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.

Gold Coast to Cairns - A very merry Chrissy 2013

We decided to travel from Surfers' Paradise on the Gold Coast up to Cairns via an organised tour largely for convenience. Having all our travel, accommodation, and a large chunk of activities, even food arranged for us greatly appealed. After researching a fair few different tour operators we decided to go with Topdeck, and now as I'm sat in Cairns writing this I'm very glad we did. The past ten days have been exciting, interesting, fairly hectic, but a hell of a lot of fun!

It's easy to forget how big Australia is, and we spent a fair amount of time on our coach, 'Crazy Clarkie' but boy have we been to some spectacular places and done some amazing stuff. It's been a great way to spend Christmas, or 'Chrissy' as the Aussies say.

After an initial day and night out in Surfers' Paradise, where we got to show off our bowling skills and visit Justin Bieber's favourite haunt, Sin City, we travelled up to beautiful Noosa via Brisbane. An eventful day to say the least, as one of the tour passengers went missing, but it gave us opportunity to see what a lovely city Brisbane is and to bond with the group, which we didn't realise would already be formed when we joined, as the tour began for most in Sydney five days previously (that's something worth checking if you do ever book a Topdeck tour).

From Noosa we ventured on a 4x4 minibus (who knew they existed!?) for a day trip to Fraser Island. After seeing our first kangaroos on the way we embarked on a bumpy, but fun ride around the sand island, along the beach and through the rainforest, stopping at various points along the way. The highlight being our dip in Lake Mackenzie, which was free of waves, jellyfish and other creatures you have to be wary of in the sea; followed by a yummy lunch of barbecued Barramundi. Our journey home, driving next to the waves along rainbow beach with its multicoloured sands was also something I'll never forget.

Our next stop was quite different to the beaches we'd been enjoying as we headed inland to a 10,000 acre cattle ranch in the outback. Lassoing animals, cracking whips, riding mechanical bulls, line dancing and herding goats on horseback made for a brilliant 24 hours. Something we'd never have done had we not been on the tour, it was one of my favourite days.

Back to the beach, we hit Emu Park for an overnight toga-themed stay and probably the best room and party of the tour. Flip cup, beer pong and the wheel of shots created a messily hilarious evening. Although one most of us regretted at 7am the next morning when we had to get back on Clarkie to go to the Whitsundays.

Despite our hangovers and a broken down coach, we made it to Airlie beach and our sail boat, Boomerang, in plenty of time to see the stunning Whitsunday islands before sunset. 

Another scrummy dinner (it's amazing what these people an cook up on a sail boat) and stargazing before we all called it an early(ish) night. Glad we did too since almost everyone was up by about 6am. The early start though, meant we got extra time on the most exquisite beach I have ever seen, Whitehaven. If you only go to one beach in your life, this should be it. Because of the tides apparently it looks different every single day, which at least gives me a good excuse to go back. 

A little snorkelling trip (with a giant Trevelli) and another sail, I was really getting in to boating life when it was time to head to dry land. Cue Long Island - still part of the Whitsundays - where we would wake up on Christmas morning.

Now 'Chrissy' is nothing like Christmas at home, especially when you're sat on a tropical island surrounded by palm trees, exotic birds and wallabies. But that didn't mean we weren't going to enjoy it! We went to town on Christmas Eve. Having spent the previous evening working out and the morning swimming and doing Aqua Zumba, it descended rapidly during our afternoon cocktail class which ended in drunken karaoke and eventually dancing fully clothed in the pool till 2am Christmas morning.

Probably not the best idea since we had another early start to get up to Cairns in time for Christmas dinner, but hey, it was Chrissy! It was a bit of a shame to spend so much of the day travelling, but we had some nice stop offs, like in Townsville, overlooking the beautiful Magnetic Island, and the evening meal at Rattle and Hum in Cairns with our secret Santa pressies was very nice.

In all honesty though, Boxing Day was a more enjoyable day for most of us, I think. Not only was it Sophie's birthday which meant an evening of takeaway (naturally we had Soph's favourite - Indian), as well as cheese and wine on our hotel balcony; we spent the day out at sea with Passions of Paradise, snorkelling, scuba diving and viewing fish from the glass bottom boat. I'd recommend Passions of Paradise for scuba diving - for certified divers and beginners alike. The staff were great, super friendly and very helpful; and whilst the dives weren't deep - it seems they generally aren't at the Great Barrier Reef - they were a lot of fun with an abundance of wildlife. We saw multiple turtles, blue spotted stingrays, sea slugs, and all the usual suspects: parrot fish, bat fish, trigger fish, tusk fish, surgeonfish, coral cod, the list goes on.

Our final day of the tour was spent doing individual activities, so whilst Sophie and Chloe headed on a day trip to Daintree and the rainforest, I travelled south with another girl from our group, Sarah, to Mission Beach to sky dive. The most spectacular way to finish the tour, jumping out a plane at 14,000 ft with the rainforest one side of you and the Great Barrier Reef the other. It really was something else. The only way I can describe it really is like the best roller coaster of my life. The wind and pressure on your body as you free fall is pretty extreme, but then as the parachute is released and you soar down to land on the beach, it's a ridiculous amount of fun. And quite surprisingly, I didn't get too scared - my jump master was so nice and chilled, I had 100% confidence in him getting us back to the ground safely. Plus, I was busy concentrating on my photographer - I shelled out for the dedicated photos, and I'm glad I did, they're brilliant! This is just a photo of one of the photos:

As you can tell, ten days after leaving the Gold Coast, we've crammed in a lot of activities, seen loads of Australia, and done things we wouldn't have otherwise done. That's why I definitely think it's worth doing a Topdeck tour. Our leader, Tara, made everything so simple to organise so we could just take our brains out and enjoy. What a way to spend the festive season. Merry Chrissy everyone!