November 2010
2 posts
Perhentian islands
Set on the East coast, the Perhentians are two small islands which translate to small and big. Kecil being the smaller is where the majority of people stay as the larger is more for families hence the accommodation is set up for it, but being on either at this time of year was strange. It was like the bandits are coming so you best get out of town. Alot of guesthouses/restaurants were closing and...
Cameron Highlands
It’s now been about a week and a half since any real update due to the lack of knowing what to write about really for the Cameron Highlands. It can mainly be summed up as
Strawberries. Tea. Chilly. Trekking.
It’s about your lot really.
Set as the largest state in Malaysia, the CH are famous mainly for trekking and trails boasting to have the tallest peak on the mainland. This is all true, but...
October 2010
2 posts
KL
Again a considerable lack of updates since Tao due to their having been no real change from lying around on a beach or diving or drinking in the same places. Tao is one of those places that I love and already want to be back there, I think diving is still in my blood, along with all the nitrogen that’s buzzing around my brain and its started niggling at me when I’m not there. But the plan is to...
Koh Tao
Again an exceptionally long delay in the blogging due to the lack of being on land.
Firstly however, the chore that is getting a visa extension from Rangon in Burma. I recommend if you dont have to do it there, then dont. From KP I took a boat to Surat Thani again before being ferryed between several minibuses and excessive waiting. Finally the minibus arrived in Rangon, 4 hours later then...
September 2010
6 posts
Koh Phangan and the full moon
Every month, for those that dont know, there is whats known as the full moon party on Koh Phangan. This started as a going away birthday for someone in the 70’s and for some reason it has been celebrated every month since. Its become quite a tourist thing but having been in Thailand several times, I have missed it every time due to location elsewhere.
An average of 30,000 people descend on...
Return to Thailand and the horrors of Koh Chang
Due to the shocking pricing of the internet on the islands and the lack of much to write for the first week on my return to Thailand there has been a considerable lack of development on the blog for which I apologise.
We’re now on the 26th, so I have to go back to the 13th when I actually arrived to backlog where ive been.
Arriving on the 13th in Bangkok after a horrible 13 hour trip out...
Battambang
Battambang is crap. Theres no other way around it, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The fact that it has no tourism isnt a bad thing, its just that there isnt anything at all, and this is not in anyway shape or form charming.
The 4 hour bus turned into a 6/7 hour trip with the constant stops and having to go all the way to Sisophan before going back on yourself. Why they simply...
Siem Reap part 2
The final day in the iron man visit to Ankor was spent finally seeing the sunrise - a simple solution instead of missing the alarm was to just not go to sleep - so a chilly 5am start and possibly the whole of Japan camped out at the entrance to the main temple opposite the pond/lake. Have to say the sunset is far more impressive with the clouds, but its still pretty amazing seeing the sunrise over...
Siem Reap
After the bus ride that of course turned out to be nearly 9 hours, and a frantic rush for the bus due to them ‘forgetting’ me, im glad i prearranged where i would be staying as arriving at night i had no clue where the centre was. Instead a man waving my name on a card greeted me and took me to the garden villa, which has been hit and miss.
I recommend and i dont, the room i have for...
Kampot and Kep
Kampot itself is a rather small town with not much to do as its also rather inflated accommodation, but I was staying at a place with a group of people i’d met in Sinville so it was rather nice.
Bodhi Villa is 2km out of town on the other side of the river offering very basic rooms with a nice chill vibe on the bamboo decking out into the river. Other then a change from beach and ocean to...
August 2010
10 posts
Sihanoukville
Set on the south coast adjoining the Gulf of Thailand, its the nearest to the beaches of Thailand you can get. Not as busy with little to do bar a small amount of island hopping, it offers pleasant enough sun loungers to spend the days reading. Again its a nice place to chill out for a few days.
Considered stopping here to work for abit to get some money but have since found out that theres no...
Cambodia and the Capital
Taking the bus from the jetty to the border is about a 20 minute affair, but the crossing takes quite awhile due to the police in Cambodia being scammers..
Had to pay a $2 fee to leave the country as ‘its a weekend’ and then had to pay $1 for a ‘quarantine’ check - which we later found out even though they say you need, you can just walk past - the actual Visa ($23 pending...
Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands)
Taking a bus at 8 in the morning, the trip was 3 or so hours in the worst bus ive had due to everyone being French..
Ironically we stopped off at the port to cross to Champasak again to pick up more punters, before heading further south for the first drop off.
During the dry season when the river subsides, hundreds of islands/islets - including sand bars - are left, which they accumulate to make...
Wat Phu Champasak
18/8/2010
Arriving in pakse and spending my first evening here, you quickly find there is little to do and due to the locals having worked out everyone here needs to spend a night or so before traveling further south to the 4000 islands (the buses leave early in the morning, before anyone would arrive in town from the VIP bus from VT, they wouldn’t work out how to travel further south) as its the...
Pakse and Paksong and the waterfalls
14/8/2010
Arriving in Pakse first thing and taking a tuk tuk to the guesthouse where my friends were staying, I had time to shower before another bus to the alternative bus station – two bus stations, VIP for the sleeper bus drop off nearer the town and the main bus station around the Champasak province – for a trip to Tat Lo in the Bolaven Plateau where there are 3 waterfalls, none of which I can...
Viene Tiene
12/8/2010
Viene Tiene, the big lights, Capital City, and extremely French..
Now for those of you reading this, I have a thing against France, its best to not talk about it.. but I found VT not the nicest of cities, the whole layout and the fake Arc de Triomphe was abit wtf.
First city ive been in since Bangkok and the vastness of it in comparison to the rest of Laos was daunting. It’s a strange...
Vang Viene
Alas and alack the internet is still very slow so this might be all uploaded on the same day.
9/9/2010
Vang Vieng. A word (or two depending on how its spelt) synonymous with being a backpacker and traveling around Asia for one thing. Tubing.
Tubing is the thing to do. If you didn’t do it, you weren’t in Laos. It’s like being on Khao Sahn in Bangkok.
A hedonistic paradise where all the restaurants...
The missing bits of Luang Prabang
After a considerable lack of an update due the shocking speed of the internet in Laos, hopefully I can reaccount the past 10 or so days before a few more days radio silence and then onto Cambodia.
Having refreshed what I’d written last, I must go back a day even before to the last day in Luang Prabang.
So..
8/8/2010
Back in Luang Prabang again after a trip back south, stayed in the same...
Luang Nam Tha
After a hellish ride with an early start from Luang Prabang for 9 hours in a cramped minibus over some rather steep hills and pot holed roads, we arrived in Luang Nam Tha, seen as the trekking capital and the wilds of the north.
Smaller then Luang Prabang, not alot of people speak english and there are quite alot of chinese around, making the border crossing and stopping here before heading back...
Luang Prabang to Luam Nam Tha
From Chiang Mai we took a 5 hour bus ride via the White Palace outside Chiang Rai (random, but killing two birds with one stone as it was a place I wanted to visit) and from here the minibus traveled to Chiang Kong, the closest Laos border crossing in the north of Thailand, here we stayed for a night at a guesthouse where dinner was provided and lunch for the next day.
A walk around the town...
July 2010
8 posts
onto Laos
Going to the doctor two days after my ‘diagnosis’ I had another blood test which said I didn’t have Typhoid and the doctor had cocked up, but I still had Dengue which was more dangerous as due to my platelet count having dropped from 360 to 50, an asprin could kill me as id end up hemorrhaging. However also the diagnosis came to late as other then turning red from my blood...
Pai
Apologies for the distinct lack of update but its been a long week. To summarize, from Chiang Rai I took the bus to Chiang Mai using the ‘green bus service’ (really good bus chain and ride, reclining seats and free snacks) and stayed at the same guesthouse – same same – but its standards have dropped since I was there last with new owners, they haven’t changed anything about it.
Several days later...
deepest darkest burma
From Bangkok I stayed one night on Khao Sahn to meet and say goodbye to some people from Kho Tao before arranging a night bus up to Chiang Rai, a route most people probably dont take as they would go to Chiang Mai first, then crossover.
Bus was for 11 hours (more like 13 with thai time) and I got a better seat then previously whereby I could actually stretch out abit. Upon arrival to Chiang Rai,...
Leaving the Tao
Currently in Bangkok after a 12 hour journey from Koh Tao to Champorn via catarmaran and then a rather excessively slow bus ride apparently to Khao Sahn, via Hua Hin, but in reality, nowhere near. Done over once again by the Thai..
Its rather sad having left Tao, so far its been the best place ive been. The people and the atmosphere were alot more relaxed. Im not a beach person but I could have...
ao nang to koh tao
Arriving in Ao nang, its confusing to how touristic it is. Apparently its quite the spot in high season, but we found it quite a nice quiet resort town. Within walking distance to the beaches, we stayed for 3 nights in two hotels - part of the J family group - with some people we met on the boat from our trip in Phi Phi.
One day was spent kayaking from a dock, across an estuary, through...
phi phi and onwards
From the last night in Patong (not as seedy as last time to the extent of people acosting you, but maybe worse with the number of families - clearly from England - taking their young children in and around the go-go girls/boys. In my eyes just bad parenting to have your 10 year old son sit at a bar while mummy and daddy get drunk as a stripper humps the pole infront of him) which lasted about the...
phuket and karon beach
So arriving at Phuket airport at around 1am after a stupid flight whereby we had to pay extra for our luggage, and the seats being so small with a charge on everything (air asia jokers) we arrived during a storm and proceeded to take a minibus to Karon, via Patong, through the wind and rain, to arrive and make the mistake of thinking the pineapple was closed. On reflection it wasn’t and im...
Chiang mai the end
After spending the first day in Chiang mai milling around seeing the temples, and going to dinner at riverside, we decided to do the two day trekking trip. I was abit skeptic as id done the one day adventure trip with the rafting and waterfall before, however due to the monsoon I missed out a few things like the bamboo rafting and waterfall climb.
We booked through our guest house (same same) but...
June 2010
11 posts
chiang mai
Sorry for the lack of information in the posts, maybe because ive been to Thailand before that its just not the same, or because ive done stuff then it seems like im repeating myself.
Yesterday, spent the majority of the day milling around Ayutthaya as due to the transport issues
2000 plane 800 train 500 bus
the bus didnt leave until the evening, so we said goodbye to a friend whose gone back...
ayutthaya
so yesterday we took the train as a triplet from bangkok to ayutthaya (15 baht) for an hour and a half, its a rather strange train. quite slow and the seating means they dont cram as many people on as you would in england..
we got talking to some locals e.g. they talked to us and we nodded and accepted sweet bbq treats of pork slice (like chinese bakwa) we arrived and assumed it was alot smaller...
long time in bangkok
3rd day in Bangkok and its just not the same as it was last time. Im having a good time but its weird. First night, went out boozing at the local haunts and it seems not much has changed since. Everyone is trying to push goods on you more though.. they don’t lower their costs or haggle, its just inflation.
Yesterday, went to the temple of dawn, a short walk from the jade palace, and then a...
you want how much for what?
So today I arrived in bangkok, and it feels weird being back. its not the same.. its nice, and of course its far far to early to judge but it doesnt feel the same. so far i arrived this afternoon and I met a companion at the airport where I took the bus to khao sahn road (150 baht). Managed to find a room on khao sahn for 280 shared with a fan, so thats pretty tidy. Am going to give it a week and...
last day in nipple
So this is the last post im making in Nepal. Tomorrow I fly down to Thailand at about 9am local time here (so 4.30am or so in England). It’s a 4 hour flight so not to sure when I touch down. Apparently 1.30pm but unsure if that’s local time to here or there, I know Thailand’s ahead of England by 7 hours, so it makes the time easier as Nepal has the stupid 15 minute window to be different to...
last weekend in nipple
So having made a post a week ago, ill actually go with what happened alate.
Yesterday my friend left to fly back to Canada so im still staying at Tharlam, but now its double (600 rupees) because there’s only a double room available and with the students starting the program, its seen as peak season so everyone is charging around 800 per room, so I might as well stick it out.
The student program I...
the week late post
finally managed to get the post thats a week old, so not sure if theres much point posting as things have changed alot since then but ill go anyway
Of course it was bound to happen. Im in a hot country so logically I would suddenly develop a cold.. Thought it was just my hay fever playing up but ive definitely got the sniffles. Not much fun. Probably from the lack of sleep, just can’t get...
monsoon
So it begins. The monsoon season. Delayed a week but back in force. Started last night with abit of heavy rain for an hour or so during dinner, and left the valley full of clouds obscuring the hillsides with a grey look to the sky. Must say it’s quite nice that it’s lowered the temperature but it’s made it muggy which doesn’t help the asthma…
Im currently sitting rather soaked as I type...
Adventures around Boudha
It’s been awhile since I made any updates and the reason is because I wrote a load of stuff out on another computer which since has constantly been crashing, so im hoping to go back to it, just might have a delayed update to my blog..
Its currently Wednesday, days are starting to blur now as it feels like ive been here for far far too long.
Monday I went to Thames with the intention of sorting...
Nepal continued..
Current location: Boudha, Kathmandu, Nepal
*sigh* retyping what I just said about power outages…
The reason for the lack of update is due to random outages of power. Due to Nepal being land locked, the majority of electricity is hydro electric, and as it is the low season (monsoon season has been put back a week due to a cyclone in India) there are regular power cuts, but these come at the...
Nepal so far
Current location: Bodha, Kathmandu, Nepal
So this is my first actual post into my adventure on day 3, and I have to say so far it’s off to a rather slow start. I will continually bitch about it, but I really wish I had bought a netbook because wifi is everywhere and using this keyboard to type is like mashing with my palm..
Flew to Kathmandu via Delhi, India using jet airways. for the price,...
May 2010
1 post
the outlook
Current location: Steppingley, England
I figured I should write some sort of manifesto, or something to outline what im doing and why im doing it. Just skip to the bottom paragraph as this is mainly filler.
For those of you who’ve stumbled across this blog, my names Matt Allison, im 24 and live in England in a rather rather small village. Im a graphic designer with all the same interests...