Asia 2019/20

A 84-day adventure by Claire Read more

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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Yogyakarta Day 2
February 12, 2020 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 28 °C
Spent the day exploring the city today. It’s not a very big city so I decided to walk the 20 minutes to the water palace. The city isn’t really designed for walking- there are some pavements but they are often blocked with bikes, food stalls or people and often there aren’t any at all! There are also no crossings so you just have to walk out into the street and cross your fingers the traffic goes around you! Indonesians don’t walk anywhere!

I got to the Taman Sani which is the water palace complex about 11 and I was just going to look around but then this student approached me and asked if I wouldn’t mind she would give me a tour- she was an intern and needed to practice her English. This was great as there wasn’t much explanation on the place so she showed me everything and told me some of the history. It was basically a big holiday home for the sultans in the 1700s! We went to the baths and the underground mosque and to another ruin. Very pretty and she was very sweet!

I then walked to the Sultans palace and had a look around that, though I didn’t enjoy that as much- not a lot to explain anything to you!

After that I stopped for a drink (it was very warm by this point) and then walked up to Marliboro street, at which point it started raining, really hard! So I had lunch- Gudeg which is a dish from Yogyakarta and is a jackfruit curry which was delicious! Then I popped into mall (mainly to keep dry) and ended up getting my nails done as it seemed a good idea in the rain. Got a Grab back (car not bike to keep dry!) and then chilled before going out for dinner in the area around the hostel.Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Yogyakarta Day 3
February 13, 2020 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 32 °C
Decided to have a chilled day today, so had a lie in. Went for a very late breakfast/lunch at ViaVia which is a really nice cafe round the corner from my place. As Id seen most of the main sights I had read about a neighbourhood in the east which was supposed to be interesting to look around so i got a gojek there and had a walk around. To be honest it was nothing special but was interesting to walk around a real local area- got a lot of hellos and curious looks!

Headed back to the city centre but then it started raining again so I went back to the hostel (via the Gelato place I had been to on my first day) and spent some time in a hammock!

The guys running the hostel told me they were having a bbq that evening- for the guest and for their friends, turned out one of the guys had been spearfishing the day before so he was cooking all the fish he’d caught. Was delicious, and they didn’t even charge us for it. Had a couple of drinks after and then bed time.Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Yogyakarta -> Medan
February 14, 2020 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 30 °C
Travel day!

Flight wasn’t until 16.20 and it was sunny (!) in the morning- so after I’d packed up I decided to try and top up the tan and lounge by the pool for a couple of hours. It was hot!

A couple of the other people from the hostel were also flying this afternoon so we shared a grab to the airport. By this point the sky had turned very black so unsurprisingly my flight was delayed an hour or so. Eventually took off about 6 and landed at 8.30 in Medan.

I’d had lunch at the airport but figured I wasn’t sure if I was going get any food around my hostel so to my shame I stopped and got a KFC! Then a grab to the hostel which took almost an hour so it was time to go to bed. Lovely capsule hostel with only one other person in the room and a comfy bed!Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Medan -> Bukit Lawang
February 15, 2020 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 27 °C
Woke up after a very nice sleep in my capsule to torrential rain. The type of rain where it still looked dark outside because it was so heavy. I’d arranged a transfer from my guesthouse so the guy picked me up (only half an hour late which is good going in Indonesia) at 10.30.

We drove for about 3 hours so we arrived about 1.30. Still raining a lot, and had to walk the last bit but they came and carried my bag and gave me an umbrella which was very kind! Checked in and had lunch and eventually it stopped raining, so I went for a short stroll down the river and through the village. Bukit Lawang is a really small place on the edge of the Gunung Leuser national park, and so all the guesthouses are on the river and all the tourism is geared towards jungle trekking which I am doing tomorrow! Lots of people were swimming in the river and having fun on a Saturday afternoon. Also after about 10 minutes of me being there someone shouted orangutan and just a couple of houses up the river there was a mum and a baby swinging around a building site!

Went back and FaceTimed Fran and Sam which was lovely and then had dinner and met with the guide for tomorrow for a quick briefing on what to bring. At the guesthouse I am staying at they had live music on, sounds nice but it started at 10pm and honestly had a sound system like Glastonbury. Honestly. Chatted to a Dutch girl for a while but went to bed about 11.30, managed to drift off but woke up at 1 and sounded like I was in the middle of a gig. I think it ended about 2 but I did managed to get back to sleep. Not quite the peaceful night by the river in the jungle I had imagined but an experience nonetheless!Read more
TravelerLove those animals
2/18/20Reply
TravelerDo they still do hire a tyre and float down the river? I did that and cracked my coccyx in the process!
2/20/20Reply
TravelerOh gosh! Yes they do- we did it back from the jungle but all in one piece thankfully!
2/20/20Reply
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Jungle trekking day 1
February 16, 2020 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
After a slightly broken nights sleep, up at 8 to leave for the trek at 9. Turns out I am with two other Americans, a girl called Alexis and a guy called Jon- both work for US international development so Alexis is currently based in Jakarta at the embassy and Jon has just quit but was in Colombia. Very interesting! We also have two guides, who both have been working in the jungle for more than 5 years so we feel in good hands!

The plan today is to walk for 6-7 hours until we get to the camp, then stay there overnight. The chances of seeing orang-utans is pretty high but not guaranteed. There used to be a rehabilitation centre for orangutans in Bukit Lawang so they call the orang-utans ‘semi wild’. They live in the jungle and most are born in the jungle but they have learned behaviour to not be scared of humans and will come very close to you.

We were very lucky! It was a lovely sunny day and after all the rain yesterday we think they must want to come out because we saw our first two after about 10 minutes and saw 16 in total, including lots of babies and one male (who was huge!). Some came quite close and one tried to get our lunch! I have so many pictures!!! We also saw peacocks, Thomas leaf monkeys, pig tailed macaques and some woodpeckers so it was amazing.

The walking was tough at times, we obviously stopped a lot to watch the orang-utans, but there was a lot of very steep up and down and it was quite wet after yesterday’s rain. But the guides were really good and we went quite slow and had stops for water and fruit which was delicious. The hardest part was the final descent into camp (next to the river) which was about 45 of almost vertical descent a lot of which was scrambling! Thank God for the vines and tree roots to hold onto because it was tough. And very sweaty- it’s warm but so so so humid. We finally arrived at the river which we were very happy about and after a quick wade across we were at camp about 4.30. The camp is very basic- we sleep on thin mattresses in a sort of tarpaulin shelter, but it does the job!

We had a swim in the river- mainly to wash off all the sweat and cool down! It is lovely and clear and not too cold so that was perfect. Then later had a delicious dinner and some card games before bed.Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Jungle trekking day 2
February 17, 2020 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Woke up in the jungle! Wasn’t the best nights sleep I’ve had but not too bad. Sun came back out for us which was lovely too. We had a choice this morning to go to a small waterfall nearby or to do a few more hours trekking- but to do that we would have had to walk back up the hill so we chose waterfall! It was just a few hundred meters up the river so we walked up there and swam and hung out for a while. Our guides had clearly done this before because they had a rock with dissolved stone that made colours and did us ‘jungle makeup’ and gave us fern crowns! Was pretty fun and a nice way to spend a morning. On the way back to camp we saw a monitor lizard- a really big lizard just bathing which was cool! And then about 40/50 monkeys came by on the other side of the river so we sat and watched them for ages!

After lunch we got into 4 rings they had tied together to raft/tube back into town. Took about 40 minutes and was pretty fun! Got back about 2 and we were soaked so I got my room, showered and generally chilled out all afternoon. Again we were so lucky as it started raining about 30 mins after we got back. Had dinner with Alexis and Jon and then had a long overdue FaceTime with Kate!Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Bukit Lawang -> Berestagi
February 18, 2020 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
Travelling a Berestagi today so had booked the shared taxi/tourist bus which is basically a people carrier where they fit as many tourists as they can who are going in the same direction. You can get public buses way cheaper but these take ages and won’t be very comfortable! Left at about 8.20 and arrived in Berestagi about 12.30. Checked into my homestay and Mery was lovely and gave me a very comprehensive introduction to the area and a map with everything marked!

I visited one of her recommendations for lunch - a bbq pork place which was great and very cheap. Interesting that they have pork here because as a Muslim country they don’t tend to serve it. However there is a couple of reasons- the ethnic Batak people came from this region, and whilst there are Muslims here there are also a lot of Christians. After lunch I decided to walk up to the small hill just out of town - took about 45 minutes and the views were quite nice. The reason people visit Berestagi is for its mild climate (it’s at 1300 and is much much cooler than Medan) and views of volacanos, which are pretty spectacular. Unfortunately the two main volcanos (sibabyak and sinabung) had quite a bit of cloud but it was still a nice walk and views.

On the way back I stopped at the fruit market which Berestagi is also known for - it’s climate means it is a perfect area to grow fruit and the fruit market was huge!

Came back and chatted with an Austrian couple (got some tips on volcano climbing for tomorrow) and then had dinner round the corner and an early night as I was very tired!Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Berestagi
February 19, 2020 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Time to climb Mount Sibayak! It’s known to be one of Indonesia’s most accessible volcanos - some people go for sunrise but I wasn’t up for that so I decided to just go in the morning. You can take a guide which is recommended for sunrise but I decided to go it alone which lots of people say is easy to do.

Mery had given me comprehensive instructions on how to take the public bus to the base of the climb so I set off about 8am. The public bus are really just converted minibuses which run up and down the road- there are no bus stops you just flag them down and they literally come every minute or so. Got a few interested looks but we reached the end of the route about 8.20 (and cost me 4000 rupiah which is about 11p). I then had a 4km walk up a road to the entry point of the volcano, and then a further 2km to the crater. All in all I think about 500/600m of up and it took me about 2 hours. Some of the path was pretty steep but it wasn’t too hot so it was manageable.

As I approached the crater it got quite noisy - sounded like strong wind but it turned out to be hot air vents with volcanic steam coming out, a bit like a pressure cooker. Walked down to the volcanic lake which was cool but there were some hot springs running into it and then up on the higher point on the rim where the views were pretty nice. Some clouds had gathered by this point but they cleared from time to time waving spectacular views over the valley.

Headed down about 11 and took a different route back so I could visit the hot springs. Sadly these weren’t as nice as the ones in Flores as they were man made pools with the hot water piped in, but was pleasant enough for 30 mins or so! Then hopped on a different bus back, has a slight panic when the bus turned away from the direction I wanted but it turned out it just did a little loop. Got back about 2.30 so had some lunch- delicious bbq chicken.

Got back and just chilled out for the rest of the afternoon, saw a bit of a sunset on the roof terrace (through the clouds) and had a walk around the local market. Another relatively early night called!Read more
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Berestagi -> Lake Toba (Tuk Tuk)
February 20, 2020 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
Time to leave Berestagi as my time in Indonesia is running out. Had a chilled morning at the homestay and enjoyed the roof terrace (bit cloudy so the views not as nice but still pleasant) and for picked up in the shared taxi at 12.15. Good for me is that I was actually the only person as some others cancelled so it became a private taxi for the price of a shared one!

The drive to lake toba was about 3 hours- we stopped at a nice viewpoint for a break and I had some lunch, Nasi Goreng for old times sake! Arrived at Parapet about 3.20 in time for the 3.30 ferry over to Tuk Tuk which is on the island in the middle of the lake. Basically lake Toba is the largest volcanic lake in the world and the largest lake is south east Asia, and has a massive island in the middle of it. Most of the tourist accomodation is on a part of the lake called Tuk Tuk so that’s where I headed. Was about a 45 minute ferry and the ferry stops at each hotels jetty which was very handy! My hotel was pretty nice - I have a room with a lake view and terrace, not bad for £9 a night.

After I checked in I went for a little walk down to somewhere which is supposed to have nice views and it did, had a beer. Bit weird though as there are loads of hotels and homestays here but not may people, and a lot of them look very run down.i know it’s low season but I did a bit of research online and apparently this used to be really popular in the 80s and 90’s but just hasn’t see as many tourists since- as backpackers favour Vietnam Cambodia and Thailand etc. Lots of Germans here as well!

Finished my walk around the town, showered and went out for pizza- had been craving it for days so had to give in! Very nice indeed.Read more
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Indonesia reflections
February 21, 2020 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
On my penultimate day in Indonesia and whilst lying on a sun lounger by the largest volcanic lake in the world I thought I’d wrote down some reflections on my time in Indonesia. Nothing too deep just some snippets of what I’ve learnt, observed and experienced. Mainly because as I’m now in my 30s my memory is terrible and I’ll probably forget all of this is a month:

- Indonesians are so friendly! Especially once you get off Bali it too a whole to adjust to the fact that most people just want to chat and be friendly with you, and aren’t trying to get money off you. The number of people I have had just help me out with directions, translation, advice is too many to count. Lots just want to practice their English too, which on the whole is very good across the country.

- They are also very happy you have visited their country. I got the feeling on a lot of the islands that they don’t quite understand the western obsession with Bali and want more people to see other parts of Indonesia- which I agree is very worth it!

- There is seemingly little organisation to anything, but yet everything works! Similar to a lot of south east Asia really, but they can sort anything out with a few quick phone calls.

- It is still a pretty male dominated society; they remain surprised at a solo female traveller and on some cases feel more comfortable addressing men when we’ve been on mixed groups. The women very much are responsible for the domestic life but I have seen signs of that changing such as the lovely student who showed me round the water palace in Yogyakarta

- Religion is pretty prevalent here- outside of Bali it is largely Muslim and I will not miss the 4.30am call to prayer. In lots of places (flores, Sumatra) there are multiple religions all living alongside each other and it appears a very tolerant society. whilst lots of the women wear headscarves, they are often brightly coloured which seems a lot of friendly in a way!

- It’s been interesting talking to Indonesians about travel, often when they ask where I am from we have a conversation about London and the UK (largely about football!) and I will sometimes ask if they have been. Occasionally they have travelled, I’ve met some who have studied in the US or Europe but most likely is that they haven’t. It’s just too expensive for them- if you think about how cheap it is for us then in reverse it would be so expensive just to eat in the UK never mind the flight etc. I feel a sense of sadness/unfairness from some, why do Europeans get to travel so easily and so often when it is simply out of reach for them to even travel in Asia!?

- It’s huge! This is the longest I have spent (I think) in one country in one go outside of the UK (and I suppose Germany when I was born..) but you could honestly spend another few months exploring all the other islands and regions! On the list is Sulawesi, Raja Ampat, Borneo and Maluku. It’s a vast country with so many islands and so many nuances between each region.

- There are volcanoes everywhere. They just pop up everywhere you go. Some loo me like picture perfect volcanos, others are a bit more rough and ready but they are everywhere!

overall it has been amazing, I’m sad to leave but also looking forward to being in more of an international city like KL and then back to beach, diving and hanging with Fran, Holly and George in Thailand!

I have too many pictures to pick 6 highlights but
I’ve tried!!Read more
TravelerIndonesia definitely on our list now!
2/21/20Reply
Traveler👍🏻👍🏻
2/21/20Reply
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Lake Toba
February 21, 2020 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
Decided to have a very chilled day today, mainly consisted of lounging by the lake, reading, a bit of swimming and eating.

Thought about going for a walk but then thought i hadn’t had a day doing nothing in ages so I didn’t!

Had dinner at Jenny’s and had a whole bbq’d fish- bit spicy but lovely.

Leaving tomorrow and to be honest I’m not that sad. It’s beautiful but a bit eerie, feels like a place that time forgot. Lots of older German and Swiss men here too- think they came in the 80s and never left. Whilst it’s nice being off the beaten track, I don’t think this is the place for me!Read more
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Lake Toba -> Kuala Lumpur
February 22, 2020 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
Mainly a travel day today.. a long way to go!

Originally my flight was for the 23rd (tomorrow) but I had realised a few days ago that my calculations were wrong and I need to leave on the 22nd to stay within 60 days. I’d booked a flex ticket when I bought this flight so after struggling with the air Asia website for about an hour I changed it to 9pm tonight. This meant I had the whole day to get to the airport so I felt sure I’d make it!

Got the ferry at 10.30 back to the other side of the lake- it’s great as you just flag down the ferry from the jetty at the hotel, so nowhere to walk! Back in Parapet at 11.30 and I’d booked a shared taxi/minibus thing so that all went smoothly and we left just before 12. Wasn’t the most comfortable of journeys in the back of the people carrier but arrived at the airport just before 4. So only a few hours to kill!

Spoke to mum and Laura and then had some food and generally killed time! Flight was a bit late leaving but left about 9.30 so arrived in KL about 11.15 (45 minute flight but lost an hour again). Long queues at immigration but out by 12, in a grab at at the hostel by 1. 😴Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Kuala Lumpur day 1
February 23, 2020 in Malaysia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
Time to explore. Kate and I came to KL in 2012 but we really didn’t do much apart from seeing the Petronas towers so I thought I should probably see a bit of the city.

Started off in the old colonial part which was round the corner of the hostel- lovely old buildings and a big square.

From there I got the metro over to the sky tower as I love a viewpoint of a city from a tall tower! View was nice and good to get a sense of how big the city is! I took a Grab to a mall nearby because it had a food court with lots of amazing street food and had some delicious Dim Sum for lunch 😋.

Then I needed to stock up on some bits so I hit the mall- they have these huge huge malls that are all interlinked so I got lost in there for a few hours! Ended up buying quite a few bits (mainly from cotton on) including a new bikini and a beach dress 🙊!

Took the metro back to the hostel about 3.30 and chilled for a while- met a Dutch guy and a danish guy and we decided to go to the Heli bar for sunset. Lots of people had recommended this to me so wanted to check it out and nice to have some friends to go with! Amazing views from there and it was threatening to rain but held off which was lucky! After a few there we went down to another couple of bars nearby and then when the tequila shots came out we knew it was going to be a late one! Ended up at a place called Iron Fairies which was pretty fun. Late late night!Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Kuala Lumpur Day 2
February 24, 2020 in Malaysia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
I’m not going to lie - today wasn’t my finest day! Woke up at 10.30 feeling horrible so got out of bed at about 11.30, met up with Casper and Luc (who also felt awful!), sat around for a while discussing last night. Went to macdonalds (I know I know) and then watched Netflix for a while. Later in the evening went to Chinatown for dinner and walked around the central market so it wasn’t a complete waste of a day!

Sometimes you just have to accept that it’s not a day for doing much!Read more
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KL -> Ao Nang (Krabi)
February 25, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
Another day another flight (#sorrygreta)

Flying to Krabi today, mainly because it was the least hassle least expensive way to get to Koh Samui/ Koh Tao where I am meeting Fran, holly and George. They don’t arrive for another week but after my diving in Indonesia I decided I wanted to get my advanced certificate which is another 3 days and Koh Tao is one of the best (and cheapest) places in Asia to dive. So going to go that before they arrive. Also helps that my ex-colleague Glyn has put my in touch with his brother who runs a dive shop so I’m getting mates rates too.

Anyway cut a long story short means I have 3 nights in Krabi before a bus and ferry to Koh Tao on the 28th. Flight was at 1.30pm so I had plenty of time and took the bus to the airport. All easy and landed in Krabi at about 2pm (I’ve changed time zones again!) Took the bus to Ao Nang wherein staying- it’s on the beach, not the nicest beach, or town for that matter but it’s convenient and cheap! The scenery is beautiful- limestone cliffs and islands off the coast 🏝 ⛰. Slightly ruined by the Starbucks and macdonalds but hey ho.

Checked in and then went for a walk around down to the beach. The beach is busy with longtail boats taking people to Railay beach which is the famous beach only accessible by boat 10 mins away. Lay on the beach for a while and watched the sunset which was pretty beautiful and then went for a Thai massage... forgot how painful these can be! She really went for it- walking on my back etc! Had dinner after and a Thai pancake in honour of pancake day and then went to bed about 10!Read more
Traveler Want this!
2/28/20Reply
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Ao Nang day 1
February 26, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
Decided to visit the most famous beach in the area today - Railay beach. It’s only accessible by boat so you have to head down to the beach and pay 200 Baht return for a long tail ride about 15 minutes.

Got there about 11 and had a walk around the area and settled down for some swimming and sunbathing. It’s really beautiful, yellow sandy beaches and green/blue sea surrounded by limestone cliffs- but there were a lot of people! A lot!

Stayed until about 3.30 and then headed back, got my nails down next door and booked to do diving tomorrow!

Walked down to the beachfront for sunset and then had dinner and an early night as being picked up early tomorrow!Read more
TravelerWhat an amazing beach - so picturesque especially with so few people in the shot😂
2/28/20Reply
Whooow beach looks so quiet!
2/28/20Reply
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Ao Nang day 2
February 27, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Diving today! There was a dive shop next to my hostel and as I’m going to do my advanced course on Saturday I thought it might be a good idea to have a quick refresher...! They were also really nice so I signed up.

Turned out there was only me and an Irish girl Lisa on the boat - the boat could take 30 so it was a great private trip! She was doing her open water so I had a divemaster just for me called Tash- she was Thai and super nice.

We were going diving around Koh Phi Phi which is about 2 hours off the shore and where I stayed when Kate and I came in 2012 so it was nice to get a boat ride out in the area. We did two dives; 10.30 and 12.30 with lunch in between. We dived at Maya Nui North and Maya Bay corner- great diving, lots of fish although no turtles or sharks! Interesting to see Maya Bay too- we visited here in 2012 as it’s the beach from ‘The Beach’ the leonardo di caprio film. It’s not that big and as it has so many tourists the government has closed the beach and the shore indefinitely - there’s a rope where boats are allowed to go and no people can swim past it. It is really beautiful and good for the environment I think as it was apparently getting very dirty and killing all the coral and fish.

Nice leisurely journey back to Krabi and got back about 5. Went down for sunset again and dinner and then packed as I’m leaving very early tomorrow. Knackered after diving and early start!Read more
Traveler 😍😍
2/28/20Reply
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Ao Nang -> Koh Tao
February 28, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Another early early start- picked up at 6.30am from the hostel. 3 hour drive to Surat Thani port and then a quick 4 hour ferry (including an hour stop in Koh Phangan) and finally reached Koh Tao about 14.30!

I’ll be here for quick a while - 8 nights in total with one night on koh Samui in the middle to meet Fran. The reason I’ve come earlier than Fran is after Komodo I really wanted to do my Advanced Open Water course; it’s 5 more dives and means you can dive down to 30m on future fun dives. My ex colleague Glyn had mentioned his brother runs a dive school in Koh Tao so I messaged him and he sorted me out with mates rates and a pick up from the ferry which was awesome!

Went straight to the dive shop from the ferry to register and get my reading materials - there is no test on the course but you have to read some background on each dive type and then go through a few questions verbally with your instructor. So i had 4 sections to ready tonight

Checked into my hostel which is SO nice, really fancy one but I wanted to get a good comfy bed and it has a really nice rooftop pool! Sat by the pool and did my reading before having a sunset beer and a low key dinner. Knackered from the early start and diving tomorrow so headed to bed!Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Koh Tao day 1
February 29, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Back to the dive shop for 10am this morning to meet my instructor Chris (a very chilled out Aussie) and go through the knowledge reviews- basically discuss what I’d read last night. Lucky again as it’s just me so get a private course!

The advanced dives I’m doing are:

- navigation (mandatory and the one I’m least looking forward to!)
- peak performance buoyancy
- night
- deep (also mandatory)
- wreck

That took about 45 mins and we practiced some compass skills on land ( before doing them in the water which is much much harder!) and then got the kit sorted. The boat left about 12.30 so had some lunch and then we went out to do ppb and navigation. It’s really annoying because this is high season for koh Tao so the conditions should be perfect with 20-30m visibility but it’s been awful for the last month with 3-5m. Just my luck! But it doesn’t matter so much for the course because you are focussing on the skills etc but it would have been nice to see stuff too!

Back about 4.30 but the night dive is tonight so a quick snack and then back on the boat at 6. You go out around sunset so it’s super pretty - got in the water about 7 when it was mostly dark and out at 7.40 when it was pitch black! Super cool but the visibility was terrible so mainly just tried to keep close to Chris!

Got back and had to do more reading before 6am tomorrow (we are going on the early boat) so straight back to the hostel for study, dessert and an early night!Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Koh Tao day 2
March 1, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Up so early 😴 met at the shop at 6am and straight out on the boat. Had the deep dive and wreck- the deep was a little tricky as the visibility was awful and the current got strong as we got down to 22m so we couldn’t go any further- we wanted to go to 30...!

Never mind though the wreck was amazing! It’s an old US warship that the Thai government bought after WW2 and used until 2007 when the decommissioned it and sunk it just offshore in 2011 for diving! The front of the wreck is at 30m so we had another chance to get that deep and we did it! 30.0 exactly! Swam around it which was super cool and saw some big groupers and snappers and then gradually came back up. For the first time actually came within 8 mins of the decompression stop time but it was all good and we came up fine!

Back to the shop about 11 and spent a couple of hours going through the final knowledge reviews, paperwork, having lunch and just generally chatting with Chris and the other staff. Then I was all done (no written test or anything for this one 🙌) so headed back to the hostel to chill for the afternoon by the pool.

Went back to the dive shop later in the afternoon to have a couple of beers with the guys there, had a delicious pizza later and fell into bed very tired after a good day!Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Koh Tao day 3
March 2, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Chilled day today, woke up with a bit of a cold so taking it very easy!

Breakfast, walk, beach, lunch, pool, massage, dinner, bed!
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Koh Tao -> Koh Samui
March 3, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Off to meet Fran today!

Got the 9.30 boat to Koh Samui so arrived about 12.30 at the hotel after the transfer. Spent a couple of hours by the beach there trying to do some planning for the rest of the trip, as I don’t have anything booked directly after 14th March, and the Kate has booked her flights to Sri Lanka for 6th April so needed to sort that out to meet her!

Think I made a couple of decisions; going to go for Myanmar for 3 weeks after Bangkok and before Sri Lanka and going to go to India for 3 weeks after Sri Lanka and do an organised trip Delhi to Goa before coming home on 20th/21st May!

Anyway Frans flight landed about 3.30 and the airport is literally a 5 minute drive from where we were staying so I went and met her which was fun!
Then we got back, had a swim and a drink and went out for some dinner and caught up! She was quite tired after the flights so went to bed not too late.Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Koh Samui -> Koh Tao (take 2)
March 4, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Getting the ferry back to Koh Tao today (I’ve spent a lot of time on these ferries) but we booked it for 1pm so we had the morning to spare. After breakfast at the hotel we walked down to the giant gold Buddha about 15 minutes away. It was pretty big!

Got our stuff and walked to the pier- was close by so very easy! Ferry took 2 hours so we arrived back at Koh Tao at 3pm and got the transfer to the hotel. Very strange to be staying in more of a fancy hotel/resort for me- but it’s lovely! It’s at the south of the island- shark bay and the beach is beautiful!

Checked in and lounged by the pool until sunset, then found a restaurant nearby for dinner and funny little bar for a drink and cards!Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Koh Tao take 2 day 1
March 5, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Chill day today for me and Fran. We had breakfast (it’s a buffet which is such a novelty!) and then chilled by the pool and on the beach. We can borrow snorkels for free here so we went for a snorkel in the morning and then again after lunch and I saw a shark - just a small reef shark but it was so cute!

We then got the shuttle bus into Sairee in the evening (the busier area where I was staying before) and we had a massage, dinner and a few drinks.Read more
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Asia 2019/20 Traveler
Koh Tao take 2 day 2
March 6, 2020 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Holly and George arrive today! They were on the early boat from Koh Samui so they actually arrived while we were having breakfast. Caught up with them by the pool in the morning and then headed off on a taxi boat to Koh Nang Yuan- a small island off the shore of Koh Tao. It’s actually 3 islands connected by 2 sandbars, id been here with Kate in 2012 and knew we needed to go back!

The taxi boat was quite fun, very small boat and we saw a turtle on the surface! So cute!

The island has an amazing viewpoint so we walked up to that first, so sweaty! But totally worth it as the view is amazing! Then we jumped in the water and did some snorkelling, sunbathing and had lunch. Headed back about 4 and then showered and went into Sairee beach for the evening. Had a delicious dinner at a small place- the best Massaman curry I’ve ever had! Then had a few drinks on the beach in a chill place and wandered down to the bigger bars that had fire throwers and buckets- we’d found out today that the full moon party had been cancelled due to Coronavirus so I thought we better get a bucket just in case it was our only chance! Headed home about 1.Read more
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