So I have been a busy bee the past week. I successfully caught my bus overnight up to Nha Trang, a really posh one with proper bunk beds and movies.
Nha Trang is a little seaside resort with average beaches, average diving and average night life, so I didnt stay too long, just 2 days. On the 2nd day I met a local guy who offered to take me into the south central highlands on motorbikes for 3 days. It seemed a bit of a gamble given that I hadnt met him before, hadnt ridden a bike before and didnt know anything about where we were going....but having just finished Ewan Mcgregors book about riding round the world on a motorbike I felt inspired to just go for it.
It was a fantastic trip, one of the bext things I have done. We left all the tourists behind and went driving through stunning mountians and villages, taking in lots of the different ways of life, and sampling the best food I have had all holiday. Just 50p bought you a feast for a king with a few beers to boot! The 1st evening he offered to buy me a bottle of rice wine with dinner (at 10p a bottle it was hard to say no to!), and we tucked into that as he introduced me to some of his friends. The 2nd day was much the same, but started with a visit to some authentic hill tribes which is family originated from, which we had to get to by elephant (!!), and some visits to the local silk worm factory, coffee plantations, waterfalls, temples etc etc. It was nice to visit some of the lesser visited places, as the locals are much more friendly and arent trying to see you stuff all the time!
After this trip I took another night bus (this one was more eventful as the driver attacked a passenger with a crow bar and had to be carted off to the police station!!), and arrived in Hoi An. The town is really really pretty, and is shopping heaven. The town is full of tailors who will make you anything, so I have got 2 dresses, a suit, skirt, shirt and 2 pairs of jeans to bring back with me....
I didnt have time to finish the north of Vietnam (and it is cold), so I left today to fly back to thailand for my last 10 days of sun....starting with a 3 day liveaboard dive trip....4 dives a day, I cant wait!!!
Monday 16 March 2009
Saturday 7 March 2009
Swimming in saigon
Well I made it to Saigon, and its been an interesting few days. I am back to being alone, but I have met a few people so spend my evenings with. Its so stupidly hot here, with 90% humidity, you cannot step outside the hotel without a full on melt down and losing 3 pints of sweat. Its lovely!
I spent the 1st day wondering round the markets, parks and museums. Its a crazy city where the traffic is unbelievable, crossing the road is not for the faint hearted. You just have to step out and the hundreds of motorbikes just swerve round you. I dont think it is something I would ever get used to. I just run along behind the vietnamese people!!
That evening I met a guy who went by the name of 'Intrigue'. He was from London, ironically he was not that Intriguing, but we did enjoy a few beers and it was nice to be back in the company of english people just for 1 night.
On the 2nd day I visited Cu Chi tunnels, where the Viet Cong hid undergorund while fighting the Yanks. Pretty amazing really, but easy to understand why they won now, they just outsmarted them (not too difficult). The tunnels are so small only the vietnamese can fit. I managed to make it through 130m of tunnel, but they are dark and small. I got my arse stuck a few times. Time to start the diet I think!!
The following day I took a trip down the mekong river, it was OK but too many stops for tacky souveniers for my liking. I did meet 2 nice swiss girls though, who I will keep in touch with.
Today has been crazy. I went off to see Kevin who I met in the Philippines and got caught in a downpour. Its unlike any other rain I have seen. Within 2 hours of rain, the water was nearly waist height in the streets, the city seemed to carry on regardless though. The motorbikes either powered through or got off and pushed their way. My taxi dropped me where it could go no further, so I had to get out and swim/wade bak to the hotel!! Once I got back I realised I hadnt eaten and I would have to go back out to a cafe for something to eat, then I swam over here to catch up on some email.
I am not too sure how I will leave later as I am catching the night bus up to Nha Trang, and getting my backpack through the river will be an experience. I think it will have to go on top of the head somehow!! Maybe I will find a nice vietnamese chap to help.
Better go, I need to dry my clothes and get my bikini on before I get the bus out.
Hayleyxxxx
I spent the 1st day wondering round the markets, parks and museums. Its a crazy city where the traffic is unbelievable, crossing the road is not for the faint hearted. You just have to step out and the hundreds of motorbikes just swerve round you. I dont think it is something I would ever get used to. I just run along behind the vietnamese people!!
That evening I met a guy who went by the name of 'Intrigue'. He was from London, ironically he was not that Intriguing, but we did enjoy a few beers and it was nice to be back in the company of english people just for 1 night.
On the 2nd day I visited Cu Chi tunnels, where the Viet Cong hid undergorund while fighting the Yanks. Pretty amazing really, but easy to understand why they won now, they just outsmarted them (not too difficult). The tunnels are so small only the vietnamese can fit. I managed to make it through 130m of tunnel, but they are dark and small. I got my arse stuck a few times. Time to start the diet I think!!
The following day I took a trip down the mekong river, it was OK but too many stops for tacky souveniers for my liking. I did meet 2 nice swiss girls though, who I will keep in touch with.
Today has been crazy. I went off to see Kevin who I met in the Philippines and got caught in a downpour. Its unlike any other rain I have seen. Within 2 hours of rain, the water was nearly waist height in the streets, the city seemed to carry on regardless though. The motorbikes either powered through or got off and pushed their way. My taxi dropped me where it could go no further, so I had to get out and swim/wade bak to the hotel!! Once I got back I realised I hadnt eaten and I would have to go back out to a cafe for something to eat, then I swam over here to catch up on some email.
I am not too sure how I will leave later as I am catching the night bus up to Nha Trang, and getting my backpack through the river will be an experience. I think it will have to go on top of the head somehow!! Maybe I will find a nice vietnamese chap to help.
Better go, I need to dry my clothes and get my bikini on before I get the bus out.
Hayleyxxxx
Monday 2 March 2009
Coming home for christmas
Well OK I missed christmas, but I have to come back at some point so I have finally caved in and booked my flight back.
The bad news (for me) is that it is only 23 days away (26th March), the good news is that I had enough air miles to get myself booked on a first class seat with Thai air....you win some....you lose some!
So if anyone wants to welcome me with open arms and pick me up from the airport with some warm jumpers and a flask of tetley then I arrive at Heathrow 7.35pm on Thursday 26th March.
I plan to be in London for a couple of days before jet setting over to Geneva to find myself somewhere to live! I think a welcome home party is in order! Thinking caps on....
I fly to Vietnam tomorrow, so tonight we are drinking chang beer, eating plenty of pad thai and having a massage! Having said that I may be back in Thailand tomorrow if I get deported at the vietnamese border for not having made the appropriate visa application. Fingers crossed I will be able to blag my way in.
Laters
Hayley
xxx
The bad news (for me) is that it is only 23 days away (26th March), the good news is that I had enough air miles to get myself booked on a first class seat with Thai air....you win some....you lose some!
So if anyone wants to welcome me with open arms and pick me up from the airport with some warm jumpers and a flask of tetley then I arrive at Heathrow 7.35pm on Thursday 26th March.
I plan to be in London for a couple of days before jet setting over to Geneva to find myself somewhere to live! I think a welcome home party is in order! Thinking caps on....
I fly to Vietnam tomorrow, so tonight we are drinking chang beer, eating plenty of pad thai and having a massage! Having said that I may be back in Thailand tomorrow if I get deported at the vietnamese border for not having made the appropriate visa application. Fingers crossed I will be able to blag my way in.
Laters
Hayley
xxx
Saturday 28 February 2009
Thursday 26 February 2009
Phi Phi party
So I made it back to Thailand safely and met up with Manon and Nadja, who waited 6 hours for me at the pier. Lovely to have a welcoming committee to meet me!
We took the ferry straight to Koh Phi Phi, where we have been ever since. Moving on just seems like a hassle now, and we are all sick of packing and unpacking, so 7 nights in 1 place has been lovely!
Phi Phi has changed a little since I last came, but it is still as beautiful as ever, and the party is perhaps even more lively than before. Every night there are huge parties on the beach, with fire shows, ladyboy shows and live music. Plenty to keep us entertained for our evenings! Needless to say we have had a few sore heads since we arrived, and we have needed plenty of recovering time on the beach.
I have been doing my rescue diver course for the last 5 days, it has been hard work pulling people out of the water and practising rescue breathing whilst towing the victims back to the boat and taking off their equipment. It has been a really good course, and has definitely made me a better and safer diver. The last dive we did was probably the best I have ever done as we saw leopard sharks, black tip sharks, snakes, eels, sting rays, turtles, box fish, scorpion fish, stone fish, puffer fish and not to mention all the lovely corals and reef fish....it really was something special. The diver instructors say it was one of their favourites too as they rarely see everything all in 1 dive. I was very happy!
It has been nice being back with the girls again (the other boys have all ended their travels now), but it is not long until we all go our seperate ways. Nadja goes onto Oz, and Manon is going home to Holland. When they leave I will fly to Vietnam (Ho chi minh city) and meet up with Kevin (a Vietnamese man Sally and I met in Phili). From there I will travel up the coast and see what adventures awaits me!
I hope everything is good at home, I saw on the news the weather has improved (though I am sure you are all jealous to know it was 33 degrees today and everyday for the last 10!).
Lots of love
Hayleyx
We took the ferry straight to Koh Phi Phi, where we have been ever since. Moving on just seems like a hassle now, and we are all sick of packing and unpacking, so 7 nights in 1 place has been lovely!
Phi Phi has changed a little since I last came, but it is still as beautiful as ever, and the party is perhaps even more lively than before. Every night there are huge parties on the beach, with fire shows, ladyboy shows and live music. Plenty to keep us entertained for our evenings! Needless to say we have had a few sore heads since we arrived, and we have needed plenty of recovering time on the beach.
I have been doing my rescue diver course for the last 5 days, it has been hard work pulling people out of the water and practising rescue breathing whilst towing the victims back to the boat and taking off their equipment. It has been a really good course, and has definitely made me a better and safer diver. The last dive we did was probably the best I have ever done as we saw leopard sharks, black tip sharks, snakes, eels, sting rays, turtles, box fish, scorpion fish, stone fish, puffer fish and not to mention all the lovely corals and reef fish....it really was something special. The diver instructors say it was one of their favourites too as they rarely see everything all in 1 dive. I was very happy!
It has been nice being back with the girls again (the other boys have all ended their travels now), but it is not long until we all go our seperate ways. Nadja goes onto Oz, and Manon is going home to Holland. When they leave I will fly to Vietnam (Ho chi minh city) and meet up with Kevin (a Vietnamese man Sally and I met in Phili). From there I will travel up the coast and see what adventures awaits me!
I hope everything is good at home, I saw on the news the weather has improved (though I am sure you are all jealous to know it was 33 degrees today and everyday for the last 10!).
Lots of love
Hayleyx
Friday 20 February 2009
Tempted back to Thailand
So I made it safely out of manila, though it was touch and go at some points. It really is the worst place I have ever visited! I am relieved to have flown out, and I dont intend to return in a hurry!
I flew over to Kuala Lumpur for 1 night only, and decide to indulge myself with a night in a 5* hotel....Got a fairly good deal on expedia, and it was worth every penny! It was so nice to have an enormous kingsize bed, aircon, a bathroom the size of my old flat, hot power shower, room serive, a dressing gown, a huge pool, spa, and gym (yes I even used it!!!). It blew my budget, but it was great to sleep for 1 night without getting woken up by cockrells, dogs, traffic, or drunk people!! As the hotel only offered limo transfers to the airport which I couldnt afford the man on the desk fely sorry for me, so he got his Dad to take me instead!!
I few back into Thailand yesterday and met up with the girls I met in Laos. We have about 10 days to 2 weeks together, before we all go our seperate ways. We are starting in Koh Phi Phi Island, where I went a couple of years ago.
This afternoon we went snorkelling for sharks and I finally got to see some!! They were fantastic.
Hope the weather is getting better
Lots of love
Hayleyx
I flew over to Kuala Lumpur for 1 night only, and decide to indulge myself with a night in a 5* hotel....Got a fairly good deal on expedia, and it was worth every penny! It was so nice to have an enormous kingsize bed, aircon, a bathroom the size of my old flat, hot power shower, room serive, a dressing gown, a huge pool, spa, and gym (yes I even used it!!!). It blew my budget, but it was great to sleep for 1 night without getting woken up by cockrells, dogs, traffic, or drunk people!! As the hotel only offered limo transfers to the airport which I couldnt afford the man on the desk fely sorry for me, so he got his Dad to take me instead!!
I few back into Thailand yesterday and met up with the girls I met in Laos. We have about 10 days to 2 weeks together, before we all go our seperate ways. We are starting in Koh Phi Phi Island, where I went a couple of years ago.
This afternoon we went snorkelling for sharks and I finally got to see some!! They were fantastic.
Hope the weather is getting better
Lots of love
Hayleyx
Sunday 15 February 2009
A little piece of phili
We have nearly reached the end of our trip to the Philippines, and it has been paradise! We have spent the last 5 days in the calamian islands (busuanga) off the north of Palawan. Primarily it is a dive resort, but we have spent 2 days hopping around the hundreds of islands that are scattered all around. Its largely uninhabited, and quite often we have had whole white powder sand beaches to ourselves. The water is a cool 29 degrees, so we have enjoyed swimming, snorkelling and getting some spray off the boat!
We met a large group of people on Friday, so we were able to take a massive boat out for the day and have some great food and some interesting company.
Yesterday we took a boat out for me to dive the many ship wrecks off the coast. There are 15 Japanese war ships (some cargo, some gunboats, one oil tanker) in total and I got to visit 3. We got to penetrate the ships, going through some tight squeezes and some very dark (well pitch black) hatches! Very spooky indeed, espcially as all you can see are glowing lobster eyes staring at you....! It was great seeing the engine room, swimming out through the propeller shaft, and playing with the guns/canons that are still aboard. The final ship breaks the surface, so Sally was able to snorkel that ship.
Tomorrow we head back to smelly manila to catch our planes out....
I am off to Thailand via Kuala Lumpa to meet with the friends I met in Laos.
Sally is back to work on Friday :-)
Lots of love
Hayleyx
We met a large group of people on Friday, so we were able to take a massive boat out for the day and have some great food and some interesting company.
Yesterday we took a boat out for me to dive the many ship wrecks off the coast. There are 15 Japanese war ships (some cargo, some gunboats, one oil tanker) in total and I got to visit 3. We got to penetrate the ships, going through some tight squeezes and some very dark (well pitch black) hatches! Very spooky indeed, espcially as all you can see are glowing lobster eyes staring at you....! It was great seeing the engine room, swimming out through the propeller shaft, and playing with the guns/canons that are still aboard. The final ship breaks the surface, so Sally was able to snorkel that ship.
Tomorrow we head back to smelly manila to catch our planes out....
I am off to Thailand via Kuala Lumpa to meet with the friends I met in Laos.
Sally is back to work on Friday :-)
Lots of love
Hayleyx
Monday 9 February 2009
Panglao
Thanks for your emails.
Well few more days were spent tanning and diving in Boracay....the island got a little quieter after the chinese new year and we made nice friends at the dive shop. They took us out drinking a couple of evenings, watching some bob marley wannabe on the beach and drinking the very cheap local beer (about 60p a bottle- and only 100 calories to boot!!!).
The dives were very enjoyable, I ended up doing 4 altogether, didnt see any sharks (again!), but the corals and the sites are great. The last one I did was a fake wreck (as the dive shop sunk it on purpose as a site), which was a new experience. I have definitely got the bug and I am thinking about a few more qualifications when I hit Thailand again. If I get to dive master I can pretty much dive anywhere in the world for free.....sounds great!
We have now reached Panglao, which is an island off Bohol. Its got a nice beach, and is much less developed than Boracay (in a good way), and much cheaper. Yesterday we visited the famous chocolate hills, however they were green after several weeks of rain here!! A little disapointing, but nothing photoshop wont fix in the photo editing!
Today I have been....diving....(surprise!). Saw some turtles, barracuda, cuttlefish, frog fish, shrimps, lobsters, eels, trigger fish......the list was long...it was a great place to dive.
Tomorrow we are up at 5.30am for dolphin watching at sunrise- thats if I can drag sally from her bed.
Hope everyone is well, Sally and I have been laughing about the snow as we top up the tans and reach for another pina colada!!
Lots of love
Hayley and Sally.
Well few more days were spent tanning and diving in Boracay....the island got a little quieter after the chinese new year and we made nice friends at the dive shop. They took us out drinking a couple of evenings, watching some bob marley wannabe on the beach and drinking the very cheap local beer (about 60p a bottle- and only 100 calories to boot!!!).
The dives were very enjoyable, I ended up doing 4 altogether, didnt see any sharks (again!), but the corals and the sites are great. The last one I did was a fake wreck (as the dive shop sunk it on purpose as a site), which was a new experience. I have definitely got the bug and I am thinking about a few more qualifications when I hit Thailand again. If I get to dive master I can pretty much dive anywhere in the world for free.....sounds great!
We have now reached Panglao, which is an island off Bohol. Its got a nice beach, and is much less developed than Boracay (in a good way), and much cheaper. Yesterday we visited the famous chocolate hills, however they were green after several weeks of rain here!! A little disapointing, but nothing photoshop wont fix in the photo editing!
Today I have been....diving....(surprise!). Saw some turtles, barracuda, cuttlefish, frog fish, shrimps, lobsters, eels, trigger fish......the list was long...it was a great place to dive.
Tomorrow we are up at 5.30am for dolphin watching at sunrise- thats if I can drag sally from her bed.
Hope everyone is well, Sally and I have been laughing about the snow as we top up the tans and reach for another pina colada!!
Lots of love
Hayley and Sally.
Tuesday 3 February 2009
Beautiful Boracay...
Sally and I are just laughing about the snow at home, I hope you are all enjoying it, espcially working from home!! The weather here is scorchio everyday!!
Spent a couple of days in Manila, which we didnt really like much...its noisy, smelly, dirty and full of hassle...however I did find a TOPSHOP and an M&S, so I was so happy! I am fully restocked on undies and clothes now!! I was very happy, I even went to topshop 3 times in a day!!
We left manila on saturday and flew down to Boracay. Its really busy here, full of japanese, chinese and korean tourists all celebrating chinese new year, though its quietened down the past couple of days. The beach is 9KM of white powdery sand, with crystal clear tourquoise waters to swin in....perfect!
Today I went on a dive and saw ridiculously big snapper fish, while Sally took the chance to snorkle some choppy seas above. I think I am going to go again tomorrow, this time on a wall dive with a 90M drop. Sounds exciting!
I am still contemplating what to do after the philippines is over, I will have to make some decisions soon!!
I am over half way through my trip now, its gone so fast :(
Lots of love
Hayley (& sally)
Spent a couple of days in Manila, which we didnt really like much...its noisy, smelly, dirty and full of hassle...however I did find a TOPSHOP and an M&S, so I was so happy! I am fully restocked on undies and clothes now!! I was very happy, I even went to topshop 3 times in a day!!
We left manila on saturday and flew down to Boracay. Its really busy here, full of japanese, chinese and korean tourists all celebrating chinese new year, though its quietened down the past couple of days. The beach is 9KM of white powdery sand, with crystal clear tourquoise waters to swin in....perfect!
Today I went on a dive and saw ridiculously big snapper fish, while Sally took the chance to snorkle some choppy seas above. I think I am going to go again tomorrow, this time on a wall dive with a 90M drop. Sounds exciting!
I am still contemplating what to do after the philippines is over, I will have to make some decisions soon!!
I am over half way through my trip now, its gone so fast :(
Lots of love
Hayley (& sally)
Thursday 29 January 2009
Sally arrived!
Just a quickie to let everyone know sally arrived safe and sound. We are just looking for a luxury spa in manila to get relaxed for the day!!
Tomorrow we fly down to Boracay island, which is the backpackers beaches and activities (surfing, diving, snorkelling and of course partying!)
Lots of love
Hayley & sister Sal
Tomorrow we fly down to Boracay island, which is the backpackers beaches and activities (surfing, diving, snorkelling and of course partying!)
Lots of love
Hayley & sister Sal
Tuesday 27 January 2009
Lakon to Laos
I have finally come to the end of my first little solo stint, and have had a great time. We left Vang vieng for the capital city- vientiane on sunday, then spent the day eating fantastic food and enjoying our last few hours together.
The rest of the group have now headed down to the south of Laos and I took the overnight bus to Bangkok- not the best nights sleep I have ever had....I woke up in the night to find the guy next to me dribbling on my shoulder!! He bought me breakfast when we arrived in Bangkok though, so thats ok!
I am now at the airport and ready to leave for Phillippines, but got sent back by immigration as I have not yet purchased my ticket back out of philli....emergency trip to the internet to get something booked.
I have decided to flay back to kuala lumpur as that is the cheapest thing I can find, then I will fly back to the south of Thailand to meet with the girls I was travelling with in Laos.
Keep bumping into people I know everywhere which is a nice feeling, so off for a coffee with some lovely aussies I met on the slow boat!
Lots of love
Hayleyx
The rest of the group have now headed down to the south of Laos and I took the overnight bus to Bangkok- not the best nights sleep I have ever had....I woke up in the night to find the guy next to me dribbling on my shoulder!! He bought me breakfast when we arrived in Bangkok though, so thats ok!
I am now at the airport and ready to leave for Phillippines, but got sent back by immigration as I have not yet purchased my ticket back out of philli....emergency trip to the internet to get something booked.
I have decided to flay back to kuala lumpur as that is the cheapest thing I can find, then I will fly back to the south of Thailand to meet with the girls I was travelling with in Laos.
Keep bumping into people I know everywhere which is a nice feeling, so off for a coffee with some lovely aussies I met on the slow boat!
Lots of love
Hayleyx
Saturday 24 January 2009
try again
Me on the zip wire while tubing!
People floating to the next bar
Catching the slow boat to laosBusy busy bee
Hello!
How is everyone? Thanks for all your messages, I love getting them, but I have hardly had any time to reply to them.
I have been very busy the last couple of weeks. Started off with the trek into the jungle for a couple of days, which was a hard going mountain climb for 1 day then an overnight stay at a hill tribe community, then downhill the 2nd day. The trip ended with some white water rafting, but the water was slow as it is the dry season here, so not really one for the adrenaline junkies!
I then made some friends in chiang mai, 2 girls who I spent the next couple of days with. From there we took a marathon journey over to Laos, which involved a days bus ride, and 2 days on a slowwwwww boat into luang prabang. The boat was pretty tough, they crammed 100 people onto a tiny boat so you could only sit on a wooden bench with no legroom for 7 hours, then they stopped over night in a little village for some rest. The 2nd day they bought an even smaller boat for us all to get on, and we got on last so had to sit on top of the engine (but inside) and the smeall and noise was awful!! We managed to make some friends though and the scenery on the river was amazing.
By the time we made it to luang prabang we are travelling in a group of 6 people (all lone travellers). All of them are lovely and range from 22 to 30 in age (3 guys, 3 girls). We planned to travel all of laos together. The city was lovely, lots of temples, and a few nights bowling (as thats the only place they serve booze!).
From there we took the bus round the mountians down to vang vieng where we have been for 5 days. Its on the bank of the namkong river, and is a beautiful setting. The town is full of backpackers, and we keep bumping into the same people from the slow boat which is nice! The main activity here is tubing. This involves floating down the namkong on a tyre and as you pass bars on the river banks they pull you in on a rope. There are heaps of swings, slides and zipwires that all dunk you right back into the water. Its so much fun. We have spent 3 days doing this, and have a day off today for some R&R before we hit the nam again tomorrow!
From there its down to vientiane (capital) for 1 day, then off to meet sally in philli!
My friends here are great, and I expect I will meet many of them again after philli back in thailand.
Laos is so cheap, so I am living in a private room with daily massages, a few beers and lovely food for about 15 quid per day, so it doesnt get any better than this!!
Lots of love to everyone, apologies for going AWOL for a couple of weeks!
Hayleyxx
How is everyone? Thanks for all your messages, I love getting them, but I have hardly had any time to reply to them.
I have been very busy the last couple of weeks. Started off with the trek into the jungle for a couple of days, which was a hard going mountain climb for 1 day then an overnight stay at a hill tribe community, then downhill the 2nd day. The trip ended with some white water rafting, but the water was slow as it is the dry season here, so not really one for the adrenaline junkies!
I then made some friends in chiang mai, 2 girls who I spent the next couple of days with. From there we took a marathon journey over to Laos, which involved a days bus ride, and 2 days on a slowwwwww boat into luang prabang. The boat was pretty tough, they crammed 100 people onto a tiny boat so you could only sit on a wooden bench with no legroom for 7 hours, then they stopped over night in a little village for some rest. The 2nd day they bought an even smaller boat for us all to get on, and we got on last so had to sit on top of the engine (but inside) and the smeall and noise was awful!! We managed to make some friends though and the scenery on the river was amazing.
By the time we made it to luang prabang we are travelling in a group of 6 people (all lone travellers). All of them are lovely and range from 22 to 30 in age (3 guys, 3 girls). We planned to travel all of laos together. The city was lovely, lots of temples, and a few nights bowling (as thats the only place they serve booze!).
From there we took the bus round the mountians down to vang vieng where we have been for 5 days. Its on the bank of the namkong river, and is a beautiful setting. The town is full of backpackers, and we keep bumping into the same people from the slow boat which is nice! The main activity here is tubing. This involves floating down the namkong on a tyre and as you pass bars on the river banks they pull you in on a rope. There are heaps of swings, slides and zipwires that all dunk you right back into the water. Its so much fun. We have spent 3 days doing this, and have a day off today for some R&R before we hit the nam again tomorrow!
From there its down to vientiane (capital) for 1 day, then off to meet sally in philli!
My friends here are great, and I expect I will meet many of them again after philli back in thailand.
Laos is so cheap, so I am living in a private room with daily massages, a few beers and lovely food for about 15 quid per day, so it doesnt get any better than this!!
Lots of love to everyone, apologies for going AWOL for a couple of weeks!
Hayleyxx
Saturday 10 January 2009
Going solo
Hello.
Hope all is well at home, I keep hearing what amazing weather you are all having!!
The past week has been lovely, enjoying the sunshine, snorkelling and diving. Fianlly we left Koh Tao (only 7 days later than planned!!) and Vix, Vincent and Sam left yesterday to fly back to london. I flew up to Chiang Mai to start my first solo stint of the trip!!
Spent my first evening drinking whisky with some locals and an old japanese guy. I have been invited to visit the bar owners other bar which is apparently made out of papier mashie...I think there was a communication breakdown somewhere!
I have some accomodation sorted now, and am off to do a cooking course this afternoon. You are able to choose what we learn, so a bit of papaya salad and pad thai is in order!
Tomorrow I am thinking of heading into the jungle, where we will do a bit of trekking, rafting & elephant riding.....Sounds interesting.....
Fianlly found some cheap and fast internet cafes, so I will try and upload some pics soon
Lots of love
Hayley
Hope all is well at home, I keep hearing what amazing weather you are all having!!
The past week has been lovely, enjoying the sunshine, snorkelling and diving. Fianlly we left Koh Tao (only 7 days later than planned!!) and Vix, Vincent and Sam left yesterday to fly back to london. I flew up to Chiang Mai to start my first solo stint of the trip!!
Spent my first evening drinking whisky with some locals and an old japanese guy. I have been invited to visit the bar owners other bar which is apparently made out of papier mashie...I think there was a communication breakdown somewhere!
I have some accomodation sorted now, and am off to do a cooking course this afternoon. You are able to choose what we learn, so a bit of papaya salad and pad thai is in order!
Tomorrow I am thinking of heading into the jungle, where we will do a bit of trekking, rafting & elephant riding.....Sounds interesting.....
Fianlly found some cheap and fast internet cafes, so I will try and upload some pics soon
Lots of love
Hayley
Wednesday 7 January 2009
Hey Y'all
Hope everyone is well.
I have been spending the last 10 days in Koh Tao. We had planned to move on and go to Koh Phi phi on the west coast, but the weather just got good so we are enjoying the sunshine here for a change!
We have spent several days diving (not much to do in the rain!!) and I have now completed my advanced divers course. I have done 9 dives in all. They have been great, doing deep dives, nigth diving and shark diving. I am really enjoying it and trying to resist doing some more while I am here, as it one of the best places in the world to dive, and I have the bug. Its draining me of money though!! I didnt manage to see any sharks to other day so I might go back out to see what we can find tomorrow. They are mostly reef, white tip and bull sharks (which i am told rarely attack divers!).
Other than that, the nightlife is good, we have met some friends and we are now a group of 6 staying together. The other 5 all leave on saturday, when I venture out on my own to Chang mai in the north of thailand.
Lots of massages, cheap beers and sun cream for the next few days... hope you are all enjoying the snow :-)
Lots of love
hayley
PS trying to upload phots takes ages, so I will do some more when I am off the island!
I have been spending the last 10 days in Koh Tao. We had planned to move on and go to Koh Phi phi on the west coast, but the weather just got good so we are enjoying the sunshine here for a change!
We have spent several days diving (not much to do in the rain!!) and I have now completed my advanced divers course. I have done 9 dives in all. They have been great, doing deep dives, nigth diving and shark diving. I am really enjoying it and trying to resist doing some more while I am here, as it one of the best places in the world to dive, and I have the bug. Its draining me of money though!! I didnt manage to see any sharks to other day so I might go back out to see what we can find tomorrow. They are mostly reef, white tip and bull sharks (which i am told rarely attack divers!).
Other than that, the nightlife is good, we have met some friends and we are now a group of 6 staying together. The other 5 all leave on saturday, when I venture out on my own to Chang mai in the north of thailand.
Lots of massages, cheap beers and sun cream for the next few days... hope you are all enjoying the snow :-)
Lots of love
hayley
PS trying to upload phots takes ages, so I will do some more when I am off the island!
Thursday 1 January 2009
Some pics!
My lovely hut on the beach in bamboo island. Paradise!!
Still not got a tan- but cant be helped when it keeps raining.
Still not got a tan- but cant be helped when it keeps raining.
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