A couple of Islands after leaving Thailand's Highlands

After our crazy visa run to Cambodia we were lucky enough to catch a night bus straight down to the south where we hopped on a boat bound for Koh Tao. We immediately noticed the difference to that of the previous Islands we have been to. There were accommodation and taxi touts everywhere as soon as we stepped off the boat. Not giving in to extortionate taxi prices, we set off on foot heading up towards Sairee beach in search of some budget accommodation. It becomes apparent that this doesn’t exist on the Thai islands and after walking the entire length of the beach we found a bungalow right on the sea front for 600 baht (about $20).  This was our home for the entire stay here and by pure chance it was where a friend we met back in Panama was staying. Was awesome to catch up with Dan who was doing his divemasters course there.

Amazing Sairee Beach paddling

Stunning view from outside our bungalow

The main thing to do on this island is definitely diving and this seems to be a mecca for it but that will have to be another time as funds were starting to dwindle. Our time was spent going to some of the more remote beaches on the island and doing a bit of snorkeling. There are so many fish and so much coral it was amazing. During the days it was just nice to chill and then enjoy the brilliant sunsets right outside our bungalow door.

One of the snorkeling spots on the other side of the island

Awesome local food BBQ

Obviously there are a lot of tourists hear so there are heaps of bars. The best ones are on the beach front and most have fire shows and in true Thai style you can drink pretty much anything out of a plastic bucket. Some of our best nights out were in Koh Tao without a doubt. In contrast the best thing about this island was on days where you didn’t want to go crazy, some bars just put on movies and so you could chill out and separate yourself from the drunks. This place easily caters for all types of people.

One of the new beach bars. The pool bar kicked ass

Fire shows are a nightly event on the beach

One of many stunning sunsets from our place

Petra and our friend Dan loving the buckets (a lot!)

Our time was running out in Thailand so we decided there was time for one more stop before Phuket Airport. A lot of people have told us that Koh Phi Phi was a must see and one of the most beautiful islands so we booked our tickets set off. To save money we booked a slow night boat from Koh Tao to the mainland. This was 9 hours and you get to feel very cozy with the other 100 people all crammed together on little mattresses on the middle deck. Its all good though because the cockroaches mainly kept to themselves :).

Arriving in Phi Phi you can easily see that this is south east Asia’s biggest tourist hotspot.  You get absolutely mobbed with touts walking off the boat. All I can say is book accommodation in advance so you don’t need to deal with these gits. Prices on this island are generally the highest you will see in Thailand and we had a hostel booked on the beach for $700 baht($23-$24).

Hostel view of Phi Phi beach

It becomes clear that this island is for one thing only. 18 year olds getting absolutely off their faces on whatever they can find. The place just doesn’t sleep and neither do you if you come here. There are bars on every corner and every street. The most entertaining definitely being the Reggae bar. Forgetting the fact that there is absolutely no reggae theme inside you are treated to live Muay Thai Kickboxing every night. The fighters however, consist of tourists who after 20 drinks or so decide that it’s a good idea to step into the ring and get rewarded with a free bucket of alcohol. The result is two drunk tools swinging wild haymakers for 3 rounds with a ref pretending to give a crap. Perfect drinking entertainment, just a shame it wouldn’t be legal back home.

Reggae bar entertainment

Petra went on a Thai cooking course to learn how to make 5 different dishes. The results were pretty damn good and you obviously get to eat everything you make. This is quite a good thing to do in Thailand and we were recommended this one by a few people. It was at a restaurant called ‘Pum’ and you should go to eat there even if you don’t want to do the course.

Petras mango and coconut sticky rice

We all know there is one reason this island became such a tourist hotspot. The film ‘the beach’ features both of the Phi Phi islands in a majority of scenes. Koh Phi Phi Don is where we were staying and the smaller island, Koh Phi Phi Li is home to ‘the beach’ or Maya Bay as it is known in the real world. The island is a national reserve and so you have to book a boat tour that takes you round it. It is pretty stunning to say the least and we were looking forward to Maya Bay.  The Bay itself was beautiful and it was so nice that it was just us  and 2000 asian tourists on the beach. Unfortunately this places beauty has been its death sentence and it is very difficult to relax and enjoy the place with so many people there, plus the fact that a lot of the scum are just chucking garbage into the crystal clear water. Small consolation was that we spotted a small isolated beach over to the right and after a five minute swim we had out own quiet piece of paradise. Well until 4 boats saw us over there and decided to unload their cargo of 50 sunburnt camera snappers onto our laps.

Koh Phi Phi Li in all its glory

Maya Bay. The only photo without 1000 Chinese tourists in it!

There should have been more to write about Phi Phi but we accidentally ate a dodgy piece of street pizza and got food poisoning for the next 3 days. After that it was time to get a boat to Phuket and catch our flight to Bali.

Thai New Year in the Magical North

We left Laos to cross the border (river) over to Thailand about 3 weeks ago. The border crossing itself was easy and hassle-free, the only down side was that we only got 15 visa-free days, which meant we’d have to extend this somehow later on. Nevertheless, we started our Thailand adventure in Chiang Mai, as it seems to be a bit of a must-see if you want to explore the country outside the tourist islands in the South.  And who would have known we would happen to be there perfectly to experience the famous water festival known as Songkran (Thai new year) This meant that the city was PACKED with Westerners as well as Thai people who had come to Chiang Mai to take part in the biggest street water fight in the world.

Badass warriors with an Angry birds gun 

Casual bubble bath in a pick-up

Yes, we sinned. But damn it felt good!

One of the hundreds (thousands?) of temples in Chiang Mai

Cookie shop

The tom yam that blew our heads off

Late night take-away, pad thai true Thai style

So our highlight in Chiang Mai was obviously the water fight on New Year’s Day. It was pretty damn mental, with ten of thousands of people soaking each other on the street and partying.  But after just one day of water fighting we had enough of it (its that hectic) so we decided to escape the mania a few hours north, to an awesome little town of Pai. Although the water stuff continued there too for the next 3 days, it was nothing on the scale to Chiang Mai.

In Pai we found ourselves probably the best accommodation option during this trip in Asia. We stayed in a brand-new, barely opened bungalow hostel on top of a hill, a bit further away from the town center. This place was perfect for the ultimate relaxation, and dirt-cheap. Overall we found the North extremely cheap, in terms of accommodation, food and transport (not so much shopping though). We ended up having dinner every night for less than $2/person and drinking the cheapest local rum for a guaranteed cheerful and cheap night out. Since it was Songkran, celebrations could not have been avoided. We were lucky to meet awesome new people in Pai as its definitely one of those places where you’ll make the best travel friends, and were also reunited with our friends who we had met in Chiang Mai.

Our cosy bungalow on the hill

Tony chilling 

In terms of activities, there was a lot to see and do in Pai, considering the town is pretty tiny. We rented a moped, as you do to get around, for 2 days and went exploring the surrounding areas. Again, this was so cheap you would be silly not to do it; we only paid about $4 a day for this cool form of transport. Unfortunately we were not too lucky on this scooter, as an accident was waiting to happen when we pretty much went off-roading to a ‘’secret’’ hot spring as recommended by a fellow traveller. One thing they forgot to mention was how ridiculous the ‘road’ leading up to it was, so of course coming down a steep downhill full of loose rocks on a city scooter, my usually amazing skills failed and we fell. Tony survived without any injuries but my leg got fu*ked. Hence my appreciation for this pretty cool natural spring was rather wasted as I moaned in it in agony.

Our crew at a waterfall

at the Pai Canyon, this place was so cool!

Love lock garden?

Alpha male in a hot spring

A random view point 

The day after we headed back to Chiang Mai to catch a night bus to Bangkok. We were very lucky to find any buses available, as it seemed that every single Songkran celebrator was heading there the same day. The next morning after we finally got to check into our hostel, I found my foot swollen double its size and unable to walk on, so we were left with no choice than to spend our one day in Bangkok sitting in a hospital getting my ’hiking injury’ examined. As figured, it turned out to be infected, so I was again put on antibiotics. The next day we did what we came to Bangkok to do, which was a visa run to the Cambodian border. This ‘adventure’ was literally straight from hell so I am not even going to go there. We have only one piece of advice to give to those who think about doing the same:  Do not think you’re being smart and do it independently to save money, DO it with a legitimate visa run service company! (Unless you enjoy standing in line in 42-degree heat with 8000 other people for 6 hours, with 30kg of weight on your back, enough said!)

In conclusion, Chiang Mai is worth seeing, nothing too amazing about it though. Definitely a must if you're into temples! Its also not too expensive, especially for us since we stayed a bit further away from the main backpacker area. The markets (read: the Night Bazaar) were super expensive though. Pai on the other hand, is probably our favorite place we've been to in Asia! This town was so very chilled and cool, and its got a huge hipster vibe, which was unexpected in Thailand. Nightlife was also definitely our cup of tea; jazz bars, cocktail bars, random porch parties and reggae bars that stay open until about 6am. 

Stay tuned, in the next post TONY will be writing about our crazy island adventures in the South.

Accommodation suggestions:
Bungalows in Pai
Cheap local guesthouse in Chiang Mai

A Quickie through Laos

Before this great country leaves our fresh memory, we better update our adventures in Laos, the most bombed country in our planet (thanks to the USA, no surprise there). Initially our itinerary did not leave room for a visit to Laos, but since we had decided to extend our stay by nearly another month, we decided to go for it. The things you hear about Laos on the road really make it a no-brainer; gorgeous country, cheap, and above all, the most amazing people in the whole of Southeast Asia. Although some argue it is the Burmese, who knows.

Either way, we entered Laos through its Southern border-crossing point, to which we got to from Siem Reap. This journey is in means recommended to anyone. It sucked. Not only did the bus take a ridiculous detour (we might as well have travelled to Phnom Penh again), but the experience itself was hands down the worst out of the 20 long bus journeys we have taken up to today. The first bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere, which means 2 hours of sitting around in the heat (do note this happens ALL THE TIME in Asia) and the second bus is overbooked, which means we sit on the bus floor for 7 hours while people around us sleep tightly in their comfy beds. But we hold no grudge, shit happens. We finally made it to 4000 islands, which is probably the most popular traveller destination in Southern Laos, just a few km from the Cambodian border.

Out of few options that the 4000 (I know, the figure can be misleading) island offered we ended up staying in Don Det. This place had a bit of a Koh Rong (the amazing island in Cambodia we loved) feel to it. Its services are pretty basic, no 5-star resorts or fine dine restaurants, just cheap guesthouses and good simple restaurants and a few bars. Also, the lack of authority enables the islanders offer the needy a wide range of ‘happy products’ they openly advertise on their menus. Overall, this place is very chilled. Its also probably one of the very few places you can safely enjoy the refreshing Mekong, I sure as hell wouldn’t jump in it in China.

So we ended up doing largely just that. Floating on tubes in the river and relaxing. We also did a full day kayak trip along it, which was great fun, although very exhausting. We kayaked to 2 different waterfalls (one of them being the largest in Southeast Asia), had lunch in a local village, and even witnessed a few Irrawaddy dolphins. Hence, totally recommend doing this if you happen to be in the neighbourhood!

The biggest waterfall in Southeast Asia 

Another cool waterfall, one we actually got to swim in.

Our favorite Spanish people 

Vietnamese farmer on his lunch break

Chilling by the Mekong

After some hippie life on the island, we headed to Vientiane (Lao capital) for a pit stop. Again on this overnight bus journey, the bus broke down just 30km away from the destination, so we ended up hitchhiking a ride to the city. I am not going to tell much about Vientiane, simply because there is not much to tell. Do not plan to stay here for more than 2 nights, its pretty boring. Although we did have a very unique experience, getting a Lao style massage in a wooden shack nearby a Buddhist temple. It only cost us $5, and included a homemade herbal sauna and complimentary bone cracking (ouch!). That’s about all I would recommend you do in this confusing capital.

Lao street food in Vientiane 

Since our time in Laos was limited, we decided to make Luang Prabang our last stop before exiting to Thailand. This is the place most people visit in Laos, and definitely for a reason! The town is adorable and it is also the Buddhist/cultural capital of Laos with tons of temples and cute monks everywhere. The only unfortunate incident happening was me getting a stomach bug, might have been due to Malarone…Don’t take it peeps! In conclusion, Laos is definitely worth visiting! Next time we’ll make sure we have more time to see it though.   

$1 night buffet in Luang Prabang

The best way to get around in Luang Prabang as the roads are fairly safe. We took a day trip to a famous waterfall outside the city.

Cold lagoon at the bottom of the waterfall

Waterfall

Hike to the top of the waterfall

More of the same waterfall

Tony and a temple

Big Buddha on a nap 

Same same, but different...

After Koh Rong we caught a ridiculously long bus to Siem Reap. Due to lack of roads we pretty ended up going through Phnom Penh, which made it into a serious detour.  Anyway, we did get to Siem Reap to be greeted by our Canadian friends, as they were a few days ahead of us in their travels.

The next morning we arranged us a private tuk tuk driver to take us to the world famous Angkor Wat, a crazy big ancient temple complex just outside Siem Reap. As most visitors decide to, we also started our tour at sunrise. This meant getting up at 5am to get there and share this romantic moment with 500 other camera-obsessed tourists, mainly Chinese.  We ended up finishing our tour around midday, and for us the time we had was plenty enough to see the highlights of the main temples. If you are into ancient temples enough, you can spend up to a week walking around them, for a price of $60. For one day you get charged $20, unless you’re Cambodian when you get in for free.

This day also happened to be St. Paddy’s day, which of course cannot be missed no matter where you are in the world. Hence we ended up celebrating this important religious holiday according to the Irish custom. Making this happen was rather easy considering what a party town Siem Reap is. Apart from doing a ton of activities aimed at tourists; getting drunk of Pub Street, haggling with market vendors all selling identical products, getting a pampering at a spa (which was totally awesome) or a street massage chair and eating fairly good-quality Western food, there is not a whole lot to see in Siem Reap. Except Angkor Wat of course, which you HAVE to see if you go to Cambodia.

busy market in Siem Reap

About time the sun came up!

inside the Angkor Wat

hundreds of tuk tuks taking tourists to the next temple

at the scene of Tomb Raider

Petra and Kate enjoying green beer at the Irish pub in Siem Reap

Tony's hangover meal, crispy frog

The next day we had arranged to go do volunteering at a nearby orphanage.  This is a trend that has been growing massively in Southeast Asia, and perhaps mostly in Cambodia in the recent years.  Unfortunately with a trend come a load of unwanted baggage, which means there are a large number of really dodgy organizations that claim to do good for kids but in fact do more harm than anything. Hence, just like we did, you really need to do a bit of research before you sign up for just any NGO.  We were very lucky with our choice at Rainbow Orphanage, as it turned out to be exactly what I personally want from an orphanage project.  Locally run, self-sustainable, small in size, healthy environment for children and free to volunteer at. So for 10 days, we taught English mainly at the village school to kids from grades 1 to 6 but also at the small Rainbow school that was luckily a bit more advanced in English.

The experience itself was an amazing way to see a whole new side of Cambodia. I almost feel bad for tourists that travel to Cambodia and completely miss the rural side of it. Its completely different from anything you see in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap (where the vast majority of people go). Mostly we loved that fact that people are incredibly nice and don’t have hidden agendas when approaching you. No one tries to sell you anything, which was such good change. Food was very simple, as most stuff they eat they grow themselves. Again, a great way to experience truly local cuisine you won’t find in any restaurant in the cities. Note that every single meal consists of rice and some sort of side, which too often turned out to be fish. We were also the only Westerners in the entire village so you can imagine the attention we got from the locals. It was pretty overwhelming how excited everyone (adults and kids) was to see us walking around.

No one really spoke English either, including the 2 English teachers at the village school. You could have a simple conversation but nothing too complicated. This meant we were forced to learn some basic Khmer (language in Cambodia), which is something to brag about. The days were all identical, speaking of routine! We would get up at 7.20, get served breakfast by the lovely kitchen lady at Rainbow, head to the village school, teach 3 classes, come back to Rainbow for a 3-hour siesta when we also had lunch, go back to village school to teach another 3 classes, head back to have dinner and go to sleep at 9pm. This may sound simple, but add the daily 40C heat to it and maybe you can imagine how exhausting it was. So by the time 10 days were up, it truly felt like a great accomplishment, although a very rewarding one as you got to see from the kids’ faces how much they enjoyed learning new words like ’banana’, ‘apple’, ‘cow’ and ‘dog’.  After a hassle of trying to get us a ride back to the city (note that no cars or tuk tuks can access the country roads) we managed to get ourselves back to Siem Reap, where we rewarded ourselves with ice-cold diet Coke and pizza. Overall, we definitely recommend everyone (although you cant be a total diva) doing similar volunteering while travelling, just make sure you are 100% certain about the organization you do it with. 

Ants for dinner at Rainbow

Kids being taught how to wash their hands

Partaaay!School's done for the week.

One of the sleeping rooms for the kids 

Teachers' break time. 

Done for the day.

Breakfast served every morning at the village school

Learning young how to pose Asian style

boys captured bats 

Mr. Toniii and the kiddies

Cow is late for class...

Strange alien fruit 

Snack break..another skipped class? it's too hot to work anyway...

+40c and time to dip in the ''swimming pool''. ps.girls not allowed, that would just be inappropriate!