Oasis

 A secret oasis awaited us...


I experienced a wonderful day on the back of a moped with Brett as we explored the island of Phuket. We rode past temples and monuments and navigated our way through the streets and soon became a custom to the Thai roadrules; riding through red lights and tight gaps when it was safe to do so. We rode to the Bangpae cascade waterfalls and trekked through the rocky trails to see the main waterfall. We took some photos then continued on further slightly off the beaten path.

It was rocky, steep and slippery in places so the majority of people stopped by the first fall and didn't venture further. We continued trekking and boy did it pay off as we found a hidden oasis! It was simply breathtaking. Lush jungle trees, rocks and waterfalls in our own secluded paradise! Brett and I immersed ourselves in the fresh water and i was overcome with the beauty of the place... well for about a minute then I had a miniature panic attack; what if i got bitten by a poisonous spider or bitten by a venemous snake out here where no knew we were... what if there were leeches or water bugs or mosquites with malaria? I had seen some crabs and what if one of them bit me, I'd have a blood wound and could catch a blood born disease! It was the most presitine place I had even been and i was stuck in a panic. Brett was trying to calm me and wanted to venture on, but I wouldn't let him leave my site... everyone knows in horror movies that's when things go wrong!! He stayed and i calmed down somewhat when he reassured me I was OK. I tried to put my rational/irrational thoughts behind and just enjoy the space we had for a while. After being in the water a little while and not being bitten or attacked or stung I really did start to relax. It was a tropical paradise and i was in heaven (the kind of heaven where you have to be cautious of dangerous things). We took some photos and relaxed then trekked on further to enjoy more of the surrounding environment. We came across a bunch of spiders and I had reached my limit, I was ready to trek back down and go back to the first waterfall. My body was on high alert but my mind wanted to just enjoy the place for what it was. I felt very lucky to be able to experience half the day in such a wonderful place. We hopped back on the bike and ventured into phuket town and went to a local market selling so many foreign and exotic foods. There were so many different smells it was overpowering. Brett and I bought a cup of steamed corn each as this was the only food that seemed relatively safe and we already having enough toilet problems! We also bought a fake engagement ring so that I could wear it on our tours through Europe without the need to worry about theives and the like. We then set our sights on Patong and had dinner at a table on the beach at a place called Sabai beach restaurant. It was wonderful. We watched tourists light lanterns on the beach and watched fireworks going off on the coastline. We walked along the beach then explored some of the Thai markets. It was such a wonderful day. Brett and i began to tire and bickered a little so headed for home, and got completely lost. It was the perfectly true end to a wonderful day. Nothing can ever be too perfect, we just needed to shake a bit of reality into one another!!

Happily Ever

One sprinkling of a cruise, a shot of a gun and two handfuls of loving = A tropical wedding! Two days ago Mel, the hen, and her chickens awoke early after some beauty sleep for a fun loving day on a river cruise. We kissed our beau's and left them to their day of go-karting, eating, drinking, games of pool and a hell of a tuk-tuk ridehome!


After travelling across the island in a minivan the girls were ready to enjoy the sparkling waters that Thailand is renown for. We set off on a lovely boat, licenced for 10 guests but carrying 14... we were in for the quite the day! The driver Gordon, whom we nicknamed captain, set off and took us through the light blue shimmery waters to an authentic fish market in the middle of the bay. It was quite the site; composed of two planks of wood nailed together next to each other, with these then nailed together in a grid like fashion it was like nothing i had ever seen, each square in the grid had fish nets holding the fish in. There was an array of seafood from fish, crabs, and lobsters to tropical fish for aquariums and sharks, it was quite the site! We were able to look around at the fisherman's home in the middle of the ocean and gained a little glimmer into the lives of a Thai fisherman. A basic way of living however captain did highlight that the fisherman was not struggling financially as his fish are sold off all over the island to resorts and markets and that he makes quite a decent living with one particular fish going for 20,000 baht ($800 approx) not too long ago. With two lobsters purchased and authentically cooked we hit the waters again and made our way down to the river. The river and fish markets had all been destroyed during the tsunami which killed around 10,000 Thai people. We reflected briefly as we were told about the new infrastructure around us, which had been lost.
Cruising down the river, the captain blew his whistle and within minutes we were looking at cute little monkey's in the trees. A few moments later and whilst I had turned to grab some bananas to feed them, the monkeys boarded the boat. I turned around and nearly leaped out of my skin as two monkey's were sitting next to me reaching over for the food. The other chickens from the hens day had already made their strategic jump backwards and out of the monkey's way and were well into laughing about it. I think i was still in shock and also thinking in my head 'please don't bite me, i don't want rabbis'! I laugh at how my mind works sometimes!! Before long several more had boarded and we were caught up in the mayhem of it all! Monkeys eating everything and even sipping some beer! Craziness! We then set off for some more cruising and the monkey's got off the boat and swam back to their families. The mother of the bride and i hit the kayak's and headed to land for more booze for the group of chicken's. Once back on board we continued cruising until deep water then jumped in ourselves for a bit of a swim. It was honestly a picture perfect moment. We boarded the boat and set off for our own patch of deserted island. We chatted and chilled in the water then came aboard for a smorgase board of food, seafood and Thai curries galore, it was amazing! As we were finishing up the food, the weather took a turn for the worse! 14 chilled out chicken's on a hens day turned into quite the site! Drown rats would be an understatement. We were soaked through with the rain coming in sideways! We ended up cutting the trip home short and i was thankful to be on dry land; the last 20 minutes on the boat seemed like hours!! Back on dry land we were safe and could finally laugh about being soaked! Before we got picked up Helen, Mel's mum, made a special attachment with a dog named bobby, who wanted to love her whole body sick! It was hilarious! After we got back from the hens day and bucks night, Brett and i piked on everyone and went to bed without dinner. I had a case of the good old 'chocked up tummy' and he had the opposite. Feeling worse for wear we slept it off which turned out to be a good thing as the day of the wedding was a busy one indeed!!

My Brett and i joined the boys and Sam, Brett's niece, and headed off to the shooting range in the morning before the wedding. I used a shot gun which just about threw me backwards a little bit. It was heavy and the blow to the shoulder a little unexpected. It was a rush of adrenaline that's for sure! The boys did an amazing job in terms if their accuracy. The first bloke to use the shot gun in the group was named Andy. He scared all of us with the massive bang! Only he was wearing 'protective' headphones and the rest of us were left jumping out of our skins with the massive blast. It was crazy. None of the guns were chained down or anything, it was a crazy free for all and i simply hoped that the other guests at the range had sane mental health and didn't turn around and go crazy!! We made it out alive and the groom Brett made it back in plenty of time for the big day.

The setting was perfect. Blue skies, crashing waves against the sand and a beautiful wedding marquee. It was so bella! Both groom and bride looked stunning and all the girls wept during the vows. It was magical. We all had photos with the baby wedding elephant and chatted and mingled until sunset when we made our way inside as it was starting to rain. Dinner was a beautiful seafood and Thai food buffet. Speeches were short and sweet and the night was just lovely. We were going to light lanterns but the winds were too intense so we ended the night at catch club which is attached to the resort the bride and groom were staying at and we had a little boogy at the 'disco tech'. The father of the bride boogied far to hard and ended the night with a foot broken in three places! What a night, and what a place! Brett and i ducked off a little early due to a case of tummy upset, which I'm sure who ever is reading this can imagine not being a comfortable experience. Poor Rachael, one of Mel's good friend's, missed the reception because of a bad tummy! It can't be helped in a place like this but boy does it mess you about a bit. I was the opposite of her though and couldn't go if you paid me so was in pure agony! I went back to the hotel and curled up in a ball and went to bed!

A lovely little inn, a night out and the mayhem that is thailand!

Welcome to my first blogg! I'm not really sure what a blogg is all about but i hope to share on this some of the craziness, happiness and adventure that is travel. I don't plan to hold back or pretend to be someone i'm not so take me or leave me for who i am and what i have experienced on my trip.

Brett and i arrived into Thailand two nights ago after an uncomfortable flight and 21 hour day. We survived, and after a nice big sleep we awoke refreshed and ready to explore the town of surin bay. We are staying at surin bay inn, a lovely little place with a laughable view! We met up with our friends mel and brett, who are to be married in two days and swam in their pool. We also met their awesome and wacky friend rachael! In the evening we went to patong and explored the insaness of bangla road!! we met up with more friends, mel and andy and went to enjoy a few cheeky beverages! Chilling at a bar, the intense smell of sewerage and incense sparked a flood of memories from last time i was here; a young, silly uni student drinking myself silly and not really appreciating thailand for anything except a party kingdom. Whilst at this bar, we got roped into playing connect 4 and poor brett and mel were the last one's to have a game so were sneakly sucked into a game of 'you win, we buy you a drink, we win, you buy us a drink'. Naturally the clever, sneaky thai women won and the group was 400 baht down (approx $13). We walked about looking for a karaoke bar to no avail, but did trek through dirty flood waters on a mission to sing! As the night progressed, and taking photos of random animals or ladyboys began to cost, we were soon apart of the pulsing western veins that ran through this thai street. Shining things, glowing things, flashing things and rude things were all offered to us. We sunk our morals and after drink after drink we eventually hit the infamous ping pong show... down a dirty lane and into a bar with girls displaying crazy little shows including eating candle wax and even laying an egg at one point, the reality of the sillyness of it all hit and we left feeling a little poorer in money and integrity. On the journey home we did a typical ozzie maccas run and the girls bellowed out the aladdin song "a whole new world" to the boys dismay! Oh we definately were crazy silly tourists in the craziest part of town!