I know!! How ridiculously slack have I been?! It’s just been so busy and there really hasn’t been time to blog (I mean drinking cocktails, snorkelling and swimming and tanning at the beach totally beat writing a blog entry). So I have come to the conclusion that writing an entry a week in bullet form with a photo of the day (taken from facebook, so sadly not amazing quality) is the best idea. Here we go; week one…

Day 1 – Mon 28th Dec:

  • we were supposed to leave Auckland, NZ at 5am but ended up getting delayed to 10am – not a great start
  • in-flight entertainment didn’t work – thanks Royal Brunei!
  • funny moment of the day – Toni, wearing her tights and a singlet, got asked by one of the cabin crew if she was a marathon runner – hehe!
  • 10 hour flight to Brunei, then a 3 hour flight to Bangkok. arrived safe and sound, but exhausted and ready to pass out in the heat.
  • Toni and I failed when we didn’t fill in the arriving AND departing slip… back of the line… grr!
  • when we asked about visa’s for Thailand a cute chorus of older Thai officials asked “American?” “No, New Zealand” we replied. “No visa, no visa!” they exclaimed very excitedly, waving their hands at the same time.

Bangkok airport

 Day 2 – Tues 29th Dec

  • False start at 11pm! We got to bed at 9pm, were woken at 11pm by Toni’s alarm which should have been for 5am, but she’d forgotten to change from NZ to Thailand time. My god. we were all up, showered and ready to go… back to bed…
  • shared a NZ$1 phad thai at 5.30am on the street (Kohsan Rd) with the leftover prostitutes, homeless and street cleaners. Bangkok is insane!
  • looking out the window on the bus driving down the highway – see a body under a sheet and blood & guts sprayed everywhere.
  • after 9 hours on the bus we get a quick ferry trip to the island of Koh Phangan, our New Years spot.
  • a plunge in the pool, cocktails poolside, dinner at the local food market.

Phad Thai at 5.30am on Kohsan Rd

 Day 3 – Wed 30th Dec

  • exhausted from all the non-stop travel, so spend a day by the pool and at the beach of our resort. B52 Beach Resort. stunning!
  • met a couple of cute UK boys at our resort.
  • had an amazing Mexican dinner – Tequila lime shrimp – delicious & hot!!
  • headed to Shane & Dale’s resort for cocktails served in fruit.

cocktails!

 Day 4 – Thurs 31st Dec – NEW YEARS EVE!

  • had a chill day at the beach with a bit of shopping and hit up the food market again in preparation of the big party
  • New Years Eve at Haadrin beach – Full Moon Party – over 50,000 people!!! AMAZING!
  • had my New Years kiss with a hot farmer from Canberra, Australia
  • in bed by 5.30am

New Years at Haadrin beach

Day 5 – Fri 1st January

  • woke up around midday, kept it very relaxed – swimming at the beach
  • bumped into the UK guys again, one decided to sing to me… (I’m actually sad we lost contact with them, they were good fun and the singing one was cute!)

our resort

Day 6 – Sat 2nd January

  • headed up north on motorbikes to check out other parts of the island; Koh Ma, Ao Chaloklum, Ao Haad Salad.
  • very hot day, did a bit of snorkelling at Haad Salad beach, not many fish & very cloudy water unfortunately – had been stormy.
  • Thai Green Prawn curry for dinner, yummy!

Haad Salad beach - stunning!

Day 7 – Sun 3rd January

  • early start again, 6am – leaving the island of Koh Phangan, back to the mainland.
  • ferry ride to Don Sak, then a bus to the middle of nowhere – we felt like refugees, on the bus, off the bus, all under a shelter waiting…
  • on another bus headed to Krabi, then taxi to our new destination of Ao Nang.

Ao Nang beach, with the longtail boats

And that’s week one. We are all finding our footing much more now, so much more climatised as well. I will upload all the photos to flickr when I get home, but for now they’re just on facebook.

It’s now day 10 and we are headed to Phuket! woohooo! I will update with another week post in a few days!