Kaikoura, New Zealand

I came here with one thing in mind: swimming with dolphins. There was a 05:30am trip or an 08:30 trip. The 05:30 trip was recommended by someone I'd met, as the dolphins fed over night, had full bellies and were playful until the sun's up when they have a kip (Incidentally they sleep one brain hemisphere at a time). So, I book the dolphin swim and check into the hostel. This YHA must have the best view from the bedroom of any hostel that I've ever stayed in. The view over the bay to the mountains is jaw-dropping - a view you could quite easily spend the rest of your life looking at.

After a bottle of crisp New Zealand white last night I head to bed. I'm startled awake by an air-raid siren - my initial thought was TSUNAMI! Others in the dorm thought the same, and we waited to see if the hostel owner came to drag everyone out and up to the hills. No-one came so we assumed all was ok and went back to sleep with one eye open. My 4am alarm sounds and I'm startled awake again. The dolphins and cool water help me exit the bed. I thought I'd be the only one on the swim - who on earth's going to want to get up at this time? Turns out it's a full trip - 20 people (mostly Germans) are ready to swim. We're kitted with super-tight wetsuits, flippers, masks and hoods for the cold cold sea. Jumping on a bus we're taken to a harbour 20 minutes away - and loaded onto a boat that's out of the water. I've never been on a boat out the water before! We're gently lowered in and soon on our way - hunting dolphins with our eyes. We're all told to keep a lookout and within 10 minutes there's fins popping out all around us and we stop. We quickly perch on the back of the boat ready to slide into the clear, icy water. By now the dolphins are showing-off and jumping around us - somersaults and back-flips. The staff tell us that the pod is possibly 100+ and they're extremely playful - we're lucky to be getting in, but maybe they say that to everyone :)

In the water we're all making ridiculous noises to attract their attention. I can't help but think it must confuse them more than attract them, but they come and check us all out - circling and eyeballing us. There's an amazing feeling staring into the eye of a dolphin - something moves inside you. We're in the water for over an hour - with occasional jumps back onto the boat to track a different pod.

Back on the boat we get changed and have some hot chocolate with biscuits - a nice touch! Unfortunately I'm still waiting on pictures of me in the water. I'll post them if they ever turn up.

The area around Kaikoura is insanely beautiful and wild. The town has a seaside resort feel but if not for tourism would be a quarter of the size I'm sure. Whale watching, seal spotting and tramping are high on the agenda here also.

El Nido, Philippines

Manilla's a bad introduction to the Philippines. It's severely under-developed for tourism, most people spend a day or two there before hopping on another plane or boat. I caught a flight for Puerto Princessa, on the beautiful island of Palawan - the last frontier of the Philippines. At first I wasn't exactly sure where to go from Manilla - there's seven-thousand one-hundred and something islands to choose from, with maybe 100,000 beaches - if combined they would form the longest beach in the world! El Nido seemed to be the quiet haven I needed after being in big cities. From Puerto (as the locals call it) I get a minibus (600 Pesos) up to the northern tip of Palawan. It takes six hours and the roads are barely roads in sections! I read that El Nido can be inaccessible in the monsoon rains.

The town is a tightly-packed and spilling onto the beach. It's surrounded by the same karst limestone formations I saw in Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam - they sit on the same fault line. This is where Alex Garland gained inspiration for "The beach" - but told everyone it was Thailand so they wouldn't flock here. My instant thought is with Ton Sai (Thailand), but there's no rock climbing here - and the beach (and food) is better in Thailand IMO (grilled chicken and papaya salad ANYONE!?) The local vibe is extremely laid back - if you're doing nothing you're doing too much! After diving and snorkelling I did "nothing" as much as I could handle, but then had to do something as I'd booked two weeks here - as Cebu pacific airlines decided I needed an onward (or return) ticket or I wasn't getting on the plane (I had to quick-book something in the airport - how much time do you give yourself in this situation, knowing nothing about where you're going!? I'd also like to add that this isn't a government requirement, and I've never done it anywhere else in Asia yet (I hate planning ahead - who knows what you might want to do?? So it's put me on edge a little - I've planned the next three flights!

I now have a daily routine as follows: After breakfast I hire a kayak for three hours and find some deserted beaches (it's easy). Back for lunch time in my favourite cafe "The Sanctuary". They serve a delicious red bean salad and the best coffee in El Nido (none of this 3 in one instant shit - c'mon, what is this stuff???). After lunch I hire a mountain bike for a two hour sweat-fest punctuated by diving into the sea at various beaches. I'd also like to run on the beaches but, sadly, as with most Asian beaches, there's some litter with occasional broken glass and tin-can tops. To counter-act this daily goodness the evening is spend stuffing myself with an incredible local dish called pork adobo, which is fatty pork stewed in vinegar and garlic, and served with rice - I'll be cooking this when I get home, guaranteed! Beer is stupidly cheap at 40 pence a bottle (San Miguel) so it's rude not to have one... or two.

My beach :)

Busan, Korea

I'm not sure what I expected on the South coast of Korea - I think a small dark beach town with a few delicious food stalls. I was right about the food, but small this place is not. Busan is a huge city along a long beautiful beach front. It's the second biggest city in South Korea and holds some of the most expensive square metre space in Korea.

Ton Sai, Thailand

After drinking two generous rum & cokes given to me by a chatty local called "Oh" I board the train at 6pm Hua Lamphong feeling a little merry. I'm shown to a big spacious 3rd class carriage and a big seat next to an open window. This was supposed to be a sleeper carriage but I couldn't quite see the sleeping arrangement. I noticed there was a human-sized cupboard above me and assumed that would be my bed for the night. There was another seat opposite me; where would this person go? 6:30pm and the train pulls out of the station rumbling closely past the same shack housing I saw on my journey to Kwai. No-one occupies the seat opposite. I love train journeys and I've been looking forward to this one. The line goes all the way through Thailand, then Malaysia then into Singapore down the thin strip of peninsula. My journey would only take me to Trang in the southern-most part of Thailand. At about 9pm a guard with a tool magically appeared and ushered me out of the seat. He set to work clanking and moving things, converting my seat and the seat opposite into an inviting bed. He put sheets on, added a pillow and blanket, smiled and magically disappeared as quick as he'd arrived.

My bed... the morning after

The cupboard above me was also a bed. I only know this as I was woken by a drunk English girl trying to clamber into it at about 3am. The same guard magically appeared and had a broken English conversation with her about how she would need to pay to sleep here. She complained a little but stumped up. I have no idea where she had come from.

Trains are the best way to sleep-travel. When you wake, that second or two when you you don't know where you are. You sit up, open the metal shutter and there's a bright green and blue painting massaging your sleepy eyes. There so much fast moving fresh morning air you almost can't breathe and the clickety-clack is deafening when you take out your earplugs. We're now deep into southern Thailand at about 7am. 12 hours gone and 4 hours to go. Most of the other passengers had already departed; the tourists for the Thai mega-resorts. By 8am I had to switch to the now empty other side of the train as the sun was already too hot on the east.

At 11am we arrived at Trang. I then had to get a two hour bus to Krabi on the coast. From Krabi bus station I jumped on the back of a motorcycle taxi to the marina. I needed to get a long-tail boat to Riley beach.  It's not an island but there's no roads so a boat is the only option. A driver said he would take me alone for 1500 Baht (£30). I choked on my water and said I would wait for more people to share the cost. Does wage, fuel and maintenance really cost 1500 Baht for the 45 minutes to Riley? I think not. An hour passed and a German couple turned up. The driver said we should now go, at 500 Baht each. Still sounding extortionate we decided to wait longer, much to the annoyance of the drivers. By 5pm no-one else had turned up and the drivers says 400 Baht each. A mini-conference later we decide to head down the coast by bus, to another pier, where there could be other people in the same boat (pun intended). The drivers were all around us, being incredibly pushy and in one case blatantly rude. As we're going to walk off one driver begrudgingly says he would take us for 200 Baht (£4) each. We accept the offer and get on the boat.

Long-tails

On the boat we were treated to the joyous, classic image of Thailand: overhanging limestone cliffs topped with dense jungle hair; pulling into Riley east however didn't fill me with joy. A muddy beach leading to a concrete walkway containing posh resorts, bars, souvenir shops and lots of package holiday people. My journey to Ton Sai wasn't over yet though. A ten minute walk and Riley west revealed a much nicer beach, but still fringed with posh resorts. To get to Ton Sai in the next bay you have three options;

 - At low tide you can walk around the headland
 - At any tide you can clamber across underneath the huge limestone cliff.
 - You can take a 45 minute walk through a mosquito infested jungle

Only realising the 1st of these options I clambered around the coast to be greeted by one of  the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. An amphitheatre of enormous vertical limestone cliffs surrounded the blue waters gently lapping into dense jungle. An eerily quiet dirt road leads around to the various cheap resorts. I chose the Paasook and had my own bungalow, with en-suite and balcony, for a killer 150 Baht (£3) a night! The bungalow was dim (verging on dark) inside in the day and night; the mosquitoes loved it. Dripping with sweat and realising I'd spent 24 hours travelling I threw my stuff on the bed and went to find a freezing beer.

The only use for cars

Complex map

It was over this beer that I met Steve "Austin" (The bionic man). From a single handshake and a smile we were almost inseparable. This most modest man casually mentioned (at some point) that he'd been to Everest summit and snowboarded down a section - his snowboard is hanging in Sam's bar in Kathmandu. We would meet at 8am for boiled eggs, toast and a pot of coffee each. We'd then grab a banana, pineapple, lime and peanut butter power-shake ready for climbing, kayaking, snorkelling and walking. In the afternoon you could find us outside the mini-mart with some Chang. In the evening we ate grilled chicken and papaya salad at Mama's shack. Don't ever accuse us of habitual behaviour!

Chang at the mart

Climbing is why people come to Ton Sai. It's listed as one of the top ten climbing spots in the world. I went in low (rainy) season, and it didn't rain once; we were incredibly lucky. In the high season the place entertains around 2000+ people, with my bungalow then costing 800 Baht per night and people queueing to get on the climbs. I met some great people, offering to take me and Steve out on their ropes, pointing out holds and egging you on when you think you can't quite make that reach! I've heard before that girls are naturally better climbers than men (they use their legs more) - I can confirm that this is definitely true. I witnessed some power yoga moves and aerobics on some harder sections, making them look ridiculously easy, where we failed!

 

        

Undecided on the best first-footing

Resting after a days climbing

 If you ever get a chance to do a deep-water solo then DO IT! It's rock-climbing with no ropes over water. There's climbs for everyone from 5's to 8's (mostly 6's). A quick swim or kayak from the boat gets you to a small ladder up to the first steps. I would recommend the Ton Sai base camp tour over anything from Riley beach, although finding enough people to go on the Ton Sai trip could be an issue (we were lucky). The day is punctuated with a tasty lunch on a deserted island beach. In this photo you can just about make me out (top-left third) - traversing my way across the ridge to the top of the middle stalactite, ready for a 22 metre (70 foot) jump into the jellyfish-dotted sea!

 

I was sad to leave Ton Sai. On the last night we had a blow out at the infamous "free chicken incident" bar and I felt remarkably good the next morning after 4 hours sleep. This was it for Thailand. Next stop Malaysia.