BANGKOK (visit #3)


So as always, Bangkok beckon whenever you want to cover any real distance in Thailand....so just in keeping with the previous visit I deecided to eat some more filthy bugs!
Photo attached is of Ryan, myself and Kristie and 3 big bad cockroaches (not sure of their names), second photo shows the reaction of said bugs....although it does fail to capture the fact that Kristie cheated and spat hers out straight away, but perhaps the look of "what the hell was that" on her face may give you some clue...

As for the taste itself it was actually one of the more pleasant tasting nasty things I've eaten...almost tastes like chicken when you put a bit of chilli sauce on the bad boy...also had some worms that night as well which afetr being deep fried pretty much tasted of the inside of the deep fat frier, not much else...good with a beer though!

So, on a more regaulr touristy level myself and Helen saw a few of the temples around the area, as well as the Grand Palace, which is still the King's official residencec - that boy kows how to live in style!
I had puporsely avopided the temples etc. around Bangkok to save them for Helen's visit, although to be honest with the excecption of the grand palacee most of them were pretty ordiary, even to Helen who hadn't seen any so far.

So, despite me seeing temples everywhere for what has nearly been 4 months, I actually found the grand palace pretty good...iot didn't have the old skool feel of ancient Angkor Wat but was pretty impressive....although when you see teams of Thais building new parrtts that look exactly like other parts it makes you wonder if the whole place is less than 10 years old!


Helen's arrival did almost bring a tear to my eye with things that I've missed from home, not any of that friends and family stuff - Marmite of course!!! . Breakfast time has neever been so good with my squeezy (what a great idea!) Marmite and Tetley tea!! Happy days.


Next stop is Kanchanburi, were tigers and bridges await, until then...

KO PHI PHI

I once again find myself looking to try and chill for a bit and let the liver stop screaming at me for a while, and Ko Phi Phi certainly was the place to do that, for the first day at least.

It was when having a chilled night playing some pool that I hear a shout of "Ian!" form across teh street, and see that the rest of the 'alcohol enthusiasts' from the previous few weeks have all turned up!

I genuinely wasn't sure whether this would be a good thing or a bad thing, as in myself I was pleased to see them all again, but if my liver had a voice it would be screaming the opposite!

As it turned out, most of us weren't quite on form in Phi Phi, culminating in a tremendous effort to recreate the carnge of previous island, but more often than not for myself resulting in early(ish) nights contemplating why on earth I drink redbull buckets and then try to sleep - not an easy task!!

Phi Phi is also the first place I've seen out here where you can still see the aftermath of the Tsunami, pretty amazing really to think that the island is still functioning and the people still smiling after prractically half of the island got wiped out recently...

The island itself is still beautiful though, and was the scene of the film 'The Beach', photo at the top is from Maya Bay which was the bay use don the film.

So unfortuantely for those that revel in my misfortune I don't really have any tales of stupidity to report from Phi Phi, which although may not provide as much entertainment as my usual posts, it has given me time to just clam down for 30 seconds before the next wave of idiocy!

Next stop is back to Bangkok where Helen from sunny Northampton is coming out for 10 days, so looks like I'll actually have to travel and be touristy for a while - not something I've done in the last month or so!!

More pics to be added from Phi Phi soon....

KO PHANGAN

My arrival feeling tired, cut and bruised was perhaps not the best preparation in what is arguable South East Asia's mecca of debauchery, scandal and controversy but I suppose my time in Ko Tao did mean I was well practised!!

I also notably arrived in a different pair of flip flips than those I orginally wore to Ko Tao which is something I need to explain. It would appear that on the islands of Ko Tao and Ko Phangan, it is perfectly OK to steal other peoples flip flops as they are stacked outside the bars at night - this is an experience I witnessed 3 times on Ko Tao, forcing me to not buy another good pair but an awful 80baht pair as I knew me and them would soon be parted ponce more.

Sure enough, first night on Ko Phagnan, I take my flip flops off to wlk the beach at night (which is where all the parties / clubs bars etc.) are and find them gone! Again!
Being bored of actually buying pairs, and still having the morals (of only the few that remain) I decided to 'liberate' random abondoned flip flips from the beach rather than steal as was stolen from me.

My novel approach has actually paid off, and after finding 2 stunning pairs of sparkley girlie flip flops (not matching of course) I've managed to keep them through my entire time there, I think you'll agree from the pic that they were a fine choice, even if half my foot did hang off the back of the right one!

Liberated footwear aside, Ko Phagnan was aevrything I had heard it to be, both from the enthusiastic party animals praising the antics and the less than hardcore telling me to avoid the 'sess pit of wasters'. I obviously, appeal more to the former than the latter and thought it was great!

The nights leading up to the party were pretty much as big as the party itself, with the days spent drinking beer by the pool, playing some poker (yes, I've found and recruited some new gamblers!) before heading out in the evening for a meal and then onto the buckets of cocktail!

This seemed to be a formula that worked, so basically we repeated it every 24 hours! The full moon party itself was crazy, basically the beach was packed with people, with dozens of beach front bars all playing their own music, from chilled beats right through to 250 bpm Schitzophrenic Euro trance!

So basically more good times as in Ko Tao and with a few more recruits along the way, including the reunion of the original 'Tour de Cambodia team' members Chase, Elisa and Dave.

However, as always I magaed to do something less than sensible....when taking an 8.30am stroll down the beach (ok, returning from the night out) I managed to leave about 25% of my right foot behind on some coral rock - ouch!

I now found myself in the position where I spent the remainder of the time on the Island limping around bare foot in town, trying to dodge sharp stones, interesting smelly water and other peoples feet! Not a game I can recommend.

So, flips flops in one hand, liver in the other the next stop is Ko Phi Phi, where I'm a couple of days ahead of teh rest of the group owing to their slightly different routes there - hopefully a good chance to chill a little before my arm gets twsited into more late night antics!

KO TAO

Once again I find myself having to explain the lack of updates on the blog - although besides the usual excuses of late nights etc. the internet connection on Ko Tao is currnelty being powered by an asthmatic hamster turning in his wheel - making e-mail challenging to say the least.

I actually spent 6 days on Ko Tao in the end, and although the place is famous for learning scuba diving qualifications (PADI) I actually found myself practicing my 'chilling skills' on a sunbed by the pool whilst my other new found friends took up their diving course.

This relatively inactive period on such a nice island had me thinking that there wouldn't be too much to write about, especially in the ways of my misfortune as often seems to be the theme of my entries.

So, whether subconsciously or not I managed to get myself involved in another stupid incident on my last day before leaving for Ko Phagnan and the full moon party.

Having completed their diving qualifications, the group of people I've been spending time with wanted to party it up on the island (1 party every night until 6am - no diving for me meant this wasn't my first visit!) and of course we did, with me and a couple of the group staying until the very end - messy to say the least!

The next day being our last it was decided that we should rent some scooters to get over the other side of the island where you can snorkle with sharks (the non biting kind of course).

So, feeling jaded from the previous nights antics we all take a walk to the moto rental place, do all the necessaries, exchanging money (and passports) for the bikes and we're just about ready to head off. Andrea (of tour de Cambodia fame) hops on the back as we need to head back to the hotel to pick up some forgotten stuff, so as calm as you like I give the throttle a squeeze and off we go.

My enthusiastic squeeze on the throttle sneds me across the little path next ot the shop where I discover that scooters don't like tunring on sand, sending me and Andrea onto the floor - literally 1 metre from the hire shop, and at the excessive speed of 2mph!!

Thankfully, for Andrea (and my conscience) apart from a bruiser she was fine, and I only escpaed with a minor scrape on the knee and foot, whioch of course had the rest of the group practically wetting themselves!

However, beside the comedy this did resultantly mean that my 150baht (2 pound) rental ended up costing me 4,150 naht for the incident to repair hairline scratched by assumngly F1 machanics given the cost.

So after sorting this out and others refusing to ride with me we went and snorkled with the sharks which was awesome, although the blood seeping from my knee and foot meant all the others were no exactly wanting to snorklet next to me and my trail of shark bait!!

So all in all a great time in Ko Tao, mainly due to the people I met - have met some awesome people on my trip so far and at the risk of sounding 'band camp' I have left these people nameless so far.

However, this was without doubt the largest group of like minded 'party enthusiasts' so will take you through the names on the pic - taken from our journey out of Ko Tao on possibly the most overloaded pick up truck in South East Asia!

From left to right: Lara, Myself, Andrea, Hadji, Tom, Jesper, Zoe, Chris, James. Other pics of the rest of the team to follow.


Our exit from Ko Tao now takes the entire group (and the rest of the Tour de Cambodia team - just as hardcore party people) to Ko Phagnan where the full moon party on the 14th awaits, so as they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

Next update from Ko Phagnan after the party, providing I make it back!

KO SAMUI

Although the distance didn't seem that great looking at the map, it actually took 18 hours from leaving Bankok to arrive at my hotel in Ko Samui, more than likely paying over the odds as depsite the beatiful beach, weather and scenery all I could think about was bed!

Although I previously described Nah Trang (Vietnam) as an Ibiza within South East Asia, Ko Samui makes it look like Clacton!

Now, whilst this may sound to be appealing to me given my alcohol fuelled trip so far it actually didn't make for too interesting a time. This was probably the first place I've been on my trip so far that was more a package holiday resort than a backpacker stop.

What this actually meant that meeting random people (and the random events that follow) proved difficult, so much so that besides the people I already knew on the island I actually didn't strike up a conversation for more than 30 seconds with anyone!

For me, especially since travelling that is quite an achievement. However, not to say the place wasn't a potentially good night out, with a big group of lads it would have been messy!

So, after 3 days of Ko Samui I am more than ready for a change and decided to head to the next island of Ko Tao, which was only a 90 minute boat ride away.

Photos as always to be posted soon.....