Ah so first of all, I just have to describe the setting of where I'm writing this from... OUR SICKBED!!
We're currently on Phi Phi island and had a VERY dodgy Thai Green Curry last night and have BOTH got food poisoning!!!!! We've both had it since 6am this morning, and are now into our 11th hour of suffering... I'm finally start to feel a little bit normal again... and when food is shown on the TV in our room, I'm no longer legging it to the loo... so that's a good sign (we have 2 english channels in our room, 1 just shows movie trailers... but for some reason NEVER shows the title of the movie at the end of the trailer, the 2nd channel is strangely ITV Granada, so we're watching really old runs of Emmerdale and Cold Feet!!! The Dingles!.. oh god). Oh and we definitely know which restaurant did this to us, so you can predict a strong march down there from me tomorrow, if I'm well enough!! hmpf.
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| our little sick room...funnily enough it's all white, like a hospital!! |
So after the jungle we took a journey from the National Park to the island of Koh Phagnan off the east coast of southern Thailand.
Koh Phagnan
Well... we gotta say... what a waste of time that little sojourn that was!!
1. Took us 8.5hrs hours to get from Khao Sok National Park to Koh Phagnan (3 hour bus, 2 hours standing around in a town, 2.5hr ferry and a 1 hour taxi journey to our hotel - on the WORST roads we've ever seen)
2. We stowed our big bags on one of the coaches (underneath storage bit, y'know) and when we finally reached Koh Phagnan and opened our bags we realiesd mine had been completely rifled through! Luckily nothing was stolen and weirdly my padlocks were both still locked.. sneaky sneaky sneaky... I'm now comprimising my leg room on coaches as will always put my large rucksack on the bus with me, not underneath! I was soo angry
3. To top it off, it was raining in Koh Phagnan!
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| the rain!! |
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| the rain clouds coming from the mainland whilst we're on the ferry |
Koh Phagnan seemed like a nice island, but when there's thunder and lightening going on, you can't quite see the beauty and we SOO wanted to visit Bottle Beach which we'd heard great things about, but just too rainy!
We stayed in a really cute little bungalow by the beach for 8quid, so at least we didn't spend a fortune on our accomm. Although the hut wasn't sealed around the eges, so we had to sleep with the obligatory mozzie net which is fine... no problems there, BUT Martin (and the rest of the resort) heard a big yelp as a cockroach landed on me in the shower!!!
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| a little cat visitor to our porch |
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| our mozzie net... much needed! |
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| our little hut. so cute |
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| gecko visitor on the wall, came in from the roof I'll spare you the pic of the cockroach! |
As it ws so rainy there wasn't really many people about so we didn't meet anyone either. ... oh well. Well Martin did get acquainted with someone.. a hairdresser.. he got brave (well, desperate) and had a haircut whilst we were there and actually for 3quid... it wasn't bad!
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| a Thai version of the Shell garage! where's the M&S attached eh?? I'd love a duck wrap! |
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| the only sunny morning we had |
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| then the rains came! |
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| handsome sandwich anyone? or handsome gasoline? or handsome taxi?? |
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| the Reggae bar |
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| BEFORE |
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| AFTER |
After Koh Phagnan we woke up at 6.20am to get a lift from our resort to the ferry... our lift to the ferry was booked at 6am and the ferry was at 7am, so we were 20 mins late leaving and our driver (bless him) had to hurl his 4x4 along those ropey roads like lightening.... the reason....Martin had our mobile phone in his pocket whilst he was wading through the water in the jungle, so we don't have an alarm clock and he doesn't have an MP3 player now either...!! and we had some funny pictures on the phone...damn!! Where's those Dyson handryers we have at work for such occassions!!! (they're also useful for drying your nails during your lunch hour... Chellie! hehe)
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| the road from resort to ferry port. ouch. |
Ko Lanta
So we travelled 3 hours from Koh Phagnan down to Krabi on a coach and then caught a ferry to an island called Ko Lanta off the west coast of southern Thailand.
Ko Lanta is SO chilled... really really relaxed with loads of hippie/sunset style bars on the beach. Actually a really good holiday destination for families, as wide beach and plenty of top end hotels.
We stayed at a cute little set of bungalows called Red Snapper for 3 nights.
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| little centipede outside our bungalow |
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| Chelsea water that we just HAD to buy in the supermarket |
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| our bungalow. 12pounds a night |
It was still a little rainy, but luckily each night we saw some amazing sunsets. As you know, I'm missing my gym and keeping fit, so Ko Lanta's long long beach was perfect for a few early morning runs and there was a couple of yoga classes too - the perfect setting looking out over the beach at 8.30am... heaven. Goodbye rice pot belly!
We found a lovely little French bakery that we went to each morning, they even had .. MULTIGRAIN BREAD... which we haven't had since September! aaah it's just the little things sometimes..
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| Mart wrapped up to escape the mozzies |
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| massage anyone?? |
On the last night in Ko Lanta, we headed down to our favourite bar on the beach, watched the sunset and celebrated my little sister going into labour with her first baby!! I can't remember getting home! oops
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| Congratulations Clare & Laurence!!!! |
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| sat on a little swing on the beach with a candle between us... |
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| uh oh. |
Matilda Mariah Woodcock was born on Wednesday 17th November at 10.49pm - mum and baby both doing well!!
Phi Phi
We sadly left Ko Lanta on Thursday 18th and caught a quick 1 hour ferry over to Phi Phi island. I do get a little bit seasick, but these ferry's haven't been too bad.. I took seasickness pills on the way to Koh Phagnan, I'm not sure what they have in them, but I was asleep on the boat within 20mins!! So steering clear of them...
We met a group of lads from Shepherds bush on the boat who are on a 2 week holiday, nice guys, and said that they're all jealous of the peeps travelling whilst they have to pack it in to a 2 week gap.. especially as it's been raining a bit whilst they're here. We're not so fussed as we know we have 3.5months left of sunshine... but did feel a bit bad for them.
However... and since we've arrived in Phi Phi the sun has been SHINING!!!
Phi Phi is such a stunning island (if a little bit on the commercial side, but then again it's nice to have some shops to get some things we need, like an alarm clock)... the island next to it is where the film 'The Beach' was filmed and they have big limestone karsts surronding the beaches.. so you have gorgeous little bays to explore and lounge about on.
There are no roads on Phi Phi, so our guest house were going to meet us at the ferry port to guide us through the maze of streets to the hotel... however, there was noone to be seen, Martin stubbed his toe and so we started traipsing around with our backpacks on in 34degree heat with a trail of blood behind us from the toe... oh and all the time I kept stopping at shops saying "ooh I love that top!" and Martin yelling at me to hurry up...what a PAIR! haha.
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| just before the bloody toe incident |
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| the maze of streets |
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| buy your own cocktail buckets, whisky, red bull and coke.. |
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| ah... no thanks! |
After a 15 min walk we found our guesthouse and it's PERFECT... we're here for 5 nights, so we ACTUALLY unpacked our rucksacks into the wardrobe..! woo hooo I can see my clothes properly! We went down to the beach for a few late in the day rays and a swim... don't you love the last of the sunshine on the beach... oh and they had Fleetwood Mac playing at the bar behind us, was a great couple of hours chilling... sorry they're a guilty pleasure of mine!!! actually I'm not ashamed, I love Steve Nicks!
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| Mart's out there in the middle |
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We had some dinner and then hooked up the wireless to our laptop in our room and met our new niece via Skype for the first time!!! She's so gorgoues!! and whilst we were chatting to Clare and Laurence, my Mum, Dad, other sister Sally and our nephew Harry arrived at Clare's house, so it was just like we were in the living room with them... yeah Martin had to keep passing me the tissues, was really sad we couldn't be there, but it was a great back up doing it over Skype.
On Friday we spent the whole day lazing at the beach, topping up our tans...with a few stop offs in the clothes shops on the way back to the hotel of course! Then we went out for the dreaded meal last night!! Oh and to make matters worse we were booked onto a full day snorkelling trip today... so we lost our money for that one! hmpf! We'll go on Monday hopefully.
Video above of the beach bar
So that's it, we're up to date. We're here until Tuesday morning, when we catch an hours boat to Ao Nang on the mainland to meet up with Gemma and James for 3 days ... bring on the whisky & red bull buckets!!! haha.
Hope everyone's well!! Missing you all loads!!
Lots of love
Ems & Mart
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