Thailand: Koh Phi Phi

Next on our Thailand Island hopping tour was the ever popular Ko Phi Phi. This involved a 14 hour overnight journey from Koh Tao consisting of a 9 hour night ferry, 2 hour bus journey then another 2 hour ferry, with a little waiting in between. With Bethan very prone to sea sickness, she quickly fell asleep after taking medication. The others however passed away the time playing a game where you make up a story with each person only adding five words at a time - lets just say things got hilarious when Barney the Dinosaur got a mention!

Ko Phi Phi is a very small island so we didn't think it necessary to book our accommodation in advance, as we have found that sometimes the best deals can be found by just walking into a few places. This way you still have the chance to bargain down the price a little. After visiting a handful of places, we decided on Centrepoint Hostel, which offered a reasonable priced dorm room in the center of everything. After dropping off our bags it was time to explore the island and take a look at some of the activities on offer. Sarah and Sophie decided on a boat tour of the surrounding area and Bethan, Sam and Rebecca thought a couple more scuba dives would be good.

Sarah and Sophie went off on their long tail boat trip for the day where they would explore the surrounding area of Ko Phi Phi. First stop was Monkey Beach where they hopped off the side of the boat into the crystal blue seas  to watch the tourists feed the many monkeys! They had mixed feelings about this as people who had paid more money for their tour turned up in bigger boats and were throwing lots of bread and bananas from the boat which eventually found its way into the sea. Needless to say, it quickly ruined the look of the beautiful sea so they swiftly stopped floating in the water and climbed aboard the boat. Next stop was Maya y which they were very impressed with! If you know anything about this place, you know it's most famous for it's peaceful white sand beach and amazing scenery of the surround cliffs. However, we were in Thailand during peak season which meant the beach was filled with people and boats again! No matter where they tried to swim in the sea, they'd eventually get moved by a boat looking for a space to park and bring even more people to the bay. They still thoroughly enjoyed the views of the bay and the clear waters, I guess we can always go back another day when it's quieter :P We also stopped in the middle of the sea about 5 minutes away from the bay to let people hop off and do some snorkeling to see the fish who live on the reefs. The visibility of the water that day wasn't the best but it was still fun to see, it's got nothing on scuba diving though haha! We were also given our meal for the day which consisted of some fruit, a sandwich and plenty of drinks before heading to the best point to watch the sunset over the water.. so pretty! The trip back to the mainland was interesting as suddenly the sea became really rough with huge waves which were throwing the boat around. It wasn't long before the waves started being bigger than the boat resulting in everyone becoming soaked as we sped through them.. it sounds a lot more scary than it actually was, it was absolutely hilarious!! The rest of the girls had a shock when Sarah and Sophie eventually found their way back to the hostel as they were dripping from head to toe!

Sam, Bethan and Rebecca booked 2 fun dives with The Adventure Club as these had been recommended to them from our previous dive instructor. We were a little nervous at first because these were our first dives as qualified divers. So our guide would literally be just that, obviously there for any emergency situation but we were ultimately to take care of ourselves. The company were having some trouble with their boat, so after a good half an hour delay we were told that we were to swap onto another companies boat which would take us to the dive sites. Now that this boat had twice the number of expected people it really was feeling a little crowded. This didn't matter to us though, we got a good lunch included and unlimited tea and coffee. First we headed out to a location called Bida Nok. This dive lasted 50 minutes and we saw loads of cool things such as, Scorpion Fish, Puffer Fish, Banner Fish and Clown Fish. Next was a place called Maya Corner which is close to the very famous Maya Bay. Here we saw Hermit Crabs, Sea Snakes, Moray Eels, Angel Fish and a 'Marie Antoinette' Lobster (the lobster was missing its head). As we were waiting on the surface for the boat to come and pick us up it was clear that Bethan was having some problems with her BCD. The air was leaking out which meant that she was sinking beneath the surface again. She informed our dive master who gave her a buoyancy aid to help keep her afloat. As the boat was nearing she must have signaled for help because they threw out a ring to hold on to and the next thing she knew she was being towed back onto the boat. This was going to continue as a little joke between the girls - "Oh Bethan, remember that time you had to get rescued and towed back to the boat?" haha!  

The next day was Sarah's Birthday - THE BIG 22, so obviously celebrations were in order! We were all super excited to get dressed up for the occasion! Yes, Thailand is known as a huuuge party destination but we're not really ones for going out for loads of drinks all the time. So when such an occasion arrives we tend to go all out! After more minutes than we care to admit getting ready, it was finally time to head down to the beach to begin the celebrations. Before we even arrived at the beach we spotted a small stall selling drinks for a very reasonable price, we were no doubt going to get ripped off at the bars and with the beach being a very open location it was okay to bring your own alcohol to the parties. We all decided that a bucket (yes, a bucket) each of strawberry daiquiri would be the best choice then headed down to settle at the beach to watch one of the fire shows. The fire show was really impressive with about 10 men performing all manner of dangerous tricks for our enjoyment. There was also some audience participation in the form of a burning skipping rope where you were rewarded with a shot of alcohol if you could do it for long enough. With the drinks flowing and Sam and Rebecca on their second bucket of the night we decided to take a walk along the beach to see what was going on in some of the other bars. Luckily enough it wasn't really that busy so we took a table and had plenty of room for dancing. Soon enough Sam was feeling the effects of the alcohol so decided to call it a night and it wasn't too long before everyone else was feeling the same. Rebecca however wasn't too keen on going home so proceeded to try and drag Bethan into the sea with her. After much persuading we eventually all found our way home and Rebecca found her way into Bethan's bed. It was cute because she had also brought her own pillow and her dog Barney along for the cuddles ("We do love to spoon when we're drunk don't we Beth?" hahahaa)! The next morning a couple of us were feeling a little worse for ware so a few deliveries of chicken nuggets and chips were made to our bedsides. Once we were feeling better we all heading down to the beach for some much needed relaxing to sleep off those hangovers. 

Next stop another Thai Paradise island - Koh Lanta!

Overnight ferry from Koh Tao to Koh Phi Phi

We're hereeeeeee!

Boat Trip

Birthday Celebrations

Amazing fire dance show

The Happy Wanderers

♥

Myanmar: Bagan

Once we boarded the train to Bagan, we were greeted by some young girls who were going through the carriages trying to sell snacks to people before we set off. They were all fascinated by us and asked endless questions about Sam's blonde hair, our country and why we were in Myanmar. When the train finally left after a 30 minute wait at the station, we were all surprisingly comfortable in the spacious cabin that we had all to ourselves. It had two bunk beds on either side of the cabin, with plenty of room underneath to stow our rucksacks away, so we all sat back and enjoyed the views of the Myanmar countryside as the sunset. A few hours into the trip and after many rounds of ' Would You Rather', Sam and Rebecca decided to hunt down some hot water to make a cup of tea (how British!). They soon arrived with news of an Australian guy called Samuel who they found in the lower class carriage who they invited to join us. Apparently he had been squished on a bench with his legs hanging out of the window where they could have been ripped off by a lamppost, because he was too tall to get comfy any other way! Soon after, he came staggering into our cabin and it didn't take us long to realised how drunk and hilarious he was. Little did we know, we would bump into Samuel a few more times during our time in Asia and Australia. After telling us many stories about his travels and hitch-hiking experiences around the world, the conductor came demanding that he leave and go back to his seat, but he soon left after we lied and said he was our family and begged him to let Samuel stay, haha! It wasn't long before we were all exhausted and decided to go to bed. However, in the middle of the night, Sarah had to ask Rebecca to sleep on the top bunk instead because she woke up having a bit of a panic attack due to the lack of space up there and how bumpy the ride had become was making her feel ill!

After 17 hours of being stuck on the train, we finally arrived at Bagan and were picked up by someone from our hostel which was the Eden Motel. However, upon arrival we were told that we had to pay for the pick-up service although when we booked, they said it was complimentary, so after a brief argument with the taxi driver, he finally accepted that he wasn't going to win haha.. Wanderers 1 - 0 Taxi Driver! Once we settled into our room and had a quick freshen up, we headed out into the town for a walk and find somewhere to have dinner that evening where we were swiftly directed to Restaurant Row, anything you wanted, they had it! Italian, Indian, Burmese, Chinese, they even had a small cafe called 'Wetherspoons' that sold a lot of British meals which entertained us. Eventually, we split way with half of us going for Italian and half going for Indian.. both were really, really tasty with Rebecca even keeping some of her curry and rotis for breakfast, well done Bagan! 

The next day Rebecca, Sophie and Sarah decided to head to Mount Popa which is an extinct volcano with the Popa Taungkalat Monastery (meaning 'Pedestal Hill) built at the base. They were picked up from the motel and put into the back of a pick up truck with lots of cushions and a roof as extra comfort for the hour long drive. The monastery is famous for being home to 37 nats (spirits), which are represented by statues at the base of the volcano. To get to the top, they had to climb the 777 steps and battle with the Macaque monkeys where they were greeted by a 360 degree panorama, many shrines and fantastic views of Mount Popa. The monastery is often confused with Mount Popa, which looms over it and is sometimes called Taung Ma Gyi (Burmese for 'Mother Hill'). 

Sam wasn't interested in going to Mount Popa and the monastery, and found a day trip to do instead where 3 local boys take a group of tourists on their boat to show them their favourite places in their local area. She was taken to a secluded beach, a village and a local children's school where she met some of the sweetest kids! She managed to book this through the motel we stayed at as an American man who lives in Bagan came up with the idea, and gathered the boys together to give them work. However they're currently struggling to get enough publicity to get a page on TripAdvisor and other tourism websites which is a shame as Sam only had amazing things to say about her day! 

On our final day Rebecca, Sam and Sophie decided to hire some bicycles and ride to the many pagodas that surround the grounds of Bagan. Sarah decided to wait at the motel because Myanmar has soooo many pagodas that she felt they all start to look the same after a while, plus she was coming to the end of the Hunger Games book and couldn't get her head out of it! After a few hours, the girls were back from their bike ride and our pick up had arrived to take us to the bus station where we would move onto Kalaw. We weren't too keen to arrive there though as it's high up in the mountains and we heard it gets VERY cold!

Here are some photos from our time in Bagan:

Sarah on the train to Bagan!

Thoroughly enjoying the views :)

Local children playing football and waving to us 

The amazing sunset on the way to Bagan

On the way to Mount Popa

The view from Taung Kalat (Pedestal Hill)

The steps to the top

Mount Popa

Plaques to honour the people who give donations to the monastery

Taung Kalat from a distance

The typical tourist shot haha!

Pagoda opposite Taung Kalat

Action shot of Sarah and Rebecca skipping around haha!

Rebecca joining the monastery LOL!

Peek-a-boo!

The Happy Wanderers

♥

Cambodia: Phnom Penh

Next up on our tour of Cambodia was the capital city of Phnom Penh. We arrived into the city at around 6pm, so plenty of time to find our hostel and get some dinner. After bargaining with the tuk-tuk driver to get a reasonable price, all five of us squeezed into the car and we were off on our way. Checking into the hostel was such a hassle - the owner definitely talks too much! After a chat at the bar for over 30 minutes we finally got shown to our room. We were so hungry we decided to just get food at the hostel and get an early night. Rebecca got more than she bargained for when she got offered a side order of tarantula legs, not one to turn down a challenge she ate them with no problems. We were not completely happy with this hostel so decided to move to another the next morning. Our new place was called Eighty8 and was much nicer and even had a swimming pool!

We arranged a tour of the Killing Fields, S21 Jail and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum for the next morning. The Killing Fields are a number of sites in Cambodia where more than 1 million people were executed and buried by the Communist Khmer regime under rule of Pol Pot during 1975-1979. However the total number of deaths resulting from disease and starvation during this time is estimated to be around 2.5 million out of a population of 8 million. Anyone suspected of connections with the former government were targeted and taken to these out of town areas for interrogation and usually executed within 24 hours of arrival. The most well known killing field is located in the village of Choeung Ek, around a 40 minute drive from Phnom Penh. Here there is a dedicated Buddhist memorial site which includes a stupa filled with over 5,000 skulls of the victims recovered from the mass graves in the area - some just tiny babies. Each of the skulls had been scientifically analysed for age and sex of victims and colour coded according to the cause of death. We all felt so shocked just how recently all this horror had gone on and that we knew almost nothing of its happenings. Even though it was a very eerie place to experience we felt like we learned so much.

Next stop was the S21 Jail and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This former school was transformed into a jail and was used to house victims before being taken to the nearby Killing Field. On arrival at the jail each victim was photographed, beaten and forced to write a very detailed story of their lives right from childhood, as a way to access the possibility of connections with the former government (a punishable offence). This often led to the capture of their entire family who were then also brought to the jail. We made our way around each of the five buildings, reading stories of the way victims were treated and of all the awful torture techniques that were used. We also learned how the guards used the old school gym equipment in the courtyard as a way of torturing victims for information. Again, it was such an overwhelming day for us especially since such horrific torture methods are almost unknown to us. It really hit us hard, again, like the killing fields, that none of this was discovered until 1979 and only because a journalist happened to stumble upon the stench of rotting bodies and followed it to the prison. Sorry for the graphic descriptions but it is really hard to talk about such tragic events in short - we wish that people knew more about this in the Western world because we felt really naive ourselves for being so ignorant to such horrible events.

We're very sorry for the lack of pictures here but we felt that taking photographs at The Killing Fields and S21 Jail was disrespectful. And we didn't really do very much else. As a city, Phnom Penh was our least favourite in Cambodia - largely because there was no real character to it and nothing really to rave about other than the above - which, although extremely interesting, was rather depressing and exhausting. We only stayed for 2 days and then decided to head on to Sihanoukville!

Cambodians love their king

Phnom Penh Palace

Enjoying your chips there?

The Happy Wanderers

♥

India: Varanasi

Next stop on our journey around India was Varanasi, probably one of the most chaotic places we've visited yet. We've been pretty excited to see Varanasi for a loooong time, mainly because of its sanctity within the Hindu religion, something which we've been trying our hardest to embrace and educate ourselves in as we've been going along. Varanasi is the spiritual capital of India and is often referred to as "the holy city of India", "the religious capital of India", "the city of Shiva", and "the city of learning" so you can imagine how important it was for us to visit. Many Hindus believe that death at Varanasi brings salvation - if you are cremated in the city and your ashes thrown into the Ganges, you will attain nirvana. This ends the life/death cycle which is preferable to the majority of Hindus because it means all their sins are forgiven and they can finally rest in peace rather than being reborn as something less preferable than a human, or even a human of a lower cast (if possible) in another life. We'll discuss this in more detail in a while.

We stayed at Stops Hostel during our time in the city. We absolutely loved the hostel and felt so at home there we ended up staying an extra two days! When we arrived we were greeted by bright displays of colour, painted walls, chalk boards, random furniture and a general chilled out vibe. The manager explained to us that a number of tours and activities were planned for each day of the week and that we could do a cooking class, a sunrise river boat tour along the Ganges, an evening boat tour to the burning ghats, a market tour, a temple tour, yoga classes, and much more. They even offered massages for a small donation which was very tempting. We stayed in a 16 bed dorm but we also found out that there was the opportunity to sleep in tents on the roof (the cheapest option available) which you would initially think is a bit silly considering there are beds available in dorm rooms with actual mattresses but it was surprising how many people were checking out of the dorm and into the tents at the earliest opportunity - they were fully booked for the entire duration of our stay! The tents were located on the roof and had a really nice area where you could chill out and socialise. Maybe worth a try if you ever visit! Also on the roof were the communal toilet and shower cubicles, each of which were painted in the theme of a particular film, some of which included Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It certainly made for some interesting toilet/shower breaks! The hostel also provided free breakfast - the first hostel we've come across that does so which we obviously loved. Every morning there were endless supplies of cornflakes, boiled eggs, toast with butter and jam, coffee, and chai which allowed us to fill our bellies up for the day.

As we arrived pretty late in the day, and weren't yet sure of our whereabouts we asked for some advice on where to eat and were told that Kerala Cafe, about a two minute walk away had some pretty good food. We decided to visit and found the cheapest food yet (around 50p for a huge portion!) VERY spicy but delicious all the same. After our great feed we decided an early night was in order as we had booked a sunrise boat tour of the ghats for the next morning - we were not looking forward to our 4.30am alarms!

Before we knew it we were awoken to the dreaded sound of our alarm. Still pitch black outside, freezing cold and still half asleep we followed our guide on a 5 minute walk from the hostel to the Ganges river. Here we were met by the most friendly young man - Babu, who would be our boat rower for the tour. This boat ride was very chilled, taking a slow pace up the river where we admired the local laundrettes hand-washing bags of laundry from the surrounding houses and hotels. We also got to see many local people having their morning bath in the river (even though it was freezing cold outside!), they do this as they believe it washes away their sins. When the sun rose around 6.30am, we could finally see just how many people were at the ghats waiting to wash in the Ganges and start a new day afresh. On our way back towards the hostel Babu kindly stopped at a small stall selling chai - a bargain at only 5p a cup! We were feeling pretty exhausted after our early start, so after taking full advantage of our all you can eat inclusive breakfast at the hostel we decided that some down time was in order so set up in the chill out space in our dorm room to begin planning our next leg of the adventure. This proved to be a very frustrating task indeed, as every route we planned to take brought us more and more dead ends. After hours upon hours of planning, our hard work had worked up our appetites, which was only going to be fulfilled by McDonalds - thank god for google maps pointing us in the right direction!

The next morning we thought we would have a wander around the streets of the city - what a maze this turned out to be! The streets were so windy and narrow it was impossible to navigate our way around. After aimlessly wandering for a few hours and feeling ourselves getting a little overwhelmed we took refuge in Brown Bread Bakery. We had been warned about the many fake copies of this restaurant but a kind local man reassured us this was the original. We were delighted with our amazing pasta dishes and the bread basket that accompanied it was to die for! After months and months of Asian bread (you'll know what we mean if you've been) it was like a dream come true to taste the freshly baked goods.

That evening we were feeling inspired by the city and eager to learn more about the ghats and the significance of Varanasi city within the Hindu religion so we booked another river boat tour through the hostel, however this time we would have a guide, Anil, to explain everything in a lot more detail. As we travelled up the river Anil first explained about the 'burning ghats'. Manikarnika Ghat is the most well known place for Hindu cremation, carrying out around 200 cremations per day, as they believe that cremation here will bring moksha (emancipation, liberation, release). The price of a cremation here is very expensive and the type of cremation depends on a persons caste. The body burns best using sandalwood, which is the most expensive and so can only be afforded by the richest families. If a cheaper wood is used then the body will burn more slowly, or not completely which is undesirable. The ashes are then collected and thrown into the river. Women are completely banned from attending any cremation at the ghats, as it is believed that women bring too much sorrow to the event. Burning of the body is not to be looked at as a sad event; but rather a new beginning.

Next on the tour we stopped at Dashashwamedh Ghat where every evening five priests perform Ganga Aarti (Agni Pooja) which is a dedication made to Lord Shiva, the Ganga River, the Sun, Fire and whole universe. This is a spiritual ritual which takes place along the entire length of the Ganga river. There were hundreds of boats filled with both tourists and pilgrims who come here daily to worship Lord Shiva. We watched as the priests began the ceremony with large flaming lamps and the chanting of mantra and songs. The crowds in the boats followed this by lighting their own lamps on placing them into the water lighting up the whole river. Our heads almost exploding with new information we decided a good dinner was necessary so we left the boat and went on a mission to find something delicious.

Varanasi really was one of the most inspiring places we've visited so far, we hope the pictures capture the beautiful chaos better than our words... 

Planning our next move

Stops Hostel Wall Art

Babu on the Sunrise Boat Tour

And they say India is third world.. :P

5p Chai 

Cheers! 

Evening Aarti Ceremony

Happy Wanderers

♥