Just a little recap...

Apologies for my 3 month plus sabbatical from the blogosphere, however due to my lack of travel I wasn't sure whether blogging about my everyday working life would be half as exciting as the life of a traveler. I am in the process of putting together a second blog which would sort of revolve around life after university, but can't wait think of a name... suggestions welcome. So feel free to read that once created, if that's your thing. So an update from my time away from the Elephant Never Forgets...

August  

 Managed to get a pub job (4 minute walk away from home) a week after returning from Asia

Celebrated my Tash's birthday 

·         Attended several office-type interviews and was offered a few, all of which I turned down - wasn't for me 

·         Saw Steph a few times in Bristol 

·         Went to Centre Parcs with family friends 

·         Got offered a job as Marketing Co-ordinator

  

September 

·         Started my new job  

·         Saw Steph again in Bristol 

·         Got my first parking ticket 

·         Saw a friend in Covent Garden for dinner 

·         Invited to my first baby shower 

·         Lots of time at my new gym - even took dad 

·         Visited Debbie in Manchester with Mel 

October 

·         My other friend's baby was born, a beautiful baby girl, Maia 

·         Went to a work team away day  

·         Applied for some graduate jobs 

·         Went to Steph's Halloween house party  

·         Got my hair highlighted for the first time in 8 months - didn't like it so got it done again 

·         Bought my graduation dress 

November 

·         Went to a family friend's 18th 

·         Picked Debbie up from the airport 

·         Graduated with a first 

·         Went to Sport's Reunion and had a very late night (early morning) 

·         Nathan moved to Wokingham 

And I think that's everything up-to-date!! As you can see not interesting enough to blog intensely about. In terms of upcoming travel plans, I'm heading to Mauritius with my mum, dad, brother, granny, granda, auntie, uncle and two cousins in December for 8 days and then skiing at some point in January with mum and dad. Then later in the year I'm travelling again but until I have these confirmed I won't blog about them. 

For my family in warmer continents than the UK, British weather took a turn for the worst this morning ( 1degree) which meant I had to scrape the ice of the car which is not ideal when you are already running late for work, however thankfully dad has somehow convinced mum to put on the heating, which means that I actually want to get out of bed in the morning because I'm sweating too much. Don't think I am complaining, because I'm not, my new room (the extension, for those of you that know my house) is freezing so without heating, leaving my bed in the morning is positively traumatic.

Picture post

A very long month of travelling blues has now gone by, so I though I'd give myself a cheer up with a post of a few of my favourite picture. Enjoy!

Quick stopover in Dubai

Dubai, what can I say? 

A friend from uni recently moved to Dubai for a job and so he was more than willing to pick us up from the airport. We had no issues leaving, although as it was Ramadan??? As a female I had to make sure I was covered up, which was really no bother to me as we arrived there in the early evening. However unknowing of me, the temperature was a unforgiving 36 degrees Celsius, which may also sound fine but it was the humidity that really hit us. As soon as we left the cool air conditioning of the airport we were hit with a never ending blast of heat and after walking no further than 10 minutes our feet were starting to slide around in our flip flops. Far from pleasant.

However soon was all forgotten as we reached the air conditioning of Matt's car and we started to see the sights of Dubai.

It was nothing like either of us had ever seen before, it was so extravagant and rich and sparkling. All the sky scraping buildings had glittering lights on them, which we were told was to alert the planes of their precise. The city literally oozed wealth and had such a presence. 

Matt then took us to the main Dubai shopping mall, which was ridiculous. We walked in on a red carpet and the shops were all high-end designers and even the shops we have in England such as; Topshop, River Island and Jack Wills seemed to fit in. We then went to the outside 'riverside' (I've put this in inverted commas as I'm not quite sure how to describe it and it's also man made) and stood below the Barj Khalifa (AKA tallest building in the world) and it was ridiculous. It was also good timing that we arrived there when we did as there was a fountain show.

This is the Barj Khalifa..

And my phone couldn't even capture it all. 

This was the 'riverside'..

We then got back into Matt's car and headed towards Jameirha??? Which we drove up to and all the palm trees were covered in little gold lights. He took us to dinner at Toscana, an Italian restaurant also set around water. Luckily Matt had vouchers so the meal was reasonably priced however cokes were £4 a pop. 

From here we drove around a bit further and saw the 7 star hotel, although I can't remember the name and then we parked up near the beach. Matt then treated us to a fresh juice from Pulp and I had a lemon, apple and mint juice, it was amazing.

From here we walked to the beach, my pictures aren't great as it was very dark by this point.

The temperature of the water was ridiculous, I mean crazy hot, I'm predicting around 30 degrees Celsius. If you were on the beach at midday you would not use the sea to cool down. If I was to go on holiday to Dubai, I think a hotel/apartment with a pool would be essential. 

By this point it was coming up to 11.30pm Dubai time and we needed to be heading back to the airport, so we bid farewell to Matt and made our way through check in. 

And now I can conclude that our adventure is pretty much over, however don't think that I will stop writing my blogs!! 

Keep updated...

Last stop - Bangkok

After the long journey on my birthday we arrived in Bangkok around 3.30am and annoyingly we couldn't check into our room until 10am. So we set up on the sofas for the long haul after Nath picked up a Macdonold's breakfast. 

But it appears luck was on our side and they let us in at 6am, we then proceeded to sleep until 11am as we were so tired. 

Our room was definitely one of the best we stayed in although my picture doesn't do it much justice.

Once we had woken up, we got a quick breakfast/lunch and hit our rooftop pool. The weather was pretty cloudy, although the sun peaked his head out a few times.

We spent all day here until our hunger pangs took over and we had a quick shower before heading for dinner. We had dinner at a restaurant we ate at during one of our first nights in Bangkok.

Finally it was time to retire and we headed to bed to watch a film and get an early night. 

The following day, we got up reasonably early in order to get our included breakfast. Nath had a full English and fruit and I had fried egg on toast and fruit. We then went back to the room to pack up our things ready for the airport. 

Midday came round quickly and we were soon on the transfer bus to the airport as our journey came to an end. 

Next stop Dubai for 9 hours.. 

Koh Tao (Freedom Beach)

After a scenic hour long boat, we arrived in Koh Tao. On first sight it was obviously paradise, however my first picture below doesn't show it.

There were so many colourful long boats and the water was crystal clear. We caught a taxi to our accommodation on Freedom Beach, which is on the South of the island. 

After reading a bit about Koh Tao, we learnt that Koh Tao translates in English to Turtle Island as the island used to be inhabited by turtles. The island's shape is also though to resemble a turtle when viewed from Koh Phangnan. 

Anyway, back to our accommodation, we stayed in a cabana (wooden cabin) over the beach however annoyingly a large tree obstructed most of our view of the sea.

After a few hours at the beach, we headed back to the cabana where we were able to capture this lovely picture of the sun setting behind some palm trees.

For dinner we went to Chalok Harbour where we had some Thai food, I ordered a Massaman curry and Nath ordered White Snapper which we shared between us. Nath also had Coconut Milk as his drink.

The following day, we rented some snorkels and snorkelled around Freedom Beach. We saw so many fish, none of which we could identify offhand but after looking at a guide book we recognised them as Longfin Bannerfish, Tailfin Batfish and a Titan Trigger Fish. However when one fish came straight for Nath 'viciously' (as he described it) we decided to call it a day. 

Here are some pictures of the beach.

That evening after a refreshing mixed fruit shake,

We headed to Sairee Beach, which is the most populated and busy area with many bars, restaurants and dive schools. This was also where the Scottish girls and their friends were staying. 

We went for dinner and then met them at Lotus Bar, which was situated on the beachfront. There were fire dancers who performed to the crowd who were incredible and we all had an array of different flavoured buckets.

It was a good night and a lot less crazy than Koh Phangnan. 

The next day we had breakfast at the resort before heading to Sairee Beach again, where we booked a taxi boat to Koh Nang Yuan. This island is said to be one of the most beautiful in the world 

It was beautiful. 

When we returned to Sairee Beach the restaurant we wanted to eat at for dinner wasn't open yet so we went to a cafe for a Very Berry Smoothie, which was ridiculously delicious.

For dinner we went to an Italian restaurant which was recommended in the Koh Tao guide book and we had the most humongous Calzone.

The next day was Monday and it was my 22nd birthday. We spent the morning by the beach.

By we then had to head to Mae Haad around midday to travel back via boat ad bus to Bangkok, which meant it was the end of my very short birthday and the end of Koh Tao.