us in Thailand

well there is just so much to write about!

we left Hua Hin and came back to Bangkok where we joined up with a tour we had booked to go to Chiang Mai and the jungle. there were 12 of us on our trek an aussie couple (selor and souken) a canadian (barbra)a guy from london (paul) 6 lads from edinburgh uni (they were all posh and not one of them had ever had a job, mummy and daddy were paying for there whole trip) and me and nath. we met our strange guide for the trip, a thai lady named Toi and then all went our separate ways and had a wander down the koh san road.

the next day we were supposed to get a train over night to chiang mai but there had been some really bad flooding in the north of thailand and the trains were out of service so we had to get an over night bus for 9 hours instead. we got to our hotel in chiang mai at 5.30 and left again at 9.30 so we could go and look at some local crafts. we went to a silk factory (it takes 50 silk worm cocoons to make one silk thread!!!) a paper factory, a wood carving studio and a lacquer wear studio. then we went to Wat Doi Su Tep were we both got blessed by a buddhist monk. after this we headed back to the hotel where we met our local guide Thai (yes that was his name) and his two assistants Bin and Oo. that night paul, souken, selor, nath and i went out on the piss and had a few too many beers and cocktails and ended up in the pool at 2 am. this wasn't really a good idea as we were leaving the next morning to spend three days in the jungle.

that morning, hangover and all, we set off on our trek. we drove for about 2 hours before we got to the edge of the national park where the hill tribes are and took a break to feed some monkeys (one of them loved me and kept trying to hug me. soon we were off again and before long we started our trek. two hours on a level 2 trek doesn't sound that bad.... but it's hard work and bloody steep! it was so steep it knackered my ankle again which swelled right up so that i could barely walk on the second day.

we spent the first night in a hill tribe village. we all slept on a raised platform in one room on very thin mats but it was ok. that night i was attacked by a giant spider the size of the top of a coke can, but i managed to kill it with my boot *feels proud*. the next day because my ankle was no better i had to go by motorbike and bamboo raft where i was attacked by another huge spider that swam at me and ran up my back!!! yes spiders in thailand swim!!!!! i stayed on the raft all the way to the elephant camp with Toi where we met up with the others who were being led through the jungle for 5 hours by Thai, Bin and Oo. we had lunch and then we got to go on an elephant trek!!!!!!! elephants are soooooooo nice, and they took us all the way to our next village home. here we slept in a a raised house on stilts where i found a snake which poor Toi was terrified of! it was only a grass snake but Thai killed it and through it in the trash. as it got dark we all sat around and played some drinking games but we had no booze so if you messed up you got charcoal smeared on your face!!!! there are some very funny pics up from that night.

after a good sleep i woke up early on the last morning of our trek to find a scorpion on top of my mosquito net! paul went and fetched Thai who carried the scorpion off with a pair of chop sticks and fried it in oil so that nath could eat it!and he did!!!!! there is a photo of this but it's not on our photo bucket yet but i'll let you all know when it is. nath said it tasted like a fried egg but crunchy with bits of exo-skeleton! ewwwwww! after breakfast we went down to the river where we got on more bamboo rafts and set off down the river towards the rapids. we did lose a few people going through the rapids, i wasn't one of them, but nath, paul and selor all had some pretty fantastic falls. after we finished rafting we drove back to chaing mai and had anther night out.

on our last morning in chiang mai nath did a cooking course and i stayed in bed then we got another over night bus back to bangkok where we said good bye to everyone and went to check in at our last hotel. after a sleep (it was 5.45am when we got there)we went and got our cloths from the tailors and they are awesome. that night we went to the rio grill and had loads of different types of meat including ostrich! then it was early to bed so we could go to the floating market this morning. it was nice there but it was very expencive and a bit of a tourist trap.


and that is us all up to date.

tonight we are going to go to patpong to catch a ping pong show (we can't come all the way to thailand and not go), and then our trip is over!!!!! tomorrow we go to the airport and we will be back in england on friday morning.



i can't beleive how fast this trip has gone but i've loved every minute of it and so has nath.



see you all very soon


love beckie



p.s. check out the new pics

well hello!!!!


in Hua Hin at the moment but heading back to Bangkok later. tomorrow we are heading to Chiang Mai (OMG our last stop!) where we are going elephant riding, bamboo rafting, and staying with some hill tribes! it will be great as long as there aren't any big spiders :(

the place we are staying in here in Hua Hin is amazing! it's the nicest place we've stayed at. we've been joking about getting a big group of you guys together and all coming out here for a holiday shindig. they have some three bedroom apartments (that sleep six) with a private pool and jacuzzi for 12.38 a night each and they have a six bedroom villa with pool and jacuzzi, two kitchens, two living rooms etc again for 12.38 a night per person. my god we would all rock on holiday!


didn't do much yesterday because it was my birthday so we sat and chilled, played some pool and i had a two hour massage for 15 quid.

thank you to every one who wished me a happy birthday.

i don't know if we will have much time to update much over the next week because we are going to be traveling a fair bit, we get back to Bangkok from Chiang Mai on the 30th then we are home on the 2nd.


miss all you guys loads

beckie

xx

well after a few eventful days we are back in samui. i managed to fall off a boat (it was fucking funny, i ended up sitting in the sea laughing my ass off!!!!) i fucked up my ankle and broke my shoe!!!!! and all in the same morning lol.


just so that makes sense i'll tell you that we went on a boat trip round Phangan that include a trip in to the forest to a water fall (that was bloody cold when you got in)next we went and had lunch on a beach and then we stopped to do some snorkeling (well nath did, i sat on the boat and took pics)then we spent the night in had rin where we ended up at a fantastic bar with uv lights and uv paint, you can paint all over the tables and walls and your self lol, and we met a very cool bloke from Sweden who turned out to be a rapper! there is a pic of him and nath on the photo bucket.

yesterday i let my foot get better and nath tried scuba diving (i tried it years ago and hated it) he had a great time but now has a headache and another bump on his head.


this morning we got a boat back to samui and wandered round chaweng till we found somewhere we wanted to stay, we found a nice place and settled in and now we're gonna chill a bit before heading to hua hin on sunday (it takes 10 hours to get there!!!!!) then on monday it's my birthday! bah another year older and deeper in debt lol


lovey you all and check out the photos

beckie

xx

p.s good luck to all you guys with exams.

Hey hey everyone ^_^ Time once again for a journalistic landmine from the rebelious roaming reporter and rare resipitor or rambunxciously raw rhymes...Nathan. (the lettering falls apart a little there, but you get the idea)


Hope people back home are doing ok.Im not gonna go into massive detail about everything since the last time I posted, cus I cant really remember it all. But I shall give you the highlights!

- Waking up on teh bathroom floor of our hotel. I wassober enough to get to bed, but I was sweating so damn much in teh heat that I couldnt get a grip on the tiled bathroom floor xD In teh end I just thought bugger it and slept there.I got to bed eventually..somehow....its all rather fuzzy

- Crocodile farm! The otheer animals were very pretty too (otters and monkeys, we fed some bananas and grass and they kept following us. also., TINY RABBITS!), but the crocs were amazing! the guy in the cagw with them was an expert at playing the "piss off the 400 pounds of murderous reptile" game. and he still has all hus fingers! He was picking them up, dragging them around, sticking his hand and his head in their mouths, it was pretty bloody cool!

- Shopping in Chaweng was really cool, appart from EVIL scammy taxi drivers. (the trick appears to be to throw in a few thai words here and there, then they getall nervous cus they reailse your nto as much fo a stupid westerner as they think you are ;P). The beach is HUGE, very very pretty, took some nice pictures. We hung there for a bit in a few bars on thursday and friday night, i ate a WHOLE lobster xD Freaked beckie out totally, especially when i made it dance. "put ya left claw in, ya left claw out...in out in out..shake it all about..."

Do the Funkey Lobster!

- The Cabaret Show on saturday night, complete with BIG UGLY MEN in dresses. Some of them were very convincing. However, not the one who took a liking to me xD Im flattered, but OH GOD MY EYES! THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING!!

- The cocktails out here! They are soo much fun, trying all the differentcombinations, and im loving the 7 11s, trying all the different weird foods they sell out here. Im probably spending a small fortune just on drinks and snacks alone, but hey, i only get to try it once ^^

- And best news of all so far...yesterdays forumla 1 result =D Watched the race in a little sports bar bull of germans round teh corner from out hotel (we are in koh phangan at the moment, by the way), makignthe victory all the sweeter. Muhahaha.

right, i am off to prowl around a few bars and write a little. Been doinga few lyrics and some drawing out here, and Im really enjoying keeping a journal. Thanx for getting me the book mum, its proving really good fun (aka, im enjoying being a big kid and sticking things into it with sticky tape ^_^)

Hope your all doing ok, cant wait to party with everyone when I get home again. I dunno if mum and dad and hannah will let me out, but there is a munchbreak gig on the night of the 2nd of june when we get back. Im not saying Im gonna go, just letting other fans be in the know.

Love light and Peace, people

Nath xxx

hi all,

just updated some new pics.

we're still in samui at the moment but we are heading over to phangan tomorrow. tis the full moon tonight so we're gonna get a cab round to chaweng beach and party the night away \o/.

went to a crocodile farm on thursday which rocked. we got to see a thai guy put his head inside a 6 foot crocs mouth!!!!!!!! god those things can move!!!! one of the two little ones didn't like him very much so he had dubbed the croc 'angry man' (well i saw little but he was still about 4 and a half foot) angry man nearly had his hands and legs a few times, he was not a happy croc.


i got bloody bitten by a mossie last night on my ankle and it is driving me mad >:[


i can't beleive we are half way through our trip now, it's gone so fast. i don't really want to leave but i miss everyone so you all need to buy a ticket to thailand so i can see you :D


i'll updated again when we are settled in phangan.


beckie

hello all,

we are now in samui and it is my favorite place so far, but that might be because we are stying in a bungalow right on the beach! it is like 2 foot from our front door to the sand :D

nath has uploaded a few photos but the connection here isn't very good so we will get some more up over the next few days.

phi phi was a nice but we were really far away from everything, here is much better.


talk to you guys soon,


beckie


p.s. nath is having problems with his phone so if you need to text him text me.

Today I spent a fortune, bought huge amounts of sparkely things, looked like a religious nut, juggle poi and got smacked in the face by my own foolishness. It was a rich, full day ^_^

Missing all you guys

Nath xx

hey all, some new pics of phi phi and nath with a coconut!!!


beckie xx

Well, here we are in phi phi. So far, its rather weird. the hotel is posh, kinda nice, but weird. There are bugs EVERYWGERE cus of the level of tree cover and vegetation in this area, and we currently have to walk up several paths and 61 massive stone steps to get to our room. The view is nice though, and the weather is hot, but really muggy and close atm. Nice thunder storm last night though. Pretty much nothing to do here ate other then read and sleep, soIve been slaving through a few good books and doing a bit of writing when something interesting strikes me. Pluss, 2 pounds for a bottle of whiskey...Im pretty content atm ^_^

Gonna go searcg the beaches and explore today, but Id rather tell you about our excellent trip here yesterday. the ferry was irritating tbh, full of obnoxcious japanese tourists coming here in failys of about 20 for a vacation. To all you japan buffs and otaku freaks out there, im afraid your assumptions are incorrect, they arnt all lovely and chatty to english people. anyways, that is another story. Beckie slept, but I roamed the decks in search of TREASURE! Or a nie view, which was sooo pretty, the rock formations around phuket and phi phi are amazing, really prehistoric looking (Speaking of prehistoric, I played Dino Mini golf the other night! But more on that later...maybe...). When we got here we had to take a long tail speed boat around to the north of the island, as phi phi has pretty much no roads of any kind. The speed boat was BRILLIANT! rocketing along with the wind and the sea spraying up from the sides of the boat, it was fantastic =D Cant wait to do that again.

Last nights thunder storm also brought the unexpected and kinda creepy arrival of the singing frogs!!! HUNDREDS OF THE BUGGERS! All gathered together in the rain to croak at the same time. It was pretty impressive, but creepy when walking back to our room in the rain, and thers this gutteral throbbing croak coming from allll around you >.<

On the 2nd, whilst still in Phuket, we went to visit the half-burried buddha, and the phuket butterfly gardens. The wat of the buddha was really nice, very peaceful and serine, kind asimple and run down but really pretty, lots of gold leaf statues for people to pray to. The butterfly gardens were fantastic, so amazingly pretty, hundreds of colours all ove the place and dozens of butterflys flitttering around your head at all times, it was a really great experience. Got some lovely pictures that i shall update when im not having to pay 4 bhat a minute for a 56k connection. It will take the rest of the holiday if I do.


Love to everyone and we will talk to ya all soon. For no, ADVENTURE TIME! >=D

Nath xxx

hi all,

today we actually did something!!!!!

we went to see the sunken buddha and the butterfly sanctuary (a giant hot house filled with tropical plants and butterflies).

today is our last day in phuket, tomorrow we get a boat at 7am over to phi phi till the 8th then we fly over to samui.


my shoulders are peeling how gross!

missing everyone at home but we are having fun.

more photos up now.



beckie xx

Prehaps my favorite part of our little slice of heaven out here...

hi guys,

i thought i'd better let you all know we've put up more photos.

we saw some more elephants last night!!!!!!

and nath had a meal of lobster, sea bass, and a king prawn, ice cream, a sprite and a thai brandy and a thai whiskey for 15 quid!!!! (well it was his birthday)


will update again soon,


beckie

xx

hey all, we flew down to phuket yesterday and have spent to day chilling by the pool and drinking cocktails. it's sooooooooo pretty here (will get more photos up soon). nath is enjoying his birthday here and is marking it by making his way through the cocktails menu one by one.

we walked down to the beach last night, (we can see it from our room). the waves are HUGE!!!!! and our hotel is next to the tsunami evacuation route lol


big lol before we left bangkok when nath went to change a travelers check at the hotel. when he handed over his passport the guy gave it back and said 'no we need to see your passport, this is a ladys one'

we spent tuesday in kanchanaburi and went to visit the bridge over the river kwai and an elephant sanctuary, they are sooooo cute.

patpong was mad too! they only know two phrases, 'pussy show' and 'ping pong' lol and they all ignored nath and were asking me if i wanted to go in!!!!! LAMO

anyway, bye bye all, write again soon!

Today is my 21st birthday, which I have spent chilling by a cool, reading an excellent book, and slowly working my way through the entire cocktail menu of the Kata Villa.

So you know what this is?



ITS A CELEBRATION, BITCHES!!!! xD

I home my followers back home are celebratong in my absence. So pour a shot, spark up a doobie and play some of that sweet sweet music. We shall party when I get home...oh yes...we shall party ;D

Mum, Dad and Hannah - Thankyou so much for my beautiful cards, it was so nice having something from home to open last night, I have them sitting on top of the TV in our room now, and mighty fine they look, too!
Thanx for the phone calls too, sorry about the time difference and my lack of money, but thankyou soooo much mum for the credit, really kind of you =) I'll get a phone card soon and give you a ring, tell nan and grandad Im sorry the call cut out on them, reception from the UK is a little dodgey around here. Love you all loads xxx

Jamie - xD Thanx for the card, darlin! Was brilliant to hear from you, I'll have to get ya something nice in return when I get back ^_^

Talk to you all soon, guys and girls

Nath xxx

go look!!!!


write again soon!

it's so hot here it's great! ^,^

flight was fine, just long, and when the air hostess found out it was naths first flight she gave us both chamange, woot. nath set the alarms off going through customs but it turned out to be the gauze in his stomach lol.

got to our hotel at about 5pm yesterday and chilled out in the bar with a free cocktail then had a great swim under the stars in the open air pool and hot tub (very swish)then we had a very strange buffet dinner in the hotel. the food was ok but it wasn't until we sat down that we found out we were to be entertained by an elvis impersonater who sang in a weird mix of english, thai and elvis: ah ha ha!

we decided to have a quick drink at the rock pub that is oposite the hotel, it's ace in there. we hadn't been there long when a band started playing and there were amaizing. they only played covers (the chilli pepers, audio slave, the beatles etc) but they played them really well, and their base player looked exactly like mal!!!! except thai :P and what do you supose was on the tv...? WBA/Newcastle game!!!! Tonight, F1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




(just before we start, pretty much everywhere gives you something for free. Every shop we've been in so far has had complimentary drinks!)
today we over slept because nath had the clock set to go off at 7.45pm lol (but it we only over slept by 15 mins before we woke up) then we headed to the grand palace.... wow!!!! it's so prety everything is made of gold, gorgeous ornate scultpures everywhere, and (technically) our first trip to a temple. The Grand Palace houses the internationally famous Emeral Buddah (its actually one huge chunk of carved jade, but they get testy if you try to point that out...) It was amazingly inspirational, you could almost feel the awe emination from the people praying there. We even got to see a crowd of monks, fancy that! We got some photos that we need to upload but haven't done it yet. We ther had a look round a government sponcered gem factory, complete with an american voiced-over guide to the formation of gems, produced in the 1980's xD One of the mamagers guided us round, showed us first hand how the gems are sorted and graded, then cut, shaped and mounted and set. Soooo....very....shiney.....(nath kept worrying when I ran off, thinking I was going to come back having spent everything on pretty rings).

Next stop, Tailors, were we are heading tomorrow after being picked up at the hotel by thier driver, to try on our brand new suits and skirts (whos wearing what? You decide...)"Tailored suits? Are you two made of money?!" I hear you cry. Well, lets break it down; Naths suit: tailored jacket and trousers of cashmire and woll, three egyptian cotton shirts and a silk tie...8000 thb (120 pounds =D) Beckies three skirts, two satin, one thai silk = 6000 (about 98 quid =D). Yes, we could get used to being THIS rich xD

Looked round a carving shop with some amazing had carved wood and jade pieces (cor) another jewlers, where Nath bought me a black star saphire necklace for my birthday *hugs*, and nath bought some earings (having earlier been told he was "pretty like a lady" by a thai lady xD), then visited a street market - leading us to so far conclude that thailand smells like smoke, soap and seafood. Just got back to the hotel, and now we're off for a swim.

So far, pretty good holiday ^_^

Talk to you all again soon, got a busy few days ahead.


beckie and nath

xx

hi guys, i've finaly got round to setting up this new LJ so that you can see what we're up too.


Beckie xx