We caught up with our old pal Jonathan here who we hadn't seen since China, and basically just partied for about 10 days!!! We made it to both the Full Moon party & Half Moon party, and typically at both we just consumed the local delicacy of 'Buckets'........basically just sandcastle buckets filled with a quarter bottle of local whisky, which is actually rum ? plus a botlle of coke + red bull. Delicious!
The Half Moon party is a bit more of a club event- it's situated in part of a jungle with loads of DJ booths spotted around which feels a bit more exciting as opposed to just partying on the beach amongst the masses at the Full Moon. But both were fab, definitely an experience not to be missed, but not necessarily to be remembered :-)

As well as the partying we did manage to scoot around & discover the Island which is beautiful. We did an amazing trek up to 'Bottle Beach', and also stayed a few nights in Haad Yao which we loved. The beach was jsut fabulous and it was so, so quiet.
Unfortunately we did come across some quite nasty locals one night, who tried to intimidate & get violent with us when we asked them to give us fresh drinks because they were disgusting. The owner of the restaurant/hotel was just as hideous & rude as her staff (she threw away our drinks!) so that was a bit of a shocker. The only bad experience we've had on our trip really. But thankfully we didn't let that ruin anything for us.
We loved Ko Phangan. And it's Moons!!!

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 10, 2011 from Ko Phangan, Thailand
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

We visited quite a few temples, but to be honest by now we were pretty much templed out, and our favourite pastime (as always) was just to wander the streets & find some great local street food.

However the main highlight was our 2 night/3 day trek to the Jungle & Elephant camp. The actual trek was great, the scenery changing between paddy fields & 'in the thick of it' jungle.....but the best bit was rocking up at the Elephant Camp & sleeping literally with them! Our bed for the night was a mattress under a gazebo, about 200 meters away from them, so close that they actually woke us in the night with their trumpeting. It was great!!
We got to bare back ride them and wash them, and then the next day whilst in the jungle we had to hide from a wild one. In between walking we visited some amazing waterfalls that you could actually slide down, and we got to do some white water rafting too. The people we met on this trek made it a fab experience too.

When we got back to Chiang Mai to be honest we were knackered. So the next day we took a visit to the Women's Prison - we'd been recommended to have a massage here as 6 months prior to the women being released they train to become masseurs & receive a percentage of monies taken to set them up in their life after prison. Not only is it a commendable scheme the massage we got was incredible!! They use their elbows, feet, bend you over their knees........all for a grand total of 7 quid for 2 hours massage!! It was so good we went twice :-)

An unexpected night out took us to Doi Suthep lake. We were taken here by some locals, after we'd sampled many glasses of the lethal Sangsom whisky with them! There are lots of food stalls & bamboo huts situated all around the lake & it really is only known by the locals, so much in fact I think we were the only white faces there :-)
It's definitely not a luxury set-up, more like a picnic area but it was great fun just sitting around on mats in these makeshift huts. Was was a bit scary though was the food.....especially what is known as 'dancing shrimp' which is literally a bowl of live shrimp that jumps around in the bowl. So we didn't eat a great deal that night!

I also took a Thai cooking class & I managed to create some of my fave dishes, the more traditional ones like Massaman curry, Tom Yam soup & Pad Thai noodles. Not a shrimp in sight thank goodness! And even if I say so myself they really were as tasty as what i'd ordered in restaurants - so I really don't have any excuse not to cook these when i get back home.

All in all I think we spent about 10 days here in between the jungle trek & our little trip to Pai (see the next instalment!) and to be honest we could have stayed longer.

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 26, 2011 from Chiang Mai, Thailand
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

Pai is only a small village, you can easily walk into the main area & wander around in an hour or so but we absolutely loved it here. It's got a kind of 'hippie' vibe, is very laid back & had some lovely cafes & bars and some funky little shops.. The best thing though to do here is to hire a scooter & just hop around.......there's so much beautiful scenery & some great places to visit. We went to 2 amazing waterfalls, the best being Pambok which you had to swim inside a little cave to get to, and we also boiled an egg in the hot springs!

We met up with some friends from Chiang Mai, Matt & Nadine, & so we spent the days exploring & the evenings drinking amongst great company. It doesn't really get much better!

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on November 1, 2011 from Pai, Thailand
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

1 comment...

Unfortunately we had a 5 hour delay, and poor Jo & Bry had already been waiting for us for about 5 hours so it was an even longer wait for them. We finally arrived in Phuket at about 11pm and we were all knackered, but what we all agreed on was that we needed a bit of a drink and so we went out to the main Patong Beach area. Which is where my lovely sister described it as being like "Blackpool on Acid'. And to be honest it is!!

It's a mad place full of lots of tattoo covered tourists, pretty much enjoying themselves and the sights of the infamous 'go go girls........who will not only dance for you, but will keep you entertained (and thereby keep you drinking!) by playing bar games with you. So if you take accept the place, and the go go girls, and accept if for the cheesy fun place it is, then you'll probably enjoy it like we did.

One of our must do things was to see a Muay Thai boxing match and so we booked a ringside seat at the Bangla Boxing stadium, which was in fact pretty gruesome but so compelling to watch. As well as seeing boxers as young as around 8yrs old (who were bloody good!) I think the highlight for us was watching the only UK boxer on the bill who proceeded to jump over the ropes, fall flat on his face & then get knocked out in the first round! We were so proud. Not!

So Phuket for us was great fun. Outside of Patong Beach I believe there's a lot more beautiful places to see & visit but we were only here for a few days as a stop over to Phi Phi and so it fitted our purpose just fine.

The family together x

After a few......

.....and a few more!

Dan with the 'Go Go' girls

The sophisticated game of knocking nail into wood....with the wrong end of the hammer. It kept us happy for ages??!!!

My sister - the Connect4 champion!

....and a few more!

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on November 14, 2011 from Phuket, Thailand
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

2 comments...

That night we pretty much made ourselves familiar with the Island the best way we know how.....by drinking on the beach & eating pizza late after a few too many!

The next day we decided to have a proper wander & so we took a walk up to the Viewpoint. And again the views were just breathtaking.

I love my sis xx

The little wander around in fact turned into about 3 hours of walking, trying to find our way down to a secluded beach cove which we never actually got too. A few wrong turns plus a big family of monkeys with whom we literally had a 'stand off' in the middle of the jungle with prevented us from actually getting to the beach!

The next day we took a snorkelling trip around Bamboo island, Mosquito island, Monkey island & Maya Bay (where the film 'The Beach' was filmed and it was such a fab day. The snorkelling was great, we saw so many fish, but just being out of the boat seeing around all of the Islands was so beautiful. Maya Beach was a little too touristy & very crowded but even so the scenery around there is to die for so it's just something you have to accept & get on with.

"The Beach'

Sunset after a day's snorkelling

The rest of our nights in Phi Phi was pretty much spent drinking too many of the infamous 'buckets' - literally a sandcastle bucket with too much alcohol & too little mixer ;-) Ok so it's not the most glamorous drink ever but it was cheap & it certainly did the trick!

What a classy lot we are

After goodness knows how many buckets!

Another highlight was the early morning boat trip we took at 6.30am to Shark Point where the boys hoped to spot some Black Tip Reef Sharks. And thank goodness they did as me & Jo would never have heard the end of it!!! In the end the saw quite a few but me & Sis were just too scared to get into the water so we left them too it. Afterwards we chilled out on & soaked up the rays at Long Beach.

Guess how many sharks Dan spotted?

We all had such an amazing time in Ko Phi Phi. To be honest it wasn't quite the undiscovered paradise that I'd imagined it to be, it really as become a backpackers haven so its inevitable that there were more than a handful of people on the Island ;-) And I'm sure that the Tsunami has made it more popular now than ever......but none of this spoilt it for us as the sea is truly aqua blue & the views are like paradise. Plus we had our lovely family with us too so that made it extra special! xxx

P.S In the 7 days I think we ate pizza about 6 times (day & night) plus we had 2 curries. Ok, so we didn't go totally native but we had fun. And so this is our little tribute to my sister hubby who we love, and who really does love a curry :-)

A curry? With Bryan? Of course :-)

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on November 16, 2011 from Ko Phi Phi, Thailand
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

We also visited a few of the main attractions including the Giant lying Buddha (which does exactly what it says on the tin) , the cannons, and we took the cable car trip up to Penang Hill which was quite picturesque.

There's also a beach resort called Batu Ferringh which is only about an hour bus ride. We actually just missed a beach party that was happening there the next day. But even so we took advantage of the surroundings and spent a few luxurious hours in the Sheraton poolside bar!

It was great to actually get back to doing some 'real' backpacking in Georgetown. Sometimes we do feel like we're cheating a bit when we're enjoying beach resorts & not traipsing around places, visiting temples etc. so it was good to soak up a bit of culture and learn more about the country. Plus it made us feel less guilty about or next trip to Langkawi ;-)

written by  mich_and_dan_moors on November 24, 2011 from George Town, Malaysia
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...