Well I am sure you have all been wondering what I have been upto and would probably like a bit of a luagh at my misfortune's so decided to update me blog.

So when I had left you all things were rosey in Bangkok. However I would just like to say I hate that place more than Manchester and would much rather visit Libya right now then have to go back there!!

So after I left you I may have mentioned that I needed to get my visa extended so got a taxi to the embassy, only to find when we got there that the taxi driver remembered it was shut on a Saturday and charged 50 quid for the pleasure anyway!! They are all out to scam ya.

The next day was the Sunday June 5th and I will remember this day for the rest of my life!! So I got up and checked into my hostel and decided to go book my tickets to Koh Phangan for the Half Moon Party. I booked the tickets no problem and was told to come back in an hour to pick them up. With an hour to spare I headed down Koh San Road for a bite to eat and a wander round. It was at this point I was stopped by some guy in a turben claiming to be some mystical yogi and gave me some story of being able to tell I was an honest man and that I was in Bangkok with someone, when I pointed out I wasn't his reply was 'oh but you are, you are here with God'!!! So the next series of event's prove that I am indeed still a Muppet!! He tell's me that free of charge he will tell me my past and if he get's any of it right and proves he is genuine that I pay his fee to tell me my future, my immediate reply was 'last time I got my fortune told mate it cost me more than I bargained for'!!! So he pulls me to one side behind the stalls on Kho San Road and does that whole Derren Brown thing and tell me my date of birth and my mothers name. I pointed out he was right and then he hit's me with the fact that I owe him 9000 Baht!!!! That is nearly 200 quid and his goon brother appears. At this point I obviously figure I am going to get fleeced and no one from the road can see me, so tell them that they weren't scamming me and kicked off, pushing past them and got into public view. They gave a bit of a chase but soon vanished when I was in the crowds. Now you may all think this is fine, but being the idiot I was I had booked the tickets on that road and had to go back there to get them and also to get money out and it was this place I made my fatal error. I went the bank on Kho San Road and some guy was hassling me for a ping pong show when the yogi brothers appear, claiming I owe them money and I am not an honest man. This gets me a bit flustered and convinced I will get mugged so I grab the money and once again have to push past them to get away. However, I forgot to get my card out of the machine and left it there!!! Then ensued me panic calling mastercard to get it cancelled and then the most horrific hour and a half call to mastercard intl who couldn't understand my accent and I had to use all that 'foxtrot, lima....' crap!!! Plus I don't have a phone and they don't send e-mails so had to call back every 3 hours and had to go through the whole thing again. Nightmare is not the word.

Now you might think it couldn't get any worse, if you think that then you truly do not know me!! I had put my phone in the day before for repair and was assured they could fix it no problem. Went back after all this to retrieve the phone, only to find that they had actually made ot worse by wiping all my music, contacts and photo's and then claimed I owed them 60 quid for their time!!! I snatched it up and stormed off telling them were to go!!!

Went back to the hostel and tooking a sleeping pill and passed out determined the next day was a new day.

So finally got out of Bangkok and headed to Koh Phangan on the overnight train. Sadly things didn't really go that well here either since no one on the train wanted to socialise and the local sat next to me wanted the bunks making up at 9pm!!! So once again had an early night.

Finally made it to Koh Phangan on June 7th and awaited the arrival of Laura for the Half Moon Party. After doing alot of research and checking out the best place to stay 'the Blue Lotus' in Baan Kai was the one that was highly recommended. So imagine my shock when I get there and find out I am the only person in 4 resorts next to each other on my stretch of beach!!! Pang, the owner said he has never seen it in 12 years!!! But the day I check out they are all full!!!

Once again though I wasn't about to let that get to me and headed out that night to what the local info book said would be a banging bar. It was dead and ended up chatting to the ex-pats whose local it was. I did get some good hints about places to go, etc.

Next day I hired a scooter and headed into Haad Rin, the home of the Full Moon Party. Had a little scout around and hit the beach for a bit of tanning. I managd to fall asleep and when I woke up headed for some food and a chill out in Green Peace cafe and watched a film. Headed back on the scooter for a hower and get changed and wa kind of gutted to discover that my tan had gone somewhat patchy, not happy. Went back to Haad Rin when it was dark and hit the beach for a few bucket and watch the fire dancers. Got chatting to a few people but to be honest they seemed a bit hippy to me and didn't make any arrangement to catch up with them later!!

June 9th was the day I have been looking forward to loads and that wa the Half Moon Party. Laura had mailed me to tell me he wa going to get in on the 11:00am ferry. I headed down there on the bike to meet her and wa told the ferry would be in at 12:30, o I headed into Thong Sala for a wander and wait for her. Went back 12:30 and caught everyone coming off the ferry just no Laura!! Spent the day trying to find out if he was ok and what had happened. Imagine my joy when there wa a knock on the bungalow door at 7pm and it was a drenched Laura. he had had a nightmare journey due to delay and since I had no phone had no way of letting me know. Was made up to see her so let her in and let her get dry. So she howered and we headed into Haad Rin for a bite to eat before the Half Moon Party. Imagine my shame when the bike stopped dead on one of the hills heading into Haad Rin!! She had to jump off and run up the hill whilst I rode the bike!! The local had a good laugh going past us.

So after a feed we headed back to ghost town of our resort to get ready and head to The Half Moon Party. We got there about 10:30 and started in on the bucket and boy do they make em strong!! The place is very cool though and a great venue. We got painted up in all the neon paint and after 3 buckets or so headed into the crowd. Really enjoyed it and had a bit of boogey. The music was trance though o not my favourite, but heard worse. Whilst waiting for Laura I saw a hammock snap with 2 girls in and it loooked like it hurt, but couldn't go over to help for laughing, karma is gonna get me for that one!! We got some food and headed back to the bungalow about 5am so a decent night.

Next day the head wasn't to bad so we headed back to Haad Rin for a chill out. Sadly once again the bike enever made it up the hill again and Laura had to get off and run up the hill!!! After some breakfast we went to the beach and had a chill out watching the world go by. Afterwards we watched 'Anchorman', love that film and after a wander round Haad Rin headed back. Once again my tan just got patchier and have no earned the nickname 'Patch' off Laura.We headed back into Haad Rin that night to have a few drinks down the beach and watch the fire dancers. Oh and I tried Barracuda for the first time, wasn't overly impressed, tasted like tuna!!!

So on June 11th laura decided he wanted her own bike and we headed off for some brekky before doing a tour of the island. Guess what, her bike was well more powerful than mine and shot up that bloody hill!! We booked our ticket to Koh Tao and headed out on our tour of Koh Tao. We headed up to the Penang waterfall and viewpoint. Was expecting something more like a path than a jungle trail!! Sweat was pouring off us by the time we made it up to that viewpoint, but was well worth it and you could see right over to Koh Samui. After a dip in the waterfall to cool off we hit the road for Paradise Waterfall. The terrain was quite bad and was more like a dirt track and Laura took a bit of a spill and has a nice little war wound to show for her troubles!! So we decided to sack off the waterfall and hit the coves all up the coast that were stunning. Then a nice little drive down the coast to Thong Sala and the old market. Had soem food and I was bullied into buying soem ginger tea thing with what looked like week old off milk in it, was gross!! But you have to try these things!!

So after a shower we headed back into Haad Rin for the final time and a few drinks. We ended up in Reggae Reggae bar chilling out in the hammocks and having a few games of pool. Laura attempted to get the bar cat drunk but to no avail!! Had a few games of pool, got a pancake and heaed home.

So that was my advebtures so far. I am currently in Koh Tao doing my PADI open water course and loving the island. Nicci has joined up with myself and Laura to do the course and has been a bad influnece from the minute he got here!! I'll tell ya more soon and get some pics up as soon as I get a chance. Hope everyone is keeping well at home and I miss you all,
Mup

Ps - don't forget to stay away from anyone who claims o be a yogi, they are thievin f@#kers!!