AMSTERDAM - festival

We went to a festival the second night we were in Amsterdam, and it was the reason we came in the first place. We spent the night at the festival in utrecht and it was awesome.

AMSTERDAM

Amsterdam was great! it was fun seeing somewhere that was completely backwards, the roads, the language, the buildings, and the whole feel of the place. England is not really europe once you see and explore a place like this. We were there for 5 days total, spent all the days walking or riding around the city and outside it exploring the lanes and alleys. Its crazy to be around where noone is speaking english, and every sign is in a completely unrecognizable language, but it's a lot more fun.

We stayed 4 nights in a hotel outside of the city, and one night in a hostel in the middle of it. We ate kebab's every day and they were amazing... i can't wait to get to eastern europe and taste it for real.

Newquay

Newquay was a really nice pace, unfortunately its only busy in the summer though. There were still people around surfing, but noone really going out at night, or nothing to do during the day. The cornish pasties were great. Our apartment was really nice aswell and had a great view from the balcony of the beach (photo above)

Big Ben

Tower of London

buckingham palace

After spending quite a bit of time working out the train stations and timetable, we managed to get to london victoria station, which arrives at buckingham palace road. Assuming that the road was named for a reason, we walked fo a few minutes in one direction, and found the palace.

It was a wet day, with constant drizzle, so there weren't to many tourists around, and we managed to get some good photos. We spent the whole day walking and training around london, and made it to almost all of the landmarks

The Football

West Ham vs Birmingham City.

We got an opportunity to go to the football with a few season ticket holders.

The result wasn't fantastic, west ham lost 1 - 0, which dampened the mood a bit, but the atmosphere at the game was great, and it was better than australian soccer. It still had nothing on an AFL match though.

Brighton

These photo's are from a coastal town called brighton. Will's cousin took us here just for the day, and we spent it exploring around.

The beach isn't much, its all rocks and its freezing still everywhere, so it had nothing on an australian beach.
The architecture was nice though.
Australia has the natural beauty still because were such a young country, but over here everything is older than australia itself, so the beauty is urban and constructed.

Shooting in ashford

On the way from one relatives to the next, we stopped over at a shooting range to shoot 50clay targets each. Will's uncle paul took us, and he owned the guns and was a member at the course.

church

the church, next to the castle

Rochester museum

The museum at rochester was something to do to pass the time.

Rochester

Rochester castle is just a short bus ride from the first place we stayed, will's nans house in Hoo. We explored the town and found this just behind the main street. It was built in the 1200's, so on the first day of our trip to europe, i saw something older by hundreds of years than any buildings back home. Apparantly this is a small castle, compared to some of the others around.

We went looking for another castle called leeds castle today, which is supposed to be one of the most impressive, as we are now staying with will's auntie Sue in maidstone. We walked for about 2 hours before we found it, and by the time we did, the gates were closed. We were thinking about going back, but admission is 18 pounds, and with plenty of free medievil structures around the countryside to explore, we've decided it's not worth it.

koh samui

On an adventure through the streets we found a Bungee Jumping attraction, with a crane and a pool underneath.
Cerfie and I both did the jump, it was 50 metres high, and you were dunked in the pool at the bottom. After a jump, beer is on the house.

'The Thinker"

This was on kho phangnan when we went to a waterfall on our scooters.

It was off road most of the way, and we were going up and down huge hills on a dirt track, by the end of it our bikes, legs and shoes were covered in mud.
It was riding that should have been done only on a motorbike, and i found it out the hardway.
After making it most of the way i got a little to confident, and lost my concentration.
I fell off and scratched up the front mudgaurd and the body, and the dodgy thai guys swindled me out of 3000 baht, or $100, but if i didnt pay i wouldt have got my passport back, so had no choice really.
When we eventually found the waterfall it was a dissapointment, so we thought the only way to get some good photos would be to pose......naked....

Full Moon Party

The Full Moon Party at kho phangnan was as crazy as last year, moreso now that we knew so many people there. We stayed on the beach from about 10 at night till 9 in the morning, and watched the sunrise in the music on the beach.
It was a big night, but everyone had a great time.
This photo is from skipping the fire rope. I made it around a few times before my legs were taken out, and i've got a nice thai tatt to show for it on my leg now.

kho phangnan

This is the front of me and will's bungalow in ban kai, we were here for 4 nights over the full moon party.

We spent most days just slouching around on the beach here, and the nights in haad rin.

There was no food at the place we were staying, so to eat we would walk up the beach and find restaurants along the beachfront.

One of the bars on the first night.

we spent plenty of money, and the ferry over to kho phangnan in the morning after the night was terrible. Most people were feeling sick, and will threw up over the side of the boat.

Waiting for the plane in KL to go to kho samui.
We were only at the airport for an hour or so, but the flight was terrible.
It was only supposed to last an hour, but we arrived in thailand to a storm, the plane couldnt land, and we had to turn back to singapore to refuel, and wait for the storm to pass before we could leave again.

Whe we arrived we weren't able to catch a ferry to khophangnan, because they were not running anymore. We found a place to stay for the night in kho samui, and it turned out to be a good thing, as we had a huge night and kicked off the trip in style with beers, shots and buckets