Backpacking

After catching a flight out of Hanoi back to Bangkok we continued to go down to Ko Phangan to be there in time for New Years. After a long trip we finally made it. We headed for the Green View Bungalows at Hat Yai, on the west side of the island. Seb had stayed there before. It was lovely and had a dog called Boobie (who incadently doesnt like being picked up, she bit some guys ear off when we were there) it was away from the throng of Hat Rin and all the tourists. The beach was just down the hill. After a nice swim and a very very tasty chicken sandwich we were all feeling alot better.

As its alittle way out we hired mopeds and then explored abit. The drive to Hat Rin is hairy....lots of steep climbs and hair pin turns...you dont want to be sharing your bike with a fatty as you wont make it up the hill!!!

The night of New years our place we were staying did a lovely buffet meal for all the guests, we also exchanged gifts...we wernt really sure about this so didnt buy one as we had already done presernts for each other but when we got there that night there was a wicked vibe so we pegged it back to the bungalow to see what we could wrap up. John and I gave our hammocks we had bought in Vietnam and Seb gave his poy. All the pressies went down well. In return we got a sarong, beach mat and a nerf ball.

After a hearty meal we all piled into the back of a pickup truck and headed to Hat Rin. The beach was rammed...
.....this is where my memory fails me......I had a wicked night the bits i can remember and we made it home at about 10am !!! brilliant...!! :o)

The next day was recovery..very very tired....we did more moped riding around the island and sightseeing (altho not much water in the waterfalls) we did see a nice lookout and some elephants.

The next day we nearly missed our ferry back to the mainland which would have meant we would have missed our train back to bangkok, all because of the silly moped woman pretneding she had forgotten she was supposed to be picking up the mopeds from the port...so seb and john had to go like lightening to take them back and then get back in time.
LUckily we made it :o) phewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!! very jammy...(as usual!!!) punctuality hasnt been one of our strong points.

Vietnam was the next destination. From Shianokville we took a taxi ride for 5 hrs to the southern border (a new one). When we got there he seemed to have a problem getting our stuff out of the boot!!! it was stuck..in the end seb and john had to tear out his back seats of his car !!! woppppssssss.....

The vietnam border was fine, there was no one there, no tourists, no touts...nada....(we went through the Ving Xuong/Chau Doc Crossing) we passed through xray machines and then through the various posts....immigration...health etc ....they all took themselves rather seriously, quite funny as they are only sitting in little green huts.. on the other side we took a 1hr moped ride to the nearest town to get a bus....

As usual we got the slow bus that took quite awhile but eventually arrived in Ho Chi Minh at about 1am...

Ho Chi Minh was a cool city....absolutly crazy drivers....they all just go at each other from everywhere, mopeds, cars, lorries...then there will be some little old woman who is crossing the road in the middle of it all and miraculously she doesnt get hit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Im afraid im having abit of trouble remembering what i did in Ho Chi
Minh...i think we took a motobike taxi around the city abit...

The next day we flew to Hanoi and stayed in the OLd Quatre. A really nice part of the city. I had probably one of the most surreal days of my life here. We got some moto drivers to take us to this big lake, which happened to have a fair ground at. It looked completly shut down but he assured us it was open. Nothign was going, no rides, no noise, car park was empty...!!!
we went to the ticket booth and there was someone there!!! After entering the park we were ushered around each ride which was opened expecially for us!! it was like having our own private theme park...was great. We had loads of goes on the bumper cars and afew on the roller coaster. Unfotunalty John was sick on one of the rides...and im sorry to say it was the kiddy ride!!! (hee heeee)
It was a great yet weird day out. The next morning we hopped on a flight to Bangkok.

Arhhhhhh christmas on a beach, something i have always dreamed of. Shianokville isnt too large a place but it has all you need. On christmas eve we went out for a nice meal and a few bevys. On christmas morning we all opened our presents from each other, i got a sexy pair of cambodian pj's and a shell wind chime. We then went and caught the boat out to Bamboo Island, a lovely tropical island off the coastwhere we spent the rest of the day. We sipped champagne and swam in the sea....it was lovely...(sorry if im making any of you jelous! :o)

Just on the beach there is a place that helps children make money and help them be more creatvie. The children paint pictures that they sell, some of the money goes to them and some towards the place and towrds giving them food. It s a great thing to do. We go 3 kids to paint us all 3 sitting together at the same time.

After a 5 hr boat trip we finally arrived in Phenom Phen to be greeted by the usually bussel of people wanting to drag us to each of their guest houses. So we hopped in a tuk tuk and did our usual Jesus of Nazareth thing and moved around from place to place taking a look.

In the end we decided on Same Same But Different. And boy were we glad. Its 3$ a night and its a wicked place. One of the best we have stayed in. The guy who runs it is called SAm and he can help you get anything you want.

We chilled out the first night, drinking some beers, playing some pool and chilling by the lake. The next day we decided to go and shoot some BIG guns at the army base. We hired a tuk tuk driver called Paddy who took us there.
We all shot an AK 47 (i know im a girl but boy did it have a kick!!) i was quite proud of myself i managed to hit the target afew times!! Then the boys shot an M-60, the rambo gun I think.

After the gun we headed for the go karting track. Needless to say i lost badly....they lapped me !!!! enough said.

Time for some culture...we headed to the Killing Fields, where Po Pot killed thousands of people. Unfortunatly we manged to get the worst guide of the bunch who just repeated 'Very Bad' about 5,000 times....... not worth our 5$.

That night we had organised to have Snake!!! (yup the silthery things...) it took alot of organising as im not too sure it all too legal but in the end sam managed to get us a nice Cobra and some rice wine. Together with other people from the place we nibbled on snake and sipped the blood and the venom...!! (mixed with the rice wine...which has quite a kick!!) .............i dont remember going to bed that night..........

The next morning was not an early start....after dragging ourselves out of bed we headed to a market to buy some stuff to take to an orphanage. If anyone goes to Phenom Phen i def recommend doing this. We went and bought a bag of 50Kilo rice, some pens, note books, toothbrushes, toothpaste and a football for them. Once there we were given a guided tour, the kids were so lovely, i have some great pictures, they love it if you take their pic then show them on your digital camera.

The next morning we left for Shianokville by taxi.....

Now there are 3.....We managed to find John hanging around the Ko San road and the next day we headed for Cambodia. After missing the first train we caught the last one by the skin of our teeth. Unfortunatly it turned out to be the equivelant of the slow boat to china but we eventually arrived at the border in the dark. It was shut so we had to spent the night. The town was a ghost town, nothing was going, altho we did come across a random rather tempremental elephant and fed it bananas.

The next day we headed to the border. The hotel did this big sell on a bus you can get, luxurious to siem reap...air con etc...... (YEH RIGHT!!!!) Even after reading all about the 'Scam Bus' we still got sucked in!!! deerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...............

so we bought the tickets and got taken to this place where they tried to sell us the visas which i knew you can get on the border, but to save the argument we let them do it for us. We then got taken to the border on one bus, went through, got on another bus, got taken to a money exchange place where we all got screwed over. Then got another bus which took us to a bus station where we got another bus...
We were not amused....finally we set off along a long bumpy road...arriving at siem reap in the evening. They dropped us all off at this guest house (convienient) but we went somwerhe else.

few pointers:
from border to siem reap get a taxi...faster..abit more expensive but you wont get conned..and its worth it. Should be about 25$ to 35$ ish US$.
you can get visa on border dont listen to anyone who says you cant.
cambodia takes US$ dont change your money at the border you get screwed over.

Firstly i would like to apologise for being so horrendous at updating my blog !! I am going to try and keep it updated from now on. (altho i might need awhile to catch up)

After spending an uneventful night in macau i arrived in Thailand where I met up with Seb at the airport. First stop was Ko Phi Phi, after a very long journey down there we arrived in Krabi town, where we had to hang around for afew hours to be taken to the port. Finally we hopped in the back of the truck only to be drenched by the biggest downpours ever the whole way there. (we were convinced that the driver was taking us thru the rain clouds on purpose).
We checked in the at the ferry terminal and i changed into some dry clothes. Oh was that a mistake, for about 10 mins it was nice and sunny on the boat then the heavens opened for the next 2 and half hours !!! by the time we arrived in Ko pHi pHi i looked like a drowned rat.

Ko pHi phi was pretty, not what i expected but still nice, they are still rebuilding from the tusnami but the island is livley and there were plently of places to stay. The first night i got to see some Thai boxing, i loved it!! some poor english bloke got his nose broken by a lady boy !!! dohhhh....

The rest of the time on Phi Phi was spent sunbathing, drinking, eating and exploring. One day was spent on a boat trip which took us to Phi Phi Lei the island where The Beach was filmed!! As we were on a big boat we had to anchor on the other side of the island. After hacking our way through some vegetation to ge to the beach we emerged only to be greeted by the sight of lots of fat europeans !!!

Bangkok was our next destination (again) to pick up John....