Hi everyone, we're back again! Now, you're all going to have to prepare yourselves for a few rather dramatic shocks during this blog - so keep yourselves as calm as possible, you have been warned!
SUNDAY 27th May
As you know, we made our way back to Bangkok today. The hostel we were staying at in Kanchanaburi kindly called for a taxi to take us back to the bus station, almost as soon as we arrived a bus pulled up outside, which was destined for Bangkok, so we bought a couple of tickets and were soon aboard heading off again. Once in Bangkok we had to get in another taxi so that we could get to the train station. When we arrived, we bumped into a young lady who told us that most of the tickets for the overnight train had been sold (but we're not sure that was true, as it's low season at the moment) and she took us to the tourist information office to find out about getting a bus to Koh Tao instead. We decided it was cheaper and more convinient to get the bus (as we were also able to buy our boat ticket to the island at the same time and would be dropped off at the pier itself). The guy we were talking to also asked us about diving and showed Steve a few places he could do a PADI Open Water Diver's Certification. He ended up having a look on the internet (the most expensive one we've used - 20 baht for 5 minutes!) for reviews about the places he said he could get special deals for him, but some of them had very mixed reviews, so he decided we would wait until reaching the island to make a decision about where to stay and to do his diving course.
We had to wait for ages at the train station - we arrived mid-afternoon and our bus didn't leave until 21.00! So we sat around reading, playing cards, getting bored! We popped out for dinner across the road from the train station and ended up having to stay there for ages, as the most enourmous rainstorm started! We finally decided to make a run for it and only got a little bit soggy on the way back, and even saw a dog being shampooed in a really deep puddle! Finally the time came to board the bus and spend 7 hours on it being taken to Chumphon Pier. Neither of us got too much sleep, as would be expected being cramped up on a bus, but it could have been worse!
MONDAY 28th May
In the very early hours of the morning, we arrived at Chumphon Pier and got our stuff unloaded from the bus. We ended up having a couple of hours of waiting before it was time to get on the boat and be taken to Koh Tao, but we were soon on board and after a couple of hours we were pulling up on the shores of 'Turtle Island'.
Our first stop was breakfast (an introduction to the expensiveness of island-living as well!) and then it was time to scope out some of the hundreds of diving resorts! We'd heard about a place called 'DivePoint' and so eventually headed there and found it to be a really nice place and it was an absolute bargainous price (presumably due to the low season) of 130 pounds for a 4 day PADI course, inclusive of 3 nights accommodation as well! Now, one of the first shocks of this blog is about to come up, so get ready! After months of telling Steve that he was welcome to do a diving course, but to NEVER expect me to do it too (due to my well known completely irrational fear of sharks) - I actually signed up to do the PADI course as well!
We started today, in the afternoon and watched some videos and then had homework (it was like being back at school), to read and complete the questions in chapter one, two and three of our PADI manuals. However, we were so tired though, that at about 22.00 we'd only finished the first chapter and were so tired that we ended up going to sleep!
TUESDAY 29th May
We began the day with classroom work. We went through the questions from chapters one, two and three with our PADI instructor (a very nice German lady called Alexandra). We also had to complete some multiple choice quizes about each of the chapters as well. We then watched a couple more videos and it was time to venture out for the first time! We got changed into swimmers and then met Alex to go out on the boat with a load of other divers.
First of all we had to prepare all our equipment ourselves and check it worked etc, we then got kitted up and checked each others kit was working properly and then it was time to jump in! It was pretty scary having to jump in off the back of the boat, but we managed to do it and then made our way to the shallows, where we were able to stand up with our heads above the water so we could practise some diving skills. To get back to the boat, Alex took us for a mini 'dive' and we swam along the bottom and got to see tropical coral reefs, anemones, millions of different tropical fish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and goodness knows what else! After our lesson, we were allowed to do some snorkelling on our own, whilst we waited for the other divers to come back to the boat. So we went and explored the reef some more on our own. When we got back, we were both so excited that we'd made our first step into the world of diving and it was so excilerating to see a whole new underwater world that we've never experience before - it was wicked!
Our evening was spent doing more reading though, as we had to complete chapters four and five tonight - which we finally managed to do by about 23.30!
WEDNESDAY 30th May
This morning we met Alex for our final classroom work, of going through chapters four and five and doing another quiz, before having to take our final exam! It was kind of nerve-racking, but each of us only got 1 question out of 50 wrong (you're allowed 12 wrong answers in total), so we were very pleased.
In the afternoon we got to complete our first and second open water dives. We had to complete a few skills in the process, but most of the time was spent swimming around and exploring the amazing flora and fauna! It was just incredible - the water was so blue and clear, you could see so far! There was also so much to see, clown fish, crown-of-thorns starfish, clown trigger fish, titan trigger fish (one of the most dangerous fish to divers, as it's very terratorial and over a metre in size - not diver friendly)! We saw lots of different varieties of corals, as well as tonnes of other fish! It's just so hard to explain everything we saw - you need to be able to see it for yourselves to understand properly how breathtaking it is! You might be able to get some impression of what it was like, as we bought ourselves an underwater camera and our instructor took photos for us!
We finally had a free evening tonight, but ended up spending most of our time packing up our bags, as we had to check out the next morning before our last 2 dives of the course! The accommodation was nice, it was basic, but the problem was that it was only a fan room and we could never get any breeze through, so it was just like an oven all of the time, no matter what we did! So we've had a couple of very hot and sweaty nights, with relatively little sleep, which is a pain, as diving itself is pretty tiring and so you need lots of energy to do it!
THURSDAY 31st May
We went diving first thing this morning and unfortunately there was a storm last night and so the water was much rougher than it has been over the other 2 days and I very much felt the effects of it! I was just about OK on the way there. We got our kit sorted out and put it all on straight away and were in the water and beginning our 3rd dive. Once we were underwater, I felt fine - thankfully! This dive site was further out than the previous two and was a mass of huge reefs and rocks and we felt like we were constantly swimming through millions of fish scattered around. Now, here comes the next shock for the blog and this is a HUGE one! I have actually swam past a real live, wild shark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so flipping scary! It was about 3 metres long and only about 10 metres away from us! After a bit of hyperventilating, we were moving on again, enjoying the reef. Alex showed Steve an urchin, which ended up pricking his finger - he later on showed me that he was bleeding, so along came some more hyperventilating, as sharks can smell a single drop of blood from 2 miles away, so I was now petrified the flipping thing was going to come back in attack mode this time (Steve wasn't bothered though, as it was only a pinprick)! As you can expect I used a lot of air up on this dive, but we were soon ascending and getting back onto the rocky boat!
We had to wait a while before we could go for our fourth dive, so we had some breakfast on the boat and were then taught how to use a diving compass. I started to feel more sea sick, so Steve and I got back in the water to do some snorkelling, but it didn't make me feel any better, so I was glad when Alex started to pass us our gear to go back under. Once under I felt better again. We had to do a few more skills with Alex, which I managed to get a bit flustered on at one point, as my regulator came out of my mouth and I was gulping in water and not air! But we were soon back on the reef and had the shock of seeing another 2 sharks, although these ones were very far away and possibly not quite as scary?! We saw much of the same as before - millions of fish, anenomes, urchins, sea cucumbers, we even saw a lion fish (very poisonous) - we just saw too much to list really! It was soon time to get back onto the boat, wait for the other divers to return and then make our way back to land. Unfortunately on the return to land, seasickness got the better of me and I wasn't a well bunny! But I did feel much better afterwards (I think it's pretty impressive that this was the first time I've been ill in the 2 months we've been away though)!
We finally got back to wonderful dry land (although I felt like I was still bobbing up and down) and filled out our log books and PADI certification forms. So we are now both qualified PADI Open Water Divers! So, if you ever go to DivePoint in Koh Tao and look us up in their book of qualified divers, we'll be there!
After all the paper work, we got our luggage together and got a taxi to further down the island on Sairee Beach to spend a couple of days resting and relaxing before moving back onto the mainland to continue our adventures!
Well, we think that's about all there is to know at the moment. Apologies for another long blog! We also hope you managed to survive the rather impressive shocks as well! Hope everyone is well, missing you all loads and looking forward to some more comments from you all!
Thursday, 31 May 2007
Sunday, 27 May 2007
Grand Palace and the Bridge on the River Kwai
Hi everyone! We've found time to update you all quickly before we leave Kanchanaburi (we'll be off packing our bags once we've finished blogging) and so here's a fairly short (for once) update of the past few days.
THURSDAY 24th May
After having a relaxing evening last night we decided we would try and get up early today so that we would hopefully have some time wandering around when the heat would be slightly less intense than during the middle of the day. Although we'd wanted to get up early, we hadn't intended on getting up at 06.30, which is what happened, as although we set our alarm for 07.30, we hadn't put it back an hour once we got to Bangkok - whoops! Oh well, it meant we had a nice early start, although it didn't mean we had any relief from the heat, we just missed all of the tourist crowds!
We went to the Grand Palace first of all. It was a really nice place - amazingly ornate too! Every facade, of every building, had some kind of decoration on it, whether it be ceramic tiles, mosaics of mirrored tiles, paintings, or building completely covered in gold! There were many different temples there, including the Emerald Green Buddha Temple, which must have been one of the most intricately decorated places of the whole Palace! It was also being renovated at the time (which made us reminisce about China), so some of the decoration on the outside parts of the building we couldn't see clearly. Unfortunately some of the most beautiful parts of the Grand Palace we were unable to photograph, so we'll have to do our best to describe it to you when we get back! The whole Grand Palace complex has undergone major renovation since around the time of the 60s we think - there was a whole museum dedicated to showing how the renovation was undertaken, why and where etc (although it was mostly in Thai, so we couldn't understand very much, but it was still interesting).
Once we'd wandered the enormous complex of the Grand Palace for a few hours we (well, Steve) decided to go and have a little look at the camera shops we'd found when we were first in Bangkok. Unfortunately it took an age for us to get there, as to start off with we got off at the wrong stop on the water taxi and then we proceeded to get a bit lost and disorientated. During our wanderings we did come across a really nice flower market (mum [Pauline], you would have had a field day there I'm sure), so we did get to see some new parts of Bangkok which was quite nice (although it would have been nicer if it wasn't scorching hot)! We finally came across the camera shops again and we then had to look at several different shops with the same lens in to find the best price and we finally found the newer version of the lens he wanted, which was cheaper than the older version, so he bought himself the EF 70-200mm lens he's been wanting for ages!
We had wanted to go to the Teak Mansion as well (we were able to get free admission, as we'd been to the Grand Palace), however, by the time we got back to the hostel, it was already 15.30 and the mansion closed at 16.00, so we had to give it a miss. We decided to get freshened up instead and spent the evening working on our plans for the next week or so, so that we would have some idea of where to go and what transport we need to use etc.
FRIDAY 25th May
We spent the morning getting our bags packed up once again and paying our bill at the hostel. It was then time to make our way to Kanchanaburi. We hopped in a taxi to take us to the bus station, where as soon as we arrived we were 'jumped' on by a man we presumed was a tout, I suddenly realised he was the 'conductor' for a bus, which was going to Kanchanaburi and was about to leave - so we managed to jump on and were on our way. Poor old Steve reacted badly to his malaria tablet again this morning and so spent most of the bus journey feeling really sick, but he managed to sleep a lot too!
After 3 hours on the bus, we made it to Kanchanaburi and got a tuk tuk to the guesthouse we wanted to stay at. After we'd freshened up we decided to go to the Thai-Burma Railway Museum. It was really interesting and also very sad to realise the desolate and gruelling conditions inflicted upon the PoWs. It's amazing that anyone managed to survive. What was also very shocking was that the Japanese had agreed that should Thailand be invaded by the Allied Forces, then all of the PoWs should die. They did this by the most inhumane methods - forcing them to go on death marches and if they managed to survive this, then they were put on starvation rations! They had a weird respect for the dead and allowed them to be buried in marked graves and also allowed their comrades to hold a ceremony for them, which the Japanese often attended themselves. We only had 40 minutes to look around the museum though, as it closed at 17.00, so we were soon on our way again and decided to visit the Bridge on the River Kwai.
SATURDAY 26th May
We spent the day on an organised trip which took us to several places. We started off spending 4 hours at the Erawan Falls. There were lots of different 'steps' (plunge-pools) we were able to have access to, and some of which we were also allowed to swim in. It was very beautiful there, as the water was a blue/aqua colour and there were some fantastic limestone formations there too. We went swimming in the pools to cool off, but the pools also had lots of fish in them, which would come up and suck at you if you stayed at all still! It made me jump every time, as you couldn't see the ones which were around your legs and feet! Steve jumped when he was floating on his back and a fish sucked his earlobe! After 4 hours of exploring the falls, we had lunch.
Our next stop was at the railway itself. We went to the Krasae Caves, which weren't very interesting, as we could only walk into them for about 30 metres and there weren't any interesting rock formations or anything. At the entrance of the cave, there was a statue of Buddha and an alter for people to worship at, but that was it.
It was then time to catch the train and ride on the Death Railway (so called due to the thousands of PoWs who lost their lives working on the construction of the railway). The ride lasted 30 minutes, but we were sat on the side of the train with the less scenic view, as it was so busy. Steve managed to sneak a few peeks though, and said we weren't really missing anything.
Our last stop of the day was at the Bridge on the River Kwai. It was a good job we went last night, as we were only given 15 minutes to have a look around, so we wouldn't have had any nice photos, if we'd relied on today's visit alone.
After our long day, we were pretty tired, so we ended up freshening up and then having dinner at the hostel, as we couldn't see any nice places near by.
SUNDAY 27th May
Today we're back to travelling. We're catching the bus back to Bangkok and will then catch the overnight train to Chumphon, so that we can get the ferry to Ko Tao and do some serious relaxing and beach-bumming for a few days! Although Steve's going to do a PADI course in diving - he wants me to join him, but I'm not sure yet, you'll find out if I'm brave enough to do it soon!
Well, that's about all there is to know at the moment. We've enjoyed our flying visit to Kanchanaburi and will be passing through Bangkok for the last time today. We'll keep you updated with our plans for moving around. Missing you all!
THURSDAY 24th May
After having a relaxing evening last night we decided we would try and get up early today so that we would hopefully have some time wandering around when the heat would be slightly less intense than during the middle of the day. Although we'd wanted to get up early, we hadn't intended on getting up at 06.30, which is what happened, as although we set our alarm for 07.30, we hadn't put it back an hour once we got to Bangkok - whoops! Oh well, it meant we had a nice early start, although it didn't mean we had any relief from the heat, we just missed all of the tourist crowds!
We went to the Grand Palace first of all. It was a really nice place - amazingly ornate too! Every facade, of every building, had some kind of decoration on it, whether it be ceramic tiles, mosaics of mirrored tiles, paintings, or building completely covered in gold! There were many different temples there, including the Emerald Green Buddha Temple, which must have been one of the most intricately decorated places of the whole Palace! It was also being renovated at the time (which made us reminisce about China), so some of the decoration on the outside parts of the building we couldn't see clearly. Unfortunately some of the most beautiful parts of the Grand Palace we were unable to photograph, so we'll have to do our best to describe it to you when we get back! The whole Grand Palace complex has undergone major renovation since around the time of the 60s we think - there was a whole museum dedicated to showing how the renovation was undertaken, why and where etc (although it was mostly in Thai, so we couldn't understand very much, but it was still interesting).
Once we'd wandered the enormous complex of the Grand Palace for a few hours we (well, Steve) decided to go and have a little look at the camera shops we'd found when we were first in Bangkok. Unfortunately it took an age for us to get there, as to start off with we got off at the wrong stop on the water taxi and then we proceeded to get a bit lost and disorientated. During our wanderings we did come across a really nice flower market (mum [Pauline], you would have had a field day there I'm sure), so we did get to see some new parts of Bangkok which was quite nice (although it would have been nicer if it wasn't scorching hot)! We finally came across the camera shops again and we then had to look at several different shops with the same lens in to find the best price and we finally found the newer version of the lens he wanted, which was cheaper than the older version, so he bought himself the EF 70-200mm lens he's been wanting for ages!
We had wanted to go to the Teak Mansion as well (we were able to get free admission, as we'd been to the Grand Palace), however, by the time we got back to the hostel, it was already 15.30 and the mansion closed at 16.00, so we had to give it a miss. We decided to get freshened up instead and spent the evening working on our plans for the next week or so, so that we would have some idea of where to go and what transport we need to use etc.
FRIDAY 25th May
We spent the morning getting our bags packed up once again and paying our bill at the hostel. It was then time to make our way to Kanchanaburi. We hopped in a taxi to take us to the bus station, where as soon as we arrived we were 'jumped' on by a man we presumed was a tout, I suddenly realised he was the 'conductor' for a bus, which was going to Kanchanaburi and was about to leave - so we managed to jump on and were on our way. Poor old Steve reacted badly to his malaria tablet again this morning and so spent most of the bus journey feeling really sick, but he managed to sleep a lot too!
After 3 hours on the bus, we made it to Kanchanaburi and got a tuk tuk to the guesthouse we wanted to stay at. After we'd freshened up we decided to go to the Thai-Burma Railway Museum. It was really interesting and also very sad to realise the desolate and gruelling conditions inflicted upon the PoWs. It's amazing that anyone managed to survive. What was also very shocking was that the Japanese had agreed that should Thailand be invaded by the Allied Forces, then all of the PoWs should die. They did this by the most inhumane methods - forcing them to go on death marches and if they managed to survive this, then they were put on starvation rations! They had a weird respect for the dead and allowed them to be buried in marked graves and also allowed their comrades to hold a ceremony for them, which the Japanese often attended themselves. We only had 40 minutes to look around the museum though, as it closed at 17.00, so we were soon on our way again and decided to visit the Bridge on the River Kwai.
SATURDAY 26th May
We spent the day on an organised trip which took us to several places. We started off spending 4 hours at the Erawan Falls. There were lots of different 'steps' (plunge-pools) we were able to have access to, and some of which we were also allowed to swim in. It was very beautiful there, as the water was a blue/aqua colour and there were some fantastic limestone formations there too. We went swimming in the pools to cool off, but the pools also had lots of fish in them, which would come up and suck at you if you stayed at all still! It made me jump every time, as you couldn't see the ones which were around your legs and feet! Steve jumped when he was floating on his back and a fish sucked his earlobe! After 4 hours of exploring the falls, we had lunch.
Our next stop was at the railway itself. We went to the Krasae Caves, which weren't very interesting, as we could only walk into them for about 30 metres and there weren't any interesting rock formations or anything. At the entrance of the cave, there was a statue of Buddha and an alter for people to worship at, but that was it.
It was then time to catch the train and ride on the Death Railway (so called due to the thousands of PoWs who lost their lives working on the construction of the railway). The ride lasted 30 minutes, but we were sat on the side of the train with the less scenic view, as it was so busy. Steve managed to sneak a few peeks though, and said we weren't really missing anything.
Our last stop of the day was at the Bridge on the River Kwai. It was a good job we went last night, as we were only given 15 minutes to have a look around, so we wouldn't have had any nice photos, if we'd relied on today's visit alone.
After our long day, we were pretty tired, so we ended up freshening up and then having dinner at the hostel, as we couldn't see any nice places near by.
SUNDAY 27th May
Today we're back to travelling. We're catching the bus back to Bangkok and will then catch the overnight train to Chumphon, so that we can get the ferry to Ko Tao and do some serious relaxing and beach-bumming for a few days! Although Steve's going to do a PADI course in diving - he wants me to join him, but I'm not sure yet, you'll find out if I'm brave enough to do it soon!
Well, that's about all there is to know at the moment. We've enjoyed our flying visit to Kanchanaburi and will be passing through Bangkok for the last time today. We'll keep you updated with our plans for moving around. Missing you all!
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
Rain, rain, and yes ... more rain (don't you just love the rainy season)!
Hi again, we're back in sunny (but now also rainy) Thailand - Bangkok at the moment, to be precise. We can't believe that we are now entering the last month of our stay in South East Asia - it's crazy, as it just feels like it's going so fast! Anyway, we'd best update you on our last few days in Hong Kong, so here goes!
MONDAY 21st May
We actually managed to get ourselves up relatively early this morning - all of our own accord (very impressive stuff, as we can be pretty lazy at times)! We made our first stop the Post Office, it was an interesting activity to do! We had absolutely no idea what we were doing and we think we confused most of the staff there with our bizarre questions and incompetence! The amount of stuff we've managed collect so far is impressive! So we got that sent off and it only took us an hour or two (we kid you not) to get it all sorted out!
Our next stop was the Hong Kong Museum of Art. We ended up spending three or four hours here just sauntering around the exhibition halls. This art museum was what I'd expected the one we visited in Beijing to be like - it was full of 'real' Chinese art, modern and historic. There were very few pieces I disliked and we had a really nice time there. There was a whole exhibition on calligraphy, which is so beautiful and it's amazing that there are so many different styles of script to deal with. The scrolls of landscapes, flowers, animals and everything else under the sun were also very intricate and truly amazing, we wished we would have been able to buy some of them!! There was also an exhibition of gold and jade artifacts. The amazing detail in the jewellery and other objects was just breath-taking, especially some of the jade bowls, which were so thin they were translucent, but then they also had the most intricate relief carving on them as well!
Unfortunately by the time we left the museum, the rain had well and truly set in again and so we decided to not get drenched by going to Kowloon Park. Instead we pottered around, ducking into the shelter of shops here and there (mainly camera shops so that Steve could look at different lenses and flashes and things for his cameras). We stopped for a light dinner and then went to the harbour. We wandered up onto the 'balcony' overlooking the harbour and watched the light and sound show. It's actually in the Guinness Book of World Records, as it's the longest running, permanently run light and sound show. It was quite good, there were quite a few different buildings involved and there were even lasers! It only lasted 15 minutes and was free, so we can't grumble really!
After the show, we went back to the grungy hostel we were staying at. It must be the worst place we've stayed so far. It's really tiny (but everywhere is in Hong Kong), and there is mould almost everywhere in the bathroom, the toilet leaks, it has a really horrid dank, musty smell to the room and beds and there isn't even a window! Having to spend 3 nights there is 3 nights too many!
TUESDAY 22nd May
Today we had loads of things planned, but unfortunately due to the wonderful weather we were scuppered! It absolutely poured with rain for almost the entire day! We set off from the hostel and went straight to the harbour to catch the ferry to Hong Kong Island. As the cloud was still so low it was covering the tops of the buildings, we decided to go to Man Mo Temple first. We got pretty wet making our way there. The Temple was free to get into (we almost fell over with shock at this, as normally in China you have to pay to get in and then pay extra to actually see anything within the place you've gone to)! It was very small and was almost spooky in a way, because it was dark and there was a thick hazy smoke from the burning incense. There were incense everywhere - coils of various sizes were hanging from all over the ceiling, and there were also lots of sticks that had been offered at the different altars as well. The Temple is the oldest in Hong Kong, and is still an active place of worship. We didn't stay very long though, as the Temple was very small.
After leaving a small donation we went to leave, but found that the rain was coming down the hardest it has since we arrived! So we dashed for the shelter of a nearby coffee shop to wait out the downpour. We ended up sitting there for some time and although the rain had only subsided a little, we decided to go out again anyway. We made our way to the Zoological and Botanical gardens. We were absolutely soaked through by the time we arrived and just kept getting wetter as we walked around! It was interesting to walk around and see lots of different plants and animals, but as always it was sad to see animals caged up. As we were so wet we ended up not spending an age at the gardens (luckily it was another free attraction to visit).
We decided that we couldn't have come to Hong Kong without going up Victoria Peak, and so our next stop was the Peak Tram to take us to the top. When we arrived we went straight up to the rooftop viewing point. Unfortunately, although we were above the rain, we were in fact surrounded by thick clouds and so we had a somewhat bleak outlook! It was just completely white! Disappointingly we made our way down again and went outside. We had wanted to go to Victoria Park and then walk down (rather than getting the tram back down), but we could barely see 10 feet in front of us and so didn't want to risk getting lost and also didn't want to get caught in another torrential downpour! So we clambered despondently back onto the tram and went back down.
We made our way back to the ferry, stopping off at a few more camera shops on the way for Steve's benefit! Once back on Kowloon, we wandered for a little while, grabbed some dinner and some breakfast for Wednesday morning and then headed back to the hostel to pack our bags ready for our flight the next day.
WEDNESDAY 23rd May
Our last day (well, half-day) in Hong Kong, and guess what?! It rained again! Well, at least it wasn't blissfully beautiful weather, and Victoria Peak was still shrouded in thick clouds, so it was a fitting end to a very rainy stay! We got ourselves ready and checked out of the hostel and then negotiated the underground (which is amazing - it's really nice and cool down there, it's beautifully clean, and also the edge of the platform has a glass screen along it so you can't fall onto the tracks and there are doors along it which open with the train doors, it's so wicked) and after a bit of a walk we caught the airport shuttle bus. We ended up arriving with loads of time to spare as usual, so we had to wait around before being able to check-in. Once checked-in we had some lunch and then wandered around for a while. We ended up not keeping a very good eye on the time and found that we had less than 10 minutes to get to our gate for boarding! It was also at this point that we realised we were miles away from our gate too! We had to catch the airport train (much like the underground we'd caught earlier) and after catching that we had to run, full pelt down 3 of those flat escalators and then a bit further before we arrived at the flaming gate! To say the least we were a tad out of breath when we finally arrived about 3 minutes late. Thankfully there were still people queuing to board and we weren't the last people to get on the plane either!
It was a pretty good flight, although the take-off and landing were much wobblier than any of the others we've had, which made it rather scary, and as usual, we ended up having a meal, when we thought that we were only going to be provided with refreshments!
We got to Bangkok after about 2.5 hours of flying and were swiftly through immigration, our bags were even some of the first to come out onto the conveyor belt things and so we were out of the airport really quickly. We were going to get the bus into Bangkok town, but it ended up being cheaper to get a taxi. So we got loaded in and as usual, the driver didn't know where to go (although at least this one could see - unlike the one we had last time we arrived in Bangkok), so he phoned the hostel (whilst driving - at least the other guy pulled over to the side of the road and stopped) to ask for directions. We got stuck in traffic and he also got a bit lost, but after another phone call we were at the hostel!
That's about all there is for you to know at the moment! We've got a day of exploring Bangkok and will then be starting our touring. We're not entirely sure how long we want to stay in places, so it'll be a bit whimsical, but it should be fun and adventurous! Hoping everyone is well, still missing you all and don't forget to keep commenting, it's lovely to hear from you!
MONDAY 21st May
We actually managed to get ourselves up relatively early this morning - all of our own accord (very impressive stuff, as we can be pretty lazy at times)! We made our first stop the Post Office, it was an interesting activity to do! We had absolutely no idea what we were doing and we think we confused most of the staff there with our bizarre questions and incompetence! The amount of stuff we've managed collect so far is impressive! So we got that sent off and it only took us an hour or two (we kid you not) to get it all sorted out!
Our next stop was the Hong Kong Museum of Art. We ended up spending three or four hours here just sauntering around the exhibition halls. This art museum was what I'd expected the one we visited in Beijing to be like - it was full of 'real' Chinese art, modern and historic. There were very few pieces I disliked and we had a really nice time there. There was a whole exhibition on calligraphy, which is so beautiful and it's amazing that there are so many different styles of script to deal with. The scrolls of landscapes, flowers, animals and everything else under the sun were also very intricate and truly amazing, we wished we would have been able to buy some of them!! There was also an exhibition of gold and jade artifacts. The amazing detail in the jewellery and other objects was just breath-taking, especially some of the jade bowls, which were so thin they were translucent, but then they also had the most intricate relief carving on them as well!
Unfortunately by the time we left the museum, the rain had well and truly set in again and so we decided to not get drenched by going to Kowloon Park. Instead we pottered around, ducking into the shelter of shops here and there (mainly camera shops so that Steve could look at different lenses and flashes and things for his cameras). We stopped for a light dinner and then went to the harbour. We wandered up onto the 'balcony' overlooking the harbour and watched the light and sound show. It's actually in the Guinness Book of World Records, as it's the longest running, permanently run light and sound show. It was quite good, there were quite a few different buildings involved and there were even lasers! It only lasted 15 minutes and was free, so we can't grumble really!
After the show, we went back to the grungy hostel we were staying at. It must be the worst place we've stayed so far. It's really tiny (but everywhere is in Hong Kong), and there is mould almost everywhere in the bathroom, the toilet leaks, it has a really horrid dank, musty smell to the room and beds and there isn't even a window! Having to spend 3 nights there is 3 nights too many!
TUESDAY 22nd May
Today we had loads of things planned, but unfortunately due to the wonderful weather we were scuppered! It absolutely poured with rain for almost the entire day! We set off from the hostel and went straight to the harbour to catch the ferry to Hong Kong Island. As the cloud was still so low it was covering the tops of the buildings, we decided to go to Man Mo Temple first. We got pretty wet making our way there. The Temple was free to get into (we almost fell over with shock at this, as normally in China you have to pay to get in and then pay extra to actually see anything within the place you've gone to)! It was very small and was almost spooky in a way, because it was dark and there was a thick hazy smoke from the burning incense. There were incense everywhere - coils of various sizes were hanging from all over the ceiling, and there were also lots of sticks that had been offered at the different altars as well. The Temple is the oldest in Hong Kong, and is still an active place of worship. We didn't stay very long though, as the Temple was very small.
After leaving a small donation we went to leave, but found that the rain was coming down the hardest it has since we arrived! So we dashed for the shelter of a nearby coffee shop to wait out the downpour. We ended up sitting there for some time and although the rain had only subsided a little, we decided to go out again anyway. We made our way to the Zoological and Botanical gardens. We were absolutely soaked through by the time we arrived and just kept getting wetter as we walked around! It was interesting to walk around and see lots of different plants and animals, but as always it was sad to see animals caged up. As we were so wet we ended up not spending an age at the gardens (luckily it was another free attraction to visit).
We decided that we couldn't have come to Hong Kong without going up Victoria Peak, and so our next stop was the Peak Tram to take us to the top. When we arrived we went straight up to the rooftop viewing point. Unfortunately, although we were above the rain, we were in fact surrounded by thick clouds and so we had a somewhat bleak outlook! It was just completely white! Disappointingly we made our way down again and went outside. We had wanted to go to Victoria Park and then walk down (rather than getting the tram back down), but we could barely see 10 feet in front of us and so didn't want to risk getting lost and also didn't want to get caught in another torrential downpour! So we clambered despondently back onto the tram and went back down.
We made our way back to the ferry, stopping off at a few more camera shops on the way for Steve's benefit! Once back on Kowloon, we wandered for a little while, grabbed some dinner and some breakfast for Wednesday morning and then headed back to the hostel to pack our bags ready for our flight the next day.
WEDNESDAY 23rd May
Our last day (well, half-day) in Hong Kong, and guess what?! It rained again! Well, at least it wasn't blissfully beautiful weather, and Victoria Peak was still shrouded in thick clouds, so it was a fitting end to a very rainy stay! We got ourselves ready and checked out of the hostel and then negotiated the underground (which is amazing - it's really nice and cool down there, it's beautifully clean, and also the edge of the platform has a glass screen along it so you can't fall onto the tracks and there are doors along it which open with the train doors, it's so wicked) and after a bit of a walk we caught the airport shuttle bus. We ended up arriving with loads of time to spare as usual, so we had to wait around before being able to check-in. Once checked-in we had some lunch and then wandered around for a while. We ended up not keeping a very good eye on the time and found that we had less than 10 minutes to get to our gate for boarding! It was also at this point that we realised we were miles away from our gate too! We had to catch the airport train (much like the underground we'd caught earlier) and after catching that we had to run, full pelt down 3 of those flat escalators and then a bit further before we arrived at the flaming gate! To say the least we were a tad out of breath when we finally arrived about 3 minutes late. Thankfully there were still people queuing to board and we weren't the last people to get on the plane either!
It was a pretty good flight, although the take-off and landing were much wobblier than any of the others we've had, which made it rather scary, and as usual, we ended up having a meal, when we thought that we were only going to be provided with refreshments!
We got to Bangkok after about 2.5 hours of flying and were swiftly through immigration, our bags were even some of the first to come out onto the conveyor belt things and so we were out of the airport really quickly. We were going to get the bus into Bangkok town, but it ended up being cheaper to get a taxi. So we got loaded in and as usual, the driver didn't know where to go (although at least this one could see - unlike the one we had last time we arrived in Bangkok), so he phoned the hostel (whilst driving - at least the other guy pulled over to the side of the road and stopped) to ask for directions. We got stuck in traffic and he also got a bit lost, but after another phone call we were at the hostel!
That's about all there is for you to know at the moment! We've got a day of exploring Bangkok and will then be starting our touring. We're not entirely sure how long we want to stay in places, so it'll be a bit whimsical, but it should be fun and adventurous! Hoping everyone is well, still missing you all and don't forget to keep commenting, it's lovely to hear from you!
Sunday, 20 May 2007
Cooking, Cycling and Farewells!
Hi everyone, we don't have too much to update you on today and it might be pretty brief as it's so expensive to access the internet in Hong Kong (slightly regretting deciding to stay for a whole extra 3 days, as it's wrecking our budget)!
THURSDAY 17th May
We started off the day with a refreshing bicycle ride - we had some rather ancient mountain bikes, but luckily they weren't uncomfortable ones, so we set off on our merry way to see the limestone karst, countryside scenery around Yangshou. We did quite a lot of off-roading which was very bumpy work when you don't have the best gears or suspension systems in the world! But we got along well and made quite a few stops to take photos of the scenery and men ploughing the rice paddies with their ox etc. We went to a rice-wine distillery on our cycle - we think it was actually someones home as well and it seemed to be a bit of a bath-tub operation in a way, but Lucy, our local guide, explained how the rice was fermented before being cooked and distilled. At the end of the explanation, we were allowed to try some of the rice-wine, although Steve tried some, I gave it a miss, as it doesn't really agree with me! We stopped off at the Moon Hill Cafe, a few people decided to go and climb the hill to get some photos (including Steve of course, but I was too lazy to go), most of us waited for them at the Cafe and treated ourselves to some nice cold drinks instead! Moon Hill is an arch perched on top of a hill - so it looks like the moon rising over the hill, it's pretty cool and the view of the mountainous scenery was spectacular from the top. Once people were back from their walk, we all cycled to a nearby farmers house to have some lunch. We were allowed to have a look around the farmers house, it was very basic and simple and certainly makes you appreciate all of the luxuries we have at home! It was soon time to make our way back to the hotel and so we all set off down the road back into Yangshou town.
In the afternoon we had optional activities to take part in and Steve and I each had a class to go to - Steve did water colour painting. He only actually used black ink and learnt how to paint bamboo, he says he was really awful at it, but I thought it looked really good (we have the proof to show you when we get home)! I did a calligraphy class and learnt how to hold the brush, write Chinese numbers from 1 to 10, learnt how to write 'person', 'wood', 'tree' and 'forest', as well as my name in Chinese characters. Katherine in Chinese means beauty and success, whilst Stephen means King and wisdom! After our classes we made a couple of purchases - Steve got a 'chop' (a type of Chinese stamp, or seal), with his name carved into it in Chinese characters and I got a silk-lined, rice-paper scroll with my name written on it in Chinese characters!
FRIDAY 18th May
This morning we started off by going to a cooking class with a few other people from the tour. We got picked up in the morning at our hotel and started off at the fresh produce market, where we were introduced to lots of traditional Chinese ingredients, as well as fresh meats (including food dog) and tonnes of other food products! We then got taken to our class just outside of Yangshou. We made 4 dishes - an 'eggplant' (or aubergine) dish with garlic, ginger and chili paste etc, Beer Fish, Chicken and Cashew nut, and steamed vegetables stuffed with pork meat. It was all pretty good and it was great to learn how to use a wok properly (as well as clean it) - we've been doing it so wrong! But poor old Steve was very ill whilst we were there and so didn't sample very much of his own cooking!
After cooking we had a free afternoon to ourselves before having to get ready for the overnight train. Steve and I didn't do too much, as he wasn't feeling well, but we did manage to go out for dinner with everyone in the early evening and Steve even ate dinner! At 19.00 we were packing our bags onto the bus to take us to the train station in Guilin. The train was really nice and very similar to the ones we went on before, but we experienced the hard sleeper carriage this time around and so had 6 people in a carriage, which was open to the corridor. We managed to sleep well though and so now feel complete having experienced all of the sleeper styles on offer to us on overnight trains in China!
SATURDAY 19th May
We arrived at Shenzen this morning and had the task of crossing into the administrative region that is Hong Kong. We got a couple more stamps in our passports and we were then piling onto the KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railway), which took us into Kowloon. We made it to the hotel, which was pretty posh and dumped our bags and headed straight for the shower to freshen up! Unfortunately, since arriving it was chucking it down, but we decided to go for a wander anyway! We ended up looking in camera shops for a lens for Steve, but they're all lots more expensive than in Bangkok (despite being second hand), so we'll probably get one when we go back to Thailand. After getting thoroughly soaked through, we decided to head back to the hotel to get dried off before dinner - thank goodness they provided hair-driers in the hotel rooms! After dinner we ended up having a bit of a party, as Chris's birthday is on the 20th, so we all stayed up until midnight, having a few drinks and a giggle together, it was great fun, although tiring!
SUNDAY 20th May
We had to get packed up and checked out of the hotel today. We made our farewells to everyone on the tour, as it's the end of the tour today. It's sad having to say goodbye to everyone, as we've made some great friends, but things have to come to an end. It's just going to feel like such hard work trying to get things sorted for ourselves again! After saying goodbye and getting checked out, we headed over to our next accommodation, a couple of the guys from the tour came with us, as they wanted to see if our hostel had any accommodation for them too, so we all got a taxi together. The hostel is OK, but it's pretty dreary and I can't wait to not have to stay there anymore - it will certainly give us the impetus to get out and do lots, as we don't want to spend too much time in the room (it's certainly the worst place we've stayed so far, 3 nights feels like 3 nights too long to be staying there)! I'm sure we'll survive though! We went out once we'd got our bags into our rooms and went to find some breakfast. We then wandered around, as just like yesterday it was still pouring with rain! We went to a bookshop and Steve bought the Hobbit and then we had some lunch before going to see the new Spider-man movie to kill some time whilst it was still raining.
That's about all that we've done since we last blogged. Hopefully the weather will clear up for at least one of the days that we're here, if not there are a few museums etc we can go to. We're not sure what we'll do for the rest of the afternoon/evening, although we do want to see the light show later on, but it doesn't start until 20.00. Anyway, that's about all for now, hope everyone is doing well, hope you had a good birthday Andie, and hope you're enjoying your resting mum (Pauline) - keep everything stable for the next appointment! Missing you all!
THURSDAY 17th May
We started off the day with a refreshing bicycle ride - we had some rather ancient mountain bikes, but luckily they weren't uncomfortable ones, so we set off on our merry way to see the limestone karst, countryside scenery around Yangshou. We did quite a lot of off-roading which was very bumpy work when you don't have the best gears or suspension systems in the world! But we got along well and made quite a few stops to take photos of the scenery and men ploughing the rice paddies with their ox etc. We went to a rice-wine distillery on our cycle - we think it was actually someones home as well and it seemed to be a bit of a bath-tub operation in a way, but Lucy, our local guide, explained how the rice was fermented before being cooked and distilled. At the end of the explanation, we were allowed to try some of the rice-wine, although Steve tried some, I gave it a miss, as it doesn't really agree with me! We stopped off at the Moon Hill Cafe, a few people decided to go and climb the hill to get some photos (including Steve of course, but I was too lazy to go), most of us waited for them at the Cafe and treated ourselves to some nice cold drinks instead! Moon Hill is an arch perched on top of a hill - so it looks like the moon rising over the hill, it's pretty cool and the view of the mountainous scenery was spectacular from the top. Once people were back from their walk, we all cycled to a nearby farmers house to have some lunch. We were allowed to have a look around the farmers house, it was very basic and simple and certainly makes you appreciate all of the luxuries we have at home! It was soon time to make our way back to the hotel and so we all set off down the road back into Yangshou town.
In the afternoon we had optional activities to take part in and Steve and I each had a class to go to - Steve did water colour painting. He only actually used black ink and learnt how to paint bamboo, he says he was really awful at it, but I thought it looked really good (we have the proof to show you when we get home)! I did a calligraphy class and learnt how to hold the brush, write Chinese numbers from 1 to 10, learnt how to write 'person', 'wood', 'tree' and 'forest', as well as my name in Chinese characters. Katherine in Chinese means beauty and success, whilst Stephen means King and wisdom! After our classes we made a couple of purchases - Steve got a 'chop' (a type of Chinese stamp, or seal), with his name carved into it in Chinese characters and I got a silk-lined, rice-paper scroll with my name written on it in Chinese characters!
FRIDAY 18th May
This morning we started off by going to a cooking class with a few other people from the tour. We got picked up in the morning at our hotel and started off at the fresh produce market, where we were introduced to lots of traditional Chinese ingredients, as well as fresh meats (including food dog) and tonnes of other food products! We then got taken to our class just outside of Yangshou. We made 4 dishes - an 'eggplant' (or aubergine) dish with garlic, ginger and chili paste etc, Beer Fish, Chicken and Cashew nut, and steamed vegetables stuffed with pork meat. It was all pretty good and it was great to learn how to use a wok properly (as well as clean it) - we've been doing it so wrong! But poor old Steve was very ill whilst we were there and so didn't sample very much of his own cooking!
After cooking we had a free afternoon to ourselves before having to get ready for the overnight train. Steve and I didn't do too much, as he wasn't feeling well, but we did manage to go out for dinner with everyone in the early evening and Steve even ate dinner! At 19.00 we were packing our bags onto the bus to take us to the train station in Guilin. The train was really nice and very similar to the ones we went on before, but we experienced the hard sleeper carriage this time around and so had 6 people in a carriage, which was open to the corridor. We managed to sleep well though and so now feel complete having experienced all of the sleeper styles on offer to us on overnight trains in China!
SATURDAY 19th May
We arrived at Shenzen this morning and had the task of crossing into the administrative region that is Hong Kong. We got a couple more stamps in our passports and we were then piling onto the KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railway), which took us into Kowloon. We made it to the hotel, which was pretty posh and dumped our bags and headed straight for the shower to freshen up! Unfortunately, since arriving it was chucking it down, but we decided to go for a wander anyway! We ended up looking in camera shops for a lens for Steve, but they're all lots more expensive than in Bangkok (despite being second hand), so we'll probably get one when we go back to Thailand. After getting thoroughly soaked through, we decided to head back to the hotel to get dried off before dinner - thank goodness they provided hair-driers in the hotel rooms! After dinner we ended up having a bit of a party, as Chris's birthday is on the 20th, so we all stayed up until midnight, having a few drinks and a giggle together, it was great fun, although tiring!
SUNDAY 20th May
We had to get packed up and checked out of the hotel today. We made our farewells to everyone on the tour, as it's the end of the tour today. It's sad having to say goodbye to everyone, as we've made some great friends, but things have to come to an end. It's just going to feel like such hard work trying to get things sorted for ourselves again! After saying goodbye and getting checked out, we headed over to our next accommodation, a couple of the guys from the tour came with us, as they wanted to see if our hostel had any accommodation for them too, so we all got a taxi together. The hostel is OK, but it's pretty dreary and I can't wait to not have to stay there anymore - it will certainly give us the impetus to get out and do lots, as we don't want to spend too much time in the room (it's certainly the worst place we've stayed so far, 3 nights feels like 3 nights too long to be staying there)! I'm sure we'll survive though! We went out once we'd got our bags into our rooms and went to find some breakfast. We then wandered around, as just like yesterday it was still pouring with rain! We went to a bookshop and Steve bought the Hobbit and then we had some lunch before going to see the new Spider-man movie to kill some time whilst it was still raining.
That's about all that we've done since we last blogged. Hopefully the weather will clear up for at least one of the days that we're here, if not there are a few museums etc we can go to. We're not sure what we'll do for the rest of the afternoon/evening, although we do want to see the light show later on, but it doesn't start until 20.00. Anyway, that's about all for now, hope everyone is doing well, hope you had a good birthday Andie, and hope you're enjoying your resting mum (Pauline) - keep everything stable for the next appointment! Missing you all!
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