Ko Phi Phi, Thailand: 21st Dec 09

Yesterday we hung out at the beach waiting for the arrival of Paul (aka Pabs) and Sharazed (collectively Shazmapabs). Pabs found us in our bungalow mid afternoon and we went to meet Sharazed off her boat. She looked very glam standing on deck with her massive sunnies and the wind in her hair.

Sharazed is staying at a resort at the other end of the beach – a 5 minute walk, and Pabs is staying on the next beach, which is also a 5 minute walk but involves a choice of scrambling over boulders at the edge of the sea, or scrambling up a hill, with a rope to pull yourself up as it’s so steep!

We went to the Buddha bar and got very drunk, then went skinny dipping in the sea. Naughty but nice!

Ko Phi Phi: 19th-20th December 09

Yesterday we flew from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket (pronounced Poo-Ket, rather than F…never mind). We had to wait 5 hours before getting our boat, so went to the local Tesco Hypermarket and stocked up on cheese, crackers, and £13 DVD player, movies, wine and tinsel!

We then had a 2 hour boat trip from the town to Ko Phi Phi, famous for being the most beautiful Thai island. The film ‘the beach’ was filmed on the Ko Phi Phi Le, which is just off the main island and we can see it from our bed. The bungalow is on the sea front and is much bigger than we expected.

Last night we sat at a beach bar and watched the local rastas twirling batons of fire – very cool, I think we’ll be going back there!

The beach is fine white sand and the water is warm and aquamarine. We’ve been snorkeling today and will maybe do a dive later in our trip.

We’re going to be staying here for 18 days – we planned this break in June, knowing we’d be ready for a proper break after 5 months travel. It’s come at just the right time as we’ve seen lots of Asia and now want to sit back and chill out. Whilst we’re here we’ll be planning the next leg of our trip, Singapore, Tokyo, New York and then South America.

Our friends Paul, from Leicester and Sharazed from London are arriving tomorrow to join us for Christmas. Can’t wait!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 17th – 18th Dec 09

Yesterday we travelled from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. We hadn’t planned to visit here, but the visa rules in Thailand have changed which meant we either stayed put and pay loads of money in fines for staying illegally or spend a similar amount to leave the country and fly back in.

We’re staying in the Traders hotel, which is directly opposite the Petronas Towers. Between 1999 and 2004 they were the tallest in the world and they are incredible.

Last night we went to the hotel’s rooftop bar, complete with swimming pool and DJ. We drank wine whilst admiring the towers, which were lit up looking like crystal and had clouds floating around them – a truly stunning sight! Except for the Taj Mahal we think there are the prettiest buildings we’ve ever seen.

Today we went and had a closer look at the towers, they don’t look quite as stunning in the daytime, but are still very impressive. We then had a whistle-stop walk around the city center, taking in Merdeka Square, the colonial district and China town, where we popped into a Chinese temple.

Malaysia is a Muslim country and you can see the Arabic influence everywhere, from the Moorish style architecture, to the women wearing their headscarves – a change from the rest of SE Asia. Tomorrow we head back to Thailand and Kho Phi Phi, where we’ll spend 18 days, including Christmas and New Year! Yay!

Kanchanaburi, Thailand: 13th – 16th Dec 09

For the last couple of days we’ve been in Kanchanaburi, the home of the bridge over the River Kwai. The town itself is a dump - it’s scruffy and smells and we don’t like it at all - but our hotel is nice so we’ve spent time chilling and reading. A couple of highlights have been:

- Visiting the Thailand-Burma railway museum: This tells the story of how the Japanese occupied the region and built a 415km railway, using prisoners of war. More than 100,000 men died during construction, leading it to be known as the ‘death railway’ - the story is told in the famous film ‘bridge over the river Kwai’. It was very moving and interesting, and especially poignant as outside the museum was a huge cemetery containing the graves of over 7,000 men who’d died here.

- We also visited the bridge itself and took 15 minute train trip over it.

- We visited Thailand’s famous Tiger Temple. It was great as we got to stroke lots of tigers, which we hadn’t expected.

We were both a bit dubious about whether the tigers were well looked after - but they did look very healthy and Buddhist monks are generally renowned for looking after animals, in case they themselves are re-incarnated as one.

We did have our suspicions that the tigers we ‘met’ were drugged, but apparently they were just tired after their lunch. I’ve since done some research on the internet and it seems the place is pretty well respected, so I can post the photos here without feeling guilty!

Bangkok, Thailand: 12th Dec 09

Today we transferred from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, this means we’ve completed a full circuit, as we were in Bangkok 9 weeks ago, prior to visiting Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. We’re staying on the Koh San Road, which is hectic as usual – but a great place for people watching.

In the evening we hooked up with Sam and Jehan, whom we met on our cooking course in Cambodia 2 months ago. We had a great night, lots of booze and giggles, and only got to bed at 3am, which is considerably past our regular bedtime, naughty boys!

Chiang Mai, Thailand: 10th – 11th Dec 09

Yesterday we did Chiang Mai’s famous ‘flying with gibbons’ which involves going into the jungle and riding on zip wires from tree to tree in the canopy.

There were 18 zip wires altogether, along with some suspended wobbly bridges and a couple of trees for abseiling - it was really good fun. Of course, we did the world’s highest zip wire from the top of a mountain in Namibia a couple of months ago, so this seemed tame in comparison!

Today we chilled out and had a 2 ½ hour Thai massage. It was excellent. Most of it felt really nice, but some of it really really hurt. Unfortunately some of it made me want to fart - especially when the lady pushed my knees into my chest, kind of sat on me and started kneading my butt with her elbows. I simply can’t believe one didn’t slip out! Luckily after 2 ½ hours I’d managed not to guff on the masseuse - unfortunately Matt did a small boff on his, it sounded uncannily like creaking floorboards so nobody noticed, phew!

Despite the trump traumas, it was the best massage we’ve ever had and we’ll definitely do another!

Chiang Mai, Thailand: 8th Dec 09

Chiang Mai has over 300 temples, some of which we’ve visited today. Most of them date back to the 14th or 15th century and they’re all slightly different.

In the evening we had a foot massage, followed by dinner at the famous night market.