Thailand - Koh Mook - the inspiration behind The Beach

Having had our first taste of the Trang islands on Koh Kradan, were excited to continue moving up the chain, to Koh Mook. 

Koh Mook

Chris had managed to negotiate a long-tail boat over to Koh Mook with one of the boatmen on Kradan for slightly less than the going rate, and we set off after one final morning on the beach, on the 30 minute journey to the island we had spent the last two days looking at!

Thailand - Koh Kradan - The island with the most beautiful beach

Koh Kradan - the island of the beautiful beach.  I mean just look at it!

One hell of a beach

Koh Kradan is part of the Trang islands, which are located equal distant between Koh Bulone Leh and Koh Lanta, making them a great stop as we headed north. They are often missed out as people shoot down to Koh Lipe, or visit them on a day trip. However, we would highly recommend staying a few days, at the very least!

Thailand - Koh Bulone Leh - Stranded in Paradise

It was a choppy, rather wet and crowded hour speedboat ride from Koh Lipe to Koh Bulone Leh (600 THB pp). Luckily we had seats at the back of the boat so we could look out the back at the horizon and watch Lipe disappear from view.

Koh Bulone Leh... where is everyone?

Thailand - Koh Lipe - first stop on our island tour

Arriving into Koh Lipe is an experience as you can only get there (like the majority of the Thai islands) by boat.

I'm on a beach!

Thailand - How to get to Koh Lipe from Langkawi - speed boats and VISAs

There are many options to get from Malaysia to Thailand. The easiest, but probably the most expensive is to fly. Flying also doesn't allow you to get to the southern islands. Alternatively, you can travel overland. However, if already on Langkawi it is a bit awkward and involves a lot of changes in travel. Therefore you are left with the option of the boat.

A map (borrowed from kohlipe.net)

Thailand - Langkawi

Langkawi is one of the largest islands in Malaysia and is a centre for tourism and Thai visa runs. We stayed in the north west in a small guesthouse on Pantai Tengah. It was cheap, clean, had AC and was only a 5 minute walk (through a resort) to the beach.

Pantai Tengah

Malaysia - Penang and Georgetown

Penang or Georgetown as the main city is known by, is just off the north west coast of Malaysia. It has been touted as one of the places to visit in 2016, with the city centre noted as a UNESCO world heritage site, and known for its food, we thought we would pop in to take a look before heading north via Langkawi and then the Thai Andaman islands.

The old streets of George Town

Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur...2 days is all you need

Kuala Lumpur is a major travel hub in Asia and so if you are travelling in these parts you will eventually make a stop there, especially if you are flying with Air Asia, or one of the other major low cost carriers. 

KL, as it is known, is a large, but relatively young city, having only really taken form when the British rocked up. it started life as a tin mining settlement in 1857, and translates as 'muddy estuary'. However, it is now a buzzing steel and concrete metropolis of 1.59 million people.

Towering high

Indonesia - Gili Air to Lombok Airport

First off, thank you to Lisa from chasethehorizon.com for their useful blog on this. This is really an update to their own blog article to reiterate the current way to get from Gili Air (or another one of the Gili islands or Senggigi) to Lombok International Airport. It is easily done in a day, or half a day if you push it. Our flight wasn't until 7pm so we stopped at Senggigi half way.

Our end goal... the airport

Indonesia - The Gili Islands

The Gili Islands are located in the north west of Lombok, just off the coast. To get there you either travel by boat from Bali, or fly into Lombok and travel up overland. We decided to get the boat across from Pagan Bai, to save on time, cost and have a nice boat journey.

The crossing was really nice. The sea was flat calm, the sun was shining and we could sit on the top deck and relax. Soon the three little islands of the Gili's came into view.

The beach on Gili Air

Indonesia - Getting from Bali to the Gili Islands 2015/16

We weren't sure how long or easy it would be to get from Bali to the Gili Islands, but it was much easier than expected. There are many boats available, some at very low rates, but be careful as there are reports that the cheap boats can get overcrowded and if you get into trouble in the Lombok straight, which can be very rough, you will be in serious trouble.

Checking in

Indonesia - Beautiful Bali

Everyone is aware of the small Indonesian island of Bali, made even more famous by the book, come movie, Eat, Pray, Love. So as we were planning to head north from Australia, we felt we had to add this to our list of destinations. 

Lovely Bali

Indonesian Free VISA - Arriving in Bali and leaving from Lombok

There was much debate and a lot of searching about visas, but we didn't find anything concrete so here is a quick summary for UK citizens.

If you are intending to stay as a tourist only for less than 30 days get the FREE Tourist VISA. You DO NOT need to pay the VOA  (Visa on arrival) fee of $35. However, from what we understand, you can only enter at the following crossings/airports/ports (as taken from UK Indonesian Embassy website).

In the past you had to also leave from one of these airports/ports, but this is NOT the case. We arrived into Bali Ngurah Rai airport and left from Lombok International Airport using the free VISA with no problem at all! We checked this with multiple immigration officials at Bali Ngurah Rai, and all say 'new rules'.

If we come across a full list of these exit points we will update this post, but please feel confident that you can arrive in Bali and leave from Lombok as of January 2015 (but things may change).

This makes things a lot easier if you want to combine Bali and Lombok, as you no longer need to travel back to Bali.

We found the Indonesian Embassy information out of date but here is the link non the less - www.indonesianembassy.org.uk.

Hope you find this useful.

Happy travels...

Australia - A Day in the Hunter Valley

The hunter valley is about 2 hours north of Sydney and is one of the principle wine areas in the world focusing on Chardonnay and Shiraz so was a must do.

Andy had been able to get a car from a friend so off we went on our little road trip to taste some wine!

Road trip!