Lanta Animal Welfare

We're still in Ko Lanta! After Jean & Valerie and a few other guests at Fevrier Resort had looked for accomodation on some other islands, they soon realised that because of Chinese New Year (2nd to 4th Feb) the the hotels drastically increase their prices. Some as much as 6000 Baht (£120) for a basic room without air-conditioning. Rather than us going through the pain of trying to find somewhere else to sleep, (and thus giving us an excuse to stay here!) we aren't leaving until the celebrations are over.

Fevrier has by far been the nicest place we have stayed on our whole trip, I genuinely have not got a bad word to say about it. Izzy has been a bit under the weather still and not wanted to risk getting any worse so has taken things easy. Lek (the joint owner of Favrier with Malay) has been making Izzy hot drinks throughout the day, and even offered to take her to the doctors, no matter what time of day or night it is.

Of course I don't mind staying at the resort with Izzy while she is not feeling great, but I do get bored easily, so my visits to Lanta Animal Welfare have been increasing. Today I went there this morning and took Puyi, Vispen and Pepsi (still my favourite) out for a walk on the beach, and then after lunch went back to change all of the dogs water and had a bit of a play with them in the enclosures. It was nice to spend even longer with them and get a feel for their different personalities because out on a walk they are too busy sniffing around! The dogs are in good condition and seem to be happy at LAW. When I would get into the enclosures a lot of them would jump around trying to play and some of them tried de-flea me.

Pepsi

Dub Pistols & Ko Lanta

When we arrived in Ko Lanta we saw posters dotted around the town advertising that Dub Pistols were going to be playing a bar on the 27th Jan. We were unsure if it was going to be the actual band and not a cover group because the island is so small and secluded, but we went to check it out anyway. Unfortunately it wasn't the whole live band, but it was Barry Ashworth (the lead man and creator of Dub Pistols) DJing. We had an awesome time, the venue was a Klapa Klum Bar which is literally on the sand of Long Beach. I went over and said hello to Barry and told him about the time I saw him at Komedia in Bath when the crowd got up on stage. He laughed and said he remember the next day getting a call telling him the Dub Pistols are banned from ever playing in Bath again. He really took me and Izzy by surprise because he was a properly nice guy. Not that we had preconceptions of him, but he came over to our seats, shook my hand and introduced himself to Iz and sat there talking to us for a while. He even recommend some other places in the area we should visit while on our travels. On island in particular that he had visited with his fiance he said is really nice, quiet and chilled out.

When Barry went on stage to DJ, there was a problem with the decks, he kept looking over at us and gesturing a gun to his head with his hand as if to say 'just shoot me!', and as we said goodbye he even apologised to us for him not being able to play so much with the faulty equipment. But he was on stage just enough for me to get a few photos.

Ko Lanta National Park

We're really enjoying Ko Lanta and don't want to leave! Today we got up at about 9am and had breakfast at our resort, then hired another bike to do some more exploring. We stepped it up a bit today and went for a slightly more expensive bike. Fevrier, our resort, only had this one bike left and we couldn't be bothered to go and try and find a cheaper one else where, plus they did us a good deal. It's still a 125cc but it's a brand new Honda with all the gadgets, like stop-start!

So we hopped on the bike and headed south to the Ko Lanta National Park. The island itself is only 30km's long so the park isn't huge, but it has a beach, lighthouse, bit of forest and the main attraction for tourists is the monkeys. We thought we would love seeing the monkeys but they are really aggressive little shits! Three of them ran at Izzy while hissing and one of them jumped at me while I took his photo. One of the National Park employees explained to us they are angry unless you feed them, and that they get fed up of people taking their photos. Needless to say we quickly moved on to see what else was around.

Third day in Ko Lanta

We woke up this morning to grey skies and mild temperatures at around the mid twenties, so we spent the day relaxing at our resort. I'm really glad we did, because we got chatting to owners Lek and Malay (not sure on the spelling - but thats how it sounds!). I've learnt more from them about Thai culture than in the rest of my trip. One thing I found particularly interesting was about the King of Thailand. Everyone in Thailand loves him and I wasn't sure if it was because the government 'make' them, but it is genuinely because he has done so much good for people.

Lek was telling us that if you write a letter to the King asking for help, you will get it. For instance, a young boy aged 6 was made to look after his ill father after his mother died and so with help from his neighbours he wrote a letter. The King sent people to help and make their lives easier. The day after the tsunami, the King sent millions of Baht (Thai currency) to help people with rebuilding their lives. In the north of the counrty, locals started growing opium, but instead of punishing them he helped them to grow other legal crops instead to earn money. Aftrer learning about him I can really understand why there are so many shrines and statues celebrating him. The King is 89 years old and very ill in hospital, so it will be a sad day for the people of Thailand when he dies!

Tonight we took a walk on the beach to see if we could see any interesting wildlife, here are a couple of photos of what we saw. I took them using Izzy's point-and-shoot Canon, so I think we'll go back again to try and get some even better photos with my SLR.

Praying Mantis

Second day in Ko Lanta

When we paid the woman on the boat for our first night's accommodation we had agreed a bungalow, but when we got there they didn't have any free so they offered us a bamboo bungalow. They also have wifi, but you have to pay extra for it, and we wanted to hire a bike but they wouldn't because it was too late in the day (even though everywhere else rents bikes per 24hours). Last night we took a walk around to find somewhere else, but didn't find anywhere to make it worthy of moving. So this morning we got up early before check out time and went for another walk to find somewhere, and came across Fevrier Resort. It's a little more expensive, but has free wifi and includes breakfast which easily covers the extra cost. Not to mention the place is amazing, the people are really friendly, we're right across the road from the beach and we have an outdoor bathroom with no roof! They even drove back to our resort with us to get our bags for us!

Ko Lanta

This morning we checked out of our guesthouse and got a taxi (really just a man with a trolley to carry our bags!) down to the pier for the boat headed to Ko Lanta. We've had a great time relaxing on Ko Phi Phi's beautiful beaches, but it's time to move on and find somewhere new to explore. We got the 11:30am boat to Ko Lanta which takes just over an hour and costs 300baht (£6) each.

Living the dream, Ko Phi Phi

The last few days have been really chilled out, we've spent the day on the beach and the evening eating good food. The other night was a full moon, so in true Thai island tradition we spent it on Loh Dalum beach where there are several bars stretched along the beach. We went to Stones Bar which is right on the water, so much so that we kept having to move our cushions back as the tide came in, but it was nice being able to sit on the ground with our feet in the warm sea while having a beer! Most of the main bars along the beach have fire shows in the evening. Stones Bar's show had some seriously talented people juggling with fire while the DJ was playing drum and bass. They also had a friendly (and smelly) bulldog who liked to dig holes in the sand to lay in around us.

Hin Khom Beach, Ko Phi Phi

Last night me and Iz found somewhere a bit more traditional to eat. We try to do it as much as possible because the food is cheaper and generally a lot tastier than if we eat at restaurants. I love eating in these sorts of places because there's no fussing with fancy decoration, it was literally a corrugated iron hut with only 2 sides, and you see the food cooked there in front of you on a BBQ. Whereas Phuket is aimed at families or middle aged newly single men looking for a good time, Ko Phi Phi varies from a quiet local lifestyle to a loud backpacker nightlife.

Arrived in Ko Phi Phi

Yesterday was our last day in Phuket so we used the bike to do a bit of exploring and rode to some other beaches. We rode to Rawai and Nai Harn beaches which were further south on the island, and even though they were a bit more remote than Kata and Karon, they weren't quite as nice. So we carried on riding back up to our favourite beach, Kata Noi, which has the whitest sand, clearest water and the least tourists.

Other than Kata Noi beach, the main thing I will miss about Phuket is our accommodation, Boost Guesthouse. The owner, Lee, is one of the nicest and most genuine people we've met on our travels and was a great host. So if you stay in Phuket, make sure you stay at Boost!

We were picked up by a bus this morning at 9:30 and were driven to the Pier, where we caught the 11am boat to Ko Phi Phi. The island is very small with no roads (so no cars or bikes!) and only a maze of footpaths to get around the various restaurants and hotels. Ko Phi Phi is even more expensive again than Phuket, but we heard on the boat about a guesthouse which is a bit closer to our budget so had a wander around and checked into there for the night at 900 baht (£18). We dropped our bags in the room and went for a walk to get some food and to find some even cheaper accommodation for the rest of our visit here. After lunch we headed to viewpoint to see the rest of the island which is 186 metres above sea level.

We did find some accommodation at the bottom of the steps leading to the viewpoint, which is a little bit cheaper, but a lot nicer. Fingers crossed for some awesome weather tomorrow and some serious chilling out on the beach.

Phuket

Phuket is much more expensive than everywhere else we have visited in Thailand so far. Normally we have taken tuk tuks and taxis to get around, but you can hire a bike for a whole day at the same price as a short trip in a tuk tuk. Now we have a bike we can get to the quieter beaches and can do some sight seeing. So we've hired a Honda scooter again for 200 baht (£4) per day.

We've spent most of our days chilling on Kata Noi Beach, which is just further south from Kata's main beach, and only really easy to get to with a bike (or a long walk). The weather is spot on what we needed after the freezing north of Vietnam, we've had solid 30°C everyday. The road that leads to the beach is a dead end with only a couple of hotels so it is a lot quieter then Phuket's other beaches. On Saturday evening we rode the bike a few miles away to the viewpoint, where you can see Kata Noi, Kata and Karon beach.

Back to Thailand... Phuket

Sorry for taking so long to post! There is a distinct lack of wi-fi in Phuket, especially at our guesthouse.

We got up around 5am on Thursday to get to the airport in time for our 9am flight from Hanoi to Bangkok, from there we caught a connecting flight to Phuket. I can't believe that two places so close together have such different temperatures, but it is so nice to be back somewhere hot! Phuket is not quite what we were expecting, it's a bit like Costa Del Sol with its hundreds of loud bars, live music and lots of white (or sometimes pink) tourists on the crammed beaches. When we were looking online for a hotel we wanted to try and avoid Patong which is the most heavily popluated area in the high season, so we booked a place in Karon. It's still quite busy, but nothing on Patong, and we only have a 2 minute walk to the beach.

Phuket is quite pricey too... when we stayed in Chiang Mai we had a pool and that hotel was about 600Baht per night (£12ish), most places in Phuket are double the price for less of the quality. I think we're going to stay here for a few days to enjoy some sun, sea and sand then move on to some of the islands.

Halong Bay

I've not been feeling too good today... what ever the temperature was outside last night, it was the same in our room thanks to the gaps in our balcony doors. At about 5:30am, I woke up only half under the duvet. I could feel the cold in my bones! Bring on the sun of Phuket.

We got up early this morning to get ready for our day trip to Halong Bay. The bus picked us up at about 8:15am, and after touring around the other hotels in the area to collect more tourists we were on our way. We arrived at about 12:30pm to Halong Harbourwhich was full of traditional looking 'Junk' boats.  The scenery in Halong Bay was similar to Tam Coc with the giant limestone mountains jutting vertically out of the sea, but even more magnificent, with it's 2000 islands.

Coming to the end of Vietnam

We haven't done very much today because Izzy has had a really bad migraine. I would say it has been quite nice to stay indoors away from the cold for a day, but our hotel room has a balcony with doors that have some lovely big gaps to let the cold air in and no heating. Our room is on the fifth floor, and I'm pretty certain that it's colder in our room than outside! Anyway, we feel we've seen most of Hanoi and are pretty keen to get away from the icy weather!

Tomorrow we are taking a day trip to Halong Bay as it would be a shame to have come this far in Vietnam and not see it, and then on Thursday we will be leaving early to fly back to Thailand. Phuket, to be precise. The even better news is that the temperature is meant to be 36c on Friday!

Another day in Hanoi

Me and Izzy were thinking of going to Halong Bay for a few days but we've been struggling to find somewhere to stay that we like the look of. There are so many tours to Halong Bay from Hanoi, ranging from one day to one week, so now the plan is to stay in Hanoi and take a one day trip. It might have been nice to find somewhere to stay if the weather was really warm, then we could take advantage of being on the coast and going snorkeling etc. We were going to book something this evening for a day tour tomorrow, but we got distracted! We found out there is a big shopping mall with a cinema nearby, so we walked down there this afternoon to find it.

We ended up having some food and going to the cinema. By the time we got out it was too late as the tour operators had closed. We'll have to book something tomorrow now, for the following day. We went to see Tron in 3D which was great! The standard of 3D is so much better than anything I've seen in the UK. The glasses we were given were made by Dolby, and had to be returned, otherwise you are fined 800,000 Dong (bear in mind going out for dinner with a couple of courses and drinks for two comes to 200,000 Dong if it's quite a nice place). There was a trailer for Transformers 3 too, I'm pretty damn excited about seeing that!

BRR it's cold in Hanoi

Because it's so cold at the moment in Hanoi, we decided to do as much sight seeing as possible. That way we can hurry up and get back to some sun, which is feeling very far away. First of all we walked to the Ho Chi Minh Museum. It isn't always open to the public, and today was no exception. There are always armed guards surrounding the grounds, which has a white line painted on the floor with signs saying 'No Enrty' spaced 15 or so metres apart. It's obvious that this place is of great importance to the government because of how clean and up kept it is. It's a shame we couldn't get in, because apparently the building contains Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body.

Arrived In Hanoi

Today we checked out of our hotel in Ninh Binh, and got a coach headed for Hanoi. It was only 45,000 Dong (£1.50) for the 2 hour journey, but the bus was quite a small and uncomfortable. I didn't really mind about how crap the bus was, until we arrived at the bus station. There was a flock of men surrounding us shouting 'Taxi!', it was like a crowd at a gig or something. If we had taken a bigger bus with other tourists we wouldn't have been such targets, but because everyone on our bus was Vietnamese, when we got off the taxi drivers homed in on us. They started grabbing us and pulling us in all different directions, so eventually we gave in and got a taxi to our hotel.

Arrived in Ninh Binh

Last night we took the sleeper coach from Hue to Ninh Binh. I thought we had scored when we got on the coach... there were some seats spare across the back row, meaning I could put the bag by the window to give me more sleeping space. Once we got going I realised why no one was sat there, it was like trying to sleep on a trampoline with people jumping on it. The suspension at the back of the bus was so springy, everytime we hit a big bump I would get thrown into the air. There was one point, at about midnight where the driver hit a bit of tarmac joining the road to a bridge, that was like a ramp. We were chucked about 6 inches into the air!

We got into Ninh Binh at about 5:00am and flagged a taxi down. There were three parked up on the road, but the drivers were sleeping. I knocked on one window but he didn't wake up, we didn't have to wait long for one to drive past. We got to the hotel, which was all locked up with the lights off. The taxi was 47,000 dong (nearly £2), I gave him a 50,000 note which he was clearly quite chuffed about so he started ringing the bell on the hotel for us. Shortly after, a very tired looking Vietnamese woman came to the door, let us in, and took us to our room.

Last day in Hue

Today is our last day in Hue, we've checked out of our hotel and booked a sleeper coach for tonight headed for Ninh Binh. It's about another 12/13 hours north of here near Hanoi (the largest city in northern Vietnam). It's a bit of a shame the weather has been so rubbish in Hue, and the fact that any tourism sights are out of town. If they were within walking distance, we would brave the weather and check them out, but the best and cheapest way to see them is a half or full day tour on the back of a motorbike. Based on the fact that the people here drive like they have a death wish and the traffic is crazy busy, neither me or Isabella really want to go on the back of a motorbike, especially not in the pouring rain. Besides, we've seen plenty of temples, bridges and what not to last us a life time, so to miss out one city's worth it's not a major problem. Although there was one place I quite wanted to see, which was a museum containing the car that belonged to the monk who set himself on fire in 1963. He did in protest against Ngô Đình Diệm was the president of South Vietnam in the 60's and persecuted Buddhists. The photo of him on fire was famously used on the cover of Rage Against The Machine's album.

We found a really nice cafe last night called Mardarin's which is owned by a Vietnamese photographer, Mr Cu. All the walls in the cafe are covered with large prints of the photos he has taken around Vietnam. He is clearly quite successful too, as he had a few thousand pounds worth of Canon 5D Mk II kicking around, and when we went there again this morning for breakfast (usual pancake for Izzy, omelette for me!) he was unpackaging his new iPad. You can see his photos on his website here.

Rainy Hue

We've really enjoyed Vietnam so far meaning Hue had a lot to live up to, and unfortunately is hasn't been that great. The trouble is the last couple of days the weather has been pretty miserable with rain all day everyday, and all the main tourist attractions (other than the Imperial City) are miles out of town. The easiest way to see these is to take a motorbike tour, but with the torrential rain we've been having we didn't really want to get on the back of a motorbike for the 6 hour tour of the sights.

Every market we've visited on our trip has been different to the last, so today we visited Hue's Dong Ba Market. It had rained all day today, which I think was part of the reason it was so damn smelly. Part of the market was an indoor meat market, we walked through but I couldn't even bring my camera to my face because it smelt so bad, I just had to make straight for the exit.

Arrived in Hue

Yesterday lunch time me and Izzy took a coach for the three and a half hour trip north to Hue. It was the first bus we have taken during day time since we began our trip and it was great to see the countryside that we normally miss in the darkness of the night.

Happy New Year from Hoi An

Happy New Year everyone! We had a really nice new years eve with everyone from the hotel. Traditionally, no one celebrates new years eve in Asia, they celebrate the new lunar year in February. Because of this, most hotels have a party for their western guests. We had some traditional Vientamese foods, including spring rolls, noodles and soup washed down with some Tiger beer. We were sat opposite a nice couple, Ines and Nikolai who are from Germany and Canada and spent most of the evening chatting with them.

Today we went and collected our clothes as they were now finished, unfortunately I didn't get any photos of my suit as I took it straight to the Post Office to send back to England. I'm really pleased with it! Izzy's clothes look great too. We also used the rest of our visitor tickets and went to a local history and culture museum, an old family home and a temple, and a walk back through the market.