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Ok, so when I crossed the border into Thailand I had to change buses because it was a different company taking me from the border to Bangkok. It was all a bit rushed and chaotic though and some local bloke was trying to tell me to give him my bags and to follow him....sure...that sounds like a good idea. I decided to follow my instincts instead and go in the other direction where I found my way to where another bus was waiting to take us to Bangkok. I couldn't believe what I was seeing though. Having endured some very long bus journeys, in the most uncomfortable vehicles I have ever been in, I was now presented with a luxury double decker bus, with reclining seats, air-con and loads of space for leg room. This was the best bus I'd ever seen. Couple that with the smooth roads and I felt like I was in heaven. I was also a bit surprised as to how well developed everything was in Thailand. I guess I was just ignorant to the differences between all the South East Asian countries. Having come from Cambodia, I expected the majority of Thailand to be only a little bit better, but I was well wrong. It's clear that Thailand is a prosperous country and they have definitely spent their money wisely on public transport and infrastructure.
Anyways....it was only a few more hours until I was actually in Bangkok where I managed to contact Baz and Chris and meet them in a pub. It was good to see them again after 2 months apart and we were soon drinking pints together and swapping tales of our nonsense. One funny situation I still laugh about was when we met a couple of chicks one night when we were out...or should I say.....two porkers came and sat at our table and spoke to us. These chicks (Swedish and Dutch) were really quite fat and repulsive, but being polite I spoke away to them. Chris made his excuses though and went to phone his English chick, leaving me and Baz with the uglies. Now, I was still quite sober, way more than Baz, and I was trying to think of a crafty way out of the situation. So when the blonde one started rubbing my leg under the table, I told her I needed to go to the bathroom. When I got to the back of the pub, I noticed an alleyway that led from the back door out onto the main street....so I ran! Yep, I ran. Fast. Away from the two horrors and Baz. It was a cowardly thing to do, but I don't care.....I felt great! Baz wasn't too happy with me the next day for leaving him with both of them...but his protests were hardly convincing considering he took the blonde one back to her hotel room that night!
Bangkok though isn't really a very nice place. Certainly not where we were staying (Koashan Road). This is where all the 'tourists' come to in Bangkok. There are heaps of hotels, massage places (most of them dodgy) and pubs. It was also full of foreigners. I didn't really like that whole atmosphere. If I wanted to sit in a 'Traditional British Pub' I wouldn't have bothered leaving Britain. I'd much rather find a local place which served local beers and food. Anyways, because Baz and Chris had been waiting for me in Bangkok for a few days, we didn't stay too long. We only stayed about 3 days there, which was about 2 days too many. We did get to meet some cool people though, namely the 'frog ladies'. These women sell wooden frogs, which make remarkably similar frog like noises. I can't really be bothered going into details, but I reckon anybody who has been to Bangkok would know what I'm talking about. They are very friendly and Chris even had his favourite who he like to speak to. There is a picture on the photo album of them together.
But overall, Bangkok is just a dirty, seedy city. There are far too many people offering transport to go see strip shows and meet women (and a fair few of them aren't even women). So we quickly booked a trip to the islands and left, on another luxury bus for Koh Phangan. We were actually a foursome at this point as Baz's friend Chris was travelling with him. Baz had spent a number of weeks getting drunk with this English guy through Asia, so we had another friend to pal about with. Now, this Chris guy had heard of a great place to stay in Phangan, so we booked into this resort for 3 nights and made our way there on a boat. What a mistake. The resort was miles from the town and it didn't even have a beach. It had stones, rocks and a dirty big hill that we had to climb if we wanted to get to another location. And that's just what the 3 of us did. We went for a 20 minute hike (doesn't seem like much, but when it's all hills, 35 degrees and your tired...it's heaps). Having said that, we ended up at a beach that looked like paradise. We also noticed the surrounding hotels contained heaps of hot chicks....alas...the accommodation here was well out of our price range. But we decided to keep coming back here each day. We found a great bar that we could watch football in and the staff even joined us for a few games of jenga. English Chris couldn't join us though. For the past few weeks he had been very ill and was too weak to do things. Turns out he had Malaria. He had already been in hospital on a drip before I met him...far out!
So, after our 3 days in this rubbish resort we decided to move to the other side of the island and we took a taxi to a place called Sunset Beach, right close to where the famous Full Moon Parties happen. We wern't there at the right time though, and to be honest, after a year of travelling, I couldn't really be bothered with 10,000 people getting hammered on a beach. If it was happening at the time I'm sure I would join in and drink till I passed out, but I was happy enough just to relax for a couple of days and not have to walk too far for anything.
After Phangan we had decided to go to Phi Phi...which is off Thailand's westerly coast. So we had to get back to the mainland...and we did this via a nightboat...because it sounded like it might be fun. Yet again we were disappointed. I'm surprised it made it the whole distance without sinking, what a state it was in. Our sleeping accomodation was a series of thin mattresses laid side by side along one of the decks of the boat. So we were basically sleeping shoulder to shoulder with strangers. You had to laugh about it. I wasn't laughing a short while later though when the boy came round asking for our tickets. We had given ours to someone when we stopped on board....and now this guy was asking for us to show them. We were already half an hour into the journey and I realised that the man who we gave our tickets to was not on the boat. So the captain was called....(or at least the man in charge) and he started demanding the tickets. He didn't seem to understand we didn't have them...he kept telling us that we did have them. I ended up snapping at him and telling him to leave us alone.....which he did thankfully (as opposed to kicking us off the boat). Later that day...after we left the boat.....I found the tickets in my bag. Well 'I' never put them there!!!!
However, we did manage to get to Phi Phi.....truely one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The surrounding islands seem deserted and the water is so clear and blue /green that it rivals Fiji. I would say to anybody interested in coming to Thailand to come here. I could have stayed on this island for weeks and not been bored because of it's beauty. Because it is quite small, all the developments are in a concentrated area. You can walk anywhere within 10 minutes, it's great. There are also loads of good bars and restaurants, and no high rise building to spoil the views. There are also no roads there....only paths. So there are no vehicles to get in the way.
Phi Phi was actually very badly hit by the tsunami a couple of years back, and there is plenty of evidence of that remaining today. There is heaps of renovations and new developments going up to cater for the influx of tourists that are now coming back to this piece of paradise. The locals also seemed quite friendly and appreciative of our presence, no doubt knowing that we have some money...which they need to rebuild their lives.
Now then, Thailand has a reputation for 'buckets' which are little buckets (no kidding) filled with some overly sweet concoction of alcohol and redbull. Being the adventurous sorts that we were we thought we would have some one night. Of course it was buy one get one free, so we ended up getting heaps of them. The 3 of us got absolutley plastered that night, ordering bucket after bucket (and getting free ones with them each time). We met some Israeli boys there too (hard not to in Thailand...they are everywhere) and I promised one of them I would get up early the next day to go on a boat cruise round all the wee islands in the area. Well, the next day I was up at 07:30, staggering about trying to put my swimmers on and get down to the dock....talk about feeling rough. Anyways, I was a little late (no change there then) but managed to meet up with my friend and get on the boat. There was about 20 people on our boat, which was a good number, because most of us got speaking and we all had a great day...despite my hangover.
Our first stop was 'The Beach' - location for Leonardo Dicaprio's film. Now in the film, it was pretty cool....but in reality it was just the opposite. Our boat took us to the back of the island where we had to swim through a gap in a cliff to get to the beach, which was interesting but potentially dangerous, because if you mistimed the waves, you got washed onto the surrounding rocks, quite hard, as some people found out (not me though, cause I'm smart). Anyways, after a couple minutes walk I was presented with 'The Beach'. There it was....a beach....a regular looking beach...with about 250 people on it and approximately 20 boats lined up in the shallows. Wow. So I stood there and cursed the fact that I was actually there at all....perpetuating the problem of overcrowding on a crap beach. I wish I had stayed and played with the big waves crashing into the rocks near the boat...that would have been interesting at least.
So I made my way back, snorkelling along the way. The water is so clear, like Fiji's, that you can see everything under water. I have snorkelled a few times now, but I don't think I could ever get bored of having my head under water like that. There is so much to see down there, like hundreds of different coloured and shaped fish, and the live coral is so beautiful. I was a little disappointed though that I didn't meet any sharks. Apparently there are some cool friendly ones (by friendly I mean they don't have a reputation for trying to eat your leg), so I guess I was out of luck that day. We checked out a bunch of cool places though, including a beach which had dozens of monkeys on it. Can you guess what it was called?.........Monkey Beach of course!!! Somebody told me to be careful of them, because they have rabies....but so what eh? When I got to the beach I gave one a biscuit and while it was preoccupied nibbling away... I gave it a wee stroke....poor wee beastie....he didn't look like he had rabies.
We spent a bit of time around this particular beach which was great, because the snorkelling was brilliant. I had the idea of taking a fistful of rice into the water with me for the fish. Very slowly I would open my fist and let a few grains escape. The result was better than I hoped for..... hundreds (no exaggeration) of tropical coloured fish swarming around me nibbling the rice, my hand and sometimes my body.....it was very tickly....but an amazing experience. Every time I released some rice it was incredible. Being so close to so many colourful looking fish was a sight I hope to never forget. I felt so good about it I wanted to share it with other people, so I gave a bunch of people some of my rice.....how nice was that? So after my fish and my monkeys, I went snorkelling behind a big rock where I was out of sight from the boat. It was shaded here and the water was a lot colder, and it was here that I found a very small, dark looking cave, almost completely submerged in water. Suddenly I was hit with the biggest fear of a giant eel or sea beastie jumping out from the darkness and dragging me back into the cave.....and no-one on the boat knew where I was to help me. So I turned around and swam very quickly back to the boat. Perhaps I've seen too many creepy movies.
Well....after a whole day on the boat, a bunch of us decided to stay out for the sunset. On Phi Phi you have to go out to the sea to see the sunset, because there is a dirty big mountain facing west. So we went back out on the boat in the evening and passed a popular spot where people like to jump from a cliff. Now, you should all know by now that I will do anything for a laugh....and it wouldn't be the first cliff I've jumped off.....so I volunteered to throw myself off this one as well for the amusement of all the scaredy-cats on the boat. Thankfully there were a few others who wanted to do it as well...including an Irish guy, who somehow managed to land in a seated position....ouch. Now this was a 60 foot drop, at least.....and that is not the way you want to land!!! He was holding his groin when he got back onto the boat.....I'd hate to see what his kids turn out to be like.....they will probably all have faces like a frying pan.
Anyways....when I went up I realised I was the last person there....the local boy had jumped in and swam away...so I wasn't even sure of what point I was meant to jump from. I think I found the spot....because the people on the boat were very helpful and kept shouting at me 'Just Jump!' "Yes....ok...but can you tell me where from please!!!" I reckon I found the correct spot though and yet again began thinking 'what have I got myself into?' I always have last minute regrets about doing things like this...like when I went skydiving, bungy jumping or jumping into the sinkpool in Oz. But there was no going back. It was far too dangerous to climb down. The rocks are like shattered glass...a very peculiar formation, like lots of razor blades. Turns out I sliced my hand up a little bit....but nothing too serious. So I had to jump to get down....and thats just what I did....check out my video...it's awesome....(well, I think it is). I couldn't even inhale while I was dropping, even though I forgot to take a deep breath for going underwater...but I was alright in the end. Seconds after I surfaced though the most incredible thing happened. Hundreds, if not thousands of little fish started jumping out of the water as they swan past behind me. I thought I had seen a few doing it from the top of the cliff....it was like they were panicked by my entry into the water. I was gutted nobody on the boat saw it and took pictures....it was mental....I was only feet away from it all. Anyways....I was glad I survived the jump without any injuries...especially because my travel insurance had run out a day or two before. My mum was not a happy person when I told her about that one. I'm now covered for another 6 months of travelling though....so I can jump off as many cliffs as I like now and not have to worry about broken bones or backs....because I get free hospital treatment. Sweet.
After that we went a little further out past the island and watched the sun sink into the ocean. The colours of the sky were superb....the contrasts between the sun, clouds and sky were stunning....turely spectacular. Everybody was really chilled out and it was a lovely temperature for sitting on the deck of the boat and chatting, drinking beers and taking photos. This was definitely one of the best full days I've had since I left to travel. The beauty of the islands here is top class, the clarity of the water makes for incredible snorkelling and spending 13 hours on a boat with a bunch of cool people made it an excellent day....I was so happy I dragged my sorry behind out of bed that morning. Chris and Baz missed out big time on that one. I did get a little sun-burnt on my back, but that was ok, it never hurt or peeled and gave me a tiny bit of colour on my otherwise snowflake-like skin. Chris and Baz were actually quite amazed that I had made it out of bed at all that day.....I think they said they slept till lunchtime.
Anyways....after Phi Phi we caught a boat back to the mainland and went to Krabi, where we stayed one night before booking our next bus to Malaysia....a land where the cultures of Indians, Chinese and Malays mix in a refreshingly peaceful manner.
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