Sparkling Singapore

The other day I had a filling lunch of chicken and rice, then 2 minutes later I saw a dead rat on the floor at the establishment I had been eating at. I was tiring of these "experiences" quite frankly.
But then we arrived in Singapore, aaaaaahhhhhhh it's amazing. There's no litter on the street, nobody is burning piles of rubbish, the restaurants are spotless, our hostel was immaculate, and in the evenings the knights in shinning armour come out and power hose the streets to keep them sparkly!
I love Singapore.

Disgusting Durian

Durian fruit is the most fowl thing I have tasted in my life, give me cobra blood ANY day!
I heard that Durian was banned from public places, and aeroplanes because of it's repulsive odour (it exhudes a pungeont smell of sewers!). But I had heard that despite it's stinkiness this poor fruit was actually delicious on the inside. So I was feeling a bit experimental and decided to try a Durian shake today.
I took a little sip and almost passed out of the most repulsive taste I have ever had the misfourtune to have on my taste buds. Erg!YUCK! I mean REALLY URGG!!!!
I can't really describes it because there is nothing else to compare it with, but give it a miss if it's ever offered to you.
Chris was sensible and when he saw the look on my face he declined this satanic drink and laughed his head off. Unfortunately for him the durian has been repeating on me ever since. Hehe heeee...Whose laughing now Packman??!!!

Oz Tonight

We fly to Sydney tonight at 19:55, and should arrive at 6:00am tomorrow morning. Marge and Farge will be waiting in the 5* Shangri-La Hotel looking over the harbour. They have booked a room for us which is going to be epic, you have no idea how much we are going to appreciate it.
Anyway, wish us luck flighing.

Singapore Sling

We arrived in Singapore yesterday on the best bus you can imagine. Our hostel is cool, we are staying in the Bugis Village. As soon as we arrived we changed and went out. We went straight to Raffles hotel which is famous for inventing the 'Singapore Sling'. The hotel was amazing and the bar that invented it 'Long Bar' was just as impressive. We didn't ask how much they were going to cost because last time we went to a bar that invented a cocktail (Harrys Bar in Venice (invented the Belini)) they cost a tenner each! Anyway - they were ace, we resited ordering another two, and paid the $52 bill.
The view of Singapore from the River

Singapore is wicked, its how I imagined it, spotlessly clean, loads of funky people, and huge skyrises. It also has a massive British influence, everything is written in English, there are catholic churches everywhere, and the architecture of alot of the buildings in very colonial. The riverside is amazing (see picture).
I would reccomend anybody to come here. We carried on the evening drinking at the riverside bars, then went to China Towns night market, drank somemore, eat some great Chinese food, and got absolutely plastered! We talked a hold load of rubbish to each other then staggered home.
Love it.
Chris
Me @ Raffles Hotel, and Sam with her Singapore Sling

Two Towers

There are two massive towers in KL. The Petronas twin towers, and the KL Communications tower. We went up both.
Petronas Tower
The tallest twin towers in the world, they are 253 times bigger than me and 272 time bigger than Sam. You are only allowed up to the Sky Bridge that connects the two, it is only 170m high and wasn't that impressive, plus we went up in the day, and all towers should be visited at night - its much better.
From the ground the Petrona Towers are amazing, escpecially at night when they are lit up. They look like 2 gigantic diamonds in the sky. We took some photos, but they come no where near to the real thing. Around the towers are beautiful parks, waterfalls, and resturants, its a great place to walk around at night.


KL Tower
This is the 4th largets Tower in the world at around 462m high. Its the only tower surrounded by Rainforest. It has an 360 degree observatory at the top which we went to at night. he view was stunning. The photo I have is a bit blurry because it was through a window. While we were up there the was a lightning storm.

Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia

We arrived in Kuala Lumpar last night, its the beginning of our trek to Oz. We are doing 4 countries in 4 days.
Our hostel is great 'The Trekker Lodge' It is in the Golden Triangle (!?) Which i think is a tourist attracting way of say the city center.
I wanted to come here to see the Petronas Towers, but never really understood why Sam was keen, but all has become clear as KL must have some of the best shopping in the world. The streets are lined with designer shops, massive shopping malls, and the clothes are quite cheap, however we only ended up in the shops for about 1 hour because we got bored. When you go around the world with a small backpack, material things become abit pointless because you just have to lug them around on your back for another year. I think everyone should be made to carry all thier possesions around on their back, we would all have much more money to spend on doing fun things. Anyway... enough of that.
KL is really high tech. All the streets are perfectly clean, there is no litter, and massive palm trees stand on the side of the pavements. All around you are gigantic glass and steel office blocks, posh resturants and bars, then above you is the monarail. There isn't much to love or hate about KL, so i can only really describe it as nice. I would never recommend anyone to make a special trip out here, but it would be a good place to come on a stop over when flighing to another place better.
Right, we are off up the top of the KL tower to watch sunset, then get some night photos of the Petronas Towers, which we will upload tomorrow morning before we catch the bus to Singapore.
Sorry about this post it was a bit boring. I will try to improve.
Chris

JAWS

We lay on the beach today from 11:00 till 6:00. At about 5pm when all the day trippers had gone, most of the part time beach goers had gone for a shower, I swam out into the sea (probably further than I should), and bumped into a few sharks! We had heard that they are around when it gets quiet, so on my swim out (with snorkle and mask) it felt a bit quiet and eerie, so I supsected I may see one or two, but with a little apprehension i carried on. Sure enough about 200m out to sea I spotted the first shark, it was only small and it took me a while to work out what it was. Once my eyes had acustomed to it I started to see all the other hundreds swimming around me, some were atleast 2 meters big, with big fat bellies and angry faces. I managed to hold my bowels together and dived down to their level to face them as not to appear scared. It was an awesome moment I shall never forget.
After 15 minutes i swam back to shore to tell Sam what had happened, being the slightly crazy, some what scary at times woman she is she grabs the mask off me and shouts 'Show me them ... NOW'. We only have one mask and snorkle so I have to swim out with her (She isn't that hard) to show her the sharks. Sure enough at about 200 meters she pops her hand over her head to signal a shark dorsal fin, then, much to my amusement she opens her arms to describe how big it is. Now you must understand that it is one thing to have a mask and be able to see the shark, know where it is, and watch that it doesnt start freaking out, and its another thing to just be traeding water knowing that somewhere beneath you is a 2 meter long shark! I was crapping myself. Sam soon also begins to crap herself and we head back to shore, but on the way back she informs me that water is full of about 100 sharks all swimming around, she is struggling to make herself swim towards them, but with a little shove from myself we manage to make it back to shore, a little bit amped.
They were Black tip reef sharks, just like the one in the picture below. Apparently they aren't harmful, but hell its still a ******* shark !
Awesome
Chris

Marge and Farge In Bangkok

My Mom and Dad landed in Bangkok yesterday, its wierd to think that they are in the same country as us now, I'm used to thinking about what they might be doing but 7 hours behind. They are now in the same timezone, which is a bit bizarre. I bet they are having nights lying awake in bed suffering with jet lag. I had a dreadful time when i first arrived, i didn't sleep properly for the 1st week, and got really stressed out.
They are flighing to Sydney 2 days before us then we meet them on the 26th (my Birthday). They have bought us a room in their 5 star hotel which is going to be amazing since we have only had 1 hot shower for the past 8 weeks!
Anyway I hope they don't get too drunk on the koh Shan road.
Chris

Night Diving

Last night I got on a boat at dusk with 7 other divers, we sped out into the Ocean ,and as we sat on the top deck having a briefing there was the most amazing sunset in the background.
Everybody was pretty nervous as the sun disappeared in the horizon and darkness creeped up on us. We all got kitted up with the usual equipment plus torches and jumped into the water. At this point my stomach is full of butterflies and I feel a real mixture of excitement and fear.

We deflate our Buoyancy Devices and down we go into the darkness!
It was soooooooo strange. It's a very eerie and creepie sensation because it's pitch black everywhere apart from the beam where you illuminate your torch, so you feel like a big morey eel could be breathing on your cheek and you wouldn't even know!!
It was amazing though because you can't really see the other divers unless you shine your light on them, you can only see their torch light so it's like being in space. There are other groups of divers down there too so when you see them coming it looks like you're in a dark forest and there's an alien spaceship landing ahead. Actually alien is a perfect word to describe this experience.

Apart from watching where you are going (so you don't bump into any scorpion fish or jelly's), you need to be careful that when you cross another group of diver you don;t accidently join onto them and loose your group! It's sooo easily done and gets very confussing.
One of the coolest things was when we all sat on the bottom and turned our torches off, it's pitch black but if you wave your hands in the water you see hundreds of sparks, it's the phosphorescence from the plankton. It's really beautifull, like fireworks.

When we popped up back at the surface and where floating waiting for the boat to pick us up, I led back and saw the most stunning sky I have ever seen! It was crowded with stars, a brilliant feeling of adventure and I'm sure that this won't be my last night dive.

Sam

Tsunami Story 2

We met another Dive Instructor on our Visa run called Nick. He is from Holland and has been free lanceing over here for 7 years. He told us his story about the Tsunami on Koh Lanta.
He runs Open Water Padi courses, which involve 4 proper dives and a morning either in the swimming pool, or in shallow water in the sea doing excercises such as removing your mask etc.
On December the 26th he was running a course and took his students out into shallow water just off the beach to do their excercises. You all neal (how the hell is that spealt) on the sand about 3m underwater in a semi circle around the instructor and copy what he does.
Everything was going well when suddenly all the water drains from the ocean and Nick is left with 5 divers nealt (neeled, nelt?) on the floor not in the sea anymore but on dry land, it must of looked pretty funny, but even funnier to be there.
Nick realises that the sea draining dry can't be a good sign and yells at his class to dump thier tanks and run like hell to the mountain. They were all pretty quick and very lucky as they just made it to safe ground just as the first wave demolished the beach where they had been seconds ago.

The View From Our Bungalow

The accomodation in Phi Phi is the worst value for money in Thailand, especially after the Tsunami because the government aren't allowing the thais to rebuild on their land, so the accomodation is limited and the prices high. But we thought its our last few days in Thailand so we rented nice place up the mountain. The photo above is the view from our room.

Sorry But We Couldn't Resist...

Happy Birthday Nan Bishop!

Happy Birthday Nan, I'm not sure how old you are now, but you look much younger.
I now know where I get my outrageously curly hair from, lets just hope it doesn't go as white as yours any time soon.
Hope you had a great day, and we both miss you lots.
If you are reading this at Sunday Tea say hi the the rest of the crew, and I'm glad to hear you are all well.
Lots of Love
Chris

Things I Saw On Yesterday's Dive

Apart from the usual suspects I saw:

Hawksbill Turtles, one follow me like a little dog (so cool!)
Lionfish (V.poisonous)
Scorpion fish(V.poisonous)
Puffer fish (V.poisonous)
Seal face puffer
Trigger fish (vicious)
Mackrel (I always wondered what they looked like before they where smoked and packaged in Sainsbury's)
Nudibranch (I know, I know)
Sailors eyeball (largest single cell on the planet- like a glass ball)
Ornate Ghost Pipe Fish (Very very rare, extremely lucky to have seen one, same family as sea horse)

Muay Thai Two

Phi Phi has a massive bar called the Reggae Bar, anyone who has been here must know the one i mean. They have a boxing ring in the middle of the bar, which at 10pm each night holds fights. We went last night for the first time because we had heard a rumour that 'Dirty Sanchez' were there filming for MTV, two of them have been training in Thai Boxing and are going to have a fight.
As it turns out Dirty Sanchez weren't fighting last night, but are fighting tonight, however they were there anyway with the camera crew getting very very drunk and doing some filming of the proper thai boxers who faught last night.
We went to watch Thai Boxing in Bangkok, the fights were good but not a scratch on what happen last night! We reckon they went crazy because the cameras were on them, and they only had 3 rounds. We saw 2 fights, inwhich there were about 5 Knock Outs (they dont stop the fights here with K.Os), and all 4 fighters got kicked out of the ring at some point (literally kicked out). Oh.... Thai entertainment, coming home and going to the local won't be quite the same ever again.
It doesn't stop there though, in true Thai health and saftey style, they offered and volenteer 2 free buckets if they get in the ring and have a scrap. You'd think that 2 friends would get in the ring and mess about for a bit just for the free drink, NO WAY! It was hilarious, everyone in the bar is laughing thier heads of as two normal guys kick each other in the bums, try flying kicks, forward rolls, grabbing each other knees etc... A few of the fights did get a bit serious and two guys were Knocked out, buts its allin the name of buckets!
HURAHHH
P.S If any of you are wondering if i got in the ring, the answer is sadly no, i have a wife now, plus i don't think my insurance covers it, also i would be a bit scared. Although if Harry had been there I would of kicked his ass.
Chris

Narcked Up To My Eyeballs!!!

When we first started diving Chris told you about his deep dive, and how at about 30 meters you experience Nitrogen Narcosis. It's meant to feel like you're a little tipsy and the deeper you go the more you start to behave like you're drunk, it can be dangerous when people start to turn eachother's air off and stuff!!
Nitrogen narcosis isn't dangerous in itself, if you ascend a few meters the feeling goes and there's no hangover.

I was quite looking forward to experiencing it myself yesterday morning before I went on my deep dive. Team Sweeden and Chris said that they really didn't feel much, just a bit happy, that sounded ok to me.
So, I'm all ready, I deflate my BCD (Buoyancy Control Device) and I see the water rise past my eyes. I'm having a bit of trouble equalizing my ears but I take it easy and get to 30 meters. I feel absolutely fine. I do a maths test which I had done before on the surface to see if there are any effects of Nitrogen Narcosis, I feel pretty confident that I have done ok.
All is hunky dory and suddenly POW!!! I feel like the whole Ocean is spinning around me really fast, I think I'm about to puke and I'm within seconds of passing out under water!!
My instructor is in front of me and hasn't noticed my eyes starting to roll to the back of my head. I summon up some sense from somewhere and tug my instructors fins, I signal I am in trouble and need to get out, she grabs me and slowly takes me up a few meters. At this point everything is still spinning and I'm sure I'm going to pass out.
She holds me still for a bit and I start to feel a little better. She writes "try to relax and breathe" on her slate. I do and gradually start to come back to normal. She askes me what feels wrong on the slate and I explain.
After a few minutes I was back to normal and we carried on diving, when I saw a hawksbill turtle I forget all about it and enjoy a brilliant coral reef.
When we surface we compare how long the maths test took underwater...it took me three times as long, and then there was the semi-consciousness. We conclude I was trully Narcked!!
Most people feel a gradual tipsy feeling and the deeper they go the stronger it gets, I went from feeling perfectly sobber to completely off my face! (I bit like at the surface!).
If team Sweeden are reading this I'm sure the phrase "Mental Breakdown" will be said by Stoffer, and as always boys, I don't do things by half I need DRAMA!

I'm perfectly fine now and looking forward to a night dive tonight, don't worry mum this one's only at 18 meters!

Tsunami Story 1

I bored you already about our Dive instructor Alexs' sailing boat the Sampai Jumpa which takes divers out for 4 or 8 day live aboards, so i won't go on about how amazing it is. Anyway... it caters for deaf divers and disabled divers (you would think most boats would do this, as everybody is deaf underwater, except deaf people who can communicate perfectly with sign, but their boat is only one of very few).
They sailed from Phuket just before Christmas day and headed for the Burma Banks, and then the Similan Islands. On the morning of December 26th they began a dive, there were about 6 divers plus another 2 dive masters, and another guy videoing the dive.
About half way through the dive the current begins to pick up, thinking its abit wierd they all start swimming against the current, the current gets stronger and stronger, the video guy is worried about loosing his expensive dive camera, so turns it off and holds tight, then the current is so strong that they have to hold onto rocks and coral on the sea bed, it gets stronger still and the rocks and coral begin to break,....suddenly it's over, the visibility has gone from 30m+ to about 10 centimeters, everybody has lost everbody else, so they begin to surface, slowly people start popping up on the surface, spread out, but not to far, they all swim back to the boat, and have lunch totally oblivious to the fact they have just dived through the biggest tsunami ever, which went on to kill hundreds of thousands of people.
Alex was never on the boat, he was recovering from a killer hangover in a cafe in Bangkok, he ignored the first 5 people who called him on his mobile to tell him something bad had happened, but when his head cleared enough for him to check out the television he realised that he could of just lost his entire lifes savings which were tied up in the boat. He can't get down to Phuket because they closed off whole of southern thailand.
After a night dying of worry and stress he finally gets a call from his best mate on the boat having only just sailed close enough to land to realise what they survived.
The killer part of the story is that Skys Discovery Channel heard about what had happened and flew out to make a documentary about the boat, they offered the video diver $100,000 for the footage he had from in the tsunami, ofcourse though, he had turned the camera off. GUTTED.
However in true Sky tv style, they faked the footage and the program can be seen occasionally repeated on the Discovery Channel.

Check out their website 'world wide dive and sail'

Heaven on Earth

My good friend Viv Ventress asked me on an e-mail recently a very tricky question: "If you had to go to any of the places you've been to on a one week holiday, where would it be?"
Chris and I where having dinner and he asked me the unanswered question once more. I found it hard to answer because for a one week holiday I'd choose a beach, but for all the amazing places we have been so far I couldn't think of a place that I would have classed as Paradise.
Having been to some stunning beaches in Greece I was convinced that this was the closest to Heaven on Earth.
My ideal is crystal clear water, pristine white sands, stunning lush mountains, shear cliffs dropping into the sea, a coral reef you can snorkle to right off shore, great chilled out bars (but not too many)...I found that place today...it's called Koh Phi Phi.
It's STUNNING!!! The water is so clear that when you go out a mile on a boat you can still see the bottom as if it was a foot in front of your face. Chris and I saw dozens of different fish: clown fish (nemo), trigger fish, angel fish, box fish, parrot fish, sea snake (I swam very quickly when I saw it rear up!), LOADS of the most beautiful colourful fish. Even when you first get into the water there are hundreds of little fish that curiously come up & swim with you.
We're staying in a resort with an infinity pool, I'm going diving (adventure dive course), oh and it's sunny again (35c), life really couldn't get better!!!!
The tsunami is obvious still though. Coca-cola sponsors the signs for the evacuation route (arrow points up at mountain). Half of the town has been wiped out, the government have a hold on building so many can't re-build their businesses yet.
Will tell you about the dive later.

Take care,

Sam in Heaven

Happy Hazardous Valentines

Yesterday we nearly died twice. We went out for a meal for Valentines and a Coconut landed on our table. We both screamed and went to dive under the table. The rest of the resturant cracked up laughing. We moved tables.
Then we went to a bar on the beach for a few drinks. They let off a few fireworks, but one rocket didnt take off and expoded on us!
We are ok though. Health and safety isnt too hot here, but that is what makes it so much fun.
Over
Chris

Coco POW!

Last night is was very very windy. Our bungalow is made of wood, matting and the ceiling is made of dried palm leaves, so you can really hear and feel the wind whistling outside.

But, early this morning I could hear something strange. Now there are lots of strange things you hear here like:
Whooping gibbons (they go Whoooop Whooooop)
Very loud crickets which all start and stop at the same time. It's al,ost as if someone has a remote control and turns them on and off in the night.
Baby geckos which make the cuttest grumble and then I swear they say "geck-ooo, geck-ooo" followed by another cute grumble.
Sometimes you hear pigs being slaughtered but that's a horrible sound and mostly in cities or villages near rivers, not in Koh Lanta (forget that one).
Dogs pretending to be wolves. They all suddenly start howling in the middle of the night, it's eerie and mysterious.

But this wasn't any of the familiar noises I've mentionned. It was kind of like a ...swoosh followed by a thump, swoosh thump...every few minutes swoosh thump.
i wondered what it might be at 7.30am for a while whilst I lay there with one eye open (mmmm because that somehow helps me identify noises, not!), then I slipped back into dreamland. Eventually a couple of hours later we woke up, I had a big stretch and openned the door, and there they where....dozens of coconuts on the ground!

I've actually seen someone nearly get hit by one in Koh Tao, the things are leathal! They fall with the speed of lightning, and they fall straight until they smack with ten times the force of a World Wrestling Federation fighter's knee.
So this veeeeeery long waffling story was all a load of coconuts, but remember "where there's coconuts, there's danger".

Sam

P.S. If you read this at work and got all the way to the end of the story and didn't feel a hint of dissappointment or guilt, then maybe it's time to take a year out and go travelling ;o)

Tsunami Storys

Its wierd to sit on the beach and stare out to sea and imagine Boxing Day last year when the tsunami hit. The images we all saw on the tv play in your head over and over again, the scenes here look just like the videos that were filmed from the beach, and every Thai person you look at must have a story about what happened to them that day.
There is an overwhelming urge to ask people where they were or what happenen, but we never really do incase they have been impacted personally by it.
Occasionally though, you start to get quite friendly with the locals at some of the bars, resturants, bungalows or dive centers, and the conversation heads in the direction where you feel comfortable enough to ask what happened to them.
I have heard 4 stories so far, 3 are funny with happy endings, but one sadly was not.
I'll add the 3 funny stories separatley another time.
Chris

A Secret..

We do give you guys quite a hard time, trying to make you jealous of us, and we sometimes hide the truth abit to make it sound even better (The 'Culture Shocks, and Food With Rocks' entry was another hint of truth). So here is another secret we have been keeping that may make you feel better.
Its been raining here for at least the past 4 days. Its miserable, wet and humid, and as everyone in Britain knows there isn't to much to do on a wet day at the beach.
Hope that helps.

Visa Run, A Reason To Hate Mondays Again.

Thailand issues 30 day tourist visas. So if you want to stay in Thailand longer than 30 days you simply cross a border into another country then turn around and walk back into Thailand, letting then stamp your passport with another 30 day visa.

When you are away for this long, days of the week don't mean a thing. Friday is no different to Tuesday, nobody gets excited on a Friday night, and nobody gets depressed on a Sunday Evening. However, Mondays are different. Monday mornings are my favourite day, just because i used to hate Mondays the most, now every time i wake up on a Monday, i realise how great it is to be away travelling the world.

Last Monday was horrific, we woke up at 4am because of screaming drunk girls next door, once we had woken up we didn't get back to sleep. At 6:30am our alarm goes off just as we had fallen asleep for 5 minutes. We get up and drag ourselves to the top of the hill to meet the minibus that is taking us to the border. Its throwing it down with rain, but is hot as hell, we get all sticky and wet, then jump in the bus. Then we have the most pointless 10 hour trip on a bus you could ever imagine. 5 hours to the border, get off the bus, cross the border, then cross back in. The queue is massive and we are stood in the rain waiting to get the visa stamp. The Thai authorities love to let you leave the country but will make it as painful as possible to let you back in. They read every stamp in your passport, it takes about 1 hour. We then jump back in the bus for another 5 hours returning back to the same place that we left this morning. The most pointless day of my entire life!
I'm fine with sitting on a bus for 18 hours to go somewhere new, but there is something psychologically damaging about sitting on a bus for 10 hours and ending up back in the same place as you started!
Just try and imaginge catching a bus from London to Manchester, getting there, touching a lampost, then going straight back to London.
We also found out later that Southern Thailand is pretty dodgy at the moment, at least one person a day is killed through shootings. Again this is much the same as going to Manchester
Chris

Playing with Ploys

As we have lots of spare time in our daily routine we have purchased some ploys. Ploys are two tennis balls on the end of two chains which you might have seen when they light them on fire, the ones we have are for practicing until we stop hitting ourselves in the face and groin! Then we can have a go at dipping them in petrol and setting them alight.
Plenty of people here are very good at it and you'll always spot someone on the beach at night doing a fire dance.
So check out pictures of how we are doing so far, at least we still have eyes though I'm not sure how long Chris will keep his, he is so brutal about it that this was the only photo in which you can actually see the things! In all the others he has blurry hands and the ploys are spinning soooo fast they are invisible - Chris all over really. I've adopted a more chilled out somewhat doppey style, but hey it works for me (if you don't count the bruises).
We'll keep you updated on progress.

Happy Birthday JOHN HEATON!

Happy Birthday to youuuu
Happy Birthday to youuuu
Happy Birthday John Heatonnnnnn
Happy Birthday to youuuu!!!

We hope you have a fab day today and get lots of nice presents (sorry there's not one from us)we'll make up for it next year.

Sam and Chris

Nothing really to write

We don't have much to say when we are living on an Island. It is pretty boring to read about our days which generally involve;
8:00 Wake up
9:00 Breakfast on the beach (2 fried eggs on toast and cup of tea)
10:00 Lie on the beach
..
.. Then every 1/2 hour get in the sea
..
..
14:00 Lunch on the beach. (noodles, and mango shake)
14:30 Back to the beach.
..
.. Then every 1/2 hour get in the sea.
..
..
16:00 A game of beach Bat & Ball (max keep ups 20 ! Shocking - must improve)
16:30 In the water again and see how long we can hold our breath (Me max 1:35, Sam max 1:25)
17:00 Pineapple Shake
18:30 Watch Sunset
19:30 Shower
20:00 Dinner
10:00 Bed

Oh to think i used to hate routine! So if the blog is looking a bit empty or i write about boring things (superbowl) then that is the reason.

Superbowl

I watched an entire game of American Football last Monday morning. Calafornian Scott had searched Thailand to find a bar showing Superbowl at 6 in the morning, so i thought i'd see what the fuss was about. I rested my baseball hat as high on my head as possible, ate 12 hotdogs and 14 burgers, and 1 bottle of bud.
I think i remember my Dad watching a few games years and years ago when they tried to introduce it to British television, i thought then that it was pretty bad, and it still is now.
Its probably got even worse, as the advert giants pay more money to show their ads, and the game lasted 4 hours !
I can kind of see that it would be a decent sport if it wasn't so slow, but apparently it was quite a good game! Final score Seahawks 10 - Steelers 21.
Anyway, the six nations has started now, so i won't have to watch anymore rubbish (apart from when Scotland play Italy).
I have always avoided Irish pubs when i have been abroad (apart from 1 in Poland), but i seems they are the only places that show the rugby, so this evening I am going go and sit in a dodgy rip off of a bar called the 'Laughing Lepricorn' (Dave Fitz dies of laughter). I even just ate a English sausage sandwich, and the weather is overcast. A perfect Saturday.
Chris

Koh Lanta Sunset

We arrived in Koh Lanta Yai yesterday, to a beautiful beach, and even better sunset.
We are staying on Long Beach, its white and wide, the sea is pristene, and deep which makes it great for swimming. There is no coral though, so we are getting a break from fish.
We all lay on the beach for 6 hours then began to celebrate Sharons birthday. Oh dear! We all had buckets, which are a sand castle bucket which they fill with 1/2 a bottle of vodka, sprite, and red bull! Sharon celebrated in full, and passed out at about 1 o'clock, then spent the night with her head over the toilet.
Sams new phrase is 'Beer before bucket makes you chuck it!'. Quality.
We all spent the day on the beach, and occasionally dipping in the ocean. It really is the best place to recover from a fun night.

We are staying here for a while to chill out and relax before going to Phi Phi Island for the last 7 days.

Krabi

Mixed feelings about Krabi, the beach you arrive on is very Krappy (Sams joke), its mud flats, and you have to trample trough the mud to get to some very expensive accomodation. The upside was that it was ace to see our Calafornian friends Scott & Sharon again (see picture), and one of the beaches in Krabi is amazing (see photos) Beautiful white sand, turquoise waters and massive limestone cliffs rising out of the sea.

We didnt really do anything in Krabi apart from lying on the beach/pool chilled meal at night etc.

We booked our trip to Koh Lanta, Scott and Sharon are coming aswell, and its Sharons Birthday so I expect tonight will be a big one.
Have it!
Chris

More Photos

Here is a picture of me underwater:



This jelly fish was MASSIVE (about half the size of my body) - you can just make out the fish swimming around its testicles (sorry, tentacles). I touched the top of it, it spun round and started floating towards me! Apparently it is deadly:


Team Sweden were also down there:

Diving Photos

We haven't put many photos up recently, so here are some diving shots.
Chris

Off to Krabi

After 3 days in Koh Pangnang, we have booked a boat/bus to Krabi for tomorrow. We weren't that impressed by Pangnang, i guess its just good for a full moon party, but we missed that.
Looking forward to Krabi, meeting our friends Sharon and Scott, and going Rock Climbing again!
Chris

Congratulations..

To Adil and Sarah, and their new baby girl Tara. We are both really pleased for you, and hope you have lots of fun together, looking forward to joining in when we get back.
Chris & Sam
P.S By saying 'joining in' we do not mean starting to breed ourselves.

Never Follow The Bottles..

Yesterday was an exciting day to say the least. We can't tell you what happened, but we are alive and safe. Some stories about our travels are to be kept to ourselves, and told in many years time over a few quiet beers.
We have one piece of advice though....'Never ever follow the bottles...'
Mr & Mrs Crusso