Day 38: Tues 23rd Nov 2010 – Day 39: Wed 24th Nov 2010 – Chiang Mai > Chiang Rai

Our time in Chiang Mai was at an end, we had only expected to spend three to four days here but it turned out to be a week. When I first arrived I got the feeling it was going to be a very cool city and I leave with that exact thought. The pace of life in the north of Thailand seems far slower than that in the south making the population that bit more chilled out. The only think I will regret missing out on in Chiang Mai is the kick boxing fight nights. Due to illness for a good chunk of time in the city is was badly in need of sleep every night and never made it to one of the kick boxing arenas. At least this is a reason for me to come back in the future.

Next port of call would be Chiang Rai. We hadn't done much research into this city and expected to turn up and find things to entertain ourselves. We arrived in the evening and had a little explore and found a really nice night market. The morning after we tried to explore the the place a little more but all it has really is the night market, this gave us a good excuse to chill in some bars and read up about our next destination.

Day 37: Mon 22nd Nov 2010 – Water Festival

 

By coincidence we happened to be in what we had been told was the best city in Thailand for one of their biggest festivals of the year. I hadn't read into what the festival is really about but I can assume it's giving thanks for the water that brings life to the land.

In the evening the main streets of the city were swarming with people. Parades come and go with loud music and heavily decorated floats and people in traditional dress. Hundreds of stalls are set up selling food and all sorts of other things that Thai people like. The main even of the festival though was the lanterns. Thousands of people set of lanterns which float into the air and decorate the sky. Charlotte and I sent up a lantern of our own to bring us good luck and health for a year.

We spent the evening walking the streets avoiding fireworks that the locals let off from their hands or just throw into the air. Once our feet ached we headed back to the hostel and were kept awake by the booming fireworks.

Day 35: Sat 20th Nov 2010 – Day 36: Sun 21st Nov 2010 – Elephant Riders

It was an early morning start for our activity of the day which would no doubt be an experience we would remember for a long time. Seeing elephants was something that was on our list to do in Asia and having read about the treatment of elephants we decided the only ethical way spend some time with them was also the most expensive. Originally I had only though we would go for a ride on an elephant and Charlotte had joked that she wanted to spend a day learning to be an elephant trainer, which is exactly what the day we had booked was. We were supposed to join a group of 20 but the main session was fully booked so instead of booking us to a different day the arranged a private session for us.

When we arrived at Ban Chang (Translates to “Home of Elephants”) the owner of the park sat down with us and told us about the park, its vision and future plans. This guy is so passionate about his elephants having rescued them all from old lives logging and walking city streets. The little presentation he gave was quite moving and at points I thought he was about to shed a tear. It was also important for understand the history of elephants in the region and why they need to have rescue centres and the cost involved, for us to appreciate why we had to pay so much to visit.

The first contact with the elephants is aimed at getting them to like you so we were given a couple of hundred bananas to feed herd. In a usual session two people would feed one elephant but because we had our private session two of us got to feed about 18 of them. Its quite a daunting task at fist approaching a group of elephants with bunches of bananas especially as we were told to put them in their mouths and not let them take them with their trunk. Thankfully each elephant at the park has its own mahout (elephant trainer) to keep them nice and calm and not trample us. Every time you would walk past one it would reach out with its trunk and try and playfully pull you over to feed it.

It took about 15 minutes for us to hand out all the bananas and by the end we were fairly comfortable approaching the giants animals. Just as we were feeling at ease the anxiety levels went back up again when we actually had to learn how to ride them. This wasn't exactly going to be a ride at Disney land as there would be no seat to sit on or handle to hold on to. Although daunting to start with it was actually fairly easy to learn how to command our elephant to lie down so we could climb on its neck, and then getting it to walk, stop, turn left and right weren't much problem either. I found it really amazing how easy it was to control such a powerful animal.

Moving on at a very quick pace having only just had one go each at walking our elephant in a figure of eight we were then ready to go for a longer ride up into the mountains. One of the benefits of having a private session was the tour guide became our own private photographer who seemed to have walked the track so many times he knew where to take all the best shots.

Once we had finished out round trip up and down the mountain we need to take the elephant for a bath. Having ridden her into a lake we had to give her a good clean throwing buckets over water and scrubbing with brushes. The end of the bath was also the queue for the end of our condensed crash course in becoming a mahout. As I predicted it really was something I don't think I will forget for a long, long time. All the elephants seem so happy and playful at the park and I really hope the owner can fulfil his dreams of rescuing more elephants and expanding the park to give them even better living conditions.

The day after the elephants was a fairly lazy day in Chiang Mai except for moving to a new hostel. The old one seemed to be making me too ill so we upgraded to a far nicer place to an extra fee of £1 each a night.

Day 32: 17th Nov 2010 – Day 34: 19th Nov 2010 – Chiang Mai

The first full day in Thailand's second city we decided to do the Lonely Planet walking tour. After a few hours of walking in the mid day heat we must have seen 10 Buddhist temples from the outside and 3 or 4 on the inside. My conclusion is that most temples seem pretty much the same except for one. At the back temples usually have a big Buddha statue surrounded by loads of smaller ones. This one temple had managed to acquire a Madame Tussard's style wax work of an old monk that sat among the smaller Buddhas. It took a few minutes to subtle staring to confirm it wasn't a real person.

On the second day in Chaing Mai we got to do one of the things we had been looking forward to doing on our trip. The activity for the day was a Thai cooking course. Like any activity do seem to do in Asia the price always includes pick up from the hostel, usually in a mini bus. The cooking course do it slightly differently and send a lady on a moped to pick everyone up one at a time.

After it taking 10 minutes to be shipped one at a time to the school the first part of the course was a trip to the market which was right by our hostel so we had to walk back to where we had just been. When we got there we learned a little bit about the rice, noodles and tofu we would be using in the class. The market itself isn't too different to what we would have at home except for the hygiene standards. They have no problem at all with flies crawling over the meat and blood running from the stalls into the road. We were reassured that meat we were going to use was bought from a place that sold meat more suitable for western stomachs. Back at the school we then learned about the vegetables we would use in their vegetable garden.

The cooking lessons themselves were a really good experience, we got to cook a meat dish, a noodle dish, an appetizer, a curry (and the paste for it), a soup and a dessert. You would be very surprised how quick and easy Thai food it to prepare. Each time we finished cooking a dish we sat down and enjoyed out creations.

In the evening I had planned to go to a bar that we had seen that sold beer towers (4 litres) and I was going to sit and drink a tower to myself. Before the drinking started we went for dinner and very uncharacteristically for me I had lost my appetite and was feeling a bit ill. I ate as much as I could but was far from clearing my plate. When I said that I wasn't feeling great and wasn't to sure about the beer tower Charlotte seemed to egg me on to go through with my plan. As the picture shows I did order the tower. When it arrived my mood changed and I got stuck in. I consumed the first litre at a good pace but was starting to get the feeling of the beer just sitting on top of my dinner. After 2 more litres I needed Charlottes help and we shared the last one. I'm a bit disappointed I didn't finish it on my own but am very relieved that none went to waste.

When the morning arrived it was clear that I should have listened to my body when I wasn't sure about the tower. At first I didn't feel to bad probably because I was still a bit drunk but as that wore off my symptoms worsened. By the time I got up I was suffering from a chest infection, headache, cold and what felt like my eyes were being pressed into my head. Although the alcohol undoubtedly worsened the situation I think the cause of my illness was the room we were staying in. The bathroom was causing mould in the room, the bathroom door was so rotten about 3 inches of the bottom had disintegrated and if you looked under the pillow case the pillows had gone the colour of a strong cup of tea (this is a warning for anyone thinking of staying in the Malak, Chiang Mai). I spent the whole day drinking Coke and popping pills to try and relieve my symptoms.

Day 31: 16th Nov 2010 – Hong Kong > Bangkok > Chiang Mai

Today was our flight back to Bangkok. From there we planned to head to Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand but didn't have a route planned. When we landed it was too late to get a bus so we headed to the departures area of the airport. After about 15mins of touring the airline desks we had a flight to Chiang Mai booked leaving a couple of hours later.

Day 28: Sat 13th Nov 2010 – Day 30: Mon 15th Nov 2010 – Hong Kong

We spent Saturday morning doing a little exploring on foot. As the city is situated on the side of a mountain this involves a lot of walking up and down stairs which I'm sure must keep the locals very fit. During our wandering we found a carnival being set up so decided on going there in the evening. Before we could enjoy the festivities though we had a mountain to get to the top of. We had read that it was a hard two hour plus walk to the “The Peak” (the top mountain on Hong Kong Island), this didn't sound too appealing so opted to get the tram instead.

The views at the top make you really appreciate just what an amazing city it is. There are literally hundreds of skyscrapers making up the skyline. The view on other side of the mountain its the complete opposite all you can see if green slopes and sea. Having thoroughly looked in every direction we decided to make our way down on foot. During the ascent we were very glad we didn't walk up as the people who were seemed to be well kitted out in running gear and still gushing with sweat.

The evenings entertainment was the carnival we had seen earlier in the day. The roads were lined with stalls selling food and drink, it very much reminded me of Notting Hill carnival just a bit classier. We had some drinks and watched various stages with entertainment and had a merry time. When it started getting late he headed back to the apartment picking up some beers on the way. This is when the drunken silliness really began. Michael had acquired and inflatable hammer which inspired us to start playing drinking “Mallets Mallet”. This obviously worked well at getting us very drunk and causing the next thing to happen. Michael asked at 4am if he could trim my Mohawk. It had been getting a little long so I agreed even though I though his clippers would make it a bit shorter than I would like it. Before he went in with the clippers he wanted to trim it with scissors, bad idea, very bad idea. With in 5 seconds he had done irreversible damage that meant I had to shave my whole head down to a 0.5 grade. The clippers would only thenn work for about a minute at a time before the battery would run out and they would need charging. During the charging time we had some more beers to numb the pain of losing my prize hair cut.

The whole of Sunday was spent recovering from the previous nights partying.

On the Monday we opted for a more fun than cultural day. We headed to Ocean park, a theme park a short way out of the centre of town which like most things in Hong Kong is based on the side of a mountain. We had a good time on the rides but did realise how spoilt we are at home with our big, high budget parks. I did find though that roller coasters there seemed to go slower but that actually seemed to make them more scary, the rides at home are so fast you cant really tell what's happening.

Day 27: Fri 12th Nov 2010 – Hong Kong: Big Buddha

On our first day in HK we agreed with our guides Michael and Sandy it would be a good idea to do something touristy. Sandy had a friend working today at a cable car which takes you over a small mountain to a giant statue of Buddha. When we heard about the friend working at the cable car we didn't quite realise how handy this would be. The queue just to buy a ticket was similar to what you would expect for the best ride at Thorpe Park in the middle of summer on a nice day. We walked past it all and cut straight to the front. Once we bought the cheapest ticket going we then got to skip another long queue to actually get on the cable car. We rode in a VIP car with glass floor which was supposed to cost a ridiculous amount. The trip was nice and the glass floor was less scary than you would think. This has been our first chance to see what HK is like from a natural point of view and it seems very different to the other parts of Asia we've been in. The mixture of rocky slopes and stiff looking shrubs reminded me a lot of the Scottish Highlands.

By the time we reached the other end of the cable car we were all ready for some lunch. Part of going to see the Big Buddha is going to the Buddhist restaurant which serves the kind of food monks eat. The meal was made up of several dishes all of which were vegetarian and none of them especially strongly flavoured. I enjoyed them as vegetable dishes but a growing lad like myself really needs some meat with every meal. Overall the meal must have been very low calorie so I can understand what you rarely see a fat monk.

The Buddha statue is sat at the top of a hill with a staircase leading up to it. Climbing those stairs showed me that my fitness levels has already taken a missive nose dive since leaving home less than a month ago. At the top of the stairs there's a 360 degree viewing platform with some really good views of the mountain islands protruding from the sea.

With the day moving on quickly we headed back into the city to see another fairly unique attraction. Every night the Hong Kong skyline lights up with a light show which lasts for about 15 minutes. After standing in the cold killing time the show started and in all honesty I was pretty disappointed. Its hard to tell if the conditions weren’t right or if it was just a bit crap. Oh well at least I can say I've seen it. To make up for it though dinner was at TGI Fridays which cost us 2 days travelling budget each for a burger and a couple of beers, oops.

Day 24: Tues 9th Nov 2010 – Day 26: Thurs 11th Nov 2010 – Koh Samui > Bangkok > Hong Kong

Over the past few days there has just been one thing to do, get the Bangkok airport in time for our flight to Hong Kong. Hong Kong wouldn't have usually been in our plans as it's a fair way from all the other countries we're visiting which means flights are pricey. On top of that it's a very expensive city to be in. However, my brother has recently moved there which means free accommodation and hopefully some subsidised fun.

The journey from Koh Samui to Bangkok was a little bit of a marathon. We started on the morning of the 9^th getting a mini bus which took us to a coach, which took us to a boat taking us back to mainland Thailand, we then got another mini bus that dropped us at the train station to get a sleeper train to the capital. All seemed to be going well until Charlotte opened her bag on the train and realised things weren't in the same order she left them. She did some rummaging and found she'd had her handbag, belt, perfume and a pair of pants stolen. Although there was nothing of great value gone I still had to do a fair amount of consoling as she did not like that people had been going through her stuff. When we arrived in Bangkok I found I'd had a tiny bottle of aftershave and half a small bottle of mouthwash nicked, I was just glad they didn't know some of my t-shirts and boardshorts are probably worth a weeks wages to them.

Our day in Bangkok was spent replacing some of the things we'd had stolen. In the evening we went to Chinatown and had a meal at a night restaurant that had its tables in the road. In the morning we got a taxi to the airport link train station. Only then did we find out that a taxi costs about half what the city’s metro charge to get around. At the airport I looked for a thank you for having us gift for my brother but decided against spending the £15 they charge for a box of Celebrations or £10 medium sized Toblerone.

We arrived Hong Kong city centre late in the evening to meet my brother, Michael. We dropped our stuff at his Apartment, met up with Michaels girlfriend (Sandy) and headed out for food.

Day 22: Sun 7th Nov 2010 – Day 24: Tues 9th Nov 2010 – Koh Samui

The journey from Koh Lanta was a long one including many bus changes, a bus running out of petrol, a mini bus driver that had to run all his errands including picking up his laundry which passengers then had to sit with on their laps, a boat and then Charlottes stomach bug that she picked up in Phi Phi (what we had thought was a hang over originally) making her boff in a taxi. So after 12 hours on the road without a meal we were welcomed with rain. We were however lucky again as our only full day in Samui managed to produce a fair few hours of sun. As we we're leaving the beachy southern islands of Thailand the next day we spend every single one of those hours at the beach topping up the tan.

We spent the evening eating drinking and watching wrestling on the main strip of the resort we were staying in. I get the feeling Samui would be a great place for a lads holiday with all the themed bars, loud music and happy hours.

Day 20: Fri 5th Nov 2010 – Day 22: Sun 7th Nov 2010 - Koh Lanta

The Thai weather hasn't been great as of late it has regularly been raining for several hours a day and at unpredictable times and when its not raining it is usually very overcast. Our only full day in Lanta was the overcast type but this didn't affect our plans for the day. We had read that the best way to explore the island was by motorbike. We got up early and paid our £4 for 24 hour hire of a florescent orange scooter. The whole day was spent zipping around the island looking at the scenery and nature. We would ride until our bums went numb then get off and check out the area then get back on and go again.

In the evening we went to a restaurant that we had seen did a fish barbecue as I fancied trying a whole fish as I'd never had one before and felt this would be the perfect time. I chose the fish I was going to have and it was taken off to be cooked. While we waited the rain started coming down really hard and all of a sudden the power went. As the restaurant was on the beach we could see all the others had lost power too. This was bad news for me as when my whole fish arrived I had to try and figure out how to eat it without getting a mouth full of bones with only the light from a candle. I got there in the end and really enjoyed my red snapper.

Day 17: Tues 2nd Nov 2010 - Day 20: Friday 5th Nov 2010 - Koh Phi Phi

Having left Phuket where we seemed well below the average age of the current holiday makers we were very pleased when we arrived in Koh Phi Phi to find the reverse situation. Most of the island just seems to be backpackers with only a few things in mind; drinking, chilling out and for some a little bit of diving.

We originally only booked into our hostel for one night but ended staying three. As we had been travelling that day the first night we just did a little tour of the area which really doesn't take long in Phi Phi. You could fit the main part of the island into a football pitch and this includes the majority of bars, restaurants and hotels. We decided to go for a few drinks in a bar that had a good happy hour on and I bought my first bucket (like a bucket a child would have at the seaside but filled with alcohol) for a couple of pounds. We sat drinking our drinks and got taking to a couple because the guy had just ordered the bars challenge meal. The challenge was if you could eat 3 beef burgers, about 3 potatoes worth of wedges and 2 onions worth of onion rings in the thickest batter known to man in half an hour the meal would be free. Needless to say the bar won and I ended up eating loads of the left overs. On the down side it seemed my bucket had next to no alcohol in it. We left the bar to go and see what was going on down at the beach but the heavens opened, we had to head home to dry ourselves off and ended up crashing.

The next night we headed out for a proper drinking session. Having realised the buckets were a bit of a rip off I decided to take some of my own vodka out with me to top them up nicely. This turned out to be a great idea. We spent the whole evening at beach bars watching light and fire shows, meeting lots of people and dancing.

I have no idea what time we got home from our night out but what ever time it was it meant I woke up 5 minutes before check out so I had to rush to reception and book in for another night. Our last full day on the island was spent in the room with Charlotte emptying the contents of her stomach several times an hour.

We both loved Phi Phi and my only regret was not taking a boat trip around the surrounding islands to see some more of its beauty, who knows though I may be back there before I go home.

Day 13: Thurs 28th Oct 2010 – Day 17: 2nd Nov 2010 - Phuket

We had decided to book into our hostel for 5 nights which is quite a long time to stay in one place for travellers, especially if there's no activity planned. As this is our first break from work in over a year we both thought we deserved a little bit of holiday style beach time and decided the paradise island beaches of Phuket would be very fitting.

There's not really a whole lot to say about our days in Phuket as it was very much like the standard summer holiday. We spent our first few days on the beach sunning it up then heading out in the evening for dinner and some drinks. I got a nice bit on sun burn on the first day at the beach but it didn't stop me going back. Annoyingly the last couple of days were really rainy so we just lazed around having some well earned rest. Even more annoyingly is that I had planned of taking my photos of the place on these days but as it was grey and wet I didn't see the point as it wouldn't make any of you jealous.

I found Phuket quite a strange place to visit as it obviously caters to a huge number of holiday makers from Australia but as it wasn't a holiday season for them the place was pretty dead. The hundreds of bars that lined the streets all sat empty except for a a few young Thai women sitting at the front of each trying to entice men in. I assume this is how middle age men meet their young Thai brides. On the last couple of days when it rained we were itching to meet some like minded people that we could sit and have a few drinks with but it seemed Phuket really wasn’t the place for us to meet other backpackers.

Day 12: Wed 27th Oct 2010 - Bangkok

To make up for yesterdays failed attempt to go on a boat trip up the river we set out early for a second attempt. We discovered there was a pier further south which tour boats started and decided that would be a better starting point than our local excuse for a pier. With this being our last day in Bangkok we knew there was one mode of transport we still needed to try. We had seen the crazy driving they do from the pavement and we had been offered their services every few minutes since being in the city. I haggled briefly with the driver and once I'd more than halved his original price we boarded his tuk tuk. The journey was pretty fun and didn't feel as dangerous as they looked. However we did do a fair amount of driving on the wrong side of the road. I certainly think Boris should consider rolling them out in London.

 

The cruise up the river was very pleasant as the sun had decided to come out and light up all of the buildings nicely. We couldn't be bothered to wait for the boat which had the commentary so we didn't know what most of the things we were looking at were but they all seemed very nice. Once we had been on-board for about 30-40 minutes the interesting looking buildings seemed to run out so we jumped off at the next stop.

Luckily I think we had probably got off at one of the most unique of all the piers along the river. I noticed as we were pulling up there seemed to be a lot of fish in the water around the pier. Now when I say a lot of fish I don't mean 10 or 20 or even 100, there were literally thousands of them all clustered together just swimming against the flow of the river with enough power to stay in the same place. I found it really strange how they all just hung out there when there was a whole river and their disposal. As we left the pier I found it really strange that in the path that leads to the road there were loads of people selling shredded bread crusts and it didn't click until we went back to the pier and I saw that people were buying the bread to feed the fish. For 20-30 pence you could buy a whole carrier bag of crusts to throw in the water and a fair number of people were buying. When I hand full hit the water the fish would go ballistic for about 10 seconds all trying to get a scrap. They would flap about in the water so much that anyone near the water would get soaked. Once the fish had been thoroughly watched we got on a boat and headed back down the river to where we started then headed back to the hostel.

Our few days in Bangkok were all but over now and we boarded a sleeper train to southern Thailand to do some island hopping. The sleeper train was new to both of us and although it shows signs of age it seems pretty good. You get a bed made up with fresh sheets, blanket, pillow and curtain, and the air con blows at a good temperature all night. I say it blows at a good temperature but this is just a guess. I was pretty cold laying in my shorts and t shirt as I had to lay on top of my blanket which I was using to soak up the half can of beer I'd spilt all over the sheets.

 

I've really enjoyed Bangkok even though it doesn't feel like I did a huge amount during my stay. It's such an intense city to visit and I think when you're not used to it it can be hard to get a lot done. Many of the different sights to see seem so spread out and a vast amount of the city isn't connected by the metro system which makes it tough for first timers. I will be heading back to Bangkok on several occasions before I head home and I'm already looking forward to coming back and seeing more of the city.

Day 11: Tues 26th Oct 2010 - Bangkok

As yesterdays trip on the boat went so well we decided that today we would take a long cruise along the river and properly take in all of the sights along its banks. We set off along the streets of Bangkok to catch the boat from the same place we had got off the day before. A few minutes down the road from the hostel we had to keep changing our route due to flooded streets. Once we had navigated our way to in sight of the river it became obvious why some roads were flooded. The river was higher than street level and was being held back by walls and sand bags lining the banks. It wasn't too much of a surprise the river was like this after all the rain and thunder we had listened to during the night. Rather than wading through the water to get to the boat pier to see if it was even running we decided to change the plan for the day.

We headed to Siam which is one of the main shopping districts of Bangkok. The area has several shopping malls all within spitting distance of each other but all very different inside. They ranged from top designer shops to what seemed like make shift cubicals all packed together selling tat. It was quite nice to walk around the shops as it felt a bit more like home was a relief from the bustling streets.

Consulting the guide book for what else was in the area we found we weren't too far from Jim Thompsons house. Jim Thompson it turns out is famous for more than just having a chain of restaurants named after him. The American was sent to Thailand while serving in the army and fell in love with the country so made a permanent move. He started exporting Thai silk and became very wealthy off the back of it. With his wealth he bought several traditional Asian houses and fashioned them together into one to create the house that still stands there today. For a couple of quid we were given a guided tour of the house and gardens with here really beautiful yet also fairly humble for a man of great wealth. The place had a really tranquil vibe about it and was an excellent escape from the city.

In the evening we searched for some western food to give our stomachs a little bit of a rest from all the spices. Our attempts failed and more Thai food was eaten.

Day 10: Mon 25th Oct 2010 – Bangkok

We did not welcome the coming of our first morning in Bangkok. The Chang consumption of the previous night had left us both feeling a little worse for wear. Eventually we dragged ourselves out of bed and got ready for a day in the capital of Thailand. The main thing to see in the city is the Grand Palace and it looked like it was about 3km our hostel. As people who like a good walk this didn't seem like too great a distance so we set out with various maps of the city. It took all of about 5 minutes to realise that the map which had so little detail (only showing major roads) would not be much help. After about an hour of walking hoping we were going in the right direction we managed to find one of the roads on the map that we could follow to the palace.

The streets of Bangkok are like no other city I've been before. All the shops seem to be grouped into districts, so one minute you pass tens of shops all changing car tyres, then a row of identical plumbing shops, then maybe a shops selling coffins and so on. These shops are very unglamorous with space used to a maximum, most interesting are the car part shop which just have huge piles of oily hunks of metal in every space available. Due to the over crowding if the shops all business is conducted on the pavement or even the road which makes walking all the more difficult as you have to weave around some metal being cut or a car wheel being changed.

About two hours into the walk my GPS on my phone finally found a satellite and was able to point us in the right direction. En-route we passed an outdoor gym in a park (very cool), a temple which we went in and had a look and were amused that half of it was now a tacky gift shop and we also started to encounter the scams. Bangkok seems too be a hive of scammers from what we had read. The number one scam being Thais saying things were closed as it was a Buddhist holiday. As we grew close to the Palace we started to experience exactly what had been described. A apparent university professor who taught English but didn’t seem to speak it amazingly well told us the Palace was closed for a Holiday. A short distance later we were told the ministry of defence had closed the road to the palace but there was a different route we could take. Then a bit further on a man approached to let us know we wouldn't get into the palace in what we were wearing.

It wasn't too much surprise to use that the palace was open and we got in fine. I wont say too much about the palace grounds except the architecture was stunning, the buildings were all in pristine condition and there was a very peaceful vibe around the place, the pictures will say the rest.

Day 9: Sun 24th Oct 2010 – Kuala Lumpur > Bangkok

I won't bore you with the details of the flight from KL to Bangkok but I will say my first experience of Air Asia (Asia's answer to Easy Jet) was very pleasurable.

By the time we had checked into the hostel it was late afternoon. As we were in a new country we thought it best to start trying some local food for dinner. We both chose the classic Thai dish that everyone at home loves, Green Thai Curry. When ordering the waitress asked us what “spicy” we wanted the food. Charlotte instantly expressed that she didn't want it to be too hot. I though had to accept when I heard the words “you want it Thai spicy?”. Shortly after we started eating our server who was obviously observing my face turn bright red with the first few mouthfuls brought me a plate of cucumber and explained that Thai people use it to cool their mouths. Being English I endured the pain but it didn't take long for me to acclimatise to the heat of the dish and ended up almost licking the plate clean.

Once dinner was finished and my face had returned to a normal colour we set off for our first taste of Thailand, and where better to start than the old red light district. When Charlotte mentioned about the area she had just read about in the Lonely Planet book I got the thought in my mind that as it was the old district that none of the sex trade would be there any more. I thought that maybe it might be more like one of the areas in London that was once a dive but is up and coming. Anyway I was shocked when we got there as to how red light district it actually was. I've passed through red light districts in a couple of places but have never experienced anything quite like this. Now in Bangkok being hassled by people is something that happens every few minutes but not quite like this. Even though I was walking down the road with Charlotte close behind I was still being offered all sorts of services. When I declined half of them then offered Charlotte selection. Once we had ignored or waved away as many as we could handle we though it best to stop and find a place for a few drinks. After staking out a few of the roadside bars we picked one and sat looking over the bustling road. The barmaid came over to take our order and we soon figured out this barmaid was actually a barman. Within seconds we notice the other barmaid working there was also a man although this one was far more obvious. We sat drinking Chang (a local lager) and watched the world go by. At first we didn't realise that Chang packs a mean 6.4% alcohol which would explain our level of intoxication.

Once we left the bar we checked out a few more of the areas delights including a Thai kick boxing show. It didn't take me long to realise it was a show and not actually proper fighting which didn't bother me too much considering my state of merriness. I also have a vague memory of some kind of a strange talent show we were coaxed into seeing.

Tonight was an interesting and drunken introduction to Thailand.

Day 8: Sat 23rd Oct 2010 - KL

 Today was our chance to make up for our previous days inability to get out the house and explore KL. We got up early (well early for us, Wilma had already run 18km and Doug had had a gym session) and headed down to one of the city's parks. We strolled around for an hour or two in some blistering temperatures looking at the tropical trees, the lake, an oddly placed deer enclosure and an Orchid garden. It's a very beautiful park but the heat was starting to get to us. From there we looked for the next closest attraction which is the old KL railway station. Architecturally it's a great building but I don't think I was at an ideal temperature to enjoy it to the full. So I took my snaps and we jumped in a cab to a place bound to have air con. A short taxi ride took us to the foot of the Petronas towers which has a large shopping centre at the foot of it. We explored the area for a while taking photos and trying some local food.

 

The venue for our evening was over an hour out of KL in more rural Malaysia. Our first stop was a hill where a group of silver leafed monkeys lived. We had the chance to get up close and see them going about their cheeky monkey business. I bought some green beans and handed them out to the excited primates.  

 

Next stop was dinner at a Chinese restaurant which seemed to be half on land and half over a river. We ordered mounds of food including my favourite “Marmite Chicken” and ate as much as we could but even with my best efforts we were defeated by the amount of food. I'll try not to feel too bad about the waste though as the bill was in the region of £3 a head.

The main event of the evening was a cruise along the river in a rowing boat to see fire flies. We were only a short distance from the dock when we started to see the bushes along the side of the river light up. They very much resembled those Christmas tree lights which pulsate but obviously a lot more impressive. It was a great experience to see these fascinating little insects do what they do. As a side note it was also very interesting to see the amount of rubbish that floats down rivers in Malaysia, drinks bottles seem a very common sight and I even saw a few whole bin bags.

Thanks to the Websters for another great evening.

Day 7: Fri 22nd Oct 2010 - KL

Very easy going day today. Got up and went to the pool, came back after a few hours planning to do some more sight seeing but felt too lazy to bother. We slothed about the apartment until Doug arrived back from a business trip in the early evening. Wilma cooked another fine meal which set us up nicely for bed.

Day 6: Thurs 21th Oct 2010 – Kuala Lumpur

 

After a very good nights sleep in our new room it didn't take too much encouragement from Wilma to go and sample the apartment complex's pool. Luckily very few of the residents actually seem to make use of this facility so the glare from our lily white skin out in the sun didn't blind anyone. We spent a few hours bobbing in the pool and laying about reading before our host showed up offering to bring us down some lunch to eat at pool side. Over lunch Wilma laid out the plan she'd come up with for the rest of the day, starting with a session at a Thai massage parlour.

This was to be my first professional massage ever and I now look forward to many more when I get to Thailand. Our feet, heads and necks were serviced for an hour, we all left in a very relaxed state and our feet felt like we were waking on a clouds. There wasn't too much time to dwell on this though as we had too head home to get ready for our the next event that had been planned for us.

The most famous landmark in KL is the Petronas Twin Towers. Standing just over 450 metres tall they dominate the skyline and my first idea of experiencing the towers would be to go there and get a lift to the top. Unfortunately this can't be done as the highest public viewing platform if the bridge that connects the two towers together which is only about half way up. The next part to the plan was centred around the towers but rather than going in them it involved looking at them, from a height, in a high class environment, with alcohol. We chauffeur driven to the Traders Hotel a few hundred feet from the towers where we ascended 33 floors up to the hotels pool bar. At night it's transformed into a very cool kind of lounge bar/night club which faces straight at the towers. We chilled for an hour or so soaking in well lit towers and making the most of the Kodak moment. Once we finished our beers and cocktails we were taken for a drastic change of scenery.

From the swanky Traders Hotel we made our was to a more typically Asian part of town. We rocked up to a Chinese restaurant owned by a couple that Wilma and Doug know. For those of you that haven't been to Asia I will try to describe what the restaurants here are generally like. They are generally open front shop spaces that look like that haven't been decorated in decades, mismatched furniture that all ways spills out onto the street if not the road too and all the cooking seems to be done somewhere within the view and not in a kitchen.



Deep fried ducks tounge

So anyway we had been warned that this place doesn't even have a menu, you just have too make a request and they do their best to accommodate. We ordered a selection of food trying some old favourites and and a few things we hadn't tried or heard of before. During our meal we were joined by the owner (who was a real character) and her son (who was so well spoken and came across so intelligent he almost seemed like some kind of a cyborg and I mean this in the kindest possible way). Although the owner is Chinese and her son half Chinese half Welsh I got a feel that we were mixing more with the locals and what its like living in Malaysia. Once all the food had gone we were exhausted from our tough day so headed home. Thanks for a great day Wilma.

Day 5: Wed 20th Oct 2010 Singapore > Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

I was expecting to have very little to say today as the day was set aside for travelling from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur but I have a couple of bits to cover. The mode of transport was a coach which involves stopping a passport control buildings at the boarder. One arrival at the Singapore boarder control there was a barrier blocking the entrance road. Somehow the coach driver failed to see it and just ploughed straight through, much to the displeasure of the Singaporean police. Due to the drivers sever lack of observation a boarder crossing which from observation of other coach parties should take about three of four minutes ended up taking an hour. Fortunately our driver know how to drive his coach in a very fast risk manor which meant even after an hour delay we were only five minutes late getting into KL. On arrival we were greeted by the owner of the hostel for the next few days. By hostel I really mean luxury apartment suite and by hostel owner I mean family friend Wilma Webster (Mum of my oldest friend Mark). Wilma and husband Doug have a pent house apartment over looking KL and I think Charlotte and I will be very comfortable during our stay here. This evening Wilma fed us a delicious meal and suggested some great places she may take us, and things we can do over the next few days.

Day 4: Tues 19th Oct 2010 - Singapore

The big plan for today was a trip to the fairly newly opened Universal Studios Singapore which is situated on Sentosa Island which is a stones throw from the main land.. This is one of our only big treats planned planned where we expect spend large amounts of our hard earned money. To get to Sentosa island there's a monorail link over the small stretch of sea. While queueing for monorail tickets Charlotte noticed big screen saying Universal Studio's tickets were sold out for the day. “How!?!?” we were asking, we had got up early and it didn't even seem busy at the monorail station. After quickly whipping out the Lonely Planet book and our map we soon had a plan together for the day.

 

Even though we couldn't go to the main attraction on Sentosa Island we decided it was still worth going to see what it had to offer. If you look at the guide to the island you would see a long list of attraction that can be found here but we picked one of the least advertised. Having seen theme parks, cable cars, go kart’s, giant statues just to name a few things in view out of the train window we found something far more spiritually rewarding. A beach. It was a small beach with a row of nice wooden shack style bar looking out to the sea with ample comfortable seating shaded by palm and other exotic style trees. We sat for an hour or so sipping ice tea (a new experience for both of us and made far more pleasurable once we discovered adding copious amounts of sugar) and looking over the white sand beach to the sea which was cluttered with huge cargo ship waiting to go into port. We then strolled across the island looking at some of the other attractions costly but decided our money would get us far better value doing other things.

 

The next port of call for the day was the banking district. We made our way through the skyscrapers to the bank of the Singapore river in search of the famous Merlion (half mermaid, half lion). After a fair amount of walking and dealing with getting caught in our first tropical down pour it turned out the Merlion looked better on the tourist map but in retrospect it was a pretty impressive piece. We stopped for coffee and the caffeine perked us up and drove away any feelings of jetlag.

 

The last sight seeing of the day was a walk down Orchard Road which is the main shopping district of the city. It housed many stores I wouldn't dare going in even if I was still working in banking in London let alone a poor traveller.

 

As the day had been much cheaper than expected with no trip to Universal Studios we treated ourselves to curry in little India.