Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Rockin' all over the world
We arrived to the backpacker district of bangkok, khao san road at nyt, and didnt leave for 4 days! there was 2 much 2 do, 2 many things to buy, foods to try and plus it was Christmas, we checked into a posh hotel (by our standards - 25 quid a nyt) and decorated a green light in our room like a xmas tree! we bought each other little presents and wrapped them in newspaper. on xmas eve, we put on our santa hats and danced in the streets outside, drinking beers and cocktails. and then after opening our presents on xmas morning we had our xmas dinner at the hard rock cafe, the only place that seemed to know it was xmas, we had cocktails and there was a thai santa! it was awesome.
after xmas - ok so my mum came to visit me ! her & pete arrived on the 27th - after a rocky start involving airport confusion (aka me & jem stood at the arrivals gate when they were in a taxi to the hotel!) we had the most awesome couple of weeks. we had a 2nd xmas day - presents & crackers & foods and then we spent a few days shopping in bangkok for last minute wedding essentials and visiting temples etc. we had a great day at the floating market - it was rather painful for me & jem having to watch the other 2 try and haggle - but by the end of the day mum had resolved to just getting us to do it on their behalf ! she realised it wasnt so cruel to bargain with them when the Thais kept laughing as we floated to the next stall with a piece of fruit that cost us 5 pounds!
we also had one of the most painful experiences of my life (there have been several worse since however) - a proper thai massage! apparently they are good for you - considering the fact that we were so pale we looked like an albino family by the time we got outside - i would have to disagree!
On the day before new years eve - me & jem made the 20 hour bus & boat journey through surathani to koh samui, mum & pete left on a plane on new years eve afternoon and were nicely settled into their 5* boathouse by the time we finally rolled into our wooden shack! (im not bitter)
To see the new year in, me & jem got wasted on the beach while the others celebrated in style, until we crashed the party before the countdown and we all celebrated together at the hotel, then watched the giant lanterns being lit from the beach and floating into the sky until they dissapeared.
we spent the next few days lazing on the beach and swimming in the pool and having daily back massages (swedish not thai!!) next to the sea for less than a fiver! My Aunty Yvonne & Uncle Jeff arrived after new years, and then on the 5th my Mum & Pete had THE most beautiful wedding! in the morning we bridesmaids helped mum get ready and the together we walked down to the beach where Pete was waiting for her with a beautiful elephant, all dressed up for the occasion and the 2 of them rode down the beach at dawn, no-one else was around & it was so romantic. Afterwards a thai dnacing troop wlked Pete and his best man (Jeff) to the alter, followed by Mum, us & Yvonne. The cermony involved 5 monks chanting and throwing water over the bride and groom and then each of us, blessing them with water and good wishes and their exchanging of rings and kisses!! Once prounounced man & wife we all drank champagne, cut the cake and then made our way down to dinner. The table was in a secluded grassy area surrounded by palm trees and the 6 of us were waited on silver service style, with a gorgeous 4 course meal & plenty more champagne. After dinner, we all changed and were picked up by a 4x4 and driven across the island to the forest where we all went on elephant rides to a waterfall, we even got to sit & ride on the elephants head. It was just magic - the whole day and everything went perfectly.
We spent the remainder of mums time with us just spending time together, swimming, watching films and eating out. We went on a diving trip to Koh Tao and Koh Nangyuan and did some awesome snorkelling, and we attempted to go sea kayaking, however as me & jem were trying to get in the kayaks, a big wave came in, jemma let go of her kayak and it smacked me right in the side of the head & nearly knocked me out - absolutely hillarious in hindsight - however not so funny at the time (not that jemma seemed to realsie that)!!!
After such an awesome couple of weeks, there was of course a very emotional goodbye, but once the newlyweds had gone me & jem got straight back into backpacker mode, hopped on a boat and headed to koh pangnan for the full moon party. We got there about 5 days before the party and spent our time, drinking and watching films in the outback bar. After much deliberation I finally had my hair dreadlocked - this pissed all over the massage pain - for 2 hours i just sat there in agony wanting to cry while jemma sat next to me telling me how funny i looked and 3 thai women pulled my hair.
With my new hairdo - in true rasta spirit we headed out on a reggae boat trip the next day! I'm sure you don't me to explain what this involved, however lets just say its a good job we were out at sea sampling the 'jungle cigarettes' ! Mind you we did go onto the island and had a few more under a waterfall in the rainforest - these guys even had waterproof joint covers - now thats dedication! That night we had a pre-full moon party warm up with 4 girls from sydney who we have seen several times since, it basically involves several buckets (one bottle of vodka, one can of coke & one can of red bull in a kiddies sand bucket), thumping music, neon lights, & fire throwers, not to mention sleazy guys called andre (Dre for short as his tattoo revealed) who try pulling 2 sisters at the same time buy buying them neon glasses and grinding! Considering the success of our warm up - the full moon party was guaranteed to be wild - & it was. We started the night in the reggae bar, then headed down to the beach, where along with the sydney girls we crawled every bar & club on the beach front, covered ourselves in neon body paint & danced on the sand until just before sun rise - at which point jemma was passed out with her face in the sand & i needed a chicken schnitzel ! so we staggered home & didnt get up until about 8pm the next day.
After a falafel aided recovery we headed to krabi on the west coast, we caught the night ferry which was basically an old boat with its interior ripped out and the floor covered in thin matresses, with about 120 sweaty backpackers sleeping side by side. After waiting around for 8 hours when we got to the east coast we finally got a bus over to krabi, where we resentfully paid double the price for doubly crap accomodation cos everywhere was full, then headed to railey beach the next day where the same thing happened. After walking through the rainforest for 40 minutes i finally found the last beds in the area, where the electricity was only on for 6 hours at night. Typically after a day sunbathing when we arrived in the hut that evening, a giant black thing ran along a ledge on the wall, fell off and landed with a thud on the floor. By the time i finished screaming and ran round the side of the bed it had dissapeared, shortly after, the electricity went off, so we both led in bed terrified all night. We awoke to a scratcing sound at about 4am, unfortunately the electricity was still off & the sun hadnt come up so we had to stay in bed praying for three hours that what we had now figured was a rat wouldnt climb up our bed sheets.
Thankfully we left rayleigh the next day for Koh Phi Phi which was finally the paradise we had been searching for. Phi Phi was beautiful, It consisted of two islands, both had been hit by the tsunami, phi phi ley was where we stayed and phi phi don was wher they filmed The Beach and was a national park so was uninhabited. The beaches were white, the sea was turquoise and the bars were cheap. We went out on a snorkelling trip around phi phi and further, we found nemo! and swam in the clearest water. we kayaked around the little islands and cruised - that day was perfect aside from the fact that some gay european sat on the deck above me decided to wring his dirty speedos out all over my head!
The next day we swam and sunbathed, and unfortunately ate something dodgy, so i spent the next day between the bed and the toilet - not so nice. However recovery came just in time as we then bumped into the sydney girls again and headed out to maya bay again (the beach), the sand looked untouched and the sea was clear, we watched the sunset off our personal boat then hit the town. We started in another reggae bar - this one however was a little different - it had a full sized bboxing ring in the middle, which contained two s***faced guys trying to box each other for free buckets! which they clearly didnt need, as i think the guy who lost actually knocked himself out in the end! we then hit some bars along the waterfront, where the heavens decided to open and we danced in the pouring rain all night, we finished a very drunk night crashing the pool at the poshest hotel on the island, to the horror of the security guards who we just yelled random room numbers at as we stripped and dived in. not content with this thrill, once chased off the property of this pool, we headed to the one by the beach, where we were chased around the complex and were forced to hide in a water fountain, when the security guy climbed on the roof up a ladder trying to find us, jem stole the ladder and we ran! We definitely left that island on a high!
Next we headed off to Phuket - the sleaze capital of the world - this place was worse than Bangkok - we had to stay in a pretty rough place but stayed just one night then headed white water rafting. Asia certainly has a different grasp on health & safety to the west, at one point there was a pile up of about 30 rafts on the rocks & all these kids were geting pushed under the boat, i thought they were gonna die, we pulled one guy into our boat and his legs were just shredded & bloody - but it was still one hell of a thrill. That night we got straight on the bus from Thailand to Malaysia...
- comments