So sad to see...

...Phuket washed away by the Tsunami. Feels unreal that we were there not so long ago - just hope that our diver friends are well and safe over there...

....Hong Kong - this once fashionable, trend-setting city, now losing it's style. I saw this developing last year I came back, but this year its totally in-your-face. Hong Kong is now looking more and more like Shenzen - full of terribly dressed and obnoxious mainlainders. Usually when I come to HK, I would stock up on clothes for the UK. It won't be happening this year. All the shops are now catering to the mainlanders' taste. No kidding - walked into Kookai , and it was filled with racks of jumpers and cardigons lined with furry multi-coloured bobbles or fluffy trim or sparkly plastic jewels - same goes for Morgan. Walked into my once-reliable shop b+ab and was totally shocked and disappointed by the selection of "China-fied" clothes! WHYYYYY!!!
Walking around the malls and sitting on the KCR, you feel like you're in China. Even the honkies in Central and Causeway are losing their dress-sense, and falling for the mainlander style! Ok, so these China people are helping the HK economy with their big spending, but I really feel they are making Hong Kong lose it's style.....

Dive-aholics anonymous

My name is Ellen Hau and I'm a dive-aholic.... yep since I got my PADI certificate in September, I've blown nearly 500 quid on diving trips, and I've even bought myself a wetsuit and a mask - despite the fact that I've only got my backpack to carry it all in!

The last 2 days I spent on a liveaboard dive boat. Sleeping, eating and drinking diving! It was the most fab experience! I even got to do a night dive which was utlimate fun. Diving into the blackness of the ocean, with only our little torches to guide us (and some other diver's "car headlight" torch - which practically lit up the whole bay!). We saw lobster, crab and a big moray eel. It was so cool shining our torches under the rocks and corals, finding little creatures and fish sleeping.

All in all it was 7 dives (though i didn't manage to wake up for one). The best dive of all was the last, we hadn't seen any sharks for the last 5 dives, so we hoped that the last we'd have better luck. And what an ultimate way to finish our trip by bumping into 3 sharks, a moray eel and one of the most beautiful dive sites I've been to so far. The lilac fan corals, the branches of the yellow finger corals set against the soft white sand, and tiny silvery-white fishes, reminded me of a japanese garden snow scene.... gorgeous.... I wish I could just continue diving for the rest of my travels, but its seriously burning a hole in my wallet!!

Lanta travellers paradise...

So after arguing about whether to spend an extra 80Bht (1 pound) on getting the ferry or get a minivan (save 80Bht) to Koh Lanta, we decided to be tight and save... and we were told the journey time was gonna be more or less the same "about 2 hours" and that it would be a "straight-forward ride, no changing" - bollocks! Our journey started on a five-minute truck ride, get out, move all lugguage to a big luxury coach. Then, for the next 45 mins on this coach, they tease us with a Bridget Jones DVD, and half-way through we're ushered off the coach again to move to a MINIVAN. Move all lugguage again. After 10 mins driving - stop outside a tour office. We wait for two extra people to squeeze into this 10-seater mini-van, which was already full, somehow the driver convinces the thai-boys sitting at the back of the van to move up and share 3 seats with 4 people. 2 hours into the journey, we arrive at a FERRY PORT (!!) -I'm told by this thai girl sitting next to me that it was gonna be ANOTHER 2 hours. We jump from one ferry port to another in this minivan (not literally "jump") and travel through unfinished roads, then we finally reach our destination - KOH LANTA.

I'm impressed, I was imagining this place to be buzzing with hippies and party people, but its actually really peaceful and soooo chilled out. Its almost like Amsterdam, but on a beach. The beach we stay at is lined with the odd bungalow resort and Amsterdam-coffee-shop-esque bars, playing raggae... so cool! The beach is beautiful, calm, with hardly anyone on it. For the next three days we spent life with NO TV (yeh, for once in this life), and just chilling on the beach. Night time, we lie under the stars drinking cocktails....and Kee has a new talent, he is now Kee the builder! Yes he can!

Isaland beaches, caves, jungle tours and Vinnie Jones

So my last blog I was chatting bout the Loy Krathong festival. We met up with a Dutch couple - Loes and Houb, we met from a previous trip, and headed to the lagoon, where the locals had set up an area filled with food stalls and souviniers. There was also a stage with 'Thai' dancing (which looked more like Patpong dancing) and singing.

The Krathongs were beautiful, ours was made out of wild orchids and magnolia, with a candle and some incense placed in the middle. It's tradition to cut off part of your finger nail and a snip of your own hair then place it in the krathong - the idea being that all your bad luck (if you have had any) is drifted out to sea with the krathong. So anyways, we set our krathongs off into the lagoon - mine drifted to the right and Kee's drifted to the left! For the dutch couple - one drowned and her flower was burnt down from the candle, and the other sailed off with after all the incense had burned down....!! And eventually all krathongs ended up at the side of the lagoon, stuck under the bridge...not so romantic after all!!

After some diving in Phuket - Shark Point (where there were no sharks) and King Cruiser (a cargo ship wreck - pretty cool), we headed to Krabi. I'd seen many pictures of Krabi, with its lush water and beaches. But I was pretty damn disappointed when we arrived. We stayed in Ao Nang, where the beach was crammed with long-tail boats - making it impossible to swim. The only way to get to laze on a beach is to catch a long-tail to a nearby island. However, Ao Nang is a pretty buzzing place with lots of young travellers - which I did miss whilst I was in Phuket.

Anyways, the first night we met up with two American friends - Kristie and Darren - we met on the trek in Chiang Mai, and went to an Irish Bar. After a few drinks Kristie got chatting to the table of Swedish girls next to us, and all of a sudden she turned and shouted out "Hey that guy with these swedish girls is from Snatch, names Vinnie?". We looked over and there, sitting right next to us was Vinnie Jones. Ok, not that exciting, but still, he was someone I'd seen on TV and films!! Turned out, this family man, had chatted up these Swedish girls on the beach, and ended up spending the whole day with them.... hmmm... maybe this is something i could sell to The Sun - Vinnie's Swedish Foursome in Paradise... But anyways, being my drunk self, I went up to him introduced my self and got a pic with him, sitting on his lap! The rest of the night was pretty fun, with people dancing on tables and singing Irish songs!

Yesterday, we decided to grab a long-tail and do some island hopping. It was only 800Bt (just over 10 pounds) to charter the boat for the whole day. We visited Phra Nang Cave (Princess cave), where the cave has a shrine to princess Nang, which consists of a mini statue and carvings of dicks...(yeh, wierd) - theres a story behind it - something about her never marrying i think... Anyway, it was a pretty crowded beach (because its the cheapest to get to) so we charged onto Chicken and Tub Island. This was the most bbbbeeeeautiful beach i had ever seen. The Tub Island is joined to Chicken by a long sand bar, and the water is crystal clear. Reason why its called Chicken island is purely cos the rock that juts out from the island looks like a chicken head. We finished off the trip at Poda Island, which again was gorgeous - peaceful and fabulous for swimming.


Ok, so finally I get to today!! This blogging is tired business...

So today, we went on, i think one of best tours in Thailand, for me, so far. We went to visit and natural hot spring waterfall right in the middle of a low-lying rainforest. It was lurrvely! The water was warm and i felt like i could soak in it for hours! Then we headed to another natural pool - the Emerald pool - again, in the middle of another rainforest. This was the most amazing natural site i had ever seen. After trekking deep into the forest for 20 mins, we came to a crystal clear pool that looked literally like a hotel swimming pool. It was fantastic to swim in as the water came from a fresh water stream but was warm....it was heaven....We finished off the tour at Tiger Cave temple, where it was said to be inhabited by a tiger and a famous monk. Set behind the caves was an awesome rainforest filled with giant trees, gibbons, squirrels, monkeys and birds. I think that if anyone comes to this part of Thailand, i would fully recommend this tour!! An absolute must!

So tomorrow, some more diving then off to Koh Lanta..