So I (Rach) am writing this from Sinagpore! Between the last post and now we've been to Borneo!
We arrived at our hotel (yes, hotel very posh) and it was amazing! It reminded me of the hotel that we stayed in in Bangkok, although we were the only backpackers we saw then entire time we were there, everyone else were business men. So we put our bags down and went on a search for the post office (I had loads of postcards to send and becky had a package to send home) the area (Sandakan) where the hotel was wasnt the nicest, we were also trying to look for a restaurant to eat in that night but couldnt find 1 restaurant anywhere. So we were walking for waht seemed like ages and finally gave up after not finding it and went back to the hotel for tea. Then next morning we had our FREE breakfast then got in a taxi to take us to the postoffice (which turned out was literally around the corner from where we'd walked to the day before) and then onto Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (apparently there was a documentary about it on tv last year). We got there at 11:30am not knowing that it didnt open until 2pm, so went on (yet another) jungle walk to kill time. We then bought our tickets at 2pm and were able to go onto a platform to look at some orangutans - they were amazing, it felt like we were watching tv but at the same time it didnt. They moved really weirdly like they didnt have any bones, we got to see a mother and baby too! We spent over an hour watching them before leaving at 4pm and getting in the taxi (who'd been waiting all afternoon for us) and went back to the hotel to have a very unsuccessful Chinese meal ('does this have meat?' *checks with the chef* 'no, it doesnt have meat' *brings out noodles, with chicken*) they wont be asking us back. Then the following day we left for Turtle Island. We were driven to the jetty where the speedboat! left in the morning (very james bond) and we arrived at the island at 10:30am. Only a maximum of 50 people can take part so we were really lucky to get a space. We spent the morning on the beach, where I went into the sea, washing my suntan lotion off and proceeded to burn my entire body, what an idiot. The beach was amazing it looked like something from a film - it was deserted with warm water and white sand (jealous?) then went for lunch and spent the afternoon on the beach too. (Our first beach day since we arrived) Then in the evening we ate then had to wait until the ranger shouted 'Turtle Time!' about an hour later, meaning we could go down onto the beach to watch a mother turtle laying eggs, which was really strange to see, I didnt realise how big the turtle would be. The ranger then gathered the eggs and took them to be buried in the turtle centre until they were ready to hatch (they do this to save them from predators on the beach taking them). We were then able to see them realise 45 newborns - they were so tiny and cute! They were all in a basket and then ran into the sea (they wouldve only been born about an hour before!) Then we slept in our (rather nice) chalet and we up at 5:45am to have breakfast at 6:30 to get onto the speedboat again at 7am. We were then taken to Sandakan airport where we then flew to Kuala Lumpur airport, had to wait for 3-4 hours before we then got on another flight to Singapore! Which is where we are now, staying at a really nice hostel called 'Hangout @ Mount Emily.' We have 3 full days here before we fly to Australia on monday!! Time is going so quickly!
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Friday, 19 February 2010
The past week
Hello again! At the moment we are in Kuala Lumper, the capital of Malaysia; we've been here for 4 days and have one day left before we fly to Borneo for a few days. It's really strange, me and Rach are both experiencing the need to move on even though we both like KL, we think it's because this is the place we have stayed at longest and it now feels weird to be somewhere for so long!!
(back to Penang:) On our last day in Penang we discovered that it actually is a nice place once you get out of the capitol of Georgetown! We went to the national park which was really cool, there were monkeys roaming around and this weird lizard thing in the sea. We went on a bridge walkway in the trees which was pretty cool (like flight of the gibbon without the flying). Oh yeh and the day before was Chinese new year, a bit of a disappointment really seeming as we had to starve ourselves (okay a little dramatic.. eat only bread) because of it. Just some dancing on a stage which after the flower festival in Chang Mai seemed not too good.
Ohh and our trip from Penang to KL was an experience! We couldn't catch the train as all of the tickets had sold out so we bought a coach ticket after an annoying trip back on the ferry to the mainland as we've only now learned too well.. Penang shuts down completely at new year. When we had to catch our coach the next day it turns out our ticket was a fake and the company didn't exist so they put us on a school bus which took an extra two hours on the four hour journey because we were going under 30 the whole way! Oh and the driver was lovely.. even after being pulled over by the police he didn't get off of his ruddy mobile the whole way. Let's just say me and Rach were very happy to get off of that bus!!
So now we are staying in a hostel called Green hut, we had a lovely cockroach in our room which was nice! So far we've had a really good time in KL (with the exception yesterday when a crazy woman stole our fruit). We've been to visit an aquarium where sharks swim above your head, a planetarium which was actually really cool! We watch a film in this big dome room which made it look 3d, weird. The worlds largest aviary turned out to be the worlds largest poo park when my foot got absolutely covered (whether it was bird or human is questionable) but the butterfly farm we went to was really good. Yesterday we went up the petronas twin towers (we had to wake up at 6 to be able to get a ticket) but it was worth it. You're only allowed ten minutes on the sky bridge but it's a really surreal feeling being suspended above a city between two of the tallest buildings. Oh and because we've discovered our inner nerd we went to a science museum which was so good and so funny, not what you'd expect of a science museum. To get into it we had to ride inside this big ball thing (which Rach informs me is like the cocoa bean in cadbury world at home) in the dark whilst spinning and watching tv, weird but amazing. Then in the evening we went to a cinema to watch Valentines day, it had malaysian subtitles which was strange and it was weird to do something 'normal'.
I think thats everything, we've done so much between now and our last post I can't really remember everything. Our brains are officially mushy.
(back to Penang:) On our last day in Penang we discovered that it actually is a nice place once you get out of the capitol of Georgetown! We went to the national park which was really cool, there were monkeys roaming around and this weird lizard thing in the sea. We went on a bridge walkway in the trees which was pretty cool (like flight of the gibbon without the flying). Oh yeh and the day before was Chinese new year, a bit of a disappointment really seeming as we had to starve ourselves (okay a little dramatic.. eat only bread) because of it. Just some dancing on a stage which after the flower festival in Chang Mai seemed not too good.
Ohh and our trip from Penang to KL was an experience! We couldn't catch the train as all of the tickets had sold out so we bought a coach ticket after an annoying trip back on the ferry to the mainland as we've only now learned too well.. Penang shuts down completely at new year. When we had to catch our coach the next day it turns out our ticket was a fake and the company didn't exist so they put us on a school bus which took an extra two hours on the four hour journey because we were going under 30 the whole way! Oh and the driver was lovely.. even after being pulled over by the police he didn't get off of his ruddy mobile the whole way. Let's just say me and Rach were very happy to get off of that bus!!
So now we are staying in a hostel called Green hut, we had a lovely cockroach in our room which was nice! So far we've had a really good time in KL (with the exception yesterday when a crazy woman stole our fruit). We've been to visit an aquarium where sharks swim above your head, a planetarium which was actually really cool! We watch a film in this big dome room which made it look 3d, weird. The worlds largest aviary turned out to be the worlds largest poo park when my foot got absolutely covered (whether it was bird or human is questionable) but the butterfly farm we went to was really good. Yesterday we went up the petronas twin towers (we had to wake up at 6 to be able to get a ticket) but it was worth it. You're only allowed ten minutes on the sky bridge but it's a really surreal feeling being suspended above a city between two of the tallest buildings. Oh and because we've discovered our inner nerd we went to a science museum which was so good and so funny, not what you'd expect of a science museum. To get into it we had to ride inside this big ball thing (which Rach informs me is like the cocoa bean in cadbury world at home) in the dark whilst spinning and watching tv, weird but amazing. Then in the evening we went to a cinema to watch Valentines day, it had malaysian subtitles which was strange and it was weird to do something 'normal'.
I think thats everything, we've done so much between now and our last post I can't really remember everything. Our brains are officially mushy.
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Leaving Thailand
Ok, so Flight Of The Gibbon was amazing! It's basically loads of zip wires, bridges and absailing routes across the top of the jungle. We were picked up at 9:30am just after brekkie and when the guy opened the door Rach (me) said 'OH MY GOD there's other people in there!' (no jokes) this was the first thing that we've booked which actually involved other people taking part too!! How exciting. We drove for like 1 and a half hours to a jungle somewhere, with a maniac driver who kept gobbing all the way (nice), until we got to the site. Rach was scared (as per usual) and even more so after we were fitted with our rather atractive harnesses turning our shorts into hotpants. Our 2 guides were called North and Typhoon - im guessing made up names?! (although rach had thought it was North and Monsoon for the entire trip) who were really funny and spoke amazing English. The first zip wire was terrifying (oh, in all of the pictures we only look about 8 feet from the ground but we promise we were 50 metres up) but afterwards it was so much fun! It took about 2 and a half hours all together and we were driven to a waterfall on the way back which was lovely.
Next day we had to leave thailand forever, we got picked up at 8:15am to get started on our
more than 24 hour journey to Malaysia. (We've been in 5 modes of transport in one day - knackered.) The minibus dropped us to the airport, where we had a 50 minite flight back to bangkok where we started our travels, followed by a taxi ride across the city to the train station. Our train ride was 23 hours, we slept on it which was actually pretty cool and very comfy. But the food was horrible, well Becky liked the vegetarian option but mine was vile. We got some decent photos of the inside of the train and our seats/beds. We got to the Malaysian border at around 8am, had to take everything off the train just so they could look at our passports and stamp them and sort of search through our stuff but not really. We eventually got to Butterworth station at 2:15pm (exactly 23 hours after we'd started) and it was HOT, like really sticky. We got a taxi to our place, which is less than nice. We're in Chinatown in Penang. Chinese new year is tomorrow (14th) so all the restaurants and stuff are shut for 3 days so we were starving and went to get an Indian from this really weird place full of pervy old men. We've been to the 7/11 twice already to stock up on bread, Oreos and crisps so dont worry we wont starve! Oh and we're both craving our mum's mash potato. We havent had any potato the entire time we've been away. Anyways, so now we're looking at how we're going to leave Penang, and when, to get to Kuala Lumpur. We'll keep you updated when we decide what to do. Happy Chinese New Year!
Next day we had to leave thailand forever, we got picked up at 8:15am to get started on our
more than 24 hour journey to Malaysia. (We've been in 5 modes of transport in one day - knackered.) The minibus dropped us to the airport, where we had a 50 minite flight back to bangkok where we started our travels, followed by a taxi ride across the city to the train station. Our train ride was 23 hours, we slept on it which was actually pretty cool and very comfy. But the food was horrible, well Becky liked the vegetarian option but mine was vile. We got some decent photos of the inside of the train and our seats/beds. We got to the Malaysian border at around 8am, had to take everything off the train just so they could look at our passports and stamp them and sort of search through our stuff but not really. We eventually got to Butterworth station at 2:15pm (exactly 23 hours after we'd started) and it was HOT, like really sticky. We got a taxi to our place, which is less than nice. We're in Chinatown in Penang. Chinese new year is tomorrow (14th) so all the restaurants and stuff are shut for 3 days so we were starving and went to get an Indian from this really weird place full of pervy old men. We've been to the 7/11 twice already to stock up on bread, Oreos and crisps so dont worry we wont starve! Oh and we're both craving our mum's mash potato. We havent had any potato the entire time we've been away. Anyways, so now we're looking at how we're going to leave Penang, and when, to get to Kuala Lumpur. We'll keep you updated when we decide what to do. Happy Chinese New Year!
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
chang mai, trekking and possibly the weirdest experience of our lives!!
so we've happened (without our knowing) to be in asia for two festivals. The first being the flower festival which we went to see on our second day in Chang Mai.. basically it's what it says on the tin, a celebration of flowers! We went to see the parade in the morning which was really good, huge floats made out of flowers, people in costume and live music as they went down the street! In the afternoon we had booked a tour of the ancient temples around the city, we had a boat ride down the river and then a horse and carriage took us on a tour of the temples or ruins whichever way you want to put it, they had all been flooded hundreds of years ago so it is now known as the underground city. They then took us back to their house and gave us fruit (can't imagine doing that back in England!) but it was really nice sat outside on a makeshift boat/ table thing! We had med a dutch girl called Renatta so that evening we went into the night market with her.
The next day was the start of our golden triangle trek (we were slightly nervous), our guide was a man called Mr Tiger. That morning we were slightly unsure of what to expect but after a few stops at local markets and a long drive up to the Burmese border, we then got on a boat for a two and a half hour trip down the river. This was so good, we saw buffallo and a wild elephant, all on this little skinny boat! evntually we pulled up to the elephant sanctuary and the elephants were in the river which was so surreal! Rachel was a bit scared when she realised how big elephants are in real life! We had over an hour probably getting on two riding on the back of an elephant through the jungle and heading up the mountain. Mr Tiger and the mahout were singing to each other in Thai which made the whole situation even more strange! We had to get off the elephant eventually and were met by two people from the Lahu tribe (in normal clothes) and then had to walk up the mountain for half an hour)
When we got to the tribe it was a bit of a shock, little shacks made entirely of bamboo with animals running around everywhere. It was only the two of us on the trek so that made it even weirder (they didnt speak English or Thai but had their own language). We had dinner that night with the family we were staying with who were really nice, the young children thought we were really funny and kept daring each other to poke us!
The toilet was an experiance. litterally a hole in the ground, nice. oh and a diy flush, you had to be careful not to slip on the wee on the floor and fall down the hole!!
The next day we had to trek through the jungle\mountain for three hours all together. I didnt have a very good day for splinters and Rach kept falling over but it was really good (river island daps are not made for jungle treks). We stopped at a waterfall on the way which was amazing (and a relief). We had lunch wrapped in a leaf and tea in a cup made out of bamboo.
We arrived at the akha tribe at around 3ish, the older women were all wearing traditional tribal outfits. We sat with a little old lady who was showing us that she was making a bag (i think she wanted us to buy it but we didn't, although we did get an akha bracelt which she tied on our arm doing a weird chant!) That night we didn't get much sleep in our bamboo hut suspended over a drop in the mountain, we have discovered we don't like cockrels!!
Day 3 we left the tribe and took a van up to the most northern part of thailand and from there we went on to see the golden triangle and an opium museum. We then drove to the white temple which was amazing and the inside was decorated by a modern artist (it's really hard to explain what it's like). The last thing we saw on our tour was the hot springs which were so hot (don't know what we were expecting), they were actually boiling eggs in the water). It was such a good tour if not a little bizarre!!
Today we have been to the tiger sanctuary and cuddled huge tigers (oh and a lion). At one point i had to lie on the ground with my head on the tiger's stomach and it's paw on my chest (Rach flat out refused which was funny to watch her argue with thew thai people!) After we went to see the Karen long neck tribe who actually are long necked (they stretch it with gold hoops and look very odd)
And that ladies and gents is the past couple of days.. we're currently trying to sort out our accomodation in malasia. Will write again when we actually leave Thailand in a couple of days time. Tomorrow we have flight of the gibbon so i'm sure you will be hearing all about that!!
The next day was the start of our golden triangle trek (we were slightly nervous), our guide was a man called Mr Tiger. That morning we were slightly unsure of what to expect but after a few stops at local markets and a long drive up to the Burmese border, we then got on a boat for a two and a half hour trip down the river. This was so good, we saw buffallo and a wild elephant, all on this little skinny boat! evntually we pulled up to the elephant sanctuary and the elephants were in the river which was so surreal! Rachel was a bit scared when she realised how big elephants are in real life! We had over an hour probably getting on two riding on the back of an elephant through the jungle and heading up the mountain. Mr Tiger and the mahout were singing to each other in Thai which made the whole situation even more strange! We had to get off the elephant eventually and were met by two people from the Lahu tribe (in normal clothes) and then had to walk up the mountain for half an hour)
When we got to the tribe it was a bit of a shock, little shacks made entirely of bamboo with animals running around everywhere. It was only the two of us on the trek so that made it even weirder (they didnt speak English or Thai but had their own language). We had dinner that night with the family we were staying with who were really nice, the young children thought we were really funny and kept daring each other to poke us!
The toilet was an experiance. litterally a hole in the ground, nice. oh and a diy flush, you had to be careful not to slip on the wee on the floor and fall down the hole!!
The next day we had to trek through the jungle\mountain for three hours all together. I didnt have a very good day for splinters and Rach kept falling over but it was really good (river island daps are not made for jungle treks). We stopped at a waterfall on the way which was amazing (and a relief). We had lunch wrapped in a leaf and tea in a cup made out of bamboo.
We arrived at the akha tribe at around 3ish, the older women were all wearing traditional tribal outfits. We sat with a little old lady who was showing us that she was making a bag (i think she wanted us to buy it but we didn't, although we did get an akha bracelt which she tied on our arm doing a weird chant!) That night we didn't get much sleep in our bamboo hut suspended over a drop in the mountain, we have discovered we don't like cockrels!!
Day 3 we left the tribe and took a van up to the most northern part of thailand and from there we went on to see the golden triangle and an opium museum. We then drove to the white temple which was amazing and the inside was decorated by a modern artist (it's really hard to explain what it's like). The last thing we saw on our tour was the hot springs which were so hot (don't know what we were expecting), they were actually boiling eggs in the water). It was such a good tour if not a little bizarre!!
Today we have been to the tiger sanctuary and cuddled huge tigers (oh and a lion). At one point i had to lie on the ground with my head on the tiger's stomach and it's paw on my chest (Rach flat out refused which was funny to watch her argue with thew thai people!) After we went to see the Karen long neck tribe who actually are long necked (they stretch it with gold hoops and look very odd)
And that ladies and gents is the past couple of days.. we're currently trying to sort out our accomodation in malasia. Will write again when we actually leave Thailand in a couple of days time. Tomorrow we have flight of the gibbon so i'm sure you will be hearing all about that!!
Thursday, 4 February 2010
No more bangkok
We've arrived in chiang mai now, but more on that another day...
After our unexpected flight instead of the train to get up here, we had 1 less day in bangkok so we had to try to fit as much in as possible in 1 day. We had the floating market tour booked already before we arrived, so we had a nice early wake up call for that (7am pick up), our guide was called Joey and he looked like Jafar from Aladdin, beard and all! After a 2 hour minibus ride we stopped off at a street market and im not even joking when i say this - a train runs right through the middle of it! Like less than a foot away from you, it comes once a day then everyone got back to normal straight away. You have to see the pictures to believe it! Then we walked down towards the market and I (Rach) noticed a man with a huge snake around his neck, like huge. Becky thought it would be a great idea for us to wear it round our necks too!! She loves snakes so she was fine, but I on the other hand am petrified of them - although in every photo i somehow hid that. The market was really nice and relaxing, although they took us to a lovely wood carving factory on the way back - which is obviously what we've always wanted to do?! (Becky: "Rach managedto hide her disgust very well A FACTORY?!?!!!!"haha) Then we went to a temple which was alright...
then when back in Bangkok we made friends!!! only school kids doing a questionarre on tourists yet still human contact!! they fellinlove with rach whenshe gave them a magazine in English (only More magazine, i wouldnt give up Grazia for anyone) haha she makesme laugh!! the grand palace was closedso we went to the temple thing next to it, we obviously payed a lot of attention to the name!! but that was really good!! then it was our last night in Bangkok and ournice relaxing sleep ready to wake up at5 in the morning for our flight was rudely interupted by a warbling "irish gypsie" (basically an irish man who was a stereotypical traveller - thai wife, long straggly hair and a nice deep V neck linen shirt, singing really badly in a restaurant.)
we're now off to getour room(we haven't been allowedin yet) andto figureoutchang mai (the space bar doesn'twork)
until next time bye!!
After our unexpected flight instead of the train to get up here, we had 1 less day in bangkok so we had to try to fit as much in as possible in 1 day. We had the floating market tour booked already before we arrived, so we had a nice early wake up call for that (7am pick up), our guide was called Joey and he looked like Jafar from Aladdin, beard and all! After a 2 hour minibus ride we stopped off at a street market and im not even joking when i say this - a train runs right through the middle of it! Like less than a foot away from you, it comes once a day then everyone got back to normal straight away. You have to see the pictures to believe it! Then we walked down towards the market and I (Rach) noticed a man with a huge snake around his neck, like huge. Becky thought it would be a great idea for us to wear it round our necks too!! She loves snakes so she was fine, but I on the other hand am petrified of them - although in every photo i somehow hid that. The market was really nice and relaxing, although they took us to a lovely wood carving factory on the way back - which is obviously what we've always wanted to do?! (Becky: "Rach managedto hide her disgust very well A FACTORY?!?!!!!"haha) Then we went to a temple which was alright...
then when back in Bangkok we made friends!!! only school kids doing a questionarre on tourists yet still human contact!! they fellinlove with rach whenshe gave them a magazine in English (only More magazine, i wouldnt give up Grazia for anyone) haha she makesme laugh!! the grand palace was closedso we went to the temple thing next to it, we obviously payed a lot of attention to the name!! but that was really good!! then it was our last night in Bangkok and ournice relaxing sleep ready to wake up at5 in the morning for our flight was rudely interupted by a warbling "irish gypsie" (basically an irish man who was a stereotypical traveller - thai wife, long straggly hair and a nice deep V neck linen shirt, singing really badly in a restaurant.)
we're now off to getour room(we haven't been allowedin yet) andto figureoutchang mai (the space bar doesn'twork)
until next time bye!!
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
hello everybody!! right major changes to our plan.. turns out we can't get a train up to Chang Mai (north thailand where we're booked in to do the golden triangle tour) as its already booked unless we wanted to be seperated!! so we've been sat in a travel agents most of the day booking a flight up to chang mai with a return back to bangkok. this was a shock to our money belts (rachels slightly more as we thought her card wasnt working- turns out she was only trying to withdraw more than her limit would allow for an entire day) but on the plus side we've booked the day trip where we swing through the rainforest on a zip wire and as the name suggests litterally "flying like a gibbon" woohoo. right we better get off.. we've literally left the hotel once to get breakfast as we've had to sort out flights and hotels all day and seeming as we only now (because of the flight) only have tomorrow left in Bangkok for good we better be getting touristy soon. camera at the ready haha bye everyone (we're gonna learn how to say this in thai next time we post!!)
oh and were still very jetlagged. not nice. hilarious. but not nice
oh and were still very jetlagged. not nice. hilarious. but not nice
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Bangkok!!
we're here!!! had a slightly eventful journey but have arrived safely at our hotel. Our private driver was hilarious.. pulled up to the petrol station, got out, left the keys in the ignition and dissapered round the back of the garage for five minutes!! We've already discovered that Thai people are maniac drivers, it's really surreal over here. Hotel is posh, we even had our bags taken up to our room and everything which we needed seeming as rach can hardly walk in hers and i'm having lots of fun with the pacsafe device (lovely little thing)
our internets about to run out so we'll update this when we've actually done something!! byeee
our internets about to run out so we'll update this when we've actually done something!! byeee
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