Sunday, April 27, 2003

We arrived safe and sound to the hell whole alternatively called Patong beach in Phuket. It has got even more build up since we were last here for a night two years ago. Dan had the privilege of carrying both large rucksacks to keep the extra weight of my toes which are now a spectacular shade of black, but slightly less swollen.
On then way to get some lunch we tried negotiating a price for a tuk tuk to take is into the main area, they were asking a ridiculous price, this is when things started to go horribly wrong. They started being rude in Thai about us at which point a bit of an argument arose, another tuk tuk driver saw us in trouble ( 5 of them 2 of us), so as we started to walk to the other car and old Thai man raised his hand to slap me but missed, so he got out of his car to continue the confrontation - I would not have minded well sort of if I had said anything but I was on the other side of the road for most of the conversation. He raised his hand again at which point I turned round and said you never raise a hand at a woman - and promptly jumped into the tuk tuk leaving them gesticulating at us as we sped away. The tuk tuk driver stopped a policeman who we explained the trouble to.
On leaving the hotel this morning they we still there and called after us, a good job we are leaving today.
Despite this we actually had a lovely evening.
Dan is in the process of booking us tickets for here to Bangkok for when return from our diving trip in 4 days time.
Similans here we come.

Saturday, April 26, 2003

Well it had to happen...after my little sojourns in hospital Jen decided she wanted a piece of the action last night annd, after stubbing her toe really badly, we spent an hour and an X-Ray at PP Hospital. Although there was no doctor (!) there to decided if it was broken or not we had a good look and it looks OK so we think it isn't broken. One thing was a bit scary in that at the hospital they asked my name and then she asked how my diarrhea was. They then all donned masks and made some excuse - hilarious. I must be something of a celebrity. I'm pleased to report that after a nights sleep Jen's toe feels alot better - hopefully she'll be able to get a fin on later when we try on all our stuff for the Similan's.

One other thing to note is that there are very few dogs on the island but hundreds of cats - all emaciated but affectionate. We have been told that once a year the Thais go round with poison to cull them all...at least they don't then eat them like they would in some other parts of Asia...(Incidentally someone said to us whilst in China - 'If it's got a face they'll eat it...'!)

Yesterday we went snorkelling around the islands - great fun. Saw a number of fish, and also the first sea snake we've seen. We also saw 'The Beach' where said film was, er, filmed. I feel about 95% now so hopefully my guts'll be fine for 4 days aboard a boat...

Thursday, April 24, 2003

Well we've gone for the big one. After much ooohing and ahhhing we've booked ourselves on a 4-day/4-night 14-dive trip to the Similan and Surin Islands. We had been thinking about it for a while but because it's now becoming the end of the season it's a little more affordable, and more importantly, we may not get the chance for a few years as we've spent so much time in Thailand we're unlikely to be back straight away. We are going with West Coast Divers on the Explorer. Should be a great laugh - 3 dives for the first 3 days and 3 night dives followed by 2 early morning on the final day. We leave for the trip from Phuket on 27th and should arrive back on 1st May. Tomorrow we're off snorkelling as all we did today was relax round the pool and read a book or two!
We had a great night out! Having said that, after approx 1/2 bottle of beer it was obvious I shouldn't be drinking on these tablets so I switched to water for the rest of the night...

We started at a Scandanavian restaurant that I loved and Jen hated, and followed it up with a live Thai band who were actually really good. They were meant to be on stage at about 10pm but at 9.59 (ish) the heavens opened (and I mean opened - akin to a years worth of rain back home) thus we stayed in the bar until around midnight and by then had listened to 'The Doors', 'Guns 'n' Roses' and others all sung by a Thai who sounded better than a number of English lead singers I could mention...It was really good to see Helen and Rich again - we all get on really well as a group and have agreed to meet up definitely in Sydney (a Bondi beach BBQ on my birthday (how's that for aliteration!!) and possibly Malaysia before that. I have to say after last night's rain I am no longer jealous of their 5 nights on a boat...Good luck guys!

Today is a nothing day - we're going to lounge by the pool and probably head out on a kayak later and do some snorkelling. Ear is about 95% now so we're probably off diving the wreck of the 'King Cruiser' tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

I know we haven't updated this for a while but this is for a really good reason. Where we've been they don't have computers. It has been a very bad last couple of days...just to let you know neither of us is dead, or in any kind of trouble although on the former it was a close run thing, well kind of, hey you decide...

Sunday (wrote Mr. Kipling) was diving day - a trip to two of the best dive sites in the world - Hin Muang and Hin Daeng. We set off at 6.30 as planned and had a fairly basic but tasty breakfast consisting of, amongst other things, a rather grey looking egg. 'It'll be alright, it's hard-boiled'...famous last words? The sites themselves took four excrutiating hours to get to but were well worth the effort. Amazing untouched coral and shoals of fish the likes of which we had never seen before; jacks, trevallies, triggerfish, clownfish to name a few. The first site (Muang) is basically slap bang in the Gulf of Thailand and is completely submerged. There are drop-offs and vertical walls on each side that go down to 50-70m so you had to be careful that you kept at the right depth - didn't want decompression sickness and all that. Although the currents were really strong we managed to circumnavigate the rock and were follwed by the first friendly triggerfish I have ever seen - at one point I nearly swam into it, and rather than attack like usual it just swam past!!

During lunch the divers on another dive boat starting flipping out, some jumping overboard with snorkel and mask from the top deck - the cause of the consternation was what we'd all come to see - 5m Manta Rays. Although we didn't see one at lunchtime (too interested in the Thai green curry I'm afraid - too slow to get a look-in) we were hopeful we would get to on our dive. Hin Daeng is only about 30m from Muang and has a a pinnacle that is slightly above water and is a little more sheltered thus making it less 'curranty'. We entered the water into more and more fish, similar kinds to before. Again we were followed by the more inquisitive ones. No sign of the Mantas though. Ho Hum I thought - we never get to see the bloody big ones. And then it happened. A huge Manta swam from behind us, went over our heads and swam past. It was at least 4, if not 5m wide and it blocked the light out as it passed. It was a truely awsome and humbling sight and one we will never forget. On returning to the boat some 40 minutes later it appears of the 40 or so divers only 8 of us saw the Manta, so for once we were lucky. We then sat down and perused the pictures we had taken - the only one we managed to get of the Manta is slightly obscured by Jen's air bubbles, fancy breathing underwater eh?? It was then the first tragedy occured. My Osmond (house,I was in at school not 'Donny' or 'Family') rugby top, the one I've had since I was 13 was not clipped to the railings of the boat - someone unknown had hung it up, and as my Mum and Jen will tell you it wouldn't have been hung up by me, hell no it would have been safely crumpled on the deck - and it now resides somewhere in 70m in the Gulf of Thailand. I hope the Moray Eels and triggerfish are making a nice home out of it. Now this rugby top is something of a legend, I've even had a couple of emails from Uni friends who've said 'I can't believe you've still got that bloody top'. Well I haven't any more. GUTTED! My brother is, however, going to try to buy me another one when he visits Ely this week - it won't be the same though as they changed the style a few years back and the white collar is now blue, what a nightmare!! To top it all off my left ear went all dicky again and I started coughing up yellowish (well straw coloured) blood. Whilst not as bad as in Koh Tao it still hurt and I couldn't hear out of it at all.

I bet you're thinking, 'what's he moaning about - that's not a lot to go wrong - it's only a shirt', or - 'hey you've got two ears you know' etc etc...oh you just wait - it's just about to get interesting...

I awoke at 3.30 (am) - our ferry was at 8, so no need to be up so early. The reason for the premature alarm calls was, to put it bluntly, my bowels. They were just about to explode. Two minutes later they duly did, with the force akin to a B-52 over Bagdhad (SORRY...way too much information...). This continued for the next 4 hours. It was clear by this time there was no way we'd be travelling today. More worryingly I was now running something of a temperature and with all the fluid loss was badly dehydrated. We decided to get to a doctor's - the nearest one being only 10 minutes away (by motorbike - that was not a fun ride). To be honest I was not and am still notconvinced that chap we saw was a doctor, the thermometer he used showed 37.5 degrees, no problems I hear you cry, true, except it showed 37.5 before, dureing, and after I stuck it in my armpit, and also after we submerged it in a cup of boiling water. He would not accept it was broken though. Eventually we were referred to the Island's hospital where we were whisked (this time by pick-up truck) almost immediately. By this time I was more than a little delerious, the water I has tried to drink was going straight hrough me as were the rehydration salts. In the hospital they gave Jen the twelth degree about where we'd bee, what symptons I'd had etc...(we had mentioned we'd been in China 10 days ago to the health centre bloke when he asked) and we were immediately quarantined. They thought I had SARS. This is no word of a lie. Everyone donned masks, protective clothing, gloves, hair nets and they effectively shut down the part of the hospital we were in. The next 2 hours are a bit of a blur, among other things, I told Jen I wanted to se my brother and I was off to meet up with my Dad. I also thought we were on an aeroplane. My temperature was now at about 39 degrees C (102 + F for those of you still working in old money). This was further exacerbated by the fact they didn't have air-conditioning and we were entering the hottest part of the day - 40 degrees outside. After Jen had told them of all our movements (literally everything, down to guesthouses stayed in, room number et al) from the last 4 weeks the decision was made to transfer us to quarantine at Krabi (the province capital) Hospital where we would have our own room and would be more comfortable. They also had the capability to do a chest X-ray, which I was told I needed. All worrying stuff. Their evidence, they believed, pointed to SARS; been in China within 14 days, high fever, acute diarrhea, strugling to catch a full breath (trust me so would you in 40 degree heat). On the positive side I didn't have a cough or sore throat, and hell, here I am writing this two days later...;) At around 1pm our 'ambulance' arrived. Think pick-up truck with stretcher in the back and you're closer. The doctor (who was amazing - I do remember this fact) was clearly not impressed and ordered them send another one, which arrived about half an hour later. It was a little, although not alot, better. At least this one had somewhere for Jen to sit and a drip stand. What was to follow was truely horrific, an 80km ride mostly on dust tracks done in under an hour and a half. This included two ferry rides too. We believe he was travelling at an average of around 60-70 mph. When he did stop (for the ferries) he got out and had great pleasure in telling everyone that would listen about the two 'farang' SARS victims in his ambulance. Everyone he did so started covering their faces and moving away from the trucks. (At last we'd found away to keep the Thais from selling stuff to you...)

By the time we reached Krabi hospital I was so weak I couldn't stand-up and was slipping in and out of consciousness (well sleep really I guess but consciousness sounds more dramatic). I also felt as if my internals organs had become detached due to the bumping up and down - fortunately I was wrong about this. The stool tests were showing the presence of bacteria, but they still went ahead with the x-ray. This came back negative for pneumonia (thank God), as we expected. However we were still quarantined and it took another full day for my fever to drop. We spent Monday and Tuesday night in Hospital (Jen slept on the sofabed - the room was better than some hotels we'd stayed in - air-con, TV (with sport channels), Western not squat toilet) and finally were allowed to leave today. The diagnosis - acute food poisoning, possibly salmonella, possibly from chicken or eggs. Hmmmmmm... We rang the dive company and they said no-one else had been ill so unless they were better liars than George Galloway (not hard to be fair) we are at a loss as to where I got it from. I guess it could have come from the sea as I did swallow quite a bit of sea water at some point. Either way, things are nearly back to normal now and we've finally arrived on Phi Phi.

A couple of things came to our mind about the whole thing really, namely:
How efficient and professional the Thai healthcare professionals are in the main, although their 'tools' to do the job are nowhere near as sophisticated as elsewhere in the world.
How seriously they are taking the threat of SARS.
How much of a nutter the ambulance driver was. It would have been far less of a surprise if we'd died in an RTA on the way to the hospital than of SARS/food poisoning etc...now wouldn't that have been a perfectly ironic way to go!!??

We have finally met up with Helen and Rich (3 days late). They are off on a yacht for a week tomorrow so we've had a spot of lunch and no doubt we'll go out tonight (Jen and Helen are currently sunning themselves on the beach). Their trip sounds tremendous and we are more than a bit envious - seems we might have missed the boat on that one - ha ha. We may meet up with them in Malaysia but will almost certainly do so in Aus/New Zealand and South America - their website is here for those who haven't seen it. You can't look at Rich's diary without a login - let us know if you want one - I'm sure we can email you ours!!! (It's so they don't get listed on Google etc...) We have gone for relative luxury although it's within budget (bonus!!) and we're right on the beach. We're staying at the PP Princess which was recommended to us by another couple we met (Hi Derm and Teri) in Krabi. No idea how long we're going to stay here. We're half thinking of doing a similar trip to H & R (basicaly yachting/fishing/snorkelling around the smaller Thai islands until you hit Malaysia) but we're conscious we need to be back in BKK by the 3rd May and we haven't booked any planes, trains or automobiles yet. Phi Phi looks great so we'll almost certainly be here 2 or 3 days. We might then head to Phuket before grabbing a cheap (20 quid!!) flight to Penang. We are keen to dive again and as my ear seems to have pretty much righted itself this is a distinct possibility.

We have had shedloads (over 30) emails in the last 3 days and we haven't been able to reply to any - SORRY! We will hopefully do so this weekend if (and when) we hit Phuket. The connection here is so slow it takes about 3 minutes to load each page.

Just a note to my Mum - I am OK Mum don't worry about it - I haven't got SARS - I am OK - just to reasure you!!


Saturday, April 19, 2003

Not loads to report really. For some reason we slept in til Midday, had some lunch, walked down the beach and then promptly slept until 5pm. No idea why this happened but it did. Just hit town for a bite to eat before an early night as we're up at 6am for tomorrow's diving.


Friday, April 18, 2003

The MP3 player seems to be mended again...this was just one part of why yesterday was such a good day. Firstly we arrived at our accomodation after a 2 hour boat trip - the air-con even worked on the ferry so that was a bonus. Our guesthouse is lovely, they're really friendly and the room is cheap - 600B (9 quid) a night. We're on the beach and less than 1 Km from the main town. Koh Lanata is great, really laid back, quite underdeveloped and a bit similar to Koh Chang - except we didn't like it there...ant infestation in our toilet is anyone remembers back to January, we're struggling to...

We also found an English 'pub' last night that serves, homemade quiche (yes I know that's not strictly very English), fish and chips and other Western goodies. He even does a Ploughman's - his next shipment of Branston arrives today so we'll be back tonight or tomorrow no doubt - Jen has booked us in for Sunday lunch on, Sunday (duh!) We watched Man U Vs Arsenal, as live, and as we didn't know the score it made for a great evening. We also managed to book some diving for today - more of that in a bit. The sites we really wanted to go to (Hin Deang and Hin Mueng) are being dived on Sunday so we'll have to stay until then. We've booked our tickets for the ferry on Monday so we'll arrive in Phi Phi for about 10am.

Today was diving again and we had a blast. You'll all be pleased to know that our new dive computer worked well and we got a lovely readout at the end telling us time in water (54 mins for dive 2), max depth (28m) and water temperature (31 degrees!!!!!) - NICE!
The first dive was OK - but the second was something else...apart from seeing the usual marine life close up, schools of small fish and some larger ones (sorry still don't know most of the names) we also saw a massive Moray Eel and an Octupus that even waved at us before swimming off. The highlight of the second dive was the opportunity to swim into a cave where you could then swim up into a cavern with an air pocket. There were hundreds of Stalagtites (mites go up tites come down...) and we got the opportunity to take our masks off and have a good 5 mins looking round - it was kind of eerie but great fun.

We have booked in to do some more dives on Sunday - Hin Muang and Hin Deang are two of the best sites in the world and we are hoping to catch a glimpse of our first shark (leopard and whale) or one of the many 5 metre Manta Rays.

We have had an email today from Helen and Rich (Hi both - glad you're enjoying Suk 11) letting us know they'll be on Phi Phi from Sunday so hopefully we can hook up on Monday for some beers and dive on Tuesday/Wednesday I guess. We haven't really got much of a clue what we're doing after Phi-Phi - probably Phuket (Jen wants to find a matching elephant carving for the one we bought 2 years ago) followed by the trip back to Bangkok in readiness for the arrival of my brother - 4th May. We have got to get Visa extensions somehow so we should hit BKK on or around the 2nd.

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Today we did nothing, well really we did nothing as in we did a little this a little that. It was bliss.

Jen dropped our recently mended MP3 player which is now officially broken again. Don't think her dropping it had much to do with it as we got a different error message but either way we're both pretty peeved as we'd just got used to having music again...ho hum.

Met a couple staying at our hotel who have lived in Thailand. She is a teacher, and he has recently managed the powering of the metro construction in Bangkok. Coincidentally we ate at the same place tonight and shared a couple of stories. They're off to Phi Phi the day after tomorrow and are going to advise us of good dive sites etc...we're going to do the same for Koh Lanta.

I bought a dive computer (the cheapest decent one we could find as money is obviously tight) and a little slate thing that you can write on underwater. That means the last nag-free refuge has now gone...only joking dear.


Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Kayaking hurts. Not just your arms but your whole body. Yes your arms hurt after all the kayaking motion, but your back also hurts when you forget to add sunscreen and your legs hurt where you forget to add insect repellent. Hohum. Despite all the above we've had a great day getting tanned (read burnt) and kayaked round a whole island semmingly the size of the Isle of Man, but probably more the size of a traffic island. We also managed to cram in some snorkelling and fed the fish all the leftover dinner which they gobbled up. It was a bit of a dry run (there's a misnomer if ever I heard one) for Jen's new camera case which worked a treat. We're well and truely knackered so we're off for some food and then bed - it's hard work this holidaying malarky.

Monday, April 14, 2003

Just had tea at a wonderful Mexican, our first night has been lovely - Krabi seems really quiet at the moment. The reort area has a great balance between enough civilisation to get you through without being over-developed. We've hatched a bit of a plan for the next few weeks that should take us through to Aus, we're going to have to miss out Malaysia as we don't think we could do it justice in the 3 days we would have there.

The main reason for coming back tonight is to say CONGRATULATIONS to Angie (Jen's best mate) who completed the London Marathon in a staggering 4 1/2 hours and finished in 3,620th place. Bloody impressive, well done but I bet you ache like hell today!
We are now on another beach, well not on a beach, in an internet cafe near a beach but you know what I mean. Today is purely R & R, but tomorrow we are off kayaking amongst the limstone Karsts. Should be fun. Wednesday is a beach day and Thursday is the day we travel to Koh Lanta. We will be there for a few days + possibly doing a dive or two before heading to Phi Phi to meet up (hopefully) with Helen and Rich who are currently in Siem Reap.

Just trying to sort an itinery for my brother`s visit in May. At the moment it stands at a couple of days in BKK, followed by some diving. This will mean we have to get an extension to our visa so we are about to go and look into that.

Sunday, April 13, 2003

The Songkram festival, for those that don't know, is the Thai New Year although their year date still goes forward one year on Jan 1st - confused? We were. The festival takes place from 13-15th April every year and the city of smiles (and traffic) becomes one of utter utter chaos. Originally, in years gone by, Songkram marked the opportunity for the devout Buddhist population to 'cleanse' the spirit of the old year by pouring water over themselves and their family. Indeed it is seen as a time when all families in Thailand get together and even the traffic in Bangkok subsides.

Feeling brave or foolhardy we decided to venture out in the midday sun to Khao Sarn Rd - the backpacker strip we usually avoid. As this is near the Grand Palace and temple area it is the scene of most of the wild behaviour. The sight that greeted us was one of complete mayhem. The street was teaming with hundreds if not thousands of people of all ages and nationalities, Thais mixing with the Westerners. For once in this area the latter were in the minority. The pavements were lined with water sellers and again the prices were standard for Westerners and Thais. There were hosepipes for refilling and tens of water-pistol vendors. The Thais also had some sort of paste - bit like a flour and water combo - which they spread over any part of your anatomy they could get hold of. Jen remarked she had never been touched by so many men in such a short space of time - well quite! Armed with some of Adam's ale and a double-barrelled pump-action Kalashnikov of a 'pistol' we ventured forth. How to describe the next 2 hours - carnage. Not alot else fits the bill word-wise really. Water comes at you from all angles, when we re-filled (and were, thus, stationary) was the worst time as water would come at you from everyone and everywhere - regularly a couple of pints (complete with ice cubes) would go down your back/over your head. It was really interesting to watch a number of Westerners who delighted in standing in the periphery and just shooting people but complaining when they got hit...that's how not to play this game. The walk down the road was incredibly good natured and many 'Happy Songkram's were exchanged along with the obligitory paste. Without doubt, the funniest sight of the day was a backpacker who had obviously not heard of the festival who pitched up at the wrong end (where all the crowds were) of KSR. As soon as she left her taxi looking for cheap accomodation (we didn't tell her all the guesthouses were closed - that would have spoiled the fun) she was descended upon by about 20 people and within a couple of minutes, her, her backpacks (front (does that make it a frontpack?) and back) all her clothes and everything she was carrying (including guidebook) were drenched - welcome to Thailand!!

Despite looking like a couple of extras from Waterworld (not exactly Kevin Costner's finest hour - not sure it had any flour paste scenes though to be honest) we managed to flag a tuk-tuk down and made it back to the hotel to change before venturing out (with a fresh set of dry clothes) for lunch. On our way we asked not to be soaked and the Thai's were very gracious and didn't throw anything at us, unsurprisingly the only guys who refused were a couple of typical drunk 'Brits abroad' who, despite Jen explaining the situation, soaked her then me. She said something to them I can't repeat on here and I followed up with a similar expletive whilst throwing the remnents of my bottle of (drinking) water in one of their faces. For once I seemed to get the last laugh as I knocked his shades off and they fell on the floor, hopefully getting scratched in the process. We decided to stay at the hostel tonight as a) we're running out of clothes and b) if those dickheads we saw earlier were anything to go by, a little testosterone and alot of beer will probably not mix well with water and paste and I imagine a load of Westerners will probably end up in some kind of fight. I can understand when the Thai press is so critical of how the festival has been turned into a glorified water fight. That said we enjoyed ourselves, and our overriding memory will be of the friendly greetings and warmth in the Thais' smiles...before they attempted to drown us!!

We fly to Krabi on yet more discounted tickets tomorrow - 8.05 flight so another early flight - we've managed to book 3 nights for the price of 2 at a really nice sounding resort. We might dive in Krabi but in all honesty we will probably save that for Koh Lanta in a week or so. I am sure we will continue to get soaked tomorrow. Just to be on the safe side we have paid for a taxi to pick us up at the airport as we didn't feel like braving the songthaew in Krabi as they are open and you're a moving target, albeit a relatively fast moving one.

Saturday, April 12, 2003

Back on familiar ground, in familiar surroundings, on a patch we almost know as our second home - yup it's Thailand, Bangkok, Suk11 all over again. Plane journey was unsurprisingly empty, less than a hundred on a plane built for 260. Before boarding the plane we had lunch and spent a couple of hours with a Dutch couple who'd been living in Didsbury for the last 3 years, they have already been to South America and promised to help us out with any questions...in exchange we told them all we could remember about South East Asia - their next destination. Their plane to Singapore was even emptier than ours - 46 passengers, tourism is definitely not booming here at the moment.

On board everyone (including all staff) wore masks and we did so for the first time, figuring it would be easier to clear customs/immigration in Bagkok if we complied. I felt like I was about to enter an Altern 8 gig. The scene on arrival was one of (dis)organised chaos, half the Chinese hadn't filled in their obligatory health survey forms (to be fair it was in English and Thai script only - no Chinese characters) and thus there was huge confusion about who went where etc...eventually we found the right queue, were quizzed about our health, and had our temperature taken (Jen's was 36.5 - a degree lower than she should be!) and after passing through about 50 health officials in full surgical gear we were allowed into the reclaimation area.

So what to do in Bangkok? We're shipping another load of stuff, bought in China, back (we owe you some serious beer Neil) including Panbada who has become something of a mascot, but is a little cumbersome to lug round with us. It is Songkram (sp?) here which is Thai New Year. Basically it's an excuse for a huge water fight and tourists are the main target - I already got soaked last night, a day early - I must have a particularly irritating 'I'm a tourist come soak me' face, or I might just have looked like an American. Whatever happens it should be fun. Jen has vowed to win her pool crown back tonight so we will have to see. At this point I need to point out that when in Laos I lost rather spectacularly to a Swedish guy who Jen then promptly went and beat - she believes this makes her better than me at pool and has been nagging me to write it on here for ages. So there we go, happy now??!!

We have put our visit to the weekend market on hold until the weekend of my bro's arrival (May 3rd/4th) as most of the stalls won't be there anyway this weekend. After this we're not 100% sure of what we're doing - we got an email from Helen and Rich who have also decided against HK and The Philippines/Indonesia and are now going South through Thailand via some diving. They should be back in Thailand around 20th April and I think we're going to meet up and 'do' Phi Phi. With this is mind we will probably stay a couple of nights in Krabi (we fly on Monday) before taking the boat to Koh Lanta - another undeveloped island where you can also dive. this should mean we arrive in Phi Phi at roughly the same time as them.
PICTURES TIME!!!

These go way back to Vietnam which is about a month ago. First up we have Jen in the 'tourist' tunnels at Cu Chi and Dan on a cyclo in Chinatown - both Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Apologies for the quality on some of these - the picture editing programme we've been using is a bit poor.



The actual tunnels (very few tourists can fit in them!) at Cu Chi and us relaxing in a bar in Nha Trang



A typical Vietnamese fishing boat in Hoi Ann, and us at the big lake in Ha Noi



Us at the rugby sevens in Hong Kong with our wonderful hosts Karina and Nicolas, and us at the Forbidden City in Beijing



The Great wall and a couple of tourists, and then on it's own



Jen on the Great Wall, followed by the Summer Palace, Beijing



Dan on pedalo at Summer Palace lake, and the Temple of Heaven - both Beijing



Kite flying in Beijing, a girl in traditional Chinese dress in Xi'an



Us at the Terracotta Warriors, and some warriors with heads, some without



One of the restored bronze chariots at the warriors, Xi'an; Panda sanctuary, Chengdu



The Grand Buddha with yet another couple of bloody tourists; the Buddha in all it's glory



As we've bought an underwater case for Jen's camera we should have some great pictures of underwater life for you next - hopefully it'll be sharks and rays not little cleaner and parrot fish...

Friday, April 11, 2003

Just to tie up the panda place - we bought by far the greatest piece of tourist tat so far at this esteemed spot (it was absolutely wonderful by the way) - a walking panda that not only has flashing eyes but also plays the lambada as it moves - uitterly compelling. We've called it (wait for it) Panbada - original huh!

Quite alot has happened in the last few days so take a seat and buckle up - this could take some time. We went on our second organised tour yesterday - to the biggest Buddha in the world, the Great Buddha at Leshan. It is over 70m tall and stands on the riverbank. To get the best view you can take the speedboat and take pictures from the river. After walking about a mile and a half around the complex this was a pretty enjoyable way to make our way back, even if the driver thought he was a James Bond baddie and kept making tight turns and laughing maniacally.It was an enjoyable day, spent in the company of the same people we went to the panda institute with - yet more Aussies and a couple of Brits. We felt it was time for a night out so at around 8pm we all gathered at 'The House of Union' which is basically a few sofas, and a fridge on the riverfront. It's very 'backpackery' but a really good place to chill and swap stories, and of course, sample a little of the local ale. It was a motley crew (no bad poodle perms on show here though) of people; obviously Jen and myself, Luke (the most bearded man on earth, and at 5 ft 11 and a half he's a real gentle giant) and Flic (another dentist - God can you imagine the conversations her and Jen had about root canals etc...), Carolyn (Aussie who joined our 'group' yesterday), and Paul (Barnsley fan with great music taste) and Dave (PhD in Physics - the brains of the operations - much dodgier taste in music, which included some Chinese alternative stuff...). We spent a good few hours just having a great time and then walked the half mile or so back to the hotel. The now obligatory exchange of emails and a promise to meet up in Aus then occured. We have also met a couple of great Kiwis who are on the final leg of their year out. Having previously been living and working in Hong Kong, Sally and Richard are returning to NZ after Richard was made redundant last year. Again, we're keen to meet up with them when we hit Wellington some time in August.

The flight situation has resolved itself but only after we've forked out 350 quid for flights to Bangkok. We were basically in a no win situation, BA would/could/whatever only re-route us out of Beijing to Sydney as a result of us being unable to travel to Hong Kong. They also wanted us to pay (!) for this riveledge despite having already paid for 2 re-routes that we now couldn't use. We still haven't had a reply to the email we sent 10 days ago...very very disappointing. We're flying from Chengdu to Bangkok with Thai Airways and, unsurprisingly, when I contacted them to change the date of our flight to Krabi they did so within 3 minutes and said we could pick up our tickets at the airport - FREE OF CHARGE. If anyone at BA ever reads this you could go some way to sorting your appalling customer service out by looking at how Thai do things, quickly, efficiently, and always with a smile. RANT OVER (again).

So, onto Bangkok for, I think, the 7th time now in total - although once we didn't leave the airport. Hopefully staying at our fave place but they haven't come back to us yet so we're a bit nervous about having to stay with the hippies on Koh Sarn Rd. We should be in Bangkok for the Songkran festival where everyone has a massive water fight apparently - something to do with cleansing the spirits from the previous year. Wish I had the double-barrelled pump action water pistol I bought whilst still a student.

After this back to the beaches - we're hoping to get some diving in before the monsoon season hits the West coast.

Wednesday, April 09, 2003

The panda research and breeding centre was really good. They had baby pandas and older pandas in large areas with trees they can climb, and they were contained not by fences but small moats they can not climb through. We had a photo or two taken with a panda a bit touristy but good no the less. Their fur was quite coarse not like cotton wool as I expected (Jennifer's writing this). It was a really good mornings trip.
Tomorrow we are off to a cooking course and a cultural show.
There a a few traumas as regard travel restrictions that have now been put in place, the insurance will not cover us if we travel to Hong Kong so we cant, but they will not cover the cost of the ticket we have already bought, and will not pay for us to fly out any other way. Ho Hum as Dan would say.

Tuesday, April 08, 2003

Have arrived safely in Chengdu - got a lovely room in a fantastic place - I think we're gonna like it here. Off to the pandas tomorrow, and then to the Grand Buddha, probably the day after. We are now thinking about continuing our tour north and 'flying in the face' of the SARS. We cannot get a refund for our Shanghai tickets, and thus we're thinking it might be better to carry on the same route. Gonna have to stock up on those masks...

The Yangtze Cruise is very expensive but you are aboard for 2/3 nights so although it looks alot you get your accomodation - the choice we have now is whether to do the locals or the foreigners boat - so a boat full of Chinese (generally friendly but spit alot) or Japanese/German/Spanish et al....hmmmm what a choice. Off out to try some Sichuan food now which is about the spiciest in the world by all accounts...you're meant to drink peanut and walnut milk to help sooth - this could be a fun night, can't be a big one though - off to the pandas at 7.30 A.M. ARGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, April 07, 2003

Now you know I said our room was a dump, well let me just quantify that a little...

The toilet pipes leak, so much that there is no water in the cistern. I only discovered this after a trip to the local watering hole when I was bursting to use said utility.
The room stinks and hadn't (judging by stray hairs everywhere) been swept since the last Ming dynesty.
The duvets smell of bonfires/urine/stray dogs.
There is a massive hole in the wall where the heating (that no longer works) exploded and caused a small fire.
It is damp.

Apart from this, it's the bloody Ritz. Anyhow after noting most of the complaints last night we were disappointed surprised (but not astonished) to find the room hadn't even been touched on our return. After trying to get some shut-eye but realising it wasn't going to happen I finally lost my rag and went to have a real go at them. They moved us at pace and our new room is somewhat better although still less than salubrious. Anyhow onto today....

Receiving our discounted air tickets we have found we're not flying with China Southern as discussed but Hainan airlines who look decidly dodgier - but hey I'm not scared of flying any more - honest...the ticket was less than 30 quid - a bargain given that the train is 27! They also booked us onto todays tour but we needed five people to go so it wasn't until 10.45 this morning (an hour and 15 late) that we finally departed...we were not impressed...

HOWEVER - the tour more than surpassed our expectations and for 10 quid, including all transport, an English speaking guide, and all entrance fees you really couldn't complain. Incidentally although the guide had leant English at university (and his grasp was pretty good) all he learnt about 'pop' culture was from the tourists he took round, so hence he thought (genuinely) that we all had afternoon tea, knew the queen, and wore bowler hats...very amusing. Quick first stop was the North Wall and Gate (Xi'an) where we bought a couple of mini-terracotta-warriors. We then went to a silk farm where I tie-dyed Jen a silk scarf, it's come out pretty well too...we also bought a pressie for Jen's sister (will be shipped from BKK Rachel next week hopefully) and a piece of slik carpetting. A good 1/2 days purchasing...

Then onto yet another tour highlight - the Terracotta Warriors. The first great bit of news was that we could take photos and we both did, despite my camera being on the blink (for the second time ince I bought it...) thinking of ditching it if we can't get it repaired cheaply in BKK. The Warriors themselves had been destroyed by a peasant uprising in about 300 BC. They were originally set in battle formation around Emperor Qin's tomb and there was approxinately 6,000 plus. Of these about 2,000 have been excavated and restored. There are many different types of figures, ranging from infantrymen to archers, generals to lower ranking officers, and there were even a number of horses (their wooden chariots long since gone). It is an amazing sight although it is a little disappointing that you have to view from a gallery rather than get 'amongst' them. There were another couple of pits they are still excavating in, a film and a short 'history of the site' exhibition. There was also 2 sets of 4 bronze horses/chariots that have been meticulously restored and are now on display. We finished the tour with a trip to the mausoleum (read big mound of earth) where we got some great views of the surrounding area.

It was another of the days we'll remember long into our old age - something to tell the grand-children we keep saying...hmmmm, little worrying that. Onto Chengdu and the pandas tomorrow, let's hope they don't sell the funniest and most bizarre souvenir we have seen so far - an electronic cuddly panda that walks back and forth whilst playing the lambada...hahaha

Sunday, April 06, 2003

We've arrived safely in Xi'an and have also arrived at the worst hostel we've ever stayed at although the staff are friendly enough...think of Bradford/Hull and Peterborough and multiply by 1,000 for badness and you're not even close. Jen has continued her adventurous eating streak by trying something esle she never has before - a 'Big Mac'. Quite a delicacy out here...the plan is to stay here for a couple of days - go to see the Terracotta Warriors and then head down to Chengdu - we're having a hell of a time cancelling the flight from Shanghai - pretty sure we wouldn't if we weren't foreign but hey...at the moment they're telling us we need to go nack to where we purchased them (Hong Kong), even though (and catch this for irony) the whole reason that we're no longer need the tickets from Shanghai to Shenzhen is that we can no longer fly out of HK...

That aside nice to see you are all writing getting your own back for when we've posted 'it's 35 degrees here' etc... by telling us all about the UK weather. It's 10 degrees here (if that) and raining - you know that really fine drizzle that soaks you to the bone... Had the best meal yet last night (not at McDonalds) at our hotel - 8 quid for 3 chinese courses and a couple of drinks - magnificent...

Saturday, April 05, 2003

Quite a busy couple of days - with weary legs we decided to have a bit of a lay-in (are you detecting a pattern yet?) but made it to Liu Luang for the afternoon. This is basically one long street full of olden-style shops, it was a real relief from the concrete jungle of Beijing and we spent at least a couple of hours browsing the stalls. Following some good natured bargaining we managed to acquire a Mah Jong set, two seals (of the ink/wax variety not furry club-able creatures) with our names on (one for Jen with a dragon on it (her birth year) and mine had a rabbit...hmmmm no comments around appropriateness.....(I'll get a slap for that!)), a painting and a small magnified micro-picture - kind of like the 'your name on a grain of rice'... With all the SARS worries and everything we thought we'd get the painting of the old man representing longevity...oh the irony...

Last night we went for a drink and meal at the Belgium bar we went to before and struck up a conversation with a couple of Spaniards (their best mate who arrived later was called Manuel - no kidding...he wasn't from Barcelona though...) who seemed like a great laugh - Jen got on really well with Sandra whilst I spent my time with John (he was born in London hence John not Juan...) All was going swimmingly until the topic of 'The War' cropped up and this guy starting talking out of his large Spanish arse. 'The war is justified' 'Saddam Hussein is worse than Hitler' 'Bush is an excellent President' etc etc...to compound matters on further probing the war was justified solely because they control the 2nd largest reserves of oil in the world and it shouldn't be under their control who gets it, no mentions of anything else - just oil. Needless to say he's not on our Christmas card list and his better half (who apologised for him about 30 times) kept giving him worse and worse looks as the night went on...let's hope when they got back to the flat she dumped him - unlikely but would make a great end to the story. Either way as I said Jen and Sandra got on really well and we're destined to meet up in Madrid on our final leg sometime in December/January. Let's hope Senor Ignorant isn't around...

This morning - none the worse for our debate last night - we arose relatively early and made a trip to The Summer Palace. This was the place where the Emperors and their hangers-on (concubines/eunachs et al) retired in the Summer (duh!) when it was too hot to be in the city. It is spread over about 20 square kilometres and is capped by a magnificent lake and a huge temple that is built on the cliffs above it. Again, the architecture is exceptional and all the long corridors and ceilings are covered in ornate patterns and pictures depicting the Ming and Qing reigns. Never ones to shirk a challenge we decided to hire a pedalo and duely, er, pedalo-ed around the lake - no mean feat given that it's about 3 Km long/wide and we only had an hour. For some reason Jen seemed better at the peddling aspect whereas I was clearly the better 'steerer'...

Our final port of call in Beijing was The Temple of Heaven Park, in which is the temple you'll see on jars of Tiger Balm and thousands of other products. Again, absolutely magnificent and worth a couple of hours of anyone's time.

After arriving back at the hotel we have spent a couple of hours sorting through all the photos from the past 4 weeks but, alas, they don't have an imaging program here so we can't resize them and upload them - hopefully they will in our next destination. We are on the move again tomorrow - a flight to Xi'an, which is most famous as being the home to the Terracotta Warriers, which again should mean a fantastic few days.

No or little news as yet on the SARS situation in HK from the Foreign Office so we're going to have to wait before deciding on where to go from Xi'an. Another option we are considering is to fly from Chengdu to Bangkok via Thai Airways rather than return to HK. This would enable us to get to Leshan (the Big Buddha) and to go to the Panda Sancturay (just outside Chengdu) but would mean we'd have to miss the Yangtze cruise. To date everyone we've spoken to said the water has risen too much already and the cruise isn't worth the considerable outlay...


Thursday, April 03, 2003

Great meal on Tuesday at the Passby and hey, I even resisted the urge to do an April Fools on here - couldn't think of one I hadn't done before...

Yesterday was our first real taste of Beijing. We had a bit of a lay-in before catching a cab to that tourist haunt - Tiananmen Square. Again, no tanks or demonstators so we carrie don our journey to the Forbidden City via a bank and about 35 subway tunnels. Bizarre Chinese moment number 1 occured at the entrance where a young couple who spoke no English came up to us motioning they wanted to take a photo, so I offered to take theirs but it soon became apparent they wanted us to be in their photo...surreal but obviously we agreed and gave a cheesy grin even Tony Blair would have been proud of, although at least mine was genuine.

The Forbidden City is the area of Beijing where the emporers, their concubines and their eunachs (interesting combination) used to live. It is basically a series of impressive, if austere, buildings that have been rebuilt on a about 5 occasions due to being made of wood. The Chinese do like smooking, fireworks, and inscense so I'm not surprised they burnt down to be honest. Rather than hire a guide we hired James Bond to show us round. Unfortunately it wasn't Sean Connery, or even Pierce Brosnan, but old 'eyebrow raiser' himself - Roger Moore (better than George Lazenby or Tim Dalton though I guess.....) As he's getting alittle old now we had to do with a tape recording but it was a fine accompanyment to the trip. The best bit was definitely when he described how one of the emporors 'ever-indulged' with the members of his harem and had a fatal heart-attack - I could see that eyebrow wiggling for all it's worth!! Met a nice Scottish guy and a couple of Aussies who, as expected, took the piss out of our inability to play any sport we've invented, I countered with my usual retort about ther Ashes - well at least you'l lnever get your hands on them, they're too fragile to travel...it always shuts 'em up for some reason.

On our way out of the Forbidden City we were accosted my a 50-something gent trying to get us on a trip to the Great Wall. After much haggling we agreed a price, but only if he threw in a couple of tombs too. Just under 30 quid for a full days excursion for tomorrow. We have chosen an area described by the lonely planet as 'a genuine wall experience' but also 'steep and crumbling'. should be fun. Following on from the Forbidden City we visited the Bell and Drum towers and had pretty good panoramic views of Bejing, unfortunately I wasn't allowed to play with the drums or the bells, spoilsports...

Dinner was after a couple of pints of Guiness (brewed in Malaysia bizarrely enough) in the most authentic Irish Bar this side of, er, Moscow. Hey it was so realistic there was even a drunk Irishman stood ordering whiskeys at the bar. We had pizza at a Belgian bar (?) before retiring for the evening.

So onto today which we hoped would surely be one of the highlights of our year - we were not to be let down. Despite our driver getting a parking ticket (for 20 quid meaning he'd make about a 10 quid loss on the day - oooops) he was resonably efficient although we arrived at the Wall via a couple of other places. One planned, one just utterly bizarre. The bizarre one was first - a kind of Madame Tussaud's (no we don't have wax fetishes) but this time there were loads of figures on display - none of them purporting to be real people either. There were about 15 exhibits depicting scenes from the last 800 years of Chinese history except none of them tallied up to the description. The big irony here, of course, is they looked more life-like than Uncle Ho earlier last week. It was also pretty bizarre to see a huge stuffed giraffe in one of them - probably slipped into the wrong exhibit - should have been at the nearby 'Noah's Ark' collection.

The Ming tomb was 'pleasant' enough, thank God they didn't see fit to display the remains at this mauseleum. He'd been dead 700 years. Then onward to the only man-made structure visible from space.

Richard Nixon sure was right (see previous post) although I will add more hyperbole by saying 'it is utterly amazing'!! Arriving at HuangHua we spent 2 hours climbing up 70 degree angles with no hand-rails, the best of it being we were the only tourists and even the postcard sellers left you alone to climb. It really is as it looks in all the pictures, in fact no, that's unfair, it is more spectacular, more scerene, yet it dominates the skyline and is incredibly demanding of those who choose to climb it. Thoroughly exhilerated we took tens of pictures before the hazardous descent and our trip back to the hotel. Just like visiting Angkor and the first time we had 30m visibility whilst diving it was a real defining moment on the trip for us and one that will live long in the memory.

This evening we were feeling pretty brave so we went for a Chinese in a Chinese. We had duck, pork, cabbage... in fact way too much for even me. The bill came to about 8 quid (hey I even asked for the bill in Mandarin and they understood me!!) and was as good as any Chinese food we've ever tasted. DELICIOUS!

We've had a few emails about this SARS thing so we thought it might be a good idea to contact our insurers to see what their take on it all is. We were mainly interested if they would pay out if we had to re-route if the government issued a health warning not to travel to Hong Kong or Gouangdong region (we fly back to here from Shanghai on 20/4 before flying out from HK the next day). The answer was a resounding 'no' and hey, if the government issue a travel warning and we decided to travel and we then require medical treatment they won't pay for that either. We are going to get to Zi'an and keep monitoring the situation but one of the things we are thinking about is cancelling our tickets from Shanghai and flying back to Chiang Mai from Xi'an to then go overland into southern Thailand. This would be a shame but if the government/foreign office does issue this warning we can't really risk going back. Also coupled with the fact that the Thai authorities are currently quarantining anyone with symptons from HK and making everyone from there wear masks (or face 6 months in jail - I kid you not!) we mayt have no options - I don't want to look like Michael Bloody Jackson.




Tuesday, April 01, 2003

Beijing, City of the 2008 Olympics, site of one of man's greatest achievements - The Great Wall, and home to, yet another, appalling British Airways Office. Another 2 1/2 hours to re-route - another charge (for doing nothing) and to top it off an additional 15 quid each just for the priviledge of being in China - welcome to the Communist (read Capitalist) state of China...anyhoo have written to BA about their appalling inconsistent customer service and should get some sort of response so will keep you informed.

RANT OVER. OK, well it's snowing here and it must be just about 0 degrees - a bit of a change from Hong Kong. We have booked our tickets onwards to Thailand (see above) and managed to get a really good deal on a flight to Krabi (worth noting we were in the Thai Airways office for less than 10 minutes) at under 40 UKP - the train is over 20 UKP and takes 15 hours...so we'll be back on the beach on 22nd April (we don't arrive until 6pm on 21st...) and should be diving by...oooh...the 23rd...

Last night we went for Peking Duck in, erm, Peking (Beijing's old name) and it was lovely, although very fatty. It tasted just like it does at a Chinese back home ;) although the Hoi Sin sauce was a bit dodgy and there was no cucumber...there are so many fantastic looking restaurants here but so few have English menu I will probably end up with one of the local delicacies (stir-fried tripe with kidney and heart...) or some meat that I really shouldn't eat...cat/dog etc...we're going to try one tonight especially as I now officially speak the lingo...

Tried my linguistic skills out on a taxi driver today and we nearly got to our destination before his engine blew up (quite spectacularly) and we had to push him...at least he didn't charge us. I must have been particularly good in the next one as the bloke started chatting to me as if I spoke the language...I just shrugged my shoulders, laughed, said, 'over there' and we arrived home safely...

Still got to book our tour to the Great Wall, which we will try to do tomorrow. We're hiring a couple of bikes tomorrow to go around the Forbidden City and to find a bloody tour company!! One thing that is interesting is that the Chinese Government just shut internet cafes (over 6000 were closed last year) and all the ones listed in the Lonely Planet are now not there (they've disappeared just like that bloke in 1989 - I'm writing this from the hotel). There is only one left in the whole of Beijing apparently (although we find this a little unlikely) and it is, I kid you not, in a gay bar! Maybe they don't think the gay community has it in them to revolt??!! Crazy crazy place - yet again you couldn't make it up... The Government also bans sites of a political nature so although we can edit our blog we can't view it...must have been my criticism of the NHS earlier this year - sorry Tony. We also can't view BBC news websites either and the press here is unbelieveably controlled - despite SARS fever (sorry poor pun) in Hong Kong (500+ cases now?) it wasn't even mentioned in the Chinese dailies...

Oh well, better sign off as it's pricey here; thinking about the placard tonight but don't fancy getting incarcerated/shot/squashed by a tank - if you read this please think twice about travelling on the one world ticket - it is truely awful and nowhere near as easy and flexible as they make out when you book it.

BA - the ball is in your court and we await your reply...