Australia; Cairns

After a very bumpy and squished plane ride I finally got to Cairns :) got to Gilligans hostel at about 12pm, I intended on having a walk around but ended up sleeping til 6!

Went down for a free dinner which was disgusting! MEANT to be cottage pie! Randomly met up with someone on my tour starting the next day so we stayed downstairs at the bar and had a few drinks. We met 2 guys who were constanly buying drinks but 1 of them were ridiculously forward! Starting to realise its an Australian thing!

Next day 29th I wasn't feeling too hungover and I had an introductionary meeting with my tour group. All really lovely. We went to Kurunda and went to a kind of Zoo. I cuddled a Koala - he was like a real live teddy bear :)

That night I went on a party bus which went to the main bars in Cairns, loads of fun but I did it all alone so was pretty shy to begin with but made friends pretty easily. Had a bit of a messy night so was hungover the next day.

Luckily I didn't do much, walked down to the lagoon, Cairns is beautiul! Went to the pool at Gilligans and got a free BBQ :)

Later I finally went out with my group! We went for dinner at Rattle and hum which was nice then went onto the Woolshed for drinks which was lots of fun. I got involved in a couple of games - blind date and dildo racing lol. A pretty messy night soooooooo hungover the next day had to leave at 6am!

Thai island hopping; back to Phuket; Patong, back to Bangkok, Onto OZ!

27/10/2011

Our trip to Phuket was really long! Took about 4 hours and changed our mini bus twice. But we got there in the end! We decided to stay at Patong beach this time.

I'm glad we did! It was BUZZING! The nightlife and the beach! The beach was beautiful and we went on a jet ski. I didn't drive! Still fun though!

Couldn't stay long on the beach because the sun was going down but it was long enough to enjoy it.

Later we took a walk down to the city where there were millions of clubs/bars and restaurants! Proper buzzing! No clubbing for us though, we just did a bit (more) shopping and went home.

Next day and we had our flight to Bangkok, went well again - really quick and we stayed on Khosan road this time. Didn't do much, I got my hair plaited and yet again bought more stuff!!

Next day and I'm GOING TO OZ!! Scary times again of not knowing what to do at the airport lol. My flight goes to Sydney first (9hours) and then another flight to Cairns (3hours) - LONGness!!

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Thai island hopping; Krabi, Ao Nang

25/10/2011

Our mini bus to Krabi was meant to come for us at 12 but it ended up coming at 1:40! Which meant we didn't get to Krabi til the evening.

Went for a walk around, millions of shops selling the SAME things! Bought a lot of presents. We had dinner at a Indian/Italian restaurant - I had Indian and my friend had an Indian calzone pizza lol. Later we just sat and chilled at a bar where there was live music :)

Next day 23rd McDonalds breakfast! :) changed hotel room to a proper luxury place, the kinda place you'd pay couple hundred pounds for in London!

Went straight to the beach, really nice beach, very calm. We walked around some more and had icecream. More italian that night, had a really nice Calzone.

Next day 24th, Burger King breakfast!! Before going Kayaking! :)
It was really fun, we kayaked around Mangrove forests and through caves and stuff. Only did half day so came back for lunch and had a little nap before going out for dinner.

Actually randomly met up with 3 couples we met! One from my indochina tour, one from Maya bay and one from Kayaking. Went for dinner with 2 of them and had icecream.

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Thai Island Hopping; Koh Lanta

22/10/2011

OK, so we had already had 2 nights in Phi Phi and decided to have 3.. We then changed our mind about midnight on night 2.. So in the morning we booked our ferry to Koh Lanta for 2 hours later.

My friend (stupidly) took the tour guy's offer of accomodation at 'Lanta new beach bungalows' for a reduced price. The leaflet made it look really good though!

Anyway, the ferry only took 1hr 20 and we got a free transfer to the hotel, it was like we were in the middle of nowhere!

The hotel wasn't great, not very clean and it was thundering and raining. We were next to the beach though, but it wasn't very nice..what a dissapointment, when I've heard such good things about Lanta! Were inbetween Pra-ae beach and Klong Khoang beach.

After some quick research on my phone we decided to find accomodation tomorrow on Klong Dao beach.

That night we didn't do much, went for dinner and I had a pancake :) and I had one cocktail.. Called Lanta colour :)

Next day 21st was MORE LIKE IT! We checked out at 11 had breakfast then got a cab to Klong Dao beach, wikitravel said it was becoming the most popular beach on Koh Lanta. We found some NICE accomodation - Lanta sea house.

Lanta is anything but touristy, for the first time it reminded me of the non touristy parts of Laos. We took a walk down the road and it looked very 'local' with the odd restaurant and 7/11.

We went to the beach, which was so nice! Really shallow so we went far out and the waves were HUGE and rough! Got seriously knocked down so much, I lost a bracelet and an earring! Then we came out and went in the pool and it started raining HARD! I just stayed in the pool in the rain til it started thundering!! Ran inside!!

Later we went to dinner down the road at a place called 'Fat Monkey' - the best food so far! I had pasta and it tasted sooooo good! They did gormet burgers and stuff too. Yumyum.. And I had lime juice :) just like my mum makes it! Mmmmmmm.. Refreshing! Lol

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Thai Island hopping; Phi Phi

20/10/2011

Got our ferry to Phi Phi from Phuket at 12pm, it was really nice, took 2 hours in total. Just sat on the side of the boat the whole time; I think we got the best view!

When we got to PhiPhi we had no idea where to stay! But there were loads of travel advisor people to help us. We decided to stay at Dalum bay instead of Tonsai bay. We got a really nice bungalow called Uphill for 800 bhat a night, not too close to the beach so we didn't get disturbed by the noise from the beach clubs but only 3 mins away.

As we got into Phi Phi at around 4, when we went to the beach the sun was beginning to go down. It was still. Nice though; the tide was way out so we walked through the water and it was like walking on water!

Later we went for dinner at Ciao Bella, had italian which was really nice on the beach then went to a couple of bars and saw people playing with fire.

Next day 19th, we booked a tour which took us to Monkey beach, where monkeys just randomly live lol, Viking cave, Pi-Leh bay, Loh Samah bay (where we snorked and swam a few times) and Maya bay for 3 hours - The Beach beach!! :) it was all beautiful!! Saw so many fish!

Came. Back knackered but decided to go to Tonsai bay for dinner. I had a pizza and we ate alongside the beachfront. Later we went to the Reggae bar where there was thai boxing. Funny stuff! Going to Koh Lanta tomorrow!

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Thai Island Hopping; Phuket

18/10/2011

Our flight was sooo short! It took about an hour and a half. We flew with Bangkok airways and they even fed us! Got into Phuket about 10pm and after an hour drive we were finally at our hotel. Really nice hotel! We didn't do anything for the night.

Next day 17th, we went down for breakfast and half way through we were told that we paid for room only! Despite being given breakfast vouchers! Anyway they let us off. Afterwards we went to Karon beach, it was really hot and the water was sooo rough! Really really nice though! We stayed on the beach for a few hours then took a nap at the hotel before going into Phuket town.

It was sooo expensive to go into Phuket town, we paid 450 baht to get there and 600 to get home - about 20pounds!! Wasn't even worth it, I guess it was good to see though! We ate at this really nice thai restaurant and then had a drink at an English guy's bar..played connect 4 lol. Got our boat ride to Phi Phi tomorrow! :)

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Indochina Discovery; South East Asia survival tips!

Survival tips:

ALWAYS have tissue on you, you won't get any at the toilets.

Be prepared for some really disgusting toilets! Most are squat toilets on the floor, so practise your squatting technique!

Bring loads of immodium and Rennie - you WILL get a stomach ache!

Bring flu and cold medicine, you will most likely get ill. Oh and vicks also helps too. Oh and strepsils!

You only need 3 pairs of shoes - flip flops, trainers/plimsols and sandals. If they're waterproof even better.

You need a rain coat!

The best thing I ever did was bring a backpack with wheels. I haven't had to use it as a backpack ONCE! Just pulled it around everywhere!

Bring 1/2 warm jumpers and 1/2 long leggings - the journeys on bus get pretty cold.

Bring lots of US dollars - you can use it everywhere in Cambodia and easily exchange them when you get to the Vietnam and Laos border. You can also use them to pay for your Laos visa.

Bring a torch! I brought 2. 1 in my rucksack and a tiny one for my handbag in emergencies, you WILL need it!

Bring a scarf.. To use as a scarf and for other things like covering questionable pillows and covering up shoulders for temples. I used it when I had to ice a swollen knee.

All the accommodation has been great! Air con, towels, tv. Just not many hairdriers. Bring one if you need it.

Bring loads of insect repellent and cream for insect bites.

The only adaptor I used for all countries was the straight 2 pin plug. I used an adaptor with 2 usb ports so I could charge my camera and my phone/ipod at the same time. Great when there aren't many plug sockets to go around!

Get a blackberry! The best thing for travelling! I'm on pay as you go on o2 and pay £5 a month for 10mb of net per day anywhere in the world!! This is providing there's wireless service, which there was except for some of Laos. With bbm, facebook, twitter whatsapp and email with me at all times, I was happy!

Be very careful when tubing in Laos, and watch your step when going over bamboo bridges! (I fell through one!)

Bring lots of antiseptic wipes, arnica for swelling (which I didn't bring!), and an antiseptic cream for infected cuts. Oh and some antibiotics.

Any questions, just ask! :)
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Indochina Discovery; Back to Bangkok!

16/10/2011

Got off our luxury bus at Bangkok at around 7am. It was very wet, but I can't see any flooding yet! The floods are meant to be moving down to Bangkok!

Had a rest at the hotel then went out to Koh San Road for lunch and a walk around, left in the pouring rain, but after a while it was blazing hot! Walking round brought back memories of being here 2 years ago :) I saw 'the club' which we went to, the lip glosses we bought, the thai boxing shorts I got for my friend's sons.. Awww.

We had some food then walked around, I bought 2 dresses and 2 pairs of earrings and got a bikini wax.. For sooo cheap!!

Went out for dinner later in a tuk tuk in the POURING rain, and I mean pouring! Got soaked sitting in it but not as wet as our tour leader sitting in front of me on the floor!

We ate at a macaroni place and I got pasta yumyum! Went on to a bar and bought loads of crap from the harrassing sellers, a magic wallet :) a silver bracelet, a fabric bracelet saying Fuck you long time lol, and Rachel bought a ridiculous hat! We went onto 'the club' and its not at all what I remembered, the music was really annoying!

Next day 15th I did NOTHING! Check out of my room and into another and just nursed my hangover! My friend came from London to meet me and he arrived at 9pm, we went to Khosan road (again!) And had KFC!!

Next day 16th, we had to check out at 12, and yes.. We went to Khosan road AGAIN! Shopped some more and ate at a lower than good standard place! Walked around looking for accommodation for my final night back in Bangkok on the 26th.

Woohoo! Were flying to Phuket 2nite!! Flights at 8pm, 1 and a half hours.

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Indochina Discovery; Northern Thailand, Chang Mai

13/10/2011

Left at 7:30am to get the bus from the border town of Chiang Kong. We got there at about 1pm but stopped off at a couple of places.

One was a temple - the white temple, which was amazingly beautiful on the outside - all white with mirror shards. The inside was interesting, huge 'artsy' painting on the wall of devilish huge eyes and stuff and the twin towers and other monuments interspersed with random cartoons of ben 10, MJ, spiderman, kung fu panda, saw! It was mad!

Next stop was a place called Cabbage and condoms (!) Its a restaurant that promoted safe sex.. Kinda wierd but interesting!

When we got to Chiang Mai we ate at a restaurant called Tiger Kingdom, and then went to Tiger Kingdom! We played with the tigers! It was so scary, I was with a giant tiger and when I was 'spooning' it, it kept kicking my hand! And it turned around! Thought it was gonna eat me! Lol was fun though, got some good pictures!

We had Mcdonalds for dinner and got on our overnight bus. It was amazing from the first minute! I've taken night buses in Thailand before and this was LUXURY! We had reclining seats with foot rests, loads of leg room, massage chair and got brought loads of snacks and drinks! Good times, gonna get to Bangkok at 7am tomorrow!

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Indochina Discovery; byebye Laos, hello Northern Thailand. Pak Beng - Chiang Khong

12/10/2011
We left Luang Prabang at 7:30am :s
Got on a boat up the Mekong river which took 10 hours! We made one stop at a Mong people's village which was nice. Loads of animals running round and kids!
We got to the town of Pak Beng at about 6pm and went for dinner at this sweet little place with hand made menus.
Afterwards we went to the only bar in town - hive bar, which was completely empty before we got in there but got really packed by the end! You could play your own music from your ipod so I played DJ for a bit :)
Next day was soooo bad! We left at 6am!! Omg I was so tired! I slept as soon as I got on the boat. Yes, our boat trip on the Mekong river continued! Another 10 hours but this time we will be crossing into Thailand.
We got off the boat on the Laos side of the river to stamp out then got a longtail boat across the river to Northern Thailand to stamp in.
We got to our hotel and a couple of girls swam in the river :s I think that my knee is now infected so I'm not gonna risk it!
Later we went for a walk for dinner, bought some stuff from 7/11, but couldn't find any restaurants open! Apparently its a festival day. We ate at the hotel which was ok.
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Indochina Discovery; Laos, Luang Prabang

10/10/11
Well my leg hasn't dropped off yet! But the bus ride to Luang Prabang was the worst ever! It was 7 hours long and really wind-y and bumpy, I mean REALLY! Like I couldn't stay in my seat, I got travel sick, it was ridiculous!
As soon as we got back the hotel all I did was rest in pain all the live long day. Barely got out of bed! Just looked after my knee :(
I didn't eat the whole day though, couldn't even get to a shop!
Next day, 10th, I still couldn't walk without it hurting loads so I went down for breakfast and our tour leader kindly said he would ride me on a bike into town :) good old Pok!
I walked around for a bit but couldn't do it for long and definately couldn't do it quickly! Went into a few shops, bought a little keyring doll from a little girl for 'luck' (I sure need it!) And ate the best burger from a bakery. Mmm
After that just came back to the hotel and rested again. Need to make sure it gets somewhat better as tomorrow were on a boat up the mekong river, 10 hours TOMORROW continuing the next day!! Boi.
The others went out for dinner and drinking, they tried to convince me to go but thought it best to rest. I stayed in with a bottle of beer lao :)
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Indochina Discovery; Laos, Vang Vieng

8/10/2011
4 hour drive from Vientiene to Vang Vieng. It was so bumpy! But I think I'm getting used to it now!!
Got to the hotel in the afternoon and decided to do tubing tomorrow and go visit caves today. However, when we went for lunch it PELTED down with rain! We planned on getting motorbikes. I changed my mind right there and then, I was still sick too.
The others went off and got motorbikes to the caves. When they came back I was sooo glad I didn't go along! Bikes were breaking down, people falling off bikes, bumpy roads, muddy roads and puddles, and the cave had loads of insects in it :/ there was a white spider apparently! I woulda been soooo scared!
I spent the day in the room on the net drinking whiskey :)
Later we went for 'Happy pizza' for dinner.
Next day 8th TUBING! We spent the morning at a traditional Laos 'baby christening' obviously not a christening but it was to celebrate a 15 day old (really cute) baby!
We sat on the floor and listened to what I assume as prayers, and sticky rice and chicken was passed around to eat, then we had white string tied around everyones wrists including the baby's. Its meant to mean good fortune good luck etc. (Something that didn't work for me later on in the day!) We were forced to drink alcohol and eat loads of food despite eating a large breakfast! Good food though, really nice atmosphere.
Left at about half 11 (halfway drunk lol) and went to get changed for tubing. We had to walk to the tube shop and pay for it with a deposit for the tube. I'd already assumed I wouldn't be bringing my tube back!
We got in a tuktuk to the top of the river and then tubes in hand went on a boat across to the first bar. It was really fun, drinking buckets, dancing and playing in the water. Stayed there for a while, then got on our tubes :)
It took me a while to get in mine so I was drifting away from the others, luckily I got pulled in just in time! By a rope with a water bottle at the end lol.
More funtimes at starbar. Got 1 bucket and got 1 free which I didn't want, managed to sell it to someone. We were just messin about again running into waterfalls and jumping about. Was so much fun!
Got into our tubes again which was sooo funny coz there was like 10 of us all tryna stay together! 1 person was holding my food and I was holding someones finger!
More madness again at the next place, people were TOO drunk and it got pitch black. There was arguing, people hanging from wires, jumping in the river. Boi. So the bar shut and I wanted 2 go by land home, but everyone else (about 15 of us) wanted to tube, so I had to. There was 5 of us on the tube, I was shit scared! But we made it to the end.
All I remember after that was climbing up some funky stairs and walking across a bamboo bridge. My right leg went through the bridge and my leg was stuck at the knee. I was balling my eyes out n screaming. They tried to pull my leg out I've never felt pain like that b4! They tried to break it n used a crow bar to get me out. So relieved. My knee swelled up to like double its size.. Fingers crossed it will go down soon! Needless to say I went straight to bed after!
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Indochina Discovery; bye bye Vietnam! Hello Laos! Lak Xao and Vientiene

6/10/2011
Aww no more Vietnam! It did feel like I was there forever though! 12 days was long enough. Even though I loved Nha Trang and Hoi An, I couldn't cope with the roads of Saigon and Hanoi!!
We left Hanoi at 6:30am on the 5th!! And arrived at our hotel in Laos at 5:00pm! Boi what a long day. We did stop off for lunch though, at a very local place, I just asked for stir fried vegetables for my cold, but got a plate of green! I think it was morning glory. Yuk nearly vomited trying to eat it!
Anyway, went onto cross the border and had to pay 37 dollars for my visa. We stamped out of Vietnam and stamped back into Laos. Immediately it looked very poor.
We got to our hotel in Lak Xao and it looked so poor! There was a beautiful backdrop of mountains though.
Went for dinner at the only restaurant called only one lol, I had chips and soup, but a fly went in my soup so I gave most of it to these 3 dogs that were hovering around our table!
Had an early night - had to wake up at 6am the next day to go to Vientiane. A 6 hour drive this time! :/
Our only stops were some questionable toilets and we nearly had to go in a bush!!
Got to the hotel around 2pm and got a tuktuk to the Victory Gate - which was very similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris (and all the other arcs in all cities in the world!), and we went to a temple - Pha That Luang.
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Indochina Discovery; Vietnam, Hanoi

4/10/2011
Our last stop in Vietnam! OMG it feels like we've been here FOREVER! Got into Hanoi at about 1pm and went for a walk straightaway. From the first moment I hated it! The roads are even more crazy and busy than anywhere else we've been in Vietnam! Its so scary! And I did the walk to the centre of town 3 damn times!! Why?? The worst!!
Oh well, the walk was good, we walked half an hour into town and walked round a lake. Got treated like theives in Nine West (got followed around) and had cheesecake in a coffee shop YUM! - Highland coffee.
Went for dinner soon after and everyone decided to dress up. I wore my new dress. We went to a place called Little Hanoi and I had pork lemongrass, but it tasted like wood was in it so two boys had it and I had chicken cashew nuts YUM!
Went on drinking. Went to bucket bar, temple bar, funky buddah think, n a couple others : / I had flu so shouldn't have went out! Felt sooo much worse the next day : s
4th Oct, got to sleep in and went on a motorbike tour of Hanoi in the afternoon. It was so fun!! Being in the traffic was craaaaazy! Something you HaVE to experience!
Coz I was still sick after the tour I went back to bed, went and got take away from '5 spice' restaurant across the road and went bed early. Leaving for Laos tomorrow at 6:30am!!
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Indochina Discovery: Halong Bay, Vietnam

2/10/2011

The sleeper train took us to Hanoi at around 4am.. I was sooo tired! Then we had another 4 hour bus journey to Halong bay! The most uncomfortable bus ride so far!

Anyway, when we got to the hotel, we went back to sleep and left at 12pm to ride through Halong bay on our junk boat. It was actually really nice and we had a seafood dinner on it. (Too bad I don't like seafood!!)

We rode around and stopped off at a fishermans bit where Will kayaked. We also went to some caves and walked around inside them - very slippery as wet!

Came back to the hotel and had a coffee by the beach then walked to the supermarket and down to the markets.

Dinner later on was EXTORTIONATE!! Do not go to a place called Emerald or something! All I wanted was a sandwich which cost 135000 dong and they throw a 15% service and VAT charge on top!! We were not happy!

Anyway time to die in my bed - still ILL :( Hanoi tomorrow! :)

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Indochina Discovery: Vietnam, Hue

1/10/2011

Got into Hue in the afternoon. The bus ride there was pretty good though. We stopped off at Marble Mountain - lots of stairs up a mountain and caves to go in. Pretty cool.

We also stopped off at another high mountain which was the 'passageway to the clouds' or something! We were so high up it was cold and we were literally in the clouds. They looked like smoke.

After getting to the hotel we went for lunch and most of us dropped some washing off. I ate a huge meal of caramel chicken, 2 veg dishes, rice and soup! Got a bad stomach after that though, had to go back to the hotel!

Literally stayed in the whole night and watched films on Star Movies! 2012 and The back up plan :)

Next day slept in, got up for breakfast at 8:30, went back to bed. Went out at 12 to pick up my washing - 40,000 dong for 1.7kg of laundry!! :)
Went to a bar and watched some kinda Aussie AFL game and came back to the hotel to leave to get our sleeper train.

It left at about 3pm, and I had a little crisis with a disgusting bug near my bed lol. Couldn't kill it so just sprayed it with repellent! Haha let's hope its dead! Train should get into Hanoi at 4am tomorrow!

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