17th October - Today our tour group headed back to Bangkok. We checked out with them and jumped in the same bus to the pier but instead of going back to the mainland we got on the Catamaran to Ko Phangan. We arrived at the Island around 4pm. Its the inbetween sized island - smaller than Ko Samui but larger than Ko Tao. The Taxi to the hotel was absolutely nuts due in part to the usual crazy Thai driving and in part to the road - up and down the side of a mountain with 20% drops and hairpin bends. Not something you would want to do every day!
The taxi driver dropped us at the end of the road our hotel was on as the other guys off our tour who had come to Ko Phangan were at different hotels. It looked like a dirt track and we were a bit scared about what we were going to find given the previous standards of Thai accomodation. From the outside it was all rather shabby, but there was no need to worry though, our room was beautiful with a huge outside bath tub! The hotel was also right on the beach which was beautiful!
We headed out to wander round the town of Haad Rin (the area where we were) and ended up having a Mexican for dinner which was lovely and for once luckily minus the chillis that seemed to be in every other food we had!
18th October - We had a bit of a lay in before heading into town for some shopping. On the way in I noticed a hair salon and decided spur of the moment to ask about getting my hair highlighted. Turns out a full head of highlights was 20 pounds so I couldn't resist and luckily it turned out fine!
After that we shopped for a couple of hours but we weren't having too much luck with bartering down to Bangkok prices so we went back to the hotel for a dip in the pool and then relaxed for the afternoon in our lovely room!
In the evening we met up with the other guys from our tour who had come to the Island and we were all going to go to the Black Moon Party. The Full Moon Party on Ko Phangan is apparently legendary and attracts up to 20,000 people, and the Black Moon Party is supposed to be the baby version, after the Half Moon Party. We had stayed on the Full Moon Party Beach in the mistaken belief that the Black Moon Party was on the same beach but in fact it turned out it was on a completely different beach and we would have to get a Taxi there. Not only that but it was the other side of the mountain, which meant braving crazy road with crazy driver twice in one night! We decided to go but once we got there realised it was a mistake. It was expensive to get in (for Thailand), not very busy and playing Techo music. We decided to give it a miss and went back to our beach where James got involved in a bars party games and ended up chasing a chair halfway round the beach to win 2 beers. He won them - but as he doesn;t drink beer ended up giving them away - all that effort at musical chairs for nothing!!
19th October - We set our alarm for 5.30am to watch the sunrise (we were on sunrise beach and so it should have been spectacular). Unfortunately it was really cloudy so I crawled back to bed almost immediately and James stayed up in the hope it would improve and he could get some good photos. It didn't - see pics for proof we should have both stayed in bed!
After breakfast and packing up it was time to leave and head back to the pier to catch the ferry to the mainland. It turns our our ticket had the wrong destination written on it so we had good fun trying to communicate this mistake to the ferry operators and get it corrected, although we succeeded in the end. The Catamaran was horrible - we hit a storm and waves were crashing up the windows and I felt well and truly sea sick. After 4 hours we arrived in Chumphon and walked along possibly the worlds most rickety walkway - with my rucksack on my back with every step I was sure my foot was going to go through the old cracked wood which you could see had been repaired again and again! We had to get almost straight on the bus to Bangkok and that took 8 Hours - we arrived back in Bangkok at 1.30am and got a Taxi back to the good old Trang hotel which improved on its previous performance by giving us a room with a window AND a shower not over the toilet. Unfortunately we were too tired to appreciate this after the journey and just wanted to sleep!
20th October - This morning we headed back to the backpackers area (Ko San Road) for yet more last minute shopping as we had ended up with too many bahts and couldn't resist the opportunity for more cheap stuff! We had lunch in Mc Donalds as we thought we should really experience it Thai - style. IT was actually pretty similar to England, except for James' Samurai Pork Burger and Brocolli Pie (which has the same sweet pastry as their apple pie on the outside), and the fact that the BBQ sauce comes with Chillis in it!
On the way back to the hotel we got caught in a Thai thunderstorm and came out looking like we'd just been in the shower. Just what you need when you have to get on a plane! We made it to the airport, checked in (discovering that James rucksack had gained 6 kgs and mine 2kgs!) and boarded the plane at 6pm saying Goodbye to Thailand!
21st October - We arrived in Sydney at 7.00am and it was straight through transit to board the next plane to New Zealand. The flight to New Zealand was fairly short (only 3 hours) but the arrival into Queenstown was very very bumpy as you come in over the mountains. We landed early afternoon (about 1pm) and spent the next hour in Customs! You have to declare just about everything in NZ - Wood, hiking boots, if you've been in contact with animals other than cats and dogs (you should have seen their face when we told them tigers and elephants) . James got his hiking boots washed!
We took a bus to shotover street, the main street in Queenstown, and booked into a Base Hostel for $20 a night. It was such a nice change from Thailand - yes its a dorm with a shared toilet and showers etc. but it is clean and not full of insects!
We then decided to go for a wander around Queenstown, where we realised for the first time how cold it is! Queenstown is on the edge of Lake Wakatipu and as well as being a huge adventure sports city is a ski resort all winter - the ski slopes only closed a couple of weeks ago and the mountains all around still have snow on - it is freezing! We booked our next three days activities ( and managed to get vouchers for a free breakfast every day and 1 free dinner as well!) and then got an early night - I was nearly falling asleep over dinner as the jet lag and being up for 36 hours had really kicked in!
22nd October - Woken up this morning by staff trying to evict the only other person currently in our dorm (possibly something to do with the fact that his clothes are strewn all over the floor and completely blocking the fridge) - perhaps we spoke too soon about the luxury of hostels!
We had a late breakfast with our vouchers and then walked to a nearby bus stop for 1.15 where we were picked up to go horseriding for two hours through 'Lord of the Rings country'. Lord of the Rings was filmed just north of Queenstown and the scenery was beautiful, even if the Lord of the Rings references meant nothing to me. James had some vague memories of the parts of the film they were refering to though. James rode Drum, an 18 hand, 9 year old Clydesdale, and I rode Kane, a fifteen year old arab cross whoose claim to fame was to have been in the film Prince Caspian as none of the expensive horses they had flown in for the job would go through the rivers! The ride involved several river crossings and was loads of fun - James got to trot and I got to canter ahead of the group as the rest were beginners.
In the evening we went to Fergburger - which everyone kept telling us was the best burger we would ever eat. They probably weren't wrong. The burgers seemed to be made out of minced steak, were juicy, huge and tasty and came in the biggest buns you;ve ever seen with lashings of salad, cheese, bacon and anything else you could possibly ever want!
Written by James from here:
23rd October - Today we had a very early start - meeting the bus at 7.45 to head to Milford Sound which is a fjord on the coast of the South Island, northwest of Queenstown (a Fjord is a glacier carved valley whereas a Sound is a valley carved by a river so technically it should be Milford Fjord though!) We made a few stops on the way to look at the beautiful scenery in Fiordland which is a protected area. The roads were treacherous, carved on the side of mountains and there are frequent avalanches in the area so the road is often closed. We were able to see areas where the snow was cracking high on the mountains and would clearly fall soon. And also drive though areas of recent avalanches where the snow was piled higher than the bus on the sides of the road. The alpine scenery was amazing but we have probably seen enough waterfalls in the last month to last us a lifetime. We stopped at a place called Mirror Lakes and as the name suggests when the wind is still the water is so clear that you can see amazing reflections of the surrounding mountains.
Arriving at the milford sound we borded our cruise liner and set sail into the fjord. We sailed the whole length of the fjord right to the sea with more waterfalls and towering mountains either side of us whilst munching our buffet luch, trying to eat as much as possible to save money on dinner! This was the point where Steph started to go slightly green and had to head quickly up on deck, she didnt see her lunch again but it made her trip a bit less enjoyable. The fjore also has an underwater observatory which we went to as part of out ticket. It was ok, but nothing like snorkelling in the Islands off Thailand. because of the fresh water sitting for 5m or so ontop of the salt water of the sea makes the fjord very dark and plants grow in the fjord that you would normally only find 2-300m below the sea.
We arrived back at the hostel at about 8pm, a very long day.
24th October - ANOTHER early start this morning 8.15 on the bus ready for an action packed day ahead!
1st Stop: Canyon Swing!
Well. this was a triumph for steph, originally only I had planned on doing the swing and steph was just going to specate. Lets give you an idea of why she didnt fancy it. Think of a childrens playground swing but 109m high over a river valley with a freefall of 60m and a speed at the bottom of 150km/h! I was first up out of our group of 4 and chose the pin-drop position which is said to be the scariest. WOW! A serious rush! Sweet As! Even my shit was scared! Steph Watched all of us jump and plucked up the courage to do it herself! The blokes at the top really mess with your head by telling you it isnt all connected and stuff and despite a polite request from me and steph to be nice to her as she was scared enough already they still wound her up about her straps being loose and that they couldnt reach to tighten them! She did it and loved it! she is now an adrenaline junkie that is scared of heights! double the fun!
We now had a couple of hours to kill before we were picked up for the next part of the day so we headed back to the hostel and had half a Fergberger for lunch! (we realised last night that a whole one to ourselves was a little excessive!) Not that two in 3 days isn't of course!
2nd Stop: Shotover Jetboat!
These are 550hp boats that can run in under 10cm of water and are capable of doing 360degree spins! We donned our lifejackets and climbed aboard. Oh my Buddha! These things were quick, we sped along inches from rock faces in deep canyons along the Shotover river. We both loved the ride and it was a good 25minutes long so was worth it.
3rd Stop: Helicopter Ride:
My first time in a chopper and what a first time it was! we flew through canyons and over mountains, it only lasted 8 minutes but it was amazing. Steph kept her nerves under control and said she really enjoyed it too. The pilot was pretty daring and really did throw it around a bit, it all added to the fun! The chopper then landed in the river canyon and dropped us off for our next adrenaline rush!
4th Stop: White Water Rafting:
The chopper dropped us off at the start point and as we had already sqeezed into our wetsuits, helmets and life jackets at the base station we were able to jump into the rafts after a 5 minute safety briefing. To tell the truth this was the activity i was most scared about today after some of the videos i have seen on the net. It turned out that it wasnt as bad i had imagined, and i reakon we both would have liked it to be a bit faster and bigger. dont get me wrong there were a few parts that we really had to hold on and paddle for our lives but they were a little few and far between for a 2 hour ride. The highlight was floating though a 180m long tunnel just wide enough for the boat. (the only raftable tunnel like it in the world.) I jumped out of the boat when allowed to do so at one point and swam down one of the rapids which was a good laugh. There were one or two injuries in the other groups but none in our boat. in total there were 8 boats all rafting together and we all had to look out for eachother. Oh actually we did have an injury, I sat on Stephs hand at one point! oops!
It was now time to get back to the hotel for our free dinner of pie and mash and our buy one get one free cider! We managed to accumulate these freebies by spending an extortionate amount of money on the days activites! Without them we wouldn't be able to eat today as we had spent way over our budget for the day!
Hi Guys, it sounds like you're having such an excellent adventure! ( Have just sat up for far too long at this time of night to read your blog after work, but its worth it!) I am so jealous can't believe steph did that swing thing that is so brave, I would love to have the guts to do that(I freaked out going up the William Wallace monument in Scotland!)Have a fun week and I look forward to reading more! Loads of love Coz Laura XX
ReplyDelete