It's been really quite a while hasnt it? But here it is. Another blog. (*sigh* right?)

This one is all about Thailand. The land of 1000 smiles...or smells. Or both.

Leaving Langkawi was heart-wrenching - we'd had the most gloriously chill few days eating fantastic food and relaxing on the beach. Obviously, with my current hindsight, I know the Thai islands are much of the same kind of thing, but we knew we had a good thing with Malaysia and were unsure about the next stage. Also, as touched upon in my last entry (a million years ago) we were all painfully aware that Thailand was the last stop of Traveller 1's journey with us.

Anyway, as I'm running on not quite enough sleep, food or internet cafe cash I'll complete this blog entry as a kind of summary of the places we visited in the gorgeous place that is Thailand in 2012.

Okay, so we flew into Phuket (after 2 flights out of Malaysia: Langkawi -->KL, KL-->Phuket). Being terrified of flying, I was thrilled to be back with my feet on the ground and heading to what had been described to me as "gorgeous", "so much fun" and "paradise, Naomi, literally paradise". Phuket town was none of these things. I wish I had the vocabulary to describe it eloquently, but right now "utter seedy s***hole" will have to suffice. We'd reserved and paid a deposit on a hostel that was rated highly on tripadvisor, so knew at least, where we were heading. The minibus driver who was supposed to take us to the door, instead dropped us around 600-700m up the road. A short distance by travelling standards, but being ultra paranoid about flying into Thailand (seen Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason a few too many times & taken it a bit too literally) we'd had all our bags wrapped up in a million miles of cling film, turning them into giant smooth condom/cocoon things and consequently making them damn near impossible to carry. After a fight with the condom/cocoons both Travellers 1 & 2 managed to tear holes big enough for their cases pully wheels. I was feeling contrary so instead of doing battle with my ball of clingfilm, I decided to try and carry it whatever distance to the hostel because "surely, it couldnt be that far". After heaving, rolling, kicking, throwing and even an attempt at bouncing it, I was only about 200m further from where we were dropped and now with dead arms. With me close to tired & exasperated tears, Traveller 1 called out that finally she could see the sign for O'Malleys (the hostel we'd booked for the night). This good news gave me the strength to continue(!) and I somehow hulked the b****** bag the rest of the way in record time. We'd decided to book ahead for our first night in Asia, rather than turning up and finding hostels on the day - as we'd been doing in New Zealand. There to 'greet' us was one of the worlds most pissed men. Ever. Like, not wildly falling about drunk - but like, deeply intoxicated, so much so that he'd almost gone full circle and was just about recognisable as a sentient human being again. He introduced himself as Dave, announced he was on his way to being s***faced and had no grasp of the fact that we'd booked a night to stay there. Anyway, after him repeating 'no worries, we'll sort it out girls' about a million times, he lead us through the s***ty downstairs pub (only patrons being himself, 2 ladyboys and a bewildered looking cleaner) upstairs 2 flights to our room. He 'gallantly' offered to carry Traveller 2's humongous bag and proceeded to go on about how heavy it was, he couldn't be-LIEVE it, stopping to catch his breath several times etc. We get to our room. It's the very definition of hovel. Didnt want to touch the sheets, nevermind sleep in them. We tried to hide all our stuff away under the beds (Dave informed us that there weren't room keys, instead he'd be "on hand downstairs if anyone tried to nick anything". Excellent.) and headed out for dinner. After a short stroll we found somewhere and to be fair although the table was filthy, although there were rats running around all over and although it took and age to arrive, our first taste of proper Thai food was undeniably good!

We met 'Dave number 2', the other person who ran the hostel on our way back up to bed. Can't tell you what he said, couldn't dechiper one drunken word. We shuddered ourselves to sleep and headed to the port the next morning to catch a boat to Koh Lanta.

Arriving on Lanta was really exciting - after leaving grubby, seedy Phuket Town, Lanta was a breath of fresh tropical air. Low key - probably more than we'd anticipated it would be, but perfect to relax, eat and swim - exactly what we did. Far too many couples though - the entire place was like a honeymoon ad. Traveller 2 and I had never felt so single! Our bungalow was right on the beach and every morning we were there I ate a delicious breakfast practically in the sea. Traveller 1 caught some serious rays, Traveller 2 splashed around and I ate anything and everything I could try. Loved it. We'd heard that Lanta was best explored by scooter which we'd seen hoards of other travellers doing the first day we were there. I knew Traveller 1 wasnt all that up for it - she has family friends who were killed falling of the back of bikes, but I figured I'd throw caution to the wind and zip around on one for the afternoon (after Traveller 2 majorly chickening out and taking the newly and surprisingly bike-confident Traveller 1 with her). My ride involved lovely views over the Andaman sea, bit of shopping and of course, sampled more grub.

Leaving Lanta we cut it pretty fine for the ferry. Traveller 2 did a stellar job of concealing her inner breakdown at the tardy-ness of Traveller 1 and myself. Obviously we made it fine and inevitabley, she chilled out. We were on our way to Koh Phi Phi!

Phi Phi is one of those places that always sprung to mind whenever anyone mentioned Thailand. I thought of it kind of like the mecca of the young, seasoned, western traveller. On arrival, however, we discovered it was more a pilgramage site to party and shop. Hard. It wasnt that we werent up for either of those. We definitely were, was just that it wasnt quite want we were anticipating. We (naively?) pictured an East London or Barcelona city vibe, but it was far more Malia or Magaluf. Oh and we felt old. God we all felt so old. It was like everyone on Phi Phi was in their teens - Traveller 2 and I admitted we were mildly relived we could still give our ages as twenty-three, not yet twenty-four, when asked. Something about moving into those mid-twentied numbers that we're not quite ready for. Anyway, Phi Phi was awesome - after a hiccoup when we first arrived (me in a sulk & Travellers 1&2 in a clique) we had so much fun. Highlights: Our first éver buckets, the exhausting but totally worth it climb up to Phi Phi viewpoint, partying at Slinkys & Woodys on the beach and our boat trip to the stunning Maya Bay - where they filmed the beach :) Anytime you reached any kind of height on Phi Phi, you were met with the kind of 'postcard perfect' image which I'd only half expected to be possible. Really beautiful place. There are definately echos of the 2004 Tsunami evident still and evacuation sites, memorial cafes and importantly, residents - are there, recalling just how recent and devastating it was for the island. Incredibly, 3 girls who we first met at our Hostel in Byron Bay, Australia, some 2 months before bumped into us in Reggae bar (night spot with a huge ring where professionals and drunken tourists fight muay-thai style for adulation and free booze! So ridiculous, but oh so fun!) - so we spent a night with them and the following day on the stunning and secluded Long Beach. Whilst on Phi Phi it was Sport Relief weekend at home - I didnt stop bloody going on about it to the girls, who must've been BEYOND bored of it; I then ran all over the town looking for a TV to watch some of the marathon night TV show - finding one just in time for the last 45 second and the credits. Fail. Wore my SR socks with pride on the day though :D Traveller 1 left Phi Phi on our 3 day there to meet her bf as planned back in Phuket and Traveller 2 and I stayed for another couple of days.

Next stop was the Krabi region - namely, Railay. Oh lovely Railay. Its the kind of place that felt like it was populated entirely by cool people. Perfect antidote from the madness of Koh phi phi. It was in our first few minutes there that we met Katie & Natalie - 2 British girls, our age, who having also just arrived, we're looking for cheapish accommodation too. Teamed up we managed to find an ideal resort (seemingly run entirely by incredibly polite ladyboys) with big old bungalows, just a ten minute wall from the chill West beach and the restaurants, bars and small number of shops on the East beach. Being our first new place travelling just as a pair, it was a relief to have our company diluted by these two other people for a few days. The girls were funny & friendly & we all got on comfortably from the off. Traveller 2 & Katie talked law a taaaaad too much, but was to be expected - they knew lots of the same people, work for similar firms and had lots of experiences in common. We spent our 72 hours there chatting, sleeping & perving on the beach, plus a little sea-kayaking during the days and eating waaaay too much, smoking shisha and taking pitch black walks during the nights. When we came to leave, it was gutting because it felt like we were leaving friends again, heading to the unknown.

Leaving Railay we were leaving the Andaman Coast and heading East to The Gulf Coast and Half Moon Party. The journey was a bit of a pain in the ass - too many stages (long boat. mini bus, waiting around at station, bus, waiting at cafe, tuk-tuk, 5 hour wait in Surathanni, walking, overnight boat, Taxi.) but some absolute memorable moments. Getting into Suranthanni meeting the sweetest local guy who led us out of the lost labryinth we'd gotten ourselves. After had helped us out so gallantly we had to sing our song for a minute or so (whenever a guy goes out of their way to do something really good/gentlemanly, Traveller 2 and I break out Salt'n'Pepa's "Whatta man" just out of ear-shot, whilst slow-winding. Silly you may think? Totally necessary expression of gratitude we say). Anyway, the place the 'helluva nice man' was directing us to was the primary night market in Surathanni. We were a bit shopped out after Phi Phi (don't worry, we still managed to purchase jewellery) - it was the food we were really after. There was just so bloody much of it. All types - curries, stir-fries, fresh fruit, fresh veg, soups, meat skewers, salads, fruit shakes, huge coconuts - NEED I GO ON?! Trying out various weird and wonderful street food is a much loved pasttime of Traveller 2 and I, so desipte having foolishly filled up on mediocre Pad Thai and hour or so earlier, we were in our element. Walking up to the different vendors, we clocked the women cooking and serving it all up giving one-another 'significant glances' - here comes another westerner, to try something far too hot and weird for them. We love it, it's like a challenge - they say with a wink "would you like spicy sauce with that" and we never fail to answer "hell yes". They await our reactions after the first bite. Sometimes we give in and react as they'd suspect - recoiling, eyes watering, even coughs from the strong, unusual flavours. But usually, even when we don't like it (which isnt often the case) we'll tough it out and chew down the lot. Gauntlet thrown, we walk to the next stall with eager smiles. We love it and I'm pretty sure so do they. So that was Surathanni - a whole lotta food and throwdowns. Boarding the overnight boat we were pleasantly surprised to see that it wasnt all that packed, was relatively clean and aboard were some friendly faces. Two guys in their late twenties - a german couple, heading to Koh Pangnan to celebrate one of their birthdays; a british couple who at the last minute jumped their boat to Koh Samui because it was too full and boarded ours instead; and another couple - the chatty & pretty Sony and her Portuguese boyfriend Renato. We'd settled nicely into our beds and just as we were going to pull away from the dock, we heard a massive commotion - yelling, cross words and then a deafeningly loud horn from another boat. The ferry to Koh Samui which had left 5/10 minutes earlier had returned to the dock when they realised Robyn and Charlie, the british couple, were not on their boat, but were in fact on ours. The entire friggin ship pulled up next to us and for 15 minutes they were yelling and screaming that the girls had to leave our boat and get on theirs, by jumping between the two. Obviously this s*** was not gonna fly and eventually they probably got bored of all of us yelling "they're not leaving this boat" over at them. The rest of the journey was totally uneventful and we arrived in Koh Pangnan just before 6am and all checked into the same resort.

Waking up a few hours later to our first Koh Pangan morning was great. Our cute little hut was right on the beach and although we had a bit of an ant infestation (Traveller 2 had a small cry - she hates ants - but was brave and awoke cool with it after the nap) we couldnt deny the sunset view made it more than worthwhile. Plus there was a pool. And they did a mean full English :)

That first day we thought we'd walk along the beach to Haad Rin: party town and home of the full moon parties. We figured a fingers length on the map couldnt be that far a walk (certainly didnt care to look at the map scale - doh!) and we set of walking along the beach. After an hour in the boiling sun we realised we'd underestimated the task and stopped to re-fuel and play on a swing for aaaages. Really quite fun. Carrying on, we encountered not much other than beached long boats, tiny mean yapping dogs and seasoned hippies. After 4 hours we admitted aloud that we wouldnt make it to Haad Rin before sunset, so found a bar and sat with Pina Coladas facing the horizon. Wonderful view. We were there for a lovely chilled out hour or so when we decided to carry on to Haad Rin to find dinner, bars and clubs. Getting up to walk on, Traveller 2 couldnt find her flip flops. Not anywhere. After we searched all around our table for a bit and her 'ish' accusing the group next to us of pilfering them, we decided she must've left them up the beach at the last point at which we stopped to splash about in the sea. So we headed back on ourselves. That was fun. No, actually it wasn't at all and it was pointless too because it the dark we couldnt see much and they'd likely either found a new home or were washed out to sea. So barefoot Traveller 2 and I walked a further hour or so to Haad Rin where she rapidly bought some shoes and after grub, we headed to the beach. It lived up to expectations and we had a heady night of dancing, jumping fire skipping ropes and far, far too much free alcohol.

Next day we decided to do as little as possible so we'd be on form for the half moon party the following night. The plan had always been that Traveller 1 and her boyfriend met us on Koh Pangnan for it, and we wanted to be rested so we wouldnt flake. Such old ladies. So yes, it was a day by the pool reading.

30th March we were so buzzed for the arrival of Traveller 1 and boyf. We tidied the bungalow, got the glow paint out and lined our stomachs. Or rather I did. Traveller 2 wasn't hungry. They arrived and we had a quick excited catch up on the week and a bit we'd been apart and began to pre-drink. Sony & Renato joined us too and an hour and a half later we were merry from hideous Thai whiskey. Traveller 2 and Traveller 1s boyf were pretty hammered. After the hammock was broken it was definitely time to leave and we jumped into the pre-booked pick-up to take us to the half moon party in the jungle! On our arrival I quickly ran to the loo. I can't have been any more than a few minutes. When I walked back to the group Traveller 2 was obliterated. Like, as in all my 23 years I've never seen someone descend so quickly. Right, we all thought, we'll pop her on a hammock, get her some water and chill for half an hour - by which time she'll have brought up anything toxic (and that Thai whiskey really is) and we''ll head into half moon as planned. Right? Wrong. TWO HOURS pass and Traveller 2 can do nothing except vomit, cry and refuse all offered help. We've not even made it into the party yet. We try coaxing her with water. Having none of it. A quick walk to get some fresh air. None of it. Getting a taxi back to the resort to sleep it off. None of it. After an eventual 3 hours myself and Traveller 1 are livid. Or at least I certainly am - Traveller 1 is far more forgiving than I. After all the planning and excitement of being reunited and at a 'moon party', we've spent our night nursing a defiantly inebriated mess. The lovely Sony and Renato even did a shift of looking after her, so we could do a quick circuit of the place, just to say we'd seen it. Just when we'd decided to sod the whole thing off and go home early, we turned around and Traveller 2 had STOOD UP AND ANNOUNCED "woah! feeling much better - shall we go party?!" Smile all over face. No Traveller 2, we shant. Because the rest of us are waaaay off the f***ing boil and we have your vomit in our flip flops. Anyway, so 'boyf' (who had been on buckets throughout) and Traveller 2 jumped on a platform to dance whilst Traveller 1 and I looked on in infuriated, bewilered awe. After a bit we got a taxi back and the 4 of us, fell into the two teeny single beds back at our hut. A couple of hours later Traveller 1 had to rouse and manouvre her still hilariously wasted boyfriend out of ours and down to the port as they were catching the first morning ferry back to their hotel on the next island south, Koh Samui.

Traveller 2 and I awoke just after midday and before I could kick off at her about the night before, I was struck by literally the worst hangover in the history of mankind. It was catastrophic. Nothing can really descibe quite how horrible it was - suffice to say there were tears and I was to and from the toilet bowl for the next 5 hours. Traveller 2 was fine. So. Bloody. Unfair. Anyway once it had subsided we went for an awkward dinner in Ban Tai village, then bed again.

Following morning we decided to move to the north of the island for a bit of chill time. I was still pretty vexed with Traveller 2 and was in the mood to hold on to that pissed of feeling for a while, which to be honest must have been pretty s*** for her. I mean she was sorry, eventually she said she was, but I'm not sure she got it. She was all "I can't believe I missed half moon!" - it's like, "Love, we ALL missed freakin half moon". Anyway, at the north of the island in Chakorum, we whiled away the days on the beach and internet cafes mostly, but I also hired a moped for the day and zipped around to check out the other beaches, a couple of lush waterfalls, a Thai Cultural village and luckily got a free tour around a safari camp with rare snakes, lizards and elephants. We left after a couple of days to Koh Tao. I'd calmed down about the whole half moon thing by then. Just.

As coincidence would have it, Traveller 1 and boyfriend were on the island too, so we met them our first night there and headed to 'The Castle' club for what we'd been promised was THE best party on the island. It wasnt. After our mission of a walk there, it was full to only about a sixth of its capacity and the music was terrible. Still we had a laugh and it was great to see them both once more. The next day we saw our first Ladyboy show. Wasn't the cringe-fest I'd expected at all and we enjoyed every minute. Ín the style of a cheesy medley of caberet numbers, most of them were totally beautiful and really quite talented. Their rendition of "I am what I am" whilst removing wigs, chicken fillets, heels and dresses to reveal their wonderful mix of natural and surgically enhanced bodies was incredible and was great seeing them look so free and totally empowered. Afterwards, we headed to a beach bar - can't remember the name, for a memorable evening of ballons, fire shows, Chang and some gorgeous Argentinian guys. Next day, though feeling more than a little delicate and tired, we were out nice and early for our snorkel trip. Koh Tao is reknowned for its quality reef and good visibility and it didnt disappoint - we were awed by all the life under the water and splashed around, exploring for hours. It was nearly ruined for me though as one of the guys called out that he'd just seen and 8 foot black-tip shark swimming only a few metres away. I practically ran on water to get back to the boat. Massive shark? Wasn't quite ready! That night we headed to the same bar and joined some British guys Traveller 2 had met the previous night. After a little conversation we realised that they were local to my area of London and that I'd gone to school with one of their sisters! Teeny tiny world. We danced on the beach for I don't know how long and when things started to close up, headed back to their resort to play in the pool. One of our best nights - building towers, playing tower wars in the water and, oops - waking up the neighbours. Tired but happy the next morning, after a big breakfast we were ready for our boat journey to the port of Chumphon - to catch an overnight train to Bangkok!

Our coach into Chumphon arrived 5 hours ahead of the train departure - we knew this and had planned to while away some time skyping family and friends and catching up with journals etc. During a wander in the vicinity we found a stall full of exquisite hand-made leather goods. After speaking for a while with the man who was responsible for all the wonderful creations - tall Thai guy, dressed head-to-toe in cowboy gear. Amazing - I bought a few small souvenirs for friends. We headed back to the train station in good time and paid the fee to use the grubby loo to brush our teeth and ready ourselves for the 10 hour ride to the country's capital. We then heard that it was going to be 2 hours delayed. Frustrating, as we'd been due to leave at 10:30pm, so it now being after midnight meant we'd been sitting around tired, having already been travelling all day. Hard life right? Ha. Anyway, so 2 hours pass and no sign of our train. Lots of others had gone past in that time - filled to the brim with passengers, dirty looking cars and sticky and hot. We were not looking forward to our turn and yet at the same time we were crossing our fingers for its imminent arrival. For the next 3 hours every time a train arrived one of us ran over to the ticket office to ask if it was ours "No, not yet" the guy behind the desk laughed "20 minutes and your train will be here" Yeah, very f***ing funny chuckles. On one of our trips up there, he also told us that the reason the train was so delayed was because the previous night one had derailed. This obviously filled us with confidence. After fighting sleep and a million expensive loo visits, at 4:45am our train pulls up. A good 6 hours after it was supposed to depart. We left shortly after that and spent 11 hours (longer than advertised) on what Traveller 2 has described as "literally the worst journey of my life". Think roasting hot carriage, filthy surroundings, screaming children, bright lights, pungent smells and being knocked by food vendors every few minutes. Arriving in Bangkok we breathed a sigh of relief just to be somewhere other than that hideous, hideous carriage.

We'd heard mixed reports of Bangkok. Some people loved the citys madness and seemingly non-stop existence; others described it to us as a dirty, seedy stop-over - not good for more than a couple of days. Personally, I agree more with the former. The Bangkok we experienced was exciting, heady, vibrant, smiley and wet (so wet one evening that in the 5 minute walk from tuktuk to our guesthouse it had soaked through my bag and all but destoyed my iPhone, which is since stuck on 5% brightness)! As well as ticking off a couple of tourist essentials (the maze that was Wat Pho, Magnificent Wat Arun and the Temple of the Golden Budda) - we shopped at the manic Siam Centre and the incomperable Chatuchak Weekend Market, in the north of the city. Never seen shopping like it. Okay, it sounds shallow, but really - the fashion, such stunning, original, handmade stuff. Traveller 2 and I went nuts. 2 days later I sent home a big box of goodies I didnt want to carry around for the next 2 months (couldn't do so the following day as a member of the highly revered Thai Royal family died, so everything - literally, everything including the post office was shut)! I spent an extra day in Bangkok to Traveller 2 who went ahead to our last Thai stop - Nong Khai, while I spent a much needed extra day in the big city. Bought a couple of books, took a nice ferry trip on the river and had lunch with a lovely and oh so lucky guy I went to Sixth form with, who's been living in the city for a couple of months. Leaving BKK was weird, I'd spent a cool few days there in, on and around the backpacker hub of Khaosan Road, but I felt like I'd missed out perhaps, by not having experienced the grittier, darker and infamous side of the city. Next time I guess.

Arriving in Nong Khai after a surprisingly pleasant overnight train, I was met by Dave, a British man in his late thirties/early forties, a family friend of Traveller 2, who's been living in Thailand for several years. Dave generously had us to stay for a few nights with his family - mega cute Thai wife and adorable kids (1, 4 and 12). It was nice staying in a house with an actual family after so long and I know both Traveller 2 got a bit homesick. Dave was definitely hard work though - we had a bedtime sprung upon us one night (10pm, sleep & lights out!) and his comments about 'coloured people' and joking that he "didn't see me there" because I blended into their brown sofa, became pretty tired. Nevertheless, his ignorance was never spiteful and he fully welcomed us into his home warmly - we loved being their two additional kids! He also made sure we were geared up for Songkran - Thai new year and basically the biggest, most fun water fight ever. He'd promised that Nong Khai was a great place to spend the 3 day festival, and I must admit I was skeptical - particularly as I'd heard from various sources that Bangkok, Chang Mai and Patong were the places to be to truly experience the madness - but I needn't have been worried, we had easily one of our best days since starting our travels! Having already bought water pistols for the occassion, Dave dropped us off outside the teaching centre he volunteers at which we'd already spent some time at reading English with the kids, and we hailed passing vehicles and rival 'gangs' with gallons and gallons of water. I didnt think it possible to find something a bit mean I liked more than watching people slip over in snow. I have. It's watching people get a bucket of water square in the face. Repeatedly. Actually hilarious! It was all good spirited thought and for every litre of water thrown at us (some of it right down the back and ice cold!) cold, we thanked the person responsible for the symbol of good luck for the next 12 months and wished them a happy new year. Honestly - so much love that day. We wandered around the town as much as we could - not easy when you're ducking behind cars, stopping to dance at nearly ever stall/gazebo with good music and even better food - all totally drenched. Teeny weeny little kids, really old people and everyone inbetween - everyone gets into it - welcomed us to join them to eat, dance, chat and of course, splash. We fell exhausted into bed on that, our very last night in Thailand, still damp, perhaps even a little chilly, but with huge smiles on our faces. A perfect way to end our month long Thai adventure.

30 days really wasn't long enough for us in such a massive and diverse place as Thailand - Traveller 2 and I are already planning our return next year on a girls holiday for a couple of weeks as soon as we can afford it. We were gutted to have missed Northern Thailand - Chang Mai, Chang Rai and Pai - so have excuse to go back - plus revisiting our favourite places (Mine: Koh Tao, BKK and Railay).

The very early in the morning following day 1 of Songkran we headed over the nearby boarder and Friendship bridge to Laos. The next part of the adventure. Really couldn't wait!

NBF xox