Koh Lanta Island, Thailand

Children from Malaysia on holidays, playing a game on the beach. They explained it to me and asked me to play. Very sweet!

Tuk Tuk ride home late one night. It's a tiny cart attached to a motorbike that we squished into! Notice the lovely wind blown hair do!

View looking at our resort from the beach. Little platforms with cushions to sit on, very cozy and relaxing!

Sign for our bar- the Chocolate Bar

Another sunset

Nui, the owner, climbed up the tree to get us coconuts! What service sure wouldn't get that in a 5 star resort!

Just enjoying relaxing on the beach, visiting and talking with people from all over Europe and some Americans too! It's like a family here, nice people running it and very chilled place to be for a while. Staying in a very rustic, tiny hut with see thru bamboo walls, roughing it again!

Not much to write, just relaxing, trying to organize my trip up towards Cambodia, trying to find a place to do something worthwhile and volunteer for a bit and not have to pay $$, had a massage on the beach, sort out my Telus bill.....busy busy busy.

I was busy drinking my Mango Lassie, which is a fruit drink with yogurt, at a little roadside cafe and read this interesting little story I thought I would share with you.

A Buddhist monk was on the beach with his apprentice after a fierce storm. Thousands of starfish had been washed up and were stranded on the shore. Stooping down the monk carefully lifted a creature and returned him to the sea. His young disciple wondered aloud why his master bothered to do this when it made little difference to the mass of helpless creatures. As they walked along, the monk picked up another single starfish and gently replied "It makes a difference to this one'. as he returned it to the sea.

Walking along the beach last night, I came across some families from Panang, Malaysia that are on holidays for the Chinese New Years. They are touring the islands around here for almost a week. The mom told me that the New Years celebrations last for 15 days here as each country or territory has their own specific day. Such nice, friendly people they introduced me all around and told me about her family and children. One of the girls there was leaving next week for Australia to go to school to become a psychologist. She's 19 and was quite excited to hear I had a 19 year old daughter traveling around Australia.

Thanks again for reading! Try to update much sooner next time!!

The Beaches of Thailand

View of Maya Beach

Touring around Phi Phi Islands

Ton Sai, Phi Phi

Brian and I on the sunset/snorkeling tour. Another amazing sunset!

Little boy on Pranang Beach selling pop and beer out of a cooler. Must have been 4 years old, couldn't even carry the cooler had to drag it along the beach.


Signs seen by all the beach areas now.

Beautiful sunsets

Snorkeling/sunset tour we went on

The islands around Krabi

Railay West Beach, Krabi

Yay! Another update finally! I am going to lose my readers if I don't smarten up! Please send me updates on you though....a little homesick these days and would love to hear what's going on in Canada, how are the Flames doing? Still kicking ass?! I miss watching them...a little....

What's going on with the governement there? Any gossip about town?! I would love to hear some stories from 'home'! Feeling a bit out of sorts these days.....kinda feeling like I don't belong anywhere and then I realize I don't! haha So I am staying right now in a very rustic hut in Koh Lanta for about a week just to have a 'home' and regroup and organize my trip upwards to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. I am excited but a little scared because I am just getting used all the english speaking people in Malaysia and this part of Thailand only to know I'm going to where they'll speak much less English.

So I have been touring the area hardest hit by the Tsunami 4 years ago. There is some construction still going on but no more than any where else that is developing. Lot's of new developments as well that were probably started in the boom times.

The most beautiful beaches were in Krabi at Railay. Pranang was absolutely stunning with the rock mountains along the sides and the rock islands all around. Went on a snorkeling tour 9even saw a very rare Lion fish!) of the smaller islands and had dinner while watching the sunset on a little sandy island with fire dancers entertaining us. Then on the way home in the dark we stopped for one last swim in the ocean where there were phosphorus fish nibbled at us and lit up in the water as we swam, very cool!

Next stop was Kata Beach in Phuket. It's one of the quieter beaches and the most beautiful one in Phuket I think. We went and saw Patong (party) beach and it was so packed with people, nice views though.

After Phuket I lost my traveling buddy, Brian.....well not liteally even though I tried a few times.....lol. Brian had to head back up to Bangkok to fly home after a month of travels with me, poor guy but luckily he survived and is still talking to me! You find out alot about a person when you spend almost 24/7 with them. He learnt (very quickly) not to place my toiletry bag on the floor beside the toilet when he needed to relieve himself and I learned that he needs more closet space than I do! He learned not to use MY towel and I learned how to share, have patience and bite my tongue! All in all it was a good experience for both of us, I am so glad we are still speaking and I will miss my travel buddy (believe it or not Brian), but I am also happy to venture out, have my independance and run around the room naked if I want to now too!

I was off to spend time in Koh Lanta and took a day tour trip of Phi Phi Islands on the way there. I was told it was very expensive to stay there so I figured a few hours on the island I could get a good feel for it. It was a beautiful but very busy island, crowded beaches and lots of shopping! I loved the feel of the island as they had no motorized vehicles on it. We swung by Maya Beach where the movie - The Beach was filmed. Tour boats where lined up for 1/2 mile and the beach was crowded with hoards of tourists, we snapped a couple of photos and continued on to snorkel at Coral Bay which was beautiful with bright, colorful Coral. Then off to Koh Lanta where I met some crazy Americans along the way and we all ended up staying at a funky little relaxed resort on the beach. Very laid back here, enjoying my 'down' time here!

Marvelous Malaysia!

Stairs up to Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur

Inside Batu Caves, view looking way up!

Trevor, the ex-Canadian/permanent traveler, my trekker guide

A drink Brian and I had to try after the lady told us foreigners will not like.....she was so right! It tasted like grass and it was jelled! ewwhhh

Pretty Bessie

View from trekking thru the jungle along side the ocean, beautiful!

Cameron Highlands, Tea Plantation. These trees live and produce tea leaves for 120 years.

Little girl on the bus, kept sneaking to take pictures and then show her mom.

After the trek on Monkey Beach, Panang

Ponggal celebration in Little India, Panang Love how they decorated the cows, whom they consider to be sacred animals.

OK enough pressure, sorry I haven't updated for a while time is flying by and I've had a cold
:( and had a few sad days where I thought I had lost my journal but happily it appeared! :)

So after arriving into Butterworth, Malaysia via sleeper train (not sure why they call it that cause it's really hard to sleep on!) we carried onto a town called Panang where the most exciting things I found where outside of the city. The city itself didn't offer much but Panang Hill accessible by tram was a beautiful view of the island and lots of monkeys you had to watch out for as they loved to steal your food/belongings! Did meet some more interesting people including a long ago Canadian (he's been on the road for 21 years now),Trevor who took me on a 4 hour trek to Monkey Beach. What a great trek, started off in a fishing village, Taman Negara, on the north side of Panang saw a floating village, then trekked along a path thru the jungle that looked down onto the crashing ocean below and then out to a beautiful beach. Along the way we got to see giant lizards but luckily they were just as scared of me as I was of them! Then we had to make sure the monkeys didn't steal our packs once we got to the beach!
Between the monkeys and the temples, not sure which I am more tired of!
Before going on our trek we went to Little India for a Roti Chanoi breakfast which is bread with a lentil sauce that you dip it into. As we were eating on the roadside tables, a celebration/parade came by with people chanting and cheering. They were dressed in bright, beautiful attire following a carriage pulled by 2 cows with men on it. Apparently this was the Ponggal celebration that the Malaysian Indian people celebrate as a thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest and it ends up being a 3 day party.
The next day I headed up to Cameron Highlands to meet up with Brian again. Decided to go the cheaper way and had a stop off in Ipoh that was half way there only to have just missed the next bus to Cameron Highlands and either had to wait 7 hours or take the city bus to the local bus station and leave in 3 hours so I opted for that. I was writing in my journal while waiting at the bus depot, when I noticed a strange man sit about 5 feet away from me but I managed to avoid his staring and kept on writing and he left. A little while later as I was still writing he sat down about 2 feet away from me, still ignoring him but smelling something odd and very strong I looked up from my journal into this crazed man's eyes and watched him lift up a bag of milky colored liquid and sniff it, then I realized it must have been glue. I head about glue sniffers but never had gotten that close! I looked about and everyone was watching so I figured I had enough protection and he finally left me alone. Amazing the things you see off the beaten path, I just wouldn't have experienced this if I had chosen the more expensive, tour operated trip! Then on the local bus up to Cameron Highlands, I met a very nice young lady who is a nurse in Ipoh and is getting married in April which she invited me too. It is an arranged marriage and she told me all about the Indian customs and her views, it was very interesting and even made sense. I would have loved to have gone to it if I was still in the country. Well visiting, a little Malay girl was so curious about us she kept popping her head over the seat to see us and started taking pictures, I even caught her taking one when I was sleeping, they are so curious about westerners you have to laugh!

Cameron Highlands, what a difference with the altitude! I even had to wear my fleece at night and in the early mornings! But the countryside and views were so amazing and beautiful! I did a countryside tour of the tea fields plantations and factory which were amazing as well as a Bee Farm, Strawberry farm and a few other stops. Very peaceful countryside totally different air about it from the oceanside places I had been to with great food!
Next stop was Kuala Lumpur, I believe it's the capital city. Stayed at the original Backpackers Inn with a fun little rooftop patio. Went and saw the Batu Caves and Petronas Twin Towers and the night market in little India.

Sorry computer is acting up and not adding my pics either!!?? Will have to finish updating later....right now in Krabi, Thailand, going to do a beach/snorkel/island tour now!!
Thanks for reading will try to get back on here real soon! :)

Chaweng Beach, VW Vans and Kayaking!

My drink! The bottom had a tip on it so it sits on a wobble! Like I don't have enough trouble with spilling, good thing it was the first one of the day, errr evening.

Fire dancers at the Bamboo Beach Party

View from my beach of a fisher woman early in the morning as I was having coffee.

A dock at Fisherman's Pier, Bophut Beach. I made it all the way to the loose, wobbly end! Then I had the drink pictured above...sorry these pics come up with no rhyme nor reason and last time I tried to move them I ended up deleting some! So they are a little mixed up.....

Kayaking! Off of Chaweng beach and I haven't forgotten how!

Beach party at the Bamboo Hut, I had a drink in a bucket with 5 straws and I couldn't even finish it! Maybe it's meant for sharing......

VW van with a bar in it parked on the street....my next vehicle/ my next job!

View from my beach at Chaweng.

Ended up on the most picturesque beach yet on the north end of Chaweng Beach in Koh Samui the pictures do not do it justice at all! I am mastering the act of beach bum yet again, yay! Something I highly recommend that one has to do now and then :) I even bought a beach mat, not sure how I am going to fit it into my backpack yet.....no worries...

Finally getting tired of the local food in the last week and have had McDs french fries (good for hangovers in Bangkok), clubhouse sandwich (here they make them with hard boiled eggs as well), grilled corn on the cob and even had Indian food, the Butter Chicken was almost as good as Canada makes it! haha I did try a new local food here yesterday called Papaya salad, it's really good but you have to watch how many chili peppers they put in!

I haven't added any 'observations' for a while and here's a good one. The shop people try to get you to come in to their business and I kept hearing them yell 'Hi Sir!' I don't know how many of them I ignored and walked by until I finally figured out they were talking to me! So of course I had to try correcting them and in a country where I was told they speak English very well (20 key words max for most of them!) that was not an easy task. I think I have them even more confused now! I tried to explain that sir is a man and that you call a lady a ma'am (I know, I can't believe I asked someone to call me a ma'am!). They looked at me blankly then I realized that maybe man and ma'am sound too much alike.......so I have been trying to think of another 'polite' word for lady but since my night of setting them straight I have not heard one more 'sir' so maybe the word got out some how....

Well that's about it for this island, I got to see most of it and would love to come back and see the others as well. I think the islands on the west coast are going to be bigger and better yet! Next stop leaving on the midnight sleeper train to Malaysia for about a week. Have to do a Visa run as mine has run out, not sure how I am going to adapt to the culture there, mainly Muslims so have to tuck away the bathing suits, tank tops and short shorts! :(

Lamai Beach and the Canadians!

The motorcycle repair shop on the side of the road.

Amazing sunset at Hin Ta Hin Yai

Having a beer at the funky reggae bar 'The Rock' on the beach

The 'male' rock

Peggy and Ron lighting our Canadian lantern! People do this all up and down the beaches and watch them float off into the night.

Jenga pros! Here in the bars they always have games to play.

Walked down the beach to an area we had heard of called Hin Ta Hin Yai (means Grandpa and Grandma) that had rocks that resembled the male and female organs. Only in Thailand! Found the male one easily and everyone was still trying to figure out the female, haha. Had to have a beer at the local reggae bar appropriately called 'The Rock' and listened to Bob Marley tunes.

Met some more Canadians, even born and raised in Calgary! They just sold their house and are traveling for a year as well so we had lots to talk about it, was great! Had a fun night of lantern flying, eating, drinking, pool playing and Jenga!! I am getting quite good at playing pool with a slanted table, chipped cue ball, warped cues and bugs running in front of your balls! Too funny, I won't know how to play on a normal table when I come home, not that I could before any how but I am learning to break at least!

Next day we daringly rented a scooter to tour the south part of the island. A little hairy of an experience, I can say I don't need to do that again for a while. Besides I think Brian needs to recoup from me screaming in his ear a few times! We did get to see some beautiful beaches and went to the worst tourist attraction ever, the Butterfly Gardens (not my choice but I am learning it's not all about me when you have a traveling companion.....lol). Well we could have seen more butterflies on a walk thru a park, good thing for the exhibition of the dead ones which was sad but at least we can say we saw some! More bad luck (I am going to start calling Brian Schleperock), we got a flat tire! So off we starting walking in the heat and it was so funny cause finally this little Thai girl stops and asks us if we need some help! The Thai guys never would stop that would require some effort and maybe work! Off she went to find a place for us and I saw she was wearing a Fire and Rescue shirt, we were her big emergency for the day! She did find us a motorcycle repair place not too far away, what a welcome sight! Only 30 baht to fix it too which is equilvalent to about a dollar.

The little things in life

The dancing ladyboys, they looked pretty good!

Brian, looking a little too excited about it all!

View of Ko Samui from the ferry.

Peanut Butter and Brown Bread! The little things in life that make you happy! I had emailed Brian and asked him to bring a small container of PB just enough for a couple of pieces of toast and he brought a whole jar!! Then we were at a supermarket and found something rare, their version of whole wheat bread, it's not like ours but at least it's not white! So after treating ourselves to a Starbucks Low Fat Vanilla Latte we went back and made toast and PB. Great start to the day which was good because after a 2 hour search for the bus depot, apparently it had moved and even the one bus depot for Bangkok only gave us wrong directions and we had cabbies arguing over where it was we gave up and headed for the train station. I asked for a sleeper train for that night or the following night and she said there was no room so we got out of the queue and then decided maybe we can just take the regular train and sleep in the seats so went back and asked for that and she said they have top bunks in the sleeper train....suddenly there were some available??!! So I am figuring out, here if you don't like your first answer, wait 5 minutes and go ask again! I quickly grabbed those before she changed her mind and we were all set to leave that night at 10pm for the island, Ko Samui. The train was only about 40 minutes late, not sure what class but worse than the last one I was on but did manage to get a bit of sleep only to arrive at 6:30 to wait for the ferry.

Finally hit the beach around 4:30 and then went walking to find an Aussie Pub for drinks, walked thru yet another night market (they shop alot here or think the tourists want to day and night!), dinner at Blue Wave Restaurant and then off to a very tame but enjoyable at least lady boy show! They were actually good singers and dancers and it was well done, like a drag queen show we think would be! Didn't have to run out of there under attack at least! Then off to an Irish Pub to watch a another band, the talent/music here isn't quite as good as Indonesia.

New Years in Hua Hin!

A little car that I liked! Most cars are very new and modern here though!
Hua Hin Beach on New Years Day.
Look at the name of this bar.
The bar where we celebrated midnight. Not sure why but Brian is fuzzy!

After spending my last night in Bangkok quietly watching the movie- The Beach (very appropriate) at a small restaurant/bar and having a facial at 11pm. This town seriously never sleeps! My friend, Brian who had been traveling for over 2 days with missed flights and all arrived at 2am! What a nice sight, a Canadian! We know each other thru the outdoor club in Calgary and when I told him of my travels and he had the month off in January, he asked if he could join me. So we made plans with me not even knowing how nice it will be to have someone who doesn't speak with an accent and that I can totally understand! It's great to see a familiar face! We of course had to go for a couple of drinks and the next day when Brian's backpack finally and luckily appeared by 1pm off we went to hop on a bus for Hua Hin to avoid the New Years craziness in Bangkok and see some ocean!
Luckily we finally found a place to stay (they had given our room away as we were a day late) then off we went for a marvelous seafood dinner and walk along the beach to watch random fireworks and stop at the many temporary bars for a cocktail. Very low key which was okay with my last few days of madness and Brian's terrible flights and jet lag but fun and again more great people watching!
Here they think it's fun to shoot fireworks down the streets and watch people jump out of the way!
The weather since we arrived here has been warm but very windy so going to head south soon to hotter temperatures and the islands! Having a quiet day today, Brian is starting off his trip with a bang, first missed flights and now the flu! Maybe it's good for me, he's slowing me down! But little does he know I am just getting rested up again! :)

XXX Bangkok

Chinatown, Bangkok all lit up! Busy, noisy, smelly too!
Little boy concentrating and ladyboy watching
The children playing Jenga and neglecting their flower selling business, was so nice to see them laugh and smile, especially Ole, he didn't know yet what was to come!
Getting my massage outside the men's washroom with jealous onlookers. Gave him 100 baht tip.

Down the "Alley of Sin", where we stayed on the edge!'

Our first night with 'snowcapped Heinekens!

How's that song go?! "One night in Bangkok and the world went crazy....." Not sure but I had to think about this for a while and get over my shock before I wrote about my last wild night in Bangkok! Talk about a whole new cultural experience!
Started with the Danish couple I met (of course I need someone to blame!), Ole and Trine. We had celebrated our tattoos and became fast friends. So the next night when they found out I was stranded in Chinatown having a pathetically quiet night cause I didn't want to go out in the smog, noise, pollution and mass crowds they came to my rescue, if you can call it that. We hopped into a taxi to get out of Chinatown and Ole with his accent asked the driver to take us to a ka-row-key bar! My first thoughts were oh this night is getting worse and you would understand if you've ever heard me sing! We end up on a very busy street somewhere in the middle of Bangkok and we start walking up a street lit up like Christmas with Dream Boys and all sorts of clubs along the way. The 'boys' were all over Ole in a second so Trine and I just followed along and watched him squirm! There was shows of every type imaginable and they were all trying to drag us into their bar. We went back to the entrance to regroup and have a drink when we were suddenly surrounded by children selling roses. They were so cute and seemed to be oblivious or maybe just used to their surroundings. We decided to play with them, bought them cokes and got a Jenga game from the bartender and had everyone in the place watching us and laughing even a lady boy!
After an hour or two and a few drinks we decided enough child's play and decided to see a 'show', Ole agreed to what we thought would be a very tame one, with ladyboys. We thought we'd be watching a drag queen show but our somehow acquired 'guide' took us to a place he guaranteed we'd like, I didn't even get to finish my beer before Ole (not that we disagreed) got a little too uncomfortable and we bolted for the door trying to avoid the flying ping pongs!! Let's just say the 'ladyboys' (and I honestly couldn't tell who was what there), got a little too friendly with all of us and the dancing was not that appealing!
So what to do now? We hopped into another cab to see a new part of town and asked the driver to take us to go dancing. We ended up at what they call here a 'Bossy'. It's a huge bar, with all 'types' of people (again it was hard to tell with a few who was what....) and the dance floor is a stage that runs thru the middle of the room with poles! Another great people watching place!
Oh and a bonus, we found out that in the men's room they get massages well doing their 'business' and Trine and I felt so ripped off as all we had was a lady selling toiletries we went to check it out! Ended up being guys (Ole nelglected to tell us but that was okay) in the men's washroom so we motioned for them to come out and they proceeded to give us the best shoulder/neck massage on the stools outside the washrooms for about 20 minutes, everyone was so jealous!
Finally at 3am, Ole had the sense to drag us girls home and put an end to our XXX night in Bangkok! I can say the 'cultural' experience was much more fun than the quiet night I had planned reading in my room in Chinatown, thanks Ole and Trine, miss you both already!