Thailand: Koh Tao

We left on a sleeper bus from Bangkok which took around 9 hours and watched the sunrise as we waited 3 hours for our ferry to leave for Koh Tao. We were treated to a few episodes of Mr Bean while on the boat. Maybe due to a lack of sleep or just poor sea legs but Bethan got very sick on the ferry and spent most of the time locked in the bathrooms. As we were nearing the island we were greeted with the most beautiful landscape - shimmering blue ocean, amazing limestone formations and what looked like a forest of palm trees, a sense of excitement was among us. 

It was a great relief after 2 hours sea crossing to finally be on solid ground again. We exited the port to try and get a ride to Good Dream Hostel at Sairee Beach and were horrified at how much the taxis were charging (around £10 for a 3km drive). But with no other option we hopped into the back of an open top truck for the short ride. We dropped our bags at the hostel and went for a walk to find breakfast. Just a 2 minute walk away was a cafe serving Italian coffee and pancakes - win! Even that wasn't enough to give us the energy for the rest of the morning so we decided to give in to the comfort our beds had to offer and take some rest.

Just a few hours later we couldn't resist the urge to explore any longer so went to check out the beach and the town - our bodies are always telling us how tired we are but our inquisitive nature wont allow us to keep still! We soon settled into a cosy place on the beach front to order some dinner. We all got a range of the delicious Thai food on offer, and Bethan really could not shut up about "THE BEST MASAMAN CURRY EVERRRRR" for at least a week afterwards (yes we did go back numerous times during our stay). At this place we were also treated to a fire dance show. Usually these can get fairly elaborate with many people taking part and complex skills involved. This one was a little more low key as there was only around three men taking part, but we really enjoyed the audience participation. At one point Sarah had a few flaming balls dangled over the top of her head :P - better to ask her for more information. 

Our time in Koh Tao was split between Sairee Beach and Chalok Bay where we attended Ocean Sound Dive School for our PADI Open Water course. We have an entire blog post on this here. So after our final morning of diving, getting our ever so flattering PADI certification photographs and saying our saddened goodbyes, it was time to move back to Sairee Beach for a few days. As previously mentioned the taxi service on the island is extremely expensive so Bethan came up with an, admittedly long winded but genius plan! We were to hire one moped and drive two of us (with backpacks) to Sairee beach where we would hire another moped, both drive back to pick up the other girls and keep doing trips back for fore until everyone and their luggage were safely in Sairee beach again. This plan actually worked out perfectly and Bethan was feeling ever so smug! Feeling confident we hired yet another bike so that all 5 of us could explore the island together.

As the hire of the bikes lasted 24 hours we still had the bikes to explore the next morning so we chose a random point on the map and off we went. Looking back now we should have thanked ourselves lucky that we had explored with no problems the day before and left it at that! The point we chose on the map happened to be up an extremely steep hill, and with our tiny engines and 2 persons per bike we couldn't quite make it. Bethan and Sarah were first up the hill and when Sarah realised the bike was slowing down and unable to make the incline, she thought it a great idea to just jump off. Of course with the bike now having less weight and Bethan full on the accelerator the bike suddenly sped off and Bethan lost control and fell onto the side of the road, falling backwards off the bike and landing directly on top of Sarah. Next was Sam and Sophie sharing a bike, who had a more graceful landing, although falling the bike on the floor. And Rebecca being by herself had no problems whatsoever but decided she should stop to see what all the commotion was about. Believe me it sounds a lot worse than it actually was, nobody was hurt - at least not physically. Our purses were really feeling the pinch the next day when we had to return the bikes, now covered in scratches to hear of a hefty bill we had to pay. Shops on the island of Koh Tao have a really bad reputation of trying to scam tourists into paying for damage that isn't there, or overcharging them for tiny scratches as they claim the bikes have to be in immaculate condition in order for them to be hired again. We knew we were going to have to be charged for the damage on the bikes as there were very clear scratches pretty much everywhere. But, when we were hit with a bill amounting to over £350 we knew our guy was trying to rip us off! After refusing to pay such a hefty price we headed to the police station for advice (the bike rental places ask for your passport as deposit so there is no way you can simple walk away without paying as you would be without your passport). The police were actually quite helpful and headed up to the shop with us to have a talk with the guy and in the end we paid just £50. Apparently this particular shop is well known for this type of scam and the police assured us that he is now on this final warning. It's fair to say things got a little awkward over the next few days as our hotel was directly opposite his shop!

Over the next few days we noticed the island getting more and more busy as people were heading over from the neighbouring island of Ko Phangan after the full moon party. Queueing for over 15 minutes in the local 7/11 shop wasn't our idea of fun so we though it best to head off ahead of the crowds and book our transport to another island, Ko Phi Phi. So for our final day on Koh Tao, Bethan, Sam and Sophie headed out to try a Thai massage. They found a really cute place with the massage beds placed outside on a balcony area overlooking the clear blue sea - it was soooo relaxing. Thai massage is a very love it or hate it kind of thing as they can be a little brutal. We found that if you just relaxed into the experience instead of fighting against it, it made for an amazing massage! After getting our complementary green tea and Bethan getting her hair brushed and restyled by one of the ladies we heading for one final explore of the shops. Feeling super relaxed from the experience Bethan decided that now was as good a time as any to get the nose piercing she has been waiting for ages. We simply called into one of the many tattoo and piercing shops, bargained for the price she wanted (£11) and within a few minutes there was a huge needle through her nose and a shiny silver hoop. 

It's fair to say we had an adventurous time on the island of Koh Tao - scuba diving, moped accidents, police involvement, facial piercings, vomiting incidents, lots of secret snapchat filmings (SAM!). Same again next year? :D

Putting Bethan's amazing plan into action

Still smiling even after the incident!

Sunset on Sairee Beach

Amazing massage location

One final photo before the nose piercing - oh and green tea :)

The Happy Wanderers

♥

Thailand: Ocean Sound Dive and Yoga, Koh Tao

If you know anything about Koh Tao you will know that it is famous for scuba diving. As a result there are countless dive schools dotted all around the island which makes choosing one a challenge in itself. A week or so before arriving we took to TripAdvisor for a list of the best schools on the island and contacted the top 5 for more information. They all got back to us with similar information and prices which again we were none the wiser as to which one to choose. After reading reviews in more detail we decided that a smaller, more intimate school would be preferred so opted for Ocean Sound Dive and Yoga (which are currently number 1 on TripAdvisor, no doubt they deserve it!). We decided to take the plunge and book to do our PADI Open Water Qualifications which would allow us to dive up to 18m all around the world - providing we passed of course! 

On arrival at Ocean Sound we were greeted by Jesper and asked to fill out a health questionnaire and pretty much sign our lives away. After a quick introduction to the schedule we would be following and most importantly locating the free tea and coffee station, we were taken to our seaside cabins. Ocean Sound are located in Chalok Bay on the south of Koh Tao, away from the madness of Saree Beach where we had stayed previously. We stayed at Tropicana Resort where we were lucky enough to secure 2 beach front cabins just a few metres from the ocean! We had a few hours to spare before we needed to head back to the dive shop to begin our course, so we took a wander around the Bay to orientate ourselves and scope out the good looking bars and restaurants. 

Now it was officially time to begin dive school! We were introduced to our dive instructor Mariana - she was so friendly and easygoing it was clear we were going to have a good time. For the rest of the afternoon we watched a few sections of a DVD and were sent away with some homework. Being the star students that we are, we brushed that off, went for dinner and then all got together at around 10pm to go over our answers (sorry Mariana if you're reading this :P). Nevertheless going over our answers the next morning we had no problems, so it was time to go for our first try in the swimming pool!  

Now at the swimming pool we first had to prove that we could swim. Yes, believe it or not there are people who think they can scuba dive without having the ability to swim! We had to swim 500m and tread water for 10 minutes. Next we learned how to properly set up the equipment and carry out our buddy checks. Then it was time to take our first breaths underwater! Some of us found it more difficult that others to get used to this sensation, as you have to completely forget you even have a nose! Once Mariana was satisfied we were all comfortable it was time to begin our mask skills - filling it with water and learning how to get rid of it, taking the mask completely off and breathing without it for a full 2 minutes - all scenarios that could potentially happen underwater. Next we moved to the deeper pool and practised our buoyancy skills, taking our equipment on and off whilst in the water and around a thousand other things. We were all feeling much more confident now that we had had a few hours in the swimming pool, getting familiar with the equipment and perfecting skills we would have to demonstrate on our dives over the next couple of days. We loved that Ocean Sound carry out this session in a swimming pool rather than in open water as this reduced any anxiety we may have had. We all felt that going straight into the sea, which happens at many dive schools would have been very overwhelming. Mariana gave us even more homework to be completed that evening so we were ready to tackle the open waters early next morning. 

So the day was here - our first ever dive into the open water! We all had very mixed feelings, excited but also nervous as we were going into the unknown. Sophie wasn't doing any diving herself but she was allowed on the boat nonetheless which meant lots of pictures! The boat was amazing, not too crowded and we got free breakfast of eggs and toast and an endless supply of watermelon, pineapple, tea, coffee and hot chocolate. After our dive briefing and quick overview of hand signals of different type of fish we may see it was time to gear up and jump into the water. At Ocean Sound they keep the groups to a maximum of 4 students which increases safety but also makes for a better experience as we felt we really got to know Mariana. We found this first dive a little difficult as we felt like we had a million things to think about all at once. However, Mariana took it very slowly, always checking on us and it wasn't long before we were enjoying ourselves. 

From then on every dive we did got better and better. As we became more comfortable in the water we were able to focus more on the beauty that was around us rather than perfecting our buoyancy or controlling our breathing. We got to do a total of 4 dives for our PADI qualification, reaching a maximum depth of 18 metres. And within what felt like a blink of an eye we were officially qualified PADI Open Water divers! GO TEAM! We enjoyed our experience so much we were contemplating going ahead and doing our advanced course as well. However we thought we would save that for another location so we had diving experience in another part of the world. 

We all enjoyed every minute of our time with Mariana and Ocean Sound, they really are number one for a reason! 

Not a bad location

Sexy wetsuits

Learning our hand signals - awkward turtle! 

Checking we can breathe 

Nice tank ;)

All ready to go!

Heeeeey fishes! 

We survived! 

Officially PADI Open Water Qualified ! 

The Happy Wanderers

♥

Cambodia: Sihanoukville

We got the bus from Phnom Penh down to the beaches of Sihanoukville for some well deserved beach time after all the history lessons of Cambodia. We decided to stay in Led Zephur Hostel on Serendipity Beach. We had heard that this was the more lively section of Sihanoukville and was advised to seek accommodation on a more chilled area, however we felt that a more busy location would be suitable for some party time, and we could always do a day to another more quiet area for some relaxing. On arrival at the hostel we were amazed to find a Sunday roast on the menu and quickly jumped at the chance - we were not disappointed! After months and months of seeing pictures every Sunday on Facebook and getting suuuuuuuper jealous, we finally had our own roast dinner to devour, oh god the gravy!

After stuffing ourselves silly we took a wander down the road to the beach front. We were soon ambushed by a group of small children trying to sell us string bracelets/anklets. We politely refused their offer but they proceeded to follow us anyway and it wasn't long before we had a group of them join us at our table while we ate. We didn't mind though, we had lots of fun chatting with them and taking selfies. Bethan was sporting a 'double bun' hairstyle that day which was quite the hit with the children. They kept asking why she had a hairstyle that looked like a cat - "meeeowwww" haha! It was cute to make these little friends because for the remainder of our stay they would spot us on the beach and come over for a while to sit with us. They even made us all friendship bracelets of our favourite colours for no charge whatsoever.

With everyone in high spirits we spotted a fire show going on at JJ's Playground just a few bars down, so we headed over for a closer look. We were happy to find an amazing drinks offer - buy one get three free, for a tiny 40p! We settled onto a table and were mesmerised by the skills of the fire show. It wasn't long before one of the guys, Danny, decided to join us and even convinced Rebecca to have a go herself. As you can imagine this didn't end well, Rebecca attempted to twirl the fire stick around a few times and decided it was too hot so dropped it on the floor. The table next door seemed very impressed with Rebecca's efforts and decided to leave us 2 beer towers as they were heading back home and we proceeded to dance the night away - thanks Mr Hong Kong!

After that heavy night we decided to check out the more chilled area of Sihanoukville, so asked a tuk-tuk driver to take us to Otres Beach. We were met with just a few beach shacks along the beach front but decided to take refuge on a deserted section of the beach under a palm tree. We had a wonderful day dipping in an out of the sea and sipping fresh coconut water. Soon enough the sun was setting so we went into one of the restaurants for dinner, where we were treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets we've seen to date!

So that's our Cambodian Trip all over with - now for a 20 hour bus ride back to Bangkok to apply for our Myanmar Visas!

Dinnerrrrrr!

Serendipity Beach

Drinks with Danny

Courtesy of 'Mr Hong Kong'

Otres Beach

Otres Beach

Sunset at Otres Beach

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

♥

Welcome Fellow Wanderers!

The happy wanderers trio has now become five and we thought we should dedicate a post to welcome ourselves to the group! Firstly, leaving to go travelling 3 days after christmas makes everything just a little bit more hectic! Shops are filled with warm winter clothes - not ideal when you are doing a last minute dash to the shops to buy a pair of shorts! 

Emotional goodbyes were said at London Heathrow airport and away we went - on separate flights due to booking the trip at separate times! We then met up for an overnight stopover in Bangkok. The excitement was building for us all to be reunited in Siem Reap. The flight the next morning to Siem Reap took no more than 35 minutes, however Bangkok Airways saw that as a challenge to see if its possible to serve a 3 course meal plus tea and coffee and clear it all away in time for landing. Fair play to them, they managed it! After queuing  at immigration for what felt like forever to get our Cambodian visas, we walked out of the airport fully expecting to be hassled by tuk-tuk drivers and get ourselves to the hostel. However the girls had other plans and were waiting to surprise us outside arrivals with a free tuk-tuk courtesy of the hostel. Unsuprisingly our reactions to this differed slightly.. Rebecca almost obliviously walked past and Sophie practically burst into tears #absoluteclassic. 

After 3 long months of waiting to leave, reading blog posts, and seeing all the photos.. we could finally call ourselves official 'happy wanderers'!

Muchos Love and Excitement... 

Rebecca and Sophie

India: Goa

Travelling down to Goa we decided to change up our mode of transport and try out the sleeper buses of India. We'd heard pretty good things about them from fellow travellers, and everything seemed promising as we settled into our beds. However the twists, turns and bumps in the road posed a real risk of falling out of the beds and the team of drivers were so loud at the front of the bus it made sleep pretty much impossible. Arriving into Mapusa as three very sleepy wanderers, we were kicked off the bus where we were met with an ambush of taxi drivers offering to take us to our hotel. Even though every inch of us wanted a quick, easy journey to our awaiting beds at the hostel, we decided a local bus would be a a cheaper option so walked just 5 minutes to the bus station. We paid just 15 rupees each for the 45 minute bus journey south to Zostel where we were staying in Candolim. We hopped off the bus and spotted Zostel quite easily as the directions given to us from the website were very easy to follow. We had booked in for just 3 nights - as we checked out we had totalled a massive 21 nights, making us Zostel Goa longest ever guests!

Our first week in Candolim was quite chilled as we basked in the sunshine and enjoyed the warm sea. Most people in the hostel were out partying almost every night, however we decided to give this a miss and explore the wider area of Goa. 

Anjuna Flea Market: Every Wednesday there is a Flea Market in Anjuna which was just 10km away from where we were staying. We priced a taxi thinking it would be a reasonable price and got a massive shock when he wanted to charge us a very English rate for the journey. After stopping and asking a few more taxis it was very clear that the prices in Goa were not like what we had been used to elsewhere in India. So, again we found ourselves packed onto the local bus, which conveniently stops anywhere along the main road. This was much more of a hassle as it meant we had to get one bus back to Mapusa, then change to another bus into Anjuna - anything to save a few pounds! The journey really was worth it, the market was massive selling everything you could ever wish to buy. We bought a few Christmas presents for the family as we were planning to send a surprise parcel home for everyone (you can thank us later :P). Wandering around the market for a few hours we had built up our appetites for dinner. We settled at one of the beach shacks that was playing live music and ordered a mix of pasta and pizza - yummmy! We decided to get a taxi back to our hostel in Candolim as it was getting late as we didn't want the hassle of the bus journey again, I think we paid around 600 rupees for all 3 of us. 

Old Goa: Our next place to explore in Goa was the city of Old Goa which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Once a city inhabited by the Portuguese and used as a port for worldwide trading, it is now mostly abandoned serving mainly as a tourist destination for those wishing to visit the numerous churches. The Basilica of Bom Jesus holds the mortal remains of St Francis Xavier which attracts many visitors. We were lucky enough to time our visit when his body is publicly displayed, which only happens once every 10 years! However, this meant that Old Goa was extremely busy making it very difficult to take in the peace of the churches. We soon gave up and found ourselves in Baskin Robbins for an ice-cream treat. 

Panjim: Yet another local bus, this time down south to Panjim, the capital of Goa state. We strategically planned our visit to Panjim on the release date of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, as we just couldn't wait another day longer! We visited Panjim numerous times after this, a few times to pop to the post office to mail Christmas presents and a few more trips to the cinema. 

Palolem: We'd heard a lot about Palolem but was always put off by how far away it was on public transport until we realised how cheaply we could hire a car all to ourselves for the entire day! One of the guys who worked at the hostel arranged for a car to be dropped off to us the next morning at 7am ready for us to begin the hour and a half drive to the South. All of us had a turn at driving the beastly Suzuki Swift which took some adjusting to as India isn't known for it's rules and regulations when it comes to the roads (good job we're not nervous drivers!). Once at Palolem, we were immediately greeted with markets and stalls along the seaside which sold unique things we hadn't seen anywhere else yet. Needless to say, it wasn't long before some cheeky purchases were made and some food was consumed. After a good sing along session in the car as we made our way back to Zostel, we all felt really happy that we had made the effort to explore the South of Goa as it was good to see a different part of the state where there was a more relaxed vibe and plenty of friendly faces!

Our second week at Zostel and with the friendship group (from here they will be known as our 'Zostel Family') growing we found ourselves more involved in the parties Goa has to offer. 

It was so exciting getting all dressed up for a night out - putting make up on for the first time in weeks was a real treat and we all felt like we'd made a great effort (compared to the daily jump out of bed and we're ready routine). We met our group of friends in the common room for some drinks before heading out, which soon escalated to around 14 people playing 'Werewolves' and afterwards, 'Ring of Fire'. With everyone in high spirits we jumped in a few taxis and headed to Club Cubana. We had heard very good things about this place and it definitely didn't disappoint. We had to couple up for entry as they give you a cheaper rate (1000 rupees per couple), which included unlimited drinks throughout the night. Walking into the club it was covered with trees and has a kind of secluded jungle feel. It is split up into numerous sections, one chill out area with large beds, one area with a swimming pool, one large bar area and the main indoor club and VIP section. The club is set high up on a mountain which gives the most spectacular views. We all had such a brilliant time chatting and meeting new people and dancing the night away. We loved it so much we found ourselves in Club Cubana twice more. On a Wednesday they have ladies night, which entitles us lovely ladies to free entry (and free unlimited bar, winner!)

Once Club Cubana got a little same-same we decided to give another place a try. So Monday night we heard about a beach party at The Lilliput Cafe and headed there with who was left of the Zostel family - now a mere 6 people. Entrance cost around 400 rupees, however this didn't include any drinks. We chose a table directly on the beach and were chatting away when we noticed the sea getting closer and closer and bar staff ushering people away and removing tables. It wasn't too long until the sea had completely covered the beach and we were forced inside and straight to the dance floor. The music at The Lilliput Cafe was interesting to say the least - a mix of house, electica and drum and bass. We're usually not fussy about music genre but after a few hours it all got a little too intense so we called it a night. 

Here are a few pictures from our time in Goa - 

Off we go on our bus adventures

Basilica of Bom Jesus

Church in Old Goa

Old Goa

Old Goa

Don't mind if we do..

Palolem shops

Our Car for the day

Candolim Beach

Candolim Beach Shacks

Not a bad place for some 'breaky 

Lets go Partyyyy

Copying Bethans hairstyle

Double bun twins!

Club Cubana

Club Cubana (again)

Lilliput Cafe

Good Night?

Morning Hangover Cure

Thanks for an amazing stay Zostel Goa! Now onto Kerela..