Thailand

Sleeper from Singapore to KL

So was going through some of my photos to add to flicker (seeing as I have completely forgotten my sign in details) and realised I never did blog about my South East Asia trip. Unfortunately I probably won't be able to remember as much, but it will be nice to try! The initial reason behind the trip was that my sister was going to be in Singapore for a few months on her Medical elective, good enough excuse to travel anyway!

Singapore was a perfect base on which to start, and I daresay the place most people will, seeing as all flights go through here, it's a great city with quite a few hidden gems, though they are easy to miss amongst the skyscrapers and shops! A great place to go for food is Chinatown, and in particular a noodle place which sadly I can't remember the name of now, but it was easy to find nestled in amongst the street food vendors, which are also worth a try! One of my favourite places however was out of the city, as it can get a bit much at time, was the botanic gardens. Even in the humidity you should definitely check them out if your ever in Singapore. 

I was only really here for a few days, seeing as our time on the trip was limited and we were trying to do the majority of the trip using public transport rather than flying (a theme which was sadly broken by the time we were in Koh Samui). However it did give the trip the backpacker feel I was trying for and resulted in meeting some interesting people and seeing some unexpected places. 

Penang. Malaysia was next on our trip, a place which had been recommended by my parents. It is a largely Chinese island just off the coast of Malaysia which was at one stage largely westernised which can still be seen in the majority of the building in the small capital Georgetown. 

Temple in Penang

One of the major themes of our stay here was the diversity in the temples scattered around the island, from Thai to Sri Lankan to temples which breed snakes! It was the first real taste of the different cultures that I got on this trip.  As always food was a major part of the trip and we found a great called Ecco (not very traditional) but it had the best garlic pizza bread I think I have ever had!

The over all highlight of the trip was Koh Samui! A total tourist spot but I think it was here where me and my sister had the best experiences and memories. Getting there was a bit of a challenge from Penang but it was definitely worth it! The trip up also gave us an opportunity to get lost in places and meet some new people, one who was a lovely wee guy travelling on his own from England who had decided to go on a spiritual retreat outside the city where we got our ferry. I suppose being stranded in towns between buses and ferries also gave us a chance to see the city side of Thailand and various bus depos which haven't been modified for the benefit of tourists.

Ferry to Koh Samui from Surat Thani

If you ever do visit Koh Samui a stay at Penzy's Guesthouse is a must! Extremely friendly owners who were very good to us in organising everything and helping us out on where to go. Was such as nice place here, lots to do if your wanting to relax for awhile and just enjoy yourself on holiday! While most of the excursions on offer are a bit of a tourist trap, they were still enjoyable! Just don't be expecting to find things away from the tourist trail here.

Elephant ride in Koh Samui

Despite that it was amazing for the few days we were here and in my opinion much nicer than Koh Phanang which was simply dominated by the full moon parties (which are worth going to though!) If I could have spend all my time on the islands I would have in a heart beat! great atmosphere and plenty to do, especially if your into diving and adventure sports.

The only other place we visited in Thailand before we ended the trip in Bangkok was Ayuthaya. The least westernised stop on the trip for sure which was a nice change!

It was a great trip, and looking back at the photos one I would quite like to do again although I think I would try to go more off the beaten track this time and visit the likes of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, hopefully next time I will be more of a seasoned and adventurous traveller! Was a great introduction to backpacking though and has gotten me mildly obsessed with journeys and traveling rather than going on holiday!

A

Yearly update!

Just remembered about this thing and thought I might attempt to give it another go, seeing as I am yet again finding any source of procrastination.

Well i suppose a wee update is in order. I am now in Liverpool, studying for an MRes, pretty much biding my time in joining the graduate job market! Which is looking bleak as ever. But yeah here I am, getting accustomed and acquainted with a new city. Been rather busy since I got here (in my 5th week now) joined the surf club and went to Newquay which was an amazing experience

Stayed in a great wee hostel that the club uses regularly was really nice and laid back, only downside was a lock on the doors, wasn't an issue when traveling with a large group but still. Best thing about this place too is the sauna in the kit room, which will be getting used more and more as the weather gets colder I'm sure!

Unfortunately I didn't really bring my camera out with me, hand my phone at least thankfully, which takes pretty good picture, with the help of the odd app here and there :). This is really the only one I took of the area (Think this is Towan Beach) .

So other than traveling down south, I also found time to venture up to Newcastle and stayed with some family friends just by Hadrians wall, really in the middle of nowhere! had an interesting meal at a local pub, was a bit of a league of gentlemen moment, us being not local!

Then there is Liverpool itself, with my new handy photo app, I may try to take some more photos of the city. So far I only have these two, one of a bombed out church (WW2) and the other of one of the Lion statues in chinatown.

Summers over...

Well summers over and its been a long time since I have posted anything...hard to get into the habit. Was away quite a bit and have some photos from my travels in SE Asia to post. For now here a wee video I made while muckin about with iMovie :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51OvioxkRLY

Why does the sun always shine when I can't enojy it

figured I should give a wee update to this, more to get into the habit than anything else. Sadly however I don't really have much to update with. Still a prisoner of the library for another week so my days have been pretty monotonous. Hasn't been helped either by the lovely weather we have been getting up in Scotland the past few days, even had to give up the revising for an hour (ok maybe 2) to sit out in the garden and enjoy it...somehow have managed to only burn my right arm in patches though :) better than nothing I suppose.

Did manage to get out briefly on Wednesday night though to go see a friend of a friends band play....General Fiasco was great fun, not a packed out venue sadly but they did a great show, you can check them out on myspace. They're a Northern Irish band too so even more reason to :).

Well..sorry for the rubbish short post..hopefully will have some bantter to share once my summer starts!

Amyx

Bordeaux

Thought this was pretty cool, its a short film, created using digital still photos.
Produced by Zachary Quinto, Corey Moosa, and Neal Dodson, Before The Door Pictures.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KSOdrZ6yEk

My view for the next 25 days....

25 days and counting until I'm free for the summer....well more or less.

To Blog or not to Blog

So, I've been toying with the idea of blog for a wee while now...largely as an excuse for procrastinating and not revising but also to post some photos etc from my future trip to Thailand this summer...and then some. So lets hope its not a complete disaster :)

Amyx