The last week has raced by and has been a lot of fun. Needless to say I was excited about this tour beginning and heading out of Bangkok to southern Thailand. For this leg of the journey I'm with a new group of people and using my 'travel experience' I reassured my new friends that the overnight train we were boarding out of Bangkok was absolutely fine and there was no need to worry, I have now done 5 of these, and all bar one, were clean, tidy, comfortable and easy to sleep on. I ended up feeling a little silly, how wrong was I?! Worst nights sleep I have had since leaving Southampton.
Our overnight train took us to the beach town of Ao Nang. As we arrived at Ao Nang, there were many familiar sights.......Starbucks, MacDonalds, 7 Eleven, Subway, Burger King, Pizza Hut etc etc.....not the cultural centre of Thailand, but after previous month of mainly rice and noodles in other parts of Asia, these were a welcome sight. I have taken full advantage of these 'facilities' and for the last week have lived on a diet of Starbucks and fast food. I'm not sure why I have found a sudden obsession with these, as I don't eat them a lot at home! Staying in Ao Nang for 3 days did feel like I was cheating a little from the 'traveling' thing and was on more of a holiday. But I did have fun, and did some things for the first time that I have never done before.....
1. Kyaking - This was great fun......for me and my room mate Suzie anyway, I not sure the other 15 people in our group got the tranquil morning through the mangrove river that they expected! This 'beginners' tour, was probably a little advanced for us, and having only know each other a couple of days, we probably hadn't quite figured out how to work together as a team yet! Once we got into the rhythm, we were ok at going in a straight line on the wide sections of the river, but once we went off into the mangrove and caves, this was well beyond our abilities, and lead to a number of crashes and lots of laughter in addition to slowing down the group. For the benefit of everyone else, I think it was best that we were this asked to split up and join the instructors kyaks. This then enabled us to take in the sights as we paddled through the mangrove and caves and I'm really pleased we did this, as you would not be able to see the beautiful scenery any other way.
2. Snorkeling - A four island tour allowed us to do some snorkeling, which was amazing, once I had gotten the hang of not trying to breath through my nose! The water was beautifully clear, warm and the sands were white. It really was just like paradise, we even visited the appropriately named 'Poda Island' which translates as Paradise Island. This was a great day, although we did all end up a little red being on the water the next day.....I probably had the luckiest escape, by just getting a little red rather than burnt, but the rest of my group are still shedding skin one week on as they got so burnt! Jodie - even my legs got a bit of color, that never happens!
After 3 days in Ao Nang, we head to the boarder to cross into Malaysia. Malaysia feels very different to Thailand, it is much more developed and Westernized and it is easy to see there is a lot more money in this country. The first stop here was Pennang, but I can't really tell you much about this as I was feeling a bit poorly so spent most of the time looking at the hotel walls. I did venture out in the evening though, which provide first number 3.......being asked to provide 'services' to a man, which was a little surprising seeing as I was stood in the 7 Eleven at the time, carrying several liters of water, sweating like a pig and eating an ice-cream!
Next stop on the itinerary was Cameron Highlands, this was a welcome relief from the heat in Malaysia, as it was a mere cool 25 degrees. This is quite a small area, which grows a lot of fruits and vegetables which cannot be grown in other parts of the country due to heat. In Cameron highlands we went up to the highest point in Malaysia, I'd love to say the views were stunning, I have no idea, it was cloudy, but we'll assume it was amazing. We also visited a butterfly/reptile centre and a strawberry farm. The locals in the Cameron Highlands are very proud of their strawberries, merchandise everywhere. Having spent 8 weeks one summer getting up at 5am to go strawberry picking, I wasn't quite as excited to walk through poly-tunnels looking at the strawberry plants. Also visited a tea plantation, were I learnt a lot about tea, which is good seeing I love to drink so much of it at home. This also provided 'firtt' number 4....I had a tea-chino.....like a capouchino, but made with tea.....surprisingly good. Deac's, I think you should recommend this for the SKP restaurant, I think you would love it!
I'm now back into the sticky heat of Malayisa in Kuala Lumpar, I only got here yesterday afternoon, but so far this city seems to have a good vibe. Unlike Bangkok it is easy to get around on the public transport, there are pavements to walk on, it is clean, and the signs actually make sense! I like it here, but I'm not sure we really have enough time to see everything here, so maybe it is a place to come back to in the future. Last night I went and saw the famous Petronas Towers, which looked great with all the lights on at night.
With just two more days in Malaysia, then a couple of days in Singapore (very excited about this), this time next week, I will be in Australia! I have my first three nights booked in Melbourne, but after that I'll see what happens/where I go. Whilst the tours have been great, as I wouldn't have been able to get myself around Asia on my own, I am looking forward to having a more flexibility, choosing myself when to stay longer /move on. I have enjoyed Thailand/Malaysia, but I'm pleased I have also visited Cambodia/Vietnam/Loas, as I don't think the places I have visited in Malaysia/Thailand have been particularly representative of South East Asia. It has felt like I have been on a bit of a holiday here in Thailand/Malaysia, but that might not be a bad thing before I embark in Australia, which will be the real test, as I'll be going it alone!
For those of you asking for photos, I hope to get some online soon, but am having trouble uploading to face book for some reason. Hopefully I'll get it sorted when I get to Austriallia.
Thanks for all your e-mails/messages, it is good to get them as it makes me feel closer to home.
Hope you are all ok, and miss you lots
Love Katrina x x x x
Pavements? What are they then!? Funny how you take these things for granted back home 'eh?
ReplyDeleteWe're less than 2 weeks from the end of our trip, so I'll be relying on your blogs to keep me from getting depressed when I return! x
Hi Whart
ReplyDeleteWow that's quite a list of firsts, all of them sound great - apart from the 'service' part that is.
Don't say it was the Mac D's that made you ill (can you imagine that, after surviving on rice all this time.)
Well the sun's come out here (yippee) but still blimin' cold but not enough to damage my 'white skin' which sounds like the snorkling's done for you - you'll have to be a porper now.
Anyway best not use up all the space.
Miss you still & enjoying reading the blog
Love
Rach x
PS - Are you in a hostel? If you are & get chance don't forget to make some pancakes on Tuesday. (anyone reading this will think we're obsessed with food which we know obviously isn't the case!)