Mumbai

So we were dumped in the suburbs of Mumbai off the nightmares bus, miles from the city, in the early morning on a Sunday with an unconfirmed hotel reservation. We were not worried. We really did not do justice to Mumbai for the few days we were there, as we were recovering from the bus.
We saw the new James Bond movie, ate a lot, wandered about and watched lots of DVD’s.
One of the restaurants we ate in served brains but Terry was not allowed to get any as it freaked me out too much.
That was it really for Mumbai, we headed of then on a train to Mumbai.

Udaipur (octopussy country)

For the first time we meet a lovely tuk tuk driver from the onslaught at the train station, he offered to take us on a sunset ride and a city tour. We had breakfast and a nap asap- night trains are never good for sleeping, but Terry also choose not to sleep on the train and to read Into Thin Air (about the tourist tours and a disaster on Everest – READ IT). After waking we went walking about to find our bearings.

We went to a café called Lotus for a late lunch. They had a thing on the menu called a 'Special Lassi', so a conversation ensued about what made it so special. So of course Terry had to try one. It turns out that a special lassi is laced with special Indian dope called bang. Apparently it was actually very tasty. We headed up to a sunset point up a mountain; the scene was set for a lovely rosemantaic evening until terry started to be very paranoid…

So basically we had to head back to our room and stay in our room while terry questioned me for about two hours about the lassi, his health, time and relativity, Einstein, God, comas, and of course he thought I should write everything he was saying down. He is still upset I did not. It was very funny. They should have bang lassi’s at home.

So, the next day we were supposed to go on a tour with the tuk tuk driver from previous night but it was cancelled as he was sick so we went shopping and bumming about getting tickets to the next destination instead. We are getting a bus to Mumbai.

We took that tour of the city and environs with the tuk tuck driver. He took us to a spice market and then told us not to buy anything as the spices were crap there. He took us to the handmaid’s garden, the cenotaphs and to one of the man made lakes. Then of course the obligatory offer to take us to a shop he knows, so we went to a tailor and did buy a couple of bits.

The next day we were all plans to visit the Royal Place but these plans were scuppered when all the ATMs were empty. We took a tuk tuk drive to the other side of the city but they too were out of cash. Inside the bank they are unable access bank accounts and seem only to be able to cash cheques and do corporate banking, which apparently does not involve actual money. As the bank run didn’t turn up any cash we decided to wait it out by getting the cheap ticket for the palace (we had planned on a boat trip with lunch on an island palace in the middle of the lake) and to sneak in the camera as that costs more too. The ATM’s were still out when we finished. At this point we had almost no Rupees left so we go back to get our reserve dollars even though the exchange rate is really bad. We headed to the shop to collect our new clothes and on the way back the ATM was back in order.

Next day we had the worse trip of my life an overnight bus to Mumbai. We were in this small cabin with all of our luggage at the back of the bus. We had no light; with the window open it was cold and with it closed it was too hot. The bus had no suspension. Terry was close to having concussion when we got off, on the outskirts of Mumbai. People were sleeping in the aisles, how I don’t know, and I still cannot talk about the rest stops. Please don’t make me! According to terry the worst part was it didn’t have the IRE vs NZ game and he had to rely on his sisters to send him updates (he thanks both Jennifer and Susan very much).

Agra

So we once again boarded the night train, this time headed to Agra and the legendary Taj Mahal. We arrived in the morning and decided to have a snooze and have a look about. We were planning on going to see the Taj early in the morning, rather than in the afternoon heat, when it it is very busy - following a few tips from Ronan and Fiona in Darjeeling.
So we had some food and then had a nap. We decided to stroll out to a market mentioned in our guide book, Shilpgram Market it was pretty empty of shops and stalls although there seemed to be lots of tour buses, camels, elephants and sellers about.

We feel as if we must have missed something but we are not sure what.
We then headed to the uber fancy Oberoi Amari Villa Hotel for a few drinks while looking over at the Taj Mahal. The hotel and the drinks were lovely and a nice break from the hustle, bustle and horn rule of daily Indian life.
But it must be noted that for such a plush hotel they didn’t offer wifi to people that were not guests although it was freely available everywhere else around Agra.
The next morning we were up at 5am! Will the early starts never end? We were first in the queue for the Taj and we basically legged it in when the gates opened at dawn which was about 6.20. A guy working there made us run along and took some of our photos and then demanded a tip mentioning figures in the hundreds for the excellent photos.

We then ran up to the crypt and after that we went at a more leisurely pace, wandering into the other buildings and watching the sun come up over the monument and the mist roll in.

(twenty mins after the place opened its mobbed)
When we went to breakfast we bumped into Paige and Trevor, a couple I had annoyed while drunk in Darjeeling (‘painting and drinking’ could replace the last bog post) we were happy to see them and spent a while chatting over breakfast and we arranged to meet for dinner that evening.
They told us about their time in Nepal and being charged a fake fee when they got on a bus again in India. They felt robbed by the scam but would have been kicked off the bus if they had not paid. That evening we went on a small trip to see the Taj Mahal from the back. It was quite lovely as it reflects in the river.
The next day we went shopping and I bought my first Sulwar suit and contemplated buying a sari but I would have had to be fitted for the blouse part and we did not have time as we were booked on a train to Udaipur. Terry bought a Taj Mahal t-shirt;)

Varanasi

So we arrived in Varanasi and checked into our fantastic hotel, (suriya). It had a pool and a courtyard with tables. Our room had a bath. We did not use it but it was nice to have a shower without soaking the whole room.

We arrived in Varanasi in late afternoon and we were very tired so we just chilled and ate in the hotels lovely restaurant. We planned to get up the next day and do the whole dawn Ganga boat ride thing but we did not.
We just chilled in the morning and headed to the Ghats in the afternoon. We could not get dropped directly to the main Ghat and we ended up getting lost and ending up by Assi Ghat the furthest one from our original plan. We engaged the services of a boat man and ended up cruising on the delightfully dirty Ganges.
We cruised passed the two Ghats where bodies are burned on the edge of the river, palaces, normal Ghats, and many other boats and such. Apparently there are 365 Ghats.
We watched the ceremony of light and I light a candle and floated it on the river as is tradition. Unfortunately my hand accidentally touched the water. I shudder again at the thought. My right hand is now my Ganga hand.
Terry still will not touch it, in case he catches Ganga hand. The river is so filthy you can actually see fecal matter in it; I am worried my hand will fall off.
The ceremony was cool and watching life on the Ganges River was amazing. We passed by the two burning Ghats the bigger one operates 24 hours a day. When we passed there were 11 cremations going on. The family has to pay depending on the type and how much wood is used. Women are not allowed at the burning Ghats as they are not considered strong enough to behave with dignity and also to prevent women jumping on the funeral pyre, as was once traditional.
The next morning we did the dawn boat journey and watched as people washed in the Ganges. The boatman this time was about 10 years old. I cannot tell you how shocking it was to watch people going through their morning ablutions in such filthy water. Absolutely filthy. I mean there was a constant flow of effluent floating past us.
For many people they wash in the Ganga as they have no choice, for others they wash there because of the religious significance. The men often just wear underpants during their bathing but the women have to wash fully dressed.
I am not quite sure how that works.
We then left Varanasi and headed to Agra.

Darjeeling - TheQueen of the Hills.

Darjeeling my darling. We loved it. We got to NJP and after managing to get past the significant number of rickshaw touts and get to the jeep stand and start our 3 hour, windy James bond road, (but with significant potholes), journey to Darjeeling, the queen of the hills.

Firstly the lonely planet guide map is useless as there are no contours so the roads really make no sense. Because of this, and sheer exhaustion, we got a taxi to our hotel which had magnificent views of the Himalayas.
When I write this we have been to two other parts of India so I feel confident when I say that Darjeeling is different from other parts of India.
Firstly I was not hassled, there was still spitting but way less visible other bodily functions and it has way more of a mix of people and a way less strict dress code. However it is quite cold so one ends up wearing loads of clothes anyway.
When we arrived I needed to go to the doctor for my monthly blood test. I met with the lovely Dr. Das. I had to wait until the next morning to get the blood test as the Lab Technician said that I had to have the test fasting. We were staying in a lovely hotel ran by a Tibetan crowd called Dekeling. The following day I had the results within 3 hours and all was well. It cost a total of 400 rupees which is about 6.50. Dr Das told us about another Cork Woman called Edith Wilkins who was running a children’s home and he told us to visit her and gave us her number. We were not sure whether to call or not.

We spent our first few days wandering about and hanging about with a girl we met while queuing (for 2hrs) to buy train tickets called Sabina. We had a few beverages and lots of cake in Glenarys, a café we would return to for nearly every breakfast and quiet a few dinners and beers over the 2 weeks in the hill station. We saw the market and wandered about the streets absorbing the atmosphere.
We went to watch the sunrise at Tiger Hill. This involved getting up at 3.30 and catching a share jeep up the windy road to tiger hill. We could see the Jeep stand from our window so Terry was watching to see what time the crowd would arrive so we would not have to hang about in the cold too long. Typical stupid tourists we did not realize that the massive crowd of Indians on the road were not just Jeep drivers, touts and workers but also tourists. We got down to the jeep stand and managed to pile into a mini-minivan with an Indian family who were going to tiger hill. The mini-minivan seemed to be run on LPG or something but the smell of gas made me feel pretty unwell and eventually i had to get sick.

The sunrise was good and it was especially good as all of the Indian tourists started waving and clapping when the sun came up. The view of the sunrise glowing off the Himalayas was worth it, as well as being able to see the summit of Everest. On the way back down we stopped at Ghoom Buddhist temple and the war memorial garden at the Batista Loop.

We went back to bed at 7am when we got back to our hotel.
We did the joyride on the toy train which took about 3 hours to-do what I think was a 12 km round trip. The train is a world heritage site and set up a small museum which was interesting. You can get the train own to the main line at NJP where we arrived first, but it takes over 9 hours.

We also went to Observatory hill and had a gander at the site which is sacred to both Buddhists and Hindus, there is a cool temple in a cave. We also decided to find the Tibetan Refugee Centre. After searching for the place for hours we ended up getting very lost and eventually we ran out of road. We had 3 options; scramble up the hill until we came to another path, go back the way we came or go up the path that was behind an not so open gate next to us
So we choose to go through the gate. At first we thought we were in the botanical gardens as all of the trees had labels. We came out into a big garden with a gorgeous house in it and we were still wondering if we were in the botanical gardens except that there was nobody about we headed towards the gate were a multitude of soldiers with rifle, shot guns and state issued machine guns asked us what we were doing at the governor’s house as it was a restricted area. We hastily explained our situation and were thankfully not arrested.

The next day we met a lovely newly wedded couple from Dublin, Ronan and Fiona. Ronans brother the scrum half that is keeping Isaac Boss out of the Ulster team, Fiona’s dad and brother are world (or maybe just Irish I cant remember) handball champions and Ronan’s granny was friends with Edith so I said that I would go with them the next day to go and find the children’s home.

Terry did not go as he was sick – with the lack of cold weather clothes and an early morning freezing session watching the sun, he had developed a pretty poor flu and chest infection.
It turns out that terry and I were very close to the Tibetan Refugee place and the children’s home when we got lost. We arrived during the midst of the moving chaos. The foundation had built and adapted two buildings for the needs of their residential and drop in children. Edith spent years in Calcutta before moving to Darjeeling and setting up the place in Darjeeling and then in Siliguri. Fiona, Ronan and I,(and terry but he did not know it yet), offered to paint some of the rooms to help them get the houses ready a bit faster.
The four of us would spend a little over a week cleaning and painting with Fiona, in particular putting in Trojan work even though she was sick. We were invited to a party in Emma’s house that first night. Emma is from Cork and works for the foundation. She is engaged to the lovely Roshin who put up with my drunken ramblings. Terry did not come to the party as he was sick. The rest of us had a lovely evening with some good food, good company and a good old sing song. I got back to our accommodations at about 1am.everything in Darjeeling closes at 10 so I had to wake the poor doorman up.

The next day the painting began in earnest. 'Supervised' by Omar. Over the week we painted and did the glossing in the prayer room, counseling room, hall, parents are and the music room. Fiona scrubbed clean the carpets, furniture etc. we also pained some metal covers for the second floor windows and a few fire guards.

We were lucky enough to be there during Diwali and experienced the chaos of a few hundred children celebrating their first puja (Indian prayer thingies) in their new home and then being let lose, (while supervised), with a variety of small fireworks and sparklers. It was amazing.
We were at a lock in at the fantastic Joeys pub and did not get home until teen past the 11.

The next night we went for stew at Ediths and had to wake our poor doorman up again. Edith made Terry a separate pork dinner as he told her when drunk that he did not like stew. It was far from that kind of choice he was rared!
We had an absolutely fantastic time in Darjeeling. We enjoyed the painting and the hospitality of the children’s home. Particularly a lovely lady called Shopna who gave us lunch everyday. Edith and Emma were very generous with their time and opened up their homes to us. Poor Fiona and Ronan saw us for abut 12 hours a day. Not sure how they felt about that on their Honeymoon. If you feel like finding out more about the foundation or donating money this is their website, no pressure.
Anywho we decided it was time to head and our next destination was Varanasi and the holy Ganga River. Before we left we had another sightseeing day and we headed to the Zoo, the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (a really interesting place that had a museum about the Everest attempts),
the Happy Valley Tea plantation and high tea in a posh gaff. We saw snow leopards, yaks, the tiny tent used I the death zone at nearly 19000 ft and how tea is made for Harrods. Never use the toilet at the tea plantation. It is like every festival toilet ever, in one. Seriously.
We popped up to the home to say bye to everyone and the children presented us with lovely gifts. Ter nearly cried. Well ok he did not but I nearly did

Kolkata - Calcuta

So we got through customs and into the main part of the airport to find there were no ATM’s, so we changed our dollars into rupees and prepaid a taxi to Sudder Street, where our guidebook, hastily read on the plane, advised that most backpackers stayed.

The taxi drive was mad, there appeared to be no lanes and no rules, except to toot your horn as often as possible. We past elegantly decaying buildings, piles of rubbish, food stalls, street markets and loads of women in colourful saris. It all seemed manic.

We wandered into a few guesthouses and they were all pretty much shitholes. We eventually picked one and then went for a walk trying to find the Victoria monument. We got quite lost and still have not seen it. we did, however, find a cinema and we saw that film with Russell Crowe and Leonardo di Caprio, we cannot remember the name of it but it was good.

All I can say is I was in shock. Total and utter shock.

I was aware of the begging and spitting. But nothing had prepared me for India.

Kolkata has some stunning buildings and the people are lovely. However, recycling means something else in Kolkata, mainly throwing everything on the street and the poor people find a use for it

Also, it was quite common for men to veer towards me on the street so they could bang off me. This was quite unsettling. I won’t talk about the snot.

We decided that night to move to Darjeeling as soon as possible.

So the next day we went to a ticket agent and paid far too much for a night train to NJP station, which is about 3 hours from Darjeeling. Our train was leaving from a station not mentioned in the guidebook, so we were turning up on trust. We spent the afternoon in the Indian Natural History Museum which was pretty cool and then we went to the train station which did exist and hopped onto the long train to NJP.
http://trevorandpaige.blogspot.com/

Bangkok Airport

We left Ko Tao for Bangkok and while there we picked up a guide to India and a few toiletries. We spent the night off Ko San Rd with a plan to head early to the airport.
We got to Bangkok Airport at about 7.30am and Terry stayed with the bags and I wandered along the counters, quickly realising that most of them were closed as it was a Sunday.
I eventually found an open Jet Airways desk that was able to give us a flight to Kolkata, (Calcutta) for less than 370 Euros. It was, however, leaving in one hour and ten minutes time. We went to the check in desk, where there was a chaos of Indian men who were not only checking in their luggage but also sound systems, women’s shoes, flat screen TV’s and dogs. We then went to the bureau de change but they had no rupees so we changed our few baht into dollars. Then we stopped and picked something take away for breakfast. It was not until we were on the plane that we realized that we were flying first class!
It was really nice, a cold towel on arrival, good food on real crockery and an entertainment system. We could even have had champagne if we wanted. However we decided that it was way too early and that not even the queen would be drinking that early.
The flight was delayed and we arrived about an hour late to Kolkata. But alas the flight was so short and the friendly captain kept giving us reports so we didn’t get to finish our movies. So if anyone knows how Get Smart (Ter) or Indiana Jones 4 (Siobhan) ends leave us a comment.

Ko Tao

So we got the bus from Bangkok to Chumpon and stayed there overnight in a completely overpriced room.
We got a share jeep the next morning to the port. It was the earliest we had been up in Thailand and so we actually got to see the monks receiving alms.
We arrived in Ko Tao at about 10 and we hopped in a share jeep to Sairee town to Sairee beach huts.
Myself and Siobhan Harrison (that’s the 2nd Siobhan we’ve met), who we met on the ferry, walked the beach to price different accommodation options and we ended up staying where we had landed.
When I got back there terry was talking to Scuba instructor Anthony and asking about dives.
We went for a wander about the town and then went to a bar called Choppers for happy hour and food. I was a wee bit hung over the next day.
Much of our time on Ko Tao was spent chilling, wandering about, playing pool and diving.
Terry went on 6 dives and I went on two. Our dive master was Dan. He was very chilled and helped me out after with a lift to the police station.
















On one of terry’s dives they even saw a 2 meter reef shark. Dan was very impressed with himself for seeing the reef shark but also because his high pressure hose broke during the dive and he still had more air than Terry left in his tank!
I was very impressed with myself for actually diving again but also because it involved stepping off the boat, which I had never done before. It took me about ten minutes to step off the first time. Also there were two lads doing their 3rd open water dive at the same time and I was way better at taking my time and not panicking when I equalized.
We decided to rent a scrambler for Ter and a quad for me. We tried to take a trip about the island but ters bike kept cutting out. Eventually he could not start it at all. Eventually a small boy showed up, walked the bike to a workshop and repaired it in about 10 minutes. Ter and I had sent the day arguing as I kept spinning off and so after it was all sorted we went to happy hour in Choppers and met the lovely Inbar and Stas who had just gotten engaged.

We also went to a lady-boy show which was fairly good and I took way too many photos.
The next day Terry was going to the post office for me as I was sick from booze again. He took the quad but was back in 20 minutes telling me he had nearly died, that the wheel had come off the Quad. He went back to the shop to watch the guy take the bike out of the ditch. He arranged to meet the owner at 4pm.
We went back at four and the owner tried to charge us about 800 euros for damage which we had not been at fault for. I saw red and started crying saying terry could have been seriously injured and there was no way I was paying any money. This was a problem as he had my passport!
Dan happened to be passing by and he took me to the police station.
The police man was not too helpful. He told me the shop, Sairee Star Travel was known for this but that he could not help in a civil case.
I went back and said this to terry who was keeping an eye on the quad. I told the shop owner that he could keep the passport, that I would get a new one. Then I went to call the high consul.
Between the jigs and the reels the high consul in Phuket was fantastic but the best she could do was get the man down to 10,000 baht, (about 200 euro).it made us sick to pay it and we had lost two days to sleepless nights and waiting for calls. The next day we left for Bangkok with the plan of spending the night, picking up book about India and going to the airport the next day and hope we can get a flight. Which we did…

We are alive

We are currently in Darjeeling and soon to give a better description of events gone by. But we are busy living the lives of hobo's.

Watch this space.

Chiang Mai

Beautiful, lovely Chiang Mai.

It is a lovely walled city with a moat. I kid you not and on Sundays there is the Sunday Walking Market and all the nights of the week there is a night bazaar. I decided in Bangkok that I hate shopping but I love browsing so it is all good.

We hopped of the train and onto the back of a truck and went directly to Awana sleep and swim. For 600 baht we have a lovely room, like really nice. The swim is more of a paddle but that is ok. We are a small stroll from the moat and the Thae Pae Gate. We spent the first day wandering about and seeing what the town was like. We arrived on a Sunday so we had a look at the Sunday market. We went for food and then went in search of a bar. We ended up in a rock bar with a cover band made up of the bar owner, his son and a guy in his late fifties playing lead guitar, wearing leathers and a wig of curly hair. There also seemed to be a large gang of urban cowboys, hats ‘n’ all! We chilled there for the evening, drinking rice whiskey and cheering on the band.

The next day we decided to book a jungle trek. We looked at our options and booked a two day/one night trek at a cost of 1400 baht each. We met with one of the guides that evening, Mr. Ku, and he answered some of our questions and lent us small backpacks. So we chilled at a Muay Thai match, ate and packed that evening. The Muay Thai night was mad. It looked like a lot of hugging and kicking to me during the earlier pairings and the first ladies match was very poor. but as the skill level increased the matches became more interesting. There was even a fun match where 4 boxers were placed in the ring, blindfolded and one of their trainers was placed in there without a blindfold. The whole purpose was for the boxers to take swings and kicks if they felt anyone near them, even if it was the trainer. The trainer would just randomly come up and thump them or spin them around or something. There seemed to be a good friendship between all of the boxers and the hung about the stadium afterwards chatting to people.

The next morning we hopped into the back of the van with Sabrina and Stefane from Belgium, Bonnie and Dominic from Germany and Ibrahim from Turkey and our guide, Tim. We went first to a market so Tim could buy our dinner and breakfast and then we headed to a small village for a lunch of fried rice and fruit. We then started our 3 hour jungle trek to the river village of the Lahu people.

We were shattered and sweaty when we got there let me tell you. We knew we would be staying in huts but it did not occurred to me that there would be no electricity. The place we stayed was right over the river and was made of bamboo and wood. The owner was not Lahu but was Akha and was a very happy lady. We were told that there were about 50 families in the village and that it is only accessible by the track we used or the river. The nearest school was 6km away and many of the children stayed in the school during the week. The tribes’ people marry very young, from about 15, and one of our assistant guides told us he is 17, married and his wife was expecting a baby.

Some of us went for a swim in the river to wash off some of the sweat and then waited for dinner as we were wrecked.

Dinner was cooked over an open fire in one of the huts but was lovely.

Our guide brought out a guitar and a sing song ensued. I went to bed before it finished but Ter and some of the men stayed up and had a few beers.

It was kinda cool going to bed by candle light in our groups hut but we were basically on thin bedrolls with thin blankets and it was actually cold.

I got very little sleep because of loud rain and was not appreciative of the gang of cockerels that started their dawn chorus at 4am. Ter slept quite well after his beers.

While we had our breakfast of boiled eggs and toast we watched our bamboo raft being constructed. We then went on an elephant trek on Thai elephants. They are smaller tan Indian and African elephants. Apparently the Lisu are the people with the best voodoo to control the elephants. The trek was a little scary for me at times because 1. We were going under low lying trees; they contain large insects and 2. The track was steep at points and elephants can slip, apparently. I would just like to assure you that Terry is both a good seatbelt and insect hunter ;)

The elephant kept stopping to eat and at one point tried to fell a tree!

We then changed and put our bags into plastic bags for the bamboo rafting trip. We have no pictures of this as the likelihood of the raft tipping and us losing our camera was high.

The three men had to assist the skipper by using poles of bamboo to help steer the raft. Us ladies sat down. We had to get off and walk at one point as the rapids were too dangerous for us ladies!

All of the men folk were overboard at one point or another. We all got soaked as the raft was often so far under water that I was mid-chest in the river. Fun! We did not tip over but we were all looking forward to a shower!

Ter and I went to a shopping centre that evening and went to the Pizza company chain, which do very good pizza. We then went to see Eagle Eye which was alright, defo better than Bangkok dangerous. We got a bit lost getting back out onto the street and were feeling a bit vulnerable on the side of the road with no public transport appearing but after ten minutes a truck arrived, woohoo.

We have been to the night market a few times. It is good but huge with a good few food options including the usual McDonalds, Subway and Burger King.

Ter - So siobs not feeling well today but she still soldiered on and went to a massage course she’s been dying to do since she read it in a book before we left. While she was doing that I had a stroll around the old town, more wats, heat and sweat. I ditched the walking tour plan and went for an iced coffee instead. Reading a book and listening to my iPod – reminded me of college – similar circumstance too, nothing to do but waste time. I gave in to the wife’s demands of shaving but I got some Thai lady to do the honors – it was a pretty poor job but I got a haircut as well for 200baht so not too bad – no photos yet but keep an eye out for the new look – its exactly what I asked for ‘A haircut’ nothing fancy. I spent the latter half of the wait drinking a beer watching the world go by while trying to get a wooden cube back together stoopid wooden puzzle beat me but not until I had missed Siobhan walking by to meet me back at the hotel. I caught up with her twenty minutes later when she walked back towards the message place.

As Ter wrote I did a Thai reflexology course, which is actually just foot massage, but I enjoyed it. Ter got a hair cut and a very poor shave. It was very bad; he had a lot of hair on his face. When Terry did not turn up at the hotel I was, of course, as cool as a cucumber. I was calmly wondering how long I could reasonably leave it to start calling hospitals! I was not feeling very well so we went and had great burgers in Mikes and then headed to a bar so Ter could have a beer.

We ended up playing pool with sisters Bim and Bam and then going to a brilliant Reggae club with them! On the way we passed a cart selling fried insects. Terry had a mixed platter while I tried not to heave. Apparently they are lovely as long as you do not mind tentacles between your teeth. We eventually decided to go home as we had an early start for rock climbing in the morning!!!

We did not go rock climbing in the morning, I was not hung over but I was still unwell. Terry, however, hugged the loo bowl for a small while.

We had another lie in and then went to pizza hut. It was really poor. If you are ever making the choice between pizza hut and Pizza Company I advise Pizza Company all the way. We went to The Zohan, which is only ok. I feel like a student but I love being able to go to the cinema whenever.

We then went on an impromptu shopping trip and bought a couple of bits for our gaff!

We are doing a lot of strolling about the city and chilling, tis lovely.

We met with Bim and went to the lake with her. It is actually a reservoir with lots of open huts around it. Thai people go swimming there and spend the day there chilling, eating and having a few beers. We went to the bar for a few drinks and then strolled about the night market. I was not feeling well I went home and Ter went for a beer.

Bim brought us to Doi Suthep and we wandered about the grounds for a while. Then Bim brought us to a restaurant that she used to work in that mainly serves vegetarian and organic food. I was stilling feeling a bit unwell so I decided to go to the doctor for a blood test. I went to a local clinic and it was really good but I had to wait about two and a half hours to see the doctor and come back the next day with a sample. Everything was perfect and it only cost350 baht including the lab results, which only took an hour.

The next day we decided to head to Ko Tao.

From Our Koh Chang Thai Cooking School Experience - part 1

Phad Thai – for 2 people

Sauce

1/3 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar

3 tablespoons fish sauce

3 tablespoons tamarind sauce (o 2 ½ white vinegar)

2 tablespoons chili sauce

Ingredients

5-6 tablespoons vegetable oil

5-6 tablespoons chopped shallot

4 tablespoons hard tofu

2 teaspoons dried shrimp

4 teaspoons chopped pickled white radish

8 fresh shrimp or 2 fresh chicken breasts chopped

2 eggs beaten well

Rice noodles or vermicelli

8-10 tablespoons Phad Thai sauce

½ cup Chinese chives

1 cup bean sprouts

Steps (tip- keep everything moving once in the pan over a medium to high temperature)

1. Heat oil in a wok until hot, add chopped shallot. Fry until fragrant
2. Add tofu, dried shrimp and white radish
3. Add meat, cook until done and set aside on pan
4. Add eggs (to empty side of pan) move all cooked ingredients on top of the egg, wait until egg gets firm and flip over
5. Add noodles
6. Add Phad Thai sauce and mix everything well
7. Add chili powder to own taste
8. Add bean sprouts and chives. Mix everything well
9. Serve with a lime wedge (if shrimp), crushed peanuts, fresh chives and trimmed bean sprouts

The night train.

The night train song is in my head as I type. Was that back from the Rocco days?
It was a compact space with bunks, a sink, a table and air-con.
I got the top bunk.
There was no wifi for our new toy!
The train left at 7.35pm and we were on board with a few bevies!
We chilled, had a few beer chang and brezzers and ate train food.
I took a sleeping tablet a slept like a log. The train was only an hour and a half late, so not too bad.

bangkok 2

So, Bangkok 2 was good. We found a nice guest house called Thara which is in a nice area and only five minutes from the night life.
We arrived in early evening and checked into the guest house which was 500 baht a night, which is about ten euro.
We headed to the Khao San for food and beverages and ended up hanging out with Sean from California, whose dad is from Cork, and the gang he had gathered.
The next day we went for a stroll to the grand palace and Wat po. We stopped at a map and were told by a tourist officer that we should consider hiring a tuk-tuk driver for 20 baht and head to Wat in for the tall Buddha, troyal, Wat saket and then back to the grand palace. So we hired a tuk-tuk driver and all was going well until we were mad go to a “tourist office” and then he tried to bring us to another “sponsors” house so we paid up at Wat saket and once again did not make it to the grand palace so we headed to MBK shopping centre, ate, bought a mini notebook and went to see Bangkok dangerous which is a shite film and a waste of everyone’s time and money. Once again Nicholas Cage is a baddie with soul or whatever.
The following day we sorted out the night train to Chiang Mai. We booked a first class sleeper cabin for 28 euro a night.
Then we went to see the reclining Buddha, emerald Buddha and the grand palace and we actually made it there, woohoo. I of course thought the emerald Buddha, which is actually jade, would be bigger. It was teeney but lovely.
All of the wats are so peaceful that it makes a nice change from the general pace of Bangkok.
We headed back to our accommodation and headed to the night train to Chiang Mai.

StarTer its a new kinda fish..

This pic needed its own post - its from the boat trip in boracay.

Ko Chiang

A 6 hour bus journey brought us to Trat bus station. i throughly enjoyed the journey watching Thai soap operas and depressing love song Karaoke.
We stopped at a rest stop on the way and i used a squat toilet successfully! Go me, Terry was very proud, as you can imagine.
we then had a one hour sawngthaew journey to the ferry port, followed by a one hour ferry journey followed by another one hour sawngthaew journey to Nature Resort on lonely beach. i was starving and a little cranky at this stage.
we stayed in one of nature beach huts that night and moved down the beach to siam huts for the rest of our trip. Nature Beach resort is more fun and has better food but had no air-con huts available and i was afraid of the possibility of cockroaches.
our current hut is 400 baht a night which works out at about 8 euro a night.
we rented a wee bike for 2 days which only cost 6 euro for the two days but cut out on steep hills, that i then had to walk up. lovely stuff.
we went spinning around the island the first day and got hit on the head by very large insects. especially poor terry. i am not sure his head will ever be the same again!
Terry chilled on the beach and enjoyed swimming while i had a nap. as he decided to air dry before reapplying sunscreen he now has a lovely red colour on his face and chest. he is lovely and warm.
yesterday afternoon we did a cookery course in one of the most stunning settings. i forgot the to bring the little booklet we got but we cooked pad thai, two kinds of soup, curry and sticky rice with mango and ate it overlooking a lagoon watching the sunset. i will put up the website for the school later but big thanks to Nam for such a lovely afternoon.
we have spent the evenings chilling with sue, Chrissie and Johannes at nature resort drinking big beer Chang and watching the fire show.
today we are chilling and catching up on e-mails and stuff.
some of my skin has gone blue from the sarong i was wearing yesterday. and i am having difficulty washing it off. also, i am not as prepared for roughing it as i was a few years ago, but apparently i have to get over it!
thats it really. it is a beautiful island. i am not sure about the rest of Thailand but Neasa and Laura would love Ko Chiang for the shopping and lovely resorts but would laura would hate all the cats and Neasa would hate all of the dogs.
Love ye all. talk soon.

Bangkok 1.

So we had two nights and one day in Bangkok. We decided not to stay too long as we figured we would be in and out a few times. We spent far too much money on our hotel but I do not care!
we went to the weekend market on the Saturday and spent most of the day wandering about and trying some of the food. It was lovely and well worth a visit.
click for more pics
We then tried to go to the grand palace on a tuk-tuk. This proved difficult as the tuk-tuk drivers always want to bring tourists to the places that they are linked to. So we gave up and wandered about Chinatown instead.
We had a couple of Sang Som Buckets on Th Khao San with a few people we met, Kit, Stephanie and Caitlin.
We got the bus and Ferry to Ko Chiang the next day.
I think everyone we know would like Bangkok, if only for the shopping. However, it seems quite difficult to get around as it is so vast. I am looking forward to seeing more of it.

Boracay-tis great.

so we have been in Boracay much longer than anticiapated but we have had a great time.
Boracay is this little island with great beaches, nightlife and water sports.
We are staying at a hotel called Alice, which is nice and insulating because it has air-con, a TV and an en-suite.
we spent the first few days sleeping and eating and barely saw anything, mainly because i was wrecked.
We started spending happy hour in a bar called nigi nigi noo noo's where we ended up meeting this gang of lovely people.
click for more pics
we hung out with them most nights, as you will see from the photos. we totally reccommend Nigi's and a nightcllub called Guillys.
i also totally reccommend, for food, Manana, Big Yellow Taxi, Villa Oro Mongolian Barbeque and a spanish place across from our hotel that i cannot reember the name of.
we also highly reccommend the two bar men, Nolly and Lito, in the bar.
so we rented quads and did a small tour of the island with this couple called jocelyn and Joel.
click for more pics
Jocelyn had never driven anything before so it was great that when her quad tipped over she just got right back on and kept on going. we went to a butterfly and bat farm where the other 3 held a bat. eurgh! and we wnet to a view point.
terry and i did a kite surfing lesson with Isla Kite surfing, which we really enjoyed but it was really hard.
click for more pics
we got no where near a board! the kite was really hard to control and we had to do the lesson over two days because of rain. Ter would hold me on the earth when i was learning how to control the kite and i was supposed to hold terry down. it really worked! i lost my grip on terry every time. he got some miner air.
click for more pics
Terry did his advanced open water diving course. this involved 5 particular areas with 5 dives. he did navigation, buoancy, deep dive, night dive and wreck diving i think. he can add a bit about that. he was delighted with it. he did it with Sue at Calypso diving.
i chilled while he was doing his dives. i went to the viewing point with some of the people we had met for sunset. it was cool there were about ten of us between 2 tricycles and at one stage we had to get off and walk so it would make it up the hill.
yesterday we went on an Island hopping tour with Marie and Mairead. they had the best seats in the house! they were soaked the entire time we were out. it was a nice tour with a good lunch and was good value for money except for the bogus environmental fee people were asked to pay if they went snorkelling at crocodile island.
Today Terry is at a cock fight with JC. JC's family has the best fighter cocl apprently but it is not fighting today.
i went in search of a leg wax and found instead a hygienically challenged ladyboy called Vanessa. suffice to say i am still a hairy lady. Unlike Vanessa.
i would totally reccommend Boracay, although haggeling is important.
Terry will put up the photos later and talk about the dives and the cock fight i am sure!
click for more pics
be sure to look at the photos of our new buds, we had a great time with them.