Sydney!!!

12th April
I arrived in Sydney around 10am and checked in at Wake up! Amazing hostel! I waited for Amy to arrive with her friend from Newcastle Emma and then we went to explore Sydney! We had an amazing day and saw lots like the harbour bridge and the opera house. We decided to go to the aquarium as it was in Sydneys top 4 things to do. However we were very disapointed after spending $26 to get in and we had seen all the fish whilst in the sea anyway! At least the penguins were pretty cute!
A highlight of my day was when we noticed groups of young girls screaming and waving flags. As me and Amy stalk a certain boyband on a daily basis we knew One Direction were in Sydney so we decided to go ask them. I asked a 12 year old girl who she was screaming for and she shouted "ONE DIRECTION! LOOK THERES HARRY!" Me and Amy screamed and started jumping up and down and only after a few minutes did we realise we were standing with a group of little girls screaming like children. It was embarassing but i had to show my appreciation for Harry Styles who was waving down! The young australian girls were very excited that we were from the UK too and were asking lots of questions about the X Factor. I was more than willing to fill them in! On our way back to the hostel we also found a One Direction official store so i got my picture done with my future hubby. Best Day Ever.
After all this excitement we went for our free bbq at the hostel before searching for cheap wine! We downed our bottles in the room and then went to meet two boys from our dorm in the bar. However we got sidetracked and ended up playing drinking games in another dorm for a while and then we all went out together! We went to the Arts Factory which at first we thought was rubbish but after a few drinks it was really good!


13th April
I woke up really sad as i knew it was my last day in Australia :-( and it was mine and Amys last day together which sucked! We decided to spend our last day at Manly so got the ferry over to the beach. We met Dan here (who we did surfers and Byron with) too and spent the day on the beach and walking around the shops. I LOVE manly beach! Me and Dan even got matching hoodies to show our appreciation!
I didnt have to be at the airport until 3am so we decided to go out! The night ended up pretty drunk with me and Amy crying on the street saying bye before i had to get in a taxi! I was and still am absolutely devastated to have left Australia, i want to live here so bad!
This is my last blog from Australia which is even more weird. This has definitely been my highlight from travelling and i have met some amazing people on the way down the East Coast. I loved Thailand but Australia beats it and everywhere else i have ever been! Please someone take me back!

Byron Bay!

7th April
Me and Amy arrived in Byron Bay around 3pm and checked in at our hostel - Cape Byron YHA. We had a walk around the town and had a look at the beach for abit before going to meet Donna and Angela who were also staying in our hostel! We went to Cheeky Monkeys for a $5 dinner and our free glass of champagne before heading back to the hostel to drink goon! Hannah was meeting us which was exciting! We managed to pick up some strange ozzie stragglers on the way too, one in particular who was obsessed with Amy and would not speak to anyone else and followed her around for a while! After filling ourselves up on Goon we went back to Cheeky Monkeys and danced on the tables! I love Byron Bay!


8th April
Amy dragged me out of bed around 10am and we headed straight to the beach as the weather was amazing! Donna, Angela and Hannah joined us too and we sunbathed and listened to One Direction (standard behaviour now for me and Amy). We went in the sea which was hilarious. We survived the waves until we decided to get out where we all stood up and got taken out by probably one of the biggest waves i have seen. I stood up shocked and looked over to Amy who had a pair of broken sunglasses in her hands and her bikini bottoms had fallen down. It was amazing! Unfortunately for us as we were laughing about the first wave, a second one came and took us down too! It was pretty scary and my face even dragged on the sea bed! After this one i literally ran out so i wouldnt get taken again. Unfortunately i had lost my sunglasses (thankfully they were cheap thailand fakes) and had a face full of sand. 
After all this excitement it was time to make a BBQ on the beach! We even tried Kangaroo which was really nice! After a nice Easter Sunday with our BBQ and cider on the beach we went to meet the boys Charlie, Nico and Dan who had arrived from Surfers. They didnt have anywhere to stay so we hid them in ours! Then we drank more goon playing drinking games and went to Cheeky Monkeys! I dont remember anything past playing drinking games but apparently i fell over in the middle of the road and passed out around 1am...interesting! Goon is so lethal!


9th April
I woke up really confused over what had happened the night before and felt awful! Luckily most of the others felt just as bad! Someone in our room told reception about the boys staying in our room so they got chucked out and then we went to the beach to sunbathe! I think the fact that Nico was sleeping in the middle on the floor was the last straw for someone haha! After the beach me Amy and Hannah went for a walk to the most Easterly point in Australia and to the lighthouse which had amazing views! Hannah decided it would be a good idea to go a different way down...we soon ended up in some forest jungle in pitch black! It was so scary and i tried so hard to block out the noises of rustling in the bushes, there must have been so many spiders and snakes ergh! Eventually after what felt like a lifetime we saw a main road and got straight on it and headed back to our hostel! We then did the standard goon/cheeky monkeys mix for the night!


10th April
We had to check out by 10am which was fine as we were going on a daytrip to Nimbin, some town that is known for weed and drugs. We first went to a waterfall, probably the worst waterfall i have seen in the past 4 months (and there have been alot!) before heading to Nimbin. Its basically a street where people ask you every 2 minutes if you want to buy drugs. They were all mental but it was funny and we may have tried some special cookies! Oops! Me and Amy slept the whole way back on the bus! 
Amy then left for her bus to Newcastle and i met the boys and sneaked into their hostel for the night! This was amazing as i got to save on a nights accomodation - win! I was supposed to be on a bus to Sydney but decided to stay an extra night as i loved it so much! We played lots of drinking games with goon and then went to Cheeky Monkeys - suprise suprise! I dont remember anything after 1am again, goon is so lethal i really need to stop drinking it!! 


11th April
 This was my final day in Byron and we didnt really do anything apart from sleep and sit around. Although i went to Hannah's hostel for lunch as she made a big spag bol - perfect hangover cure! I had a night bus leaving at 8pm so had to say bye to the boys! This was very weird as i had spent the past 5 days with them! I had to say bye to Hannah, Donna and Angela too which was even more weird as i met them right at the start of oz. Im starting to get really sad now as i know the end of oz is so close :( But at least i was on my way to Sydney, my final destination in Australia with Amy there waiting for me woohoo!

Surfers Paradise! BIG BOOTY BITCHES

 3rd and 4th April 

Me and Amy arrived in Surfers Paradise around 1pm and were welcomed by Suze at the bus stop! Suze took us back to her apartment so we could settle in and we felt like we were flashpackers in her pad! It was amazing and literally right next to the beach! After putting some washing on we went for a walk around and to explore our home for the next two days! I fell in love with Surfers from the beginning as it is such a party town and the beach is amazing. After a walk we decided to check out the pool and had fitted in an hour of sunbathing! We even checked out the jacuzzi and sauna - we were in heaven! 
After eating the rest of our dinosaur shaped pasta we got ready for a big night out! Donna and her Irish friends were going to meet us out so we drank a load of goon in the flat and then headed to Vanity! I cant even describe how good it felt being in a proper club again and the toilets were INCREDIBLE! We spent a lot of time sitting and dancing in them as they were so cool! haha! We met some boys who were in Brisbane - Charlie, Nico and Dan and tried to ignore the bouncer who was getting everyone to leave. After avoiding eye contact for about 10 minutes we were chucked out and went back to Suze's for a big sleepover! The boys made me watch some weird movie about dinosaurs...
We woke up feeling very rough, i woke up to Amy looking at me saying she needed tea and eggies! After making this we went to the pool for abit and then met the boys on the beach. Nico pretended he didnt have any legs and scared a few people, it was very funny! We were supposed to have a BBQ but all supermarkets were closed (silly easter weekend) so instead we had super noodles! We took the rest of the goon to the beach and had a chilled out evening there which was really nice! 
That was our final night in Surfers. I would have loved to stay longer but have to be in Sydney for my flight to Fiji. I loved Surfers Paradise and would actually consider moving there for abit. Plus it was amazing to see Suze again. Thanks Suze and Ben for having us!
Next Stop - Byron Bay!

Brisbane

3rd and 4th April



So we arrived at Bunk backpackers around 12pm, grabbed a quick cuppa soup then we were out to look at the shops! Unfortunately for me i had to buy another camera (third camera of the trip - not happy!) I think i may have serious issues! 
After shopping for a few hours we went back to the hostel and met Emily Donna and Don's Irish friends who had arrived! We went for our free dinner (actually nice too) and then got started on the goon for the night. Thats all i can really say about that night, we got very drunk and our lovely Irish boys Gerrard and Chris from Fraser came to meet us out! So many Irish people! 
I think i eventually got to bed around 3am and was up again at 6am ready for my SKYDIVE!! WOOOO! I can honestly say this was the best experience of my life and as soon as we landed i begged them to take me back up! (Unfortunately this would cost another £200!) We all watched my video when we got back which is hilarious!! Then me and Cedric, a lovely German boy in my skydive group had to kill some time before we could get our transfer back to the hostel. This still did not happen but eventually someone gave us a lift to the train station.  It took so long to get back as it stopped everywhere and Cedric was getting very impatient asking randoms on the train how long it would be, this was pretty amusing!
Anyway eventually we got back to Brisbane i had just enough time to say bye to Emily who was going home on the 10th so had to leave and go down the rest of the coast quicker. Donna and her Irish friends had left too but me and Amy decided to get drunk anyway and drank the remaining goon in our dorm while everyone else gave us dirty looks and read books - what losers! We went to the hostel bar and met Frenchy and made the most of the £3 dollar drinks. We decided to be adventurous and try to find somewhere different to go, this was a huge error as there was nowhere and we ended up in a Mcdonalds in the train station! Plus there was a very hot group of Kiwi's back at our hostel!
Anyway it was still very funny and we eventually headed to bed. I was VERY excited as i knew the next day we were leaving for Surfers Paradise which means i get to see Suze! YAY!

Rainbow beach and Fraser island

27th - 31st March
We arrived at Rainbow Beach at around 12pm and had a walk around before going to the meeting about our Fraser Island trip. We had to watch a long rubbish video about how to drive on sand and what to do if you see a Dingo. It was very boring! We then got put into our group. We were Group 2 - This was me Em and Amy, joined by the Irish boys Chris and Gerrard, German twins Mirion and Roman and fellow Welshy Gail. It became obvious from the start that we had the best group!
The next day we left around 8am in our 4x4 and had a long drive to camp on Fraser Island. We set up the communal area, all of our tents and made some lunch before going to our first stop, Lake McKenzie. We spent a few hours sunbathing and chilling by the lake before Wayne (our amazing lead driver/tour guide) told us we had to head back to camp. For the first night our group were in charge of cooking and made an Asian stir fry for everyone, around 27 people. It was quite stressful but turned out amazing and everyone loved it. Also, this was the only thing we had to do on the trip so we were now free of any chores for the night and tomorrow! We got started on the goon and all sat around the camp. We all headed to bed after a few hours and were abit wary of the dingoes, especially as there has been a few attacks in the last two weeks! We lasted until 3am before we needed to go to the toilet so we took it in turn to pee outside while the other two stood on tip toes with our arms in the air (apparently you need to make yourself as tall as possible so it is less likely they will attack you). We survived this only to be woken up an hour later by Dingoes howling outside our tents and we were all so scared! Luckily one of the boys shouted at them to go away (he used much worse words but i could not put them in here). They seemed to get the message though and then left us alone. 
At 6.30am we all received a lovely wake up call from Wayne and had to get ready for a long day of driving and sightseeing! Our first stop was Eli Creek, not really anything special apart from a tiny river that people were walking in. We didnt really see the point though. We then went to Champagne Pools which were better and it was boiling so we got an hour of sunbathing in! The other main place we went to was Indian Head where apparently you can see all the sharks etc in the sea. At Fraser Island you are not allowed in the sea as it is full of them. We didnt get to see any though and were abit disapointed after walking to the top of the point. I asked Wayne if we could throw him in the sea so that we could see them, unfortunately he declined. 
That was the last stop of the day before heading back to camp. It was such a good day and our group were getting on so well. I love the Irish boys as they are such goons, especially Gerrard who after getting water walked back to the 4x4, only he walked to the wrong one and looked up with such a confused face. We were all wetting ourselves watching him do it, i think he was abit embarassed! Roman also had a goon moment and fell out of the car (when it wasnt even moving), he looked up quickly hoping we had not noticed. Unfortunately for him we all had and we were all pointing and laughing! 
In the evening we all drank way too much goon playing drinking games. My last memory is playing Electricity (an amazing drinking game shown by Dean and Kayla). The next thing i knew i woke up and i was in the back of our car. I was so confused and had the worst hangover but felt better that Amy couldnt remember much either! 
We all had to pack up our tents and our 4x4's then went to the final place before stopping for lunch. After lunch we had to head back to Mainland and back to Rainbow Beach. We were all pretty excited to get back to the hostel and finally shower, and i think the boys couldnt wait to get out of the car as we made them listen to Beyonce for about 95% of the time. When we got back we found we had all been put in the same dorm - yay!
The girls made dinner for the 7 of us and then we spent the evening in our room watching Inbetweeners. Roman moaned all night that he was too cold, that the 'ventilator' (not a ventilator but a cheap rubbish fan) had given him a cold and also poked Gerrard to wake him up and tell him to stop snoring. This was all pretty amusing. 
We all woke up to the sun shining in the window and spent our last day here on the beach. Gerrard, Chris, Mirian and Roman left to move on to their next spots so we had to say bye which was sad, especially as we had been constantly with them for the past few days! I will miss our Fraser Island family! 
We then just chilled and packed all of our stuff as we were leaving the next morning. Emily is leaving to go home on the 10th so she is going straight to Brisbane with Donna but me and Amy are stopping at Mooloolaba so we can go to Australia Zoo - woohoo! Apparently it is amazing so we are both very excited! 

Mooloolaba & Australia Zoo! Crikey!

1st and 2nd April


Me and Amy arrived at Mooloolaba hostel and loved it! The town was so nice and had lots of shops and a nice beach and the hostel was cool and so much like halls at uni! We were suprised as we expected it to be a tiny inbred town as no one ever talks about it - we were loving the Sunshine Coast!
When we got to our dorm we met Chris - the craziest ozzie i have ever met! We were there 5 minutes before we had planned a big night of drinking! We went to the beach, which was really nice and did a bit of sunbathing before walking around the shops on the esplanade. The lifeguards were hilarious and had to wear swimming caps - they definitely did not fit in to the stereotype of sexy lifeguards!
After shopping we bought wine and went back to the hostel to cook dinner and start drinking. We met Drew another crazy ozzie, Chris (more normal from Essex) and James. Me and Amy managed to get through 3 bottles of wine before we had even gone out. This was while Chris taught us some oz slang - "Awkies", "Alright like Veggiemite" and "Gnarly Sheila". 
We went to the sports bar and met some boys from Mooloolaba - Sam, Trent and Ryan! Eventually we got bored of the football match so went to O'Malleys! Sam and Trent met us there and we all got hammered! And as they knew we were broke and travelling they bought us shots all night! They were lovely! Trent even treated us all to Mcdonalds on the way home at 3am haha! 
We got up and were suprisingly feeling fresh around 7am! Maybe it was because we were going to Australia Zoo - the home of the Crocodile Hunter! Me and Amy were like little kids running around all day, it was amazing though and by far the best zoo i have ever been too! As it was easter holidays the Irwin family were doing a crocodile show so we got to see Terri, Bindi and Robert in action which was pretty cool! We even got our picture taken with Steve which seems a little wrong (awkies) but never mind...
After a long day of being tourists and feeding Kangaroo's we got back to our hostel around 5pm and made our dinner of dinosaur shaped pasta! Then we all chilled downstairs for the evening. I really loved Mooloolaba and could have stayed another night but i was excited to head to Brisbane!

Airlie Beach, The Whitsundays and 1770!

After a very long night at the bus stop i was extremely happy when i saw the bus come round the corner. It was not a peaceful journey though as the bus driver seemed to be going extremely slow on purpose, interesting as we had told him we had to be at the pier by 12pm! We were very stressed but persuaded them on the phone to try and hold the boat while we got there. The woman even drove us down to the pier from the office in her car, and we had 2 minutes spare to get some goon! We were very happy to get on the boat, our home for the next two nights! 


We were even more happy as it seems the storms are a distant memory in Oz - it was boiling! We all spent our first day sunbathing on the deck and went to two seperate snorkelling points. Our boat seemed abit quiet and full of girls from Germany and Sweden who all stuck together. Fortunately there was Bryn and Johan on board who were funny! We spent the night drinking goon outside on the front of the boat and then finally after a long few days passed out in our bed!


At 6am we got woken up by the crew - its now obvious that we will not get any sleep in Australia. We went to Whitehaven beach which was beautiful and had a lovely viewpoint over the swirly beach! We all went in the sea and did baywatch videos which was funny. In the afternoon we did more snorkelling and the evening we drank the rest of our goon and played Dont Panic and drinking games. At midnight we went to the back of the boat and sat for an hour watching these two dolphins play in the sea. They were adorable and definitely made my whitsundays trip! I seemed to pass out again in bed - Naughty Goon. This seems to be a regular thing at the moment as Emily tells me she has full on conversations with me in bed and i cant remember even speaking to her. 


We spent our last morning on the boat sunbathing on the deck before returning back to Airlie Beach. The boys showed us their van they had been travelling with and took us to get our backpacks. We then said our goodbyes and me and Emily went to our hostel to check in! We met Hannah here who we met on our Reef tour in Cairns. We were all knackered so watched Baywatch and Sherlock Holmes on the sofa's. Later in the day we met Donna and Rosie who were also on our reef tour and we were reunited with Amy! We were all getting the night bus to 1770 at midnight so just sat around in our room waiting for a few hours before leaving to get our bus, i was so tired by this point. I never thought i would say that i couldnt wait to sleep on a bus for the night. It was good too and i slept for nearly 12 hours without even realising that we had stopped several times for breaks. 


Eventually we were in 1770, a good place to stop for the night to break up the travelling to Rainbow Beach. We were staying at 1770 Backpackers. After checking in we went to the supermarket and the beach which was amazing as it looked just like beaches in the Gower, only the weather was much better! Me and Emily left Amy on the beach to go get ready for our Scooteroo tour - a ride around Agnes Water and 1770 on bikes for three hours. Unfortunately it seems i was still not over the Thailand incident and freaked out but i got to ride with the main guy who ran it - Pistol Pete who told me loads about the town and pointed out cute kangaroos on the sides of the road! He was hilarious! Emily loved it too but burnt her leg on the exhaust so had to wear a lovely bandage! When we got back to the hostel to see Amy we were just in time for our free BBQ which was amazing! We were all in bed early that night as we had our next bus at 6.30am the next morning - i never want to go on a bus again after Oz. Despite the early morning we were all very excited to get to Rainbow Beach, where we do our Fraser Island tour! This is where we go in groups in 4x4's and drive ourselves around the island and camp in a tent for two nights! 

Magnetic Island...Mini Tornado, Cross Dressing and Koala's!

After a bus journey to Townsville and a short ferry to Magnetic Island we were at our hostel for the next two nights. It was very rainy and we soon realised there wasnt really much to do on this island without sun so me and Amy (our new adopted friend from Hereford!) went and watched the rest of the Inbetweeners movie that they were playing. We didnt really do much else apart from hide out from the terrential rain and wind in our hut for the night.
When we woke up the next morning we had received texts asking if we were ok...we then found out a mini tornado had hit Townsville! That explains why we thought our roof was going to come off all night.
Even though the rain continued we wanted to make the most of it so went to the Bungalow Bay where we could have cuddles with Koala's! I had one with the cute Koala called Matilda. We also held a snake, a crocodile and had a Cockatoo eat a seed from our lips - it was very fun! In the evening we hid away again with tea and biscuits!
The next morning we woke up SO excited at the sight of sun coming through the window - the storm had definitely passed and it was boiling! We spent the day sunbathing by the pool and went for a walk along the empty beach - it was gorgeous!
In the night there was a Cross Dress themed party at our hostel so we dressed up our roomie Chris and he became Christina for the night. He seemed to enjoy it a little too much. We also made excellent men and made the most out of the free punch for cross dressers!
When we woke up we discovered that our bus had been cancelled due to the flooding from the storm. Everyone was very stressed out as people needed to be in Airlie Beach for their boat trips in the Whitsundays. Poor Amy could not get to her original one in time. We hoped they would be running again early the next morning so booked on and spent the day sunbathing again on the island. We needed to be back in Townsville for our bus so we got the last ferry over and planned to sleep inside the bus terminal for the night. When we got there we were disapointed to find that it was locked and so we had to sleep on a bench outside. I thought it was pretty funny and it is definitely something i will look back on and laugh at! I dont think Emily was too impressed though...
Eventually after a long night with the three of us curled up on a bench hiding from the beetles, the bus came at 6am! We were finally getting out of Townsville!

Welcome to Oz - Cairns!

After a long journey from Bali (what should have taken a few hours ended up taking 12 with stops and cancelled flights) we finally landed in Cairns, Sydney! We headed for our hostel, Gilligans - pretty much where everyone stays in Cairns. It is HUGE with a pool, own zipwire, clubs and around 500 beds. Even though i only had 2 hours sleep i stayed awake all day. First me and Emily sorted out a rough plan of what we were going to do in Australia and booked a package to include lots of activities like a snorkelling trip in the Great Barrier Reef,  2 night sail around the whitsundays, and a tour of Fraser Island. Oh and also my skydive woohoo! Unfortunately the package has taken 3/4's of my budget for Australia so it looks like i'll be living off bread and tap water for the next month! 
I was so excited to get to Cairns so i could see Elin, Gwenda and Lucy! They tracked down what room i was in and came and jumped on me and it was so exciting to see them! We had lovely girls in our room too - Greta, Lisa and Sana from Germany! After predrinking we all went out to Gilligans and got very drunk!
Anyway we had to be up 7am the next morning to go on a boat trip around the great barrier reef where we could go snorkelling. It was beautiful and some of the fish were amazing. Some of the girls we met on the boat saw a massive turtle which i was devastated about missing but it was still good. The rain even stopped and we had sun for the rest of the day which was a bonus as Australia has been hit by LOTS of rain at the moment, and i have a bad feeling its planning to follow us down the east coast. 
In the evening i went out with the girls and their friends for St Paddys Day! This was an ultimate bus party thing that was so much fun and went round 6 clubs in Cairns. We also got to watch Wales kick ass at 2am too so that was amazing! 
For my final day in Cairns i chilled in the day - yes it was raining again! In the night we went out again as it was Elin, Gwends and Lucys last night in Australia! We went to ladies night at the Woolshed as we got free champagne for an hour before heading back to Gilligans club. They were doing a wet tshirt competition and Lucy was disgusted...

I was so sad to say bye to the girls this night as i had to be around 6am to start my journey, but i have loved every minute of being back with them and miss them loads already! I wish they were staying in Australia for longer but they will have an amazing time in Asia! Anyway i have only been in Oz for 4 days and i already LOVE it - even if it has rained every day. After Cairns, me and Emily are heading down to Magnetic Island for a few nights - lets hope the sun comes out!

Bali & Gili Trawangan

After a short flight we arrived in Bali and went straight to the hotel that we had pre booked. It was supposed to be a 'superior room' that we paid extra for as we wanted one night sleep in a decent place. It definitely was not superior and felt like we were back in Delhi once again. We sucked it up for the night and after a long night hiding in our sleeping bag liners so no bugs could get near us we got the hell out of there! Ergh!
We found a better place the next day on Poppies 2 in Kuta. After a quick walk around town we realised why everyone tells you to avoid Kuta, it is horrible! Smells AWFUL and you cant walk 5 metres without someone offering you drugs or a massage - "No i would not like a friggin massage!!!". We were stuck here for a few nights as apparently the sea was too choppy for the boat to go over to the Gili Islands. Personally i think this was just a way of getting us to pay for a room for longer! Oh and the weather was awful, it felt far from being in Bali.
Anyway we finally managed to get out of Kuta and got the boat over to Gili Trawangan which was much nicer. We found a lovely place to stay that had a lush pool too! It even had a shower with a door which is a luxury after showering in wet rooms since January! We spent 6 nights on this island but unfortunately the weather was not great. Theres not much else to do on the island apart from sunbathe so we just sat around in the day and then went out in the night. I pretty much spent my week with a hangover - they definitely put something in the vodka on that island! I also seemed to gain a stalker while on this island - a balinese man called Norman. We met him on our first day and apparently it was love at first sight. He called me his flower and a few days later followed me down the island on his bike. He was freaking me out abit but never mind!
After 6 nights on Gili Trawangan we got fed up of the rain so decided to go to Ubud one day early. This day was very funny. First, we woke up and it was boiling with a clear sky - typically for the day we leave the island! Because it was sunny we decided to sit on the top of the boat to try and top up our tan - we are both very upset that our tans we worked so hard on in Thailand are fading! Stupid wet season! We were lying down on the deck when waves started to completely soak us - this continued for over an hour. We were both dripping but it was very funny - especially as i had a Japanese guy sitting next to me who was wetting himself and screeching everytime we went over a wave and we got soaked. I couldnt breathe i was laughing so much. Anyway we survived the journey (miraculously) without falling overboard or throwing up everywhere which was quite an achievement really. We then had a bus journey to Ubud and found ourselves in heaven! A gorgeous room with a lovely bathroom (we even have a bath), lush swimming pool and breakfast for £10 a night - on Monkey Forest Road. We both looked at eachother like he was winding us up but im not going to complain! One of the guys who was on our bus saw our room and immediately asked if there was another. Its a good thing there was as i was willing to fight for it. 
After a lovely sleep in our amazing bed, we were up early to go white water rafting! Although it should have been called Brown water rafting - they had a heavy night of rain so there was alot of mud in the water! It was so much fun though and we did not fall into the water once - obviously we are incredibly skilled! I did at one point slam backwards into the guides crotch though and got stuck so my head was in between his legs - that was embarassing. He got me back later though when he bodyslammed me in the back when we went over a rapid. It was alot of fun to get out and do something active so i would say it was a highlight of our travelling! Plus we looked extremely sexy in our gear.

We spent our last two days in Ubud just looking at the market and sunbathing by the pool etc. The only day we actually had sunbathing weather was the day we were leaving Bali, typical! Nevertheless i am very excited to go to Cairns especially as i get to see Elin, Gwenda and Lucy! I am also looking forward to going to a country where people dont stare at you constantly and follow you down the street, after 8 weeks people shouting 'Massage!' at you can get very annoying! Anyway, off to fly to oz! 

Singapore!

Thursday 1st March
My bus leaved at 11.30pm from KL and arrived in Singapore at around 4am, earlier than expected! I thought i would be dropped off at a bus station so i could wait until 6am and get the train to my hostel for the next night but nope! - i was dropped at the side of a road in the pitch black with no idea where i was going. I had a little look for somewhere i could wait around for it to get light but couldnt see anywhere and didnt really feel safe walking around at night in somewhere i didnt know with all my belongings on me! So i got in a taxi and hoped my hostel for the next night would let me keep my stuff there and just sit around in the lounge. 


However when i got there reception was closed so i could not get in to the hostel. I was tempted to sit around on the steps but again did not feel very safe and was so tired from not sleeping all night - i needed to find somewhere to sleep! I had a little walk and found a backpackers form down the road. I wanted to avoid paying to stay somewhere (the whole point of getting the stupid night bus) especially as Singapore is much more expensive to stay in than anywhere else we have been. But i was so tired i did not care and payed for a bed for the night - the top bunk in the smallest room i have seen! It looked so dirty so i just stayed in my clothes and fell asleep on top of the sheets - didnt get much of a sleep though as i swear i could feel things crawling all over me - ergh! 


Thankfully i woke up and to my suprise - no bedbugs! Woohoo! I did not even shower, just grabbed my bag from the floor and got the hell out of there! I got back to the hostel i was staying in for this night and checked in - it was so clean and nice and i was very happy! Emily had already arrived so were reunited! We were staying at 'Five Stones Hostel' in Clarke Quay.


After showering (finally) we went off to explore! We went to chinatown first then it started to pour down with thunderstorms so we hurried back to the hostel to wait it out! Then when it stopped we went to search for the house that Emilys dad used to live in when he was younger and lived in Singapore - it was pretty cool! We had a look round the shops, found a lush placed 'the bread society' and got bought some almond slices to take back with us - our hostel has free tea and coffee so we are making the most out of it! 

We went to see the famous Raffles hotel on our way back too!

When we got back we watched the rest of the new transformers movie - the hostel also has a big tv sofa's and lots and lots of new dvds so it feels very homely! We drank lots of tea too! We could have stayed and chilled at the hostel all evening but forced ourselves to go out for dinner. After walking down by the river, we went back to Chinatown as it was cheaper. Emily got charged for using a tissue, it was funny! Luckily for me i didnt even realise there was one!

Back at our hostel, a guy from Mumbai was watching the new Pirates of the Carribean movie. I started watching it with him but he kept talking to me about the movie and making random comments about Jack Sparrow and the BlackPearl sinking in a previous movie. Frankly i did not care and he was starting to freak me out, its safe to say i didnt finish watching the movie with him that evening! 


Friday 2nd March
This morning i woke up happy after actually sleeping a whole night. Im still knackered though as im a few nights behind sleeping properly. Mum i know your reading this and i dont have a clue how you work night shifts and dont sleep in the day properly! 


I went to make breakfast and there he was, the guy from Mumbai. He accused me of trying to burn his toast, even though it was not his and it wasnt even toasted. It still resembled bread. He said he was in a rush so i gave him the anaemic pieces and made some more for me and Emily. I think he was in a mood that i ditched the movie last night... haha! The funny thing was half an hour later he was still sat drinking tea watching tv...he must have been in such a rush! 


Me and Emily wanted to go to Singapore Zoo so after going on a wild goose chase to find the bus (the hostel gave us wrong directions to the bus stop so we missed it). We found the public buses that went there though and set off to see some animals! Some of them were very cute, but we were abit traumatised at the Elephant show. At first it was cute and they were splashing in the water, then the men started to get them to pull out logs from the water with chains tied around them. They looked so sad and we couldnt stay and watch it so left. I will definitely be writing a formal complaint to that zoo the poor things! After this, nothing really seemed that great so we left and headed back to the city! 

This was our last outing in Singapore as we had a flight to Bali at 8.50pm. We left our hostel around 6 to get the train and got there at 7.30 so we were abit rushed but it was fine! It was finally time to leave and our travelling in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore had come to an end. I cant believe how fast time is going, it is very scary to think that my flight home is at the end of next month! I want to travel forever! (Dont worry loved ones i dont have enough money to and i miss you!)

Kuala Lumpur!

Monday 27th February
I woke up at 6am and was not excited for my 15 hour journey! I got picked up by a minibus and after picking more people up and driving to their office they realised i was on the wrong one so told me to get off it! Some Thai man was just telling me to follow him as he was on the phone trying to find where my actual bus was. Eventually he got fed up and didnt ask but told me to get on the back of his motorbike and drove around like a maniac to try and find where it was. This was while i had my massive backpack on and also carrying two other bags! I was stressed out haha but eventually he found some crappy looking van and told me to get in! Thankfully there was an English man in there who reassured me it was the right one and they would take me to Hat Yai bus station and not to a real life sequel to a 'Hostel' movie. 
At around 12pm after 5 hours in a boiling hot minibus i got told i had to get on some other bus which went to Kuala Lumpur. I found it just in time and got on. Considering people do this everyday you think they would be more organised! I love how when im travelling with Em it all ran smoothly but when im by myself its a mess! As soon as i got on the big bus to KL though it was all pretty funny, especially as i was the only tourist on the bus and i kept catching people staring at me!
Eventually at 10.30pm i got dropped off somewhere in the middle of Kuala Lumpur and the first things i could see were lots of shopping malls and a Nando's! Some lovely man pointed me in the direction of where my hostel was and after walking down some back streets in the dark trying not to look down after spotting a few cockroaches i arrived at my hostel - 'Reggae Mansion'. This hostel is incredible! I went to my dorm - 24 beds in one room but it was amazing and everyone had their own individual pods which were MASSIVE! After a long day i was extremely happy to go straight to sleep without an alarm set for the morning.


Tuesday 28th February
I woke up after 11am, after missing my free breakfast (boo!) but felt so much better! I showered and got ready which was nice as the hostel was amazingly clean, and then went off to have a look around KL. I asked some nice guy at reception where to go and he pointed out a few suggestions on a map for me and told me where the metro station was which was nice! 
I first of all went to Central Market, had a look around and got some lunch. Then i went to find the famous Petronas Towers. I was very impressed with myself as i found my way there without any problems on the Metro and the towers were amazing! I promised Amy i would get a picture of myself outside them so i asked a randomer to take some snaps for me!

I then went inside the shopping centre connected to it and was amazed to find Chanel, Dior, Mulberry etc. Its such a nice change from haggling at stalls. After window shopping for a while and trying to take pictures of the Tiffanys without the guard looking (photos were banned in the mall) i went for a walk around the park before heading back to the hostel. I also had to go and book my bus ticket for singapore too so went on a mission around KL to find the bus station!
When i got back to Reggae Mansion i met Rachel, James and Matthew who were also travelling by themselves. We had dinner together and went to the bar to drink lots of wine and beer! We persuaded Matthew to get a taxi to the airport later and not get the train so he could relax and drink beer until his taxi around 2am. We also met Claire in the bar who had just arrived to the hostel and gave us half her pizza!
When we said goodbye to him we all went to bed as me and Rachel had booked ourselves onto a tour for the next day and didnt want to be too tired and hungover! I went back to my dorm and after drunkenly trying to get up the ladder to my pod i went to bed. This was after a group of 6 boys who were so drunk came back and also had trouble with their bunks! I could not stop laughing when i heard one of them who was slurring fall off the ladder and make a massive thud. They were hilarious and were grateful that i would still speak to them the next morning - i dont think other people in our dorm appreciated it haha!

Wednesday 29th February
I woke up early to pack and leave my pod in my dorm before i went on the day trip as i was leaving KL that evening. We persuaded James to come on the tour with us too and Claire also decided to come so there was a nice group of us! Our tour guide picked us up and he was hilarious. This is a very flattering picture of him.

So the tour was to show us the 7 wonders of Kuala Lumpur. This included a temple, Little India, the National Mosque, a Memorial site, the Palace, Malay Village and the Hindu temple caves! At the mosque we had to cover up and we were boiling! It was disgusting how much we were all sweating! I think i looked pretty sexy though!
The Hindu temple caves were also pretty cool and we had to walk up 272 steps to get there. On the steps were lots of little monkeys which followed you which were cute! This is some of the guys doing the baywatch run up the final hurdle! When we got to the top it wasnt really that impressive! I also felt sick after the lunch we had to eat - it resembled something i have seen my dog poo on many previous occasions. Not great! These are some pics of the caves and the disgusting food. 

The tour was actually pretty good and was a very easy way to see everything in the city in one day. These are some more pictures of what we did! Our tour driver was tring to kill time at the end so took us to a chocolate factory where we had yummy samples of chocolate and coffee!

After the tour, we got dropped back to the hostel and hung around for a bit. As i didnt have a room James and Rachel sat around with me and then we went for dinner with Claire too. James had never had a Nando's before (weird that they don't have them in America) so he wanted to see what it was like. I was totally up for this as i was amazed there was one here and would get rid of the painful memory of whatever that crap was we had for lunch! James loved it!

We went back to the hostel bar and had some drinks before i had to leave for my night bus at 11.30pm. I hoped having some wine would help me sleep! They then walked me to the station and i started my journey to Singapore. 
I absolutely loved KL and could have easily stayed one or two more nights. It was made much nicer by the fact that the hostel was amazing too and i met some lovely people! I would definitely recommend staying at the 'Reggae Mansion' to anyone who goes to Kuala Lumpur!

Back to Krabi - Not so Crappy second time round!

Saturday 25th February
I decided to go and do Kuala Lumpur on the way to Singapore so me and Em have separated for a bit and she went back to Phi Phi! After a lovely minibus journey with the brattiest Swedish kid (who had an angry bird teddy - odd) sitting next to me, i arrived back in Krabi! It felt good arriving somewhere and actually knowing my way around. I walked up to Pak Up Hostel - the only hostel i would recommend in Krabi - where all the backpackers stay. When i got there and checked in to my dorm i was so suprised to see how nice it was. It was probably the nicest place i have stayed during my whole time in Thailand - so clean and amazing showers! They even have two bars!

Anyway i arrived, dumped my stuff in my dorm and went for a walk around and sat in the sun for abit. I then went to try and hassle my hostel into playing the Wales v England Rugby match and they said they would - 11pm Thailand time! I was excited even though i knew it could be abit brave of me considering i was the only Welsh in the hostel! Turns out English people really dont care that much about Rugby though!
After skyping my mum and dad i went back to my dorm and met the girls who i was staying with - Kate, Jo, Laura and Amy! They were all lovely and took me under their wing! We went to grap food from some of the stalls down by the pier but me Jo and Laura ended up having to wait 40 minutes for some measly Pad Thai (thai noodles which take about 5 minutes to make) - at least it was very cheap at around 80p!
We walked around and went to the night market and looked round the clothes - very depressing as we could not buy anything! Turns out its not just me who has majorly blown by travelling budget in the last few weeks!
We headed back to the hostel and i went to the bar to watch the match. I was not happy to find two guys had beaten me to it and put a stupid football match on so they wouldnt let me change it! So i went back to my room and read out highlights to the girls (all English) but they didnt mind!

Sunday 26th February
We all woke up around 10-11 after probably the best sleep i had in weeks! I couldnt be bothered to go to the beach so the girls showed me this really good breakfast place thats like home and we all had pots of tea with our breakfasts - it was AMAZING!!! 

We walked around for abit and found a temple! I wasnt that enthusiastic at first as i had already seen about 10,000 temples while in India but it was actually very pretty - one of the nicest i have seen! We took lots of photos of us there (possibly disrespectful but fun!) 

After pretending to be gods we carried on with our walk and we came across a shopping mall! It even had a Boots in it! It felt so nice! We looked round at all the clothes and got stalked by some crazy thai man with half a bald head - he was walking after us holding on to a wig and a dirty cap speaking Thai to us. We think he was being rude as the shop assistant moved us away from him. We thought we got away but on the next floor up he was there again, i thought Kate was going to punch him in the face haha! Eventually we got fed up of him and left and looked round more of the shops and picking up face masks before heading back to the hostel.

We chilled in the dorm for abit before going for some dinner - back to the street food! We ordered this pork morning glory rice dish and when it came it was literally just pork fat, not one bit of actual meat! So we left the meat and just ate the rice - it looked disgusting! 

After dinner we went back to the hostel and went to the bar for a few drinks - i had been craving wine so was happy to find cheap white wine there! It was nice too! 
We then went back to the room as i had to pack for my very early bus in the morning! I really enjoyed my time in Krabi the second time round and glad i came back for two nights and met the girls here! I wanted to pack them up too and take them to Malaysia with me! 



After packing and sorting my stuff so i could make as little noise as possible at 6am when i had to get up, i went to sleep. This was after Amy started having a conversation with herself in her sleep about plugs... Very funny. 

Koh Lanta!

Saturday 18th February
After a late night i still managed to get myself up, pack and on the 9 o clock ferry to Koh Lanta. When we got there me and Emma got in a funky bike taxi but had no idea where to go so just asked for Long Beach. He dropped us south as we could go and it just so happened that everything and where we wanted to go was in the north! After arriving at 10.30am we finally found somewhere to stay around 1pm, and Emily came and met us there! This was after a very very long walk across the beach in the sun with a massive backpack on - not the most enjoyable experience but good exercise!
We went for food and then it started to pour down! There were thunderstorms all night so we just went for dinner the three of us and went to sleep to try and recover from the past few days. I passed out soon after!

Sunday 19th February
After passing out in the night, i woke up and swear i could have slept another 12 hours i was still so tired! Emma was leaving today so me and Emily had to get a cheaper place to stay so we had to drag ourselves out of bed to start the hunt! 
We ended up had Funky Fish Resort and got a cool pink stripy bungalow right by the beach which even has its own fridge - this is luxury to us now! Our standards have definitely lowered significantly in the past month.
Emma left for Krabi to go to Malaysia, then me and Emily spent the day chilling out on the beach! We went to this recommended restaurant in the evening called Mr Wee - probably one of the best pizza's i have ever had! Mr Wee knows what hes doing! Plus the two waitresses are ladyboys - always makes the evening more eventful, especially when one starts demonstrating how she/he dances with men every thursday night at the beach party. 

Monday 20th February
Pretty much the same as yesterday - i woke up, could have slept another 12 hours! But instead i dragged myself to the beach to do some hardcore sunbathing all day - i need to get it now as not much sunbathing will be done in Malaysia next week!


Tuesday 21st February
Another beach day - actually feeling like im on a holiday not travelling on this island!

Wednesday 22nd February
The day was spent pretty much the same - on the beach.
But it did get abit more eventful in the evening. First of all the weird man in the bungalow opposite us walked out butt naked and flashed all his bits at me - disgusting. He took about 20 seconds to lunge forward and grab a towel whilst saying hello- i did not know where to look!
Me and Em decided to go to the pier in the evening to do abit of shopping. We went for dinner and burnt our lips on very spicy curry! We looked very odd holding bottles of water up to our lips! Emma if your reading this, i slightly know what you meant about pain now!

Thursday 23rd February
Today i went to the beach again and burnt my face badly! Lying on a lilo in the sea all day is not a good idea! I watched the sunset while on skype with Simon - he was on the bus and showed me people who were on there! It was very funny!
In the evening we went out for dinner, Emily had probably the biggest Banana split i have ever seen!

Then we went to the beach party with some of the waiters from the restaurant! They were very funny! And the ladyboy was there, dancing on a table, just as i thought she would be! It wasnt really much of a party though - the nightlife is very quiet on Koh Lanta but its very nice for a change especially after Phi Phi!

Friday 24th February
This was my final day on Koh Lanta and with a beach until i go to Bali so i made the most of the sun! (again) We went back to the pier in the evening and i actually bought myself a maxi dress (i splashed out 250 baht = around £5). For our final night we got kicked out of our air con bungalow and put into one with a rubbish fan attached to the wall, it made creepy noises all night! I loved staying on Long Beach but the staff at Funky Fish were awful, the woman who i guess ran the place was so rude and walks around like she has something stuck up her arse. I will also add that she once gave me boiled eggs that when you turned them upside down, everything flowed out - the white bit was all runny too! When i took it back she argued "You asked 4 minutes!"...What an idiot. 


Saturday 25th February
I woke up, had my last funky fish omelette before getting in a little minibus back to Krabi! I was not very excited to go back here as there is not really much to do but it will be a nice change from beaches and is a good stopping place between the very long journey i have ahead of me to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!


Summary on Koh Lanta
This island is beautiful and so calm and peaceful. It is very different to all the other islands i have been to in Thailand is definitely one that i would come back to if i was coming for a weeks holiday to relax! Compared to the other islands it is dead, and lacking in backpackers. But it was the perfect place to relax and spend my last week in Thailand. And the beach is lovely!

Koh Phi Phi!

Wednesday 15th February
We got the early boat over to Koh Phi Phi and arrived around 11am. We soon discovered that accomodation on this island is not easy to find and is expensive! It was packed but we eventually found a bungalow up loads of steps so theres a view over Phi Phi - its pretty cool!

We had a walk around and went to the beach - its not very pretty and apparently theres poo everywhere in the sea! Eww! This island is very different to what i thought it would be and is all about partying, so the island has kind of been ruined by it all. 
Something else about this island is the damage that was caused by the Tsunami in 2004. It was one of the worst affected areas and its horrible to see pictures of what it caused. There is still so much work being done here and parts of it are still ruined. There are also Tsunami evacuation routes etc around the island which is pretty scary! 

Anyway in the evening we went for dinner and Emily was happy to find a Banana split - her search has not been so successful recently! (see above)
 We went to Paddys Bar - a really nice Irish bar owned by a man - Paddy - who has lived on the island for 6 years! We met Julie here and her crazy Canadian friends. They are nuts but so funny! They played us some really random country songs about Chicken Fried and other things (which they know all the words to) and resembled a strange canadian boyband! We stayed at Paddys for a while with his legendary Strawberry Daquiri and Watermelon Daquiri Buckets (Amazing) and then went on to Slinkys!

Thursday 16th February
Today was pretty similar - went to Long Beach for the day and then went back to Paddys in the evening to listen to the canadians sing country songs haha! We went on to Slinkys but the police closed it down and shut off the music early - rubbish! We tried to get Jamie to get a tattoo with Emma's name on his left bum cheek and mine on his right but he didnt fall for it! 


Friday 17th February
Today was probably one of my favourite days while travelling as we did a boat trip around the islands and bays! It was definitely one of the funniest days we have had as so much happened!
First of all we went and waited to leave for our boat trip to find the boat had broken so we couldnt go. We were pretty pissed but it was very funny to listen to Emma argue about the need for compensation! I dont think they are aware about liability issues in Thailand haha!
We eventually booked ourselves onto another one leaving an hour later so went to get a drink while we waited. Emma got herself a mixed fruit shake and it actually smelt and tasted like vomit! I thought this was going to be the breaking point for her but she carried on with her day!
We got onto the boat which was lovely and boiling! First of all we went to Bamboo Island and did some snorkelling! The boat stayed out in the sea so we had to swim to shore which was fun, although a little freaky as i was constantly on the look out for sharks!
Next stop was Monkey Bay and we decided to get a Kayak from the boat to shore, although it seemed everyone else wanted to so we had to fight for one! This really rude old couple pushed their way in front but when getting on fell backwards slow motion into the sea - it was very funny and i nearly wet myself watching them - Thats what you get for being impatient and rude!
We finally got one and Emma did the same falling backwards which was also very funny! It really wasnt her day! It got worse when we made it to the Bay and i hit her in the face with an oar - everyone who knows me will know how clumsy i am so personally i think she should have been more careful! (Sorry Emma hope you haven't got a black eye) It was very funny though and i could not stop laughing for about 10 minutes. 
Eventually we got over the accident and looked for monkeys - no monkeys to be found! I was very dissapointed but thankfully a man who resembled a gorilla posed as a monkey for me :-) He was very hairy!

After looking around we got back onto the Kayak and made our way back to our boat. We sat in the sun and got caught perving on some hot guy. All three of us were blatantly looking as we were all staring while leaning far overboard while he was in a kayak so it was very embarassing! I think his head shrank abit after though as he was showing off on the top of the boat and while trying to come down fell on his back and made a massive shud. It was hilarious and i could not stop laughing at him, he laughed with me too but he went bright red! He wasnt so attractive after this moment. 
The next stop was Shark Bay and me and Emily skipped this one as we are terrified of sharks! Emma being the crazy person she is got her snorkels on and jumped into the shark infested water - what a nutter! 
Me and Emily stayed on the boat and saw the sunset (which was mostly hidden by cliffs). We were entertained though when a young chinese man came onto the boat and took his shorts off infront of us. Me and Em freaked out as we thought he would be butt naked but were even more suprised to see he was wearing something that resembled a nappy underneath. I had to turn around and face the sea as i couldnt breathe i was laughing so much and didnt want to upset him!
After this we finished our boat trip and headed back to the pier (after some of the guys decided to jump off a cliff). We got ready to go out for our last night, went for dinner with Julie, Chris and Chad and then did the usual Paddys and Slinkys Combo. It rained a lot so i was drenched but had a good night! 
Koh Phi Phi was very different to what i thought it would be, but was still good! I really cannot take any more drinking for a few days so me and Emma are getting the boat over to Koh Lanta to chill out before i have to leave Thailand for Malaysia!