Monday, October 12, 2009

DarkeAngel off on another Whirlwind adventure. AINT NO STOPPIN' US NOW~
Heya folks. Another update from somewhere in the world.

Where exactly? At this precise moment in time im in Chiang Mai, which is in North Thailand. Its a pretty town, lots of temples.

The last few weeks have been interesting to say the least.

From K.L where i left you guys last, i headed North to the Cameron Highlands, home of Malaysian Tea. It was actually pretty nippy up there and it rained a lot too, but hey, thats why i bought a rain jacket with me.

Up there i did a tour of the area, which included a visit to a rose garden, a butterfly garden, a strawberry farm, a tea plantation and a Buddhist Temple. It was pretty fun. I actually really enjoyed Tanah Rata, the town where i was staying. it had a real cosy feel to it. ^^

After the Highlands i headed back into K.L for one night (and i watched G-Force...suprisingly good for a kids movie! Jerry Bruckheimer dontchaknow.) and then caught a plane to Thailand!

I arrived in Krabi, a small coastal city/town and spent the night there, and then caught the ferry to Phi-Phi (pronounced "Pee-Pee") Island, a beautiful, picturesque island with beautiful beaches and a butt-load of tourists. ^^; It was reasonably quiet though, and the island had a real social jazzy feel to it, which i really enjoyed. I was staying in a small beach bungalow, little more than a thatch hut which i had to duck to get in and out of. Not exactly the Ritz, but i slept pretty well there. I also went diving off the island, theres a beautiful marine park nearby and i did a refresher SCUBA course, that took in some real nice dive sites. I even saw a Leopard Shark and Moray Eels! We also went to Phi-Phi Leh, the sister island, and had lunch there. Phi-Phi Leh is home to the beach where the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DeCaprio was filmed. I didnt go to see that beach though, partly cuz it was filled with tourists and boats and stuff, and partly cuz i was feeling really sea-sick. ^^;

After Phi Phi i caught a ferry, a bus and another ferry across the country to Ko Samui, an inherently touristy island. It ended up being too touristy, and i left after a couple of days. Whilst i was there i met (and shared a room with) an american called Rebecca...the hostel where i was trying to stay didnt have any rooms available, but just as i was about to leave she ran up and asked me to split the cost of her room with her...she was travelling alone, and she had booked into a room big enough for three people. I agreed, cuz it was late and i was too tired to go looking for somewhere else to stay, and we ended up hanging out together for a week or so. We went to Chaweng beach, insanely beautiful (Apart from all the touristy crap) but i ended up getting a little burnt! youch.

We both left Samui together afer a couple of days and we headed north to Koh Pha-Ngan (pronounced "Pan-yang") which i a slightly quieter island most of the time. It gets really busy for the monthly "Full Moon Parties", but we arrived about a week after the previous one, so it was very quiet and the rooms were pretty cheap. I went diving off the north coast of Pha-Ngan. Very beautiful, but insanely frustrating. There was a Whale Shark swimming about the dive site, but somehow, for one reason or another, i totally missed seeing it. Every other dive group there saw it, but mine didnt. arrgh! still, i enjoyed it. The dive site "Sail Rock" is reportedly one of the best in the Gulf of Thailand and has this real cool feature called the "Chimney", a vast vertical rock tunnel that extends down to the ocean floor some 20-odd metres below the surface.

After Pha-Ngan, Rebecca and I parted ways, and i caught a ferry, a bus and then two trains up to Chiang Mai where i am now. The Trains were 12 hours EACH. the first was an overnight sleeper train, which ended up not being very comfortable, and the second was a day train...pretty boring. The views of Thailand were great, but the lack of entertainment (i had read all my books and my MP3 player was out of juice) was mind-numbing. Lets just say it was a LOOOOONG trip.

Whilst im up here i plan to maybe see a few elephants, and i've also booked to do this Jungle Zip Line adventure, which sounds like a lot of fun. after that im heading back south, maybe stopping off to see some temple ruins, and then onto bangkok and then, Hong Kong! w00t!

its been real fun here in Thailand. the Thai people are really friendly, although they're always trying to sell you something, or convince you to go to/use their particular hotel/attraction/taxi/massage place/tailor/rental place. it gets very annoying after a while, but you just gotta smile and say "no thank you" alot. Often they'll try to get into a conversation with you (especially on Samui) and talk to you in a phony accent. I've had Thai's talk to me in american accents and Australian accents because i apparently come off as one or the other, but rarely, if ever, british. go figure.


anyways, if you just read all of that, go pour yourself a stiff drink. you deserve it.


till next we meet!

Darke "where in the world is...?" Angel
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