Random thoughts of an average mind

The highs and lows of Langkawi

Jon — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:03:20 +0000

Another early start as the bus was collecting us from Ben’s House at 7am for our trip to Langkawi.

In the usual Thai fashion, it took 3 buses, 1 ferry and a taxi to get us to our destination. The buses got gradually worse as we edged closer to Malaysia. But the journey wasn’t all bad. While on the second bus we got talking to a Welsh couple from Newport called Kyle and Kylie, who were on their way to Koh Lipe. Another strange coincidence that Kyle lives about 5 minutes from Heidi’s family home. A good couple of hours went by with us swapping travel stories, our future plans and what we were missing about Home.

It was great to get another stamp in the passport and I had high expectations of Langkawi due to friends recommendations and I had also worked previously on travel brochures that had featured Langkawi as a main destination. My preconception of Langkawi was paradise. That concept was crushed within the first 24 hours of being on the island.

As the taxi dropped us off at Pantai Cenang, the rain came down. Griff and I were already exhausted from the 10 hour journey and now we had to drag our rucksacks along Pantai Cenang’s beach front looking for accommodation in the rain. The hunt for a place to sleep became frustrating and I started to lose my patience. Everywhere we found was either out of our budget or rotten. After an hour we finally stumbled across a very sweet lady who happened to know someone who rented out a studio apartment. She made a few phone calls and we were told to wait in a nearby restaurant. We hung around in Haroo Restaurant, eating up their Wifi until the lady who owned the studio arrived. We negotiated a good deal for the studio for 5 nights, which was a real bargain seems we had access to a fridge, kitchen, bathroom and TV with DVD player. My grumpy mood had started to subside.

Heidi and I took full advantage of not having to get up for breakfast and caught up on the rest we needed. The day was spent at the beach waiting for the Rugby World Cup Final to kick-off. The weather was scorching but we were slightly disappointed that we couldn’t enter the sea to cool off due to the mass amount of Jelly Fish floating in the water. I’ve been previously stung by the Water Wobblers and I don’t plan on it happening again.

The search to find a bar playing the game also became frustrating but you can always count on the Irish! Debbie’s Irish bar had the game playing only on 1 TV screen, which made it an interesting watch as the pub was packed. Whilst in Debbie’s the mosquitos took a fancy to me and I got bit multiple times on my arms and legs. That night my skin was on fire and the bites blistered. One of the blistered bites popped when I accidentally caught it on my bag. It wasn’t a pretty sight. A sleepless night followed as my skin crawled.

Day 3 brought more promise. Heidi and I hired a taxi driver for 4 hours to take us to the Bird Sanctuary and the Kompleks Budya Kraf. Our driver was as mad as the Hatter. He told us jokes and bizarre stories in broken English. One of the stories was about a crazy exchange between himself and a Eastern European tourist who refused to pay for the cab, so he dropped the tourist off at the police station and attempted to burn his passport. Though our driver was eccentric, he was very helpful and took me to a local pharmacy to get a cream for my mosquito bites.

The next day was the highlight of our stay in Langkawi. Griff and I headed to the Langkawi Cable Car, which carried us to the summit of Gunung Machincang at an incline of 42 degrees. The view of the island at over 2,300ft was breathtaking and in the distance you could see the coast of Thailand. The cable car alights at 2 stops; the Middle and Top stations. At the Top station you also have a chance to walk across the Hanging Bridge, which curves from one peak to the other. I’d advise anyone who journeys up Gunung Machincang to take the car all the way to the top. The views are amazing and walking across the Hanging Bridge is an exciting experience.

Once we had returned to ground level, Heidi and I stopped off at the Rabbit Enclosure, where Griff was attacked by multiple thumpers. After Heidi cleaned up her scratches, we took a stroll along Pantai Kok. While we quietly walked along the beach, out of nowhere swooped a Hornbill. These birds are massive once in flight and their wings sound like a propeller starting. The bird perched in the tree, as another Hornbill soared above us and joined the branch. We took quite a few pictures and I was lucky enough to snap a couple of the Hornbill in flight. I’ll post the images once we return to the UK.

We continued our walk towards the lighthouse, which is now inhabited by Monkeys. From there we strolled around the Marina and took some time out to grab refreshments and to soak up the view.

Every evening from roughly around 7pm there was a heavy downpour and usually a thunder storm, which made going out quite difficult. Having a TV with a DVD player in our studio became very handy and we spent most evenings catching up on the latest DVD releases that we hadn’t seen. One night we declared; “Movie Night”, so we stopped off at a nearby French Patisserie and loaded up on over-indulgent treats to enjoy while we watched back to back films.

Langkawi had its highs and lows but while travelling I’ve learnt that all of the experience is valuable, especially the lows, as they test you on both your character and mental strength. As we journeyed over to Penang on the ferry, I reflected on our time in Langkawi and what it had taught me about myself. In the future I need to have less preconceptions of places, people and situations. Also, I must stop comparing and take things on their own merit. Even though the beginning of our Langkawi journey was difficult, the island itself is beautiful and to be honest, Langkawi’s tourism positions itself as more of a luxury holiday destination for exotic breaks, rather than a place for longer term travellers and backpackers. This is reflected by the higher prices of accommodation and restaurants. To conclude, Langkawi is a visual paradise but not this Valley Boy’s Shangri La.

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Krabi: The final days in Thailand

Jon — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:16:46 +0000

“The name’s Bond… James Bond!”

Heidi and I maxed out our final days in Thailand. We took tours to Phangnga Bay (James Bond Island) and Koh Phi Phi, met some new friends, witnessed an immense fork lightning storm and by chance discovered Phra Nang. I’m not sure my writing skills are worthy enough to describe the incredible time we had but I’m up for the challenge and where I struggle to paint a detailed picture, I’m hopeful the photos will do Thailand better justice.

Phangnga Bay

Being a ‘Bond’ fan, I couldn’t contain my excitement when we booked onto our tour of Phangnga Bay, also known as the ‘James Bond Island’ due to the location being used for the filming of ‘The man with the golden gun’. The trip was an early start but I was raring to go.

As the mini van did the usual rounds of pick ups, to our surprise we were greeted by a familiar, friendly face. Danielle, who was the lady sat next to Heidi on our rough, overnight bus trip to Chumphon had booked onto the same tour. We then spent the next 2 hours catching up on each other’s journeys and crazy stories. Every now and then we’d be interrupted by our tour guide Ruddy who would fill us in on the day’s plans, which he insisted on repeating twice for good measure.

The tour started with a Longtail boat, that went past the Floating Village and through the Mangroves, where we weaved through a low cave. At this point the tour split, as half went off to Kayak through the Mangroves and the unlucky other half – which contained Griff and I – had to watch and enjoy the views from a larger docked boat. When booking the tour we were never offered the option of Kayaking and if we had, we definitely would have taken the opportunity.

The views of the limestone cliff formations around Phangnga Bay are incredible and I imagine they have inspired many fantasy writers and artists over the years. The highlight of the tour, was the famous eroded limestone cliff from the Bond movie; ‘The man with the golden gun’. The island that overlooks the impressive, rock formation is a huge tourist trap and you have to hustle for a great photo opportunity. I wasn’t going to miss out, so I stormed forward, with the sea up to my waist, soaking my shorts, t-shirt and bag. A bit fanatic? Probably! But I feel content in the images I captured. Luckily the day was hot and humid, so my clothes dried quickly.

The Longtail boat took us back to the Floating Village for a buffet lunch, which was inclusive in the tour. Danielle, Heidi and myself all assumed that the lady offering Coca Cola and Sprite was part of the buffet. We were wrong. Whoever said; “the best things in life are free”, is a liar because my can of Sprite cost me about £2!

After lunch the Longtail returned us back to our mini van, which proceeded to the next stop on the tour. Here we visited the Monkey Temple. The temple is cave and as the name suggests, monkeys occupy the inside and literally hang around the entrance. Stupidly, I left my glasses in the mini van and the dark, slippery climb within the cave became quite dangerous and I was glad when we exited to go feed some monkeys.

Feeding monkeys never gets tiring, as these curious little fur balls are quite unpredictable and provide some brilliant photo snaps. One of the guys on our tour decided to place a banana on Danielle’s head, which I think for most watching was a nervy 30 seconds before a cheeky swinger snatched it off her head.

The final stop on the tour was to a Waterfall where we spent about 45 minutes swimming and launching over selves off rock-faces about 8 metres high. We had a great time on the tour and we arrived back to Ben’s House just in time to watch an impressive folk lightning storm from our balcony. I have never witnessed a lightning strike that was so close. One of the lightning folks must of fell about 100 metres away. Exciting show but scary stuff!

Koh Phi Phi

Our tours were coming thick and fast. We had 2 more booked on back to back days. Koh Phi Phi Islands tour was next, followed by a speed boat tour to Hong Island.

The Koh Phi Phi tour was also by speed boat. The boat collected us at the Nopparat Thara dock and sped off towards the Bamboo Island. There we had a good hour to enjoy the sunshine and trialled Heidi with snorkelling in shallow water where there were little amounts of fish. (For reference to Heidi and her phobia of fish, please check out the article; Waterfalls, Tiger Temple and the Floating Market)

From there the speed boat whisked us off to Monkey Bay for some real snorkelling action. With Heidi’s new found confidence she bravely entered the water. After a few erratic moments, Griff settled down to enjoy the experience of having sea life swimming around her. I wish my knowledge of fish was better so I could name the fantastic things we had seen but I can confirm that snorkelling has only fed my hunger to try scuba-diving.

The next stop on the tour was to the famous Maya Bay on Phi Phi Ley. Maya Bay was the filming location for Danny Boyle’s directed movie ‘The Beach’, which is based on the book with the same name by Alex Garland.

Just like the James Bond Island, Maya Bay is infected with tourists. Probably a hypocritical statement but it’s true. Though the bay itself has lost none of its beauty and for any keen photographers, there’s plenty of great shooting points, especially if you’re not shy in getting wet.

After Maya Bay the tour ventured to Phi Phi Don for a break and some lunch. There we were given another hour to eat, shop and browse the largest island in Koh Phi Phi. Griff and I actually got lost while browsing and only by chance found our speed boat just in time to head to our last snorkelling point. On the way, our tour guide kept pointing to the sky and shouting “Seagull! Seagull!”. I thought he’d gone slightly mad as who would be interested in seeing a Seagull? It was only until later when talking to a fellow traveller, that I’d realised he was saying “Sea Eagle”.

The final snorkelling point was the last stop on the tour. Before I had a chance to put on my mask, Griff was in the water. Kudos to her for hitting her fear head on. The weather started to chuck down but it didn’t matter too much as we were in the water.

We had a great day out visiting Koh Phi Phi and the bad weather didn’t dampen our spirits. While on the tour we had met a lovely couple from Indiana called Ben and his wife Nikki who were on holiday with their 3 other friends, Adam, Ramie and Keri from the States. Ben was American but Nikki was from Cardiff, which they must had noticed my Welsh towel while we were on the boat. We roughly arranged to maybe meet everyone for drinks in the evening in the ‘Centre Point’, which is a bar area on the Ao Nang beach front.

Later that evening we did meet up with the gang. Everyone was great company and very welcoming into their group. This was refreshing and a huge relief for both Griff and I, as even though we love being in each others company, there’s a limit to conversation and personal space when you are spending 24 hours a day with each other. Up until the Krabi tours, we had struggled to meet people and we had put it down to that we were a couple. But from talking to Danielle and the American gang, everyone was experiencing a similar issue with making friends. We got the impression that people only seemed to mix in the dorm rooms of hostels or on booze cruises. Once they are in their “Special” groups it becomes hard for anyone else to join their circle. This wasn’t what I was expecting while we travelled. Luckily for us we’d found a group who were up for a laugh and conversation. The night went by fast and ended around 1am. A few shots were consumed, which with some great negotiation skills by Keri who managed to get 3 free shots for everyone at a Heavy Metal bar. Though I wouldn’t recommend Thai Heavy Metal to anyone, it’s definitely no Iron Maiden.

Ben and Nikki told us the story of how they met and how many plane journeys back and forth Wales and the States kept a long distance relationship strong. The story was good to hear seems Heidi and myself will be apart for a short while in 2012 but nowhere close to the distance that they where travelling. We also found out that Nikki had attended the same university as Griff and I, and at the same period of time that we were there. For some lectures, Nikki would have been in the next room to us and we had shared the same lecturers. How bizarre that 7 years later we all would meet in Krabi. In all, we had a brilliant night out and since then we have kept in touch with Ben and Nikki, and will either see them in Wales over the forthcoming festive holidays or hopefully State side in the near future.

Phra Nang

Heidi and I were both tired and I was slightly hungover from our late night drinks. We slowly ate breakfast as we waited for the tour to Hong Island to collect us from Ben’s House at 8:30am. 8:45am approached and I started to get slightly worried, the lady at reception kindly called the tour operator where she got no answer. We had booked the tour about a 5 minute walk from the hotel, so I ran down to find out what was going on while Heidi waited just incase the mini van arrived. The office was closed and didn’t open until 9:30am. Next door to the tour office was a guest house, which was some how connected to the tour operator. I spoke to the lady there who then called the tour guide directly, which they told her that he was on his way to collect us. I ran back to tell Heidi the good news. 9am rolled on and still no sign of the mini van. Again, I ran back to the guest house to find out where he was, which I got a confused answer of he’s on his way. The time was now 9:15am, we were both beginning to lose hope. Our receptionist came out to ask if we wanted her to call the tour operator again. We gladly accepted her offer and waited as she grilled the person on the other end of the phone in Thai. I’m not sure exactly what was said but we were told to head to the tour operator where we would get a full refund as the tour had decided not to go due to a lack of numbers. Disappointed and I was still a bit hungover we trudged down to the tour office to get our money back in full with a lot of apologies. While in the office we were greeted by the familiar face of our tour guide from Koh Phi Phi. He recommended that we charter a Longtail boat to Phra Nang and have an explore of Railae Bay. With nothing else planned and we were already packed for a day of adventure, we took his advice.

To charter the Longtail was only going to cost us 1/5 of what the tour to Hong Island had cost. On the journey over to Railae Bay we briefly met a friendly and very helpful couple called Mike and Shelly who were off to climb some difficult looking limestone cliffs on Phra Nang. They had been regulars to Phra Nang and explained to us all of the great locations to visit. We swapped stories and emails before we parted ways on Railae Bay. On another note, for anyone who’s interested in photography or looking for a photographer then take a look at Mike’s fantastic work at www.sakasphoto.com

Railae Bay was unbelievable and the weather was gorgeous, which also helped when taking in the moment. Mike and Shelly had recommended that we head to Phra Nang beach, as that was their favourite spot. So we followed the signs towards the beach. Along our way we discovered a muddy, clay hill climb that would take us up to Phra Nang’s view point and to the lagoon. The climb was slippery and steep with ropes to help you clamber up the jagged rocks. This was not the sort of climb you should do without the correct footwear but before I could even consider, Heidi had strapped on her rucksack and was heading up in flip-flops, so I followed suit.

The climb was tough and even though I would consider myself to be fitter than the average person, I was struggling and sweating heavily. The flip-flops were causing all sorts of problems and making things difficult. Along the way we passed other climbers on their descent who warned us that the climb down to the lagoon was steeper and more treacherous.

Reaching the view point was worth the pain and struggle. Our hands and legs were orange from the clay. But it didn’t matter as we had a breath taking view of Phra Nang.

Wisely, I recommended that we heed the other climbers warnings about the descent to the lagoon and not attempt to venture down in such inappropriate foot wear. I think Heidi was slightly disappointed but I was proved to be right as we slowly ventured back down the hill. About half way down the straps on my flip-flops broke. The rocks were too sharp to go barefoot, so I had quickly fix the straps to a point that they were wearable. This proved extremely difficult as every 4th or 5th step a strap would pop back out. Finally after a lot of commotion, we made it to the bottom. The climb down was horrendous and relief washed over me as I stood there covered in orange clay and dripping with sweat.

Though the sweet is never as sweet without the sour and around the corner was the jewel in Phra Nang’s crown. We had made it to the beautiful Phra Nang beach. Within seconds I’d parked my towel and was in the clear blue water changing it to a murky orange, trying to look less like a Valley Girl on a night out in Cardiff who’s been too slap happy with fake tan.

We took our time catching some sun, relaxing in the sea and watching the very skilled Cliffhangers. If you’re into serious rock climbing then Phra Nang is the place for you.

Later in the afternoon we took a stroll to the Bat Caves. Again, this is a climb you shouldn’t do without the proper footwear but luckily for me, my flip-flops held up. The cave has great views over Phra Nang beach and you’ll see the odd bat flying above your head. There’s also a tunnel that leads through the cave to the other side of the limestone, which overlooks Railae Bay but don’t attempt to venture in without a torch as it’s pitch black for a decent part of the trek.

Phra Nang was the most adventurous day we had had so far on our travels of Thailand. What had started off as a disappointing morning turned into an excellent day out and we now had a lot more spare cash from the refund.

That evening we felt content that we were leaving Thailand with a bang and were excited of the prospects of our trip through Malaysia.

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Krabi: Thailand Transport and Ao Nang

Jon — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:18:16 +0000

The journey from Koh Samui to Krabi Town was long and complicated. In usual Thai style, it had taken 3 buses and 1 ferry to bring us 5 kilometres short of our planned destination, where we then had to jump into a Tuk Tuk for the final leg of the journey. Griff and I had been picked up from Sunset Resort at 8am and didn’t arrive into Krabi Town until around 8pm. We were exhausted and had used the last of our energy arguing with the bus driver who had brought us short of our proposed destination, who also tried to drive off with Heidi still on the bus. A bit of luck was on our side though, as we discovered a great hotel that was value for money called Mansion Hotel.

Back to buses in Thailand. For anyone wanting to travel through this amazing country on a budget, then buses are by far the cheapest option. But with the budget prices, comes a no frills service that is bizarrely run. You can book your tickets through hotels, tour operators and directly at bus stations (if you can ever find them). They will hand you a receipt as confirmation that will have stamped in bold, capital, red letters “NO REFUNDS”. The usual protocol if you are being picked up at a hotel is that a mini van will arrive and you will show them your receipt. Depending on the service, they will either take your receipt and replace it with a coloured sticker or you hang on to it until you arrive at the bus station where then your receipt is taken and you’ll receive your brightly coloured new friend. Don’t Panic! This is the norm, everyone with the exception of the locals will have a sticker and don’t worry as no one else will have a clue what is going on either. But some how that colourful little friend will allow you to be ushered from bus to ferries and back onto buses. On most journeys you’ll more than likely find yourself to be moved onto more than one bus, this is very common. Griff and I are now veterans at Asian buses and being dropped off at a little make shift cafe, to then be told another bus will be coming shortly, has happened often. Your first experience may have a slight horror film feel to it but I assure you the other bus will turn up. The only real issue we’ve ever come across is being left roughly 5 kilometres short of the distance and this has always been the case when the final bus is late because they’ve been picking up passengers illegally from the side of the road. It happened a year ago to us in Pingyao, China and it happened again on the way to Krabi Town. Luckily, unlike the Pingyao situation there were Tuk Tuks at hand and we weren’t stranded on the motorway. The ‘Pingyao’ story is definitely for another time.

Generally, all road transport in Thailand is an absolute mess. Experiencing it for yourself, you’ll understand how so many people get killed yearly in Thailand. I’m not sure of the UK law on non-Europeans driving in our country but if this is not already the case, I personally implore the British Government to insist on testing anyone who owns a Thai driving license wanting to drive in the UK. I have witnessed a family of four sharing a motorised scooter with the baby at the front with no one wearing a helmet, double-decker buses overtaking on blind corners while on mountainous roads, taxi drivers turning the hard shoulder into a 4th lane on expressways and farm animals strapped to the roof of trucks going up busy streets. That’s not even to mention the Bangkok traffic. I’ve actually wondered if licenses exist or if they are given out in cereal packets? From travelling around Europe, the Middle East and China, I thought I’d seen it all when it had come to transport but as my favourite saying of this trip goes; “I was wrong!”.

Ao Nang

Our time in Krabi Town was brief and we had only used it as a resting spot after another mind-boggling, lengthy journey. But Heidi and I were on-the-go early, searching for our new temporary home. We hunted up and down Ao Nang beach front hoping to find the perfect place for the right price. Again, the ‘Travel Gods’ answered in the form of the hotel Ben’s House. Free Wifi, a decent selection of free breakfast, a super deluxe room with on-suite and a balcony, all for £7 each a night.

We spent a total of 8 nights in Ao Nang, using the area as base camp as we took part on a couple of tours and explored multiple islands. Our experiences over these 8 days were epic and I can’t do them justice in just this journal entry. I will follow this post with another, solely on our last days in Krabi and the tours.

Ao Nang in itself is a lovely spot. The area is split into 2 beach fronts; Ao Nang beach and Nopparat Thara beach. In the middle of these beaches there is a road that breaks of the main street and heads inland. Less than a 5 minute walk up this road will lead you to Ben’s House.

Both beaches are decent but we visited in Monsoon season, so a lot of driftwood and other rubbish had been washed up onto the shore but there’s still plenty of places to lay your towel. Ao Nang is the busier of the 2 fronts but that is still a very small number. Nopparat Thara beach was our preferred spot as at the far end of this coast line – where the Marina sits – you’ll discover a small mountainous rock formation in the sea, which has an accompanied beach. This beach is easily reachable by walking as the sea is very shallow. Griff and I spent a couple of days out on this secluded area, catching some sun and taking a relaxing swim in clear water. My only advice if you decide to venture off Nopparat Thara beach is to take a big bottle of water. Unlike being on the mainland, there’s no quick access to a shop or locals wandering the beach with ice-buckets filled with water bottles and the little island can become a sun trap.

One of my other favourite highlights about Ao Nang was the food. I LOVE food! For me, travelling and food are my main passions outside of art and design. I’ve noticed I hadn’t gone into too much detail about food in my previous travel entries and to be honest other than Monsoon Restaurant in the Sukhumvit, the street side restaurant in Bangkok and the Sunday Roast in Koh Samui, nothing had really blown me away. Until we found Jeanette’s Restaurant along the Ao Nang beach front. We visited ‘Jeanette’s’ on multiple occasions and each time the food was superb. Spicy Papaya Salad! Thai Beef in sweet chilli, lime and basil! Honey and Seasemme Seed Chicken Wings! And my personal recommendation; Massaman Curry! I’m in food heaven just thinking about it.

On that note, I’m now too hungry to write anymore, so I will continue the Krabi journey in the next entry.

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PresentiaFX

Jon — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:03:27 +0000

It amazes me that with the leaps forward in software and digital technology, that so many businesses – especially within the Creative Industry – are still using PowerPoint, when there are so many other great applications and software readily available.

I’m not going to sit here and write a long essay about how dreadful PowerPoint is. It’s awful and we all should know that! That’s why famous phrases have been coined such as “Death by PowerPoint”. Instead I’m going to highlight a fantastic presentation application that has given me a more dynamic and engaging way of presenting. Enter PresentiaFX!

From May until September this year, I had the privilege to work alongside the talented team of designers and developers creating the PFX (PresentiaFX) application.

PFX is a Presentation Management Solution and organisations from Virgin Atlantic to ITV, McDonald’s to TNT have come to PresentiaFX looking for help to improve this crucial element of their sales process. The problems for these businesses are almost always the same; presentations are too wordy, long, boring and lack visual appeal. Very often this is compounded by being off-brand and off-message.

BlackBerry are another organisation that has come to PFX for presentation solutions and after the success of the PresentiaFX app on the BlackBerry Playbook they have offered them the opportunity of being a BlackBerry Alliance Partner and in October gave PFX the chance to present at the BlackBerry Innovation Forum.

Back to the app itself. PresentiaFX gives you similar flexibility as the leading design software and it’s very easy to use. If you do get stuck, the Support Team are always happy to help and a Support site with video tutorials has been setup online to answer FAQs.

PresentiaFX allows you to combine text, photography, graphics, video and Flash animation to produce visually engaging presentations. While allowing you to control your brand identity by locking down layouts, fonts, colour palettes and other brand assets to your guidelines. With a tailored experience it makes customised presentations quicker to build. The easy to use Administration tool will give you full control and access to your teams presentations, allowing you to view any presentation being made at any time and also track how effective each slide has been. There’s also no need for file swapping or your team having out of date content. PFX will distribute and update presentations, slides and assets to all of your users, where ever they are. Exporting your presentations is a breeze, with playback settings for PC, Mac or as a password protected microsite, online.

Before the end of the year, PresentiaFX will be fully cross-platform. PC, Mac, BlackBerry PlayBook and Android Tablet are complete and the iPad presenter launches in December.

If you want to find out more about PresentiaFX visit www.presentiafx.com or you can try their FREE TRIAL. If you are really keen give them a call on the UK number 020 7261 9967 to discuss what PresentiaFX can do for you and your business.

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Koh Samui Archipelago

Jon — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:19:17 +0000

Koh Tao.

As the ferry docked into the port on Koh Tao, we were greeted by a mass of taxi drivers, diving instructors and guest house owners. We waded through the crowd and spotted the diving rep that we had been chatting to on the ferry. He had offered to show us around a few accommodations, as long as we had a chat about the possibility of booking a diving tour. It sounded like a fair deal, so we jumped into the back of his truck with some other island hoppers and headed about 10 minutes drive north away from the port. After the diving chat and a few viewings of accommodation, we found a room opposite the ‘Davy Jones Locker – Diving School’. Time to relax and catch some sun!

Koh Tao was beautiful and we had some fantastic weather. Griff’s bad luck was back to haunt her on the first day. We had spent the day exploring the area we were in, relaxing on the beach and taking a dip in the sea. Even though Heidi was wearing SPF50, she still managed to burn. The sunburn was a bit irregular and looked as if it was caused by the sea removing the cream, as Heidi had burns in the shape of water marks. One in particular went across the left side of her face and over her eye making her look like ‘Ziggy Stardust’. So naturally, I nicknamed her ‘David Bowie’ for the duration of our stay on Koh Tao. Cruel? Yes! Funny? Very!

The travel books state that “Koh Tao is a Diver’s island and anyone looking for relaxed, beach action should look elsewhere, as most accommodation only want people who are booking onto diving courses”. I couldn’t disagree more. Yes, the guest houses and beach huts are connected with the diving courses and tours but never at anytime where we made to feel unwelcome or pressured to take a diving course. Koh Tao was one of the most relaxed places I have ever visited and while there, ‘Bowie’ and I lost track of time and days.

Highlights of Koh Tao were exploring the secluded Shark Bay with its perfect beach and rows of palm trees dotted across the cost. Also for the evenings we would recommend the Lotus Bar, which sits directly on the beach. Lotus Bar has a beach life ambience, rugs line the sand for you to sit on with short tables and Singha beer bottles as candle holders. No need to get up as there’s table service, so you can lay back, relax and watch the impressive show of fire twirlers.

For anyone travelling Thailand for any lengthy period of time, Koh Tao is a ‘Must See’.

Koh Phangan.

Koh Tao was a brilliant start to our island hopping adventure. But part of me was feeling slightly reserved as we travelled across to Koh Phangan on the ferry. From word of mouth and Alex Garland’s best selling novel ‘The Beach’, I knew Koh Phangan had a reputation for being the party island with its infamous ‘Full Moon’ parties. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never been shy of alcohol fuelled events that have gone long into the night but those university days are long behind me and I’d much prefer a good, old fashioned pub with great company or a decent restaurant where I can get home at a reasonable hour and keep the hangover down to a minimum. Yes! I’m getting old and my hangovers now last at least 2 days.

I was hoping the hearsay was inaccurate and wanted to give the island a chance. We’d done some research into Koh Phangan and we were aiming for the quieter end of the island. The truck taxiing us to our destination pulled into Haad Rin Nok and the driver yelled; “FULL MOON PARTY!”. I believe Heidi’s description of my face was; “pure horror”. We had misread the information we had on the island. Instead of being away from the craziness, we had stuck ourselves right in the middle of it.

There wasn’t much accommodation left on Haad Rin Nok and what was available was too expensive for our budget. Griff and I finally found a beach hut that was £9 a night. The hut was rough! The guy showing us around didn’t help much either as he was high and could barely stand let alone string a sentence together. It was getting late, we were both exhausted and overwhelmed by the experience, so we took the room and promised to either find a better place in the morning or jump onto the next ferry to Koh Samui.

After a lot of duct tape and fiddling we had put up the mosquito net for the first time. We decided to take a wander and get better acquainted with the area and hope to find a solution to our current problem. Also I was creeped out by something that was crawling within the walls of the hut and didn’t want to find out what it was.

Griff and I strolled over to the next beach on Haad Rin. This area was less intense but I still had a bad vibe about the whole situation. We inquired into a few accommodations but nothing was either in budget or was of any quality worth staying. Then a shining light appeared in the form of the Outback Bar! So, I pitched my idea to Heidi that we would get up early, have breakfast, watch the Wales vs Ireland rugby game in the Outback Bar and then jump straight onto the first ferry off the island to the promised land of Koh Samui. She was sold!

We spent the evening in the Outback Bar, tucking into some good grub and maxing out their wifi. Griff and I tried to spend as much time as we could in the bar so we didn’t have to go back to the wall moving hut. As funds ran low, finally we had to go back.

The Full Moon party was 4 days away but that didn’t stop the build-up preparations. The music blasted throughout the night and into the early hours and finally stopped around 6am. I had watched every hour go by from midnight but instead of tiredness, I felt relief and fell asleep for a few hours.

Griff and I hadn’t unpacked, so we checked out as soon as we were awake and headed for breakfast at the Outback Bar, watched Wales beat Ireland and jumped on this first possible ferry we could.

While on-board, we plotted ourselves on the top deck and swung our feet overboard. I felt like a new man as we baked in the sun with Koh Samui in the distance.

I wouldn’t want to put anyone off from visiting Koh Phangan, as I believe everyone’s journey is different. I’m sure most people would love the party atmosphere and the wild nights. The island itself is gorgeous and from what I’ve been told the North is more tranquil. But for this ‘Old Boy’, it wasn’t my scene and I can say without any doubt I will never return.

Koh Samui.

Hello Koh Samui! I was in a far better mood than I had been in the last 24 hours. Within minutes of being in Koh Samui we’d found a cracking little place to stay and it had put my faith right back into ‘Beach Huts’. The staff at ‘Sunset Resort’ were very friendly, the quality of the hut was 100% better than the hole in Koh Phangan and it was cheaper. Bonus!

Right across from the Sunset Resort was a sweet little pub called ‘The Lord Nelson’, run by an Australian man and his Thai wife. There was wifi, free pool table, great food and they did a Sunday roast. What more could we ask for? Griff and I became regulars in the pub over the next 6 days.

Koh Samui was all about taking our time to relax on the beach, enjoy the sun and have the break we’d been craving for. That’s exactly what we got and a little bit more. Griff and I also found time to tour the island, visiting Big Buddha, a Mummified Monk, a Monkey show, more waterfalls and some rocks shaped like genitalia. I kid you not, the genitalia shaped rocks are a massive attraction in Koh Samui and are named the Grandfather and Grandmother rocks. There’s a legend behind these rocks but I’ll allow your own curiosity to Google the story.

Heidi and I also took full advantage of the one day we had bad weather. Griff spent the day catching up with her blog (Lolita & Me) and I used the day to be very productive working on concepts for a client’s branding project. That evening we also watched the speed boats leave Koh Samui heading towards Koh Phangan for the ‘Full Moon’ party. It was quite a spectacle to see the boats lined up along the coast and the fireworks going off late into the night. But I enjoyed it from the comfort of our beach hut across the sea.

Koh Samui was another picturesque island and we highly recommend the Bophut Beach. We stayed on the beach front of Bangrak, which is the next one along the coast from Bophut. In Bophut you will also find the ‘Fisherman’s Village’, which has various restaurants all serving quality food at reasonable prices, especially the lunch time specials.

The Koh Samui archipelago brought us highs and lows. Koh Phangan had been my biggest challenge so far but Koh Tao and Koh Samui had more than made up for that one bad day.

This reminds me of one of my favourite quotes; “The sweet is never as sweet without the sour, and baby… I’ve tasted the sour”.

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Waterfalls, Tiger Temple and the Floating Market

Jon — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 01:35:52 +0000

We rolled into Bangkok around 10pm with no plan and nowhere to stay. We took our chances and headed back to the Sawasdee Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 8, knowing we had already payed for 2 nights in advance for when we should of arrived back from Chiang Mai. The manager was sympathetic to our situation and kindly switched the dates of our stay, which was a huge relief.

After a hard night’s sleep, we return again to Khao San Road and got a full refund on our tour. Heidi and I then booked onto a new tour that would take us to Erawan Falls and the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi, which was about 3 hours north west of Bangkok. The rest of the day was spent visiting ‘Big Buddha’ and museums, while dodging a huge down pour when we jumped into a Tuk Tuk. As crazy as it sounds, a Tuk Tuk ride in monsoon rain is as much fun as a ‘wet and wild’ roller-coaster. The Tuk Tuk dropped us off at Hua Lamphong station. There Heidi and I booked our tickets to the Floating Market and for the same day our VIP bus and ferry trip to the island of Koh Tao. A good tip if you’re purchasing train or overnight bus tickets in Bangkok; always get them direct from Hua Lamphong station, they are the cheapest price (no tour operator fees or add-ons) and the information staff are very helpful.

Erawan Falls and the Tiger Temple

Light pierced through the blinds and I dived out of the bed with panic towards my phone. We were suppose to be at Khao San Road at 7am, which was a 30-40 minute taxi ride across town. The time was 06:26. Damn! My alarm hadn’t gone off. A space of 10 minutes of erratic scrambling saw us finish packing, check out, put bags into a lock-up and dive into a taxi. The taxi driver sensing our hurry, hit pedal to the metal and shot off up the street. Time was ticking away and we were hoping a 30 minute journey on a good day without Bangkok traffic would magically turn into 24 minutes. As 7am approached I took a chance and called the tour’s driver. He told us that he would wait 10 minutes but no later. No word of a lie, we arrived at Khao San Road exactly 07:01. We payed quickly with a generous tip and started running towards our pick-up point. We had made it! Other people on the tour were stood waiting and the mini bus hadn’t even turned up yet.

I slept most of the 3 hour bus journey to Kanchanaburi. The tour took Griff (Heidi-Louise) and I to Erawan Falls first. The waterfalls have many levels and I believe we reached the 4th level with the time we had. On the 2nd level you were able to go for a swim and climb up onto the rocks below the waterfall that lead into an opening. I sat there for a good 10 minutes soaking up the moment before leaping off, through the waterfall and into the pool below. Anyone who knows me well, will tell you this adventure is ‘right up my street’. Griff on the other hand wasn’t having as much fun. Heidi’s irrational fear of fish was stopping her from getting into the pool. To be fair there was roughly a hundred big fish swimming about and they’d have a nibble at your feet once you stepped into the shallow water but they were harmless. It took about 20 minutes to coax Heidi into the water. Once in, she was still uncomfortable having the fish around her and even with me helping her along in the water, she was erratically swimming towards the waterfall. Then came problem number 2. Once Griff had got behind the waterfall, we now had the issue of getting her off the rocks, as Heidi also has a phobia of having large amounts of water around her head. Again it took a while to get her off the rocks but she threw her self off and swam as quickly as she could to the other side to get out. In all the panic and adrenaline, Heidi hadn’t realised she cut her foot on the rock as she had landed into the pool. Poor Griff wasn’t having a good day so far but I was proud of her for facing her fears.

Onto the Tiger Temple, which is run by Monks. This was well worth the money as we were able to wander around and have pictures taken with both adult tigers and cubs. The Tigers’ keepers, which were mostly British and Australian assured us that the Tigers weren’t sedated as all of them had grown from cubs in the complex and were use to having humans around them. Though they stressed that didn’t mean that they weren’t still highly dangerous. The Tiger Temple also had farm animals wandering around freely including Wild Boar and there was also a pen for a family of Black Bears.

With the exception of the mad rush across town and Heidi’s mini panic at the falls, it turned out to be a great day.

The Floating Market

With the rucksacks in lock-up waiting for our overnight trip to Kho Tao. Heidi and I were on a tour to see the Floating Market in Ratchaburi, which is roughly 2 hours west of Bangkok.

The Floating Market is a photographer’s dream, not to mention a brilliant place to pick up a bargain. As the name states the market is floating on various linked canals in Ratchaburi and they also have stalls up and down the banks of the canal. There is a variety of goods on offer, from a lite bite to your full weeks groceries and cheap souvenirs to amazing pieces of hand crafted sculptures. It’s a buzzing market atmosphere from 7am until 3pm. It’s worth paying the little extra to have a hand paddled boat (Thai equivalent to a Gondola) tour for 40 minutes on the canal, that way you get right in the heart of the action. At any point in time you can get the boat to stop if there’s something that catches your eye. But make sure to bargain, usually the best way to start is to immediately half any price the seller gives you. Unluckily for the lady we came across selling a beautiful vase, she had met her match in ‘The Griff’. Heidi’s background in buying and previous experience of roughing it out with China’s tough pearl market dealers, saw this lady’s value of the vase drop from 500 baht to a mere 180 baht, which is about £3.60.

After the Floating Market the tour took us on a Longtail through the canals to view the local village. Each house sat on the bank of the canal and the front entrance was via the river. The houses were quite run down and looked to have been built by the villagers but at the same time there was something honest and homely about their simplicity.

Another fantastic day out and now we were both looking forward to getting to Koh Tao to get some beach action.

The VIP Bus to Chumphon

Griff and I had eagerly arrived early for our overnight trip to the island of Koh Tao. The bus was picking us up at 8pm and we’d arrive in Chumphon at 6am ready to catch the 7am ferry.

At the front of the cue we were hoping to grab some good seats. Though our bubble was burst as when we got onto the rough looking double decker bus, it was already full with the exception of a few remaining seats. As none of the seats were together, Griff and I had to sit separately. Heidi plotted up in a window seat and I had to squeeze into an aisle seat next to a bloke who was well over 6ft 5″, myself being 6ft 1″ made this a very uncomfortable journey for both of us and I’m sure he was wishing I’d chosen somewhere else to sit. At least in 12 hours time we’d arrive on the sandy shores of Koh Tao. The journey however felt like it would never end.

I was wide awake and legs dangled out into the walkway. I was lucky that the bus was playing the movie ‘Blow’, which was able to take my mind off the situation for a couple of hours. While the movie was on a heavy down pour caused the back of the top deck of the bus to leak and water had reached a row behind me. Some people had to move to the lower deck with no seats, while others patched up the leaks with plastic carrier bags and ducted tape.

Around midnight the bus pulled over for a break. As I got off the bus my flip flop broke. Brilliant! Heidi then told me of her nightmare story of jumping spiders, lack of sleep and a leak above her head. She claimed that she wasn’t cut out for the backpacker lifestyle. I was tired and to be honest not in my most cheerful mood. My reply may have been a little harsh but if I recall correctly, I think I said something along the lines of; “Man Up!” and reminded her we were a few hours short of paradise. As we all got back on the bus, my fellow passenger next to me was greeted back on board by a giant cockroach on his seat. Things couldn’t have been more perfect.

Another 3 cramped and sleepless hours went by. Then at 3am the bus came to a halt. We were at the ferry port, 4 hours early. Everyone had to get off the bus and find shelter from the rain until 7am. How convenient that the only place open with shelter was the ferry port’s restaurant. Heidi thought my conspiracy theories were amusing but as you’ll see from future posts, this becomes quite a regular occurrence in Thailand.

As the sun arose it brought hope of the good times that lay ahead. Fingers crossed!

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To Ayutthaya and back again

Jon — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:14:46 +0000

The mini bus picked us up early from the tour operator’s on Khao San Road. There in mini bus, we met a bloke from Israel who at first came across dreary but he came to life once he started sharing his journey with us. It was then we realised that he was on his way to Pattaya and we were meant to be heading in the opposite direction to Ayutthaya. After confirming with the driver that we were all in the right mini bus, our trip across town came to a halt and we were ushered onto our new transport to Ayutthaya, which was in the shape of a shed on wheels that they called a ‘bus’. This ‘bus’ should have been in a museum. We squeezed into our seats with our rucksacks on our laps. The bus was already 2/3 full and could probably fit safely another 2 people in maximum plus the driver. Again I was wrong, there was enough room to squeeze in another 5 people. The bus sat in 30c heat for around 15 minutes before leaving with no air conditioning and the side door open for the only access to hot air. I glanced over to Heidi-Louise who was in complete melt down and not at all seeing the funny side of the story. To top it off we overheard the bus driver taking money off new passengers at a quarter of the price we had payed.

The shed was like lightning. We battered along the highway, overtaking on bends and we even got stopped by the police who seemed more than happy with the amount of people squeezed into the bus. Finally after a 2 hour journey we had almost arrive at Ayutthaya but not after our driver tried to play us and a South African couple for fools by trying to drop us off 4 miles short of our destination claiming we were at Ayutthaya and there conveniently sat a row of Tuk Tuk drivers, all claiming the same thing. The South African couple had got out of the bus but I wasn’t having any of it. Luckily for us I’d been observing the road signs on the way in and I knew we were short of the distance to the town. The other thing that gave it away was all of the other Thai passagers were staying on the bus and I was 100% sure Ayutthaya was the final destination. As the Tuk Tuk drivers pushed harder to sell us that we were in Ayutthaya, Heidi and myself started badgering the other passengers for where they were going. After a good couple of minutes of a stand off, the driver cracked and told the South Africa couple to get back on and we drove the final miles to the actual bus station.

After we had checked into our hotel and dropped off our rucksacks, Heidi and I had roughly 24 hours to explore Ayutthaya before our train to Chiang Mai. Ayutthaya was amazing. A small town built around ancient ruins and temples that are still inhabited by monks. One of the ruin sites has a lake where you can feed fish and turtles. For anyone visiting Thailand via Bangkok, should consider a day trip or better still, an overnight stay in Ayutthaya. A great way to get around the ruins is by bicycle but a photo I.D. is required.

We explored as much of Ayutthaya as we possibly could but some areas on the outskirts had been badly flooded and were still dangerous to visit. Once the sun went down, in came the monsoon rain. I had never seen anything like it, in the matter of minutes water was streaming down the street and large pools had formed around the hotel. Heidi and I decided to ditch the idea of going out for dinner and quickly scuttled to the ’7 Eleven’ down the road for our food source. We got drenched in the process and to add to the surreal experience, opposite our hotel a Japanese Karoke bar blasted out awful renditions of ‘Rat Pack’ songs long into the night as if nothing was going on.

In the morning we continued our trek around the ruins and temples. But we were alarmed by the amount of rain that had come down through the night. If the rain was that bad here, what were they getting north in Chiang Mai where previous flash floods had already taken lives? The ’7 Eleven’ had multiple newspapers outside their shop showing devastating pictures of the flooding but as the papers were in Thai we had no idea of which area. Heidi questioned the staff members of where the pictures were taken, which the response was; “Chiang Mai”. We decided to take our minds off the situation and visited the Elephant Village, where you can go on an Elephant trek and also feed them. The staff seemed less than bothered by us wandering around the stables and just let us get on with feeding and taking pictures.

The Elephant Village only distracted us for a short while and the discussion of how safe Chiang Mai was arose again. In a strange role reversal I was quite calm about the situation and tried to convince Heidi that we’d wait and see if the train was running, then make our decision from there. Heidi-Louise was unsure and unlike her as she’s usually the more placid traveller, wanted to get more information. I’m thankful she did! I called the hotel in Chiang Mai to find out the situation in the area, only to have the chilling reply of; “The hotel is flooded, there are no tours and the train is cancelled”. After a few calls back and forth with our tour operator, they told us to return to Bangkok, where we would get a full refund. So, we headed to the train station and arrived just in time to get a refund for the cancelled train and jumped straight onto the next train to Bangkok. The next 2 hours we sat on the train reflecting the last 48 hours. Both of us were disappointed that a huge part of our trip had been cancelled but safety was paramount. Also these were selfish thoughts when you see the bigger picture that lives, homes and livelihoods have been lost due to the flash floods throughout Asia, which from what I’m aware has been poorly reported through global media.

It’s moments like these when you realise just how small we really are.

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From W5 to Bangkok

Jon — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:25:23 +0000

Ealing to Bangkok.

Still feeling the effects from a late night out with our friends in London, Heidi and I slowly finished packing our bags ready for the night flight from Heathrow to Bangkok.

We said our final goodbyes to our amazing housemates and to Ealing, which had been our home for the last 5 years. Our housemates had bought us ‘Ealing’ t-shirts as a leaving present, which has become a tradition in the QAG house hold.

So, we swung our rucksacks onto our backs and headed off to Heathrow. Though not without difficulty, as Heidi’s bag is nearly the same size as her and weighs about 16kgs but she did well not to topple over.

We touched down in Bangkok around 3pm on the 26th September. The flight with Qantas was great, which was a good start as we are flying with them for the entire duration of the trip.

Leaving the baggage reclaim area I was greeted with a nice surprise with seeing a client project I had worked on displayed proudly in the foyer of Bangkok International Airport.

Bangkok’s metro transport system is very useful and easy to get around. Though I can’t say the same for their road sign posting. Having experienced China and the UAE previously, you would of thought I would have been more savvy with Asia’s road directions but that wasn’t the case. Instead of stopping and trying to get directions, I spearheaded the charge towards our hotel, thinking I’d read the map correctly. I was wrong! Taking us 30 minutes away from our hotel. Finally after getting correct directions from a local we lugged our bags to the Sawasdee Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 8, arriving exhausted and uncomfortable from the humidity. Luckily we were just in time as darkness had set in.

The first night in Bangkok was a blur due to lack of sleep and 18 hours of travel. Though the memory of being in ‘Monsoon’ restaurant in Sukhumvit stands out for it’s good food, friendly service and the moment of relaxation where I thought to myself; “finally we are here”.

Bangkok.

We were up early and ready to start our adventure. Heidi and I had planned initially only to spend 3 days in Bangkok and then use it as a base for one night while returning from Chiang Mai. Our first destination in Bangkok was to see the Grand Palace and later we made our way to Khao San Road, which in its own right is something to experience. Khao San Road is a hive for travellers and is full of guest houses, bars, eateries and tacky souvenir shops. In the evening the street is blocked off from traffic and a buzzing nightlife continues into the early hours.

A lot of the main traveller attractions and Khao San Road are based in a part of Bangkok that has no access to the train or the metro system but you can grab a Tuk Tuk (small, 3 wheeled motorised cart) that will take you anywhere in this area. Tuk Tuk drivers love to bargain and make sure you never pay for more than 100 baht per ride not matter how many passengers. Also another tip is to make sure you stress; “No Stops!”, otherwise you’ll end up in a tailors or a jewellers on your way to your destination. Metre Taxis are handy and can even be cheaper than Tuk Tuks but only if you avoid getting in one at rush hour, as the metre doesn’t stop when stuck in a traffic jam, which are extremely common in Bangkok. On that note, my biggest complaint about Bangkok would be the amount of traffic. It makes London look like a country road. On the other hand, I was surprised that Bangkok wasn’t as polluted or smelt as bad as I’d been preparing for based on friends opinions who have visited previously. To be honest on both of our visits to Beijing, I found the pollution and smells a lot worse.
Bangkok also has a good river taxi service that has been recommended to us by various people, unfortunately we never got the chance to experience that mode of transport.

Our second full day in Bangkok we went back to Khao San Road to book our bus to Ayutthaya and our hill trek tribe tour to Chiang Mai. It was at this moment that we were told of how badly Chiang Mai had been hit by fatal flash floods. After a few phone calls by the tour operator we were assured that the flooding was calming and both the train and the tour was still running.

For the rest of the day Heidi & I explored Bangkok by foot. We got lost a few times from dodgy map reading but also stumbled across the flower market and China Town. In the evening we found a street kitchen that was packed with both locals and travellers, so we decided to give it a go based on its popularity. The food was fantastic and a meal for 2 that also included drinks came to about £4.50. Bargain!

Another early rise, as we needed to get across town to catch the bus to Ayutthaya to start our journey north to Chiang Mai. Unaware that the next 48 hours would be a test for both of us to see how much steel we had as backpackers.

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A leap of faith

Jon — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:39:33 +0000

I launched ‘Random thoughts of an average mind’ at the beginning of 2011, hoping to document my experience and experimentations as a Graphic Designer. The aim was to add entries of the tasks and questions I encounter along the way, while finding solutions and answers for them.

To be honest with myself, I’ve been poor with adding journal entries and I’ve got a back log of stories and experimentations to share with you.

It’s been a busy and very challenging year so far. But in a great way. I’ve pushed myself to the limit and then pushed my skills some more. Constantly asking questions of the creative industry and what part I should play.

Back in May I took on a completely new challenge as I joined Plus Two. I stepped out of my comfort zone as a Graphic Designer and tried my hand at Website Development. There was a steep learning curve from the start but I had found a team that were willing to give me the time and help that I needed to tackle my new gauntlet, head on.

It was at Plus Two I asked some of the biggest questions to what I wanted to achieve and it was there that I got my answers.

Since my early university days I’ve always had 3 major goals:
1. To have my own studio
2. To teach/lecture Graphic Design & Art
3. To feed my passion for travelling the world

These goals have always been in the back of my mind and the burning desire to achieve just one of them was starting to take its toll, as for a ‘fear of failure’ was stopping me from perusing any.

In July it finally hit me… “What the hell am I waiting for?”

After a conversation with my partner who has the same passion for travel as I and who also wants to ‘be her own boss’. We’ve decide to take that ‘leap of faith’.

There was also a surreal moment, which took place 4 days before we both had planned to hand in our notices where our little town of Ealing had succumb to the violence of the London Riots. A sleepless night that found us and neighbours stepping out to work on a Tuesday morning to see our high street in pieces. This day was enough of a hint that a bit of time away from the UK would do us some good to reflect.

So, as I write this blog, I’m sitting having breakfast overlooking Ao Nang beach in Thailand. Both of us at the end of September finished our final months notice in our jobs and are now taking a 3 month sabbatical before we arrive back in the UK to start our new ventures in the new year.

My time at Plus Two was short but very sweet. I am in awe of such a talented team of developers, designers, account handlers and business minds. I’m also very grateful to Nick and the team for allowing me the opportunity to work with them and learn from some of best in the Digital industry. I was sad to go but I know that won’t be the last I see of the guys and I leave with life long friends. Thank you Plus Two for all of your help and understanding. I hope to see you all over the festive holidays.

Over the next 3 months I’ll be updating the blog with travel posts of Heidi’s & my journey through Asia and Australia. On our return I will launch my freelance studio and find ways of getting my foot into the door of teaching. I’ll make sure to add more love to my online journal and not to be so tardy on the entries.

Here’s to the future! I’m very excited of what our travels bring and the new adventure we face in 2012.

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Back then we had no manifesto

Jon — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:14:33 +0000

I find it a little ironic that as I’m putting together an entry for my online journal about how the Manic Street Preachers have influenced the way I design and have been a huge inspiration in my life, I’m listening to their song ‘A Billion Balconies Facing The Sun’ off their most recent album ‘Postcards From A Young Man’. Just in case you don’t know the song, I’ll put my statement into context. James Dean Bradfield bellows out the chorus:-

A billion balconies facing the sun
A billion faces turned to their screens
The perfect answer to camouflage our screams
A billion lies becoming the truth
An ecstasy of the eye
As wide as eternity tonight

Just like Art and Design, lyrics are subjective but I was very amused by the moment and I thought it was worth sharing.

I can imagine if you asked a Graphic Designer what they thought was the inspiration for why they ventured into the Creative Industry, a high percentage would say they were influenced by music and album cover artwork.

I would also be in that high percentage. In the mid-late 90′s I got deeply involved with listening to music and hanging out with the local school bands. I couldn’t play an instrument and I was completely tone deaf. But that didn’t stop me debating the subject and having a very outspoken opinion. It was at this very same time I discovered my love for art and design. I’m sure this was no coincidence. My friends were musically gifted and I desired to find a similar expression, so I could be heard.

Growing up in the old mining town of Abertillery, one band stood out amongst the rest. They were the local celebrities as they came from Blackwood, which was a similar town that was only 7-miles away. At first I was a reactionary. I was unsure of this radical change in music that my peers were embracing. But in time I went along with the Zeitgeist and ever since I’ve become a life long fan of the Manic Street Preachers.

I’ll always remember the first time I had the album cover artwork of ‘The Holy Bible’ in my hand. Sat in a windowsill of a mates bedroom, for an unknown reason my reaction was a mixture of disgust and intrigue. As I poured over the delightfully controversial and shocking ‘Strategy’ paintings by Jenny Saville, I could sense a burning desire in my heart to want to be just as creative and to make a statement.

When it has come to their cover artwork, the Manics have always been dedicated to the process of art and design. From all of their album and singles covers, you can see there’s an enormous amount of detail, effort, and skill that have gone into creating them. They have hand picked some of the finest creatives in the industry to work with; using design and art direction from Farrow Design, original paintings from Neale Howells and Jenny Saville, and photography from Andy Earl, Glenn Lutchford, Mitch Ikeda, Tom Sheehan and John Ross.

The Jenny Saville paintings used for ‘The Holy Bible’ and ‘Journal for plagued lovers’ are instantly captivating and the artwork concept for the album cover ‘Life Blood’ has influenced multiple design agencies and their work. But my personal favourite out of all of the artwork created for the Manic Street Preachers is the collaboration between Nick Wire’s creative concept, the design and direction of Farrow Design with the original paintings of Neale Howells for the album ‘Know Your Enemy’. I love the simplicity of using Neil Howells’ ‘Pollock-esque’ inspired canvases and overlaying the text in a condensed version of Helvetica. The last word on each line has been broken and continues onto the next line, which engages the viewer, tempting them with a moment of thought and to question; “Why has the Designer/Artist decided to break from the norm?”.

I was lucky enough that in 1999 the Manic Street Preachers took part in a exhibition called ‘Unconvention’ curated by Jeremy Deller in the old ‘Centre for the Visual Arts’ in Cardiff. The exhibition brought together artists, photographers, poets and organisations that have inspired the work of the the Manics. On show were loaned works by Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol. At that point I had been to multiple art exhibitions across Britain, Spain and France but this was the first to awaken me to the prospect of my voice being heard through the medium of art and design. Once the exhibition came to a close, BBC Wales aired a special feature on ‘Unconvention’, below this post I’ve pasted 2 links to YouTube videos which shows parts 2 and 3 of the documentary. I have been unsuccessful in finding a full version of it and part 1 has been removed from the YouTube website. So, happy hunting if you want to find the start of the documentary and please post a link if you are successful.

I will forever be grateful and inspired by this great Welsh rock band and even though they are taking a much needed break I will look forward to being further influenced by any music or artwork they produce in the future. For this Graphic Designer, the chance to work with the Manic Street Preachers on any art or design project would be the ultimate career dream.

Further Reading & Videos:

Manic Street Preachers On The UK Riots

Unconvention – BBC Website

Unconvention – Frieze Magazine

Unconvention – Part 2 – YouTube

Unconvention – Part 3 – YouTube

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