Want to see lady boys, hug tigers, drink too many buckets of whiskey and look at a mummy...Just some of the bizarre things to do in Thailand

In celebration of Shannon turning 30 years old on 17th March we've complied a list of 30 of his 'awesome moments whilst travelling' Enjoy reflecting with us in this photo diary, more info on each special moment can be found in the destinations tab and select the country. CLIMBING Be it volcanoes such as Mt Bromo or Mt Batur, on the Sydney Bridge , a hike around UlurauNational Park or a 8 hour trek across snowy Tongariro, the need for a good climb and the rewards at the top ar

28th Jun 2011 - Got picked up in a mini bus to take us to Penang. Over 9 hours and 3 mini busses later we arrived. We hadn't researched much on Penang so didn't know where the good bit was and from what was round us it looked like it needed some paint. Got a cyclo Tuk Tuk who offered us to stay at The Waldorf hotel. And that's where the comparrison ends the hotel was old and room was the most basic we have had but after a long day travelling it would do. We decided to go a wa

27th Jun 2011 - Went on a trip to 'James Bond' Island today. We drove for an hour then got a long tail boat which took us through the magnificent rocks then we went kayaking through caves, and had to lie down as some were very close, we then arrived at James Bond island which was made famous in the film 'the man with the golden gun'. We got the obligatory photos, had a wander and then bought some bracelets each, I got an ankle bracelet with elephants and Shan got a cool man o

24th Jun 2011 - 26th Jun 2011 - Today we are heading to Phi Phi Don, we took a boat which took 1 and half hours or so, and the views along the way were lovely, hundreds of islands dotted all along the horizon. On arriving we went straight to sort out tomorrow's trip to Phi Phi Ley, then we walked along the busy streets of stalls and diving places, we tried a few hotels/guest houses but they were full or stupidly expensive so found Jong's House for £14. A lot of places also wa

23rd Jun 2011 Another day so another day of travelling... Left our lovely suite in Koh Samui and haggled for a taxi to take us to Nathon pier (which is a different pier than we arrived on), our taxi took us to the pier where we paid for our ferry tickets to Donsak which is the main port for Suret Thani on the mainland where we are headed, (none of the boat companies made it very clear but turns out there are lots of ferries throughout day and they transfer us to Suret Thani)

19th Jun 2011 - 22nd Jun 2011 - Snorkelling trip today around Koh Tao. Was rough sea and because of that we couldn't stop at our first spot at shark bay but we managed to see four other snorkelling spots including Mangoe Bay and the Japanese Gardens- the corals there were astounding, we went so close to the coral and there was lots to see of both coral and fish. We seen sea cucumbers, even dangerous triggerfish and other weird and wonderful ones, never saw nemo but my favouri

17th Jun 2011 - 18th Jun 2011 - Made some re-scheduling plans to take a bus later in afternoon as there are many of them and trains less frequent and leave earlier, so we had more time to explore Erawan falls which is about 1 hours drive outside of kanchanaburi...and by drive I mean we drove- on a scooter! I was scared and unsure at first as you always hear about Thailand being bad for bikes but Shannon is experienced and I trust him to look out for me (even though I don't tr

16th Jun 2011 - Taxi from hotel in Bangkok to thornburi bus station, bus to Kanchanaburi, songthaew to hotel PongPhen which is on the river Kwai has a pool but we have no time to use it and is cheap at just £12. Had brunch in cafe then walked over 1 mile to reach The Bridge over the River Kwai. Went to the ww2 museum then to the bridge. Some facts if you don't know already- this is the 2nd bridge built the 1st blown up by the P.O.W who built it, then the 2nd was constructed h

13th June- Walked across the road to the train station (very handy location is the hotel) and got tickets for the 0555 train to Aranyaprathet. This train is the only one to take if you wish to make it to the Cambodian border before it closes (it's open 8am til 6pm I think) the train was only 3rd class so we made sure we got seats. The train was very well priced at £2 one way for a 5 hour 40 minute journey. We both fell asleep for 3 hours so that passed some time then we playe

12th Jun 2011 - 13th Jun 2011 - Busy day and extremely long! Woke up and checked out hotel, got a songthaew to the bus station in Pattaya to Bangkoks Ekamai station. Then sky train, then underground (MRT) to Hua Lumphong station we were looking for a hotel when a TAT information lady told us we had to walk 5 minutes and hotels were £40+ then we met an german guy who said he had just checked out of the same named Hua Lumphong hotel just a few hundred yard away we thanked him a

10th Jun 2011 - 11th Jun 2011 - Train journey went very well, we both slept all night. We disembarked train and got a Tuk Tuk to Ekamai bus station in Bangkok. The driver was crazy, but they are all like that- weaving in and out of lanes, squeezing between busses hooting their horns- surprisingly not seen a crash yet. We bought our tickets which cost 260B about £12 for a two hour journey. We both slept most of the way. Got a songthaew from the bus station to south Pattaya, an

9th Jun 2011 - Today we went to the rain forest to do zip lining through the jungle canopy's. The tour is called 'the flight of the gibbon' and is voted the best tour in Thailand. We were in a group of 7 and I was only girl which made it worse as I was panicking about the heights and safety and I really could have done with some annoying scaredy girls crying to make me look better. We were put in our safety gear and led into the rain forest we done a bit of trekking through t

8th Jun 2011 - Woke up early to go on our trip with elephants. We had a look through the flyers of popular elephant day trips yesterday but were recomended a trip that had orphaned elephants, the group we went with were called Baan Chang Elephant Home. As now is the start of the wet season we managed to get a discount, the day costing 3500B around £70 which is good price. We managed to get a McDonalds breakfast first and then got picked up by the owner Eddie. We drove an our

7th Jun 2011 - Had a good nights sleep actually on the train, woke up at 6.30 because we guess the train broke down, started again an hour later and we went to cafe and took photos of the gorgeous jungle landscape. We fell back asleep and woke up to pack up and leave. We arrived at 11 o'clock over hour late but was ok, the journey was fine but the conditions were a bit smelly. We had heard lots about touts who want to drive you to their families guest houses so we came out th

5th / 6th Jun 2011 - Landed in Bangkok about 3.30pm Thai time. Flight was 10 hours 35 minutes. I slept most of it so it felt fine. We went through immigration and got passports stamped (which I love). Got a taxi to our only pre-booked hotel 'The Royal Asia Lesuire Hotel' which is in Sukhumvit soi 8. We booked on travelrepublic.com and it cost £16 for 1 night. (all the prices I mention is for both of us). The room has great views over Bangkok's skyline, hotel is clean and a we

3rd & 4th Jun 2011 - We are leaving today!! We got up early to finish packing and sorting out last minute things. Went to the airport with Shannon's family, and Shannon's old boss came aswell as our friends Emma and Ali. It turned into a sad farewell; we went through security then onto our last Aurigny flight at least for a while. The flight past and then we were in Gatwick. We checked into the Hilton (still using our staff rate discount). Our suitcases were overweight so I u

1st Jun 2011 - A little story about Shannon and me getting together and deciding to go travelling.... We were only friends at the time that Shannon first mentioned that he wanted to go travelling the following year, he also mentioned in the same conversation that he wanted a girlfriend but wouldn't be able to, if he was to go travelling. I had fancied Shannon for a while by this point, and hearing this information made me think that I could be his girlfriend and we could go t