Hello everyone! I'm afraid our lovely trip has come to an end. After a few long plane rides, Mal and I landed in Toronto a day and a half ago. The trip home took a little longer than expected because of delays, missed flights, having to stop in Vancouver... but we made it home, and are luggage was not lost.
Our trip has been absolutely amazing, and G adventures did a really good job organizing everything. We also had an awesome tour guide which made everything better. It was nice not having to worry about getting on trains, booking hotels and getting from one place to another. So thank you Gap tours.
I'm still working on my last album, for some reason it won't upload. I will post it as soon as I can. If anyone wants to see the slideshow of all my pictures then let me know and and we will arrange something.
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Friday, 18 May 2012
Koh Samui and Koh Tao
Hello from Koh Tao, an absolutely beautiful island off the east coast Thailand. We've been here for the last two days, it's very relaxing and sunny. We both like Koh Tao much more than Koh Samui, it's much nicer and cheaper for some reason. So anyways here is a summary of the last couple days of our trip.
Koh Samui: So we arrive here several days ago, but I think I already blogged about our arrival. The next day we set off on an adventure to the Angthon national marine park, which is absolutely beautiful. There we visited the islands, kayaked and snorkelled (although the snorkeling was very dissappointing). We couldn't see anything except rocks and eels... gross!! But the views were wonderful, especially from the top of the view point, which only I and two others on our tour were brave enough to climb. It honestly was 500 m straight up on pure rock, you had to use a rope to pull yourself up for most of it. But the climb down was probably worst.
After that we took the boat back to koh samui. At night, we went to arc bar for dinner, which was dinner on the beach (very nice). Then we went to another lady boy show (for the new people) and after to the green mango to go dancing. We had a lot of fun.
The next day we took a speed boat to koh tao, a much nicer island. We arrived in the afternoon and chilled by the beach. The next day, some of us set off on a snorkeling tour of the island. This snorkeling was absolutely beautiful. We saw alot of fish, no sharks though. I did see these small sucker fish we ended up trying to attach to me, which completely freaked my out. Luckily, the sucker fish were only at the first snorkeling site and we never saw them again. I do have some pictures of the tour, but for some reason I couldn't upload my koh tao pictures so you will all just have to wait for those.
Well that's all for now. Tonight we leave on the sleeper train back to bangkok, where our tour will come to an end :( We will be home on tuesday, and although we are sad to see our trip end, we are also glad to go home. Not sure if I will be posting anymore pictures after this, we'll see.
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
Koh Samui: So we arrive here several days ago, but I think I already blogged about our arrival. The next day we set off on an adventure to the Angthon national marine park, which is absolutely beautiful. There we visited the islands, kayaked and snorkelled (although the snorkeling was very dissappointing). We couldn't see anything except rocks and eels... gross!! But the views were wonderful, especially from the top of the view point, which only I and two others on our tour were brave enough to climb. It honestly was 500 m straight up on pure rock, you had to use a rope to pull yourself up for most of it. But the climb down was probably worst.
After that we took the boat back to koh samui. At night, we went to arc bar for dinner, which was dinner on the beach (very nice). Then we went to another lady boy show (for the new people) and after to the green mango to go dancing. We had a lot of fun.
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| koh samui |
The next day we took a speed boat to koh tao, a much nicer island. We arrived in the afternoon and chilled by the beach. The next day, some of us set off on a snorkeling tour of the island. This snorkeling was absolutely beautiful. We saw alot of fish, no sharks though. I did see these small sucker fish we ended up trying to attach to me, which completely freaked my out. Luckily, the sucker fish were only at the first snorkeling site and we never saw them again. I do have some pictures of the tour, but for some reason I couldn't upload my koh tao pictures so you will all just have to wait for those.
Well that's all for now. Tonight we leave on the sleeper train back to bangkok, where our tour will come to an end :( We will be home on tuesday, and although we are sad to see our trip end, we are also glad to go home. Not sure if I will be posting anymore pictures after this, we'll see.
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Part 1 of the South
Hello Everyone from the South of Thailand! We finally have internet, and it's free :) So here is an update of our travels so far. It's very different in the south, still just as hot though. There are definitely more tourists, and it's a lot more relaxed. The mountains are even different, down south the mountains are very jagged (with huge cliffs) whereas up north they are rounded. Can't wait to see to see the islands.
We arrived yesterday morning in Surat Thani where we travelled to our resort in the National Park. We got there in the afternoon. Once we checked in, we went tubing, which is like a lazy river ride for 2 hours. The views were beautiful! After tubing we went to go see some monkeys. The people gave my a banana for the monkeys but since they wouldn't take it from me I just ate it instead. I have lot's of good monkey picture :) We stayed in a treehouse, it was pretty cool... except when we found a scorpion in our room :(
This morning we took a bus to the port then took a ferry, and finally arrived at Koh Samui in the afternoon. Mal and I then chilled by the pool and the beach. Tonight we have an early bed time because we are waking up early for a day trip which includes snorkeling, kayaking and sightseeing. It's going to be a lot of fun.
I hope everything at home is going well. We will be heading home in about six days, and we can't wait to see everyone. It's been such an amazing trip so far, but its not over yet. A few more days on the beach first.
That's all for now,
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
We arrived yesterday morning in Surat Thani where we travelled to our resort in the National Park. We got there in the afternoon. Once we checked in, we went tubing, which is like a lazy river ride for 2 hours. The views were beautiful! After tubing we went to go see some monkeys. The people gave my a banana for the monkeys but since they wouldn't take it from me I just ate it instead. I have lot's of good monkey picture :) We stayed in a treehouse, it was pretty cool... except when we found a scorpion in our room :(
This morning we took a bus to the port then took a ferry, and finally arrived at Koh Samui in the afternoon. Mal and I then chilled by the pool and the beach. Tonight we have an early bed time because we are waking up early for a day trip which includes snorkeling, kayaking and sightseeing. It's going to be a lot of fun.
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| south 1 |
I hope everything at home is going well. We will be heading home in about six days, and we can't wait to see everyone. It's been such an amazing trip so far, but its not over yet. A few more days on the beach first.
That's all for now,
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
Saturday, 12 May 2012
Day 8/9/10
Hello everyone. Sorry for not posting
yesterday but the free internet at our hotel in Chiang Mai was not
working. So here is my recap of the last few days.
Day 8: We got back from our trek at
around 3pm and had free time until 7:30pm. At 7:30 we took a truck
to the night market and had dinner. After dinner we saw several
matches of Thai Boxing (muy thai), which is the national sport of
Thailand. There is a lot of kicking in this type of boxing, at first
I didn't really enjoy it but by the end of the evening it got better.
We saw both women and men matches. And the best part was a match
with four guys instead of two, and all of them were blindfolded. It
was hilarious! After that we went to a local bar for a few hours
then headed back to the hotel.
Day 9 (still in Chiang Mai): Yesterday
we did a cooking class in Chiang Mai. It was really awesome! We
made 4 different types of dishes, and went to the market before hand.
Mal made hot and sour soup, pad thai, spring rolls and curry. I
made coconut milk soup, chicken with cashews, spring rolls and curry.
Everything was so good. And we got a thai cook book with dozens of
recipes. A very good deal in my opinion. After the class we were
dropped off at our hotel and relaxed until it was time to board our
sleeper train. We then took the train overnight to Bangkok.
Day 10: We arrived in Bangkok in the
morning. We had time for a swim before lunch. Then we got foot
massages :) It was wonderful. Now I am writing this post.
Sorry about the small amount of
pictures. I didn't bring my camera to the boxing matches
unfortunately. But I will take many pictures when we leave tomorrow
for the south of Thailand.
So a quick update before I sign out: We
are starting our southern tour today, so half way done our lovely
adventures.
Well that's all for now.
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Chiang Mai and Trekking
Hello everyone. It's been a couple very exciting/exhausting days but we are back from our trekking adventure, and I finally have internet access! We just got back an hour ago and the first thing we did was shower!! Finally, a real bathroom.
So these pictures begin with a city tour of Chiang Mai, where we saw more lovely temples. That night we went to the famous night market where there were hundreds of stalls selling absolutely everything. We also saw a Lady Boy show, which is apparently very famous here in Chiang Mai. So basically men dressed as women were dancing and singing for us. All I will say is that is was very interesting.
The next day we started our lovely trek into the wilderness. We started by driving to a beautiful and famous waterfall, we went for a swim :) Then we continued to drive up the mountains towards our drop off spot. By the way, when I say drive we are sitting on the back of a covered pick-up truck. It's hard to explain but I did take a picture. The trekking the first day was quite nice, I believe we walked approximately 4 km and most of it was downhill :) We arrived at our first village a few hours before dinner time. We had time to shower in the river, tour the village and just relax for a bit. Dinner was delicious and plentiful. Most of our meals during the trek involved rice, mixed vegetables and some kind of curry. We also made spring rolls. Our accommodation for both days was a one-roomed hut with small mattresses and mosquito nets. It wasn't the comfiest bed but the fact that we were shielded from the bugs was probably a luxury. And the cabins were very open so the animals woke us up pretty early each morning.
The next morning we woke up at six (because of the animals mostly) and had breakfast at 7:30. Breakfast included eggs, toast, jam and fruit. It was also delicious and plentiful. We then started our 9km walk to the elephant camp. Most of that walk was manageable, but there was this one enormous hill that was absolutely brutal. We were all exhausted, it was the never ending climb. But the views from the top make it all worth it. We had lunch at the elephant camp, which was instant noodles. The elephants were so friendly, they came right up to us after lunch looking for food. We then rode the elephants to our next village. The ride was actually quite bumpy and if you didn't hold on to your chair you would fall off.
At the village we had a similar dinner to the one before, then played games with our guides. They started as drinking games but because we were drinking locally made moonshine, we were disgusted by it pretty quickly. So instead of drinking when you lost, they put charcoal on our faces... It was pretty funny.
The next morning we took a bamboo raft for several hours to a village where our trucks were waiting for us to drive us back to the city. The bamboo rafts were a lot of fun! We had a few fast rapids, and the view was amazing. Also, when the water was calmer, we could swim beside the raft and float down the river.
Our drive back to Chiang Mai was pretty rough. We sat at the back of the pick up trucks on some very bumpy roads. But we made it back and now I am writing this blog :)
Well that's all for now.
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
So these pictures begin with a city tour of Chiang Mai, where we saw more lovely temples. That night we went to the famous night market where there were hundreds of stalls selling absolutely everything. We also saw a Lady Boy show, which is apparently very famous here in Chiang Mai. So basically men dressed as women were dancing and singing for us. All I will say is that is was very interesting.
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| trek1 |
The next day we started our lovely trek into the wilderness. We started by driving to a beautiful and famous waterfall, we went for a swim :) Then we continued to drive up the mountains towards our drop off spot. By the way, when I say drive we are sitting on the back of a covered pick-up truck. It's hard to explain but I did take a picture. The trekking the first day was quite nice, I believe we walked approximately 4 km and most of it was downhill :) We arrived at our first village a few hours before dinner time. We had time to shower in the river, tour the village and just relax for a bit. Dinner was delicious and plentiful. Most of our meals during the trek involved rice, mixed vegetables and some kind of curry. We also made spring rolls. Our accommodation for both days was a one-roomed hut with small mattresses and mosquito nets. It wasn't the comfiest bed but the fact that we were shielded from the bugs was probably a luxury. And the cabins were very open so the animals woke us up pretty early each morning.
The next morning we woke up at six (because of the animals mostly) and had breakfast at 7:30. Breakfast included eggs, toast, jam and fruit. It was also delicious and plentiful. We then started our 9km walk to the elephant camp. Most of that walk was manageable, but there was this one enormous hill that was absolutely brutal. We were all exhausted, it was the never ending climb. But the views from the top make it all worth it. We had lunch at the elephant camp, which was instant noodles. The elephants were so friendly, they came right up to us after lunch looking for food. We then rode the elephants to our next village. The ride was actually quite bumpy and if you didn't hold on to your chair you would fall off.
At the village we had a similar dinner to the one before, then played games with our guides. They started as drinking games but because we were drinking locally made moonshine, we were disgusted by it pretty quickly. So instead of drinking when you lost, they put charcoal on our faces... It was pretty funny.
The next morning we took a bamboo raft for several hours to a village where our trucks were waiting for us to drive us back to the city. The bamboo rafts were a lot of fun! We had a few fast rapids, and the view was amazing. Also, when the water was calmer, we could swim beside the raft and float down the river.
Our drive back to Chiang Mai was pretty rough. We sat at the back of the pick up trucks on some very bumpy roads. But we made it back and now I am writing this blog :)
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| trek2 |
Well that's all for now.
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
Monday, 7 May 2012
Day 4
Hello everyone from Chiang Mai! Sorry but my posts seem to be delayed one day. Hopefully I will post again tomorrow morning to get back on track with my posting.
So day 4 (which is actually yesterday for me): We've met our group and tour leader! There is about 14 of us in total. Everyone seems very nice, most of the people are from England. So day 4 we toured Bangkok with our guide. We began the day with a trip to a local market, where our guide explained some of the streetfood, and we got to sample a few thai sweets which were delicious! After the market we walked to the pier and took a boat tour of the Bangkok klongs (canals). The klongs were very exciting, we saw many houses and temples beside the canal. Plus we saw a couple very large lizards and hundreds of catfish! They were actually everywhere and we got to feed them, it was chaotic! After that we visited two of Bangkok's most famous attractions, Wat Pho and the Grand Palace. Wat Pho is the home of the famous reclining budhha which is 48 meters long. The feet alone were huge and had very beautiful patterns on them.
Then we went to the Grand Palace, past home of the King and current home of the famous emerald buddha. The palace grounds are huge, you can easily get lost in there. The emerald buddha on the other hand was very small, but was sitting on a large pile of golden ornaments. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the buddha. We didn't get to see all of the palace because it was so hot and all we wanted to do was head back to the hotel pool. At 5pm we headed to the train station to catch our sleeper train to Chiang Mai.
We arrived in Chiang Mai at noon today since we were delayed a few hours. It's probably just as hot here I'm afraid. I thought it might be a little cooler since it was more north but no. We walked around the city for a while and tonight we are going to the night market. And we are seeing a the lady boy show (men dressed as women), apparently it's really famous over here. Tomorrow we start our 3 day trek and definitely will not be able to blog.
Well that's all for now. Here are my day 4 pictures of bangkok and the sleeper train.
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
So day 4 (which is actually yesterday for me): We've met our group and tour leader! There is about 14 of us in total. Everyone seems very nice, most of the people are from England. So day 4 we toured Bangkok with our guide. We began the day with a trip to a local market, where our guide explained some of the streetfood, and we got to sample a few thai sweets which were delicious! After the market we walked to the pier and took a boat tour of the Bangkok klongs (canals). The klongs were very exciting, we saw many houses and temples beside the canal. Plus we saw a couple very large lizards and hundreds of catfish! They were actually everywhere and we got to feed them, it was chaotic! After that we visited two of Bangkok's most famous attractions, Wat Pho and the Grand Palace. Wat Pho is the home of the famous reclining budhha which is 48 meters long. The feet alone were huge and had very beautiful patterns on them.
Then we went to the Grand Palace, past home of the King and current home of the famous emerald buddha. The palace grounds are huge, you can easily get lost in there. The emerald buddha on the other hand was very small, but was sitting on a large pile of golden ornaments. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the buddha. We didn't get to see all of the palace because it was so hot and all we wanted to do was head back to the hotel pool. At 5pm we headed to the train station to catch our sleeper train to Chiang Mai.
We arrived in Chiang Mai at noon today since we were delayed a few hours. It's probably just as hot here I'm afraid. I thought it might be a little cooler since it was more north but no. We walked around the city for a while and tonight we are going to the night market. And we are seeing a the lady boy show (men dressed as women), apparently it's really famous over here. Tomorrow we start our 3 day trek and definitely will not be able to blog.
Well that's all for now. Here are my day 4 pictures of bangkok and the sleeper train.
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| day 4 |
Naddy&Mal
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Day 2 and 3!
Day 2 and 3
Hello everyone! Today is day 3 in
Bangkok and it is still very hot and humid, with only a bit of rain.
Sorry about the lack of post yesterday but Mallory and I were
completely exhausted after the show we saw. So far our trip has been
extremely exciting!!
Day 2: Yesterday we did not have a
guide until that evening so Mallory and I decided to go visit the
Bangkok zoo. It was very large with lot's of animals, and was
located beside the King's palace which was even larger. Most of the
zoo exhibits were very well done, like the monkey, snake, cat and
giraffe habitats, but we were very sad because the hippos and the
elephants did not have much water :(
After the zoo, we took a tuk-tuk back
to the hotel, and chilled by the pool in the afternoon. At 5pm, we
met our tour guide and he took us to see Bangkok's most popular
cultural show, Siam Niramit, which included a very large buffet :) This show depicts the journey of Siam, and the culture of Thai people. It was amazing: the stage was enormous, the special effects
were very entertaining, and there were over 500 different costumes!
The stage actually had a river flowing across the front, AND there
were elephants involved. Sorry but there are no actual pictures of
the show because cameras were not allowed. After the show we went
back to the hotel and straight to bed.
Day 3: Today we woke up early and went
to the Chatuchak Weekend Market, the largest market in the world. We
were told in order to see the whole market we would have to spend the
entire day, but we only ended up staying just over an hour. It was
very overwhelming, not to mention boiling hot. I bought a pair of purple pants :) We also walked around
the nearby park. To get there and back, we took the subway. There
subway system is very efficient. You pay different amounts depending
on how far you are going, and after you pay you get a token which you give back when you leave the subway. When we got back from the market we had
lunch, and now we are chilling in our room. Tonight we get to meet
our group, we can't wait!
A note about traffic in Bangkok:
absolute mayhem! But somehow this mayhem seems to work for them
because traffic still moves (although always busy) and I haven't seen
any accidents yet. First of all, the streets are occupied by as many
motorbikes and tuk-tuks as cars. Apparently there are no real laws
about driving (other than stopping at red lights), and the motorbikes
are constantly weaving in and out of the lanes. I don't know why
they have lines on the road because everyone seems to make their own
lanes. On the highway, it's even busier, and a highway with 3 lanes
becomes 4-lanes during heavy traffic because people drive on the
shoulder. It's absolutely crazy and very nerve wrecking.
So here are the pictures from
the last 2 days. They are a bit out of order though. Just remember:
the zoo and Siam Niramit were yesterday, while the market and park
happened today. Well that's all for now, hopefully I will post
tomorrow.
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Day 1! (Thursday for us)
Wow what a day! We've seen a good deal
of Bangkok today on our “Bangkok on-a-shoe-string Tour” by almost
all modes of transportation. Holy cow, it is hot in this country.
Today's weather report: approximately 36°C
with lot's of sun this morning. But let us start at the beginning of day 1.
I
was able to fall asleep for a few hours last night, but Mallory
wasn't so lucky. So instead of sleeping until 8 as planned, we were
both up and about by 6am. We had a lovely all-you-can eat breakfast
at the hotel with the usual eggs, fruit, pancakes, toast, and a few not so usual items: fried rice, noodles and sushi. Our tour started
at nine and our tour guide was extremely friendly. He could also
name every bird in Bangkok apparently. He also bought us some crazy
fruit from the market; most of it was delicious, but some fruits were kind
of gross...
We
walked through so many markets!! Stalls are everywhere here, and
although it's very hot, the markets are either covered from the sun
or have air conditioning making them a great way to get out of the
heat. We visited a few temples, China town, little India, the MBK
mall, markets... just about everywhere. And to get there we
travelled by foot, riverboat, canal boat, tuk-tuk, subway and
skytrain.
Fun
facts: there are so many goldsmiths in Bangkok. In China town, every
other store sold real, 24-carrot gold! And these places have almost
no security because robberies apparently don't happen. Also, they
drive on the left side of the road here.
After
the tour today, we came back to the hotel hoping we could cool off in
the pool. But of course the pool was under repair so we just chilled
in our air conditioned room instead. We then went for dinner at
a local thai place across the street from our hotel, very cheap and
delicious! My guess is that we will both be passed out very soon...
it's been a long but lovely day.
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
We arrived!!
Hello everyone. You can stop worrying about our arrival because we have arrived safely at the bangkok hotel. Everything went smoothly, we both got seats on the flights (although for the second flight we were not sitting together). Also our luggage did not get lost and someone was at the airport to pick us up :) So far so good.
Our flights were very long, but we did get to watch many movies. Our layover in Tokyo wasn't too bad either, we ate sushi and walked around the airport.
Currently it is 12:45am and 30 degrees outside.... very hot and it's only nighttime! It's time for me to take a cold shower to cool off then go to bed. We have a walking tour in the morning tomorrow and then the rest of the day to relax, which I am super pumped for. Oh by the way, WIFI is very expansive at this hotel. I will still try to post everyday but I may have to find a internet cafe or something.
Here are only a few pictures of our arrival. I didn't have more time to take pictures of the hotel, but I will do that tomorrow.
Well its time for bed, stay tuned for our next post.
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
Our flights were very long, but we did get to watch many movies. Our layover in Tokyo wasn't too bad either, we ate sushi and walked around the airport.
Currently it is 12:45am and 30 degrees outside.... very hot and it's only nighttime! It's time for me to take a cold shower to cool off then go to bed. We have a walking tour in the morning tomorrow and then the rest of the day to relax, which I am super pumped for. Oh by the way, WIFI is very expansive at this hotel. I will still try to post everyday but I may have to find a internet cafe or something.
Here are only a few pictures of our arrival. I didn't have more time to take pictures of the hotel, but I will do that tomorrow.
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| arrival |
Well its time for bed, stay tuned for our next post.
Cheers,
Naddy&Mal
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