We actually had a late night last night!

The bar was busy for the first time since we have been here, busy with South Africans, Australians, Germans.

It was a great laugh.

EJ enjoyed himself with "the lads" at the bar.

I think he was in need of some male company!

Meanwhile I was on the deck, in a deep and meaningful conversation about enlightenment, with 2 really nice German blokes.

Mattias, one of the Germans, is going into silence for 10 days on the island on the 21st February I am going to give him a spare IN SILENCE badge we have so he can practice. I don't think 10 days in silence will be easy, but then nobody said it would be!

We had a wonderful anniversary trip around the island today. EJ organized it. He's so adorable and wonderful.

He rented a motorbike and we went out for the day.

We started off visiting some of the Buddhist Temples on the island and they were very impressive as I'm sure you can see for yourself.

At one of the temples, we had to climb hundreds of steps to see the Marble Buddha statue (right).

We had to get the key from the Head Monk, who was on site and all dressed in orange and who was very friendly.

We headed further North ~ up island. The roads were pretty rough but EJ did an amazing driving job.

We were a little late arriving to the headland where we planned to catch the long boat out to "Bottle Beach". You can only get there by boat.

Everything was going our way... and the boat was packed full of Thai people and supplies...and it had not yet left!

We parked up the bike and got the last 2 spaces on board.

Here is how people pass the days away on Bottle Beach !

2 Canadians trying to start a sea seat trend

It looked like fun!

The trip across was great, sun splintering the blue skies, turquoise waters, and an amazing view.

We enjoyed an hour at bottle beach were we had lunch and then caught the boat back.

IMPORTANT MUST READ:

GETTING FROM KOH PHA NGAN
TO KHAO SOK NATIONAL PARK

We are packing to travel further south and to the Khao Sok National Park.

These are the kharst formations we saw when we got there...

We have settled into a great place called "Our Jungle House".

In a hurry, check out the photos NOW: Our Jungle Trek in Khao Sok NP.

The nicest place in there is Our Jungle House.

It has all the best ratings and it is breathtakingly beautiful. There is another place in there with almost the same name so watch out!

If you aren't looking at giant sandstone cliffs then you aren't there!

This is how it looks from the outside!

TRAVEL TIP:
The tourist trucks that meet you from the bus, at the entrance to Khao Sok National Park park will try and get you to go with them to their bungalows even if it is not the place you want to stay in.

Today, we went for breakfast at 8 am and didn't get back to the hut until 2.30 PM.

I was chatting with Tim and spent the morning hanging out and relaxing by the fire.

Tim made us Irish Soup for breakfast. It was delicious, she is a great cook.

If you want to know how to heat yourself up on a cold winters day check out this recipe here: Irish Soup

Being in the kitchen is fascinating...

She invited into the kitchen where I made some myself with:

• crushed chilies
• green papaya
• lemon
• garlic
• dried prawns
• soy sauce
• sugar
• salt
• cashew nuts
• & tomatoes.

You have to beat it all together very fast.

It is delicious!

 

The Thai women here get up around 6 am.

They are cooking basically all long long, on demand; any type of food at any time.

They will be chopping vegetables for meals, cooking them and entertaining the guests all the time.

Today the family had lunch outside together at the picnic tables, we were invited to join them.

The meal was so tasty, and we ate Thai style, with our fingers. We hope to come back here and maybe spend on night up at the farm with Francis and Tim.

It's here we got to see see natural Thai life.

This is Jum, she is a "nutter" and great fun!

She and Tim and I have been laughing SO MUCH. Its strange that 2 different nationalities can have the same sense of humor, even though we cannot really understand the words we can still understand the humor!

We were talking about the Indian women who walk which huge bundles of sticks and other stuff on their heads, saying that we "wouldn't be so foolish"!

This is the way people re-light their cigarettes here, on a smoldering log from the fire!

We learned that the Buddhist monks get up at before sunrise and go to the people's houses to ask for food.

The monks in this picture are actually residing in Chiang Mai.

It is 8 PM and E.J. is fixing some plasters (band-aids) to my feet. They are badly worn out from all the walking I am doing.

EJ is now shouting at me, he says I shouldn't take chances with my health and that I should have told him earlier that I had had blisters on my feet and he would have dressed them for me. He's so sweet.

Now he's finished and is tying my shoelaces "tightly and properly". He says they must be "snug".

He is truly a WONDERFUL HUSBAND and I love him very much.

The river was so slow and shallow; we did well by managing to escape getting our bum ripped to shreds on the rocks!

Now it is time to go and eat.

Goodnight.

We have returned to Koh Pha Ngan for a few days and have met up with Nirav again, which is great.

We have also met a guy from Alaska called Donnie and we all sat having a few drinks at the Sky Bar 2 nights ago.

Donnie was telling me great stories about Alaska. Visiting it in the Winter being very different from visiting it in the summer.

This is Donnie just catching the last few days of rays before returning to the -25 degrees of Alaska's winter....burrrrrrhhhhh.

Donnie has invited us to visit and we have said yes. We plan to buy a round ticket for Alaska when we first arrive in Seattle. He has loads of friends who will put us up in accommodation the whole way up to Anchorage. It sounds fantastic and we are really excited to add this to our trip.

Last night we played this great game which I HIGHLY RECOMMEN.

It have been created by, Robert Kiyosaki.

He is most famous for his first book called "Rich Dad, Poor Dad".

This game is called CASHFLOW. It is $200 to buy but was amazing to play. It teaches you how to get "out of the rat race" by becoming an investor and getting your money to work for you. You can get the book on Amazon.com

You can also visit the website, which is really cool and informative on: www.cashflowtech.com

The game says "the more you play this game, the richer you become". It has really made us think about how to invest our capital. We are playing it again tonight. There is also CashFlow for Kids which is great for teaching children about entrepreneurship from an early age.

EJ took some photos of me swimming out in the distance.

We had a great day doing the logistical things on our list...like posting stuff to the US, and shopping shopping shopping.

We have decided to stay on the island and go to the Full Moon Party, which is on Haad Rin Beach on Saturday night. The resort is packed, we have spent most of the day there.

It's really fun and very lively. I would have liked to stay there for the next few nights but the whole resort is fully booked. The Full Moon Party looks fantastic, from the photos we have seen here. We will of course show you the nights events later.

Tomorrow we are going around the island on a boat trip snorkeling and lunching etc. And we are drinking champagne tonight to celebrate the sale of our house....we are now officially nomads.

Hope all is well.

We have decided to stay for the Full Moon Party. Check out this awesome experience for yourself here: FULL MOON PARTY

The Full Moon Party is world famous and is on Haad Rin beach.

We also have been on a boat trip around the Island.

The Boat Trip was a great way to spend the day, very relaxing.

BUT we got too much sun, so today I have been confined to Nirav's air conditioned bungalow to PLAY ON THE COMPUTER...what a bummer eh? So I thought I'd say a quick hello.

Anyway EJ decided we should move and I think it's a great decision. We have air conditioning, electricity all day long, the room is 3 times as big, and it's concrete!! Therefore no holes in the ground! It is still only £9.00 per night. And we have a bath...

No hot water though.......

Not until Nirav came to the rescue...he found his water heater coil in his luggage and now we're in business! But this is a story in itself.

For amusement and the realization that hot baths are not a thing of my "present", please all take a nice hot bath for me and read below.

The BATH...

We are in a beautiful hotel, for £10.00, $16.00 per night....wait for it....it has:

We are so excited!

We left Koh Pha-Ngan yesterday morning at 6.15 AM and were supposed to be on an air conditioned mini bus straight sown to Penang, leaving at 11 am and arriving at 7.30 pm...what could seem simpler I hear you say????

Dutifully we kept to our end of the bargain, you know, paid for the tickets with good money and expected the travel company to do the same.......this was the mistake we made.

At 2.00 PM we departed....there was a 3 hour wait at the dreaded Surathani (which I do not recommend at all because it's full of cowboys) and we, and the other 9 people, who had also been hood winked, boarded a LITTLE bus.
There was not enough room for all the backpacks so we had to put some on our laps, in between the seats, pile them up at the front and the back of the bus. You can see who the grumpy ones are!!

Then we finally left, and immediately pulled in to get PETROL, of course they couldn't have already thought of that with all the time delay.

Then, after another 15 minutes we were told that we needed to change buses! We and all the bags were moved into another minibus, exactly the same size.

The journey down was VERY VERY long. What was advertised as 8 hours ended up taking 13 hours! The pouring rain and thunder storms were fun!

After 4 hours they stopped to let us get our visas for Malaysia, to use the bathroom, and of course to CHANGE BUSES AGAIN. So we and all the bags move to another minibus, the same size as the last 2!

Another 2 hours passed and we eventually reached the border....where we all have to get out, of course...with OUR BAGS...and then get back onto the bus again! This is now the 4th time we and all the rucksacks, and bags for 11 people, (and the bus seats exactly 11, if you use up the 2 seats at the front next to the driver...who rubs his hand against the leg of the girl in the front every time he changes gear) have been uprooted.

Just when we think we have just a short journey left we are advised that to get to Penang is another 3 hours and it will be MIDNIGHT, now before we arrive. You would never recognize this trip as the advertised one!

***********TRAVEL TIP*********************

IN THE GUIDE BOOKS IT SAYS THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO GET TO PENANG. THE TRAVEL AGENTS ON KOH SAMUI AND KOH PHA-NGAN WILL TRY AND TELL YOU THAT THE MINIBUS IS THE CHEAPEST WAY AND THE QUICKEST, BUT IT IS NOT.

WE SUGGEST WHEN YOU GO THROUGH SURAT THANI THE FIRST TIME YOU ASK ALL THE NECESSARY QUESTIONS THERE ABOUT LOCAL BUSES TO PENANG.

SURATHANI IS AN AWFUL PLACE FOR WESTERNERS, EVERYONE TRIES TO GET THEIR "POUND OF FLESH" FROM YOU. THE BUS FROM THE PIER TO "SURATHANI" WILL TRY TO LET YOU OFF AT A PIER AND TELL YOU IT IS THE BUS STATION. IT IS NOT! DO NOT GET OFF THERE.

MINIBUSES ARE HOW THEY MAKE MONEY BUT THEY ARE UNCOMFORTABLE, IN MANY CASES UNSAFE, WAY TOO CROWDED AND THEY TAKE FOREVER! NOT RECOMMENDED: COMPANY NAME: CHANG WANG TOURS: AVOID THEM.

Lucky for us we met some great people on the minibus.

Sharon and Dave and Helen and Derek.

We all had dinner in this seedy little restaurant, with a LOT OF AMBIENCE, at 1 AM.

We checked into a cool hotel recommended by Nirav, thanks once again Nirav!!

So How was PENANG I hear you ask?

Well, good. A little dirty in places but certainly very colorful.

We didn't get out to the beaches but saw the most beautiful temple, which should NOT be missed.

Kek Lok Si. If you would like to see how beautiful it is click here Kek Lok Si Temple Adventure

This is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia. It started being built in 1890 and took more than 20 years to complete.

Well worth a visit. The population there is made up of Indians, Malaysians and Chinese. So the flavor in the different districts is fun to see.

It's 5.30 AM and we got up and packed AGAIN ready to catch the all day train down to Singapore.

First we had to catch the boat to Butterworth.

It was my idea not to take the sleeper train BUT that proved to be in error.

I thought the train would be a great way to see the Malaysian countryside...

Although there were acres and acres of palm trees, the scenery was quite boring and the trip very long (15 hours).

We did manage to make it entertaining on the way.

We hope you enjoy the story!

The Train Trip.

Singapore, what a city!!

We eventually arrived in Singapore, after disembarking at the final Malaysian station to get our passports stamped out of Malaysia and into Singapore. It is a very efficient system there.

We arrived here at 11 PM.

There were no taxis waiting outside the station, which we found strange!

Very quickly a queue gathered of 50 people waiting in line for taxis which seemed to appear every 10 minutes. This was not a good sign.

We used the mobile phone to call a number printed in the Lonely Planet. It was difficult to get a cab, with it being Friday night . While waiting E.J. spotted a cab on the other side of the terminal and ran...hurrah, he is MY HERO!

We checked into The Mayfair Hotel, it is passable. It's brilliantly located in the center about 5 minutes walk from the world famous Raffles Hotel. (If only!!!)

NOTE: Little did we know that the following year we would actually be staying in the Presidential Suite in Raffles!! You can read about that experience here: Singapore Feb 2001

EJ wasn't too impressed with the Mayfair Hotel, he's too used to his luxury! Once I reminded him that it was like his sister Shawn's first apartment in New York, he then changed his mind!

Here is a photo of the bathroom and E.J. looking "happy", not!

The prices here are MUCH more expensive than anywhere else in South East Asia.

The hotel cost S$63 per night, which was £24, $37.

We had a great time all in all in Singapore. It is a beautiful city and immaculately clean!

You can not buy chewing gum here because it is too messy!

The city itself has fantastic architecture.

See Singapore Architecture HERE

The shopping is out of this world, if only we had more bags and unlimited cash.

I highly recommend it just for a shopping spree. All the best names for VERY good prices.

The Singapore dollar is worth 2.6 to the pound. (Sorry to the USA readers, I can't calculate the US dollar!)

We took long walks around the city and had a great time in Raffles at the Long Bar, where we of course had 2 SINGAPORE SLINGS. (So did everyone else.)

It was obviously the "peasants" who couldn't afford to stay at the hotel who wanted to say they had had a Singapore Sling in the Long Bar at Raffles.

NOTE: We have since stayed in the Raffles Hotel (The Presidential Suite, in fact.) You can read about that experience here: Singapore Feb 2001

Take a look at Raffles...

Quite by accident we stumbled across the place which would be EJ's favorite location. (This one's especially for you Tim Carr!)

The city is quite easy to navigate but is also quite big to walk around.

I would suggest getting a bus map and then using the fully air conditioned network of buses.

The meals were just a little less than you would pay in London. Singapore is so high tech it really puts a lot of other places, including New York and London to shame.

The TECHNOLOGY of Singapore!

All in all we found Singaporegreat. EJ in particular loved it. It is clean, almost clinically so, and has all the mod cons.

MASSAGE CHAIRS IN ONE OF THE MANY SHOPPING CENTRES

THE WELCOMING "MERLION" AT THE ENTRANCE TO SINGAPORE HARBOR

Next we're off to Bali...

We headed for the airport at 5 PM to catch our flight at 9 PM. Are due to arrive in BALI at just after midnight.