Monday, October 30, 2006

Hello again, Sorry we have not updated this much over the last week or so, we are still in Phi Phi but, belive it or not we both have caught a cold!! Typical, its 32 degrees outside and we are both bunged up with the sniffles...... We think its from confusing our bodies with air-con, Coming in from the heat and then dropping the room temp to 20-25 degrees, its not really letting your body settle into one type of temp, so it gives up and makes you as weak as a kitten, Its kinda frustrating as we love it here but can barely make it to the beach without getting hot/cold flushes, Ive managed to get a swim in everyday, which feels really nice as its like getting into a bath, because we have been sick we are gonna stay here for another 2 nights till wednesday because there is still a few things we have not done yet. We are doing a bit of Snorkelling tomorrow on our boat trip, so if I like it I might buy a mask & snorkel because just about every beach has crystal clear water and loads of fish and cool places to check out.
There are a couple of amazing beach bars which have just amazing views out over the bays and you can see far out into the oceans, at night time you can see far off lightning storms which light up the whole area and you can spot far off islands and boats everywhere, Its a pretty cool way to spend an evening...
After Phi Phi we will be moving onto mainland thailand (for the first time) to a place called Ao Nang, which is just north of Krabi and is ment to be quite nice and chilled. Wish us luck...

Here are a few pictures:


This is actually Phuket beach, but "Stripy" was soooo happy he got to go to the beach that he wanted on the website....


We got up early one morning and went for a climb looking for a viewpoint of the island we have heard about, These steps we only about 10% of the climb, Its very high and it was very hot.


This is about half way up, behind us is ton-sai bay which is where our bungalows were, Pretty sweet huh? plus I got to try out my cameras remote control!!!!


You soon forgot about the climb up when you got to the top, the views were breathtaking and it was totally silence, we glad we got up their early as about an hour later it was covered in people taking photos, I know im not one to talk, but they seemed to be taking the photos and then not really taking in the views. Weird.


This is a closer shot of the main part of the island, its basically two long beaches with a small town in between, there are no roads, no cars, no motorbikes, just footpaths, It makes a huge difference to the island as its very quite and means very little pollution. Oh and by the way, the Tsunami went right over that slip of land and took every building with it, so everything you see is less than 2 years old.


This is the beach next to our bungalows, pretty sweet huh?


These boats are called longtails as there prop shaft is very long and sticks out the back like a tail, its used for shallow waters and beach landings, these are also the main form of transport to other islands around the area. "taxi-boat sir? taxi-boat sir??"


The path on the left is about as good as the paths get on this tiny island, most are just dust, but with views like that, even walking to the shops to buy bog roll is breathtaking........



These are our bungalows, they are very swish and are nice to sit outside at night and read a book or watch charlie getting eaten by mozzies! (anyone else this they look like the village from the new episodes of "LOST"?)


On one of those nights while reading outside, a local who works at the bungalows had caught some fish and was cooking them nearby and he dropped over two little fish to us that he had cooked, The smell was amazing and kinda reminded me of coming home after fishing with my dad when I was a kid, So I grabbed my knife and ripped the little sucker open and eat him right up.... it was soooo nice and fresh, even charlie (Who hates seafood) had some.


Not the way im used to being served fish, (thats a banana leaf by the way) but god it tasted good!! Not quite up there is a connemara salmon or Brown trout, but a close second!!

Hope everyone is keeping well, send us an email if anyone is bored at work to keep us upto date on what people are upto!

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Hello Everyone, Well we arrived into Ko Phi Phi yesterday (monday) with the intentions to stay for 2 nights, after about an hour on this tiny island, we decided its a place we wanna stay for a little bit longer so we have booked in for a week, Its an amazing place, No roads, just footpaths and its basically just two strips of beach with amazing cliffs all around the edges, I keep having to pinch myself when ever I look around, its just sooo beautiful. It is a little more expensive than a few other places, but its well worth it and if we skimp on things like food and beer, then it will be fine!! Internet access is pretty hard to get (I did find a bar with free wifi though) so we wont be updating much till we leave (if we ever do)
Here are a few photos I took from the boat from Phuket to here, Ive no photos from Phi phi yet as Im gonna go around myself one day with the camera and get some proper shots.... Hope everyone is well, and happy birthday to Sasha you little star!!!



This is on the boat as we were pulling into the pier into phi phi, Charlie is actually much browner than that, i didnt take the shot properly.....


Just leaving Phuket.


Thats Ko Phi Phi lay, the island that the beach was filmed on, we are going on a day trip there soon as its a nature reserve and you cant stay there.


The whole of the island is protected by these huge limestone cliffs, the speedboat was very handy to show the scale of the things!!


More cliffs..


Some sweet pirate looking boat in the Phi Phi bay...


More cliffs and boats.....

Enjoy.......

Saturday, October 21, 2006

So we arrived in Phuket (Thailand) after a very wobbly flight from Kuala Lumpur, Charlie doesn't like flying, so i still have a few marks on my arm from where her claws gripped me during the bumpier parts of the flight.... Id also like to mention, Singapore airline have some stiff competition for the hottest air stewardesses, Air-Asia have some stunners, Even charlie was very impressed....
We are staying here till monday (think of this when you're on your way to work on monday morning!!) when we catch a boat to Ko Phi Phi for 2 nights, Im really looking forward to this place as its ment to be amazing and we are doing a day trip to the island where the movie the Beach was Filmed.... Just incase thats not enough to piss you all off, here are some photos of Phuket:


Just back from a swim, Its very, very weird getting into the sea and its actually warm, I think ill get used to it though.......


This is Kata Beach on the west coast of Phuket, Its a really nice place with little beach huts selling ice cold drinks and food.


The beach and surrounding area was totally destroyed by the Tsunami in 2004, It has since been rebuilt, and the area now has an early warning siren and designated areas to run if it happens again, You can still see some of the damage done to the area, but they are getting back to normal and are very glad to see the tourists back again....

We missed the last bus (which was 50c) and had to get a taxi (7 euros), It wont happen again, but the open backed taxi was deadly....

This is my Thai Phone number if anyone wants to contact me or Charlie: +6657953974 We can get both texts and calls, Oh and if a certain Mr Tierney has anymore crazy text jokes, dont let the fact that im half way across the world stop you from sending them onto me!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Not being content with just standing outside and taking photos of my new favorite building, I found out that if you que up really early (8.30am!!) you get to go up the petronas towers and walk across the sky bridge! Well, to Charlies delight guess what we did this morning!
They take their security very seriously, so it was all X-ray machines and metal detectors first thing this morning and then a high-speed double decker lift all the way upto the "Sky-bridge"

Check this out:


The Skybridge.


Up.


Down.


Just behind the towers is a really nice park with cool fountains and this deadly waterfall that you can walk behind. Ive always wanted to walk behind a waterfall, this isnt really what I had in mind, but its a start......



Here is Charlie, looking as radiant as ever........

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

I went for a bit of a walk last night to the Petronas Towers, which are only 5 mins from the hostel here in Kuala Lumpur Now, fans of the TV Program "Megastructures" (Who isnt!!) Will be aware that the towers are big, they were infact the biggest buildings in the world till 2004 when the pesky chinese built Taipai 101. Anyway what Im getting at is that those programs dont really put across just how bloody big they are, They are fucking massive, way bigger than I had imagined, I cant really express how big they are, BIG, BIG, BIG, BIG...... Here is a photo:

(Click on any of the photos on the site to see a slightly bigger version)



Im pretty proud of that photo, as it took me ages to get set-up and get it right, So if any one wants to see it in all its glory in full size, CLick here:

Right click and save


Here is another photo:

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Here are a few more Pictures from Singapore Zoo:

I have totally forgotten what the hell this is called, but he was cool.


Georgeous Lion.


Some bird giving me the eye (Dont tell charlie!)


Same georgeous Lion again.

A Polar Bear! His Name is Inuku, Which means Silent Stalker!

Charlie feeding a very friendly Elephant.

Before Logging was made illegal in Thailand, this is what they used to do.

Inuku again.

Inuku's mother Sheba

Bengal Tiger, I was pretty sure he was gonna jump the gap and kill me........

Unknown bird just walking around the zoo.

Just about to get feed by the keepers, they eat 30KG of meat a day.

A Spitting Cobra, I tried to get it to move for about 10mins, charlie wonders over and bobs her head at it and the thing goes nuts, spitting at the glass and rising up, very cool.

Sheba having a rest.

The bears are huge, about 3M tall!

I bought a new lense..... Only messing, some sound bloke walked upto me and just said "You have to have a go with this" and handed me his 9000 Euro lense, I felt bad letting my lense see it on my camera.... Pretty sweet though.

Reticulated Python. Fucking Massive.

Inuku going in for a kill on a fish......

Look how big they are!!!!
Well, We have now arrived in Kuala Lumpur after spending 4 days in Singapore, I’m kind of glad to get out of Singapore, Don’t get me wrong, its an amazing city, but its a big bloody city and its not a place you can just chill out, everything cost something, we did manage to get a lot done in the time we had, We went on a cable car, went to the aquarium, a butterfly farm (In your face sash!) and my highlight of course was the Zoo, It was soooo cool, 99% of the animals were not in cages and the only thing between you and them was a big ditch, I finally got to see a Polar bear, I cant get over how big they are, its just nuts! I managed to give the biggest one a high-five (through very tough glass) He may not of actually been giving me a high-five, but for all intensive purposes, I can now say I have highfived a Polar bear. I got to see them feeding as well, eating live fish and everything. I was very chuffed! Here are a few photos:


The Butterfly farm was pretty cool, some hugh buggers in there, Charlie wasnt too impressed with the large selections to bugs and spiders too.


I think this was a bull shark, Pretty nasty looking bugger he was too.


Thats a really cool looking 2 story fish tank.


Even though it was dead and behind about 2" of plastic, charlie stood there for about 5 seconds while I took the shot,


Heres a live one!