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Thailand, the land of amazing beaches, Buddhist temples, crazy tuk tuks, great food and all the fake designer goods you'll ever need!
It was nearly midnight when I stepped outside the airport in Bangkok and it seemed the air had been sucked away; it was still 30degC and the humidity was nudging 90% Driving into the centre, I was surprisingly impressed at how modern and wealthy the place seemed - in South American terms I'd been expecting a Bolivia but got an Argentina. A slight over-fascination with the King I thought, shrines in his honour and his pictures everywhere. I was later to find out why almost every second person in the country wears yellow t-shirts on Mondays - they celebrate the day the King was born - each week! Add to this the 6pm daily playing of the national anthem all over the country, with everyone stopping whatever they are doing to turn to the nearest giant portrait of the king, and you get the impression that either a) these people really like the King or b) this guy's got one hell of an ego. Can't quite imagine Britain doing that for King Charles.
After 3 days of wandering up and down the tourist mecca of Khaosan Road having said a thousand "no's" to offers of tuk-tuks, messages, suits, fake designer goods and long time loving, I was eager to get away. I decided to head to the south west coast and the Andaman sea islands of Phuket and Phi Phi which I'd heard so much about and where I'd heard the snorkelling was amazing. I caught an overnight bus which turned out to be straight out of "Pimp My Ride" with a 42inch plasma screen, massive woofers, chintzy tassled purple and yellow curtains, padded ceiling with colourful disco light strips, its very own spirit house and oddly, an outside paint job depicting frolicking cartoon dogs. So, this is the "VIP" I paid the equivalent of ?2 extra for; this journey was going to be great I thought -but oh, how wrong I was. The disco lights finally went out just before midnight and everyone started to catch some zzz's then all of a sudden at half past, lights and blaring music came on and we were informed that we were stopping for dinner! Alright then. Off we hopped and most people just bought some warm overpriced beer at what I expect was the driver's brother's stall. Almost an hour later the disco lights finally went off again, then within a few hours as we thought we'd conquered sleep the bus stopped and we were awoken and told we had to get off and wait on the side of the road an hour and a half for the next bus. "What next bus?" those of us who were told it was a direct bus asked. To cut a long storey short, 3 buses and 19hours after leaving Bangkok we reached our destination (which was supposedly 12 hours away). Needless to say I flew back.
I spent a few days in Phuket eating some great seafood and exploring the beautiful coast by moped before catching a boat to the lovely island of Phi Phi, passing by some amazing rocky islands a la Bond Island (which wasn't far away) on the way. Phi Phi was devestated in the '04 tsunami and rebuilding work was still ongoing 2 years later. Indeed, accommodation is still scarce there but I managed to find a nice bungalow a little away from the main village. I loved the island & and its people and ended up staying there a week. Snapshot memories of the Phi Phi islands: Snorkelling amongst the coral teeming with life, Jamming with Swedish Peder and the guys in the guitar shop with guest appearance by Jimmy the Rasta on bongos, Watching the fire juggling at the bars on the beach, Coming 2nd in the limbo contest whilst reminding myself not to fall down on broken wrist - Go Dave!, Playing an international flavoured game of football on The Beach, Capsizing the kayak and laughing so much as we tried to save the camcorder then afterwards watching the video footage that somehow survived, Seeing the amazing sunset.
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