Rantau Panjang at around 9.30am. It had been a long day and this place seemed to make it worse. We got checked into a hotel and walked around looking for food. I don't think these people had seen a tourist in quite a while because they seemed to be amazed by us. They couldn't speak English either so we decided to go back to our hotel. As we walked past one cafe this guy waved us in so we sat down and talked to him. He ordered us food and made us feel very welcome. His English name is James because it's just easier to say.
Wednesday 11 April:
We met James for a coffee at 10am and then walked to the border where we crossed into Thailand on foot. It was a really strange feeling to be in Malaysia one second and then Thailand the next second. Once we got through passport control which was easy and friendly we walked to the train station where we caught a train to Hat Yai. The train journey was three hours and forty five minutes. Thailand are an hour behind Malaysia so England is now seven hours behind Thailand. We checked into the Grand Plaza hotel and went out for what we thought would be a couple of beers.
We started off at Pubb and only stayed for one drink and then moved on to Post Laser Disc Pub where we had quite a few. Carl ordered a litre of beer for himself. We then wondered back to Pubb where a band were playing and they were absolutely brilliant. They played anything you requested and because we were the only Westerners in the place and the band loved groups like Guns & Roses, they always played our songs. We got really drunk. We only intended to stay our for a couple but because the band were so good and we had such a horrible, long journey we needed to let our hair down. I had to carry Carl home and he can't even remember.
Thursday 12 April:
We were both feeling a little fragile this morning but especially Carl when I filled him in on his antics. We took a taxi to the airport hoping to fly to Phuket but they didn't fly there so then we got another taxi to the bus depot and got a bus instead. The bus journey was horrible. As we were the last couple to get on the bus was heaving and the driver expected us to sit on little plastic child chairs in the aisle for the seven hour journey. We got off the bus refusing to get on because there were no seats so one of the guys who worked on the bus kicked a man and woman off their seats and made them sit on the little chairs in the aisle so we had two seats together. It was awful. And then the guy came to the back where we were sitting and spoke to everyone so we couldn't understand and everyone just laughed at us. I was crying and Carl was trying to comfort me while trying not to be sick. It was not a very nice situation to be in but after a while when everything had calmed down it was fine. We decided to get off at Krabi as that was only five hour journey and we wanted to get off asap.
From Krabi we caught a tuk-tuk to Ao Nang. It's a beautiful place and we started to feel much better about travelling through Thailand. It's on the west coast and is lined with shops, cafes, bars, etc. We checked into Krabi Seaview Resort which was a little more than we should be paying but it was lovely and just what we needed to unwind. We were in our own lodge which was so nice and everything was wooden. We could also get free wireless internet.
Friday 13 April:
It's Chinese New Year. The whole place has gone mental. The roads are gridlocked. Horns are blasting. People are loaded up on trucks with big water barrels. Big water barrels all over the side of the street with people standing over them. Talc and water flying everywhere. This is a street festival for the Chinese New Year. One huge water fight. There was no way you could walk down this road without getting soaked through the skin by buckets of water or water guns which were being sold everywhere. It was so much fun. The roads were jam packed with trucks and people on the back soaking the people on the street and the people on the street were soaking the people on the trucks. We just walked up and down the street, soaked, watching all the fun. It was amazing and went on from about 10am until about 5pm and then everything went quiet - back to normal.
Saturday 14 April:
We took a boat to Phi Phi which took about one and a half hours. This we will call our second holiday - Carnarvon Gorge being the first. Actually, as we are now doing the islands of Thailand for about three or four weeks, let's call the next month a holiday.
Phi Phi island - nothing like we ever expected even though we knew it would be beautiful. This island is lined with lovely little cobbled streets filled with little craft stalls, bars, guesthouses, internet cafes, DVD shops (pirate of course) book shops, etc. It's such a lovely place and really relaxing. We checked into October Mini Boutique Guesthouse which was really nice. Small but really nice. We had a great view of the sea and also a DVD player so we watched Saw III in the evening. I'll talk about that when I get back home. Wow! What a great ending and the Jigsaw has managed to do it again but for the last time.
We went to the sports bar (there's one everywhere isn't there?) where we watched Arsenal beat Bolton.
Sunday 15 April:
We checked out of October Mini Boutique Guesthouse (no double beds) and into K House where we got a special rate which is a secret. We plan to stay here for about a week now and may do our PADI here as it only takes three days and is cheap.
There's nothing much else to say apart from the fact that we sunbathed on the most beautiful beach and lay in the most beautiful, warm, still, clear water ever! We then had a relaxing night watching a DVD which was also a pirate. They're all pirates out here and I wouldn't normally mind but they chop out half the film and the bits they do chop out are the important bits that need explaining.
Monday 16 April:
Bloody t'internet. All day. Luckily it had been cloudy all day.
Tuesday 17 April:
It was another cloudy day today so we wondered around the craft stalls that lined the pebbled streets looking for our next buy. The list was long.
The bars around here show movies, new and old, on the big plasmas. They are good pirate copies so we spent the evening watching Hannibal Rising. There's also English translation on the movies. If you were deaf you would definitely loose the plot of the film. A line such as 'I'm going to fry your liver and season it with pepper' would be translated as 'Isn't it such a lovely day today. Let's take a boat out and cruise the river'. Completely useless.
Wednesday 18 April:
Today we took a sunset tour which started at 11am and finished at 7pm. A very long day. A very old boat took us to the main beaches where we would stop for no longer than an hour which was a shame. The boat driver was deliberately slow, probably because we had to catch the sunset later and as he wouldn't allow us to spend a longer time on the beaches he had to waste time between the stops. We got talking to Andy and Emma, a couple from Manchester, and Jamie and Liam who where two youngsters out on the piss every night. We visited Maya Bay where they filmed The Beach and it was stunning. Didn't look as big as in the film but other than that, everything else was the same. There is where we had our longest stay which was only an hour. The boat driver was deliberately taking his time in between stops and all other long boats were overtaking us. If he had travelled a little faster we could have spent more time on the beaches. We got to the sunset point about 45 minutes early so we had to wait in this tiny boat for that long. Because larger boats were passing us our boat kept swaying sometimes making the edge of one side of the boat disappear under water. It was at this point that we all discussed the film Deep Water which didn't make us feel any better. The sunset was rubbish. It disappeared behind the clouds.
Later in the evening we met up with Emma and Andy and went to Reggae Bar which had a boxing ring in the centre. If you arrived there early, around 10pm, then you could watch the locals fight but after about 11pm all the drunken idiots you often see on the street at 1am in the morning get into the ring and fight each other. And some of them are legless and don't stand a chance.
Thursday 19 April:
As we didn't get in until the early hours we didn't get to see the morning. We made sure we had an easy day to recover and by the time the evening had arrived we came back to life and ready to party again. We made another visit to the boxing ring watching the losers fight each other.
Friday 20 April:
We got in even later this morning so decided that it was time to escape the noise of this part of Phi Phi. We took a boat to Long Beach which was only round the corner and happened to be the relaxing part of the island. We checked into our bungalow on the beach, took three steps from the door and laid our towels down on the white sand where we stayed all day. It's tiring to have to do nothing every day. The water was amazing and so clear, warm and deep so you could have a good swim. In the evening we watched a fire show in the bar along the beach. Four boys had fire sticks and one boy had two chains with fire balls on the end. He was really good but at one stage the fire balls stuck to the boy's back. He didn't look like he was in too much pain though. Earlier we bought the film Apocaypto so after the pub we settled down to watch it. It's a fab film but the film didn't fit onto the disc so it cut off five minutes to the end. Very annoying.
Saturday 21 April:
Sorry - another day on the beach and another night in the bar.
Thailand photos - south to Ao Nang
Ao Nang, Chinese new year, Friday 13 April.
A shot of the beach.
Street celebrations inolved copious amounts of water and talc. We have no idea why, and neither did anyone else, but it was excellent fun.
The carnival queen.
The carnival team.
Escaping the water and talcum powder madness of Chinese New Year celebrations at the bar at our hotel. It may not look it but we are soaking wet.
A shot of the beach.
Street celebrations inolved copious amounts of water and talc. We have no idea why, and neither did anyone else, but it was excellent fun.
The carnival queen.
The carnival team.
Escaping the water and talcum powder madness of Chinese New Year celebrations at the bar at our hotel. It may not look it but we are soaking wet.
THAILAND: Taman Negara - Saturday 7 April to Monday 9 April
Saturday 7 April:
We packed up, said goodbye to our suite and went to catch the bus to Kuala Tembeling (3 hours) where we would take the boat (3 hours) to Taman Negara National Park. Unfortunately though by the time we checked out we had missed the bus so we had to take a taxi to Kuala Tembeling to catch the boat which took about two and a half hours. Once we arrived at Kuala Tembeling we found that we had also missed the last boat so we had to take another bus which took two and a half hours. It was a very bumpy ride. We were lucky because we had the whole of the back seat which meant we could spread out but unlucky because we felt most of the bumps. As we hadn't booked any accommodation at the National Park the bus driver said he would drop us off at a nice guesthouse where we could stay.
Once we arrived at Kuala Tahan, a village over the river from Taman Negara, the bus driver told Carl and I to get off the bus and directed us to a guesthouse and then drove off. We decided to check into Durian Chalet which was just past Tahan Guesthouse where the driver had told us to stay. They were really friendly and we had a tiny little hut which had a double bed, a squat toilet (yuk) and a shower. Very basic but very cosy. We stayed here for a couple of nights while we explored. We walked up a steep hill and then down a steep hill to where all the floating restaurants were and had some food. No alcohol could be bought from anywhere unless you caught a tiny boat across the river to Mutiara Taman Negara Resort which took all of half a second. We were too tired to bother with alcohol so had a very early night.
Sunday 8 April:
We took the half a second boat across the river to Taman Negara National Park where we did a couple of walks. You start the walks by entering the grounds of Mutiara Taman Negara Resort. By this time Carl has sung 'Welcome To The Jungle' by Guns & Roses about fifty million times since yesterday afternoon. We walked 1.5km to the Canopy Walkway which is a suspended hanging rope bridge 45m above the ground. It took about twenty minutes to walk around it and it was great fun and very wobbly. Carl managed to do it as well which was very impressive. He told me sternly that I had to wait until he was off the bridge before I could start walking it.
The next walk was Bukit Teresek which blows the Bluff walk at Carnarvon Gorge out of the water. It's a 1.7 km walk and all uphill. There's even rope to hold on to because it's steep and slippery and of course the weather is very hot and humid. It was very hard work. The track, which consists of soil and stone steps, had originally been made by previous climbers and guides. Half way through we came across some workers who were trying to finish the track. It hadn't even been completed and we were attempting to climb it. We had to stop and sit down a couple of times. It took us about forty five minutes uphill to get to the top to see a view over the jungle. At the end of an easy walk this view would have been worth it but because this was a 'sweat and tears' walk it really wasn't. We got down from the top much quicker but it was tough on the knees.
We stopped off at Mutiara Taman Negara Resort to have a beer and recover and then headed back to our hut to have a sleep. That walk had taken it out of us. Where are the monkeys and the other wildlife? We hadn't even seen an ant.
Another early night but only after a beer or two.
Monday 9 April
We caught a boat to the resort and took a walk to the swimming hole, Lubok Simpon. We were both very tired and still exhausted from yesterday so we were less energetic during this short walk. The swimming hole looked lovely. The water was really clear and I took some good photos but we didn't swim. We walked back to the resort bar and had a few more beers.
When we got back to our hut we decided that we would check out of Durian Chalet, even though we loved it here. I didn't really get used to the squat toilet. I actually think squat toilets are very disgusting and very unhygienic but Carl likes it. He actually gets excited when he needs the toilet. I think he's a freak. We had a mosquito net which was fixed all around our bed and the decor in the room was lovely. We had a little porch with two plastic chairs and every evening the lovely lady would come along and give us a lit mosquito coil for the porch. No hot water but that didn't bother us at all. It also didn't bother us that the shower was virtually over the toilet either.
We checked into Rainforest Resort which was closer to the river, provided a shuttle service to the boat the next day and it meant that we no longer needed to walk up the steep hill to get back. And I no longer had to squat any more. We managed to get an upgrade to a deluxe room. I think the deluxe rooms are only a little bit more expensive and the only difference is that you get a double bed. The other rooms only have single beds.
We went to the resort restaurant to eat. They only did a buffet on this particular evening so we helped ourselves. Not to too much though. The beef burnt my mouth because it was so spicy and the only other option was fish heads with their eyes. Needless to say, all I ate for the evening was a plate full of prawn crackers. Absolutely shit. We bought loads of beers and watched films back at our room.
We packed up, said goodbye to our suite and went to catch the bus to Kuala Tembeling (3 hours) where we would take the boat (3 hours) to Taman Negara National Park. Unfortunately though by the time we checked out we had missed the bus so we had to take a taxi to Kuala Tembeling to catch the boat which took about two and a half hours. Once we arrived at Kuala Tembeling we found that we had also missed the last boat so we had to take another bus which took two and a half hours. It was a very bumpy ride. We were lucky because we had the whole of the back seat which meant we could spread out but unlucky because we felt most of the bumps. As we hadn't booked any accommodation at the National Park the bus driver said he would drop us off at a nice guesthouse where we could stay.
Once we arrived at Kuala Tahan, a village over the river from Taman Negara, the bus driver told Carl and I to get off the bus and directed us to a guesthouse and then drove off. We decided to check into Durian Chalet which was just past Tahan Guesthouse where the driver had told us to stay. They were really friendly and we had a tiny little hut which had a double bed, a squat toilet (yuk) and a shower. Very basic but very cosy. We stayed here for a couple of nights while we explored. We walked up a steep hill and then down a steep hill to where all the floating restaurants were and had some food. No alcohol could be bought from anywhere unless you caught a tiny boat across the river to Mutiara Taman Negara Resort which took all of half a second. We were too tired to bother with alcohol so had a very early night.
Sunday 8 April:
We took the half a second boat across the river to Taman Negara National Park where we did a couple of walks. You start the walks by entering the grounds of Mutiara Taman Negara Resort. By this time Carl has sung 'Welcome To The Jungle' by Guns & Roses about fifty million times since yesterday afternoon. We walked 1.5km to the Canopy Walkway which is a suspended hanging rope bridge 45m above the ground. It took about twenty minutes to walk around it and it was great fun and very wobbly. Carl managed to do it as well which was very impressive. He told me sternly that I had to wait until he was off the bridge before I could start walking it.
The next walk was Bukit Teresek which blows the Bluff walk at Carnarvon Gorge out of the water. It's a 1.7 km walk and all uphill. There's even rope to hold on to because it's steep and slippery and of course the weather is very hot and humid. It was very hard work. The track, which consists of soil and stone steps, had originally been made by previous climbers and guides. Half way through we came across some workers who were trying to finish the track. It hadn't even been completed and we were attempting to climb it. We had to stop and sit down a couple of times. It took us about forty five minutes uphill to get to the top to see a view over the jungle. At the end of an easy walk this view would have been worth it but because this was a 'sweat and tears' walk it really wasn't. We got down from the top much quicker but it was tough on the knees.
We stopped off at Mutiara Taman Negara Resort to have a beer and recover and then headed back to our hut to have a sleep. That walk had taken it out of us. Where are the monkeys and the other wildlife? We hadn't even seen an ant.
Another early night but only after a beer or two.
Monday 9 April
We caught a boat to the resort and took a walk to the swimming hole, Lubok Simpon. We were both very tired and still exhausted from yesterday so we were less energetic during this short walk. The swimming hole looked lovely. The water was really clear and I took some good photos but we didn't swim. We walked back to the resort bar and had a few more beers.
When we got back to our hut we decided that we would check out of Durian Chalet, even though we loved it here. I didn't really get used to the squat toilet. I actually think squat toilets are very disgusting and very unhygienic but Carl likes it. He actually gets excited when he needs the toilet. I think he's a freak. We had a mosquito net which was fixed all around our bed and the decor in the room was lovely. We had a little porch with two plastic chairs and every evening the lovely lady would come along and give us a lit mosquito coil for the porch. No hot water but that didn't bother us at all. It also didn't bother us that the shower was virtually over the toilet either.
We checked into Rainforest Resort which was closer to the river, provided a shuttle service to the boat the next day and it meant that we no longer needed to walk up the steep hill to get back. And I no longer had to squat any more. We managed to get an upgrade to a deluxe room. I think the deluxe rooms are only a little bit more expensive and the only difference is that you get a double bed. The other rooms only have single beds.
We went to the resort restaurant to eat. They only did a buffet on this particular evening so we helped ourselves. Not to too much though. The beef burnt my mouth because it was so spicy and the only other option was fish heads with their eyes. Needless to say, all I ate for the evening was a plate full of prawn crackers. Absolutely shit. We bought loads of beers and watched films back at our room.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Photos from Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur:
View from the base of the Petronas Towers in KL...
And again.
View from Menara Telecommunications Tower.
The Menara Telecommunications Tower.
An urban monkey.
Kuala Lumpur Aquarium - skip these if you, like us, have seen enough aquariums for a lifetime (although this is one of the better ones we have visited).
A cool fish tank.
A tree snake.
A cute turtle says hi.
A lazy Iguana.
Just add water.
Taman Negara National Park.
Durian Chalet - our hut.
One of the many floating restaurants on the river.
Welcome to the jungle...
The swimming hole - Lubok Simpon
Lubok Simpon again...
Half way up the gruelling 45 min climb to the top of Bukit Teresek in Tamen Negara National Park. Tough going.
The view from the top of Bukit Teresek in Tamen Negara National Park.
Abi takes a stroll 45 metres up in the tree tops in Taman Negara.
Carl hangs on for dear life.
A view through the jungle to the river.
A wild pig.
A shot from the river boat on the way out of Taman Negara.
And again.
View from the base of the Petronas Towers in KL...
And again.
View from Menara Telecommunications Tower.
The Menara Telecommunications Tower.
An urban monkey.
Kuala Lumpur Aquarium - skip these if you, like us, have seen enough aquariums for a lifetime (although this is one of the better ones we have visited).
A cool fish tank.
A tree snake.
A cute turtle says hi.
A lazy Iguana.
Just add water.
Taman Negara National Park.
Durian Chalet - our hut.
One of the many floating restaurants on the river.
Welcome to the jungle...
The swimming hole - Lubok Simpon
Lubok Simpon again...
Half way up the gruelling 45 min climb to the top of Bukit Teresek in Tamen Negara National Park. Tough going.
The view from the top of Bukit Teresek in Tamen Negara National Park.
Abi takes a stroll 45 metres up in the tree tops in Taman Negara.
Carl hangs on for dear life.
A view through the jungle to the river.
A wild pig.
A shot from the river boat on the way out of Taman Negara.
And again.
SINGAPORE AND KUALA LUMPUR - Friday 30 March onwards
SINGAPORE
Friday 30 March continued...
We learned once we were on the plane that the flight was only seven hours. We thought it would be around twelve hours so we were very, very happy. And we would arrive in Singapore at a good time. In time for a few beers in the hotel bar.
Once we arrived in Singapore it was still so hot. We caught a taxi to the Holiday Inn Park View which we thought would be half way between the airport and the city centre. The hotel was lovely. Big and posh even though it was called Holiday Inn. We had a few beers in the hotel bar and listened to the entertainment. After a beer the lady started singing our song. After a while, this little kid got on stage and did a fast rap song. He was so funny and knew all the words and moves. I was hoping to video him and include him on this blog but I'm not sure his family would have approved.
Saturday 31 March:
We checked out of the hotel because we wanted to find one which was closer to one of the main areas of Singapore. We caught a taxi to the YMCA but they didn’t do double beds so we eventually checked into the YWCA. The room was really big but had a crap TV which wasn’t tuned in properly and the shower dripped. You were lucky to get wet standing underneath it. We were only about a 10 minute walk from the main shopping strip, Orchard Road, where all the large shopping centres were. We stopped off on the way for a beer at Giraffe which was a nice but expensive bar surrounded by water. The ladies toilet light had broken though so I had to go to the toilet in the dark. I couldn’t see what I was doing so I pulled what I thought was the toilet chain only to realise that it was the disabled person alarm. This one member of staff was in a panic so I quickly explained that I was ok – luckily I had time to pull my pants up. The shopping along this one street is amazing. The shopping centres are really big and they line the street on either side.
In the evening we decided to find a nice place to drink so we walked up Emerald Hill Street, which we found from the Lonely Planet Guide, where there were a few nice pubs and bars. We ended up watching the last half hour of the Liverpool/Arsenal game in Ice Cold Beer. What on earth were Arsenal playing at? Or not as seemed to be the case. We then wondered along and stopped off at a bar called Alley Bar where we had a couple of mohitos.
Sunday 1 April:
We spent a few hours on the internet trying to find a decent hostel to stay in because we wanted a decent shower and a decent TV so that we could watch Heroes. The places we had found and phoned were all fully booked though. We left our bags at the hotel and decided to walk to Little India which Carl didn’t think was too far. I had read up on a few hotels in the Lonely Planet Guide. The walk took half hour in the end and every hotel we passed was fully booked. We weren’t in the best of moods because it was so humid and we were so fed up with not planning properly and finding somewhere to stay a day in advance. Little India was disgusting but we’re not sure if that was because we were in a bad mood or because it really was horrible. We decided straight away that we wouldn’t ever be staying in this area so we walked straight through and walked back to Orchard Road where we asked at a few large hotels. They were all too expensive for what we wanted to pay so we walked back towards the YWCA. We noticed on the way down Orchard Road that there was a Holiday Inn and it happened to be the same one we had stayed at when we landed. We had no idea we were this close to one of the main areas of Singapore so we checked back in. Unfortunately they only had a room on the executive floor but I didn’t care by this time so I paid it. And then the receptionist upgraded us to an executive suite. God bless Singapore. This meant that we could have free breakfast, free drinks between 6pm and 8pm and also free food between those times and all in the Executive Club Lounge. We felt very important people. And it was only for an extra S$40 than Carl had paid the previous time we stayed here and that was just in a normal room.
Monday 2 April:
Nothing really happened today apart from spending hours on the internet trying to update this blog and review laptops and cameras. The internet cafe we went to was full of local people playing games which made quite a bit of noise. We also decided to stay another night to be treated like royalty. Of course, we did have a bit to drink in the bar afterwards and listened to the entertainment which Carl didn't like so much.
Tuesday 3 April:
Again, t'internet and we also booked another night in the hotel. We felt like we were being a bit naughty because we were meant to be backpackers but haven't actually done any backpacking yet. We went shopping in one of the shopping centres and managed to buy a laptop which Carl had reviewed so hopefully the blog will be up to date soon. It was quite a bit cheaper out here and we bought it from an Apple dealer as the other shops seemed a bit dodgy. When we got back to the hotel we booked another night for Wednesday and also booked a train to take us to Malaysia. If we hadn't have booked the train we thought we might end up staying in luxury for another week which wasn't really the idea of our trip. We went out to eat at one of the places close to the hotel and were charmed into eating at a particular one. Not a restaurant - more like a take away joint with seats. They talked us into eating all sorts of local food and I felt brave at the time. The locals ate it so we should try. Some of the food was actually really nice but there were others that we tried, that I tried, that almost made me gag. As they had persuaded us to eat there, we waited until they were busy and did a run for it. After paying of course.
KUALA LUMPUR
Wednesday 4 April:
We checked out of the hotel with our backpacks in tow. We caught the 1pm train to Kuala Lumpur which took about seven hours in total and cost about twenty pounds which was cheap as chips. We were unlucky in where we sat though. Although we had paid to sit in first class, we had this local guy who sat in the next row and for the seven hour journey he kept coughing and sucking on whatever he had coughed up. I kept giving him evils but I don't think he understood why. We had to go through customs and show our passports to get on the train and also half hour later we had to get off the train to do the same thing again. The first class carriage was great though. We had so much room and the chairs reclined quite a way. If we had caught the night train, which we were originally going to do, we would have had beds. I had booked us into a hotel on the internet yesterday so once when we arrived we caught a cab which took about twenty minutes and cost an expensive one pound fifty. The taxi driver was lovely and warned us of the fares when we caught taxis. We checked into the Prince Hotel and, once again, had a Premier Executive room. Oh my Lord. If we thought the Holiday Inn was luxury, this one was one hundred times more luxurious. We had the same benefits but the room was three times as big and the view was breathtaking. There were two bars and three restaurants. You would not even be able to stay in a B&B in London for the price we paid to stay in this hotel. We also couldn't help notice that it was the week that the Grand Prix would take place in Kuala Lumpur.
Thursday 5 April:
We went to the gym this morning for an hour which I'm very pleased with. The only trouble is I'm only getting to go about once a week so it's not really worth it for me to go. I keep talking myself out of it. We decided to book into the hotel for another night. We finally bought some protection for our laptop so are now able to use it. Plus I bought a great camera. Apparently it's technology week which we think is a ploy to make us spend lots of money in their shops and it seems to be working. We also bought a helicopter for twelve pounds. It's only a tiny one but it'll keep Carl quiet for the next couple of days. We ate in the restaurant at the hotel which was lovely and then got drunk in the bar.
Friday 6 April:
Today we visited Aquaria KLCC which is the biggest aquarium in the world and it is the best we have seen. After here we went to the Petronas Twin Towers which is 451.9 metres high. Unfortunately you have to get there for 8.30am and get tickets on a first come, first serve basis. We didn't get there until about 2pm no we stood no chance. So we visited the Menara Telecommunications Tower instead. It stands 421 metres high and has 2,058 stairs to reach the top but we chose the lifts again. Once at the top you could see the whole of Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding area. There was also an audio tour which was interesting as it pointed out all of the buildings of interest. After here we walked along a short nature trail which took us to lots of monkeys in the trees. We wish we could have stayed longer here but we couldn't. We were there for no longer than four minutes and we had been bitten about fifteen times each around our ankles so we ran for our lives back to a taxi to take us back to the hotel.
Friday 30 March continued...
We learned once we were on the plane that the flight was only seven hours. We thought it would be around twelve hours so we were very, very happy. And we would arrive in Singapore at a good time. In time for a few beers in the hotel bar.
Once we arrived in Singapore it was still so hot. We caught a taxi to the Holiday Inn Park View which we thought would be half way between the airport and the city centre. The hotel was lovely. Big and posh even though it was called Holiday Inn. We had a few beers in the hotel bar and listened to the entertainment. After a beer the lady started singing our song. After a while, this little kid got on stage and did a fast rap song. He was so funny and knew all the words and moves. I was hoping to video him and include him on this blog but I'm not sure his family would have approved.
Saturday 31 March:
We checked out of the hotel because we wanted to find one which was closer to one of the main areas of Singapore. We caught a taxi to the YMCA but they didn’t do double beds so we eventually checked into the YWCA. The room was really big but had a crap TV which wasn’t tuned in properly and the shower dripped. You were lucky to get wet standing underneath it. We were only about a 10 minute walk from the main shopping strip, Orchard Road, where all the large shopping centres were. We stopped off on the way for a beer at Giraffe which was a nice but expensive bar surrounded by water. The ladies toilet light had broken though so I had to go to the toilet in the dark. I couldn’t see what I was doing so I pulled what I thought was the toilet chain only to realise that it was the disabled person alarm. This one member of staff was in a panic so I quickly explained that I was ok – luckily I had time to pull my pants up. The shopping along this one street is amazing. The shopping centres are really big and they line the street on either side.
In the evening we decided to find a nice place to drink so we walked up Emerald Hill Street, which we found from the Lonely Planet Guide, where there were a few nice pubs and bars. We ended up watching the last half hour of the Liverpool/Arsenal game in Ice Cold Beer. What on earth were Arsenal playing at? Or not as seemed to be the case. We then wondered along and stopped off at a bar called Alley Bar where we had a couple of mohitos.
Sunday 1 April:
We spent a few hours on the internet trying to find a decent hostel to stay in because we wanted a decent shower and a decent TV so that we could watch Heroes. The places we had found and phoned were all fully booked though. We left our bags at the hotel and decided to walk to Little India which Carl didn’t think was too far. I had read up on a few hotels in the Lonely Planet Guide. The walk took half hour in the end and every hotel we passed was fully booked. We weren’t in the best of moods because it was so humid and we were so fed up with not planning properly and finding somewhere to stay a day in advance. Little India was disgusting but we’re not sure if that was because we were in a bad mood or because it really was horrible. We decided straight away that we wouldn’t ever be staying in this area so we walked straight through and walked back to Orchard Road where we asked at a few large hotels. They were all too expensive for what we wanted to pay so we walked back towards the YWCA. We noticed on the way down Orchard Road that there was a Holiday Inn and it happened to be the same one we had stayed at when we landed. We had no idea we were this close to one of the main areas of Singapore so we checked back in. Unfortunately they only had a room on the executive floor but I didn’t care by this time so I paid it. And then the receptionist upgraded us to an executive suite. God bless Singapore. This meant that we could have free breakfast, free drinks between 6pm and 8pm and also free food between those times and all in the Executive Club Lounge. We felt very important people. And it was only for an extra S$40 than Carl had paid the previous time we stayed here and that was just in a normal room.
Monday 2 April:
Nothing really happened today apart from spending hours on the internet trying to update this blog and review laptops and cameras. The internet cafe we went to was full of local people playing games which made quite a bit of noise. We also decided to stay another night to be treated like royalty. Of course, we did have a bit to drink in the bar afterwards and listened to the entertainment which Carl didn't like so much.
Tuesday 3 April:
Again, t'internet and we also booked another night in the hotel. We felt like we were being a bit naughty because we were meant to be backpackers but haven't actually done any backpacking yet. We went shopping in one of the shopping centres and managed to buy a laptop which Carl had reviewed so hopefully the blog will be up to date soon. It was quite a bit cheaper out here and we bought it from an Apple dealer as the other shops seemed a bit dodgy. When we got back to the hotel we booked another night for Wednesday and also booked a train to take us to Malaysia. If we hadn't have booked the train we thought we might end up staying in luxury for another week which wasn't really the idea of our trip. We went out to eat at one of the places close to the hotel and were charmed into eating at a particular one. Not a restaurant - more like a take away joint with seats. They talked us into eating all sorts of local food and I felt brave at the time. The locals ate it so we should try. Some of the food was actually really nice but there were others that we tried, that I tried, that almost made me gag. As they had persuaded us to eat there, we waited until they were busy and did a run for it. After paying of course.
KUALA LUMPUR
Wednesday 4 April:
We checked out of the hotel with our backpacks in tow. We caught the 1pm train to Kuala Lumpur which took about seven hours in total and cost about twenty pounds which was cheap as chips. We were unlucky in where we sat though. Although we had paid to sit in first class, we had this local guy who sat in the next row and for the seven hour journey he kept coughing and sucking on whatever he had coughed up. I kept giving him evils but I don't think he understood why. We had to go through customs and show our passports to get on the train and also half hour later we had to get off the train to do the same thing again. The first class carriage was great though. We had so much room and the chairs reclined quite a way. If we had caught the night train, which we were originally going to do, we would have had beds. I had booked us into a hotel on the internet yesterday so once when we arrived we caught a cab which took about twenty minutes and cost an expensive one pound fifty. The taxi driver was lovely and warned us of the fares when we caught taxis. We checked into the Prince Hotel and, once again, had a Premier Executive room. Oh my Lord. If we thought the Holiday Inn was luxury, this one was one hundred times more luxurious. We had the same benefits but the room was three times as big and the view was breathtaking. There were two bars and three restaurants. You would not even be able to stay in a B&B in London for the price we paid to stay in this hotel. We also couldn't help notice that it was the week that the Grand Prix would take place in Kuala Lumpur.
Thursday 5 April:
We went to the gym this morning for an hour which I'm very pleased with. The only trouble is I'm only getting to go about once a week so it's not really worth it for me to go. I keep talking myself out of it. We decided to book into the hotel for another night. We finally bought some protection for our laptop so are now able to use it. Plus I bought a great camera. Apparently it's technology week which we think is a ploy to make us spend lots of money in their shops and it seems to be working. We also bought a helicopter for twelve pounds. It's only a tiny one but it'll keep Carl quiet for the next couple of days. We ate in the restaurant at the hotel which was lovely and then got drunk in the bar.
Friday 6 April:
Today we visited Aquaria KLCC which is the biggest aquarium in the world and it is the best we have seen. After here we went to the Petronas Twin Towers which is 451.9 metres high. Unfortunately you have to get there for 8.30am and get tickets on a first come, first serve basis. We didn't get there until about 2pm no we stood no chance. So we visited the Menara Telecommunications Tower instead. It stands 421 metres high and has 2,058 stairs to reach the top but we chose the lifts again. Once at the top you could see the whole of Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding area. There was also an audio tour which was interesting as it pointed out all of the buildings of interest. After here we walked along a short nature trail which took us to lots of monkeys in the trees. We wish we could have stayed longer here but we couldn't. We were there for no longer than four minutes and we had been bitten about fifteen times each around our ankles so we ran for our lives back to a taxi to take us back to the hotel.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Tuesday 20 March onwards
Tuesday 20 March:
We drove straight to Townsville and arrived in the late afternoon. I was hoping to stay in the centre of town so that we could have a boozed up night but, as Carl pointed out, the hotels were a tad bit expensive so we stayed in another Big 4 campsite called The Walkabout Palms Holiday Park. The park was apparently a 4 star although we didn't think so. The reception was part of a petrol station so the staff weren't the friendliest of people.
Wednesday 21 March:
After we checked out of the park the plan was to drive north of Wallaman Falls which is the longest single drop waterfall in Australia and plunges 300 metres. We would then go to Undara Volcanic National Park where we would stay the night. As soon as we left the caravan park the sky opened and the rain came in buckets. After an hour of driving towards the waterfall there was a warning sign which told us there was a very steep incline ahead which would go on for 15km. It was still raining very hard which made it difficult to see the road ahead. I asked Carl if we should turn around and head back because I was feeling a little uneasy. Actually I was terrified. But we carried on. After 20km the rain was still heavy. We had reached the top but now we had to drive about another 30km down an unsealed road driving at about 20km an hour. It was very worrying and we had promised Gert that we wouldn't send her down roads like this again. After about half hour of me gripping on for dear life Carl eventually turned to me and asked if we should turn around. This made me angry and I snapped that we should have turned around an hour and a half ago or maybe we shouldn't have even attempted this journey in this rain to see a waterfall when we had seen so many already [Carl: in my defence the weather hadn't been all that bad earlier on, and this was the longest single drop waterfall in all of Australia (several hundred metres), so I was quite enthusiastic about seeing it]. We carried on thinking we were very close but we had another half hour until we finally reached the look out point - still raining hard. I shoved the camera in Carl's hand and let him take the photos. After five minutes I finally swallowed my pride and got out of the van in the rain to have a look at this 'amazing' waterfall. Before I reached him though I noticed that the clouds were really low and you couldn't see a damn thing. The only sign of a waterfall being there was the noise. Hoping that the road back down hadn't turned into a mud slide, we made our way back down. [On the way back down we saw a huge Cassowarie and four young ( a large flightless bird similar to an emu but much, much rarer). We had wasted three hours and unfortunately didn't have time to visit the national park because that was another couple of hours away and it was getting dark [I dispute this as we had planned to go to the waterfall all along - so the time wasn't really wasted at all - she is making it all up. Honest!]. We headed back towards the coast and stayed at Mission Beach, which was nice.
Thursday 22 March:
It had rained through the night as well and we were starting to get fed up with the tropical north. We drove to Cairns because Carl had had nightmares last night about our flights and visas. There we booked our flight to Sydney and checked our visa situation with Trailfinders, but there were no problems. Thay also told us that we could delay our flight home by another 5 months. Marvellous news! We might. We might not. After all, we are both homeless and I am now jobless. We loved Cairns a lot. They had a Ripcurl, Billabong and Quiksilver shop which I went mad in. As we were returning to Cairns to catch our flight in a few days we didn't stay too long here. We drove to Port Douglas where we booked into another Big 4 called Port Douglas Glengarry Holiday Park. It was really nice but the place was overrun by mosquitoes.
Friday 23 March
We drove to a small village called Mossman which was just up the road. At Mossman Gorge we did two walks through the rainforest and then headed to Daintree where we booked ourselves on a tour of the river to see crocs. The boat was a tiny electric one and we managed to see a python, a tree snake, a big daddy croc and loads of his little crocs. The tour only lasted 50 minutes though. We caught the ferry to Daintree National Forest and booked into Lync Haven Rainforest Retreat which was recommended in the Lonely Planet Guide. This guide hasn't let us down so far. It looked good from the reception and the restaurant had lovely big wooden carved chairs so we paid for the night. We picked the only spot to have a concrete slab and as we drove up we saw caged kangaroos. They were being nursed back to health and then would be released back into the wild. The park also had a number of its own walking trails so it did seem like a great place to stop. We pulled up and put our chair in the spot on the concrete. We checked the toilets out and the main doors of the ladies was covered with spiders. Big and small ones. All scary. We had a look at the barbeque area as well and it was disgusting. The seating area was fine but the barbeque was yuk. We were starting to get a very bad feeling for this place and as we drove to the shops I said that I would pay to stay in another camp site for the night so that's what we did. We kept our chair in the spot at the old site but booked into Cape Tribulation Camping which was so much better. It was also in the main part of Cape Tribulation so we were close to everything. The horrible campsite was half an hour out. Here, we mingled with the guy who owns the park and spent the evening drinking with his mate where we arranged that we would go fishing with him and his other friend at 6am tomorrow morning, depending on the weather.
Saturday 24 March
As it had been pissing it down all night and morning we didn't end up going fishing. It was too much of an early start anyway. Carl noticed that I had lost one of my Roxy flip flops which I was very annoyed about and I think I left it at Mossman Gorge. We drove to Dubuji and did the Dubuji boardwalk. The clue is in the name. 'Bored'. We did manage to see a freshwater turtle for a few seconds though before it hid from us. And then we got rained on. We then visited the Bat House where you paid a donation of $2 each to enter. It's run by volunteers. In the corner was a three year old spectacled fruit bat who had never been able to fly so the volunteers look after him. He was huge, with a wingspan over 70cm. After about ten minutes of talking to this volunteer we noticed that he had a bat hanging from his shirt which was only a couple of months old. I stroked him and he was so soft. He had been abandoned by his parents.
As I had been the one to suggest staying somewhere else last night, I had to check out of the crap campsite [in my opinion there was nothing really wrong with the first campsite, but there we go] while Carl collected our chair. I don't think they even noticed that we hadn't stayed there because they didn't say anything. No one else had checked in either. As I left the reception a car pulled up and a couple were checking in and I felt that I should do my bit by warning them but I didn't.
We drove back to Cairns where we booked into Cairns Cocunut Caravan Resort. We tried to book into a tropical ensuit cabin but there wasn't any available so we had to settle for a normal ensuit but it was still great. We were really excited about watching TV because we hadn't watched TV since we left Melbourne.
Sunday 25 March:
We decided to stay another night here and this time we managed to get a tropical ensuit. All through the night last night a man had stood outside coughing his guts up. No joke - it must have lasted about four hours and it was disgusting so we were lucky to be moving just in case coughing man was still around. We did a few bits in town and then checked into our tropical ensuit which was even better. The TV was a bit bigger and the shower was a lot bigger. We booked a trip with Cathy on reception to visit Kuranda on the Skyrail. We wanted to return on the scenic reailway but unfortunately that will be closed for two months because of the bad weather destroying the lines or something. We played tennis for an hour which was so much fun. Neither of us had played proprly for years. Carl concentrated too much on trying to spin the tennis ball away from me so he ruined the rally everytime [Whatever].
Monday 26 March:
Today we sent three boxes to my parents by sea which I’m sure they’ll be really happy about. The boxes will take up to three months to arrive home. The contents were clothes we had bought along the way and a stack of brochures, magnets, etc., of places we have visited and stayed. I'm not sure how big our fridge will be when we get a place back home but it needs to be big to be able to hold the magnets. Carl has upgraded his bag to a much larger backpack and I am now using Carl’s old one which is much bigger than the one I had previously. Our bags were still full and heavy which could cause problems later on.
We went on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway which took us over a tropical rainforest and we stopped at Kuranda, a mountain retreat, which is a small Aboriginal village. We bought a couple of original Aboriginal artwork, which were fantastic. The artists are local Aborigines and each piece of art told a different story which was attached to the back of the artwork. We also looked around the Australian Venom Zoo (they milk their animals for a sustainable supply of venom for bio-pharmacutical screenin) and a butterfly sanctuary (the largest butterfly enclosure in Australia), which I never get fed up of visiting.
Once back at the caravan park we cleaned Gert inside and out so there were no dried up flies from months ago and no squatted mosquitoes inside the van. We were careful not to disturb the gecko, which had been living in our van for the past few weeks.
Tuesday 27 March:
We returned Gert back to Wicked at 10.10am and caught a cab straight to Cairns airport. Luckily they didn’t say anything about the large crack which had appeared in the windscreen. They did have a good look at it though. Even though the flight to Sydney was only three hours it was a crap flight. I had this wierdo sitting next to me who kep whistling and singing like his thought he was Elvis. Even his hands made a horrendous tune. When we arrived at Sydney we walked with our heavy bags to find a hotel with a vacancy, not knowing where we were heading for, and luckily came across a really nice hotel called Avillion Hotel (soon to be known as Rydges) which was in World Square and in a good location. We went for a few beers in the local pub but of course had to return to the hotel to get our ID.
Wednesday 28 March:
Today we decided to take a walk to the Sydney Tower which is ranked as one of th safest buildings in the world. First we did Oztrek (largest simulated ride in the southern hemisphere and the only one of its kind in Australia and still a bit boring). Nothing compared to the stimulation ride at Melbourne Zoo which was fab. Then we took the lift to view Sydney from a 360 degree platform. There are 1,504 stairs to reach the top but surprisingly most people choose the lift which only took fourty seconds. The views were amazing and it was a clear, bright day so we could see far, especially with the help of the free large telescopes provided. You could also take a skywalk, 260 metres above ground level, around the outside of the tower where you were only attached by a small safety cord to the centre. I really wanted to do this but it took about a couple of hours in total. Of course, Carl wouldn’t have come up with me.
After this, we walked for what seemed like ages to find the entrance to the start of the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. We stopped off and had a beer after about twenty minutes and then carried on. We eventually found the entrance but I didn’t want to do the climb with a beer in my stomach. Plus the walk took around two and a half hours. I would have been on my own again but I really wanted to do it because the pictures would have been amazing.
Thursday 29 March:
Yesterday we booked a trip to visit the Blue Mountains which are not a range of mountains as the name suggests but a series of cliffs. We got picked up outside the Central YHA at 8am and took the two hour drive in a minibus. We had originally chosen to do the bush walk but there was another walk which took you down to the Grand Canyon. The brochure said that this was for the very fit. Tom, our driver, tried his best to persuade Carl and I to change our minds and do the Grand Canyon walk, the one where he was the tour guide, and we were seriously thinking about changing our minds because we have been enjoying our walks and the more challenging the better.
We went to see the Three Sisters (their names are Meehni (922 m), Wimlah (918 m), and Gunnedoo (906 m)) – a rock formation like the Twelve Apostles – and realised that we had forgotten our camera so had to buy a shitty disposable in the shop. We then visited the Katoomba Scenic Railway, the steepest cable-driven funicular railway in the world (according to the Guiness World Book of Records), with an incline of 52 degrees, over a distance of 415 metres. It was originally constructed for a coal and shale-oil mining operation in the Megalong Valley in the 1880s, in order to haul shale from the valley floor up the cliff to the escarpment above. It was converted for use as a tourist attraction prior to World War II. We then returned to the bus by the Scenic Skyway which travels 200 metres above the valley floor. We were now ready for which ever walk we had chosen and Carl and I had to decide in a split second which walk we wanted to do. I think we were both really up for the Grand Canyon walk but neither of us wanted to make the decision so we stayed where we were. Colin was our tour guide and he took us on a few shorter, unchallenging walks and knew everything there was to know. We rubbed a tea tree plant as well which smelt lovely.
We arrived back at our hotel at about 6pm. I telephoned Kyla and we arranged to meet up for a quick coffee tomorrow.
Friday 30 March:
We both went to the gym really early and then met Kyla for a coffee and had a one hour catch-up. She would have kicked my butt if I didn’t contact her. We then took the train to Sydney airport where we spent the time phoning hotels in Singapore. We would be arriving very late so needed to have one booked. We have made the mistake of not booking beforehand and it wasn’t much fun. Every place we telephoned were either fully booked or our money ran out.
We drove straight to Townsville and arrived in the late afternoon. I was hoping to stay in the centre of town so that we could have a boozed up night but, as Carl pointed out, the hotels were a tad bit expensive so we stayed in another Big 4 campsite called The Walkabout Palms Holiday Park. The park was apparently a 4 star although we didn't think so. The reception was part of a petrol station so the staff weren't the friendliest of people.
Wednesday 21 March:
After we checked out of the park the plan was to drive north of Wallaman Falls which is the longest single drop waterfall in Australia and plunges 300 metres. We would then go to Undara Volcanic National Park where we would stay the night. As soon as we left the caravan park the sky opened and the rain came in buckets. After an hour of driving towards the waterfall there was a warning sign which told us there was a very steep incline ahead which would go on for 15km. It was still raining very hard which made it difficult to see the road ahead. I asked Carl if we should turn around and head back because I was feeling a little uneasy. Actually I was terrified. But we carried on. After 20km the rain was still heavy. We had reached the top but now we had to drive about another 30km down an unsealed road driving at about 20km an hour. It was very worrying and we had promised Gert that we wouldn't send her down roads like this again. After about half hour of me gripping on for dear life Carl eventually turned to me and asked if we should turn around. This made me angry and I snapped that we should have turned around an hour and a half ago or maybe we shouldn't have even attempted this journey in this rain to see a waterfall when we had seen so many already [Carl: in my defence the weather hadn't been all that bad earlier on, and this was the longest single drop waterfall in all of Australia (several hundred metres), so I was quite enthusiastic about seeing it]. We carried on thinking we were very close but we had another half hour until we finally reached the look out point - still raining hard. I shoved the camera in Carl's hand and let him take the photos. After five minutes I finally swallowed my pride and got out of the van in the rain to have a look at this 'amazing' waterfall. Before I reached him though I noticed that the clouds were really low and you couldn't see a damn thing. The only sign of a waterfall being there was the noise. Hoping that the road back down hadn't turned into a mud slide, we made our way back down. [On the way back down we saw a huge Cassowarie and four young ( a large flightless bird similar to an emu but much, much rarer). We had wasted three hours and unfortunately didn't have time to visit the national park because that was another couple of hours away and it was getting dark [I dispute this as we had planned to go to the waterfall all along - so the time wasn't really wasted at all - she is making it all up. Honest!]. We headed back towards the coast and stayed at Mission Beach, which was nice.
Thursday 22 March:
It had rained through the night as well and we were starting to get fed up with the tropical north. We drove to Cairns because Carl had had nightmares last night about our flights and visas. There we booked our flight to Sydney and checked our visa situation with Trailfinders, but there were no problems. Thay also told us that we could delay our flight home by another 5 months. Marvellous news! We might. We might not. After all, we are both homeless and I am now jobless. We loved Cairns a lot. They had a Ripcurl, Billabong and Quiksilver shop which I went mad in. As we were returning to Cairns to catch our flight in a few days we didn't stay too long here. We drove to Port Douglas where we booked into another Big 4 called Port Douglas Glengarry Holiday Park. It was really nice but the place was overrun by mosquitoes.
Friday 23 March
We drove to a small village called Mossman which was just up the road. At Mossman Gorge we did two walks through the rainforest and then headed to Daintree where we booked ourselves on a tour of the river to see crocs. The boat was a tiny electric one and we managed to see a python, a tree snake, a big daddy croc and loads of his little crocs. The tour only lasted 50 minutes though. We caught the ferry to Daintree National Forest and booked into Lync Haven Rainforest Retreat which was recommended in the Lonely Planet Guide. This guide hasn't let us down so far. It looked good from the reception and the restaurant had lovely big wooden carved chairs so we paid for the night. We picked the only spot to have a concrete slab and as we drove up we saw caged kangaroos. They were being nursed back to health and then would be released back into the wild. The park also had a number of its own walking trails so it did seem like a great place to stop. We pulled up and put our chair in the spot on the concrete. We checked the toilets out and the main doors of the ladies was covered with spiders. Big and small ones. All scary. We had a look at the barbeque area as well and it was disgusting. The seating area was fine but the barbeque was yuk. We were starting to get a very bad feeling for this place and as we drove to the shops I said that I would pay to stay in another camp site for the night so that's what we did. We kept our chair in the spot at the old site but booked into Cape Tribulation Camping which was so much better. It was also in the main part of Cape Tribulation so we were close to everything. The horrible campsite was half an hour out. Here, we mingled with the guy who owns the park and spent the evening drinking with his mate where we arranged that we would go fishing with him and his other friend at 6am tomorrow morning, depending on the weather.
Saturday 24 March
As it had been pissing it down all night and morning we didn't end up going fishing. It was too much of an early start anyway. Carl noticed that I had lost one of my Roxy flip flops which I was very annoyed about and I think I left it at Mossman Gorge. We drove to Dubuji and did the Dubuji boardwalk. The clue is in the name. 'Bored'. We did manage to see a freshwater turtle for a few seconds though before it hid from us. And then we got rained on. We then visited the Bat House where you paid a donation of $2 each to enter. It's run by volunteers. In the corner was a three year old spectacled fruit bat who had never been able to fly so the volunteers look after him. He was huge, with a wingspan over 70cm. After about ten minutes of talking to this volunteer we noticed that he had a bat hanging from his shirt which was only a couple of months old. I stroked him and he was so soft. He had been abandoned by his parents.
As I had been the one to suggest staying somewhere else last night, I had to check out of the crap campsite [in my opinion there was nothing really wrong with the first campsite, but there we go] while Carl collected our chair. I don't think they even noticed that we hadn't stayed there because they didn't say anything. No one else had checked in either. As I left the reception a car pulled up and a couple were checking in and I felt that I should do my bit by warning them but I didn't.
We drove back to Cairns where we booked into Cairns Cocunut Caravan Resort. We tried to book into a tropical ensuit cabin but there wasn't any available so we had to settle for a normal ensuit but it was still great. We were really excited about watching TV because we hadn't watched TV since we left Melbourne.
Sunday 25 March:
We decided to stay another night here and this time we managed to get a tropical ensuit. All through the night last night a man had stood outside coughing his guts up. No joke - it must have lasted about four hours and it was disgusting so we were lucky to be moving just in case coughing man was still around. We did a few bits in town and then checked into our tropical ensuit which was even better. The TV was a bit bigger and the shower was a lot bigger. We booked a trip with Cathy on reception to visit Kuranda on the Skyrail. We wanted to return on the scenic reailway but unfortunately that will be closed for two months because of the bad weather destroying the lines or something. We played tennis for an hour which was so much fun. Neither of us had played proprly for years. Carl concentrated too much on trying to spin the tennis ball away from me so he ruined the rally everytime [Whatever].
Monday 26 March:
Today we sent three boxes to my parents by sea which I’m sure they’ll be really happy about. The boxes will take up to three months to arrive home. The contents were clothes we had bought along the way and a stack of brochures, magnets, etc., of places we have visited and stayed. I'm not sure how big our fridge will be when we get a place back home but it needs to be big to be able to hold the magnets. Carl has upgraded his bag to a much larger backpack and I am now using Carl’s old one which is much bigger than the one I had previously. Our bags were still full and heavy which could cause problems later on.
We went on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway which took us over a tropical rainforest and we stopped at Kuranda, a mountain retreat, which is a small Aboriginal village. We bought a couple of original Aboriginal artwork, which were fantastic. The artists are local Aborigines and each piece of art told a different story which was attached to the back of the artwork. We also looked around the Australian Venom Zoo (they milk their animals for a sustainable supply of venom for bio-pharmacutical screenin) and a butterfly sanctuary (the largest butterfly enclosure in Australia), which I never get fed up of visiting.
Once back at the caravan park we cleaned Gert inside and out so there were no dried up flies from months ago and no squatted mosquitoes inside the van. We were careful not to disturb the gecko, which had been living in our van for the past few weeks.
Tuesday 27 March:
We returned Gert back to Wicked at 10.10am and caught a cab straight to Cairns airport. Luckily they didn’t say anything about the large crack which had appeared in the windscreen. They did have a good look at it though. Even though the flight to Sydney was only three hours it was a crap flight. I had this wierdo sitting next to me who kep whistling and singing like his thought he was Elvis. Even his hands made a horrendous tune. When we arrived at Sydney we walked with our heavy bags to find a hotel with a vacancy, not knowing where we were heading for, and luckily came across a really nice hotel called Avillion Hotel (soon to be known as Rydges) which was in World Square and in a good location. We went for a few beers in the local pub but of course had to return to the hotel to get our ID.
Wednesday 28 March:
Today we decided to take a walk to the Sydney Tower which is ranked as one of th safest buildings in the world. First we did Oztrek (largest simulated ride in the southern hemisphere and the only one of its kind in Australia and still a bit boring). Nothing compared to the stimulation ride at Melbourne Zoo which was fab. Then we took the lift to view Sydney from a 360 degree platform. There are 1,504 stairs to reach the top but surprisingly most people choose the lift which only took fourty seconds. The views were amazing and it was a clear, bright day so we could see far, especially with the help of the free large telescopes provided. You could also take a skywalk, 260 metres above ground level, around the outside of the tower where you were only attached by a small safety cord to the centre. I really wanted to do this but it took about a couple of hours in total. Of course, Carl wouldn’t have come up with me.
After this, we walked for what seemed like ages to find the entrance to the start of the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. We stopped off and had a beer after about twenty minutes and then carried on. We eventually found the entrance but I didn’t want to do the climb with a beer in my stomach. Plus the walk took around two and a half hours. I would have been on my own again but I really wanted to do it because the pictures would have been amazing.
Thursday 29 March:
Yesterday we booked a trip to visit the Blue Mountains which are not a range of mountains as the name suggests but a series of cliffs. We got picked up outside the Central YHA at 8am and took the two hour drive in a minibus. We had originally chosen to do the bush walk but there was another walk which took you down to the Grand Canyon. The brochure said that this was for the very fit. Tom, our driver, tried his best to persuade Carl and I to change our minds and do the Grand Canyon walk, the one where he was the tour guide, and we were seriously thinking about changing our minds because we have been enjoying our walks and the more challenging the better.
We went to see the Three Sisters (their names are Meehni (922 m), Wimlah (918 m), and Gunnedoo (906 m)) – a rock formation like the Twelve Apostles – and realised that we had forgotten our camera so had to buy a shitty disposable in the shop. We then visited the Katoomba Scenic Railway, the steepest cable-driven funicular railway in the world (according to the Guiness World Book of Records), with an incline of 52 degrees, over a distance of 415 metres. It was originally constructed for a coal and shale-oil mining operation in the Megalong Valley in the 1880s, in order to haul shale from the valley floor up the cliff to the escarpment above. It was converted for use as a tourist attraction prior to World War II. We then returned to the bus by the Scenic Skyway which travels 200 metres above the valley floor. We were now ready for which ever walk we had chosen and Carl and I had to decide in a split second which walk we wanted to do. I think we were both really up for the Grand Canyon walk but neither of us wanted to make the decision so we stayed where we were. Colin was our tour guide and he took us on a few shorter, unchallenging walks and knew everything there was to know. We rubbed a tea tree plant as well which smelt lovely.
We arrived back at our hotel at about 6pm. I telephoned Kyla and we arranged to meet up for a quick coffee tomorrow.
Friday 30 March:
We both went to the gym really early and then met Kyla for a coffee and had a one hour catch-up. She would have kicked my butt if I didn’t contact her. We then took the train to Sydney airport where we spent the time phoning hotels in Singapore. We would be arriving very late so needed to have one booked. We have made the mistake of not booking beforehand and it wasn’t much fun. Every place we telephoned were either fully booked or our money ran out.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Pictures of the Whitsundays, Great Barrier Reef and surrounding areas
Swimming with the sharks 
Great Barrier Reef from Reef World
Wally posing for pictures at Reef World
Whitehaven Beach
Wally posing for pictures at Reef World
Whitehaven Beach
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)