Island hopping!

So the last couple of weeks have probably been our most relaxing and chilled since we left home nearly 4 months ago! After Bangkok we got a flight (I know right, flight! The joys of a 1 hour flight that saves a 12 hour bus journey, and even better it was only £30!) we arrived in Phuket, one of the many Thai islands in the south of the country. The journey was fairly smooth - waiting near the priority seats for monks in the airport lounge! The flight passed quickly as we made conversation with the ladyboy sat next to Rach, getting our heads around how he / she (what to call them?) had an ex husband in the UK... Interesting. Another few minutes was spent grimacing at the in-flight food provided by Nok Air, a sweet bun with some sort of shredded meat substance in. Mair tried it and vowed never to touch anything similar again, ew! After a long journey from Phuket Airport (we got chatting to a couple from NZ who offered us a bed when we get there = score!) to a place called Karon Beach on the island, we made it to our hostel.

There we anticipated the arrival of Alex (or now as we know her better we're privileged to call her Sash, the name only a select few call her) whom we met originally at our volunteering work at the orphanage in Cambodia, and then again met up it Vietnam for a crazy night out. Poor Alex arrived after what was meant to be an easy minimal hours journey, some 16 hours later starving and fed up! REUNION!  A quick pop to 7 eleven to get food other than crisps for Sash (all she'd eaten that day) we heard all about her journey and the nightmares of her experience... CLASSIC ASIA.

The next couple of days we spent on Karon Beach, Phuket, sunbathing and chilling out. The beach, despite the sun and warm sea, was very dirty and after several occasions of mistaking plastic bags for jelly fish, we didn't really enjoy our time there particularly. Plus the Russians have a somewhat different approach to beaches altogether...

The day before we left Karon Beach we decided to go to Phuket town and see what there was to do there. We agreed a price with a Thai man, and hopped into his 'taxi' -  a fairly flash car with small television screens on the back of the seats in which the Thai guy proceeded to play some loud dance tracks, music videos and all - what fun we had learning the shallow and awful lyrics! After stepping out of the flashy car we realised going to Phuket was a BIG MISTAKE. We wandered around for all of 3 minutes to discover there was not a single appealing thing about the place. No market, few shops, nowhere to even watch the world go by with a cool ice shake - nothing!! We held out for all of 15 minutes, and after popping to 7 eleven, we eventually found a cab back to Karon again. (Why is it an unwritten rule that guaranteed if you don't want something you'll be hassled and have it shoved in your face over and over,and when you do you just simply can't find it? Definitely one of those occasions!) Such a fail of a journey and place!

The next morning we had enough drama in the first half hour to not need any for a few days, alas it kept coming. Rach woke up feeling a bit under the weather, and after being outside for 10 minutes at the 'usual' for breakfast - a local fruit stall, had to run back to the room for fear of being sick. We then had to pack up our stuff, and be picked up for our minivan to the ferry. We were greeted by the MOODIEST EVER Thai man, who grumbled at us for being slow, and then (much to our annoyance and confusion as to where it could be) nearly killed us when we couldn't produce our tickets due to them being lost. The journey to the ferry was spent with Rach holding a plastic bag feeling very nauseous, and Sasha and Mair trying to find the darn ticket, which isn't easy when the precision of a rucksack is so upmost these days when packed that unloading them all was quite simply a nightmare. Eventually the ticket was found! Rach was to blame, and it'd worked itself into her scrapbook of other leaflets and bits of paper.

A ferry journey later, with Rach throwing up twice in the toilets, we arrived at our next island... Koh Phi Phi. After getting to the end of the jetty, it was clear that the island was very much pedestrianised, so the norm of 'hop in a taxi and tell them the hostel' wasn't going to cut it. With the sun scorching and Rach still feeling dodgy, we spent agesssss trying to find our hostel, asking many a local who weren't very helpful at all. Eventually after a while Rach was left sat down in some shade with the bags, while Mair and Sash went to hunt down the place. We eventually collapsed in a heap in our dorm room (Mair and Alex only collapsing after clambering the stairs to top bunks) and spent a few minutes catching our breaths. We had a crazy few days on Phi Phi to say the least! Mair and Alex went out for a 'couple of drinks' and returning to a sober and still ill Rach pretty worse for wear. Mair had lost Alex, so The two of us ventured out to wade the puddles (caused by a crazy big storm) and after finding her, and getting a second round of chicken nuggets for Mair, we all made it back alive.

The next morning it was Sasha's turn to be throwing up - shed caught the stomach bug and spent the day spewing her guts up. (It's at this point we have to describe to you our hostel: bunk beds, boiling hot with air con restrictions being only after 6pm and before 11am, and the toilet being a tiny bathroom downstairs - these were not ideal circumstances for illness to strike!!). 

We survived, just, however, enjoyed another night out together, a great boat tour around the island and coves including watching sunset and snorkelling, as well as lots of sunbathing of course!

We decided to get some peace and quiet away from the beats and bad luck of Phi Phi, and set off to Koh Lanta, a much quieter island. Here we really relaxed! We had two nights at a little family run guesthouse called Sonyas, which had fab food and was just simply wonderful. We then treated ourselves to two nights at pavilion resort (you heard it RESORT!) which had a pool and our own little bungalow.

 This was followed by a crazy whacky place called chill out house - the entirety of the place made from logs, bamboo and driftwood, where we spent two nights more - each place just a stones throw from the beach. It was run by an American lady and her Thai husband, and we spent lots of time watching their baby, Jaydon who was hilarious.The highlights of our time on Lanta were sunset swims (trying to dodge the rocks which demolished our feet, somewhat ruining the atmosphere but beautiful nonetheless!). 

We hired a car one day, (Kevin the Kia) which was AMAZING! After reading somewhere about needing an International driving licence we weren't sure whether we could actually hire one, but the guy turned up, produced a car and briefly showed us how to use it... After specifically asking for a manual of course he came along with an automatic! He then left without seeing any proof we could actually drive, let alone showing any sort of licence - score. Mair was a pro driver for the day, (Rach had a quick go in the driving seat too) navigating around the island and enjoying the freedom of going wherever we wanted. We visited some shops, a village effected by the 2004 tsunami, found a secluded beach or two, saw two elephants by the side of the road, and wild monkeys who had stolen mangoes, and to top it off enjoyed a sunset swim - its safe to say we loved our day road trip!!!

After such a chilled time on Lanta we got itchy feet (literally, the mosquito bites were absolutely awful, so much tiger balm was used in a few days!!) so we decided to make our way back to Koh Phi Phi and see if it would favour us this time and not bring illness and back luck. We stayed at a different side of the island, which was quieter and meant the lyrics of every song couldn't be still heard whilst lying in bed at 3am - phew.

Having failed to do it the first time, we managed to get to the viewpoint at one side of the island, overlooking the bays on each side with the main strip of land in the middle. We arrived at the top after, wet with sweat and out of breath after many steps - the most fitness we'd done in forever! (Actually we should note at this point: Sasha and Mair went for a run in Koh Lanta, very impressively, and retuned rather pink faced. Rach didn't go as she was Skyping her dear Mumma - what a saviour, great excuse not to go!). Anyway we get to the top of the viewpoint, and it starts... Raining. Thankfully it wasn't wrapped up in the full on storm with thunder and lightning which often accompanies the rain, but it actually meant we captured a few cool pictures with the sun beaming through the black clouds.

We then decided to take a different way down, which looked like it had some steps down the other side of the hill. Alas did we know this route would turn into an hour long jungle trek, with locals sending us the wrong way (never trust two giggling boys on a moped when they direct you!!) and a lot of downhill resulting in hurting knees by the end. We did enjoy the views overall though, and made it back thoroughly in need of a good dinner and air con. A good dinner was had by all - we found a fab restaurant where we are some delicious western food - so good we had to go back the next night. After a few drinks that night starting off chatting on the beach and ending up dancing... Still on the beach, it was time to leave Koh Phi Phi and leave the beautiful Sasha.

After waking up early and grabbing breakfast, we said a tearful (at Sasha's end) goodbye and got onto our separate boats at the pier, saving Sash goodbye as she stumbled onto the boat carrying the biggest and fullest EVER rucksack. We had a part to play on this - Alex had a few days in Laos, a night in Bangkok and then was returning home! So we took the opportunity to give her many gifts and things to make our rucksacks lighter, weighing her down to a huge 22kg bag on her back - we can't thank you enough Sasha!!! Big up to you and your back, the poor thing!

So where next? We got a boat to Krabi, leaving at 9am, a bus to some place where we swapped to another bus, which took us to the border where we stamped out of Thailand and into..? MALAYSIA! Country number 5 hooray. After a hold up (shock) with a man on our bus somehow missing the stamp out on the Thai side and being very told off by the confused Malaysians as to where he'd come from, we finally got on another bus to get to Penang - a mere 15 hours later we arrived at midnight, tired and ready for bed! The next post will tell you all about our adventures here, we'll say for now its a fab place...