Hi Everyone!

We have such a great time in Thailand and it is going to be sad to leave, we are sat in Bangkok airport waiting for our flight to fly to Australia, Melbourne. We are very excited, the flight leaves at 9:15 Thai Time and takes around 9 hours.

over the past few days we have been sight seeing around 'China Town' 'Bangkok Central' and went to see some of the temples.

Here are some photos of our trips over the past few days


 Police outside the Grand Palace, Bangkok

Food Stalls that you see all over Thailand

Christmas Decorations,Bangkok
  

China Town, Bangkok

More stalls

River boat

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THAILAND

Just like to say a big Merry Christmas from Thailand thank you all so much for the lovely cards, they were there waiting for me as I arrived to my hotel, Rachel also says Thank You.

We are back in Bangkok where we will be spending the last days we have in Thailand until we fly to Australia

Merry Christmas from Patong Beach, Krabi

Will write and upload more photos soon

Thailand Update

Hi Everyone!

Hope all is well and that Christmas isn't to hectic. We are having a great time in Thailand despite having a few tummy bugs that made us very sick. We are currently in Krabi and have been island hopping for the last week. We started in Phuket which is located in the south.

Kata Beach, Phuket

          Elephant Safari Park, Phuket












After spending a few days visiting Elephants and relaxing on the beach we got on ferry to Koh Phi Phi Islands. The Island took 1 and and half hours to reach and the views along the way where amazing. The whole of the Phi Phi does not have any roads so if you want to get anywhere you had to get there by taxi boat.We were only on the island for two days so we spent out time on the beach snorkelling and looking at tropical fish.    

Long Beach Koh Phi Phi

View from Guest house 

Tropical Fish, Koh Phi Phi

Moving On

Sawatdee Kaa!

Sorry haven't written in a while but we have been bed bound for a week with stomach bugs, the only thing we have managed to do in Chiang Mai is eat and that was very little and walk around the local markets...Not very exciting I'm afraid, we also haven't taken any pictures. Good news though is that today we are feeling much better and we managed to eat breakfast. Tonight we are getting a flight at 9:45 that's 2:45 (GMT) to Phuket, a little island in the south with lots of beaches and lots of nice sights. I am sure I will get lots of photos for then.

Hope Club is going well and that all the Christmas parties are super duper fun.

All the best

Jon  

Quick Update

Hi all,

Moving onto Chiang Mai today, train leaves in three hours. We decided to book flights from Chiang Mai to Phuket leaving on the 14th and from Krabi to Bangkok leaving on the 24th where we spend Christmas.

Will write soon but for now I have a train to catch.


Jon

Thailand and India

Arrived in Thailand yesterday after a 4 hour flight from The Indria Gandhi Airport in Delhi. First thing I noiticed when I stepped off the plane was the heat. It was 6.20pm and the tempreture outside was at 30c, wondering what is will be today when I go out. Today in Thailand it is his Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great's Birthday, Whoo Hooo, there are set to big big celebrations all over the country and also right here in Bangkok, there will be lots of entertainment, street parties for all locals and families and fireworks (Wish our queen thru a big birthday bash like that), That is due to start at 7pm and will not be missed. 

 Our last few days in India were not too good as we was hit by stomach bugs and hardly left the room, one day we did manage to see Delhi's Parliament buildings by mistake. We asked the Ricshaw driver to take us to  Humayun's Tomb but instead he took us there, was not too bad as the place was beautiful.

Dehli Police

 

Parliament Building

Ricshaw, the icon of India

Humayun Tomb, Looks like another buidling I visited

Entrance gate before tomb

Inscription before gate 

Agra - Jaipur

Hi All!

We are currently in Jaipur or the 'Pink City' which is it popularly known. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan which is located in the north of India. We arrived here at 9:30am this morning after five hour journey from 'Agra Fort Station'. So far in Jaipur we only managed to see some of the city center where we walked around to get familiure and do a bit of shopping. Will keep you updated on the going on's in Jaipur over the next few days..

Yesterday we visited The Taj Mahal which is located in Agra. The building is not short of spectacular and very beautiful.

It was built by the Emperor Shan Jahan as the final request place of his favourite queen, Mumtaz Mahal. A monument of marble, some say it is most fascinating and beautiful monument in the world. The Taj Mahal was built by a Persian architect is perfectly symmetrical, it took 22 years to build (AD 1630 – 52) by 20,000 workers, masons and jewellers (Times if India, 2007)   

Arrived in Delhi

Hi Everybody!

We arrived in Delhi yesterday at 5:40am after enduring a 29 hour train journey from Bandra Terminus, Mumbai. Despite the length it was a great experience! Being the only white foreigners on the entire train everybody was always enthuastic to get to know your name and where in the world you lived. All the people on the train was very friendly and helpful. Inbetweeen stops people came onto the train selling soap, toilet paper, tooth brushes, samosas, chi (tea), coffee, fruit, crisp and other snacks. You could never go hungry, we managed to have five chi's, six samosas, two packs of cashew biscuits and two packs of crisp. When we were not talking to others, reading or eating we were either a sleep or sitting wathcing out the window counting down the minutes.

We got a taxi to the Shiva Intercontinental what was reccomended on tripadvisor and lonely planet. The hotel is next to the main bazaar, on Arakranshan road. The road is very very busy and noisy (more than Colaba Causeway, Mumbai) and full of hotels, restaurants and travel shops.

Today we visited the Zoo which cost 100 Rupees per person, there were Hippos, Lions, Elephants, Giraffes, Bears, Monkeys, Birds, Buffalo, WhiteTigers and more. 

A Big Cat

Baby Giraffe

 Blue the Bear

This little chipmunk was roaming free around the zoo

We also saw this tree. A zoo isn't a zoo unless is has a Sausage Tree, Not sure where the Sausages were though....maybe the monkeys ate them. 

Today we also booked train tickets from Delhi to Agra where the Taj Mahal is, then from Agra to Jaipur and then from Jaipur back to Delhi where we will be staying for our last two nights in India before we fly to Thailand.

Here is the one decent picture of the t shirt printing session I had the privilege of running with the Hampi Childtens Trust

Moving on from Hampi

HAMPI


We are ready to move on from Hampi for the next leg of our journey, we will be getting a semi sleeper bus @ 6pm leaving from Hospet to Mumbai. The bus should arrive the next day in the morning/afternoon. 

Hampi has been such an amazing place, the landscapes, the temples, the animals and the people are beautiful and ever so friendly. Here are the best of the photos of our time spent in Hampi


First the Landscapes

And a few of the animals

The Children's Trust where we visited, went on a picnic, helped with homework and ran a t shirt printing art session...

And a few more people, one is of the boy who drives the boat. The other are of the children who were swimming in the river as we were waiting, they asked me to take this photo and were so excited that I accepted..

Hampi

Hello All!

Arrived in Hampi yesterday after a 11 hour coach journey from Goa, Mapusa. We arrived at 5:30am and was bombarded with Rickshaw driver's as we stepped of the bus. We jumped in one and was taken to the river where we had to wait for the boat which was due to arrive at 7am. We sat, drank some Chi and soaked up the the beautiful landscape.We heard the Elephant will be arriving around 10am for its daily wash and decided to stick around. The Elephant arrived for its daily wash around 9:30 so we sat and watched as its carers washed it in the river along side other people and school children....It was an amazing sight. Soon after we got into the boat to cross the river and checked into Shanti Guest House.

After showering and changing into some clean clothes we headed back over to the river to see some of the temples, visit where we stayed last time while in Hampi and also look for the Hampi's Childrens Trust. I was sad to see that it wasn't where it used to be and thought it may have gone, we asked around and was directed to a new building where they have moved to. We spoke to the lady running the centre and she told us all the new stuff that is going on in the trust, we even got to spend lunch with the children and I saw some familiar faces from last time. They also remembered me and said I was Jon from last year that was upstairs. The next day we were invited to attend the picnic with the children so today we pretty much spent the whole time playing football, cricket, skipping, climbing and volleyball.

I will upload all photos when I get a chance...

Jon X         

Moving on from Goa

Hi Everybody!

Travel logistics to Delhi are all complete. We are leaving Goa on the 17^th and getting a sleeper coach to Hampi (Journey time 13 hours) stay in Hampi till the 22^nd. We then get a semi sleeper coach from Hospet to Mumbai (Journey time 16 hours). Spend a day in Mumbai and then get a train on the 24^th from Bandra Terminus to Delhi (Journey time 37 hours).

Our time in Goa has been wonderful and we have been looking at some of what is has to offer, today we went to the local flea market in town where they have hundreds of stalls selling clothes, jewellery, watches, bags, food, magnets and much more. The market was very busy and seemed to go on forever..

A few photos from the flea market.....

We also visited some beaches........ These two pictures are of Anjuna Beach

And saw a few animals along the way

There were many, many cows in Goa but this was by far the biggest and best around!












And of course the local Elephant........












Our last bit before we head of is a few photos of the children who come to Goa and walk the beaches for hours selling or begging to make money.

 This Little girl in the beautiful bright pink sari asked us for money and for us to visit her shop where her family made their living

This boy came to us on Calangute Beach selling Pineapples.