Cousins Reunited

Singapore Part 2

On Friday, while Mel was at work I ventured down Orchard Road the main shopping area in Singapore. It was great....they had an M&S (wow I sound like my mum) but it was great to by some new underwear after not having any for 6 months, and that actually fits, rather than everything that's in size skinny only for Thai people. 

At lunchtime my cousin Emily and her friend Lou arrived in Singapore. The last time I saw them was a month ago when they came to visit in Bangkok before island hopping. We chilled in the afternoon and then put our dresses on to head to Raffles Long Bar the home to the original Singapore Sling. This was in Raffles Hotel, which is a very old famous hotel in Singapore. It was the best cocktail I've ever had! Very yummy indeed. 

It was then time to be reunited with another cousin Michelle, who lives in Singapore with her fiancée Andrew. They took us for drinks along the river where Mel joined us too after work followed by a lovely meal. We all chatted and gossiped and caught up on lots of stories. The evening was filled with delicious food and awesome company. Emily and Lou were staying at Michelle's apartment, so we finished the night off with one drink at their's, it was also lovely to see their gorgeous apartment. 

The next day was my last morning in Singapore, so as Mel had to get up early for work I joined her to fit in one last bit of sightseeing. Obviously not before I'd taken full advantage of the three course meal for breakfast. I then headed over to the Botanic gardens for a stroll. Unfortunately it has not rained in Singapore for a long time (although I hear its now rained since I left) so the gardens were very dry, but they were still beautiful and peaceful. There were families out for the day having picnics along side runners and groups doing yoga. I also stumbled across a large pond with terrapins, which I love so stopped and stared for a while. It was then time to catch my flight back to Bangkok so I had to leave the tranquil gardens for the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. 

With Love from Singapore xxx

Singapore Slinging

Singapore Part 1

My sister, Bexs has a best friend called Mel, who is joining us on the Watts family holiday when Mum, Dad and Bexs are coming to visit Thailand next week. As a thank you Mel invited me to join her in Singapore for a few days as she was on business there, and what an amazing few days it was!!!

We stayed in the gorgeous Regent hotel by Orchard Road, for the four days I was in heaven and spoilt rotten. I think the best way to make you see what a nice hotel it was is to say there was a Ferrari constantly parked outside. I can now see why paying more than £10 a night for accommodation can be worth it and if I had the money I totally would every time! For four days I was like an excitable puppy when they meet new people, the room was delightful, little things like complementary shampoo made me jump in the air with joy. I was in luxury for once instead of a room with ants.....there was certainly no bugs in this hotel.

Mel and I arrived and were reunited on Wednesday at the airport. After settling in to the hotel, we went to the lounge to have cheese and Gin and Tonics.....I was in heaven again. Cheese is hard to come by in Asia and then it is at a price if you find it. Then it was time for the night Safari at Singapore Zoo. Sorry for the lack of photo's but animals don't like flashes so did not show up on the camera. We saw loads of cute animals including wallabies, elephants, massive bats and lions, it was great.

The next day Mel had to work, so after a full English breakfast (they had Dijon mustard too!!!!) I went off to explore the city for the day. I caught the bus down to the bay front to go to the Gardens by the Bay. They are a beautiful collection of gardens and it was lovely to wander round looking at all the plants. There were also two domes to explore and a sky walk on a canopy from some trees. I spent most of day there absorbing nature and the views from the sky walk.

On the way back to the hotel I stopped at Maine Bay Sands Hotel, and extraordinary landmark in Singapore on the bay front. On the top of the three towers is an infinity pool and places to sunbathe, unfortunately only residents of the hotel can use these facilities. However there is also a Skypark, of which I think you have to pay to get in to but I managed to sneak up unnoticed, to see the magnificent view at the top.

That evening we met up with one of Mel's old school friends Mike and his girlfriend Georgie. They took us to an awesome Dim Sum restaurant, were we stuffed our faces with delicious food. this was followed by a trip back to Maine Bay Sands for a cocktail at the bar at the top. The view was even more awesome at night.

With love from Singapore xxx

A Blissful Birthday!

So my time of teaching in Thailand has come to end. I have loved every second of teaching and can't wait to do it again in the future. But for now its on to a new adventure and to start some travelling for more than just a weekend. First stop - Koh Chang.

For five days Jess and I, shortly followed by Hanisha graced the island of Koh Chang which is south east of Bangkok about 6 hours by bus. I think it has to be my favourite island so far. The island is basically like a jungle with a beach surrounding it. It is far less busy and commercialised than the other islands, for example there was no MacDonalds and only a few 7/11 stores!! It was Bliss.

Jess and I arrived in the afternoon on Sunday to the bungalows of the Magic Garden which we had booked before arriving. At a first glance they were adorable little rustic bungalows in a jungle area, however they were not all they seemed. We are pretty good at roughing it in hostels, but we were not sure we could stay there the whole week. Number one, Hanisha was joining us in a couple of days and it was a tight enough squeeze with two of us and our stuff, there was no way we could get a third in the bed comfortably or on the tiny floor space on the air bed. Number two, there were ants, as you know we don't do well with giant ants, but these were tiny so we could bear it for a while, but when there are hundreds falling on you while you shower from the celling in the tiny bathroom we decided it wasn't great. Number three, the noise at night, either loud music or when this had stopped the scurry of rats in the woodwork. Number four, it was my birthday week and I wanted a little bit of luxury!

Jess and I braved it for one night and then found a gorgeous newly opened hostel near by and decided to move there, it even had a swimming pool. If you go to Koh Chang please stay in KLKL Hostel, the staff were lovely and it was clean and bug free.

After settling in to the new hostel it was time to hit the beach and work on our tans, well for Jess to work on hers, we all know I'm just white or red. And yes I started the day white, and despite sitting under an umbrella and wearing factor 50 sun cream I ended the day bright red, I think this photo proves my point. So much pain!!!

That night we decided to go check out the night life and see what Lonely Beach was all about. We'd been given a flyer during the day for a bar that had a free BBQ and cheap drinks. After several buckets, free beer, meeting some great people and a kebab (Well Jess may have had more than one....) the night ended in the two of us climbing over a barbed wire fence to get in to our hostel as the front entrance was closed and we were too drunk to work out where the alternative entrance was. The rest of the week pretty much consisted of this, beach chilling during the day and buckets and dancing during the night. The whole week was great. Hanisha arrived on Tuesday giving us even more reason to go out the next night. 

On Wednesday it was my birthday and the girls spoilt me rotten after opening some gorgeous presents and cards from the them and home, we went to the beach. As the clouds threatened we found a lovely beach side place to have a massage. I had an Aloe Vera one as the sunburn was still painful. We then got our nails done and the girls treated me to dinner! Delicious pesto pasta at an Italian restaurant, one of my all time favourite meals that I've not had since leaving the UK.

   

                  

It was a perfect day, but it was not over. We still had a fantastic evening full of cake, wine, prosecco, free buckets, the macarena on the bar, more free buckets and a kebab to finish off the night. 

                                             

                     

The whole week was awesome, our last night spent on the island was watching a beautiful sunset after another glorious day spent on the beach. It was then time to head back to Bangkok to go our separate ways. Jess and Hanisha headed off to Koh Tao while a few days later I flew to Singapore. It was time to say goodbye to our Canadian Princess as she left for Canada for a cousins wedding by the time I got back from Singapore. Throughout my time travelling out here I have met some amazing people and as you can tell by my blogs Jess joined me in many adventure along the way so will be extremely missed. However I know our paths will cross one day again soon, we both love travelling too much not to bump in to each other at some point!

 With Love from Thailand xxx

Kanchanaburi

Another weekend welcomes another adventure this time to the town of Kanchanaburi and the bridge over the River Kwai.

After work on Friday evening Jess, Jenny and I travelled to Kanchanaburi from Bangkok and met Hanisha and Lindsey. The hostel we had booked was rather interesting down a dark lane and looked like it had not seen a cleaner since it had opened many years ago. We were use to staying in pretty average places but we couldn't quite lower our standards to this place therefore we found another hostel to stay in near by. We then headed out for some dinner before having an early night.

On the Saturday we hired a Songtaew (the most common mode of transport for us recently - a pick up truck with seats in the back) to drive us to Erawan waterfalls. I've seen some beautiful waterfalls since being here but nothing can compare to how spectacular and majestic these falls were. We climbed up the 7 levels stopping to take photos along the way. From the 6th to the 7th level Jess, Lindsey and I took off our shoes and made a treacherous climb in the waterfall up to the top. They were beautiful all the way up and back down again. On the way down we stopped at one of the levels for a dip in the pool to cool off and climb underneath the falls (Lindsey has these photos so you will have to wait till they appear on Facebook)

It was now late in the afternoon so we rushed off to Hell Fire Pass and got there 5 mins before the museum closed so only had a quick look round, but then we walked along the pass too. For those of you who don't know what involvement Thailand had in WW2 I highly recommend you research it or watch the film Bridge over the River Kwai. I had no idea about the history because in school we were just taught about Europe. Japan pretty much had control over the whole of Asia and the POW from all counties they had captured along the way were made to build a railway to Burma to transport military equipment. The conditions these men and women had to work in were awful many dying from malaria, cholera, exhaustion and much more. Below is Hell Fire Pass which they had to dig through the rocks in the burning heat working for 18 hours a day with little food and water.

In the evening we headed out for a yummy dinner followed by a relaxing massage. Our bodies were aching after the trek up the waterfall. Jenny had been feeling ill all day so skipped the massage to hit the sack. We then returned to the hostel after the massage due to a call from Jenny saying our room had been invaded by giant killer ants. She had got the staff to come help her with the problem, but he just bum gunned them down in the bathroom and said Mai Pen Rai (the famous Thai saying of not a problem, its ok, don't worry) but they kept coming back. Now us girls are not that bad with creepy crawlies (apart from cockroaches) but the thought of ants the size of wasps crawling on us and biting us in our sleep was not great, especially as one of us was on an air bed on the floor! So after a massive language barrier and resistance we managed to get a new room to sleep in for the night.


After a not so peaceful night due to the noise from the party street our hostel was on, we got up and went for breakfast before walking to see "The Bridge" Although the train goes across the bridge you can still walk along the tracks over it. The day was filled with a lot of history and museums, which I loved being a history geek at heart and found it all fascinating.

We also went to the Thai-Burma Railway Centre which had even more information about what happened during the building of the railway. This was also next to the war cemetery where over 6000 victims are buried.

In the cemetery I found several Watts' and Warner's along with other friends names however I don't think any are related to me, maybe way back along the line somewhere.

With Love from Thailand xxx

Khao Yai

In Thailand a Buddhist national holiday happens to fall on Valentines day so we all got the day off school making it a long weekend. We took full advantage of this and ventured off in to the jungle.

On Friday morning Lindsey, Jess, Hanisha and I travelled a few hours north east out of Bangkok to Khao Yai National Park. We were picked up from the bus stop by a driver from our apartment. We stayed at Bobbies Apartment's which had a lovely friendly hostel feel to it and they were so welcoming. They also organised our one and a half day tour, so we headed straight off on the afternoon tour as soon as we got there. It was a relaxing afternoon stopping at a natural spring which we could swim in (although we felt rather naked in out bikini's compared to the Thai's swimming in t-shirts, oh well we are use to being stared at so no change!) The water was crystal clear and beautiful. The next stop was a Buddist Cave with a shrine in it where monks go to meditate. It was very random and we learnt a little bit from our tour guide about the monks which was interesting. the sun was then beginning to set so it was time to see the bats wake up from their sleep and fly out for the evening. Us girls were not overly excited to see the bats as we had already seen similar in Lopburi but this was something else there were millions and millions, I've never seen anything like it.

































That evening we chilled at the restaurant with people from our tour and who would be on our tour the next day. It was great chatting about everyone's past and future travel plans and getting to know people from countries all over the world.

The next day was an early start and after delicious pancakes we began the full day tour by driving in to the national park and stopping at a few view points along the way. This is where we saw are first signs of wildlife of a monkey high up munching on some fruit in a tree.

After stopping at the information centre and museum for a short time it was then time to start our trek into the jungle with our crazy, enthusiastic tour guide. He certainly made the day fantastic with his craziness and sense of humour. He found hornbills in the highest trees and tracked down several gibbons for us to see. He had an amazing telescope we could look through and he would take pictures through it as well. The gibbons were fascinating swinging from tree to tree and making the strangest of sounds. After several hours of trekking the jungle we circled round and came back to the pick up truck (our means of transport for the day, it did have seats in the back but meant we could see out at any point) for a bit of lunch.

In the afternoon we drove further in to the park and walked to see some beautiful waterfalls. The first one which we couldn't swim in features in the film "The Beach" where they jump off it. Our tour guide took us down a winding path off the beaten track to our own exclusive waterfall, where no one else was in sight. after a day full of walking in the sun it was blissful to cool off in the water.

It was then time to go in search of some wild elephants, there was only a small chance we would see them so we all anxiously peered out the truck in to the jungle hoping to get a glimpse. There were many tour groups on the same mission which was great as a few other trucks were stopped on the road watching one showing us he was there! It was hard to see through the think trees but every so often he poked his trunk out towards the road. Eventually when he thought the time was right and he found an exit he crossed the road to the other side. He was then in full sight for us to see. It was fantastic seeing a wild elephant so close up and in his own home. It was then time for us to head home. We quickly drove all the way to the top of the mountain to a view point. Unfortunately it was misty so there wasn't much to see but then headed back to the apartments for dinner and an early night as we were so exhausted from the jam packed but awesome day.

The next day I got up early and headed back to Bangkok as my cousin, Emily and her friend Lou were in town. I took them to explore JJ market and have some street food near my place. It was great catching up with them after their month round Asia and to hear all their travel stories. Next time we will be reunited is in Singapore in March, can't wait for the adventures to continue.

With love from Thailand xxx

How many accidents can we get in to one weekend?

It's Dave's birthday so a few of us (Dave, Tom, Faye, Hanisha and Lindsey) decide to head off to an Island a few hours south of Bangkok for the weekend. We arrived on Koh Sichang at about 11am on Saturday after an early start from Bangkok. The island is beautiful and tiny. It only took about ten minutes from one end to the other on a moped.

After settling in to our accommodation, of which was delightful as we had mini bungalows compared to the normal hostels we stay in, we went off to explore the island on the mopeds. At this point Hanisha and Lindsey are yet to arrive, so its just Tom and I on one moped and Dave and Faye on the other, the boys taking control with the driving while us girls just admired the view. And what a view it was......

We made are way across the island to a small beach, there were very few foreigners to be seen and those which were visiting were a little bit older than us, so we did attract some attention with our white skin (well myself and Dave's skin). For the majority of the day we sunbathed and chilled on the beach, the other girls then joined us later. We had a lot of fun going on a banana boat and being thrown in to sea head first hundreds of times. I lost count the amount of times Faye and I nearly lost our bikinis and gave the locals even more to stare at!

At about 5.30 we decided to head from the beach to a view point to watch the sunset. With three on each moped and the boys still driving we thought there would be no problem. The amount of times I've seen a whole Thai family, the dog and the months shopping on a moped it no longer surprises me. But maybe us English folk don't quite have the same balance.....Dave takes the first uphill corner with a little too much speed and with two unstable girls on the back topples over in front of a Thai audience. Don't worry mum, I chose wisely and went on Tom's bike with Lindsey all safe and sound! We rushed back to help them to find them a little shaken with a few cuts and bruises but no need for a trip to the hospital. A lucky escape.

Once the shaking from the accident had stopped we decided the evenings antics must go on!! About 4 drinks in to Dave's 24 drink challenge of the night we headed off to "Pan and David's" restaurant, recommended by a website, for a meal and more drinks the Thai way (order a bottle of alcohol and mixes) I'm not sure how to write about the whole evening.....but lets just say the effects of alcohol started to kick in and a hilarious evening unfolded. There were incidents involving cheesecake, limes and northern banter along with dancing at a Thai family gathering and being sung happy birthday too. When us girls, the slightly more sober ones of the group thought it was best we leave the restaurant we headed back to the bungalows to attempt some drinking games. Tom and my self's drunken attempt at teaching the others a game of flip cup was awful but not nearly as bad as Tom on his own trying to teach us a card game. Which he failed epically at even after looking the rules up online!

I think we lost count of how many drinks Tom and the Birthday boy managed to complete in their challenge but after reaching about 15 we all called it a night, the next day there were a few sore heads among the group. Therefore we decided to take it easy and didn't have breakfast till about 12, and then wandered down to one of the piers before we had to head home. Of course we can't forget the stop at 7/11 for some souvenirs....

We were all commenting on how it was lucky only a few of us had injuries from the weekend when I decided to adventure down some steps on the pier and slipped landing with a thud on my arse!! It was like something out of a cartoon so I was laughing hysterically and was gutted to find no one saw me slip so didn't join me in the moment, but just helped me up. That's 4 out of 6 with war wounds....oh wait make that 5. Moments later Tom was feeling hot so jumped off the pier in to the sea to cool down, while climbing back up he scraped his legs and elbow on the rocks. Just Lindsey survived!!

After an epic journey home and finding it nearly impossible to get a mini bus back to Bangkok we made it.

Remember how I said Lindsey didn't get hurt......we receive a message on Monday morning saying she's got a swollen eye like she had been punched. She has no idea how it happened!

With Love from Thailand xxx

P.s I promise to stay safe this weekend