Friday, June 03, 2011

A mere decade later, Minton has finally got agreed to unleash the Captain's Log upon the world, in the form of a Twitter feed. In the interest of good record keeping, I am posting a copy here.

Qantas to Melbourne. Drank rum in the airport to take the edge off, then on to Singapore!

Bussed down to the Malaysian Railway Station but no trains until the 2nd.

Finally organised a bus to the Cameron Highlands. Now we have hours to spare

Sitting in playing cards and annoying staff with our smelliness and backpacker attire. Have a feeling we're about to be kicked out.

Boo to Raffles. To save our meagre resources, sitting in an undeveloped "park" watching cars. Thumbs down to Singapore, can't wait to leave!

Cameron Highlands! Yum brekky at Bunga Suria & lucky w/ accomm at the Inn. Strawberry Farm next (they're just in season).

Walked to Brinchang to Shal's Indian Restaurant for roti & 'apple strudel' (v. good). The dough maestro does his work well.

Taxi back to Tanah Rata and off to Robinson's falls for an afternoon stroll through the jungle

Dins at No. 14. Cameron Highlands loves Indian cuisine, as long as they keep the roti coming that's OK. Yay for Bollywood TV in restaurants.

'Trek' with Mr George on a gov'ment trail. Saw pitcher plants and it was all good...Have to hurry back to catch our bus to Tapah.

Tea at Shal's w/ a Canadian girl, a Singaporean guy + his wife & a Welsh lady. Talked so long we missed our bus at 13:00 :(

The 3pm bus broke down. In the rain. A nice guy from our hostel stopped a random coach in the middle of the road for us. Wery coo'

Down to Tapah past Orang Asli shacks & extreme poverty. Waiting next to a KFC for a bus to Ipoh ('Eye-poh: a place of no consequence')

Bus ride was v. dodgy, basically a local bus. Took forever. Cars & bikes everywhere. Sitting in a Japanese restaurant. 5 hours til next bus.

Thumbs down to Ipoh

Arrived in Hat Yai after bus ride from hell. Man in front reclined into my lap the entire (6 hour) way ...

Booked a bus to from a tour place, now to find food

@ a Chinese restaurant - the owner said it was cheaper to get a bus from the terminal. Smeg!

@elenahandlos got a haircut. No English spoken and her attempts to describe via magazines what she wanted caused great hilarity

Out of Hat Yai. Driver is a complete lunatic, never dipping below 160km/h. Flashing past flooded areas

Hah! Fat man floating under his stilt-house on a bed mattress. Reclined in the manner of Cleopatra uncaring of rising floodwaters. Love it!

Made it to Krabi in record time. Near death count #43. Driver loves a blind corner overtake

Driver tried to stitch us up with overpriced hotels. We've declined in favour of more...basic accommodation. 2 beds, 4 walls. Not much else.

@elenahandlos couldn't figure out the shower taps and thought she should use the toilet hose instead ahahaha

@ the night markets in Krabi. Hard to find vegetarian. Drinking beers to usher in the new year #สวัสดีปีใหม่

@elenahandlos's watch is 1hr slow! Back to the room for cards & beer. Colin is comatose after 3. Must be the

Decided to go to Ao Nang, Krabi isn't fab. Caught a songthaew there, found a place for 400 baht/night. Way touristy, way prettier

Guesthouse is called the "Sea Beer" - a good omen. Songthaewing back to Krabi to get our stuff.

Too late for climbing, just beached it instead. Overpriced cocktails at a tacky bar and bad fish curry and it's time for sleeeeeep

Fiendishly early wake up & boat to Ton Sai, then W. Railay. Walked through a resort to E. Railay. Climb Time on the beach!

Started w/ (only Colin managed it) then and on the 123 face. Back to Krabi for $$$

Dins @ 30 Years After and now to the Last Cafe for drinks. It's the owner Aa's b'day. He's massively drunk and pouring shots yay

Colin fell asleep from the complimentary whiskey. Aa is taking us on his motorbike for food

Called it quits at 3AM, found out the drinks weren't actually complimentary :( ฿1500. Aa rode us back to our room though, so win.

Got to Railay by 12(ish). Walked up to the muddy lagoon view. Down w/ climbing gear to other side of Phra Nang to climb at Escher's Wall

Super greasy rock. Kinda scary & I chickened out after 1 climb

Getting worried about Colin's liver. He was practically unconscious after 2 beers last night...

Back to E. Railay @ Duncan's Boot. Col climbed Karaoke, now back to Muai Thai wall for Massage the Rock :)

Col messed up the clipping order and in the effort to untangle has gashed his hand. Blood everywhere! Off to Phra Nang

Tried the stalagtite boulder problem, lost a lot of skin but it was ace. Swimming with tender flesh, not so ace

Colin bought a slingshot last night & the hostel ladies loaded me up w/ rambutan. Spent the night firing the seeds across the street

Went to Inner Princess Cave & had to wait for the lights. Meanwhile hit C w/ a bag of fruit peel which exploded

Interrupted a soft porn shoot at Phra Nang. Awkward w/ families on the beach . A soft day for us too. Hardcore tomoz

Started early on 123 wall with Giggerig then Cashflow, Short & Savage and Long Live the Herm. King Cobra last. Now is tired

Here's the list :) . Now for some food!

Koh Phi Phi! So many tourists. Ton Sai Bay is more boat mooring area than coral reef. Our rooms here suck balls so we're off snorkeling

Saw a black tip shark & amazing coral out between Koh Phi Phi and Bamboo Island

Storm hit just as we got back in the boat. Crazy ride thru high seas but still spotted a group of sea eagles hunting. Absolutely saturated

@elenahandlos had 1st dibs on shower but h2O is piped direct from sewer. For a 2nd time she has used the (it's becoming a habit)

Dins @ Mama Resto, pizza & curry. ordered their "expresso" but really wanted a long black. Much confusion ensued. E not amused

We'll miss the last bus to Bangkok - boat is due at 3:30. Decided to leave things in the hands of the gods & climb @ Ton Sai Tower

Did Latitude 8 which was chossy & dodgy. View from the top was amazing though. Calling it a day & down for some beach R&R

A Macaque family hit the beach & the alpha male stole a topless German lady's bananas. She screamed and clung to her bikini

@elenahandlos, up to her old tricks, tried to take photos of the cute little monkeys. They proceeded to scream and attack her

Rebooked our boat to & bus to . Lost a bunch of $$ on the return ticket to . Of course, more shenanigans w/ transport

Bus to Bangkok turned into a bus to Thani (where?), and was not the VIP coach we paid for Thai transport - 11, us - 0

Bangkok at 5AM from Moh Chit bus terminal a v. nice Thai lady showed us to the stop. Straight on the 123 to Ayuthaya.

Total Bangkok time spent: 0.5 hours

Hired some bikes after tuk-tuking to the Ayuthaya Guest House, cycled along the crazy main roads. Stopping at Wat Ratburana

More cycling to Wat Thanmikarat & Wat Phra Ram (pretty similar). Elephants on the road giving rides to tourists near King Phaen's residence.

Ferry to Wat Panam Choeng. Incredible 19m gold Buddha statue & 1000s of mini-Buddhas in the walls. Monks were covering it in orange silk

6hr bus trip to Sukhothai through rice paddy plains. Staying at the Somprasong Guest House. Owner is English teacher who dislikes tourists!

P.S. (the owner) also owns a place in Ayuthaya. Seems really nice :) She and American Rob are going to the old city. We might tag along...

Travelled to Wat Saphan Hin overlooking the city and Wat Sri Chum. Col had a whole coconut, milk 'n all, instantly regretted it

Wat Pra Phai Luang & elephant shrine where we climbed a tamarind tree for tasty treats. I climbed straight into a big angry ant's nest

Visited Wat Mahathat & Wat Si Sawai. P.S. keeps trying to buy food for us to try. Only Col was willing to try a pumpkin/egg/coconut mix

It was still in its pumpkin skin. Blergh
Posted by at
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)