25/02/11 - Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Hey,

I have arrived in Chiang Mai after taking the overnight train and it's very nice. It's like a chilled out version of Bangkok, plenty of stuff to do with markets and shops etc but without all the people hassle you for tuktuks and other services.

We have a lot planned over the next 5 days. Today we are sorting out accommodation for rest of our stay, as well as food and transport etc. We are then visiting a temple and then going to the Chiang Mai Night market tonight.
Tomorrow we are going to the Tiger Kingdom where we will get to cuddle and play with both adult and baby tigers. Afterwards we are planning on visiting either the Monkey Show or Monkey Sanctuary or something similar.
Then on Sunday we are doing Jungle Flight which is 7 hours of climbing through trees and zip wiring around, should be a lot of fun!
Monday we do the Elephant trek for 2 days where were we ride on elephants, feed them, bath them in the river, and then sleep in the jungle or something. Should be amazing, as we've been told Chiang Mai is the place to do it!
Then on Wednesday we are taking a Thai Cooking course for a day, where we pick our own ingredients from the markets, and then we get to cook about 6 different courses, choosing a dish for each one. I am thinking of doing Red Thai Curry paste, Red Thai Curry Chicken, Pad Thai Beef, Spring Rolls or Noodle dish, Coconut milk dish, and then some soup or something!

So it's a busy week in comparison to the start of my travels, therefore it's a bit of an expensive one, however still probably extremely cheap compared to the rest of the world!

Afterwards we head to somewhere else in North Thailand, maybe Chiang Rai, where we will do a trek with a hill tribe and stay a night with them.

PUHEACE!

22/02/11 - Bangkok, Thailand.

Hello

I have now done the full moon party and had an absolutely amazing time, as you will be able to tell from the many photos on facebook!

I have now gone back up to Bangkok (another long sleepless overnight bus journey) with Emilie and Ruth where we are going get our  Vietnamese visas. At Chiang Mai we plan on doing some elephant trekking, tiger kingdom,  monkey sanctuary, the whole shibam. After Chiang Mai we will head out of North Thailand to Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and then back into Bangkok and then whatever time we have left spend at the islands we haven't done yet.

Not much more to say, apart from having an amazing time travelling and meeting some awesome people!

Going to get a nice big breakfast as I've barely eaten because of the bus journey.

Lakunkrub

17/02/11 - Koh Phangan, Thailand.

Howdie

I've now left Koh Samui, we spent the last 2 nights in Chaweng staying above McDonalds and opposite Burger King, right on the main street, it was awesome. So obviously we had 2 crazy nights out, and the beaches there were amazing.

We then got our ferry to Koh Phangan (full moon party island) where we are staying in Seaview Sunrise which is literally on the Full Moon Party beach (naad sin?). So yeah that's awesome having the craziest party on our doorstep.
Last night we went to the pool party at Coral Beach Bungalows where some of our friends are staying, and tonight we will probably hit up the parties on the full moon beach.

The famous full moon party takes place this Saturday on 19th February, looking forward to it!
 
Been wearing swimming trunks most of the time which means I haven't usually got my camera on me, but I'll try and get few snaps in whilst I'm here.

The place seems to be a hot spot for Aussies and Canadians!

12/02/2011 - Koh Samui, Thailand

So... we bought a bus ticket from Bangkok to Kho San Toa? or something or other. But then there was a mixup and we were forced to go on the bus to Phuket (doesn't bother me as I'm sure it's all amazing). So we were on the bus for a good 15 hours or so and then get dropped off at a random spot where we then taken to another tourist office, where there was another mixup! so in the end we have ended up in Koh Samui!! which is awesome! We set off at 6pm from Bangkok and arrived at our place in Koh Samui (Lang Ma?) at around 2.30pm the next day, so it  was a good 20 hour journey without sleep!

Anyway we have a awesome hostel in Koh Samui, which is right on the beach, and you stay in the cool hay hut things! So you open your day and your blessed with palm trees and sand and the sound of the sea!!
We went into town and partied at Chang ma? (I honestly have no idea with the names, sorry!)

The next day (11th) we did our first cultural/touristy activity! we went to see some rocks, a monkey show, a few massive Buddhas, a Shiny Lady, a Mumified Monk, Waterfalls, with the little sleep I have been giving myself my memory isn't the best!

We plan on moving to the Chang ma place in a couple of days (still in Koh Samui)
When things get clearer I will try to edit this post with more details!

07/02/11 - Arrival. Bangkok, Thailand.

Arrived safely, had an awesome flight that actually had our own TVs and you got to choose what and when you wanted to watch stuff! For some reason I didn't watch much at all (I had already seen most the films, so I ended up half watching The Switch, and saw an episode of Modern Family that I'd already seen). I got 0 hours sleep, I was lucky enough to be next to an old couple who were coughing 24/7....great.

Once we dumped our stuff at the hostel we strolled the streets and after I saw the amount of stuff I wanted to buy on the streets I seriously regret packing my bag so full, so might have to throw away some clothes!

We then hit up Khao San Road? in the evening, where we had a great time hitting many bars and raving the night away, had some very funny and memorable moments! We got back to the room at 5am or so and then got up at 11am and had a lazy start by the pool...(YES OUR HOSTEL HAS A POOL ON THE ROOF!) and we are now shortly off to go see the Royal Palace and then probably go out again tonight and then do the Floating Market tomorrow!.  (Edit:) Turns out we didn't do that, went out last night again and done an all nighter and drank through breakfast and then went back to our roof pool for a bit. I will now probably try and last as long as I can before I fall asleep, and tonight is our last night in Bangkok, before we head to Phuket (I think). We are returning to Bangkok in the future so we'll be able to do the touristy sights stuff then.

I'm doing a very poor job of taking photo's, but then again we haven't visited any of the sights!