Bangkok in 24 Hours

After a seemingly endless journey of 20 (!!!!) hours from Penang, we arrived in Bangkok and hopelessly searched for Breakfast and the new addition to our team... LISA.

After the initial scare of a new stalker on Koh San Road following us into various restaurants, we saw a smiling face in the distance; the first ACTUAL familiar face in such a long time was very surreal. After a rushed greeting, we changed out of our traveling gear and hit the street of Koh San for some serious shopping at the market stalls. With endless clothes and scorpions to choose from, its a great way to kill a few hours, followed by a refreshing smoothie at The Hub.

As usual, we treated ourselves to Mani-Pedis and facials for the crazy Asian price of about one pound. 

The contrast between day and night in Bangkok is incredible, it changes from the 'Streets of Cornwall' (Direct quote from Lisa Day) to a party street filled with backpackers from all over the world. After a Chang tower we headed to the 'No ID Golf Bar' for a few buckets before... The Club. THE CLUB in Bangkok... it's great... go there if only because you get a free Smirnoff ice on arrival- LOL.

 The next day, hungover and sleepy, we headed to the Weekend Market... which was honestly, the best shopping we've ever seen. With endless rows of boutique market stalls, we could have bought every single pair of Levi's, Logo Tee's and dungarees, SOOOO NICE!!!!! (if only we all weren't running seriously low on cash). ALTHOUGH there was also the added surprise of the pet section... The drugged squirrels staring at us with wide eyes was enough to send Jodie running, shortly followed by a hate-filled staring competition between Jodie and the weird pet shop owner - Tense.

We'll be seeing more of Bangkok on the way down to the islands in a couple weeks!

Big love xxxxxx meg jod AND LISAAAAAAAAAAA

Parasailing around Sapi Island

Passing time in KK, we took a trip to Sapi Island (just a 20 minute boat journey) for a spot of parasailing.  It was hilarious(!!)

They dropped us into the water and we were coughing and splatting around on the water - would've been such a great sight for a scuba diver underneath. 

bye xx

Wildlife-spotting in Borneo

After two weeks of fun in Western Malaysia, we really thought it was time to stop fannying around and time, to see an orangutan.  Spontaneously, we booked a flight for the next day and NEEEOOWWWW: we arrived in KK.  A traumatic 7-hour coach journey surrounded by vomiting and unhygienic humans left us sitting in the dark, on the side of a roundabout, in the middle of nowhere... however, at the sight of a familiar 'Wildlife' T-shirt peering out of a 4x4, we were transported to a beautiful hostel surrounded by baby turtles, lakes and monkeys jumping around in the trees; Sepilok.

On our first morning we managed to crawl out of bed at 9am and make it the Orangutan Rehab Centre by 10am.  The red apes swung to the feeding block from all directions and we were able to view seven of them fighting over the biggest banana.  We were, at first, a little sceptical of the Sepilok 'Rehabilitation' Centre but were pleasantly surprised by the fact that the crowds weren't so big that we could not see the animals and that it was not simply a zoo built for tourists but actually a fantastic cause! The charity rescue orphaned animals or those that have been inappropriately kept as pets.  They are taught survival skills such as climbing and foraging (what an amazing job those guys have!!!) before being released into the protected forest to fend for themselves.  It was wonderful to be able to see a snippet of all this up close!!! 

The next step in our wildlife adventure was to head to Bilit Lodge on the river bank, where we spent two days cruising the waters in a tiny boat, spotting completely wild orangutans, the hilarious proboscis monkeys, silver monkeys, long-tailed macaques, pygmy elephants, a crocodile, a range of hornbills and some other funky birds.  It was like safari on water and we got lucky(!) 

Diving the Perhentian Islands, Malaysia

After the combination of Kuta and Kuala Lumpur, a serious craving for a relaxed atmosphere and the ocean were kicking in.  The Perhentian Islands were the perfect answer.

We jumped off the boat at Long Beach on the smaller island which seems to be oh-so-creatively named...'small' and as always with our hefty backpacks stumbled to the nearest, and cheapest looking, accommodation available, 'Symphony'.  Which we later found out was known for robbery and abuse from the staff - brilliant.

Perhentian Islands, we were told, are one of the cheapest places in the world to gain diving qualifications whether it be basic Open Water or your dive-master.  So, after refreshing on one or two delicious lassies, we spoke to Matahari Dive Centre and managed to swing an excellent deal of around 200 pounds each to for both our Advanced Divers course and accommodation (with a power shower!!!!).

We highly recommend diving with these guys (it's the bright orange dive shop out of the many dotted along the shore).  They treated us amazingly well and were all lovely! They warned us of the negative stories they'd heard about Symphony and allowed us to stay in the Staff Accommodation for a night as all the rooms were full.  Although, this ended up with the entire dive centre seeing Jodie completely stark naked as we were sharing their shower room and failed to control the foreign locking system.

Adding to our wonderful stay, was the family's three year-old, adorable daughter who allowed us to attend her birthday party and was forever grabbing our hands for a dance with her.  Her father gave us fruit straight from the trees and helped us to arrange our boat off the island and bus to Penang.

The diving itself was pretty amazing.  We were able to see small sharks, turtles, sting-rays and of course many incredibly colourful fish.  We were able to experience wreck and night diving which we hadn't previously and both were seriously cool.  During our safety stop on the night dive, we each turned off our torches and as we moved our arms and legs the plankton lit up luminously green! Amazing!!!!

Our navigation dive on the other hand was hilariously dire! I (Jodie) managed to forget how to control the compass leaving us well and truly lost.  You know you are in trouble when there's not a reef or a single fish for company.  HAHAHA very confusing.

Anyone thinking of diving, do it!!! Just go to Perhentian and become a dive master!!! (that's our plan) and say hi to Dee and Crumb from us!

Meg and Jod xxx

Island Hopping the Gili's

Our last week in Bali!!!!! :(

We jumped on a fast boat from Ubud and headed to the sweet honeymoon island that is Gili Meno.

 

Imagine paradise and you are in the Gili's; white sand, crystal blue water and a mountainy lombok for a screen-saver worthy view.
Our first Island of the 3 was Meno. We spent our days enjoying the beach, or exploring the island in a tiny one hour walk, aswell as diving.... the most INCREDIBLE diving! With 20m visibility and 24 degree ocean we swam around with Sea Turtles aswell as Bumphead fish (a shawl of 23!!!!!!)... simply incredible. In the evenings we played cards with the locals whilst they sang a very Indonesian version of Jason Mraz with the guitar and bobbed their crazy afros.

We stayed in a cute lile shack... showering in sea salt in the back of the cow field was rather smelly.... to say the least.

 View at breakfast! ^

The 2nd island we visited was Trawangan; the party island! Each bar/club/crazy pool resort has a day of the week that they host a party, we arrived on Monday just in time for Blue Marlin night. THE best party location, the sea, a pool, the bar and two great dancefloors! Locals showed off their impressive moves whilst drunken westerners danced on the bars... brilliant. However, the rest of T wasn't as untouched as Meno, with lines of shops and bars and never ending shouting of 'TRANSPORT!' - but this time on a horse! Its safe to say that we loved the party in Trawangan, but Meno is not worth missing for the chilled atmosphere and incredible landscape.

 

The bluest of seas.

  

The 3rd and final island we visited was Gili Air, snorkelling on a reef just 50m from the shore with turtles was not something to be missed! We also played tourists and got hair wraps, ice creams did a little shopping for various sarongs etc. In the evening we went to an open air projecter in the beach and watched a movie for the first time in 2 months...... cute.

WE LOVE MENO

bye bye, Malaysia tomorrow xxxxxxxxx

The Yoga Barn (Ubud)

After a short but sleepy boat ride on the public boat with the locals and a melon, we jumped on the bus to Ubud! Probably the only place that we had any idea what we wanted to do; rafting, visit temples and the rice paddies. That was until... we found the wonderful Yoga Barn.

'A little piece of tranquillity n the heart of Ubud'

Immediately we fell in love with the jungly location and never ending list of classes on offer; Yin Yang, Hatha, Sound healing, Esctatic dance, take your pick.

We decided on an unlimited pass for seven days, creating our own little yoga retreat.

We ended up going to an average of 3 classes a day, normally including at least one Yoga and one meditation class. Aside from our beloved sound healing with White Star and Esctatic dance, a few of our favourite classes were Vinyasa Flow (with Carlos; yoga to a ukele, why not?), Crystal Bowl Mediation and Sunday Dance.... a long explanation of each will be boring unless you are here, so maybe start saving and head over to Bali and the Yoga Barn?

ALSO even if you don't like yoga... the FOOD was the best we've had on our trip so far. All organic, eco friendly and vegetarian... The Little K has managed to create a recipe for the perfect Dhal and Chapati, or feta omelette wrap, simply amazing.

Slack lining at the YB

BIG LOVE FROM BAAAAAAAALI, heading to the gilis tomorrow xxxxx

Nusa Lembongan

Possibly the sweetest island you will ever see.

About an hour on a slow boat away for Sanur, but it could not be more different! With no stalls of clothes, or even cars on the island, the only thing between our room and the sea was the sea wall - amazing!

 

 We spent our days with juice and yoga (where we once again befriended two middle-aged women who taught us a little about the island as they own property over here) by the beach, along with snorkeling with Manta Rays (much bigger then we remember from South Africa!!!!!) and surfing Lacerations (a surf break out to sea.... green waves and everything CHECK US OUT).  It's really sweet how the kids out here have so much more freedom than back home but are then again, so much safer as everyone seems to look after them.  For example, our surf instructor's boat took out a couple of the local kids! They were squealing with delight every time they caught a wave and I bet their parents weren't at all worried about where they were.

 Scooting around the mangroves was probably the most unsteady few hours of our life, but cool way to see the island without a painfully long walk... hilarious AND practical.

 Snorkelling ^ lol at the honeymoon shots.

Only in Bali.... not enough money for the change so got a chocolate bar instead, perfect.

Probably the best sunsets I have seen in my life! 5 days was not long enough!

Peace and love from Bali,
Jod + Meg xxx