The last post was written by Jamie, in Ao Nang, Krabi (also updated today).
After Krabi, we moved to Koh Samui for 3 nights, then stayed in Bangkok for 3 nights and have now arrived in Chiang Mai.
The internet (and time) has been hard to find since Krabi, and with a 6 night relaxing stay in Chiang Mai (northern Thailand), I have a good hour spare to give the Blog an update and upload a few pictures aswell.
So, starting with Ko Samui. We spent the first of the three nights on the islands off the east coast at Koh Phangan. Koh Phangan is the host of the "Full moon party", a huge on beach party for young people like ourselves. 30000 people have been known to attend the party and we were all looking forward to seeing what it was like and experience a big beach party atmosphere.
When we were getting to Koh phangan, we first flew from Krabi airport to Koh Samui (we stayed on Koh Samui on the final two nights on the islands). We then got a ferry from Koh Samui to Koh Phangan. Jamie was looking a little ill on the travels, starting feeling slightly feverish on the flight to Koh Samui. By the time we were on the boat to Koh Phangan, Jamie was starting to feel quite ill. The best thing for us, was to get to our accommodation that night on Koh Phangan and stay in, so Jamie could rest which in the end helped him as the next day he was fresh and feeling a million times better. We put it down to "Eating foreign foods" as he felt ill and had a headache. In the end, we missed the full moon party and spent the night in, which allowed us all to recharge which is funny to look back on because out of any of us, Jamie was the one most looking forward to the party.
The next day, Jamies headache had disappeared and we headed for a ferry to Koh Samui.
Our hotel in Koh Samui was like a hut, there was a swimming pool and it reminded me of Centerparcs, the style of accommodation, however ours only cost 12 pounds a night which included breakfast which was a bargain considering the location. Koh samui was nice, our hotel was central to a beach called Lamai beach which was busy and had a few bars and restaurants which was a nice area to chill out for the couple of nights we had in Koh Samui before we flew to Bangkok.
From what we found on the two islands, transport was very expensive in relation to the other places we had visited. The islands were heavily populated with "Westerners" and I think this had a huge reflection on the price.
We had our flight booked for Bangkok when we were in Phuket. It was cheap enough and was a quick way of getting from Samui to Bangkok (well it should have been). The flight (as per usual with the low cost budget airlines) was delayed (3 hours!) which was a lovely wait, as it meant we were actually in the airport for 5 hours. We met two girls from Canada who had just graduated from university, who were talking to us which made the wait seem shorter. They were telling us about there travels and finds so far, and we shared some stories with them about what we have also come across within the last 3 weeks of our travels. We were scheduled to arrive in Bangkok at 20:40 however we actually arrived around 23:00. The pilot caught up some time as the flight seemed quicker than it should.
We got our baggage from the baggage reclaim and got a taxi to the hotel.
Our hotel was close to "Kao San Road" which was a main road in Bangkok which was great being close by.
We had three nights in Bangkok, so two full days which we designated to one day in the "New bit" and one day in the "old part" of Thailand's Capital city.
On our first day we visited MBK shopping centre. Which is a huge shopping centre in the city centre. It has many floors and each floor is huge, it is definitely the biggest shopping centre I have ever been in and it had floors of markets aswell as floors of shops. The top floor had an arcade with a ten-pin bowling alley and a cinema complex. We spent a little while on the floor as we had a good play with the arcade machines and went for a game of bowling.
The bowling scores were in:
Jamie first - 126
ben Second - 76
Joe last - 71.
I would rate my bowling performance as appalling and I would like to blame in on the heat (even though the sun in Bangkok was hidden throughout our stay).
On the first night we went to Khao san road, had a meal and spent a night watching live music with other people who are "traveling" like ourselves. The popular drink was the Bucket, which was tasty and refreshing, the drink was called Samson which was different but nice and basically lasted for the duration of our stay at that outside bar.
We got back that night, had a good sleep and woke up the following day ready to see the temple attractions of Bangkok. We first of all visited the Grand palace which was beautiful, inside of the Grand Palace is a Buddhists temple with the Emerald Buddha. We had to hire long trousers and take our shoes off for when we went inside the temple. We were also not allowed to point our feet towards the Buddha, which meant we had to sit on the floor (some people kneeling, some people relaxed facing forward with feet facing backwards). We weren't allowed to take photographs inside the grand palace however we took plenty of pictures outside and have got some amazing memories about the temple itself. After viewing many sights in the Grand palace we headed towards the Golden Buddha which was a fair distance from the Palace.
The golden buddha was a taxi ride away, a few kilometres and a very cheap price using the "Taxi-meter". We found that you have to use the meter, as if you don't the prices that the taxi drivers quote are extremely unreasonable. Using the meter is cheaper and a fairer way of getting a good price for using the many available taxi's and Tuk Tuk's available.
When we got to the Golden buddha, we found it was closed for refurbishment. We still got a good sight but we couldn't go into see it. This was unfortunate, however it was closed for 6 months. (No websites or people warned us previously), but when we got there it was obvious we couldn't go.
We then was advised by a security guard from a building in China-town to go on a boat trip that you can access at many piers along the Chao Phraya River. The boat trip was fantastic, it took us around the area in a circuit (going along a canal to get back upstream the river). We saw a lot of Bangkok that you wouldn't usually see and there was a boat to ourselves.
We even stopped off whilst on the boat to a shop. The shop was basically a lady on a smaller boat with many items available for purchase whilst mid-float. I wanted to experience this so I purchased a can of Fanta, Jamie also purchased Fanta which was a first as I have never traded with another shop on a boat on a canal before and (I suppose I never thought i would).
That night we went to Patpong Night market which was busy, and very "heated up" as there were many people tugging us to go and see different shows and visit their market. We were getting followed and pestered to buy things and see things which is what we have seen previously in Phuket, however this was on a much larger scale. It was certainly starting to become annoying and I suppose being our age and being male doesn't help as the "Hard Sale" techniques were very intense.
Bangkok, in our opinion was definitely worth a visit. It was completely different to anything I have ever seen and by the end of it I was looking forward to moving onto Chiang Mai. It was great, but very "In your face". With many people trying to make as much money out of the tourists as possible.
Yesterday, we packed our bags and headed for Chiang Mai (where we are right now). We got a flight which was only 30 minutes delayed, from Bangkok to Chaing Mai. We arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday and our first impression was fantastic. The taxi from the airport to our hotel worked out at around 120 Baht, which is just over 2 pounds. Split between the three of us, this is a lot cheaper than taxi's from other places (especially Koh Samui and Koh phangan).
Our hotel in Chiang Mai is called Centera and is fantastic. One of the nicest we have stayed at, and for short of 15 pounds a night each, including breakfast and being really central. It is exactly what we want, and it has many facilities, bars a big fitness suite and a swimming pool. Which means that for the 6 nights we are here for, we can really relax and enjoy Chiang Mai to its full potential.
Last night, we went to the Night Bazaar. The night bazaar is packed with Thai culture and tourist markets, also the markets are extremely laid back with very few hard selling stalls enabling us to freely browse the stalls without being pestered which we have found a lot more relaxing.
Being pestered isn't a problem, as we are now used to it and as long as we calmly say no to things we don't want and just walk away, it makes it easier to "escape".
Today, we are relaxing and are going to plan what to do tomorrow. We aim to do an activity day, and there are many activities on offer. We do plan to do elephant trekking, quad biking up the mountains and going on the explorations of the local "Thai Culture" available to see in Chiang Mai.
So, that's us pretty much updated, Jamie will be posting some pictures that we have taken throughout the past week or so.
We'll try our best to write an update soon!
After Krabi, we moved to Koh Samui for 3 nights, then stayed in Bangkok for 3 nights and have now arrived in Chiang Mai.
The internet (and time) has been hard to find since Krabi, and with a 6 night relaxing stay in Chiang Mai (northern Thailand), I have a good hour spare to give the Blog an update and upload a few pictures aswell.
So, starting with Ko Samui. We spent the first of the three nights on the islands off the east coast at Koh Phangan. Koh Phangan is the host of the "Full moon party", a huge on beach party for young people like ourselves. 30000 people have been known to attend the party and we were all looking forward to seeing what it was like and experience a big beach party atmosphere.
When we were getting to Koh phangan, we first flew from Krabi airport to Koh Samui (we stayed on Koh Samui on the final two nights on the islands). We then got a ferry from Koh Samui to Koh Phangan. Jamie was looking a little ill on the travels, starting feeling slightly feverish on the flight to Koh Samui. By the time we were on the boat to Koh Phangan, Jamie was starting to feel quite ill. The best thing for us, was to get to our accommodation that night on Koh Phangan and stay in, so Jamie could rest which in the end helped him as the next day he was fresh and feeling a million times better. We put it down to "Eating foreign foods" as he felt ill and had a headache. In the end, we missed the full moon party and spent the night in, which allowed us all to recharge which is funny to look back on because out of any of us, Jamie was the one most looking forward to the party.
The next day, Jamies headache had disappeared and we headed for a ferry to Koh Samui.
Our hotel in Koh Samui was like a hut, there was a swimming pool and it reminded me of Centerparcs, the style of accommodation, however ours only cost 12 pounds a night which included breakfast which was a bargain considering the location. Koh samui was nice, our hotel was central to a beach called Lamai beach which was busy and had a few bars and restaurants which was a nice area to chill out for the couple of nights we had in Koh Samui before we flew to Bangkok.
From what we found on the two islands, transport was very expensive in relation to the other places we had visited. The islands were heavily populated with "Westerners" and I think this had a huge reflection on the price.
We had our flight booked for Bangkok when we were in Phuket. It was cheap enough and was a quick way of getting from Samui to Bangkok (well it should have been). The flight (as per usual with the low cost budget airlines) was delayed (3 hours!) which was a lovely wait, as it meant we were actually in the airport for 5 hours. We met two girls from Canada who had just graduated from university, who were talking to us which made the wait seem shorter. They were telling us about there travels and finds so far, and we shared some stories with them about what we have also come across within the last 3 weeks of our travels. We were scheduled to arrive in Bangkok at 20:40 however we actually arrived around 23:00. The pilot caught up some time as the flight seemed quicker than it should.
We got our baggage from the baggage reclaim and got a taxi to the hotel.
Our hotel was close to "Kao San Road" which was a main road in Bangkok which was great being close by.
We had three nights in Bangkok, so two full days which we designated to one day in the "New bit" and one day in the "old part" of Thailand's Capital city.
On our first day we visited MBK shopping centre. Which is a huge shopping centre in the city centre. It has many floors and each floor is huge, it is definitely the biggest shopping centre I have ever been in and it had floors of markets aswell as floors of shops. The top floor had an arcade with a ten-pin bowling alley and a cinema complex. We spent a little while on the floor as we had a good play with the arcade machines and went for a game of bowling.
The bowling scores were in:
Jamie first - 126
ben Second - 76
Joe last - 71.
I would rate my bowling performance as appalling and I would like to blame in on the heat (even though the sun in Bangkok was hidden throughout our stay).
On the first night we went to Khao san road, had a meal and spent a night watching live music with other people who are "traveling" like ourselves. The popular drink was the Bucket, which was tasty and refreshing, the drink was called Samson which was different but nice and basically lasted for the duration of our stay at that outside bar.
We got back that night, had a good sleep and woke up the following day ready to see the temple attractions of Bangkok. We first of all visited the Grand palace which was beautiful, inside of the Grand Palace is a Buddhists temple with the Emerald Buddha. We had to hire long trousers and take our shoes off for when we went inside the temple. We were also not allowed to point our feet towards the Buddha, which meant we had to sit on the floor (some people kneeling, some people relaxed facing forward with feet facing backwards). We weren't allowed to take photographs inside the grand palace however we took plenty of pictures outside and have got some amazing memories about the temple itself. After viewing many sights in the Grand palace we headed towards the Golden Buddha which was a fair distance from the Palace.
The golden buddha was a taxi ride away, a few kilometres and a very cheap price using the "Taxi-meter". We found that you have to use the meter, as if you don't the prices that the taxi drivers quote are extremely unreasonable. Using the meter is cheaper and a fairer way of getting a good price for using the many available taxi's and Tuk Tuk's available.
When we got to the Golden buddha, we found it was closed for refurbishment. We still got a good sight but we couldn't go into see it. This was unfortunate, however it was closed for 6 months. (No websites or people warned us previously), but when we got there it was obvious we couldn't go.
We then was advised by a security guard from a building in China-town to go on a boat trip that you can access at many piers along the Chao Phraya River. The boat trip was fantastic, it took us around the area in a circuit (going along a canal to get back upstream the river). We saw a lot of Bangkok that you wouldn't usually see and there was a boat to ourselves.
We even stopped off whilst on the boat to a shop. The shop was basically a lady on a smaller boat with many items available for purchase whilst mid-float. I wanted to experience this so I purchased a can of Fanta, Jamie also purchased Fanta which was a first as I have never traded with another shop on a boat on a canal before and (I suppose I never thought i would).
That night we went to Patpong Night market which was busy, and very "heated up" as there were many people tugging us to go and see different shows and visit their market. We were getting followed and pestered to buy things and see things which is what we have seen previously in Phuket, however this was on a much larger scale. It was certainly starting to become annoying and I suppose being our age and being male doesn't help as the "Hard Sale" techniques were very intense.
Bangkok, in our opinion was definitely worth a visit. It was completely different to anything I have ever seen and by the end of it I was looking forward to moving onto Chiang Mai. It was great, but very "In your face". With many people trying to make as much money out of the tourists as possible.
Yesterday, we packed our bags and headed for Chiang Mai (where we are right now). We got a flight which was only 30 minutes delayed, from Bangkok to Chaing Mai. We arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday and our first impression was fantastic. The taxi from the airport to our hotel worked out at around 120 Baht, which is just over 2 pounds. Split between the three of us, this is a lot cheaper than taxi's from other places (especially Koh Samui and Koh phangan).
Our hotel in Chiang Mai is called Centera and is fantastic. One of the nicest we have stayed at, and for short of 15 pounds a night each, including breakfast and being really central. It is exactly what we want, and it has many facilities, bars a big fitness suite and a swimming pool. Which means that for the 6 nights we are here for, we can really relax and enjoy Chiang Mai to its full potential.
Last night, we went to the Night Bazaar. The night bazaar is packed with Thai culture and tourist markets, also the markets are extremely laid back with very few hard selling stalls enabling us to freely browse the stalls without being pestered which we have found a lot more relaxing.
Being pestered isn't a problem, as we are now used to it and as long as we calmly say no to things we don't want and just walk away, it makes it easier to "escape".
Today, we are relaxing and are going to plan what to do tomorrow. We aim to do an activity day, and there are many activities on offer. We do plan to do elephant trekking, quad biking up the mountains and going on the explorations of the local "Thai Culture" available to see in Chiang Mai.
So, that's us pretty much updated, Jamie will be posting some pictures that we have taken throughout the past week or so.
We'll try our best to write an update soon!
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