Leaving Chaiyaphum and travelling.

The last week of school was good fun, a surprise visit from Steph, a friend I met before starting to teach, was strange to meet her again after my semester and to listen to all her traveling experiences knowing that mine are coming next. There was no school all week due to exams and grading so I got to spend the days doing anything I wanted including colouring my hair, shopping, drinking and swimming. During the week I realised that my 90 day visa was due so on friday I took the 3 hour bus ride to khon kaen to get the stamp in my passport that takes 10 minutes to do. Very strange visa system. Of course I also took advantage of the day shopping that I had to partake in.

Saturday was a mad day with me teaching during the day then checking out of my hut after 5 months and returning my bike. The lady that rented my bike to me turned out to be horrid demanding a pay 1300 baht for damage to the bike which was barely there. She then disconected the battery and tried to say it was completly broken. This was the lady that had been so nice to me throughout my stay in Chaiyaphum. Sabai Sabai I just paid her and left. I had abus to catch. Bing was also going to Bangkok so I had someone to ride the bus with. We arrived at 1am and found a hostel on khao san, the only place that I knew would be open at that time of day. The next day was time to meet Jade. Shopping at chatuchak weekend market in mochit. We had this planned for weeks and I was looking forward to it. If you go to bangkok you should visit the market. It sells anything you can think off and is so big. A few hours later and a few more clothes to add to my backpack we were done and needed time to relax so to the swimming pool it was. That night we stayed at Jades to save money and Jade also needed to finish packing and check out of her room. Then it was back to bangkok where Jade and I went our seperate ways. Jade to chaing mai and me to the islands. I thought travelling by myself would be strange but you are never by yourself as a lone traveller. At 3am I was sat having a beer and a good chat with new friends as we waited for the boat to Koh Tao. They were staying at the same hostel as me and we very quickly became friends, met even more people at the hostel and there soon was 10 of us at dinner in the evening.

The first night on Koh Tao was pub crawl. A brilliant night out. Met even more people, however I got a little bit too drunk and ended up in bed all of the next day. Feeling sorry for myself in the heat is a nightmare. The next day I decided to do Yoga, something that I wanted to do for a while but never got round to it. Thailand is the perfect place, besides the heat, the sound of the animals and the waves makes it so relaxing and truth be told I was missing the exercise I had become accustomed to whilst in Chaiyaphum. In true traveller style after yoga I felt like I had completed my activity for the day so laid on the beach for the rest of the day only moving to book my dive for the next day. As I havent dived in awhile I decided it was best to do a refresher course as I plan on doing a lot of diving whilst out here. That evebing was pub crawl time again, this time we got a discount for being before. Good night but I didnt drink too much as I knew that I had to be up early for diving in the morning. The course was good but turns out I wasnt as useless as I had first thought, really enjoyed diving in warmer waters having only dived in Tennerife and the resivours of Nottingham before that. Another day for yoga followed and an equally chilled out afternoon. The following day we hired a scooter for the day and drove around the island. sticking to my motto of if you have no place to be then you cant be lost (thanks dad), we drove for most of the day and went to some beautiful beaches. Jess and I decided we should leave Koh Tao after being here a week. Neither of us had made any plans about where we should go next so we met some friends on Koh Phi Phi. (my third visit, but who can say they have been to paradise to many times?). Before leaving we had to take up the opportunity for our third pub crawl, it was free this time so it almost seems rude not to, so we went outwith another group of people, had a brilliant time but left early because we were swimming with sharks at 5am. Yes you read correctly, we decided to dive with bull sharks which are apparently one of the most dangerous sharks in the sea (we found this out later). Amazing experience and really made me appreciate diving that little bit more, I am also now qualified to dive to 30meters. Of course I got very sea sick and had to lay down which ended in me falling asleep and getting sun burn. After diving it was the slave boat followed by a bus and another boat ride to get to the next island. When I say slave boat, that is exactly what I mean, check out the pictures. About 100 people lieing side by side attempting to sleep for 7 hours, but I actually slept quite well and we arrived into phi phi ontime which for Thailand is pretty close to a miracle.
Accomodation - Good dreams 300 baht dorm room. great hostel.

On phi phi we met up with suzie, lucy and sammey who we had met in koh tao and Jade who had just come back from chaing mai. We mainly just partied and relaxed, after a few days of this Jess and I got board so we hired a kayack and headed out in the ocean to find a desserted beach. We also went on another snorkling trip to maya bay where the beach was filmed. Generally phi phi is well known for the party island so we did just that. on our last night on phi phi we went for aquite meal which ended with singing very loudly in a restaurant because as we sat down the waiter said that there were 1/2 price cocktails so we just couldnt resist.
Accomodation: The rock - 500 per night double fan room. Nice but noisy.
Lux - 400 per night double fan room. good with satellite tv.
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Next stop Railey. We arrived with no accomodation booked so Jess went on a hunt to find something whilst I sat with the bags. Very chilled out place we walked to all the beaches and booked a climbing guide for the next day. Climbing was really good but very hot in this weather. We then moved to tonsai as this beach was much more chilled and everyone seemed so much more friendly. Generally on tonsai we did a lot of walking and swimming but not much else. there was not much of a night life scene as most people were too tierd from climbing every day. I then left jess and came to koh lanta alone.
Accomodation - Rapalla Rockwood 300 baht double fan room with mattress on the floor.
green valley bungalows 150 baht double fan room with holes in the floor and walls.

Arriving in Koh lanta, found atuk tuk driver that would take me to different accomodation until I found one I wanted. Found a good resort with wifi, swimming pool, on the beach and with hot water. So have decided to catch up on all my admin stuff hence finally getting round to writing this blog. Sorry for the delay.
Accomodation - Lanta new beach bungalows - 400 baht a night.