Thailand: Koh Lanta

We got on an 11.30am ferry from Koh Phi Phi to Koh Lanta which took around 2 hours and cost around 400Baht, (£9 per person). The ferry this time wasn't too much of a problem for anyone, the sea was very calm and there were outside seating areas for fresh air. Arriving into Koh Lanta we again had no accommodation booked as all the options we had found online were a little out of our budget. Getting off the ferry we found a tuk-tuk driver who said he knew of a few cheaper places so we hopped in expecting to view a few rooms before finding one that suited us. 

We were pleasantly surprised when we pulled up to our first location The Leaf House Bungalow. It was a small garden area with a few two storey beach shacks surrounding it, with a larger hut used as a social area and numerous smaller undercover seating areas, all within a stones throw of the beach. We all jumped out of the tuk-tuk thinking that this place was going to be well over our budget. The lady said that the only room she had available was a 5 bed dorm room above the social area, and upon showing us we completely fell in love. We negotiated a good price for the room and even got ourselves a free breakfast thrown in. 

We were all feeling pretty excited about having the beach so close, so we got into our swimwear and headed straight there. Rebecca and Sophie being the most excited of us all, literally dumped their stuff and ran into the sea. After about 20 seconds there were a lot screams coming from Rebecca and we all started panicking thinking she had got into some sort of trouble. As fast as she ran into the sea was as fast as she ran out of it again! She comes over to us claiming that she is covered in this horrible slimy stuff, which we later found out to be jellyfish babies! Luckily enough they were too young to sting yet, but from then on nobody wanted to enter the water. Because of this we found that lying on the beach was complete torture as we couldn't enter the sea to cool down. After only an hour or so Bethan and Sarah gave up and walked back to the Bungalow. That night we were delighted to find so many cats living at the hostel. The cutest one was this white and grey one who took a special liking to us and even followed us up the stairs to bed.

The next day we were all feeling like we had had enough of the sunbathing so we headed out to a coffee shop for some food and a few cups of coffee. After an amazing feed we wandered up and down the main road going in and out of a few shops. But, the area in which we were staying didn't really have too much to see so it wasn't long before we found ourselves at the bungalow again. Missing our scuba diving we thought watching Finding Nemo would be a good idea - of which we all enjoyed (even Rebecca)! That evening we headed out for a walk on the beach to check out some of the food places. We settled into one of the restaurants, ordered the same amazing pasta dish and Sarah ordered a pizza which we thoroughly enjoyed. 

After a short 2 night stay we decided that there wasn't really enough to see here, so we decided to move on to Krabi. Sorry for the lack of pictures but we really didn't do too much. 

Beach Time!

Seating Area at the Bungalow

Yummmmyyy!

Our cat friend for a couple of days

The Happy Wanderers

♥

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

♥

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

♥

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..