Back to Thailand

So it has been a while since our last post and you must all be impatient to hear what we have been getting up to....or not! But we will tell you anyway so take a seat.

Having left Cambodia we headed back to the bright lights of Bangkok with the hope of arriving in time to catch a night train to Suratthani in southern Thailand and from there onto Koh Samui by ferry. The bus journey to the Cambodian border passed with out hitch, bar the fact out Tuk tuk never arrived for our bus transfer leaving us somewhat in the lurch! The roads in Cambodia are notoriously bumpy (allegedly so the airlines get more custom, though this is unconfirmed) with pot holes the size of craters and wonky diversions around sections that are being repaired or made worse, depending how you look at it. However, once we reached the border crossing we were directed across a no-mans land, home to some massive casinos, and into Thailand. Immigration you will be glad to hear was very smoothly run and before we knew it we were in the back of a plush a/c mini bus cruising down the flat Thai motorways. We arrived back in Bangkok on the Khao San Road, where our adventure had begun a few weeks previously and got in a taxi straight to the station. Luckily there was still room on the train but unluckily it was in third class seating. Like true adventurers we paid our money and hit KFC for a spot of rancid overpriced chicken while waiting for our train to be called. In no time at all we were on the train and rolling south to start the arduous task of 3 weeks of beach inspection duty. It is worth noting that 3rd class Thai train carriages are not recommended for a 10 hour ride through the night. As well as sitting with some locals we also met the odd cockroach and encountered the pleasing waft eminating from the toilets we were so fortunate to be sitting next to. Can't seem to get away from them...

Having swapped the cockroach express for a ferry, we were eventually spat out onto Koh Samui. The island has a reputation amongst backpackers for being far too westernised and it is easy to see why. Whilst in the taxi to find a beach to spend the night on we saw a Makro, a Tesco, a Starbucks, a McDonalds....you name it they have it. Anyway after a brief stop in Chaweng beach where we thought we would stay but couldn't figure the place out we headed to the quieter Lamai beach where we splashed out on a nice beach bungalow. The afternoon was spent lounging on the beach with a beer and determining whether or not to rent a jetski. We did and it was incredible! It was 1800cc of adrenaline and we spent half an hour punishing it. However when we returned to shore we realised that the jetski had (in a strictly un-dodgy way) also punished our backsides and it made it decidedly uncomfortable to walk for a day or so! That evening we headed out to check out what Lamai beach had to offer. It offered two things: one was alot of romantic restuarants where the two of us sat like plums over a candle lit dinner and two, girly bars. The latter was a very strange experience as having settled upon a bar called Willy Bar (in hindsight a potentially unwise selection) we ended up playing not with the obvious, but with Jenga and Connect Four. Bar the name of our particular choice of establishment and the dodgy 50 year old guys leering at the Thai ladies it was a really fun night and we returned home, trouble free but better at the aformentioned games.

The next day we swiflty left Koh Samui and headed for the backpacker haven of Koh Phangan. Once we had disembarked we were met by a barrage of accomodation touts and after much indesicion we chose to stay at Luck Resort on Had Yao beach on the northwest of the island. The resort was awesome and our bungalow had a great sunset view and whats more was right next to the pool. Lucky was our base for three days while we roamed the island on scooters and snorkelled. The second night was half moon and that meant Half Moon party! Having met up with three english guys from the resort we headed down to the jungle venue which played host to the bi-monthly rave. The setting was really cool with lots of lighting in the trees, glow paints and psycadelic trance pumping from the sound system. Unfortunatley Rob had started to suffer from a semi-nasty bout of food poisoning brought on by the pad thai he had for dinner. As the evening wore on he was getting to know the toliets very well and due to the fee every time you used the loo he was keeping the attendants in designer shoes too. Both ends were burning (sorry), and not for the first time this trip, Rob once more found himself repeatedly praying to the porcelain god... The night ended in a hazy (but always controlled) blur and we eventually returned to our resort in the very small hours of the morning. The next day was spent relaxing before we decided it was time to check out Haad Rin, the party town of the island.

Haad Rin is a backpacker party paradise born out of the first full moon party held there in the late 1980s. The full moon party is held once a month on every full moon and sees 20-30,000 people arrive to party from sunset to sunrise. Despite the fact that we had missed the full moon the town still had enough to offer and we ended up spending 5 or 6 nights there (we can remember honestly but we don't have our calender to hand). It might also be partly due to the fact that each morning we would decide that we couldn't get up to leave and stayed put. Again the days were spent getting tanned/burnt and focusing a lot of attention on what we would eat that evening. The evenings were spent at the mighty Drop In bar on the beach. This bar was the most popular in the town by virtue of the fact that they have a gigantic sound system and fire dudes who juggle fire, set up fire jump ropes and hold musical chair competitions. How nobody gets seriously burnt is a mystery but it does make for a good laugh as you attempt to jump through a ring of fire. By the end of the week we were worn out from the buckets and the Drop In, and decided to up sticks and leave for Koh Tao, the divers paradise. By this time, we'd picked up a straggler from home; Rob's girlfriend Hilary, who'd be with us for the next 8 days. So 2 became 3 (albeit temporarily) as we headed for the diving hotspot.

Koh Tao is a beautiful place, and after arriving we spent two days getting to know the island. The first night was spent in a crappy set of bungalows before we came to our senses and moved to the awesome Sairee Cottages the next day. It was here that we befriended 'Barnados' the banana chip eating ca;, basically a cat that loved eating banana chips. Cats aside, Koh Tao has basically become one of the leading scuba destinations because it is surrounded by unbelievable reefs and dives sites. So it was that we booked ourselves onto the SSI Open Water Dive course for the next 4 days at the fantastic Scuba Junction. The diving was incredible and made more so by our instructor Paul, a young guy from England who moved there 3 years ago and never left. Paul was brilliant; really down to earth, as you'd expect, but really helpful and patient, on the few times we found something difficult. Oddly, whereas it took a while to come to terms with some of the responses to potential emergencies you might encounter whilst on a dive, the diving itself was pretty easy; we all were amazed at how quickly we picked things up, and became pretty decent. We completed 5 dives in total the first being a training dive to familiarize us with the scuba gear and basic underwater skills. The following four dives were out on the dive sites ranging from depths of 12m to 18-20m. The variety of fish and coral is mindblowing and despite the fact we didn't see any sharks we saw Titan Trigger fish (super territorial and will bite divers), angel fish, massive shoals of jacks, parrot fish and loads more. Another incredible feeling is looking up from the bottom of the sea and seeing just how deep you are. We're now all qualified to dive anywhere in the world up to 18 metres, which we hope to make good use of in Fiji; we recommend scuba highly! The last day on Koh Tao, which was supposed to be our leaving day turned out to coincide with the Thai lunar new year festival called Songkram. It is basically an excuse for a massive water fight lasting the entire day. Rob and Hilary found out about this coincidence to their detriment as they returned from what should a have been a pleasant walk totally drenched and covered in toothpaste! Given the potential pitfalls of having to leave on this day of all days we decided to change our ticket and leave Koh Tao the next day. This allowed us to fully enjoy the festivities and get nicely soaked. After her brief visit (and her qualification as a diver) Hilary returned to the fun and excitement of good ol' England, leaving us two intrepid travellers (see: jokers) to make the long, hard journey to Phuket.

So yesterday we had a nightmarish slog of a 2-3 hour boat, a bus ride, another 2-3 hour boat and a 6 hour bus ride to Phuket where tomorrow we leave for Fiji! We spent today visiting the Phi Phi islands home to the magnificent Maya bay, where the 'Beach' was filmed. The islands were really nice but the sheer volume of boats made fully enjoying it difficult. Although unquestionably beautiful, it felt a bit rushed and was, in all honesty, a bit shonky. A perfect summary of Thailand, perhaps (in the nicest way possible!) We took some cool pictures of the towering rock faces and had the chance to snorkel before heading back to Phuket to pen this blog entry.

So that has been what we have been doing for the past 3 weeks, and any questions can be sent on a S.A.E care of some awesome beach in Fiji! We'll try and update again from there, before we hit South America, where updates *should* become more plentiful as we actually 'do' stuff. Until the next post, bye for now.

Al and Rob