Koh Samui

Again we only had two days to explore this beautiful island! 

 

The journey from Phi Phi to Koh Samui was loooong. We had to get a ferry then a bus then a ferry. We were meant to arrive by about 5pm, but it was well after 8pm when we got to our hotel. Exhausting. The following morning we were feeling rather lazy and therefore spent the day relaxing by the pool and on the beach. The beach is gorgeous, and all the way along there are restaurants, hotels and massage parlours. We had dinner with a lovely view over the beach. They had delicious cocktails but rather disappointing food. Clearly we were just paying for the view!

The next day we had to get up at an un-godly early hour! But it was well worth it.. We spent the day touring the Angthong National Park Islands. Just an hour and a half away from Samui (by boat) we arrived and kayaked around a few islands. They are stunning, and kayaking is a great way to see it. Then we walked up some very very very steep steps in order to see the salt-water lagoon. You’re not allowed to swim in it, I think mostly because of the sharp rocks that line the bottom, but we admired it from many viewpoints. Amazingly green! 

Half way up!

Just the beginning...

After lunch we then headed to another island where a 40 minute (very difficult) hike led us to a viewpoint where you could see just about all of the 42 islands that make up Angthong. This was one of the most difficult walks I’ve ever done.. There was no path; only sharp, steep and often unsteady rocks to walk on. To top it all off, it was really humid. My legs hurt like they haven’t hurt in a long time and I was covered in sweat...But so worth it once we got to the top. Incredible view.

The view from the top!

Today we’re off to Koh Phangan..

Phi Phi Island

Only three nights in Phi Phi, but certainly enough time to fall in love with the place! Phi Phi is amazing. So so so much better than Phuket! I I think it was only so incredibly amazing because of where we were staying. We stayed in a tree hut at a beautiful resort which had two private beaches..and a lot of animals! We saw lots of frogs, cockroaches, lizards, and even almost stepped on a snake. Any time we wanted to go to/from the main part of town, we had to get a boat! So it wasn’t close to much, but the long boats in Phi Phi are fun, so it was definitely worth it. Tree hut. Seriously. Awesome. We had pad thai at just about every meal, and enjoyed roaming the markets again. People in Phi Phi are much less pushy and annoying than in Phuket. It’s also a lot smaller. There’s no cars, people get around either by foot, boat or sometimes bicycle. 

Maya Beach

The following day was my birthday we went on a cruise around Phi Phi. We saw monkeys, up close and personal! We explored some caves; one which we walked all the way through in reasonable light, and one which we swam through with a flashlight. We saw Maya beach, the beach from “The Beach” movie..which I’ve never seen. It was a really nice beach but I think probably more exciting for those who’d seen the movie. We also did lots of snorkelling and a bit of kayaking. To top it off, we ended the trip with a beautiful sunset. I reckon I swallowed about a litre of seawater throughout the day! I also managed to wear 50+ sunscreen and still get burnt. We met some nice people who then joined us for dinner . Great birthday.

Birthday girl being pampered!

The following day, for Jo’s birthday, we decided to have a more relaxing day. We headed into town and treated ourselves to a manicure and pedicure. We then got tempted into a massage and a hair-string-braid-thing too. It looks cool. All of that cost us less than $15 each. We will definitely be getting a few more manicures before leaving Thailand! Then we spent most of the afternoon relaxing by the beach. 

In the evening, after a humongous/delicious dinner we watched a fire show on the beach. It was incredible. People were twirling fire-lit batons, and throwing them all over the place. One guy even juggled with them whilst walking across a tightrope. I think it was a very nice contrast to the previous day, which was go go go.

I wish we’d had more time at Phi Phi, but we’re off to Koh Samui next!

Phuket

Finally, after months and months of winter, I am in real summer weather! And I am loving it!

Patong Beach

On Saturday I arrived in Phuket and met Jo at the airport, where we shrieked with excitement due to the fact that we hadn’t seen each other in about five months. We took a taxi all the way down very long and windy roads to Patong; the most famous beach (/tourist) area of Phuket. Once we’d settled in we wondered down to the beach and I realised it was the first time I’d seen a beach since California, in my very first week of this trip. Patong beach is covered in tourists, but a lovely beach nonetheless. We came back to shower and change before we headed out for dinner & shopping. We explored the Patong night markets, brushing up on our bartering skills. I think we did pretty well! We bought some bracelets and singlets, all at a very good price! 

The next day we were both exhausted, and decided to spend the morning relaxing by the pool in the 32 degree heat! Turns out my “waterproof” sunscreen is not all that waterproof. Ouch. (The next day we went to buy sunscreen and the best they had was 15+! Seems crazy, in this climate. After much searching I did eventually find 50+. That's more like it!)

In the afternoon we signed ourselves up for a half day tour. First stop was the big Buddha. It was much like the Buddha in Hong Kong, except a bit smaller..and this time I could actually see it! No fog! While there we also got an incredible view over the coast. The next stop was the Cashew Nut Factory. I never knew that cashews came off a fruit that grew on a tree.. Guess I never thought about it! I also never would have guessed that all the cashews are broken out of their shell one by one by hand- not by machine! They had all sorts of cashews for us to try; from wasabi to chocolate to, our favourite, honey sesame. Delicious. Afterwards we had a quick stop at some random store that sold all sorts of nice-smelling products which didn’t interest me too much.

Wasabi cashew nuts..not actually that spicy!

The last stop, and the whole reason we signed up, was the market! We went to the Phuket Weekend Market, and spent an hour and a half shopping. When that hour and a half was up we were wishing it’d been more like five hours. Such a great market! Their prices were much more reasonable than in Patong, which meant that you couldn’t barter as much, but you still got a very decent price. Between the two of us we may have bought 20+ pairs of sunglasses. Not all for ourselves, of course.. We also got more bracelets and singlets. These seem to be the most common items!

Amazing costumes!

Other people on the tour had recommended that we see the Simon Cabaret show, so we asked the guide to book some tickets for us and quite enjoyed it! It was a ladyboy show, but you’d never know! Jo reckons some of them had masculine faces but given that I forgot my glasses I couldn’t really tell. It reminded me a lot of Priscilla, mainly because of the costumes; there were a lot of feathers! And the song choices.. It seemed to be a round-the-world theme. They had Kylie representing Australia, and other songs from Egypt, Japan, America.. All over the place. Bit of fun!

Cleaning our feet...

The following day we were aiming to have a relaxing day on the beach. However our first stop was the post office, to get rid of all my winter clothes. When we walked out of the post office and across the road we managed to walk straight into tar. Our thongs quickly got stuck and I fell over; covering my knees and hands in tar. Our thongs were ruined. We were covered in hot sticky tar. Not nice. Locals told us that the best way to get it off was to scrub it with gasoline. Luckily, in Thailand you can buy bottles of gasoline from every street corner. We got a tuk tuk back to the hotel and sat in the bath for an hour scrubbing our feet with gasoline (and quickly following that up with a lot of soap and water!) It was disgusting. We had to use clothes as rags; luckily we both had clothes we were intending to throw out at some point before returning home. Gross.

Trying to pretend like I'm enjoying it..

Eventually we did make it to the beach, but not until after 4pm! The whole day was quite overcast (probably a good thing, given how much I burnt the previous day) but still very hot. After a delicious Thai dinner we decided to try fish who eat your feet. I really don’t know what they’re called. The picture might help.. Literally though, you put your feet in a tank and the fish eat the dead skin off them.. Given what our feet had been through that day, we thought they could use a cleanse! We were slightly worried the tar and gasoline may have killed a few fish, but they seemed to enjoy our feet.. Fish nibbling on my feet freaked me out, I only lasted about 2 minutes. Jo probably made it to almost 10 minutes- a very good effort!!

In the evening we went to a few more markets where I was about ready to strangle some of the shop keepers. They’re sooo persistent. As soon as you walk in they follow you, less than a metre behind telling you about every single item in their shop. I told one of them that I just wanted to look, and asked if he could leave me alone. He told me it was his job, and I politely said that if he left me alone to look I might actually buy something but this just caused him to think that he needed to be more in-my-face. At this point I turned to him and, rather angrily, told him that I would refuse to buy anything from him because he was being so obnoxious. I can’t even explain how annoying it is.

Once we’d just about spent all our money we decided to head to the beach. We had a swim. It’s nice that it’s still warm enough at 1am to go swimming! We got a tuk-tuk home.. The tuk tuk’s turn into little party cars at night, with their music raging, and their neon lights on! They love neon lights on the cars in Phuket!

This morning we’re getting a ferry over to Phi Phi island.. My birthday tomorrow and Jo’s birthday the day after!!!

Hong Kong, pt 2

Sadly the second half of my time in Hong Kong wasn’t quite as jam-packed and exciting as the first half.  There was lots that I wanted to do but two things got in the way; I got quite sick and the weather was terrible. I wanted to explore the smaller outlying islands, and make a trip to Macau but there was never a day when I fancied hopping on a boat, given the rain, the fog, the wind and general cold temperatures.

It seems to be a bit better at night, so most of my activities were night activities. One night I went on a harbour boat tour to see the lights show. I think HK is quite famous for its light show, but I thought it was a bit lame. The buildings are already mostly lit up, and it’s stunning, but then they only add a few laser-type-lights, and it just doesn’t make that much difference. If none of them were lit up and then they suddenly all came on, it would be much more impressive. Regardless, the boat tour is a great way to see the harbour at night. 

Chicken feet...

Another night I met up with Marc, a friend from Suara who moved to Hong Kong about a year ago. We went to Tim Ho Wan, a Michelin Star restaurant- the world’s cheapest Michelin Star restaurant!! It’s a yum-cha restaurant and we only ended up paying about $20(Aus) for the two of us. Marc made me try chicken feet. Ew. But hey, I tried! We also had the most delicious pork buns in the world. SO GOOD.

 

Afterwards we did a bit of market shopping. We went to the Ladies Market and Temple Street Market, two of Hong Kong’s most famous. Ladies Market is mostly bags, wallets, iPhone covers, similar things at each shop. Temple Street Market is more varied; glasses, magnets, sex toys, palm reading.. All sorts! Marc’s Cantonese came in handy for bartering :) We also had some herbal tea, which Marc tells me is popular in Hong Kong. It was deliciously sweet, but I’m told there’s no added sugar, just herbs!

The stunning view

I also went to the Peak. I was told to go at night, because it’s too foggy during the day. I got the tram all the way up (up the steepest hill ever) which was kind of cool. But it wasn’t until I was up at the peak that I was told that at the lookout it was too foggy to see anything. Annoyed that I had already come all this way I paid the extra $4.50(Aus) to go have a look for myself. Nope. They were right. Nothing. Bit disappointing.

  

World's longest escalator

On my last day in HK I finally felt well enough to actually venture out for a bit longer. I had lunch with Kath (from the hostel) and explored the shops near our hostel. We said goodbye and I headed for the Central area. Hong Kong is home to the world’s longest escalator. It’s not really that exciting but I went and had a ride on it. The streets around it are quite cool. There’s shops with everything varying from the expensive (Louis Vuitton) to the standard (Esprit) to the markets- super cheap. 

Busy streets of HK!

I went back up to the Mong Kok area (where the ladies market is) because Marc mentioned that there are two other notable streets there. One is shoe street (not it’s actual name, but how it is commonly known) and it’s pretty much covered in shoe shops; Adidas, Nike, Clarks, anything else you could imagine. Though, I spotted a lot of camera shops too! Camera shops are everywhere. The other street was meant to be flower street. However.. Either Marc made this one up, I’m too dumb to find it, or it’s a night thing. In any case, I couldn’t find it.

I’m now about to head off to the airport where I am going via Bangkok to Phuket..Where I will meet up with Jo! Weeeeeeeee!

Hong Kong, pt 1

When I booked to stay in Hong Kong, I had no idea that it would be Chinese New Year! But I am soo glad about this little happy coincidence because it has been amazing. I also had no idea that it would be freezing cold, not such a happy coincidence.

Huge crowds at the New Year Fair

When I arrived at my hostel I met Matt (Aus) & Kath (Wales), who’d only met a few days before in Vietnam. We headed out for lunch, then to Victoria Park where there was a New Year Fair. It was absolute madness. So so so many people, but it was organised chaos- you could only go round one way, so at least everyone was walking in the same direction. Most of the stuff looked pretty tacky- probably what you’d expect from a Chinese fair, actually. Lots of toys and food. Afterwards we roamed the shops in Causeway Bay, and discovered that things aren’t actually all that much cheaper than at home! Mac’s are the only things that are a lot cheaper (almost half price!) but I resisted the temptation.

We're famous!!!

The following day I went to the Well-Wishing Festival with Kath, Matt, and two others from the hostel- Sjoerd (Netherlands) and Isabel (Italy). The Well-Wishing Festival is a part of the New Year traditions. There is a wishing tree! At this wishing tree you purchase a piece of paper attached to a fake mandarin, write your wish on the paper, and throw it up onto the tree! I wished for safe, healthy and enjoyable travels (ironically, I’ve been quite sick since then!) While there we were randomly interviewed by a journalist, which then turned into a huge photoshoot in front of the tree.. And before you know it we’ve made it into the local paper! It’s in Cantonese, but I will get it translated.. 

Later that day we went to the Wong Tai Sin Temple for pilgrimage. Judging by the humongous queue it is a very important part of Chinese New Year. People bought incense which they burned at the temple, with a prayer. The whole place was stunning, especially with the New Year decorations but absolutely crammed full of people. 

With an hour or so to spare before the New Year Parade we dropped by the Women’s Market. There were all sorts of things; from jewellery to phone covers to toys to kinky underwear...everything. I bought a little ring (which I bartered down, quite proud!) but then soon realised that all of these things would be much cheaper in Thailand! So I restrained myself from any further shopping. 

The New Year Parade was given a lot of hype. We were told that we absolutely could not miss it. With all that build up it was actually a disappointment in the end. Each float or group of people was quite cool but there were huge gaps between each. I thought it would have been hugely improved if it were just a constant flow. Not really worth the effort. 

Giant buddha hidden in fog!

The following day we made a trek out to the giant Buddha; about 40 mins on the metro, then 40 mins on a bus. As we got closer and closer it got foggier and foggier. By the time we could see (or were meant to see) the Buddha it was just complete white. At the bottom of the statue we could vaguely see his feet and his hand (because it’s in the air, away from the body) but we really couldn’t see much. He is huge, though. That much I could tell. 

In the evening we went to the New Year Fireworks. Again, everyone kept saying that it was something we definitely shouldn’t miss. This time they were right. It was spectacular. So loud, so colourful, so many fireworks! I’ve never seen so many in my life. And to add to it, the Hong Kong skyline is covered in lights. Beautiful.

It’s a vibrant and exciting city- I’ve still got another three days here, and plenty more to do!

India: Delhi (again)

Henna!

What was meant to be a five and a half hour train from Ranthambore to Delhi turned into an eight hour train because it was so foggy. This meant that we didn’t get to Delhi until late in the afternoon. Most of our afternoon was spent using internet and hot water (both things we had not had for a few days) and once we were all sorted we went out for one final group dinner. I love Indian food, but I am a little bit over having spicy food at every meal!

Before drying..

Three out of the six tour members departed from Delhi before I made it out of bed the next day. I spent most of the day with Jess and Michael (the remaining two from the tour), not keen to do too much, but definitely keen to leave the hotel. We ventured out on a mission: Jess and I wanted henna, and Michael wanted a haircut. All missions were accomplished. The henna was quite cool, just watching they guy do it. It’s like a thick ink that you have to leave on til the next day, but it gradually chips off. And gets rather annoying. Right now it is a very bright orange colour. I thought it would be a bit more brown-y but hopefully it fades in the next day or too. Looks cool, I reckon!

After we left our hands to dry for a little while, we ordered a taxi to take us to the red fort. At this point, I was a little over forts, we’d seen quite a few. We’d also been told that we’d seen better ones than this one. So we walked around the edge, admired it without going in. Instead we decided to roam the area.. By foot! Oh my! There was a lovely temple, but we couldn’t go in because of their strange opening hours for visitors. Walking further down the street we discovered we were in one of Delhi’s biggest markets. It was crazy hectic. Makes all the other markets seem calm! In the 15-20 minutes that we were walking around I was (very intentionally) elbowed in the boob twice. One of the men even followed us for a while after, staring at me the whole time. Shortly after this I felt a hand near my bum and was fed up, ready to have a go at the offender. I turned and realised it was a little girl, no older than about seven, trying to get into my bag. 

Dirty, hectic Delhi markets

This short walk just reaffirmed my notion that Delhi is chaotic and dirty. I really don’t like it, and don’t recommend it. Overall I’m a little glad to be leaving India today. Whilst it has been fun, I’m looking forward to foods that aren’t spicy, men who don’t touch me inappropriately and people who don’t think I’m made of money. 

I do recommend going to India but I don’t recommend going to Delhi!