The travel bug bites

The travel bug. Something you get out of your system once you've been travelling, right? Wrong. How can you ever shake off such an infectious disease?

I'm incredibly lucky. I've been to some amazing places - New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Bali, Thailand, Finland. I've seen some mind-blowing views and experienced some phemonenal things. But I've merely scratched the surface of what this world has to offer.

That's why I'm embracing my 'illness' and heading off on my next adventure at the end of the month... bring on Cambodia and Vietnam!

Diving and partying - Ko Samui & Koh Tao

So here it is, the end of the most incredible adventure of my life. Wow, has it been amazing! And the last five days have finished it off perfectly, on the beautiful islands of Koh Tao and Ko Samui.

It had been a good couple of weeks since I last had some proper beach time. So when we arrived on Ko Samui, I felt almost like I'd come home; back to the white sands and crystal clear waters I'd become accustomed to on my journey through the US, Mexico and Australia.

After a nice morning jog in Khao Sok, where rather hilariously I was joined by a mini pack of dogs (keep your puns to yourself), we headed in our open truck to the east coast. With a mad dash and a bit of grovelling to the terminal staff we jumped on the midday ferry just in the nick of time, with the only casualty being my beloved Havianas.

The unintended exercise was worth it, however, as we got to our resort in Ko Samui in plenty of time to soak up some sun, nearly drown in the sizeable waves and have a beer or two on the beach, watching the sun go down.

Throw in some nice food, a couple of massages, fire throwers, cocktails, a bit of Muai Thai, a lady boy show, pet monkeys, planking and some very dodgey looking rocks and that pretty much sums up our time in Ko Samui.

As you can imagine, it was a pretty fun couple of days, but as a more commercial island with little diving to be done, really Ko Samui - for me at least - was just the prelude to the paradise that is Koh Tao. 'Turtle island', as it's otherwise known (apparently due to its shape rather than an abundance of sea turtles) had all Ko Samui had to offer plus a whole load more. Our resort was nicer, the beach more paradise-like, the nightlife equally as crazy, and crucially there was plenty of scuba diving to be done!

In fact, it was my favourite diving of the whole trip. Despite the 6am starts, lack of whale sharks and an incident where one of the women couldn't equalise and we had to resurface, the warm calm water and dive sites just a few minutes boat ride from the shore are pretty tough to beat.

Huge shoals of barracuda, blue spotted stingray, stripy sea snakes, pink nemos (I've never seen them before), giant grouper, big napoleon fish, yellow box fish, moray eels, the list of sea life goes on. And I got to dive another shipwreck - always a bonus!

The only downside was on the second morning, first dive of the day when we descended 18m to the reef only to find a fishing net caught in the coral. The glassed over eyes of the ensnared fish in the net and the couple that continued to desperately squirm in a hopeless attempt to free themselves really was a harrowing site. And whilst I was determined not to let it ruin what was otherwise an incredible few days diving, it's clear the Thai government needs to do more to enforce no fishing over the protected reef as it's quite evidently continually being openly ignored. Otherwise, in a few years time there won't be any point diving as there won't be much to see. 

Okay, rant over. Koh Tao really is a fantastic place though and the last evening where I was reunited with my little 'Schatzchen' (or hunny to those that don't speak German), Denise from our northern Thailand tour, was my favourite night out to date.

A yummy dinner, nutella pancakes, delicious cocktails, buckets of vodka red bull, fire throwers, big rings of fire to leap through, late night swims - and all right on the beach, just a couple of minutes walk from our hotel room. Talk about going out with a bang - quite literally in my case as I fell (with some help) the 2 metres from the big pool to the shallow one. Oops.

Now following an evening in Chumphon, which was interesting in its own right, especially since support for the protesters was quite clear as people gathered en mass on the eve of the election to hear the protest leader's broadcast on a big screen, and our final sleeper train - I'm genuinely going to miss them - I find myself back in Bangkok. After some last minute souvenir buying, a massage and one final dip in the pool it will be time to say good bye to my incredible new friends, who I feel I have known much longer than I actually have, and head to the airport and home, where the real world awaits me *sigh*. Oh well, I can't complain. I have just had the best five months of my life after all.

Sawadee Ka Thailand, till next time.

Khao Sok National Park

I normally try to spread my blog posts out, but yesterday was such an action packed day I felt it deserved a post to itself.

After losing some members of our previous group and gaining five new ones (with some great street food, clubbing, swimming, sunbathing and a massage in between) we made our way over night from Bangkok, south. Arriving at 5am after a serious lack of sleep and a busy day ahead in Khao Sok National Park, I was dubious as to how it would turn out. But my reservations proved to be unfounded as I had one of my favourite days to date.

Our first stop was a local market, where our group 'CEO', Touch, showed us the local cuisine - different in many ways to northern food - and brought us some yummy breakfast pastry-type things.

We then headed to Ratchaprapha Dam to start our tour of Cheow Lan Lake, the beauty of which is indescribable. Jagged limestone cliffs, emerald green water, wildlife-rich rainforest and intriguing hidden caves.

After exploring the Pra Kay Pelch cave and finding the resident bats, we made our way past the various islands to a floating lodge to borrow kayaks, have a swim and eat lunch. After a good few hours taking in the scenery, we headed back to where we began our lake tour and ice cream in hand ventured on in our open-back truck to the monkey temple. 

Touch had promised we'd see monkeys and irrespective of the fact we'd already seen one on our tour of the lake we were still over-excited to find the monkeys were tempted down from the mountains by our stash of peanuts.

Some serious cuteness later and it was on to our accommodation for the night, sweet little bungalows and tree houses right on the edge of the national park. We had a nice, albeit somewhat reserved evening (only two vodkas with dinner) before a much-deserved early night.

Now it's on to the islands to conclude my adventure in the same fashion it began five months ago; on the beach and scuba diving. Bring it on.

Loving the simple life - Chiang Mai and the jungle

It's been a mere five days since my last blog, yet I feel I've grown more as a person in those five days than I could ever have imagined.

I've travelled from Bangkok to Chiang Mai via sleeper train - which in itself is an experience with the air conditioning blasting and snoring permeating from the neighbouring bunk; discovered the wonderful city of Chiang Mai; and trekked through the Thai jungle, meeting different hill tribes as we go.

It's taken some readjustment no longer having my best friends to share the adventure with, but I've been eased in to travelling alone gently by my lovely G Adventures tour group, the majority of which are fellow solo travellers.

Together we've walked, jumped and climbed our way through the jungle; slept on the floor of wooden huts in the freezing cold; washed in the river; ridden elephants; learned how to make the best spring rolls I've ever tasted; swum in waterfalls; played drinking games round the campfire; and accidentally capsized our bamboo rafts.

Travelling with a group of strangers, especially on a basic jungle tour was always going to teach me a bit about myself, but I've been surprised how revealing it has been.

Since my travels began I've noticed the most memorable and often the most enjoyable experiences for me have been when luxuries have been removed and we've gone back to basics: the Mexican jungle; Yosemite national park; Sian Ka'an nature reserve; and now the northern Thailand hill tribes. I have genuinely really appreciated living simply.

And not just in the 'it was fun for three days but now I'm glad to be back to civilisation' way that seemed to be the sentiment shared by the majority of my tour group. When others were missing phone signal, warm beds, hot showers, western toilets (although I do admit I have a greater appreciation for normal loos now), I was absorbing the different plants, wildlife, culture of the tribes; and rather than thinking of home and all the pressures that come with it, I was distracted by thoughts of how I could keep doing this for quite some time. It was amazingly peaceful and incredibly refreshing.

I've had a fantastic taster of jungle life and it's inspired me to try trekking again, next time for longer. Watch this space.

Sensory overload

I've been in Bangkok for two days now and wow has it been a sensory overload.

A different language, different culture, different people, protests, Singha beer, rice, markets, chicken feet, temples, boats, fish, Buddhas, Asian-style toilets, shisha, rice, gold, China town, Tuk tuks, shrines, Chang beer, monitor lizards, sarongs, mopeds, Pad Thai.

It's been crazy, a bit lonely, but it's been interesting and at times a lot of fun. Bangkok actually isn't quite as mental as I anticipated; surprisingly there are times when it's quite peaceful. It also isn't as steeped in history as I expected - a lot of the temples are newer than I'd have thought. 

There are some beautiful spots as well as some not so beautiful. I'm certainly looking forward to returning in a few days, when my senses have calmed down a little, to explore a bit more.

My mermaid alter-ego

When I came up from my first dive in Mexico, one of the American guys I was with turned to the other and said (about me) 'she's like a little mermaid'. This made my day. Not only because it meant I was up to standard - always a relief when with a group of very experienced scuba divers (one had nearly 1,000 dives under his belt) - but since I was five (when I first watched Disney's The Little Mermaid) I have aspired to be one.

You're almost certainly thinking how immature of a 25 year old, but short of growing a tail and gills I can't see how you can be any closer to being a mermaid than scuba diving. That's why I love it so much.

Under the sea is a whole different world, and it's like all the different sea creatures have their own personalities. In the words of Sebastian the crab, 'darling it's better, down where it's wetter, take it from me.' 

I've done some great diving since my travels began, seeing ship wrecks, eagle rays, stingrays, turtles, lobster, Lion fish, morays, big parrot fish, barracuda, and masses of huge jelly fish. I even found my own little Flounder in Key Largo, a little yellow fish that decided to follow me on my second dive.

And with the Great Barrier Reef in Oz and Koh Tao, Thailand still on the hit list, I'm positive there'll be plenty more to come.