More beaches

Exploring Thailand's south coast

Waking up at half 3 in the morning, after a hot and restless sleep, was made totally bearable by wonderful Seetha, the guesthouse owner lady. She was just so motherly and sweet, woke up with us and hugged us when we left, the perfect place to have stayed on our first and last nights. Sri Lankan airlines really are nice. It was only a four hour flight but we had breakfast and snacks galore. Arriving in Bangkok was slightly stressful, lost a couple of very hot hours getting stuck in the airport unable to find the exit, then navigating ourselves to the city by public bus, which was a confusing affair but totally worth it as it's so much cheaper than a taxi alternative. Straight away realised that Thai people are also very willing to help two lost-looking sweaty english girls.
We spent one night in Bangkok, staying on a street just off Khao San road, the famously touristy crazy area of town. Met a couple of Beths friends from shropshire, and spent most of the night with them, eating good curry, drinking Chang and Singh by their rooftop pool, and sitting in the street on plastic chairs being slightly overwhelmed, but also loving, Bangkok. The little kids there were the cockiest I've ever encountered -forcing tourists into games of rock, paper, scissors and trying to sell them little roses. It was crazy, and crazily cheap. We had massages for less than £2, and let ourselves do a tiny bit of shopping..with tshirts for a pound its hard to resist.

So needless to say, we woke with a bit of a hangover, but sorted it with a quick swim and breakfast. We didn't have a solid plan, so decided over our mango juice that we'd put our faith in the 'Mr Thai' tour operator across the road and bought tickets to travel down to Koh Lanta in the south. Before the trip, we found our way to the Grand Palace, a beautiful collection of buildings, so colourful and interesting. Inside was the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which is actually made from solid jade, and is set in a room with walls covered in intricate, beautiful depictions of significant events and such. It's a shame you're not allowed to take photos, but there you go. Afterwards we looked around the museum of textiles, mostly to take advantage of the a/c, which turned out to be really interesting. The current Queen of Thailand (the royal family are adored and treated with utmost respect) set up this wonderful foundation called Support, to help poorer communities build sustainable businesses in making and trading fabrics. They seem to be pretty involved in things like that, what a nice lady.

3 buses (one broke down), 3 minibuses, 2 little ferries, and 20 HOURS later, we arrived on Khlong Nin beach on Koh Lanta. We stayed a night in a rather beautiful hotel, with a pool barely 30m from the sea, drank mojitos and watched the sun set over the sea. Then later, ate more spring rolls (we have decided to sample as many as we can from different locations, you know, just to check they're all up to standard) sat on the beach and watched the stars and a little kid doing brilliant fire staff, who was about 8 years old, I kid you not. We were knackered but very happy, it was so peaceful.

The next day we moved to beebeebungalows, on the next beach up, Khlong Khong. It's so lovely. We have our own beautiful wooden and bamboo hut on stilts, with an outdoors bathroom, a couple of hammocks (or hangman if you're german) and lush big princess bed (by that I mean a crappy pink mossie net that just makes it look pretty). The staff are lovely and it's just chilled out backpackers and a gorgeous array of little seating areas, some on stilts, some with roofs for shade, and a bar.. leading down to the beautiful sea. It's pretty rocky here, and when the tide is out during the day you have to carefully pick your way over them to get to a clear bit, where you can bob about in the warm rock pool shallows. But just before sunset until late morning, the tide comes in really far and its much easier to swim without injury. The food is lush and so cheap-can get a huge plate of noodles or a green curry for 100baht or less. We have  also decided that our sunset drink is a mojito, sipped whilst reading our books and ahhing at the sky. Then when it gets darker out comes the bug spray and we go find dinner. For the past few nights there's been lightning and thunder but no rain. It's really quite impressive and beautiful. As far as wildlife goes, we've only really seen a hell of a lot of cats, beautiful ones too, and thousands of tiny crabs. We only noticed them walking on the beach one night, then I felt nervous walking because they were everywhere and probably very squishable. They make these really cool little balls of sand when they go in and out of their holes, and it leaves the beach beautifully patterned.

After 3 days of relaxing, we moved on. Was feeling pretty stressed about money as we're not having the best luck. Beth lost her credit card within a week of being away, and both Lloyds and the post office have royally pissed me off with top up limits and 'routine account blocking' (although I have told them 3 TIMES now that I am away), all as if they want to make it really difficult for me to get my money out. Oh well. We were picked up by a jeep/songthaew, already busy. By a stroke of luck we were chosen to ride up front in the airconditioned bit with the driver, and things got great when we picked up a couple of french backpackers who sneakily changed the music to bob marley, remixed in a fat freddies drop styley :) After a pretty short ferry ride, we arrived into the chaos of Koh Phi Phi, and were instantly hustled into booking a place to sleep by a very competent 13 year old businessman. It's really lovely, set on the hill a bit away from the busy part of the beach, and again we have our own little bungalow hut. It is however a bit of an uphill walk back from the town, and occasionally the shower will come out hot...in weather where you dry/sweat instantly and crave at least 6 showers a day, hot water is not even a funny joke. I just want to lie in a bathtub of cold water. But I do love it.
Last night we did whats expected of you on this party island - drink buckets and dance to shit music. We did have crazy amounts of fun, but mostly chatting to eachother, and playing our new game, bogies with 'yolo'. Its where you have to shout 'YOLO' (a phrase completely ruined by incredibly annoying young people, hence therefore embarrassing to say in public) louder than the other person. Highly amusing. We weren't a whole lot impressed with the beach bars, full of fresher and 'lads on tour' types, but we had a damn good giggle. Got a brilliant slice of pizza on the way home, and tried (and failed) twice to sneak into hotel outdoor pools. The security guards are completely on the ball on that front unfortunately! Today we are suffering ridiculously for it, and all we want when we're recovered is to escape to a nice quiet beach again. Plus, the sea here is rank..lots of floating 'misc' items.
Time for a nap under the fan.

Happy

Little miss burny, will she ever learny?

The journey from Kandy to Mirissa was long, slightly stressful, tiring and beautiful. We had two three-hour ish train journeys, both second class because that's just the way it happened at the station ticket office. On the first we managed to find a seat right at the back of the train, and just about squished in with our rucksacks. There was an especially beautiful moment when a Sri Lankan woman and man came into our carriage playing a guitar and singing in a weird and wonderful voice, whilst I watched the stunning hilly landscape unfold. Most people gave some sort of donation, I gave a few rupees too. There seems to be a lot of compassion going on amongst the Sri Lankan people. On most of the public transport we've been on, beggars seem to be widely listened to and given contributions, which is a pleasant contrast from the averted eyes and feigned ignorance taking place on the London underground.
Other highlights of the trip were eating an incredibly spicy rotti, which I thought had made me deaf for a bit, but trying not to show it because I didn't want to lose face on a carriage full of locals...and sweating more than I thought possible, whilst every now and then passing out and snoozing in an uncomfortable position. Even though the train arrived at Colombo ten minutes late, we managed to run and just make our connection. Didn't have as much luck finding a seat though, and stood for an hour, eventually getting enough space to sit back to back on my rucksack in the aisle, every five minutes ducking and attempting to move out of the way of guys and their baskets selling lunchpacks, shrimps or other misc items. A lovely little woman kept smiling at me, then gave us a beautifully tasting banana each, and her own cup of coffee (so sweet!), and eventually we got a seat for the last bit of the journey. Unfortunately I got a bit of a creeper sitting behind me who kept wiggling his fingers on the back of my seat, but I just sat back hard on my littler bag which must have crushed is hand a bit and given him the message. A couple helped us with the right stop (incredibly difficult to tell as there were no bloody names) and we had to properly jump off the train onto the dust. The old lady waved lots as the train rumbled off, and we felt rather chuffed with ourselves for completing the entire 7/8 hour journey, with no hiccups, for only 360 rps - less than 2quid!!!

We met Emma and Luke, checked into their place, and spent a few days being total beach bums there..dancing till 3 in the morning at a beach party on the first night, where the sea stole Lukes flipflops and we sang all the way home..wading into the sea and being attacked by the waves..eating lush food and drinking more coconuts. The first day of properly being in the sunshine came to a bit of a surprise to our unsuspecting pale skin, and I've managed to burn random areas including my hands and feet, whilst Beth is sporting a dashing shade of lobster pink. Little miss burny, will she ever learny?
Despite this, and the fact that everything I own is covered in sand, we are very happy and chilled, especially in my new floaty hippy trousers. (which I have now very annoyingly lost)
We all piled into a bus one morning, rucksacks and all, it taking off the moment the last persons foot had left solid ground. It was the loudest journey ever - the brakes needed some serious investigation, as they screeched louder and for longer than the horn blew. Jumped off at Utawatuna, a slightly bigger beach area, where we found a beautiful place to stay, a new development with a huge room for us all to share. Clean white tiles, really smart bathroom, a huge princess bed with a fourposter mozzie net for the girls to share..and we agreed on 3,500rps a night..bargain.

We're drawing near the end of our time in Sri Lanka now, and have been spending the past 5 or 6 days in Utawatuna, living a lazy lifestyle of beaching, eating and bimbling about. On our first day of arrival, we had lunch on the beach and watched a torrential rainstorm unfold over the sea - sending fish jumping out of the water and sea birds swooping around catching them..which was all rather exciting. We checked the weather forecast later that day, and it predicted rain for the next week! Turns out it's been beautifully hot and sunny everyday apart from a rather fierce hour-long downpour each afternoon. We mostly managed to time this well, being just arrived back a the room or in a bar/cafe, though didn't on one particular occasion and all got thoroughly soaked walking home. It was a welcome part of the day, clearing the air and cooling us down.
One slightly more cloudy day, we walked to Jungle Beach, a bit of a trek to a lovely secluded little beach with nice swimming and a little bar. On the way we saw purple faced langur monkeys in the trees, with their big white whiskers and long tails. Have seen a fair bit of exotic wildlife actually...loads of little lizards and geckos, a HUGE monitor lizard which was a little scary, lots of squirrels (pretty different from ours), and we spent one afternoon watching a turtle appearing every now and then out in the sea. Later that night, after dinner and drinks at a bar called pink elephant, we returned there for a beach party. We took a tuktuk there, all cramming into one, and found it hilarious that they had bouncers in the middle of nowhere. It was a very entertaining night, lots of dancing to awful cheese music, meeting people and drinking arrack, the local spirit..and we all felt a little worse for wear the next day.

Apart from these more energetic antics, we've been doing proper relaxing. Finding time on our hands for playing card games and reading..Beth's on her 3rd book! We've had some brilliant food here..the best rottis in my opinion, and a beautiful Indian dinner at a vegetarian place. We recently tried hoppers for the first time too - cooked like a pancake in a wok shaped pan, so that they're shaped like cups, with an egg broken into the middle and a bit of cheese. Absolutely delicious.

Cannot believe how fast the time is going. In a few days time we will be saying goodbye to Emma and Picky, arriving in Thailand with a renewed sense of adventure and a whole new place to discover!

Photos of elephants

Riding an Indian elephant

I've always dreamed of riding an elephant, and it all happened so quickly!
We arrived in Sri Lanka after a surprisingly enjoyable 10 hour flight, Thisun the steward constantly plying us with Lion beer and snacks, to a beautifully hot afternoon. The first night we spend in a lovely family-run guesthouse in Negombo. We ate loads of wonderful biryani for less than a pound, and made friends with the owner of the local bar, where beth promptly became the in-house dj and tried her first pina colada. As there wasn't a great deal to Negombo apart from the averagely clean beach, we set off the next morning for Kandy, a little town up in the hills. A local bus costing hardly anything took us to Colombo, and dropped us in a bustling, crowded and dirty market - hence was our first impressions of the city. We bought some fruit and solicited a tuktuk driver to take us to the train station. A kind sri lankan man helped us find the right ticket office...people have been so friendly and helpful here, we've had so many people wanting to chat and offer advice when we look unsure, and lots of little random acts of kindness. The train was pretty full so we begrudgingly (ha!) had to buy 1st class a/c tickets, which were 1000rupees for the 3 or 4 hour journey (about a fiver and expensive by these standards). The journey was so lovely though! Cool with lush scenery and even complimentary bottled water and face towels! We felt rather posh indeed.
Arriving in Kandy was quite literally breath of fresh air. It was much cooler up in the hills, with a nice breeze too. We'd found a guesthouse that looked really nice online somewhere so we asked the tuktuk man to take us there. After settling a price, fifteen minutes of driving out of town and into the outskirts, asking many a person along the way and lots of passionate discussion about the location of our apparently nonexistent guesthouse, he suggested taking us to 'a friends' hostel. Oldest trick in the book, but by that time it was dark, we were knackered and the price sounded reasonable. Also he didn't charge us more for taking him on a wild goose chase, infact he was rather apologetic. It turned out to be lovely - clean and welcoming. That night we failed to find a place to eat, so ate a loaf of bread, fruit and some soft cheese triangles that were very bloody expensive.

We woke early the next morning, excited by the prospect of seeing elephants. After locating the bus station and some breakfast (little rottis and an egg and fish sandwich thing which remained in my bag all morning to the point where it would have made me sick if I'd have braved it) we caught a local bus for 60 rupees, 30pence, to a little town an hour away. Jumped off when we recognised the name, and was immediately greeted by a keen tuktuk man - they're good like that.
The whole day unfolded perfectly. I was ready to argue when he dropped us at the Millennium Elephant Foundation, just down the road from the one we'd asked to go to in pinewala. However, it turned out to be a much more rewarding experience. We paid 2000rps, about a tenner, with a bit of extra tipping along the way, and before we knew it we had met Lakshma our elephant, and we being ushered onto her back! She's the matriarch of the group of 8 animals they have there - the grandma and the boss. She was 45, so middle aged, and also famous, she starred in the old Richard Harris 'Tarzan the Apeman' film. She was beautiful..it was a incredible, surreal and frankly terrifying experience. I had nothing to hold onto apart from Beth, and she a rope around her neck, and it was a very long way to fall. The slow walking pace lulled you into feeling calm though, and we concentrated on how thick and wiry her skin was. Afterwards we fed her some fruit (her trunk was so weird, like a little hand!) and went into the river to help wash another elephant. The mahout gave us some coconut husks to scrub the skin with, whilst he set about asking him to raise his feet then giving him a pedicure with a rather serious looking knife.
There's a lot of skepticism surrounding tourism and elephant riding...I think it's a something you have to see and decide for yourself. The elephants here definitely seemed calm and content, were not overworked and were clearly looked after well. There was a lot of focus on education - with a little museum and constant explanation from staff. They had volunteers and a medical centre too. Afterwards, the same tuktuk man (Alba, who we later became firm friends with) took us up to the bigger place where we originally wanted to go. Along the way, he suggested we just wait by the side of the road to watch them being taken down to the river at bathing time, rather than pay the 2500rps entrance fee. He kindly bought us a coconut each (yummy milk, have been drinking loads a coconut a day keeps doctor away), we had a chat and a cigarette in his tuktuk, then watched loads of them crossing the road right by us. They have 80 at this place, a government-run 'elephant orphanage', and lots of babies, raising suspicion as it supposedly only takes in mistreated or orphaned animals. It seems to be run much more as a zoo, for profit, than anything else. We were happy with Alba's original decision.

Driving a Tuk Tuk

He took us back to the side of the road on which he found us, stopping on the way at a beautiful botanical garden, where we were shown how remedies were made from different plants, and drank tea. We felt guilty for not buying anything but we didn't have much. At one point, Alba asked us if we wanted to drive, and we took it in turns to jump in the front with him. We drove nervously but pretty well along for a bit, him on hand to jump in when things got a bit hairy..honestly they squeeze through the tiniest gaps with very little concern for the safety of anyone involved. He hung about till we got on a bus - 6 or 7 passed which were too full and frankly confusing - with yet again the help of some nice old man. Had to stand most of the way but hey ho, it got the job done.
At dusk we went to find the Temple of the Tooth - a very holy Buddhist temple as it houses a relic of a tooth that is believed to be Buddhas very own. However you can't actually get to it to see it, so instead of paying, we had a very calming and humbling wander around the grounds.. inquisitively looking at all the different beautiful shrines, always conscious of people who were there for prayer or worship, and not wanting to disturb them.
As the sun set over the hills beyond the lake, we set in search of food and beer. Beth had a very dramatic and (afterwards) hilarious fall down a pothole, which luckily didn't cause much lasting injury.

We left Kandy with a huge sense of achievement, happy we were only 4 days into our trip, and very much keen for relaxing beachy time. 

Building a bucket list

So I've finally got around to starting a blog. Time seems different when you're away, when there's so many new things to see, and especially in this heat. Have been doing things at a leisurely pace.. a week in and me and beth are still sharing a toothbrush for goodness sake.

I started a bucket list a few years ago (long since lost) but there are so many amazing experiences to be had in the world there's no way you could ever write them all down in advance. So instead of preempting the once in a lifetime unique adventures I want to have, I'm going to build the list as I go.

So far it's been going rather well.