Loose in holland (Denmark)

We started our trip in to holland by pulling up into a national park. Before we had even set foot out of the van a park ranger  flagged us over and told us we could not stay the night here, and had to be gone by nightfall. We decided to do a bit of training till then and move on. On the second lift I put my back out and had to sit the rest out. For the duration of that day I walked around like I had soiled myself. We moved on and eventually found a nice place in a farmers field where we stayed the night. 

The next day we got up early and set off for Amsterdam. We booked to stay in a campsite about 10km away in a place called amsterleven. We got set up and before you know it the drinks were flowing. Next thing on the agenda kings night!! We caught the bus in to Amsterdam and soaked up the atmosphere. This was possibly one of the best nights of my life. As we walked around there seemed to be little raves going on everywhere. So as you do we joined them and got loose as a goose.  The night fizzled out and we ended up getting a bus. It turned out to be the wrong one. We got off, got lost and didn't get back to the campsite till 7. 

Melting from the sun beaming through the windows we awoke about 1 the next day. We couldn't believe how good that night was!!!! Little did we know, it was all about today. Because it was so expensive to travel, to ride in was the only option. What a nice ride it was!! Couldn't believe how much the Dutch get behind this day. Every street we went down was beaming with orange. Little parties kicking off on any bit of spare land, people selling stuff, just a general good vibe. This was just the start. As we approached the city the more busy it got.  

Eventually we found a nice little place down by one of the canals, it turned out to be a cracking spot. Boat after boat sailed down the canal music blaring,    everyone just loving the love. It was like a sea of orange moving down towards us.  The three of us embraced this moment and felt privallaged to be there. As we walked into town it was obvious the whole of Amsterdam was out to party. There wasn't one person not enjoying themselves. Funds were short so we headed back to the campsite. knowing we had a long days driving ahead of us the next day we got our heads down. Poland here we come 

Dunny 

Setting off in the van

I had a busy but good weekend. I saw lots of family and friends and had a good party at Brockworth Rugby Club.

After some last minute packing we were ready to go.  We left Gloucester at 6.30 am and headed to Dover. The van developed a ticking noise when accelerating, it turned out to be a cracked exhaust manifold where it joins the egr valve. Quite a good outcome as I thought it may be an injector or a tappet. I will bodge it up for now then get someone to weld it up when we see somewhere suitable.

We stayed on a campsite in Dunkirk for the first night. It was next to a beach so we took Stew's 8m kite down which was fun, some serious pull on it. It was Dunny's birthday so there was one thing for it, Sambuca. 9 shots later Dunny was steaming. We used the next day to sort the van out, put some extra shelves in and give everything a home.

We drove to a forest near Bruges and found a nice spot in the woods to park up for the night. We got a campfire going and cooked up a nice meal.

Next thing a police car turns up and asks us what we were doing. They told us to put the campfire out and show them our passports.  It turned out the forest we were staying in belonged to a posh boarding school. They asked what our plans were, Stew said we were driving to India to set up a school.  They told us to pack up and move on, they returned to the police car where the teacher who called them was sitting. They then came back to us to tell us to follow them and we can park the van on school grounds for free. Its a good job they didn't turn up earlier, we were playing frizby where if you dropped it or messed up a throw you took an item of clothing off, Stew and Dunny messed up a fair few throws! We drove through the school and it was pretty epic, lots of grand buildings. They also said we can leave the van on the school grounds and cycle into Bruges tomorrow, so a good outcome afterall!

Rob

Koh Tao, koh Phangan, New year and full moon party

Mr J was our friendly hostel owner on Koh Tao. He was a funny guy with lots of strange posters around the place. We think he may of been a monk at some point. He recommended a quiet beach to visit we rode the motorbike there with our snorkeling kit. It was awesome, loads of nice coral and colourful fish swimming right up to us.

We had what was probably my favorite meal ever, a seafood platter, loads of awesome prawns, squid and fish. We went to a bar on the beach called lotus bar. It started off a chilled place with live acoustic music. Sitting on beanbags on the beach having a few Chang's. Then at 9PM the DJ and fire dancers arrived. The fire dancers were very talented. We sat for hours watching them. We did the same 2 nights running.

We did a boat trip around the island, snorkeling in lots of different bays, we got some good underwater photos.

Next was Koh Phangan. We got the ferry there from Koh Tao. We arrived on the Thai New year, they celebrate by a massive water fight. We checked in at the hotel and went to get involved. We stopped at a bar who had a water but and hose pipe on the pavement. It was great fun, had such a good time with the locals. Two Dutch girls we met in the taxi earlier who were staying at the same hotel walked past and joined in the fun. We stayed there for 5 hours drenching each other and anyone who walked past. We then went to a restaurant and had a some food and a wee.

The next day we hired a motorbike and went for a ride around the island. It was the day of the full moon party, so we got our fluorescent vests and body paint. We had a few predrinks then got a taxi with the Dutch girls.  Basically a massive beach party with buckets of vodka red bull and live DJ's. We stayed with the Dutch girls until they left then danced on a platform until the sun came up at 6.30 ish. We met some English guys on the platform and had a good crack. We got back to the hotel at 8am, mission complete!

We went to a Muay Thai fight night which was good, very high standard and a couple of Thai vs westerner fights.

We spent he next two days riding around the island, we went to a waterfall and walked through a jungle to a viewpoint.

We stopped at a cafe up in the mountains, it was also a Muay Thai gym. It overlooked a valley covered in jungle and the sea in the distance. I arranged to go back in the morning for a training session which was good fun and bloody hard work.

We went to a street food market, met a Norwegian guy and had an interesting chat about politics an economics! We went back to the bar where we had the water fight, they were pleased to see us and we had a fun night playing pool until 2am ish. They woke up their 10 year old daughter who we met at the water fight to come and say hello to us, then we got a good group photo. They were very welcoming and hospitable.

Now we are on the night train back to Bangkok, nice and comfortable, much better than the night bus down.

Meeting Helen and selling bike

I met Helen at the airport which all went to plan. We had a day in Bangkok before we were getting a bus to Koh Tao. 

We got some jabs done and booked our train back to Bangkok in two weeks time.

At this point my bike was becoming a bit of a burden, it was time do sell.  I wrote a sign and sat with it on Khaosan road.  A hour passed without much interest.  A camp British guy sitting next to us started asking what we were doing, he then tried to help us sell it by giving a sales pitch to people walking past. Pretty funny. Then a deaf guy who was begging came over and offered 100 baht (£2). I just gave it to him for nothing, he was over the moon, so happy.

The bike did me well.  I bought it in Hoi An, Vietnam, and cycled North up the coast.  I crossed the Hoi Van Pass, a killer climb that was filmed on the Top Gear special. Then up to Hue and the demilitarized zone. I then cycled to the Laos border, another killer climb at Khesan. Laos was very different to Vietnam, much more remote, I passed through small villages, all houses made from wood. I left Laos from the capital Vientiane, into Nong Khai, Thailand. I then used the bike or general transport around Bangkok and Hua Hin. All in all about 700 km on the bike. Bit emotional seeing it go but glad it went to good use.

We then got our bus and ferry to Koh Tao. The coach journey was horrible but it was worth it.

We are now on koh Tao, it's awesome here.  We have hired a moped and are touring/snorkeling our way around the island. Today we rode to shark bay, we didn't see any sharks but plenty of big fish amongst the coral. The beaches are awesome, white sands, Palm trees and warm clear waters.

We've got two more days here then heading to Koh phangan for Thai new year celebrations and full moon party.

Beach, Muay Thai and cycling at Hua Hin

My time at Hua Hin is up. It's been good.

The beach is nice, white sands and clear waters, some monster jellyfish though!

I ate at the night market every night, mostly at the same place because there stir fried pork and Thai red curry was unbelievable!

I had a good night out, met some Germans playing pool, we were taking it in turns to pick songs on YouTube and play them in the bar.  When that bar closed we went to another but it was closed, but the Germans new the owner who lets us in, so we carried on their!

Muay Thai had been good. I have learnt a fair bit. A mixture of people, some Thais and some foreigners. I'm staying at the gym tonight, just about to sit down and have food with everyone. The room is literally off the training matts, pretty cool place.

I have a train booked st 6.05am from hua hin to Bangkok. I may be going into town with one of the gym lads from Finland.

Jabs and Hua Hin

I arrived in Bangkok t 6am, cycled from the train station to khaosan road and checked into Siam oriental, third visit to that hotel. I spent the day morning organising myself and planning my next few days.  I booked an appointment to get some travel vaccinations done. 

I got a tuk tuk to Chinatown. I wasn't sure what was there in particular but thought I would give it a try.  The tuk tuk driver said do I want to go to the shopping centre, I said yeah OK.  It was a massive market, and I mean massive, they sold absolutely everything, from live fish and whole chickens, to CCTV systems and car spares.  I was surprised to see so many engineering shops selling lathe cutting tips, slot drills and taps and dies.  I then came across a few stalls selling machine spares, air cylinders, 24v power supplies and even a couple of bowl feeders!  They looked like it all had been stripped off of some old machines. I spent a few hours wandering about but then I got a tuk tuk back to the hotel so I could Skype my mummy on mothers day.

In the evening I watched the sunset over the river, it set behind a temple, Wat Arun.  Then I had some awesome street food at a market near the hotel.  Then I had a standard night out on khaosan road. Met and English guy.

In the morning I made my way to the hospital. After a tuk tuk ride and ride on the back of a motorbike I was there.  It was very modern, immaculately clean and well presented. I can see why its renowned as a world class hospital. I was seen straight away by doctor, he confirmed why I had already researched about what I needed when. He said a survey was carried out at Bangkok airport. 10,000 people were asked when they were departing Bangkok whether they have been bitten by a mammal in Thailand.  The result was 1% per month were bitten. Pretty high I thought! Often people feeding wild monkeys. He told me off for not getting them done before.  He said every child in Thailand has them done before they are 1 year old. I was done in 30 mins, I had my 1st rabies, hepatitis b and Japanese encephalitis shots, all for less than £20. 10% of the cost in the UK.  I will make two more visits to finish off my courses.

I then got the train to Hua Hin. Absolutely packed. Was meant to be 4 hours but was more like 5 (no idea why).  I had to stand the whole way.  Lots of street food sellers sold food through the windows at the stations. I had some noodles. Was a good experience albeit a bit uncomfortable. I had probably my favourite meal yet in the night market. Pork with Thai red sauce and steamed rice, I know where I'm going back tonight!

I've found a Muay Thai gym about 5km outside the town, my first session is in an hour at 4 pm.  They do a morning session at 7am and afternoon at 4pm.  I'm going to both sessions for next 5 days, well thats the plan. I'll let you know how it goes!