Travelling

After settling the bill, we had to move on. Leaving behind the totally 'wild' family, friends and the 5 adorable dogs of our homestay! We had a great Christmas in their company and they certainly made it one to remember.

A car, a jeepney, a bus, a ferry... oh, and another bus and a tricycle ride later we arrived back at Moalboal. This is our chosen spot to spend New Year.

On our journey we spotted another jeepney with a live pig strapped to the back! Plus, tonight there is a huge cockerel fight in the town as it is New Year but we are going to avoid that.

We had lunch in a small cafe before heading to the beach. The carol singers were out in force singing many songs for the New Year. Their repertoire included many Christmas songs too!

Apo Island

The dive boat was leaving at 8 am to take us to Apo Island. Darryl hurried to the bakery before we left to grab a couple of cakes for the journey. We left in the small black truck, packed full of dive equipment and headed to the boat.

The main boat's engine was having repairs made to the cooling system, so we hopped aboard a much smaller outrigger and headed out to sea. It was fairly choppy due to the wind and we got a little wet! The journey took approximately 45 minutes and the huge dark rock on the horizon gradually grew bigger and distinctly more like ... a tropical island paradise. Little nipa homes and coconut trees lined a small stretch of beach and it all looked very enticing!

The boat was moored to a buoy, we set up our dive gear and jumped in. Unfortunately Christine couldn't dive, so snorkelled and Darryl continued with the others in the group. The coral was stunningly beautiful and in pristine condition. The colours exquisite! Turtles were seen, a sea snake spotted and a wide variety of nudibranchs caught our attention. Fish everywhere! After the dive and a short rest, we headed back into the water for a second dive. Equally as rewarding as the first with various stone fish, scorpion fish and many other critters pointed out by the divemaster. A great dive in a lovely location.

We headed to the beach for lunch and a short stroll around the island. A number of people were cliff diving into the crystal clear water but one girl was a little scared. We watched in anticipation. Would she jump? Maybe, maybe not... she eventually plucked up the courage and in she went! We had a little look around the small local alleyways and then met back at the boat. We left Apo Island behind and headed back to Negros.

After the short journey back to our homestay in the truck we sat back and rested for a while before ... the birthday party of our homestay host started, in the garden! Freshly prepared food appeared from everywhere. There was a raw fish dish made from wahoo (a long thin super fast fish), homemade sausages and burgers, delicious spring rolls, fresh salad, mango. Basically a feast! The karaoke machine and its Filipino fans took centre stage until the special guests appeared! A Filipino samba band, with a variety of drums and a weird arrangement of plastic pipes and cow bells. They sounded fantastic and were accompanied by 3 fire dancers who were increbibly talented too. Wow, what a party! Everyone had a great time and didn't make it to bed until the early hours. What a day!

No hurries, no worries

We are beginning to settle into the daily Philippine routine...

Wake up
Breakfast
Beach
Lunch
Beach
Dinner
Party
Sleep Zzzzzzzzz

Boxing Day

Early to rise, ready for some Dauin diving! Darryl headed off to the small port area about 10 minutes drive to dive on the remains of an old pier. There were a few small fishermen's huts and one ship loading up in the port, but that was it! Looking out to sea you could see a plain, grey concrete block rising from the ocean about 50m away. That was where we were heading!

We got our dive equipment ready and walked in from the beach. The bottom was sand, scattered with various reminders of life assure ... rubbish! Out of the darkness appeared great pillars leading from the seabed to the surface. As we grew closer the color changed from a black, murky haze to a magnificent variety of reds, greens, blues,oranges, yellows and pinks! It was spectacular to see! Closer examination revealed the most magnificent variety of soft corals, sponge and marine life. We saw a number of beautiful nudibranchs, seahorses, frog fish but the highlight was a tiny flamboyant cuttle fish continually changing colour. Wow!

On returning to dry land, we took off our diving gear and jumped back in the truck to head home. Mistake ... we had to go backwards out of the parking spot and reverse gear didn't work. Out we got and pushed!

After a short rest we ate lunch at the market!. There was a nice selection of food on offer. We bought 2 different dishes to share for lunch and another 2 to take home for dinner!

In the afternoon we enjoyed snorkelling off the beach. We spotted 2 different types of moray eels hunting for their food and we saw many large garden eels in the sandy area.

A number of new families arrived this afternoon and some are staying at our homestay, others elsewhere in the village as ourd only has 2 rooms!

Chatting on the decking with the new arrivals provided the evening entertainment.

Christmas Day

We didn't see most people until the afternoon. They had wisely spent the morning sleeping after their late night! We however were up and out enjoying being by the beach and making the most of swimming in the clear warm water. There was a lot of divers out today and many locals were enjoying the beachside cafes (shacks).

The rest of the day was spent talking on the decking, with the odd interlude for food! Friends of the family popped in and sometimes stayed a while ...

Christmas Eve

It is Christmas Eve today. The first thing we did was head to the beach to spend some time with the fish! Snorkelling was great, the fish here in the Dauin marine sanctuary are huge! There are so many varieties that are different to the last reef in Moalboal. Dauin is fairly well known to the macro dive photgrapher (likes taking close ups) for the weird and wonderful creatures that live on the sandy areas. It is a great spot to see some of the more unusual tiny animals such as the flamboyant cuttle fish, pygmy seahorse and blue ringed octopus. Darryl managed to spot a seashorse and was of great interest to a remora (sucker fish), who followed him everywhere!

Whilst at the beach a local family were collecting coconuts. They had cut small steps into the tree to make the task of climbing to the top a little easier. As we walked past, the coconuts fell from the tree and made us jump! The family found this hilarious and gave us a coconut each as a Christmas present. How generous of them, the people here are so kind!

Lunch today was 'blood' with pork pieces. Mmm... tasty but very rich!

After Christine had finished adding the chocolate sprinkles to the the beautifully prepared trifle, we made our way to Christmas dinner. In the Philippines it is traditional to have this on 24th December. We were given the job of helping the children pass rice (a gift) to the carol singers from the balcony. The owners of the house had rigged a clever pulley system to deliver the rice in a light bucket! You pulled the rope and the bucket was sent down towards the front gate for the carol singers to take the rice. Very cool!

Dinner was an amazing mix of international cuisine that each person at the party had carefully prepared. From Hungarian goulash made by a German to home made chocolate coated marzipan, which was truly divine and Darryl's favourite! Other contributions included fresh prawns provided by the Thai chap whose family own a fish farm. Rice pudding was carefully prepared by a Norweign, fish and vegetable skewers by a Filipino lady and the most amazing caramel potatoes (Christine loved these!) and roast pork provided by the Danish. The list goes on.... caramel tart made by the Swiss, garlic peanuts by the French and it was all soooo good!

We had a special visit from huge rhino beetle and Santa Claus managed to find the time to drop by and deliver everyone a Christmas present. The kids and Christine were so excited! One of the little boys got a nice bike and we received a beautiful painting, painted by a Danish artist at the party.

Following dinner we walked back across the street and checked out the carol singing coming from the old Spanish village church. After fireworks on the beach the party continued on the decking back at our homestay, long into the night!

On the move

After enjoying our breakfast of sticky coconut rice and toast with coconut jam, we left our hostel to find a bank. We tried a lot of different banks but they all limited withdrawals for international cards to a fairly small amount. As we were heading to Dauin, with no ATM, we wanted to take out a little more so we didn't run out over Christmas ....

A jeepney was our cheapest transport option to get us to Dauin, so we found a brightly coloured one and jumped in the back. So did many other people and we were packed like sardines! 20 mins later we were dropped at the Dauin market.

After searching the beach, we found our homestay for the coming week. The family were so welcoming but just a little crazy! They really made us feel at home and invited us to their big Christmas party tomorrow. We wanted to contribute to the celebration so headed to the market to see what we could buy. We decided on trying to make a delicious trifle ... We found some of the ingredients we needed and improvised on others. We even found coconut flavour Jelly in a tiny store. To say it is coloured green is a huge understatement. This 'stuff' virtually glows in the dark and we dare not check the ingredients for 'E' numbers ...

In the centre of Dauin there is a Christmas tree competition. The local sports pitch is full of giant Christmas trees, all beautifully decorated in various lights and baubles. However, one is different! It stands about 10 metres tall and is decorated to look like a coral reef. It truly is amazing with different types of fish, crabs, seaweed, and has to be seen to be believed!

Tonight, we watched the local Dauin Christmas concert outside the 'town hall'. The first act was a male singer who sang beautifully in Tagalog and played his guitar. 2nd up was a young fellow who treated us to a song we knew, We Raise You Up, sang in English! Everyone stood for the national anthem before 5 banjo (not sure of the Filipino name) players took the stage. Following this various dance groups performed to 70's medleys but the highlight of the evening was the very funny take off, off Miss World called 'Queen of the World'. To cut a long story short, the final 4 contestants were all men, very much in touch with their feminine side. They each had to take centre stage and answer various questions that were designed to be hilarious. And they truly were!

Greetings

Over coffee this morning we caught a glimpse of the local paper. Unbelievable... a few days ago a small bomb went off in Dumaguete! We're glad we're about to head for the remote beaches in Dauin.... World peace seems a long way off!

Today we've had a good look around Dumaguete. Most places are open even though today is Sunday. The local security guards at the shopping centres and the retail staff are so friendly. They open the doors for you, smile genuinely and greet you with "Good Morning Sir / Ma"am!"

We enjoyed lunch at the 'mall' which was really good and a little different from the normal foods we find on the street. One store had a whole floor of Christmas decorations and Christmas trees in every colour! On the promenade we spotted some ladies sitting chatting in the shade. They had a tray of what looked like cakes for sale. They looked a little unusual, so we stopped and asked the ladies what they were and could we please buy some. "Not for sale" came the response and a detailed explanation of what they were followed. The lady then tried to give us half of her personal cakes for free! So generous but we couldn't possibly.... We did try a little and they turned out to be a divine mix of corn, peanuts and some kind of jelly! Mmmm

When it got dark we headed along to visit the Christmas House. We were not allowed inside as there was a private dinner party in the grounds, but we looked on through the fence. It was beautifully decorated with Christmas lights, Christmas trees, you name it, Christmas everything! It really was spectacular! The photo really doesn't do it justice....

Dumaguete

First thing this morning we left Panagsama beach and took a tricycle to Moalboal centre. Next, we caught the local bus to Bato and then the Maayo ferry to Tampi on Negros island. (Fact, the conductors who sell tickets keep the different denominations of notes neatly tucked between their fingers). Then, we caught a bus heading to Dumaguete that dropped us near our hostel! It took most of the morning to arrive and when we caught the bus to Dumaguete, we actually got the one coming from Cebu City which was riding on our the ferry! It was packed and sitting on a little stool in the isle of a brand new, big aircon bus, with free wifi seemed a little weird! At a little stall we bought some drinks. There wasn't a huge range so we settled for the globally recognisable 'Coca Cola'. It came in the classic style glass bottles. The shop keeper gets a deposit when he hands the bottles back so they don't like you to take them away. Instead they prefer to pour your coke into a clear little plastic bag and give you a straw!

Dumaguete seems nice. It's a busy little university town. Much more relaxed than Cebu City or Manila, which has some 'no go' areas. On the news yesterday, we saw that there had been a shooting at Terminal 3 Manila airport. That is where we arrived, yikes!

Walking along the promenade was enjoyable and some very old fire engines caught our attention. It turned out to be the main fire station, where the friendly fire crews were enjoying their Christmas party.

Whilst we were exploring, we came across the central market. It was packed with second hand clothes stalls. Most of the items came from overseas, USA, UK etc. The items were priced generally around 10 pesos for a shirt or trousers. Considering there are over 70 pesos to the pound, these were real cheap! We think the items could have been donated to the Philippines possibly by charities or sold to them by the people who buy clothes per kg back home ...

Later we headed to the promenade to find some food at the night market. There must have been 50 food stalls! Great we thought, we can try many a wonderful variety of different things. However, we were a little hasty in our excitement. Every single stall sold exactly the same.... processed squid balls on a stick or tempura! All 50 of them!

We have just received news that on Sunday in Thailand there will be a huge protest in Bangkok. They are predicting 2 - 3 million protesters aiming to gridlock the city! The protests have remained non violent but one of the newspapers in Bangkok talks of possible civil war! Why are we paying such close attention? We fly back to Bangkok early January... fingers crossed all will be resolved.

So easy ...

Today has been our last day in Moalboal but we have loved it so much we are coming back for New Year!

It has been great staying on the beach with access to the coral on our doorstep. Everyday we have seen so many different 'creatures' that live amongst the reef. Today we spotted some unusual fish ... half blue / half yellow, hiding amongst the coral. Oh, and a white nudibranch that we've never seen before anywhere!

We ate lunch at Gee Gee's place, the amazing Filipino cook. Today, we tried some lovely vegetable combination and egg plant. The egg plant is so good!

We tried a new lady's fair in the evening. She had on offer some weird looking pickled seaweed which we tried. It was quite nice but the texture a little unusual. We followed this with 'halo halo', a local dessert made with crushed ice, mixed fruit, jelly, cornflakes and evaporated milk. Just in case it's not sweet enough, it is sprinkled with sugar. Mmmm.

We need to pack our bags for the first time in a while. Can Christine fit in her new .... 'glow in the dark' flip flops? Such dilemmas. Tomorrow we head to Negros, the next island of the Visayas. That'll be 2 out of the 7000 we have visited. Only 6998 to go!

As we are on the move and just in case we have no internet access over the next few days...

Merry Christmas to everyone from us!

Paid up

Last night, Darryl woke up about 1 o'clock a little startled and asked for the torch so he could look around. He was a little cagey but eventually told all! He was woken up by a huge cockroach crawling across his face, so he flicked it off and wanted to look for it with the torch! No idea how it crawled under the mosquito net but Darryl said there was a strong oily/fishy smell for the rest of the night....possibly left behind by the creepy critter. Cockroaches get everywhere, our room is nice and spotlessly clean!

This morning we settled the dive bill with the dive centre, who were excellent! We are coming back to Moalboal so will use them again for sure. Really nice people.

Darryl snorkelled by himself today whilst Christine sat in the shade reading her book. The water was incredibly warm today, like a bath, wonderful! One unusual red and white fish that was spotted today, turned out to be a juvenile from the wrasse family. Really incredible colours! There were 2 huge Cowrie shells too and a black and green nudibranch.

We ate lunch at a local cafe, more like a house, which has become our favourite. The lady who owns it cooks fresh Filipino food everyday for us to try. We've had fish, many kinds of fresh vegetables, delicious pork and soups. She usually sells out before lunchtime and shuts shop, so we now get her to 'stash' a few bowls away in her cupboard for us!

In the evening we enjoyed a BBQ with pork coated in delicious sauce. And...we were treated to real carol singers tonight with instruments whilst we ate. Great!

Turtles everywhere!

We joined the dive boat today to head to the dive site named Tonga. Although we were only snorkelling we were lucky enough to see 4 turtles! One was so close and didn't flinch as we drifted on by. Christine is the chief spotter and is really good at finding unusual things. Today she spotted in amongst the rocks a highly venomous sea snake! Luckily, they have tiny little mouths so would struggle to bite us! Often they are really inquisitive and love to get up close to people, but this one stayed his distance. We saw a number of graceful lion fish too, which are really beautiful, but get too close and their spines give a nasty sting!

After dinner we spent the rest of the evening in the internet cafe, uploading photos and chatting to the lovely lady running it. So, take a peek at Asia 3...

Pescador Island

Alarm clock woke us up .... again! Today is diving day. We are off on a dive boat to Pescador Island. It is a little, uninhibited island in the middle of the ocean!

We got our equipment ready, jumped on the boat and off we went.Christine was the first in the water. All keen and raring to go! Unfortunately she had problems clearing her ears, which is common in diving and had to snorkel this time instead. Darryl continued with the rest of the group and saw some wonderful things. Big emperor angel fish, scorpion fish and gigantic hard corals.

We both snorkelled the other side of the island together whilst the divers were off for their second dive. We could see their bubbles rising from the depths but not them, as they were to deep.

Back on dry land, we were serenaded by the local children with beautifully sung Christmas carols. They know quite a lot of the words to We Wish You A Merry Christmas and Jingle Bells! Darryl joined in for the chorus. Christine thought she'd frighten the little children too much, so refrained from joining in and gave them each a coin!

On the high seas

This morning it wasn't the local cockerels that woke us up, nor the call to prayer but our old friend - the alarm clock! We were going to see if we could get ourselves on a dive boat heading for Pescador Island for a spot of diving....

Unfortunately, our chosen dive shop wasn't diving at the island today but heading to 2 other spots named Umberella and Dolphin House. We decided not to dive but joined the dive trip as snorkellers! Both reefs were wonderful and we saw lots of new things. There was a number of colourful nudibranchs which were hard to spot and a bright yellow box fish which stood out a mile.

In the evening we treated ourselves to Pizza at a restaurant on the beach which overlooked the crystal clear water. It was a beautiful setting and a great pizza :-)

Loving every minute

We woke up late after a busy night trying to book flights!

First, we nipped out to buy our lunch from the local kiosk before taking the plunge at the beach. Today we walked a little further to try snorkelling in a different spot.

Once again we saw some wonderful things and this time, it was the 2 beautiful lion fish which really caught our attention.

In the evening we were told a local bar was holding its 10th anniversary party and everyone was invited. We went along and sure enough, there was a great party. All food and drinks were free! They even had a whole roast pig, which was delicous. A live band played reggae into the night!

So spoilt

Today we headed out to the reef again, this time to try snorkelling in a slightly different spot.

The coral is really in pristine condition, even though the local boats anchor on it at night. We saw a lot of different species of fish today. Some beautiful pink anthias and a spotted moray eel leaving his hole. Oh, and of course a couple of elegant turtles!

The whole place is teeming with marine life and it's really wonderful to see. Many reefs are bleached which happens when the water temperature rises and the coral dies, leaving behind the white limestone skeleton (global warming?) We haven't seen any Crown of Thorns starfish which is great news, as they can devour a reef in no time! And, from what we've witnessed there has been no dynamite fishing that blows the reef apart. The locals are fishing using hand lines to catch the sardines one at a time, which is perfect! We were thinking of going to try and catch a glimpse of the largest fish in the sea, the whaleshark at Oslob. However, they attract the sharks by feeding them, which we totally disagree with! They also allow scuba diving with the sharks which is rightfully banned in other countries due to the noise and irritation of the bubbles on the sharks. They should STOP!

Simply beautiful

Today was our first 'real' day at Moalboal. Well rested, we woke up and headed for the beach! The beach is not world class with plenty of rocks to clamber on. However the snorkelling is AMAZING!

Our room is on the beach, so accessing the reef is really easy. Snorkels on and we headed in! The coral is so beautiful. There is every kind on dispay here and it is in great condition unlike in many other places! Schools of sardines hung around the reef in their millions, often parting when a predator came along and then darting back together. We saw many different types of fish, from clown fish to parrot fish. The colours sensational! We also spent some time swimming along with a couple of turtles which was wonderful. They are so graceful, not a care in the world. Snorkelling here is world class and we can't wait to dive Pescador Island, a short boat trip away.

We watched the sunset at the beach before heading home...

Travel

Our flight to the Manila in the Philippines was only half an hour late. However, we then had to wait about 5 hours to connect to another island, Cebu in the Visayas.

The flight to Cebu came and went. We arrived, grabbed a taxi and headed across Cebu City to the southern bus station. The taxi ride was really far but so cheap compared to Bournemouth!

We immediately caught the next bus leaving for the tiny village by the sea,Moalboal. We were getting fairly tired from travelling and hungry too!

Luckily, a man got on the bus selling his freshly made ... Dunkin' Donuts! We couldn't resist and a bag was purchased! Darryl enjoyed them, whilst watching English movies on the bus. Whilst Christine pretty much slept the whole journey!

The bus driving had intensified and we were glad to arrive. A food stop was calling and we enjoyed a local Philippine dish, as we needed the energy. Next, we caught a tricycle (tuk tuk) to the beach. Moalboal has one of the top dive sites in the Philippines, even the world, and we are itching to explore this underwater world!

Last day in Thailand

We checked out of the hotel then spent the day slowly heading to the bus stop for the airports. We explored the shopping centres and many small local restautants before we arrived at the bus... We found one shop that was a little 'unusual' for Thailand, so took a picture!

Finding out information about the bus was easy, however somehow we didn't discover the whole story! The bus stop we'd walked to, charged double but the bus stop the other side of town charged only half of the price. No logic, they are both the same bus company, they are both the same distance from Bangkok!

We got an early bus to get us to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

Tomorrow...The Philippines!

Koh Lan

After a little 'lie-in' and time spent washing our clothes, we headed to Koh Lan. It is a little island off the coast of Pattaya. We were expecting no tropical paradise as it is used by people on weekend breaks from Bangkok. Oh, and masses of package tourists too!

We joined the crowds and found some of the lasts seats on the boat. It was a very comfortable journey to Koh Lan and really nice to be out on the sea again. When we arrived, we were met by hoards of motorcycle taxis ready to ship us off to the beaches with the other tourists. We ignored their banter and headed in the opposite direction to everyone else. We figured that would be the only way to avoid the masses of deck chairs, numerous noisey jet skis and speeding parascending boats!

We found a quiet spot with no one around and settled down under a shady tree. The beach wasn't perfect but we had it pretty much to ourselves. It had a few rocks to swim around with our snorkels and there were a number of different fish. About 10 metres from the shore, on the bottom, was rubbish that didn't float and plenty of it! Over to the far side of the beach was all of the debris from the sea that had washed up on shore. Plastic bags, bottles, polystyrene and many other items! It's certainly not the first time we've seen an area decimated by 'plastic' that has been irresponsibly disguarded and we're sure it won't be the last.

Please try not to use plastic bags, use the bags for life. Please try to refill plastic bottles or recycle them. Please encourage the use of recyclable fast food containers, etc, etc, etc...

In England we are encouraged to be responsible and care about our environment. Unfortunately, with our own eyes we are witnessing the damage caused to these once beautiful places by lack of education, understanding and greed!

Beach

We woke up, got our things packed and headed straight for the train. We are off to the beach for a few days!

The nearest beach is Pattaya about 2 hours drive from Bangkok. We however, took the train which took 4 hours! But, it cost less than half at around 60p. The journey passed through some nice rural areas with plenty to see.

When we arrived we searched for a cheap hotel. Each place we asked was at least 4 times what we had paid in the rest of Thailand! Eventually we found a reasonably priced and clean place, but it took 2 hours of trudging the back streets. The whole area is bars, hotels,restaurants and souvenir shops to relieve the tourists of their cash. Construction continues ...

There are loads of tourists from Russia, loads of tourists from China, many British and a few Thais in Pattaya! It is an 'interesting' place that many package tourists visit. Even the Thais we have met behave very differently towards us. The friendly 'land of smiles' image the Thai people are well known for certainly didn't originate here. Of course, this is a rather sweeping statement and many are still wonderful, we just haven't met them.

We weaved our way from the hotel to the beach through the tiny lanes and we both commented, 'we'll never find our way back!'

Darryl decided to have his hair cut. We found a cheap barber in the centre. It all started fairly well but after the 'unwanted hair washing' afterwards, too fast to really prevent, and, the attempt at ear cleaning which was easier to prevent, the price doubled to an unrealistic and undeserved amount! Darryl refused to pay for the uninvited add-ons. However Christine noticed the man before us parted with at least 4 times his original amount! Scam lesson 1, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. From what we have seen of Pattaya so far , this 'scamming' seems fairly common practice, unseen in the other beautiful parts of Thailand we have visited.

We checked out Walking Street which was a total contrast to the one in Sangkhlaburi. Sangkhlaburi was a truly wonderful experience, Pattaya was, let's say, rather different and packed with tourist groups following tour guide flags.

We headed home thinking to ourselves that if you visited on a short holiday here, you would not have seen any of the wonders of Thailand but only every disadvantage that mass tourism appears to bring!

Our journey home continued and we asked directions many times, each time pointed in a different direction. It seemed no one really knew where the hotel was. We had the address of the hotel on a card and even a small map, but do you think we could find it in the dark!

A little later than expected we arrived at the hotel after a fun but 'different to the usual', day.

Walking tour

We spent the day in Bangkok on a walking tour devised by ourselves. We left the hotel and headed to China town. Many colourful temples, but we just missed a Chinese show at one of them. The costumes looked great! We followed the route of the river so we wouldn't get too lost. We stumbled across a huge flower market, with many different types and beautiful arrangements.

We continued near Wat Po and the Grand Palace before heading to Democracy Monument, passing hundreds of little nik nak stalls. Democracy Monument was full of people selling whistles, Thai flags and anti Government t-shirts. There was still a few protesters around, but tomorrow it may be a very different story! The backpacker hangout, Kao San Road was our next stop. It was full of market stalls selling clothes, cheap'ish' guesthouses and restaurants.

The journey back was made via the fast river ferry. Today, it wasn't too fast as it was really heavily packed with people, slowing it down a little. When we got off we caught the Skytrain (a metro system above the roads) to the area of Siam, packed with shopping centres. The Christmas decorations are stunning! A quick look around before we put our feet up to eat and listen to the live music outside. There were 2 great singers on the Singha stage, that kept us transfixed!

It was getting late now and we were flagging a little. Only one more place to see. Tonight in Lumphini Park there was a street show. 10 stages scattered all over the park, each with a different variety of street acts. As we had arrived fairly late, we only had time to watch a street puppetry performance. It was really good. We didn't understand all of it, but it involved an elephant made from a sheet, which was really clever!

A long day, but we experienced so many parts of Bangkok often not seen by the masses and we really enjoyed it.

Early risers

The train to Bangkok from Nam Tok left early so we were up at 4.15. We had to walk 20 mins to the station past the sleeping stray dogs. They were not sleeping for long! Each dog woke to bark, which woke the next...

The train journey was rather pleasant, through picturesque countryside. Overall, we were on the train for about 5 hours. In the beginning the wind through the open windows was c..c..cold but as the sun rose, it soon warmed up.

We arrived at Thon Buri and tried our luck with Bangkok bus 157. It skirted across the city from one side to the next. Of course it took forever as the traffic in Banglok hardly moves, due to congestion! But, it got us all the way to Chatacuk Weekend market, one of the largest in the world!

There were no hotels in the area, so we had to change our plans. There was a huge shopping centre next to the market, so we left our bags with the security guard at the supermarket. Now, we could explore the market, unhindered! It was huge. You could buy everything and anything. Signs helped you navigate the labyrinth of alleyways. Christine's eyes lit up at every clothes store...

After collecting our bags we caught the metro to Sukhumvit to try to find a place to sleep. Wow, there were huge hotel chains which cost a lot. There were small seedy looking hotels which cost at least 4 times what we were used to paying in the country! We jumped back on the metro to a different area.

We eventually found a room for a good price in Hualampong, near the main train station. We ventured out to eat, then collapsed in our bed after a long but adventurous day!

Hellfire Pass

After coffee, we caught the bus towards Sangkhlaburi. This time we were getting off at the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum.

The museum tells the somber story of the WWII prisoners of war and the Asian labourers, who built the railway between Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand. The name 'Hellfire Pass' comes from the fires lit while the men worked.

The pain and suffering of the soldiers is truly beyond comprehension. The museum has a 4km walk along the original rail bed, where you get to see various cuttings through solid rock. The cuttings were manually cut with hammers and drill bits, allowing the train to pass through. You also get to see various sites where bridges were built, using only materials from the jungle. And, the craters where bombs were dropped by Allied forces.

The whole experience was one we shall never forget and we learnt so much. For example; The British engineers, who surveyed the area before the war, predicted 6 years were required to build the railway. The actual railway was built in 15 months!

This really highlighted to us the terrible conditions the prisoners must have been forced to work under. Working 16 hours a day, a little rice to eat, every tropical disease going; malaria, cholera, dysentry... horrendous beatings by the Japanese! About half the workforce died, thousand upon thousands of men.

The photos, drawings and videos showing the men suffering terribly from malnutrition were haunting. The descriptions of the tropical ulsers the men suffered, harrowing.

Whilst we walked the rail bed, we listened to the audio guide provided. It explained everything so well and with such dignity. An amazing, though upsetting day for us ... but one we shall remember.

There was a poem written by a doctor, who was also a POW. The poem was entitled 'Mates' and talked of how you can get through anything as long as your mate is beside you. A mate was all these men had to keep them alive ...

King's birthday

Darryl woke up fairly early so headed to the hotel reception for a cup of coffee. He got talking to 2 friendly Thai people eating their breakfast. They very kindly asked him to join them. It turns out that they were from Bangkok and having a golfing holiday. Darryl asked lots of questions about the king's birthday celebrations as it was on TV in the room. The man spoke great English and had travelled all over Europe, been to university in America and had dinner with the king several times, the world's longest surving monach! He was possibly one of Thailand's top doctors and a really friendly man! You never know who you might be sharing toast and peanut butter with! Whilst we were talking, the owner of the hotel turned up dressed in an immaculate white Government uniform for the celebrations. She looked really smart!

Eventually rather later than scheduled, we left town and headed for Hellfire Pass. The famous cutting through the mountain built by the prisoners of war for the railway to run from Burma. We called, what we thought was the office, to make sure it was open. But, although they said it probably was - it was closed for the king's birthday celebrations.

We waited for the bus which is every hour and jumped on to the next town of Nam Tok. Quickly found a place to stay and headed to a local waterfall. Nam Tok means waterfall and there are many nearby! We both ventured into the cool water and joined the Thai people enjoying the national holiday and bus loads of Russian tourists! It was really interesting watching the Russian tourists pose and pout for every photo. Something very culturally different from English people. The Thai people often entered the water fully clothed and often in their yellow (King's colour) t-shirt they were wearing for the celebrations.

In the evening we enjoyed our meal with an incredible view of the mountains. We watched a fireworks display, from a distance and many Chinese Lanterns launched into the night!

Hindad Hot Springs

There appears to be a truce in Bangkok. No protest news today!

We caught the big, red local bus towards Kanchanaburi. We weren't sure if the driver went so slowly because he was 'super chilled out' or the bus could not go any faster! When we arrived at our destination the driver gave us a nod. We had arrived at the hot springs the lady at the hotel had told us about. It wasn't mentioned in our guide book so as it's a weekday we expected the pools to ourselves! As we walked 200m to the pool a dog decided to follow us, rather too closely. We couldn't tell what he was trying to do. Was he trying to bite our ankles? Usually the dogs are either really sleepy and open one eye as you pass or growl and act aggressively to protect their territory! Not this one, he eventually backed off.

As we arrived at the springs, so did coach after coach of tourists. Hundreds of them. The little pools were almost full to bursting! A lovely area, next to the river totally transformed from ultimate tranquility to a monster maul! Luckily, their time there was short before their tour left and the springs returned to a shady, relaxing spot amongst the trees!

We had several dips in the very hot pool followed by wonderfully refreshing dips in the ice cold river, that flowed by. To rehydrate ourselves afterwards we shared a huge, chilled coconut full of delicious coconut milk. Walking back to the bus stop we picked up a bottle of water for the journey and guess who we met in the shop? The same dog again! It turns out he was the owner's dog, really friendly and just wanted to lick us ... a lot!

The bus 'home' drove rather faster and got us back in no time! We picked up a few goodies from the market and then ... relaxed a little bit more.

We climbed to the top of the hill to visit a temple and enjoy the views, which were spectacular. We watched the sunset and then started descending the steps steps home. At 6 o'clock another, lower temple range it's bells. It must have been a cleverly remembered sign for every stray dog in the area (literally hundreds). At the top of their voices, they all howled along with the sound of the bells! The sound was incredible...

Kicked out!

We saw the daily telegraph pictures this morning showing increased violence in Bangkok. We also saw that it featured as the main story on Channel 4 news last night. Glad we're not in Bangkok!

We had a nice relaxing day planned for today. A quiet walk first thing to the river for a coffee. Then a swim and a spot of reading in the shade...

However, when we tried to extend our hotel stay, we were told our room was booked out for the night. The hotel was full! We tried a few more places, also full! We had 2 options to stay.

1) A sweet little old lady had a room she rented out.

2) Rent a tent in the garden of a local homestay.

We deliberated for a while but decided to leave town as we'd done all of the things we wanted to do! As we made our decision and started to walk to the bus stop, which was quite far, a big 4WD pickup pulled up. Inside was a nice friendly villager who offered us a lift to the bus stop. We jumped in the back of the pick up and off we went. So kind!

The mini-bus left almost immediately to take us toThong Pha Phum. The journey went real quick (Zzzzz)...and we found a hotel across the street from the bus stop. We dropped our bags and headed out to see what we could find. There was a temple on the top of a hill, really high up. So, we headed that way to see if we could visit tomorrow. The journey took us across a fast flowing river on a cool suspension bridge! A little wobbly but great. It started getting dark so we headed back and we'll set off earlier tomorrow and try to make it to the top.

We spent the rest of the evening eating! It was great food, chicken noodle soup, tom yam soup and chocolate doughnuts!

There seems to be no western tourists here and everyone is really friendly! In the hotel we were using our phones to research on the Internet when the owner's son (age 30 ish) came to sit with us. He couldn't speak English and was mesmorised by the phones. He kept taking them from us, mid task and having a little go at swiping the screen. When he realised they had cameras we both had to have our photos taken with him several times! Great fun!

5.30am polishing shoes!

The army were up really early polishing their shoes and buckles ready for the important day ahead. They welcomed us in to share their breakfast by the river. They really took care of us! After eating with the army, the police then insisted we ate with them too!

The villagers started to arrive in their brightly coloured Karen dress. They were all magnificently turned out and all the children looked immaculate in their school uniforms. We are sure there were more soldiers and police present than villagers.

The princess has a Trust which donates to 200 border police schools and there is a rolling programme for her to visit different schools each year. Today she was due to visit 3 schools.

The princess was due at this village at 10am, so we all sat under a large canopy to wait for her arrival. We waited, and waited... about 2 hours later she arrives. She was ushered quickly to a room at the back to have lunch. We were all then excused to have lunch too! Once again we were invited to share with the army and police, which was so amazing!

After we had eaten we all returned to our spots and the princess had a tour of the school. She was given a number of gifts by the different groups that she sponsored in the village. A truly incredible, once in a lifetime experience! The princess left in a huge convoy of 4WD security vehicles which took her back to her helicopter. Soon after we were all allowed to leave too, so we began walking out of the village with the locals. We were offered a lift by a huge 4WD Toyota open back pickup and we had to stand in the back! It was an amazing journey out of the jungle. Along the steep muddy tracks, ducking under trees and through a pretty deep stream! Wow, a real adventure in an amazing vehicle! When the road improved we transferred to a mini bus and some very kind people gave us a lift back to Sangkhlaburi.

The latest, as far as we know, from the protests in Bangkok. The protesters are trying to break into Government House using a fire engine, a dustbin lorry and JCB, so far unsuccessfully. A lot of tear gas and water cannons have been used but the protests continue.

Friendly frog

Why does a room by the lake always attract visitors? Woke this morning to find a big fat frog in our room! After a couple of attempts to remove the frog, and him hopping back in, we decided to let him stay as long as he stays quiet! Splitting the price of the room 3 ways should to be good for the budget!

An early start at first light, saw us head off to a Mon village across a newly constructed bamboo bridge. The old wooden bridge, the longest in Thailand and an attraction in itself had collapsed. So, the bamboo bridge was built beside it. Both bridges were amazing and so interesting to see as they emerged through the morning mist.

After cautiously crossing the bridge we arrived at the Mon market. One of the first things we noticed was that each of the Mon people had their face painted with what looked like pale white powder. The Mon people are a Burmese tribe who have settled just over the border in Thailand.

We stopped for a local coffee, which was very strong, before heading back down to the lake to negotiate a longtail boat to the sunken temple. After trying a few drivers the price slowly dropped and we jumped in. Off we went about 10 metres before coming to an abrupt stop. Not sure why but after a few minutes we were off again at full throttle across the lake. It was a wonderful journey, skimming across the water! The temple was well below the surface with just the top visible. As the dry season really takes hold, the water level drops and more of the temple appears.

Once back on dry land, we continued our visit to the village and the Mon temples. Both really great!

After a little rest and to hide from the midday heat, we headed into town. On the way we met an Australian who was trying to get together a group to visit the Karen village (another Burmese tribe in Thailand) in the jungle because the princess of Thailand was going to be there tomorrow. If we wanted to go we had to be ready in the next hour!

We met at his homestay in an hour, where we joined up with a French man and American lady for the trip! Off we all went in a huge 4WD into the jungle. The road was bad. Thick mud most of the way and really hilly, we were sliding all over the place. Eventually we came to a stream. It was fairly deep, so the decision was made that we would walk from here. We crossed a rickety old bridge and followed the road, soon arriving in the village. But, it was dark! Our driver arranged for us to sleep in the village temple. When we went in we discovered we would be sharing with the army who were also there for the royal visit.

We strolled around the village with headtorches and were invited to eat by the army. We had the most delicious food and the cooks wouldn't accept a penny in payment.

After dinner we slept on the wooden floor in temple. What an adventure!