And for change, now another island !! koh samui

It is a bigger island, very close to koh phangan so many people come here for the full moon party and take a boat to go to the full moon party then come back in Samui in the morning. And there is also a lot of party on this island. I didn’t stay long because of my visa that is still a bit short. The island is very beautiful with big water falls, many bouddhist stuff and again nice beaches.

Also apparently it is quite famous for its ladyboys show so I went to see one, which was quite cool

Another island, but on east coast this time! In Koh phangan

Koh phangan is a very nice island, like a bit every island around, but it is mostly famous for its Full Moon Party. Every full moon thousands of people from all over the world gathers on a small beach on the south of the island to party all night long. So just before and after the full moon party the south of the island is very very busy and there is a lot of party everywhere.
The rest of the island is much quieter. Like a bit all islands, there is nice view point, some small waterfalls (but as it is dry season there is not much water) and many beautiful beaches

This is sunrise beach in Haad rin (south of the island) where the Party will be!!

The Full moon party is really huge; the beach is quite small so everyone is very pact between the bucket shops and the sea. Everyone is dress with glowing stuff and body painting, and you can find everywhere mini shops to buy bucket of alcohol, which is funny way to serve drinks. all the bars along the beach play their music and the party go on like that until the sunrise.

As the time goes the area get less crowded:

The dark side of the full moon party is all the garbage that end up on the beach and in the ocean. They will clean up the beach but there is so much more that lies in the bottom of the ocean and on rocks next to the beach, I walked a bit on the side of the beach and the rock are totally covered by flip-flops, straws, bucket, bottle, glass and soooo many crap like that it’s sad…..

In Burma!!!!! but only for 30 min

When I was in Phuket I did a trip to go in Burma, it took about 6h to get there and 6h to get back, in a mini bus, and a long tail boat to cross the border.

Huuuuuuum you might wonder why the fuck I spend 12h in a minivan and boat to spend 30 min in Burma???  it’s not that there is something exceptionally interesting to see, it is because Thailand immigration sucks !!! If you come by plan you get a 30 days visa, but if you come by land you get only 15days which is very short. So I had to go out and in again to get another 15days and therefore having time to see all the islands in the south before leaving Thailand. So it was very boring trip a bit expensive, but I needed to do it to be able to see all I want….

Phuket!!!

From Koh Phi Phi I took a ferry to Phuket, it is another island, but much bigger and so close to the main land that make it more like main land. I stayed in Phuket town, a small and nice city, with many nice buildings.

I rented a motor bike again to visit around the island. There is many interesting sight to see, a big temple with many buildings, a huuuuuuuge Buddha. A lot of tourist (and elephant) trap with rides in the forest by quad or by elephants, and monkey, elephant or  snakes show.  There is also some very nice beach and nice view point.

It is a really nice place to visit with a bit of everything, many tourist attraction, nice beaches, nice view point and monument.

From one beautiful island to another… Koh phi phi!!

When I arrived in koh phi phi, I was surprise not to see any tuc tuc waiting just after the boat, but I realized very quickly that the island is way too small to need tuc tuc and there is no road, only small walking streets with restaurant, shop, guest house, diving and tourism agency. It takes only ten minute to walk from one side to another.

Just after checking in my hostel I didn’t waste my time and directly went to explore the island. On each side of town there are bigger parts with only forest and few small farms. So I went on one side, and walked up the hill to reach a very nice view point, then went down on the other side to access to remote beach, so there is much less people and the beaches are really awesome, you can also go snorkeling directly from the beach.

To get back to town I decided to follow the coast, it was high tide so it was quite hard to follow the cost, but very cool. I went from beach to beach most of the time very nice, and walk past old fisherman houses or bungalow resort in ruins.

Next day I went again by boat to explore the area around the island. Went for cliff jumping from about 15-18m high, it was awesome, went swimming and snorkeling in perfect places.

And we went to maya bay the place used for the movie “the beach” indeed the beach and the scenery around is awesome…. BUT it is also way too crowded, ALL along the beach there is hundreds of boats waiting while the tourists enjoy the beach. There is only one small area without boat to let people swim. It’s another place that would be amazing with a bit less people…

To finish the day there was a beautiful sunset on our way back to the main island with a BBQ on a very small beach surrounded by cliff with a very small entrance. It is a very nice place to spend the evening with music, beers, and BBQ.

I really love koh phiphi the scenery around is incredible, and the island is small enough to have everything at a walking distance. Compared to koh Lanta, it’s much smaller so much more compact. Koh Lanta is more a relax and family place, Koh phi phi is much more dynamic and a party place. Every night along the beach there is many bars that organize big party which is awesome!!

And now, Thailand!!!! Arriving in Koh Lanta !!

After a very long journey in a mini bus from Penang in Malaysia I reach Koh Lanta, a nice island on the south west of Thailand, it’s very nice, very small town on north of the island and all the way down along the beach there is many bungalows, restaurants and resorts. As it is still very busy as this time, it is still hard to find accommodation, and one very annoying things here, is that there is almost no backpacker with share rooms, almost only bungalows to rent, or few   with only private room, even if it is really cheap for bungalows or private rooms, it is still much more expensive than a simple bed in a dorm room, also as I’m traveling alone, I don’t want to be even more isolated by being alone on my own bungalow.  All the tourist information or tuk tuk driver told me that there is absolutely no dorms room on the island and the cheapest bungalow I can find was about 700 bath. But I decided not to listen to them and take time to walk around and look by myself, and like that I managed to find a very nice place for 140 bath. It’s basically just a tree house, very basic but very nice !!

The island is quite big ( maybe 15 to 20km from north to south) so the best way to visit is to hire a scooter and visit around, so I drived a bit all around the island. It’s funny as driving here is totally different, there is basically only one rule : priority to the bigger vehicle.

Directly from the island there is nothing to see in the water, just sand, so I got on a boat to go snorkelling around for a day, it was really nice, but a bit disappointed about some place that were way too crowded !!!
The snorkelling spots where really good but nothing like around the great barrier reef north east of Australia.
We stop for lunch on a very nice beach.

And have a quick stop to a place that would be heaven if that wasn’t over crowded, basically it’s a very small beach surrounded by big cliffs and the only way to access is through a tunnel in the water, about 80m long. Unfortunately there is about always 3 or 4 huge boat full of Chinese and Japanese that are on the spot all the time, when one leave, one other come directly… and it is way too crowded so I didn't really like it. Also as all these tourist can’t swim they are just with a life jacket holding the person in front of them and waiting for their guide to pull them to the other side, that make a huge “snake” of at least 50 Japanese and Chinese over exited that can’t find anything else to do than yelling as hard as possible during all the time in the tunnel, which again is extremely annoying and almost make me deaf….
It is very sad because without that much people this spot would be the perfect place!!

this is not from me, it is what it look like when it's not busy

On the evening on the beach where I was staying, there were some beach volley organised that was really cool, I went there for playing too time and then the sunset is really awesome.  A very nice way to spend the evening!!

 After few days there, I continue my trip to another island…. Koh Phi Phi

Penang

Many people told me that Penang is great, with many things, beach, rain forest, history….

I was a bit disappointed when I get there because even if it have a bit of everything, it is not exceptional, there is many historical building, but not as good as Melaka that I have seen before, the rain forest is very small and not really interesting specially after the trek I did in Taman Negara just before, and the beach isn't really nice, not clear water,  heaps of jelly fish and it’s more a tourist trap for water attraction like banana boat, para-sailing, jetski….

It was still nice to be here but I didn't want to stay too long, especially with Chinese new year it is hard to find hostel and everything is So crowded!!
Also I was expecting to find many festivities for Chinese New Year, however I couldn't find any special activity, concert ceremony or any special event so I was a bit disappointed, I got all the bad part of this huge event here without any good part ….

In Cameron Highland

After Taman Negara I wanted to go to Penang on north east, but From Taman Negara I could only go to Cameron Highland, and from there take another bus to Penang, however I have been told that by the time I’ll be in Cameron Highland there will be no bus to Penang, and also that it is very nice to visit Cameron Highland. So I decided to get there and stay a full day to visit before continuing to Penang. Because it is Chinese New Year now and Malaysia as a huuuuge Chinese community, so it is a very major event here, by far the biggest of the year, and so it is veeery hard to find accommodation at this time, I got lucky to be able to book one before getting there, but I have seen many people looking for hostel around.

Anyway when I get there I realised the there was still bus in the evening to Penang, but as I have booked my backpacker I stick to my plan to visit here. Also every nice thing to see is a bit far and there is no public transport around, so it is almost impossible to visit without a tour or hiring a taxi. As I’m alone the taxi would have been way too expensive. So even if I didn’t want to I took a small tour to see major things, mostly tea plantation in the area.
And that was quite bad idea, as the tours was quite crappy, the guide wasn’t friendly, and in the morning instead of going directly to the view point as it was planned, he decided to stop to all other things before, while the weather was clear, and get to the view point at the end when it was in the could… so not too much things to see, impossible to see more that 5M away from the view point, so I just see a nice tea plantation and a mini insectarium….

So basically I should have gone directly to Penang, it would have been much better, but anyway I have time so it’s no big deal!!

In the Jungle!! looking for tigers !!

Since I arrived in Asia I have always been in cities, so now it’s time for more adventure!!
I was thinking about going on the east coast as it is supposed to be very nice. But unfortunately at the moment it’s the monsoon season so there is nothing to do there.
I decided instead to go in the jungle, in the middle of Malaysia. Taman Negara national park, it is one of the oldest tropical rain forests on earth.
After few hours by bus from Kuala Lumpur, I took a boat for three more hours to get to a very small village at the entrance of the park. It was very nice!!

As usual to visit around there is many tours operator that offer many different activities. I was surprise to see that it wasn’t very expensive, but I decided not to do that anyway and get really deeply into the jungle on my own. I did a big trek over 2 days to go in the middle of the jungle and spend the night there in a very small hut.

The trek was awesome with many big difficulties like river crossing or steep and slippery hills that was really fun. But it was also very hard because of the very hot and wet weather. Try running in a sauna or a steam room for 6h without going out, and you will feel as I felt during that trek. And another thing quite annoying was the leeches, they were everywhere and I had to stop every 10 min to burn it away.

I really loved that trek it was a good adventure and for once not as easy as most touristic things. It was also cool to know that anytime you can face some deadly species like spiders, scorpion, snakes, or even tigers!! I have seen many spiders and one snake but I have no idea if it was some deadly ones or not, and didn’t see any tiger, but was very unlikely to see some as it is endanger species and only 200 remain in the park.
The only big animal I saw was a Tapir apparently I was very lucky to see it, many people came here only to see that and never see it!!

Another big city, Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is a huge city with many nice things to see. I stayed 2 full days to visit most of it. I was staying in Bukit Bitang it’s very dynamic area with a lot of shops, bars, restaurants….
Like Auckland and Sydney, the city has its own big tower, and like New York it has its own twin towers, but here they didn’t throw planes at it so it’s still standing!! I went on top of the KL tower to have a nice view over the whole city, but the weather wasn’t really clear…

There is also an area with many very nice monuments, mosque, government palace and many more. It was funny that to visit the mosque, most of people have to be dress like part of a sect…

And as any big cities there is a Chinatown which is very nice, with a huge market way too crowded, but fun to visit. Also as Chinese New Year is almost there, there is decoration everywhere.

Up north of the town there is Batu cave, which is nice to visit, but very dirty, so there is heaps of monkey around living from all the garbage left by the tourist.

And one of the last things I visit was a very big park with many different area and things to see, I really liked it!!

As conclusion It’s a big city with many things to see, I wouldn’t live there ,but it’s really nice to visit over few days !!