monks, white sand, elephants and a cold Singha

harp beer, top man and a ukulele

2006-10-30T03:32:00.000-08:00

We are in Thong Nai Pan Noi now and having a lovely time just sat on our butts. We really haven't done much. We left Mac's Bay and this is the half Thai daughter of Mac. Her name is Maggie and she is really cute.
She would sit herself down with me every morning at breakfast and have me help her with her Math. She speaks perfect English and Thai. It was a little sad to say goodbye to the nice people of Mac's Bay but it was time to see something new. The ride up here over the mountain was exciting. Very riddled with pot holes. We came in the back of a truck with a driver named King. Thong Nai Pan Noi is probably our favourite place so far. We have met some lovely people and ran into our friend Matt again up here. We really haven't been doing much. We wanted to go fishing but the sea is too rough to go out. Last night there was a pool competition at the flip flop bar right on the beach. Graham entered for 200 bhat. Unfortunately he didn't win. We had a really good time and the local pool champion Matt came very close to winning. He just missed it by one shot at the end. We had a lovely night because everyone knew each other and we just hung out. These are 2 girls we met, their names are Rebecca on the left and Kelly on the right. Their significant others are very nice as well and Graham has gotten on well with them.
Rebecca and her boyfriend Jared are staying in the bungalow next to us and are both lovely and lovely to talk to. We have had a really busy last few days what with all the swimming, walking to get food, card playing, thinking about our next meal, reading and laying in the hammock. It can be really exhausting. It has been so nice to not do anything at all. Nowhere to go and nothing to do. This feels like a real vacation. We don't know how much longer we will stay here. We might leave in the next couple of days and go to another place, it all depends on the weather. The weather has been really good so far here so we might just stay on or go to Koh Tao to do some snorkeling. We haven't been able to do much snorkeling here, which has been quite sad for us. Apparently Koh Tao has some beautiful snorkeling and the water is much calmer there. The internet is really slow here and really expensive so I shall be signing off now besides that I don't really have anything exciting to report except that it is so beautiful, nice people, good food and Thong Nai Pan Noi is really far away from everything. The town is more like a village and is about one city block long. By the way if you are interested in the title of this entry I will let Graham tell you the story :) See you all soon. xoxo

Could you kindly turn the music down?

2006-10-23T04:50:00.000-07:00

Can you see the rainbow? This is the view from our bungalow when we first arrived at MAC's Bay after some pretty horrendous rain. Unfortunately the picture doesn't do it justice. On our way over to stay at MAC's Bay we came across a pamphlet about Koh Phangan on the boat. The pamphlet told us that in a few days time we were about to have a massive party on the beach of MAC's Bay. Great. We decided to stay anyways and weather the beats. We explored the island on our second day here on motor bikes that we rented and narrowly missed the torenntial down pours several times. It doesn't rain here all day just in little spurts. We made a friend named Matt from Lancashire England and he toured around with us the first day.

Saturday night was the big Black Moon party. It took two days to set it up. The speaker blocks were so massive we couldn't imagine how loud it would actually be. The lead up to the party was quite fun. It was probably the most fun we had that evening. The music was driving hard trance. We had quite a gang of people we had met and had fun despite the terrible music. The music went on until 9am the next day and miraculously Graham was able to sleep by 2:30am. I on the other hand had 1 too many redbulls and was not drunk but couldn't sleep at all. I didn't go to the bungalow until about 4am after a barbequed corn on the cob. We danced and laughed and generally had a great time. Our patio was right behind the food tent so we could chill out and watch the partygoers a bit from there. It was a welcome relief to have somewhere to escape too. We partied with a couple from Ireland, Matt, two girls from Canada and this totally mad english man staying in the bungalow next to ours.

This is us and Matt. Yes don't scream I have had a bit too much sun that day but now it is okay. All in all a good night and a good time on Koh Phangan. We are enjoying doing not much.
The weather is good. Today was very hot so we just sat in the shade and read and talked. We are thinking of moving beaches tomorrow. Up to Thong Na Pan Noi on the East coast. The beach is supposed to be even nicer and the swimming even better. There is an older crowd up there so I guess us old foggies will fit in quite nicely. It is a bit more expensive but I think worth it. I need some air con for a couple of days.

Kathleen narrowly escapes disaster

2006-10-17T03:49:00.000-07:00

woke up early on Monday morning to start out on a day trek. we started off with a 1.5hr ride in the back of a pick up truck. we first visited an Akha village. apparently the Akha came from Tibet a long time ago. the village was definetly set up for tourists and not too interesting. the next part of our journey included one of the things on our list to see...
we really enjoyed being so close to these magnificent animals. they are so huge, very prickly, kinda stinky, really dexterous and extremely amazing. we rode the elephants for about 1 hour. it was fun but we had really had enough after about 20 min. it seems like all the elephants have to work really hard just to be alive. the girl that was taking our photo didn't manage to take that many good ones so this is the only one of us that isn't blury. when I jumped off the elephant I almost went rolling down quite a hill luckily the mahout caught me. after some lunch we went on a hike up a mountain, over rocks, over rivers on tiny bamboo bridges and lots of slipping. it was incredibly hot and sweaty and I actually thought I would pass out. the destination was well worth the pain of the journey. the water fall was so beautiful and so refreshing. we laughed and swam around for quite some time. then it was back the way we came. after much slipping and sliding we miraculously made it down without any major accidents. the next part of our day was white water rafting and bamboo rafting. we were extremely unsure at the beginning and when we got into the boat, I suddenly couldn't remember a thing the instructor had told us. I got a little nervous but then it all came flooding back to me. the white water rafting part was totally exhilerating. the river was quite high as it is the end of the rainy season. I am not sure if we have ever screamed quite as much. it was so fun we didn't want it to end. after we got out of the inflatable boats and got onto a bamboo raft. we floated down the river for awhile on the raft and then the guide told us to get off and just float. we floated down the river for quite some time and finally got off at a village. back to the guesthouse for us. after a great shower we decided we were officially having fun and it was the best day we have had in a long time. today we did a cooking course together. yes you can all close your mouths Graham actually cooked. he did an amazing job and we ate so much our bellies hurt. the food we made was so good. we had so much fun. don't know what tomorrow will bring us although we will be sure to keep you informed. xoxo

Sunday night market

2006-10-17T02:26:00.000-07:00

we arrived in Chiang Mai Sunday morning after an over-night train ride. the bunks were small and the air-con cold but other than that we came out relatively unscathed. we went to Doi Suthep temple which is where this photo was taken. the stupa in the background was so bright and gold it was mesmerizing in the sun. Doi Suthep is said to have been built when a bone relic from the Buddha was given to the ruler of Chiang Mai in 1386. there are 308 steps to climb lined by a giant Naga. the climb is well worth the effort. the site of this magnificent temple was chosen when the bone relic was tied to the back of a white elephant and where the elephant stopped the temple would be built. when the elephant reached this spot 15km above Chiang Mai the ruler knew it was the spot. this is a picture of a little girl sitting on the steps trying to make some money. the weather is much better here, no rain. horray. we really love Chiang Mai and are staying longer than we intended. after the temple visit we went to have a lovely Thai massage. we went to the most beautiful spa. Graham had a one hour massage and I had a two hour massage. it was amazing although the lady kind of pummelled me and I have some bruises. it was most likely my own fault because I didn't stop her and actually told her about my tight thigh muscles. on Sunday night they have the Sunday night market and so we went there to find our dinner. it was the best food we have had so far. there were hundreds of stalls selling bits and pieces of food for 5 bhat and 10 bhat as well as thousands of peddlars selling their wares. we just went from stall to stall and tried a little of everything. the favourite by far was the fried chicken on a stick. it was so crispy and tasty, KFC has nothing on these guys.

nothing too exciting yet

2006-10-13T23:38:00.000-07:00

we have arrived safely in Bangkok after a very long and grueling flight. nothing much has changed in Bangkok since we were last here. we narrowly missed a crazy downpour with the craziest thunder and lightening you can imagine. the weather is okay, very hot and quite damp. we have a love hate relationship with the heat. we love the heat and hate the sweat. leaving tonight to go to Chiang Mai. we will take the overnight train and arrive sometime in the early morning. we had the most lovely view from our guesthouse, right out onto the red, ornate and sloping roof tops of a temple. there are these crazy squirrel like animals that run along the ridge of the roofs and then jump off and literally fly to the next one. it is quite fasinating. went to bed so early last night we were up early enough to watch the monks walking the streets for alms. had some good curry and some good street pad thai noodles. we went on a longtail boat ride today on the Chao Phrya river. very nice but our bums got quite wet from sitting on damp cushions. lovely. we will write more when something exciting actually happens to us. bye for now!

still home

2006-10-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

just getting our stuff sorted before our trip. see you all on here soon.