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Chapter 3: Thailand (Ko Phangan, Hat Ton Sai and Ko PhiPhi)10-Sep-08 to 25-Sep-08+ve spin rating: (4+7+9)/3 = 7 out of 10In the words of Lizzie Dentith, cripes...where do I begin and how much content is involved in this blog?! If I want to keep this up the blogs are going to have to be shorter and cover a larger period of time unlike the last one that lasted a page and a half for 2 freaking days.Ko Phangan: +ve spin rating: 5 out of 10Long trip there from Bangkok, stayed in Cocohut Village accommodation. This place was recommended to me so I booked in advance and got conned into booking for 8 nights...first mistake. Its a beautiful resort on a paradise beach setting. I was in the crappiest room on my todd while every other person seemed to be there with their partner. Thank goodness for Mark and Cathy, I would have been a lost dog otherwise. This was my first experience during my travels of not entering straight into a group, which is much more daunting because there was no set tour or anything like that. Nonetheless, the beach in Hat Rin was hit 5 nights in a row which involved buckets, fire displays, cheesy tunes to get the crowd going, thumping beats to keep them going, buckets, many many Isrealis, raving and either stumbling home without my flip flops or going right through to the sunrise (only did this once and it was awesome).Things to remember include -Claire Glancy and her mate Lisa making a surprise visit to Cocohut soon after I arrived...I fell over with shock. That was the first night and we had a great laugh. Claire said she'd kill me if I didn't give her a mentionA broken toe playing that balloon game, I'll explain if I'm talking to youSunset at Cocohut shared with Mark and Cathy (I make a very good third wheel)Randomly bumping into Aido and Brian Fox from UCDBuckets, buckets and more bloody buckets (technically not 'remembered')Chicken SchnitzelsFull Moon Party - soo many people on the beach, unreal experienceTrying to sleep the night after Full MoonI didn't love Ko Phangan but I'm keen to go again but do it very differently. My advice for anyone going would be to not stay in Hat Rin beach where the Full Moon Party is held if you want to be able to escape the party.Hat Ton Sai: +ve spin rating: 7 out of 10This was the much needed break I needed after the Full Moon Party. I woke up the morning I was going to leave Ko Phangan (by wake up I mean get up as barely slept a wink) not really knowing where I was going or what I wanted to do. After a quick read of Lonely Plant I found this place... it jumped out at me because it said it was a climbers paradise. Now I'm no spiderman and I'm not known for my climbing skills either, but I was in serious need of some activity and this appealed more than anything else I read.I left Mark and Cathy on 16-Sep morning to begin the graft to Krabi and then Ao Nang for the night. It began not a very pleasant journey, yet more friends to leave behind. To beat feeling blue I started a conversation with an English girl who happened to be reading the same book as me (Life of Pi - good book, thanks Cliodna)... in no time we agreed to travel together to Ao Nang. Kat was great company and we chatted pretty much the whole way to Ao Nang, her stories were way more interesting than mine, she should really write a blog!
The next day I left her to go to Railay beach on a long tail boat, it was on this boat that I met Skye (Oz who told me Hat Ton Sai was cheaper and more backpackery so I went with her to there), my roomy to be for the next 3 nights and a fellow Chemical Engineer - like me she is soo cool. I got straight into the climbing on arrival that afternoon and kept it up for the next 2 days. I climbed with Jan (German Aerospace Engineer - what a buzz) and Josh (Oz Lawyer - hmm) on day 2 and 3 after a half day course with Na (cool Thai instructor). I've found myself a new hobby to join the list including hill running... its more vertical so how could I not enjoy this. 3 days wore my body and skin out so much that enough was enough and it was time to move on. I wasn't that keen on doing this because Hat Ton Sai is one of the most chilled out places I've ever been to. The accommodation is cheap, the food is excellent and also cheap and the people on the beach, whether foreign or Thai, were very friendly. But the next thing on my mind was to do my divers PADI certificate and also get somewhere where the All-Ireland Final would be shown (Up Tyrone - All Ireland Champions 2008). I figured I was too close to Ko Phi Phi not to at least visit it so I planned to go there en route to Phuket, where I would hopefully get to see the match. Mark and Cathy were there too so I would get to see them there again.
Ko Phi Phi: +ve spin rating: 9 out of 10
I landed in Phi Phi and within a few hours decided I had to stay in this place for more than 1 night, and in even less time broke another phone (didn't take it out of my pocket when entering the sea, oops). I figured I'd do my divers PADI here, I was stressing way too much about where I was going to do it, plus Mark and Cathy decided they'd do it too. Plain and simply it was awesome, 3 days 4 dives - class! I've never seen so much life and colour, its such an alien world and so peaceful, we saw a whale shark as well which we're told almost never happens to people on their first dives. It was brilliant to be able to do it with people I know well, good times Mark and Cathy.
Diving meant 'quieter' nights out for the first 3 nights because we had to be up pretty early and plus its not recommended to be hungover 20,000 leagues under the sea. This proved difficult because the first night here was...well...the first night here. The second night was curbed celebrations for Tyrone winning the All-Ireland (didn't get to see it, listened to rte radio 1 over the net) and the third night was our dorm room night out. The day after we became certified open water divers an eventful night out was had, let's just say its easy to sleep on the beach here with a 'few' beers on board and I'm now onto my fourth pair of flip flops. Flip flops are not good for me for another reason, I stubbed the bejesus out of my 2 big toes, its fair to say I had the most horrible feet in Phi Phi that week!
I'm staying in the Rock dorm room, I've met some really cool people staying in this place, a special mention to Phil, Matilda, Mike, Gretta, Jay, Ramco and Faucher... the partying is awesome but its killing me, I can't keep this up!!
By the way, went to the viewpoint today which looks over Phi Phi Island from the top of a hill... I now understand what paradise really is! Spectacularly Beautiful.
So onto Kuala Lumpar I go (eventually, its hard to leave this island). See you soon Craig...
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