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!