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Hi everyone,
The last blog...!
Well, after booking the entire trip around Thailand, Laos and Cambodia we decided on our last day to hire a tuk-tuk and go around the city...
had to go to our booking office first though and pay off the rest of our trip... little did we know what a drama this would turn into... well, none of
us wanted to pay the extra 3% if you paid on your card, so we decided to withdraw lumps of money out of the bank... we reached our limit every
day, which meant we had to pay some on card... we had a brain wave... get money out of bank... we tried that, after 3 hours with no passport,
we finally got our money out... this was after some big arguments and a huge language barrier.... Katie and Nick went to get money out of their
bank and the bank decided to block Nick's card... therefore, he had no way of getting to their money... panic... then they tried Katie's and it
worked... but then the bank decided to take forever to get their money out because she only had a copy of her passport... finally, after 4 and half
hours of struggling to get the money out we were paid and ready to leave the bloody shop.... tuk-tuk man still sitting there patiently waiting for
us... we asked him to take us to get some food and he said if we went to a jewellery place, then he could get a stamp and we'd get a free ride...
so off we went... once inside, Jade asked me to take a picture of the jewels... i reached for the camera... no camera.... s***... left it in the bank...
bank was now shut and I was sprinting back to tuk-tuk man to race back... he absolutely flew back but parked on the wrong side of a 10 lane
highway... so I had to run across 5 lanes, jump a hedge/concrete barrier, across another 5 lanes of traffic and up the road....luckily the security guard who worked in
the bank waited for me... I could've kissed him when he handed me the camera... by this point we had all had enough of today and wanted to
leave Bangkok... so it was back to the hotel to pack our last things and get dropped off at the train station for our overnight train...
Walked into the train station and could hardly breathe! All the fumes of about 20 huge diesel trains just pumping out s*** in the train station....
found the carriage that we were about to spend 16 hours in... we had beds opposite each other... pictures show the beds.... quite comfy once all
set-up... people who work on the train set the bed up for you and make it.... had a good night sleep on there... although the train was delayed
3 hours, it wasn't a bad trip.... we had arrived in Chiang Mei...
Eventually found the man who was transferring us to our hotel and checked in... still no sign of our passport... got a brief intro to the city and the
3 day elephant trekking that we were about to do and then had a wander around Chiang Mei... stopping for food and a thai massage.... the thai
massage was an experience... lay down on a mattress and a thai bird wraps herself around you and massages your whole body... cracks every
muscle/bone... left me feeling like I could join the circus... after all that we took a trip down the night market... got some food and went back to
pack for the trip...
Next morning, up early and stored our bags and waited to go on the trip... was quite funny before we went... some dutch lad who was coming on
the trip didn't realise we slept in the Jungle for 3 days and only had himself ready for the day... when he realised he went into a blind panic and
grabbed anything.... anyways... met our two tour guides 'Rambo' and 'Johnnie Walker' and then 12 of us were bundled into a back of an open top
car and were on our way... first stop was a waterfall in the mountains... walked for about 10 minutes into the jungles then had a swim around
the waterfall, where Jade and Nick fell arse over tit into a pool and Jade lost her watch... good start... back to the car and then we were drove
up to a temple which was on the top of a mountain.... had a look around and saw an enormous spider, few pictures and then we dropped off in the
jungle, where we wouldn't see another car/road for 3 days... just us and trees... we walked for about 3 hours, a few stops on the way and then finally
made it to our jungle camp... basically bamboo huts in the middle of the jungle... we 'checked in' to our rooms, as you can see from the pictures, it
was just 2 big beds with individual mosquito nets... no mattress, just wood.... couldn't wait to sleep on that! Had a little wash in the stream that was nearby,
refused to use the toilet (have a look at the pictures), then sat around the camp fire and ate dinner... had a couple of drinks then it was off to that really
comfy bed!
Well, I had what can only be described as the worst night sleep ever! Absolutely freezing, couldn't get comfortable and smelt like a tent.... great... got up
at the first sign of sunlight... simply so that I could warm up... then sat around the campfire until everybody else got up... felt better that it appeared I wasn't the
only one who felt like last night was tough! Everyone strolled out in all the clothes that they'd packed in their backpacks and sat around the fire... got dished our
breakky then it was back out on the trek... apparantly today was going to be alot harder... we were walking for about half hour when we came across a small
village in the middle of nowhere... a small family lived there, nan, grandad, and kids... nan was quality... greeted us with an opium spliff hanging out of her
mouth... we all sat around their little hut and pretended to understand what they were saying... Rambo just kept rolling joints for everyone... then we were back
out on our trek... after about an hour of walking we came across another village where there were lots of pigs, chickens, dogs, cows... everything really... had a break
here for 10 mins then back out walking for another hour, seeing waterfalls and trekking along cliff edges which overlooked a flowing river from about 20m up.... balancing
on one foot in places... we stopped at a village by a waterfall to have lunch, had a wash in the river and then fell asleep in the sun on a rock... woken up by rambo telling
us we had to go... another hour of walking through rice fields, waterfalls and rivers we took a break for a swim in some rapids... rambo said it was fun to slide down
these smooth rocks... well, katie and jade tried it together and nearly drowned at the bottom... then it was back on the trek for another hour and half walking and finally
we made it into the village that we were going to be sleeping in... we had the option of upgrading into a bungalow with a mattress, your own space, a toilet... but we decided
to be tight and not bother... instead we had a bamboo hut with nothing but wicker wood to lay on and a blanket... spent the evening sitting around the campfire and had
the same, if not worse, sleep as the night before... i was the first one up and was almost laying in the burnt out fire with dogs trying to keep warm.... once everyone was up
we trekked for about half hour to a waterfall, where we could jump off at about 30ft high... then back to the village and another hour trek until we stopped for lunch....
then it was into a car and driven to where we were going to be bamboo rafting down a fast-flowing river... well, this was as bad as white water rafting... we waited by a river, and
then a man on a bamboo raft (which barely floated) came down the river... the 4 of us jumped on and tried standing up for the duration of the rafting... I had a stick at the
back to help paddle and steer, but i was useless, we must've hit about 10 rocks on the way down... then came the bit when the man at the front said we all had to sit down
because the strong current and drop... s***... there we were barely floating, on a stick boat about to drop off into fast flowing, waterfall style river... we braced ourselves and
saw it and s*** ourselves... then before we knew it the boat had capsized... jade was off down the river, nick had come off and caught her... katie was holding on to the mans
pole and I was left at the top of the waterfall clinging onto the raft on an angle... foot stuck and the Thai man telling me to push... with what? My arse?! Somehow... god knows
how... we managed to get the boat free and we all got back on... the raft was totally battered and we were soaked but it was a good laugh! Soon got off the raft and waited
for our car to pick us up to take us to the elephants for some trekking through the jungle... well, we got there... picked our elephant... and then jumped on... off we went into
the jungle... their skin felt really hard and the hairs on the skin was really wirey.... after a while the man who was 'driving' our elephant jumped off and told me to get on
the head and steer... off he went walking in front and there was me riding this elephant with Jade on the back! After the ride we headed back to Chiang Mai and took a much
needed a shower... in the process i somehow fried Jade's straightners... s***... she wasn't a happy bunny... and then we headed out for something to eat... early night needed after
packing all our things up ready for our trip to Laos...
Woke up nice and early for this one... jade stayed asleep for a while, so I sorted a few bits out... finally she woke up we had breakfast and waited for our transfer to the airport...
it all came on time, which made a change, and we were soon waiting to board our plane... we wasn't too sure which plane we were getting on... there was only 3 on show...
2 big jets and 1 piddly lil propellor plane which we all joked about... well, walked onto the run... got onto a bus... which took us to.... the piddly lil propellor one! Great! We
jumped on and it was tiny... was almost looking for goggles, a leather hat, a scarf and a leather jacket to fly it myself! Probably the noisiest and most vibrating plane i've ever
been on! The flight was so short and the service really quick that by the time we thought about crashing into the mountains, we were soon landing in Luangprebang in Laos!
Top lil airport this... walked in, straight into immigration, straight onto luggage pickup and then 2 foot more and you are outside and into a taxi.... so, by this point, it was all
going really smoothly and we were all happy... taxi dropped us off at our accommodation... we walked into reception and a woman was standing there behind the desk....
we showed her our ticket... all we got was a blank expression... she then started muttering to us in her local language... we then pointed at the name of the accommodation
and the sign she had next to her saying the same thing, and she appeared to say that this was not the place... even the phone number matched... eventually after me pointing
and doing some charades with the woman she gave us the key and we found the room ourselves... good lil rooms with sky... dumped our bags and then went to explore Luangprebang....
found the usual night market.... bought a couple of presents and got some food and then headed back to the room for a early night... shattered!
Well, woke up to the news that the bus wasn't going to be coming at 7am; instead, it would be coming at 8am... so we waited until 8am, no sign... eventually it turned up at 9am and
then dropped us off at the bus station... finally we got going at 9:30am... 2 and half hours late... love it! Started on our 6 hour bus journey... well, this drive could quite
possibly have been the most dangerous drive i've ever been on... literally driving on tiny roads on the edge of huge mountains, with lorries coming in the other direction...
on the way we saw 2 lorries that had gone off the side of the cliff and about 8 cars that had come unstuck somehow! Happy days... we stopped off on the way and grabbed
a roll from a grubby lil laos girl and finally made it into ViengVang at 4pm... had an arguement with the person who booked our tour about the delay and the fact that the bus
we have to leave to get out of here doesn't come at the time he has put... sorted all that out and checked into our lovely room... probably one of the best rooms we've stayed in.
Went into town and got info on tubing that we'd be doing tomorrow and then sat and had a beer, whilst watching the sunset, on a mattress, in a bar that overlooked
the river and mountains... tomorrow is tubing and getting pissed....
Woke up and headed down to the tubing office... absolutely packed due to Australia day... got some breakfast (sausage baguette), and then we're in the Tuk-tuk with about
8 tubes strapped to the roof... Jade got her first drink of the day a mohito, and was quite possibly the strongest coctail i've ever tasted! I started on the 90p huge beers and then
we were off down the river in our rubber ring... got pulled into the next bar where there was a huge rope swing, about 30ft drop into the river... well, me and Nick went straight up
and onto it... killed our legs when we landed in the river but then it was back to the bar to have a few more beers... the bar was packed with people drinking and watching people
on the rope swing... just as we were about to leave the bar and tube down to the next bar, Jade thought it'd be a good idea if she went on it too... i specifically asked 'are you sure?',
she looked at me as to say 'shut up Marcus'... off she went... waiting up there for ages until kayaks moved out of the way in the river... it was her turn... off she jumped, swung right out....
let go... landed in the water... came up and everything appeared to be fine, that was until.... she climbed out of the river and her toe was facing the wrong way... pretty much looked like
a banana... s***... we're in the middle of Laos, no sign of any sort of doctor; let alone a hospital.... and jade's foot is f***ed.... i ran into the middle of a field and found some random man
on a moped, organised with him to take Jade to find a doctor... jade was having none of it though... so instead of going to the hospital she ploughed on for the day... me and Nick carried
her down to her tube and plopped her back into the river... headed another 25m down the river and went into the next bar... this place had a quality zip-line and free shots... loved it...
me and Nick went straight onto the zip-line... went about 100mph down it and then it naturally flips you near the bottom... was quality... after a few more drinks we headed down to the
next bar which was another bar with a zip-line... made a couple of friends, had a few more drinks and then headed back to the river and into the tube... got out at another bar about
50m down the river... this one had a huge slide and a mud bath... natural one of course... being seriously pissed at this point i thought that it would be a great idea to dive head first into
the mud bath... taking out about 4 people on the way i was completely covered, head to toe, in mud... the others soon followed and we had a mud fight... then cleaned off going on the slide
and then warmed up around a huge fire... by this time we had only done about 5 bars and it was pitch black and about 7pm... we were supposed to give the tubes in at 6pm... oh well...
we jumped into the river and followed the crowd... got out by a bridge and walked over to a tuk-tuk to take us back into the town.... Nick was on the roof rack hiding and we were
crammed in the back with about 12 other people.... after about 20 minutes of argueing with the driver
about taking us into town we finally got going... Nick had disappeared from the roof rack, Katie was nowhere to be seen and I was hanging off the back... not ideal... anyways, finally
made it into town and gave back our tubes.... only 4 hours late... suffered a 20,000 kip fine.... £2... and went on the search for Katie... after a while, she turned up, she gave her ring
back and then we were off home... totally pissed... I got in and just about collapsed on the bed... top day!
Well, woke up feeling completely battered and bruised from the day before, Jade in complete agony and hardly walking and had to catch a bus to go to Vientenne... after an early
stroll to clear the hangover and a chicken baguette, we were soon on our way... jade laying out in the car and some aussie bloke hanging out the window in the front seat throwing
up! Love this bus.... went quite quick though, got dropped off by a river in the main city and then had to try and work out how we were going to get to the border and how we were
going to cross it... in the meantime I went into a minimart and bought bandages and plasters and attempted to be Nurse Newing to our injured Morley... thought i did a good job!
Anyways, finally found a tuk-tuk man to take us to the friendship bridge at the border, then got a bus over the bridge and then got a tuk-tuk to nongkai station... thai people
said it was far, so we paid alot and it turned out to be a 2 minute journey... scheming b******s! Then we had the aggro of having no thai money to buy food/drink and had to pay
another tuk-tuk man to take us to an ATM, 50 baht later he dropped nick just down the road.... 2 bowls of rice and a ton of pringles later we were on the train on our way to Bangkok!
After not a bad night's sleep on the train we all got woken up by the train conductor telling us to wake up... it was about 6:30am... which also meant we were late for our connecting
bus... eventually made it into Bangkok station at around 8am and I helped Jade hobble through the station... luckily a man from our tour agency was waiting for us there with a sign
and so we just followed him... the mini-bus was there waiting for us packed full of people (they must've been waiting for us!) Then we began our long journey to the Cambodian
border.... well, this was the start of a complete nightmare... we got to a restaurant just before the border and stopped for something to eat... we then got told we were changing cars
to cross the border... so then we got in the mini-van and drove to the border... now considering we were originally supposed to be getting to Siem Reap in Cambodia at 6:20pm, the
new tour guide that we just picked up at the border, informs us that it will take 2 hours to get through immigration and then we have to wait for a government bus to take us to our guest house,
which will not go directly to Siem Reap; instead, it will take us to every guest house along the way and even restaurants, which would mean we would get to Siem Reap at 11pm... well
by this point we had all lost the plot... from travelling since yesterday morning at 9am until now at 2pm the following day, being told we had another 11 hours of travelling, we all started
having an argument with the tour guide, the rest of the group joined in... the only solution was to pay an extra 1600 Baht (£32) to get a taxi to Siem Reap which would only take 2 and half
hours... so, after a phone call to our tour agency demanding that they pay it and us being stuck at the border for 3 hours in boiling heat, with the area full of heroin addicts, child pickpockets
and goats and cows walking around, we finally made it into the taxi... all exhausted from 39 hours of travelling at this point we soon found ourselves in what felt like a getaway car... this
taxi driver, no taxi sign or any knowledge of ever being a taxi driver drove at about 100mph (oh the speedo didnt work) on unmade roads with pot holes the size of swimming pools, over
unmade bridges, dodging cows, cyclists, motorbikes anything that happened to be in his way... if he got slowed down he would make up for it in the next bit and do his best to scare the
s*** out of us. Finally we made it to Siem Reap and the taxi pulled over into a lay-by and then we were greeted with a tuk-tuk driver who would take us from here... all a bit dodgy if
you ask me... driver was giving us a tour and kept reminding us that the guesthouse may be full, but we kept reminding him that we had already booked and paid for it... made it to the
guesthouse and guess what... no room had been booked for us... i was going mad at this point... we had been travelling for 34 hours non-stop at this point to be told we had no where to
stay... the guest house manager wouldnt let me ring thailand to sort it, had to go to an internet cafe and pay to use overseas phone, then our tour agent said it was sorted... then i went back
and it wasnt... back to the shop... another 2 phone calls later and some random 'Mr Thai' man showing up, we accepted sharing one room with 3 beds in for the 4 of us... whilst all of this
was going on the tuk-tuk drivers who had picked us up earlier still hadn't left... nearly told them to do one aswell as everyone else who was around... been one s*** day from start to finish....
what's going to be the next problem...?
Well, after the events of yesterday we were all glad to be waking up in a bed and not on the street... spent the day writing a complaint e-mail to our tour agency, had a walk around
the city and then me and Jade sat in a pizza restaurant for a couple of hours talking about what had just happened in the last couple of days... then it was back to the guest house to
move into our own rooms and then to play pool and relax... oh and we managed to book our Angkor wat tour and shooting/killing fields.... just hope it goes well tomorrow....
Up at 4:45am... felt far too early to be up... pitch black and feeling tired we got dressed and got into our tuk-tuk... it was on time... shock! Headed off to Angkor wat to buy our tickets
for the temples.... headed into the main Angkor wat temple to watch the sunrise over the ruins... we weren't too sure where to walk, but then wandered into a main courtyard where
there was about 4000 japanese, all armed with their tripods.... so we waited around there until the sun came and got some quality pictures... then explored the temple and talked
s*** to each other whilst admiring the views! Once we had finished we then headed back to our tuk-tuk's... the sun was now up and it felt alot warmer... we headed to loads of other temples
on the way round, stopping off for pineapple and a drink every now and then... as soon as we had enough of temples we then asked our tuk-tuk driver to take us to shoot some guns... off we
went... driving for about an hour going into the middle of nowhere... we then came across a dis-used army base... walked into a hanger and then was presented with a wall of guns... the
pictures show all this... it was just a case of which gun to choose... after being offered an AK-47 and a tommy gun... we then chose the biggest of the lot... a machine gun.... great fun....
we were taken into this concrete tunnel and then unleased about 50 bullets into a target... we all had a go... only one person managed to hit the target... I think Katie even managed to shoot
the ceiling, good effort! After shooting the machine gun we headed for another couple of temples and then asked our driver to take us to the killing fields... we got there and read some info
on what had happened, saw a glass coffin full of skulls and then headed back home for our last night in Cambodia... been a long day... packing and then early night and then its back to
Thailand in the morning.... will it go smoothly?
Woke up wondering if this bus was going to turn up to take us back to the border... and it didn't... but a man in a car pulled up and told us he was taking us to the bus station... fair enough we
thought and jumped in... on the way he said there had been a mistake with the booking and that they thought only 1 person was coming... then told us we could get a taxi and just
pay a little bit... scamming b******s... we refused and waited at the bus station for the bus... it arrived and we jumped on first... the bus was packed... backpacks all up the aisle and stacked up
at the back of the bus... everyone climbing on the bags everytime they got on... well the bus took a lil over 5 hours, stopping off at 2 restaurants... still don't see the point of that... and then
we made it through the border and onto our mini-van quite smoothly... nice surprise... then 3 and half hours across thailand and back to Bangkok, picked up our complaint money and then
headed for something to eat and the night train... on our way to Phuket! At last!
Well... this was a disaster... there's us all looking forward to the night train... got to the station... waited in a non-air conditioned train station, the train arrives and guess what... no beds... is this
a wind up? We asked the attendant and she showed us to our seat... apparantly there is no bed night train to Suri Thani (phuket)... terrific... after travelling all through the day from Cambodia
we now had to sit upright for another 10 hours... none of us were amused, although me and Nick were happy with the free cakes and the attendants!
Managed to get a couple of hours of sleep, but was absolutely freezing... the train arrived at our destination and then we waited for our bus... this was quite possibly the worst bus I've ever been
on in my life... the actual bus was nice, it was just that after 32 hours of non-stop travelling, sitting on a bus for a further 5 hours was the last thing any of us wanted to do... after moving positions,
watching half a DVD (as my laptop battery doesn't last a full film) and generally just getting the hump we made it to Phuket... hot and sweaty and still wearing joggers and hoody from the train
I publically got changed in the middle of a bus station and then went on the search for a Tuk-tuk to take us to our accommodation in Patong beach... after 4 drivers tried ripping us off and 3 didn't
even know where our accommodation was, we finally found our driver... his tuk-tuk was pimped up... sub and a painted yellow... seems like every tuk-tuk in Phuket is in a boy racer style...
after our tuk-tuk driver claimed he knew where it was, it turned out he didn't, we drove around the block about 4 times and finally found our guesthouse... owned by 3 old triplet chinese women...
weird... but they were the friendliest people we've met in a long time... they showed us to our room... another great room and then told us about places to go etc. We headed straight for the beach,
probably the busiest beach i've ever been to in my life... full of russians that were tanned and also full of old men with young thai birds... was funny to watch! After a discussion on whether thai
brides was a good thing or bad thing, we headed back to the room to get ready for the night... headed out for something to eat and then went down a street called Patong road... this was basically
your main strip magaluf/san antonio/faliraki... where every bar has thai birds pulling you in or dancing naked on a pole... not a bad place... ha. Full of tourists though... we had a drink in one of the
bars... was difficult to decide whether to look at the football that was on the tv or the thai bird in nothing but a small pair of hot pants dancing on the bar infront of the tv screen... after a couple of
drinks we headed back and had a great nights sleep!
We spent the next couple of days doing much the same things in Phuket... the daytime was spent at the beach and the night time was spent looking at things to buy in the markets or looking at the
girls in the bars... oh and finding somewhere to eat in the thousands of food markets... nice relaxing time after doing all the travelling over the last 10 days! Now it was time for
Koh Phi Phi and the place where they filmed the beach....
Woke up in the morning and packed all our stuff up... bought some essentials and then waited for the bus to pick us up... for a change it was on time and we headed for the pier to get on the
boat to go over to Phi Phi island... after 2 hours on a boat we had arrived at the pier... the island look stunning, high cliffs with perfect white sand that met a turquoise coloured ocean...
some man from our guesthouse met us at the pier and carried all our bags... good thing really, it was boiling... walked through all the streets and arrived at our guesthouse... as always they had
made a mistake with our booking and Katie and Nick had been put in a room which was slightly smaller than ours... after a complaint they were soon moved and everyone was happy... we then
checked out the main beach, me and Jade stayed there until the sun went down and then went to do some shopping and had something to eat... then it was back to the room to get ready for our
night out... just me and Jade went out... went to a few bars, then went to bar's that will be at the full moon party... on the beach... everyone dancing with buckets of drinks in their hands... we
managed to get 3 free buckets with our fliers... love being a backpacker and getting things for free... headed back to our room at about 3am... top night out...
Woke up this morning, a lil later than normal and then headed straight down the beach... Katie and Nick were already down there... spent the
day relaxing... play bat and ball and then booked our trip for tomorrow around Phi Phi island. Spent the evening going out for a meal and then headed to another few bars for more buckets!
Woke in the morning and headed down to the pier to get on our longtail boat... went straight out into the ocean and after about 5 minutes we were stopped and jumped out to do some snorkelling
at a place called 'Shark point'... name said it all... quality snorkelling here, clear water and loads of fish... just no sharks? Then it was back into the boat and off we went to a different island, it was
called Bamboo island.... spent some time snorkelling here and relaxing on the beach and then headed off in the boat to another part of the island... stopped off at Monkey beach (where theres
loads of monkeys on the beach) and then off to do some snorkelling in loads of different bays, eventually ending up in Maya Beach where the film 'The Beach' was filmed... played football on the
beach with some locals, relaxed and watched the sunset on the beach and then headed back to mainland Phi Phi for a much needed burger and chips and an early night with loads of packing to
do... off to Koh Pangan in the morning.
We were out of our guesthouse by 8:30am and headed down to the pier to get onto our boat which would take us over to the mainland and to Krabi.... we waited for a bus to pick us up from there
and got on a bus which was over-full, as always, and with little air-conditioning... love the thailand public transport! Arrived at the pier to get told the news that because the bus was late it meant
that we missed our connecting ferry over to Koh Pangnan, terrific... so we then had to wait a couple of hours until the next one came... happy days. Finally, after a 2 hour ferry ride, which felt like
10 hours, we had arrived on the island... next job, find a cheap taxi to take us to our resort... well some taxi driver woman told us it was a set price of 100 baht... and we was about to pay it when
all of a sudden we saw a sign for our resort.... a free ride... you beauty! We were all well happy at this point, and checked into our resort without any problems... lovely! This night we all decided
that we would hit the sightseeing hard and hire a moped in the morning... well, i wasn't looking forward to this as I had no experience on a moped! Can't wait for the morning....
Set the alarm and was up and out by 8:45am in search for a moped to cruise around the island on... went to reception at our resort... no luck... went to a couple of places in town, no luck... eventually
after an hour of searching we found somewhere that we could rent them from... now at this point I didnt know what was going on with a moped... never been on one in my life or never drived one...
Nick said it was as easy as twist and go 'apparantly'... the bike turned up and the group encouraged me to practice... well, within the first acceleration I nearly ended up through the shop wall...
happy days... after a couple of laps up and down the road, Jade jumped on and we were off... first thing we did was get lost... happy days and then we managed to find our way and drove around
the whole island... stopped off at waterfalls, loads of beaches, loads of bars and ended up down in Haad Rin where they have the full moon party... so we looked at where to go for tomorrow's full
morning party, did a bit of shopping and then headed back to our resort... got changed and then went and pigged out in the night market again... love this place!
Well, still can't believe I managed to not kill us on the moped.... woke up and me and Jade decided to go for a drive early in the morning before we had to give the moped back. We went up and
down the coast stopping at beaches and watching the sunrise... then it was time to give the moped back... now at this point everything was going well... until... just as I parked the moped up outside
the shop and leaned the bike over to get off... Jade decided to jump off at the same time and ended up pressing her leg against the red hot exhaust pipe... I hadn't noticed at this point and was
convincing the man we rented it off that we hadn't crashed into anything (I think he found it hard to believe considering he had witnessed me nearly tearing into his shop wall the day before) she
then proceeded by just pointing at her leg... now i've seen some bad cuts and burns in my life... but all you could see across her calf was a huge gash that was just pink flesh... pictures show the
damage! Not good... so after getting our deposit back from the bike it was straight to the chemist to get some cream and some bandages... this woman is just accident prone at the moment... first
it was her toe and now it's her other leg... she wasn't happy at all and tried telling me she'd be hopping to the music tonight at the full moon party... well, after a day of relaxing her leg, we all went
for something to eat and then got ready for the big night... we all had our matching vests and then headed down to the full moon party in our taxi... after nearly getting killed by the taxi ride down
there we made it and jumped straight out and into a stall which was filled with buckets... now, if you haven't seen a bucket of alcohol before, it is basically 1 bucket, 1 bottle of vodka, 1 can of coke
and 1 red bull, mix the whole lot in a bucket, stick about 10 large straws in it and there's your drink... well, we all bought one each and headed for the beach... in true backpacker style we decided
to follow a group of aussies around a back entrance where you didn't have to pay the £2 admission fee... how tight are we?! We managed to get in without paying and headed straight up the beach...
The beach looked quality... all of the bars had put stages out on the beach, there was about 30,000 people all walking and dancing up the beach, each one armed with a bucket or two... fireworks
going off, fire dancers and signs made out of fire... speed boats coming in dropping off hundreds of people, people pissing in the sea... people being sick in the sea... people getting up to naughties
in the sea... it was all going on.... Well, we decided to take a stroll up the beach and the first tent we managed to walk past, was the tent where people go when they've either drunk too much, done
too many drugs or just generally are out of it... this tent was hilarious... some fat bloke was sitting passed out in a chair with a doctor around him, while some english lad shaved his entire eye brow
off... 5 mins later a girl just got launched onto the sand infront of the doctors, completely passed out and looked dead... then another and another... was pure entertainment just going back to this
tent throughout the night, to see who we could laugh at next... we bought a few more buckets and had a dance in the bars on the beach... jade and katie decided to squat behind some rocks on
the beach, took them about an hour, whilst me and nick where amazed to see a girl infront of us piss out of her flies... ladyboy or just weird? Anyways, katie and nick left around 4am and me and Jade
stayed until about 7am, good effort! Was a top night, and managed to get in as the sun was coming up!
Well, after about an hour's worth of sleep... now at this point I was deep in a sleep... we had forgot that we had set the alarm for the previous day at 8:45am, and I had to get up and rummage through
the backpack to find this bloody phone... hate the alarm sound at the best of times but after 1 hour of sleep, it was a killer... anyways, found it and through it out the door and then went back to sleep
for another couple of hours... finally walked out of our pit at around 11am to see Katie and Nick not looking there best either... made us feel a bit better! Pretty much spent the day relaxing around
the pool and then headed for the night market for some much needed grub!
Next morning, we packed all of our stuff from the last 5 nights... seemed like we had made this room a home... stuff was everywhere! We were quite organised though, managed to get out of the room and get a couple
of hours of sunbathing in before we had to catch our taxi to the pier to get on the ferry to get to Koh Samui... well, we got to this pier and it was like being in a cattle market... there were literally
hundreds of backpackers all trying to get on different boats going in different directions and to different islands... no-one really had a clue what was going on or what boat they were supposed to
be getting on... but somehow the organised chaos sorted itself out... oh and it meant us 4 had to jump from a rock onto a pier, about 10 foot up with backpacks... managed to get on our boat though
and after about an hour on the boat we had arrived in Koh Samui... then it was try to find a tuk-tuk/taxi driver to take us to our accommodation which weren't going to pull our pants down over the
price! Managed to get one for 60 baht (£1.20) each, although it did drive at 2mph and stopped off about 100 hundred times to pick people up and drop people off! Anyways, we saw the sign for
Bophut beach (where apparantly we were staying) and the tuk-tuk driver stopped and said our accommodation was here... we were happy at this point... thinking everything had run smoothly...
well, armed with our bags, we walked down towards the beach front and looked for our accommodation... after walking for 10 minutes on the sand we asked a local where our accommodation
was, he replied its the last one on the bay... well, at this point it was like a dot in the distance... great fun... we had to walk for about 45 minutes with all our bags, in the hot sun on the soft sand...
well, i lost the will to live by the time i got there.... we got there in the end, i dumped the bags in the room and then legged it into the sea with Nick... loved that feeling... spent the evening eating
out and then an early night... found a moped shop and decided we would hire a moped the next day...
Today we decided to hire a moped and make the most of our last few days in Koh Samui... got a map and the moped and headed off around the island... stopped off at some nice beaches and then
headed for lunch... few more nice beaches and then me and Jade decided to go off on our own on the moped and we ended up going to a cobra show... got some good photos and videos from that
one, i was s***ting myself when he put a cobra about 2 foot away from my face... after that we ended up having a meal on the beach and then headed back to our bungalow to get ready for a night
of shopping... headed back out on the moped and headed towards Chaweng... managed to do all of our shopping for presents for people at home and even managed to get ourselves a thing or two...
headed back to the room... quite late... felt knackered! Tomorrow = Valentine's day!
Well, woke up and got my presents from Katie and Nick... wrote my card, unwrapped all the heart sweets and then went into the room... made a pattern out of the sweet and gave jade her card...
she liked... happy days... then we had to drop off the moped, so we popped to Tescos first (as you do) and got some bits for breakfast and lunch... dropped the moped off and then sat on the beach
and had a fruit salad for breakfast... then it was off to another resort for cocktails and a relax around the pool... then we both had a massage together, on the beach as the sun was setting... then
we headed back to the room to get dressed up for a meal on valentines night... walked along the beach from our beachside bungalow and found a lovely restaurant... literally on the beach...
had a nice meal there then it was back to the room where i surprised jade with candles and a bottle of wine on the beach... she loved the day... so everything was good...
Woke up after a nice evening and literally laid on the beach all day, apart from hiring a jet ski and tearing around the sea for half hour... all we did was relax and eat... finished the last night off
with cards, beers and a meal... not looking forward to 2 days of travelling!
Well, we all woke up nice and early for this one and managed to get an hour or two of sun in.... packed up our last bits and then headed out on our epic journey back to Bangkok... first stop was
getting a taxi to take us to the pier to catch the ferry.... managed to get there ok, but instead of getting straight onto a boat, we had to wait to catch a bus, which then drove us 5 seconds up the road
and onto the boat... ferry took a couple of hours, got some last minute sunbathing in and then headed off the boat for anotherbus journey of about an hour and half to the train station... only had
20 minutes to spare so we all legged it to a thai restaurant and got fried rice to takeaway... went down a treat! Then it was onto the night train, where me and Jade decided to share a bed and in-doing
so, neither of us had a good night's sleep... we had arrived back in Bangkok.... now to the complaint....
Well, as we thought the trip was poorly organised with trains being delayes and buses etc etc. we decided to go on a full out complaint to the person who booked our trip... we got off the train at
6:20am and got a tuk-tuk straight to his shop... and waited until it opened... well, soon as we walked in, we got straight into the arguement with him... after 5 minutes he decided to tell us that we
were being filmed due to the tourist police... happy days... well the arguement went on for about an hour... we managed to walk out of there with 5,000 Baht back and each having our own room
for the day in a hotel in Bangkok... result.. so instead of having nowhere to go on our last day and our day being really long, we then had our own lovely hotel room with air-con... a place to shower
and get ready, to store our bags and the 2 suits that we had bought! So, we spent the day with a few tuk-tuk drivers going around Bangkok shopping and going into the customery suit and jewellery
shops so that they can get a stamp... when we were first here we hated doing it, but today we loved it... spent the last evening shopping in Patpong market and then got a taxi to the airport.... we arrived
at the airport with plenty of time to spare and then saw that our flight had been delayed an hour... result! 13 hour of flight to look forward to!
Well, the flight went really quick... we all watched loads of films and then looked forward to walking through the arrivals departure... we were greeted by everyone standing there waiting for us...
after a few hugs and kisses we were soon back to the Isle of Sheppey! The last 29 days have totalled up 136 hours of solid travelling... what an adventure....
Much love,
Marcus x
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