Day 148 - Koh Tao, now!

Private boating and snorkelling

Day 148 - 18th November

Another early start left me wondering why I even bother booking hostels. I might as well just stay awake all night instead of getting a few hours kip.

Anyhow, Matt saw us off at 6am and we jumped in another mini van and headed for the pier. The ferry ride was less than a couple of hours, bypassing Koh Phangan where we would be going for the Half Moon Party - in one day!

We were transported away from the hustle and bustle on the dock just five minutes down to a resort I'd looked up on HostelBookers. The Sairee Hut Resort was perfect. Sitting right on the beach and another nice sized room for three of us.

Out of their depth?

We booked up snorkelling and within half an hour, we were out on our own private Long Boat with our skipper and cruising across the waters to our snorkelling sites. I couldn't resist a rendition of 'Robin Hood' as Del-Boy did in To Hull and Back.

We kitted up and dived in at the first spot. The fish were great but sparse. I enjoyed watching the coral more, moving slowly underwater. I floated there for a good twenty minutes, popping up now and again to readjust my snorkel. Kel and Dave seemed to enjoy their first experience too.

We moved around the bay a little more to our second destination and armed with bread, dived in again. This time I took off my life jacket and found it easier to move around. I even swam further out and saw some species of fish I'd never seen before on previous snorkels.

Loving the private beach life

For lunch we paid 100 Baht to go to Koh Nangyuan Island to see the narrow strip of beach that is famous for being a mini paradise on Koh Tao. Lunch was nice, with a pork noodle soup filling me half way up and my old pal, the banana pancake finishing the job.

By early afternoon, we were back on the beach and settling in to our place for a swim in the sea. We invested in a volleyball and Dave and I had a round of head tennis before the sunset. We were aiming for a record of 50 and after countless attempts, we finally reached 57, with sore heads I might add.

We sat around the beach side bar of our hostel and had discussions about family and life in general - only the sort of chat you can have over a Chang in a tropical climate. It when you have time on your hands that you really do get to know people - even people you've know all your life and are your family. The details of course stay between us - sorry!

We had dinner at the bar before readying and going just next door to The Sunset Bar. There, we enjoyed beers, were entertained with a fire show and relaxed as the waves crashed against the shore and the stars were out overhead in abundance - quite the mental image, huh?

All in all, it had been a brief but fantastic stop over in Koh Tao. It was a real shame we were running out of time. Only two days left until Kel and Dave were leaving :-( 

Day 145 - Phang Nga Island and Bond Island

One less Bond destination to see now!

Day 145 - 15th November

Well I wasn't late getting up because four French people were shouting out loud from 4am. I was getting pissed off quickly but got up at 6am and readied for our 8am pick up.

We took a shorter journey to the other side of Phuket to go to the ferry which would take us out to Phang Nga and the James Bond Island.

The view was stunning and as we drew closer on our hour journey, my excitement was building for the James Bond Island. I'd wanted to visit this icon location for so long and now I was on the verge. 

Siblings loving the Canoe! 

What a glorious day for it.

We were shown around the islands by sea canoe, weaving in and out of the caves to see the bats and the level of water during high tide. It was weird to think the depth of our ferry would leave the caves in a day or so, providing a passage way through. As it was, we were blocked off and could only go so far but even so, it was fantastic to see.

So stunning out here, similar to Halong Bay!

We had lunch on the ferry and then headed to the James Bond Island. As expected, it was touristic and difficult to get a photo on your own but we managed it. Dave and I did our customary comedy shot which I think we pulled off well.

Queues everywhere on this place. It kinda ruins the illusion of a Bond location.

Twenty minutes later, actually thirty minutes because we had to wait for an old woman with hairy armpits to embark, we went swimming near an island and even made it to the small beach on the east side.

As the sun was lowering in the sky, we made it back to Patong. We went for dinner near the beach front at a fancy restaurant. I had a Thai red curry which was pretty good followed by the less elegant McDonalds pineapple pie, free with a bank mini statement.

New Facebook profile pic I feel

It poured down, highlighting to Kel and Dave what I'd been putting up with for the last few months. We had a few beers at Blix bar further up the strip whilst marvelling at a woman on a pole. And I mean marvelling. The power and strength she had had me hiding my little arms behind my back.

Trust Dave to be watching the dancers during picture time

We were due to leave for Koh Samui in the morning but I thought a rest day for the gang would be good. We'd been getting early and going out all day and all night since their arrival so one day off wouldn't hurt.

Day 103 - Editing, eating and enjoying a sunny Sunday.

The beauty of Bou Savy

Day 103 - 04th October

Another early weekend rise. 6:15 am this time.

Unable to get back to sleep, I went down for breakfast and continue work on my Australian visa. The first stage was cleared so it's time to get moving on the next bit. Johannes joined me briefly before his trip out to Angkor Wat and we discussed our fascination with the Khmer culture and how greaeverything was here.

I found the Khmer's secret hiding place on the top of the hotel.

I had an 8:15 swim of 40 laps and then went for a walk around Bou Savy. Yes, I walked around my hotel, my iPod on shuffle and took in the morning sun. It was great.

By 9:30, I'd set to work on editing my book. It's coming along nicely and will be ready to send to my willing volunteer readers very soon. Get ready guys. It'll be all systems go before you know it.

The rest of my day was spent sitting still and working but I loved every minute of it.

By the time Johannes had returned, I was pretty worn out so I showered to freshen up before we headed down to pub street for some grub. The fried chicken and bok choy was glorious and Johannes' Loc Lak looked pretty good too. 

Johannes was taking the photo. But love that bucket!

We met his friend who he'd teamed up with on previous travels and the three of us headed to Angkor What? Bar for cocktails. After a bucket of Apsara's Blend we tried the local rice wine, mussel wine and Angkor whiskey. As expected, it wasn't a pleasant experience.

I shot back to Bou Savy for a Skype session with my sister and cousin who are coming to join me on a two week trip around Thailand. We decided to go to an Elephant sanctuary on a two day trip in Chiang Mai. I'm pretty excited about that.

Then I watched the horror show that was United losing 3-0 to Arsenal. Definitely a day to forget! I went to bed grumpy.

Day 96 - Sunday - God rested, Dan wrote!

What can't speak, can't lie as my old mate, Del-Boy would say. A proud achievement for me!

Day 96 - 27th September

Ah, Sunday. The day of rest.

NOT FOR ME!

If I'm ever to become an author, I can't rest until the job's done. 

I woke up and had an early breakfast before I set to work to finish the final chapter of my book. And I did it. I finished it in just over 79,000 words. What a sense of achievement I felt to have finished another novel. All those long hours and all the hard work and research have finally paid off and come together to form the first book in my four part book series.

Now all I have to do is edit it before sending it to a list of ten volunteers to read for me and to give their feedback. Once I have this, I do my third draft and then send it off to literary agents for them to consider. Here's hoping this is the one! 

Love those laps!

I went for my fourth day of swimming in Bou Savy's pool and came away feeling relaxed from another 30 or so laps.

Dried off, I set to work on my niece's gift, using the spare hours I had to create something that's just a little bit different to the normal gifts I would give her.

Brilliant and very flavoursome.

The rest of the day was spent eating - Lamb Curry and rice and garlic Naan bread - and Skyping my family back home. Everyone is healthy and well so I can't have any complaints.

The evening brought more rain and thunderstorms. It made me retreat to my room as I refused to repeat my experiences in Shanghai and end up with a stinking cold for a week. You're not going to get me this time rain, you relentless git!

Back to volunteering tomorrow, I can't wait. I tend to miss it when the weekends roll around! Just four weeks left! I'm going to enjoy every minute.

Day 93 - National holiday = a day off!

The view from The Sun. Not too shabby, aye?

Day 93 - 24th September

So a day off and it's nothing to do with the rain. Hurrah! (Cheers Charlie).

Need I say more?

I had a pretty awesome noodle soup for breakfast - a pleasant change to start the day - whilst I did a little blogging and worked on my latest book ideas. Always ticking along with something new.

Afterwards, I decided to do some exercise, taking to do lengths in the pool. No one else was in there so I took advantage. It was nice to just take a few hours to do something fun. To dry off, I laid in the sun and read my book. 

Pre-sunburn.

Stupidly, I forgot my sun cream so I ended up like a lobster on my chest and legs. That'll teach me!

I set off downtown in search of some food. As I cycled, I heard a repetitive, chugging sound coming from the front of my bike. It continue for ten minutes until I reached Pub Street. A quick check revealed that I had a flat tyre! Nuts.

After calling my coordinator, Rebecca, Mr Mut came out from Globalteer with a replacement for me (he's a good man). As a thanks, I gave him $5 for his phone credit. Not quite even but it was the least I could do for his troubles.

I headed to The Sun for a Cuba Libre and then had an awesome lamb burger with mint dressing and salad. You can't beat it!

Don from Project B swung by toward 5:30 pm and he had a couple of Mango Margaritas whilst I kept him company. I found out he had lived in Singapore for a few years before moving further North to Siem Reap, where he was volunteering at the project. It's only when you sit down with people, away from the hustle and bustle that you really get to know them.

I had to shoot off at 6:15pm to get to my weekly six-a-side game over at Samakee Market. We were playing a big side in Carlton Palmer F.C. The rain had fallen so the pitch was greasy, ready for slick passes.

I scored first to make it four in four before Charlie added two more long rangers and Alex scored an audacious header over a 6ft 2 keeper. We were cruising at four - nil, playing a high tempo, so it was only understandable that we relaxed and felt tired a bit more than usual. Carlton Palmer saw this and nicked two goals back but we held out for a great win. Colin's double goal line clearance in addition to Yanni's strong defending, Boreth's great goalkeeping and Nico's tricks made it all the more a satisifying win with well deserved beers afterwards.

GET IN THERE BIG WILLY F.C.

What a day, and I relaxed for a few hours before nodding off, ready for the eight sessions at Project D on Friday!

Day 45 - Phong Nha

The caves at Phong Nha!

Day 45 - 07th August

Arriving at 4:30 am in a remote location is definitely not something I wish to do too much in my lifetime. 

The guy meeting us was, to put it bluntly, annoying. He was yelling around too much for my liking and trying to sell us tours. We headed to the Easy Tiger to check in, meeting two Danish girls, Anne and Julie and a German girl, Sabrina before hiring motorbikes and heading to the caves.

We cruised up Ho Chi Minh Highway East, me on the back of Jordy's bike, holding a GoPro and enjoying the rush. Weather wise it was a cracking day for a motorbike drive. 

When we arrived at Paradise Cave, we paid 250,000 VND and were told to disembark the buggy up the mountain side to the entrance because we hadn't paid for a ticket. #awkward. So we hiked.

Inside the cave, it was . . . interesting. Stalactites and Stalagmites were everywhere, of course as were many Chinese tourists. When we took group photos, we were suddenly descended upon by teams of tourist wanting photos with us. Ah, to be a westerner in Asia.

Shortly after, we made our way to the Dark Cave, and boy, what an experience it was. We paid 350,000 VND and were treated to a zip line, cave swimming, a mud bath in which you could float easily and kayaking. On the way, we met Winnipeg resident, Nikihta. He was a good crack, especially as he understood my jokes which were lost of my fellow Europeans.

And then it was my turn to drive. I had Jordy on my back which made me uncomfortable so I went solo. Ah, it was an awesome feeling to be rushing down the highway, enjoying life. I did pretty well to so came away happy.

After a fairly successful day, we had dinner at the hostel (the double BBQ burger was delightful) and then retired to bed early for the 4:00 am wake up to get the bus to Hue.

Day 42 - Halong to Halong Bay?

Sèbastien, Jordy and me in the caves.

Day 42 - 04th August

So I was up doubly early to wake my French contingents up. Whacking up the volume on my phone, I blasted out Aviici - Levels and started hollering. "Rise and shine, it's butt whipping time!" They weren't best impressed but the constant clapping and music made them get up.

My iPad seemed to have given up and wouldn't charge. I'd it doesn't work anymore, I'm screwed - watch this story develop!

I abandoned my old, damp and stinky shoes in the bin, settled into my new ones and headed up to the SkyView bar for breakfast. We were due to leave at 8am but with all things in Asia, I've learned you need to wait about half an hour longer for the arrival of your tour guides. In the meantime, I picked up some doughnuts and pastries for the bus.

The pre-boarding shots.

What a view.

Around 8:35am, our tour guide rocks up. We grab our stuff and followed him to our bus, already filled with others. We settled in and we jerked slowly down the street. I asked Sèbastien when we were transferring to the bigger bus, which was met with laughter. This bus, with its cramped seats and shite air conditioning was our bus to Halong Bay. Of course it was!

Our tour guide, Ken stepped up and then began the derogatory remarks about women looking more beautiful after alcohol, men looking more handsome after alcohol and how rice wine kept his pecker in fertile fitness. He was trying but the group of westerners were not impressed. He was harmless enough.

After a couple of hours journey and a typical stop at a 'necessary pitstop', which is just like the Clackett Lane services on the M25 - extortionate food prices, tacky souvenirs and crazy people are in abundance, we re-boarded our bus for a further hour and reached Halong Bay. We met an old companion, Lauren from Sapa who'd seen a Spanish guy go apeshit at their bus tour guide back from Sapa. Sadly she wasn't on our boat.

We headed out on a small transfer boat, with some oversized orange life jackets that reminded me of when I go shopping for shirts, buying the wrong size and never returning it or wearing it again- fashion was never my strong point anyway.

The main boat was cool. We were starving so headed up in deck for lunch - squid, vegetables, rice, skewers and many other dishes. The watermelon came out in full force too! Shortly after, me and Sèbastien checked into our cabin. It was fairly decent, overlooking the fact that there was a hole in the floor.

Our cramped cabin.

Shortly after lunch, we moved further along Halong Bay, admiring the rock formation which were just incredible, before Ken let us all try the local wine. Taste abysmal back home, tastes abysmal here. The Pringles Sèbastien picked up were pretty good though.

It was time to go swimming. The water was cool but you couldn't see beneath the murky, green surface to gauge how deep it was. After trying to swim like Chuck Nolan did towards Wilson in Castaway, I turned around and headed back to dry off. Jordy and Sèbastien swam to another boat and met Dayana, our Bulgarian acquaintance from Sapa.

I enjoyed a cool beer with Bill, an Australian on a month long trip with his daughter, Renee. It was nice to hear stories about Oz and I opened up my long standing debate about water based predators, namely, what would you prefer to be stuck in the water with: a crocodile or a Great White shark. I stand by my decision to be with a Great White. A don't fancy a death roll myself!

At dinner, we met Kym, from Texas and Mariah from The Netherlands. The fish was pretty good with the usual rice and vegetables. The other predator, Ken told us that we could then either chill out on the boat or learn how to squid fish. I chose to perform some magic tricks and play card games whilst enjoying the two free beers they gave us.

The night was long, trying to explain a game of Mafia to two Irish girls, a young Australian and a hammered Dutch girl was like trying to get a playgroup class under control. Also, a few unfriendly games of New Market forced us to think of another plan to keep us entertained.

The night water!

We thought about a night swim, and a few managed to jump in before being hauled out by the crew. As they went off to bed, I stayed up and just watched a thunderstorm erupting behind the Halong rocks.

Whilst Sèbastien kept Mariah occupied, I played the life story game with 20 year old, Renee. Of course I'm not going to post details on here, that would be unfair but this talk went on for a few hours until 4am rolled around. It's amazing what you learn from this game and you get to see the real person beneath the surface. Definitely a game worth playing!

The bay at night.

Look at this little bugger!

At some point I realised my back was being massaged. As I felt inside my shirt, I found a little critter inside, crawling up my back. The picture says it all.

Renee headed off to bed and I wanted to stick around until 5am to watch the sun come up. It was chilly on deck so I waited in my cabin . . .