Thailand, a new country with a new culture to experience, and what a way to get our first experience of it, arriving in Bangkok during the Song Kran festival. The Thai people, particuarly the younger ones, show their vibrant and fun-loving selves during the New Year festival. The festival is an experience that I will never forget, hopefully one day I'll experience it again and its showed me a nation totally united, something that was not always apparant in India.
Thailand is certainly not as rigid as China, and not Governed with the same control. The people seem more free to live their own lives. The Thai people seem to have less hardships than a lot in India. Even though it happens, we never saw one person begging, one person physically disformed and the young Thai children are always accompanied by an adult, a sight not often seen in India. For me, the people of Thailand had it better than the Chinese and the Indians.
Most people travel to Thailand for their beautiful islands. Each island we visited had both similarities and differences to the others. Ko Lanta was the quietest, most tranquil, with gorgeous long beaches and beautiful warm waters that were perfect for swimming in. Ko Phi Phi is a bit more difficult to describe, we only stayed one night, but from that we can describe it as a party island and more expensive than most. The main beach was situated in a cove. The actual beach was not as pretty as the beaches on Ko Lanta, the sea was not good for swimming, but the scenery was just outstanding.
Ko Pan Nagn, again was a bit of a party Isand, particuarly in the south. The beach we stayed on was in an area called Ban Tai. The beaches sand wasn't as fine as previous and the water was very shallow for about two hundred metres so it was ideal, but the view over looked the North side of Ko Samui. Haat Rin was the Island's party town, where the party went on all night every night down on the beach front. If I ever get the choice to go to Magaluf, Aya Napa, Ibizia or Haat Rin there would be only one choice, and I'm sure that the others feel that way. Its a shame we didn't make it up to the north of the Island, there are supposed to be some fabulous beaches there. I suppose the lure of the night life held us back.
Ko Samui is an Island that attracts more packeage holidays, and in parts is developed more than the other islands. Its capital, situated in the south of the isalnd has become more developed, with areas similar to the sex tourism parts in Bangkok, this is a sign that the richer tourists are travelling there. The north of the isalnd is also full of package holiday resorts, that's where we stayed. As a traveller you want to stay away from these places, as beautiful as the beaches were this still annoyed me, but I can't complain, we are all tourists. The four of us travelling will eventually travel on these types of holidays, it would just have been nice to escape it for the time being.
If asked about the best things I experienced in Thailand, I would not have to think long before answering the question. Firstly, the Song Kran festival. I have explained enough about that already, but if I ever get another chance to go I'll be taking it with both hands. Secondly, seeing the boys diving. Even though I was unable to participate in the scuba diving, it was such a joy being able to see the others gets so much out of it. They all loved the experience and I'm sure that they will all be making far more dives in the future. Ickle is already making noise about doing the advanced water course when he gets the chance. The other great part about the diving is they included two of the best full days we had out in Thailand. The two days that we all went out on the boat, they had their fist dives and I was able to snorkel in the blue, blue waters. That experience was wonderful for us all, so was the tom-foolery that we all got involved in during the days. Thirdly, the people we met. For me travelling is all about meeting people, even though we had met some people in India and China, their number was few. So, in Thailand it was great to make friendships with people of all nationalities and cultures, there we met some characters I'll never forget. Fourthly, and probably the best experience of all, was the full moon party in Ko Pan Ngan. 8000 people partying on the beach, partying all night is something else, with no chance of trouble. Everyone was there just to have fun. The best thing about it is that just about everyone (apart from the Jeremies who we had met throughout Thailand) was there and it turned into a bit of a reunion.
There were several things I regret about the time in Thailand. The fact that we didn't make it to the north of the country. There are supposed to be some fantastic places, trekking and people. But for most of our travels we have not been able to do all we want, either due to money or lack of time. We have learned we will have to sacrifice some things, but its still a shame. The second regret is the start of the nipple tweak, something that the little man started whilst in Thailand, and its something that is still haunting us today. We are all involved in it now, but it leads to pain and constant nipple covering positions.
Thailand can be summed up by the fact that everyone we have met who has been there wants to go back, and everyone who hasn't been there wants to go because they have heard how great it is. Thailand is a great country with great people. If you get the chance, go, that's the best advise I can give.
Not much can be said about Malaysia, we were there for only just over a week. The country seemed a lot more developed that its neighbour. Its towns and cities were far more modern, perticuarly in Kuala Lumpur where the age of high rise builings has taken over - the Petronas Towers being the tallest buildings in the world. The roads were far more modern, flat and well tarmaced. Even when we got off the beaten track and went to the Cameron Highlands the place seemed more up to date. Malaysian cities have a feel of the British about them, not surprising since we once ruled there and they are still in the Commonwealth. Singapore was very similar to Kuala Lumpur, but more expensive, that's expected from a place full of multinational companies and ex patriots.
All in all, I didn't enjoy my time in Malaysia as much as I had done so far travelling, it was a bit of an anti climax after the time in Thailand. There were good times obviously, the trek we went on in the Cameron Highlands was great, and the stupid antics whilst vine swinging were a good laugh. But, to be honest I have no asperations to visit there again. I'm unsure of how the others feel, but I know they hold other places and experiences in higher regard.
Sunday, normally a day of rest and football for people back at home (or maybe thats just me?), was in fact for us, a day of travelling from the Cameron Highlands down to Kuala Lumpur (KL) via the discomfort of the Malaysian highland coach network, not a patch on Thailands VIP ones! We woke up about thirty minutes before the coach was to leave the station in town and we all get up and get our stuff together whilst James decided to have a shower. Thus twenty minutes later whilst we're waiting to leave we heard the grumblings of the Goat being boomed to tell Chops that we had to leave NOW! On the way to the bus it then materialised that James needed to pick up his photos that he had put in to be developed the day before. So after a quick dash for those, a stop for snacks and after throwing our bags in to the luggage hold, we boarded the bus and set off for four hours of pain! The coach driver (what is it about this country?) tried to emulate, to the best of his abilities, the driving skills of a certain Michael Schumacher and threw his bus around the bends of the Highlands for the first two hours of the journey and then gunned it down the main roads to KL for the rest of the trip.
When we reached the outskirts of KL we could see the worlds tallest building on the horizon, The Petronas Towers. After crawling through the weekend traffic in the city we reached our drop off point, and then checked in to the Ajuna Backpackers Inn after some serious haggling over the price of the room with the Indian guy who ran the place. As we were here for two nights and it was so sticky, we took the decision to pamper ourselves and opted for a room with air-conditioning. We then headed out to try and get a train booked so we could travel overnight to Singapore. After some poor map work by the entity that is BinChops, we soon found the station, only to discover that it was closed and that in fact it was better to get a coach down there anyway. After sheltering from a huge tropical downpour we made a dash for it and got completly soaked, but headed to a food court in China Town to get out of the rain and to grab some duck noodles - tasty! After that we wandered the market stalls of KL and we had all their owners there, trying to tempt us with their vast quantities of fake CD's, DVD's, watches and clothes. After a bit of emailing, we rekindled the Hotel Ganges (Varanasi, India) snooker tournament as there was a place a few doors down from our hostel. Team May Street were again unfortunate to go down 2-1 on the night, after Team de Gay Street won two re-spotted black ball games. If you take the aggregate points on the night of all the games, i think you can guess who the real winners on the night were...and it wasn't the game of snooker, i can tell you that!
We all woke up early on Monday due to the fact that the room was so hot and sticky. The money we had laid out for the air-con appeared to have been wasted for last night as the contraption decided to turn itself off - cheers! Chops soon found the on switch and normal service and sleep were quickly resumed by all. When we eventually got up, we headed out to Central Market to have some delicious lunch and then had a look at the many stalls and shops within the market, thinking about what stuff we would love to buy if we just had that thing called...erm, money! After another Malaysian tropical downpour we visited the colonial quarter of KL and ended up visiting the Natural History Museum. Honestly, we all wanted to go, it had nothing to do with bucketting rain and the fact that it was free. After the museum we caught the tube and headed over to see the Petronas Towers properly.
We emerged form the station and looked up and saw the towers immediately, the building can only be described as amazing. I don't know if any of you have seen pictures of the building, but its basically two huge steel & glass glistening towers which are connected in the middle by an enclosed walkway which acts as a viewing platform. Due to the sheer scale of the building, we had to walk a fair way just to manage to get some photos taken. After a look around the Petronas Shopping mall next door, and with grumblings from Gareth about just how many book stores James and Little Dave have visited on our trip, we then headed back out to take some night time shots before catching the tube back across the city. We then booked our coach tickets to Singapore and had an uneventful night of snooker, the score is irrelevant!
We checked out of the hostel with minutes to spare on Tuesday morning and then stored our luggage, before heading out to the Australian embassy to see if Little Daves visa was ok - see, i'm not the only one who has trouble getting in to Oz! That idea was soon kicked in to touch as they were closed, so we went back over to Central Market for some over-budget spending. As we weren't leaving KL till 11.30pm we had a lot of time to kill today. We decided to head over to the Petronas Mall again to go to the cinema there. Little Dave went to see 'Ali' and we went to watch 'Harts War', and both turned out to be really good. After having dinner and doing some emails it wasn't long before we had to grab our bags and get on to our bus down to Singapore. This bus was deluxe, the best so far, as we had arm-chair like seats which reclined and had foot rests and loads of room!
None of us managed much sleep on the coach, and when we arrived at the border crossing at 4am to go through customs we were all not really in the mood to write out forms and queue up. Nevertheless, we got through ok and after a swift bus change, we were soon heading in to Singapore. At 5.30am we got dropped off somewhere, and hailed a cab to take us to the Hawaii Hostel. This is where our first day in Singapore didn't go exactly to plan. It turned out that there were no rooms available for us till at least 9am. We decided to just sit down at a nearby cafe and get some breakfast. The place was Indian owned, so we tucked in to loads of Parata bread and curry dips, tasty. After brekkie Gareth and Dave went off to do a circuit of the other cheap hostels in the area described by the Rough Guide. Yep, you guessed it, the Guide again proved to be rough, and five out of the ten places did not even exist anymore, with the others saying that they were full.
As the hours passed by, we sat in the same cafe, buying the occassional coffee to keep the owner sweet, and every hour going on a circuit of the hostels to see if anyone had checked out. By 10am our our first place, Hawaii, had two rooms available so we soon checked in to there and caught up on some much needed sleep. The late afternoon, when we had woken up, was spent on a Gareth inspired guided walking tour of Singapore's main attractions. First stop, Food! He then took us to the colonial area of the city, then we went down to the 'not as impressive as Hong Kong' business district and then we watched a local football game between office workers. We then walked along the riverfront which had loads of expensive and cool bars, restaurants and cafes - way out of our league, defo! After a beer and some food at a food court nearby, we went off to put the man hours in on the telephones ringing people back in the UK as it turned out to be so cheap to call home from here.
Thursday was to be our last day in Asia. I can't believe that we have been on this continent for three months now. We have seen so many brilliant places and things, so in some ways we have seen alot, but there is still so much here to see, that i've just got to come back in the future! Right, little soapbox moment over, after cheacking out of Hawaii Hostel, we headed of to find the local DHL courier office as Gareths Dad said we could use their account to send our Hong Kong skyline photos home so they didn't get damaged - thankyou! Gareth then led us on a mission to find a post office in the city. The first place proved to be a construction site, but he totally redeemed himself by finding one in China Town. What this meant was that James, Dave and I all ended up paying an absolute fortune in postage to send parcels home. Cheers to the guy we met in Malaysia who advised us to wait till we arrived here to post a lot of stuff home as it's 'so much cheaper'! Chops decides that he has not had enough cultural input since we arrived in Singapore, so went off to have a walk around more of the city. For the rest of us it was just too hot and sticky, so we ventured in to the air-con shelter of a local shopping mall - they're everywhere here, you'd love it Ruth! After we all met up again it was another dinner at the food court, then it was soon time to grab the bags and get a taxi to the airport. Not an easy task hailing a taxi in Singapore, when its blatantly obvious to the cabbies with all our luggage, the place where we want to go. After a while we had success and we were on our way to Changi airport and on our way to Aussie!
We checked in very early at the airport, but that was a bonus really as we were able to get the emergency exit seats in the plane, which are always much more comfortable and spacious. Once through all of the checks we had about two and a half hours before take-off. This was meant to be taken up by general amblimg around duty-free and the usual airport stuff. As this was our third time in this airport within three months though, that idea was soon sacked off, when we discovered that there was a sports lounge with a big screen. They were showing the Premiership decider when Arsenal won at Old Trafford one-nil (ha ha), so we soon settled down and watched that. They also showed the mighty reds winning goals against Blackburn, so that was a bonus for me! After that it was pretty much time to board the plane. Within the first two minutes of getting to our seats, Dave and I manage to annoy the guy sitting next to us so much, with our comments on how many movies we can fit in during the flight, that he quickly went and found a new seat...oops, roll on Australia!
Enough from me now, Gareth is going to write the sumary next and then James will enlighten your lives with our first experiences of Aussie. So with that i'll say faird'incum, stone the crows & G'day!!
If you have read my previous couple of entries then you may have noticed that I tend to begin with some sort of vaguely football related nonsense....I don't see why today should be any different, so here goes. In all the years that I have been on this planet how many times have I had a chance to see Norwich City in the final of anything? I'll give you a clue, it is somewhere close to the number of times that this website has been updated on time! Therefore, I find it very unfair that they have chosen this year to reach the playoff final. Please mail all your donations for the 'Get Dave to Cardiff Fund' ASAP!!!
Ok, amongst the cries of 'get on with it' being uttered as I write, let me tell you about tuesday. For some reason the boats that depart from Koh Samui are all skippered by people that like to see the horrible side of 8am. Therefore we find ourselves awaiting a taxi outside our resort at 6:30 dragging a very unhappy goat who disagrees with the whole concept of mornings on general principle. Following the boat ride and a further few hours of air conditioned bus action, we arrive in the southern Thai town of Hat Yai. With time till our flight slipping away we head straight for the Malaysian border in a minibus we share with two brothers from Gloucester, Dan and Mike. After crossing the most lax of Disembarkation lines to leave Thailand (we don't even have to get out of the car!) and a brief tour through the immigration side a few metres further on, we head for the Island of Penang.
Upon arrival in the capital city of Georgetown (Malaysia's second biggest) it is immediately apparent how different the place looks to the Thai settlements that we have passed through. Georgetown definately has a more Indian feel to it with open sewers and general architecture that would not look out of place on the sub-continent. We decide to check into the guesthouse recomended by the Rough Guide and then head out for some food. It is here that we again bump into Ed and Kev, the two guys that we met on Koh Lanta a week or so before, small world (more evidence to back that statement up will follow shortly!)
The first order of business on wednesday morning is to get out of the guesthouse recomended by the Rough Guide as soon as possible. An open (read: non existent) windowed dorm room with rickety beds and no working light bulb as standard was quickly replaced by a far nicer place just up the street. After a cultured breakfast/lunch consisting of fried eggs, sausages and hash browns we head for Penang Hill. Our experiences in getting to the summit of Hong Kong's Victoria peak mean that we are now semi-experts in the field of Furnicular railways. Therefore when, after a couple of bus journeys, we have to wait for an hour for the crawling one-carriaged effort to struggle down the hill to meet us, we are far from impressed. By the time we do reach the top the cloud has descended far enogh to obscure most of the view. Marvellous.
The day may not be a complete disaster yet however as we earlier spotted a sign in one of the bars near our hotel saying "Spiderman - 8:30pm". On the way back our bus driver obviously recognises that we only have half an hour till the begining of the film (well either that or he was just completly unfit to drive for the Penang Bus service!) and races home at a speed Michael Schumacher would struggle to match. Just after we have sat down, ordered food and drink, and made ourselves comfortable the opening credits kick in. Along with these come the first alarm bells signaling that all is not as it should be. By the time the captions stating "Starring Dan Ackroyd" and a director who isn't Sam Raimi appear, all to a camp 'Pink Panther' style score, it becomes abundantly clear that we have been ripped off. Now, a normal person at this point would just wolf down their fried rice and head for the nearest exit but, be assured, there is a reason why we were always up to the early hours of the morning throughout our university careers. Quite simply, the inabillity to turn down crap TV! Eventually we do head off to bed via a quick internet stop and a couple of beers with Dan and Mike from the minibus.
Thursday starts for me (as soon as our hotel unlocks the front door at around 7:30am) with a mad scramble to find an internet cafe that is opn this early and hence the confirmation that City (as already mentioned) have made the playoff finals. When the others surface we head out to collect the photos that we had put in for processing yesterday - some of these can now be found on this site - before spending the rest of the afternoon wandering the shoping centres and streets of Georgetown. In the early evening we again end up in an internet cafe for some more much needed website mouth to mouth. It is here that I am sat watching the screen when a female voice from behind me asks "Are you Graham Horne's brother?" Now when you are ten thousand miles from home on a Malaysian island, this is not something that you fully expect to hear! It turns out to be a friend of my little brothers who is also travelling and happened to recognise me. What are the chances?
Following last nights Spiderman (or what turned out to be a dodgy B-movie entitled 'Earth Versus The Spider') we decide that we should take advantage of a spare evening to see the real thing. Following a MacDonalds (which maintains the record for every country!) we make for the local cinema for a couple of hours of cheesy webslinging action.
The bus to the Cameron highlands on Friday morning again leaves at a completely inhumane hour (8am). Five hours later and with our first Malaysian bus journey behind us (the comfort experienced throughout Thailand has been replaced in favour of no leg room and vicious steel edges designed to maximise kneecap pain!) we arrive in the hill station town of Tanah Rata. We spend what is left of the day wandering the town and watching films in the Video room of Daniel's guesthouse.
We are awoken on Saturday by Chops shouting at us all to get up and get ready as the walk that we are supposed to be taking part in leaves in fifteen minutes. About fourteen and a half minutes later me, the Goat and Freddie are sat outside waiting for the aforementioned Chops to finish getting ready - new watch, same old time keeping skills! The walk (and by this I mean proper organised walk not the usual trudge around hauling backpacks and wondering who has got us lost this time) sets off into the beautiful scenery of the Cameron Highlands. We head through the jungle and up the ridiculously steep hills accompanied by a supporting cast of Kriss (a local guide), a German guy named Hans (who, despite having only been here a few days appears very friendly with Kriss - very efficient!) and another lad from Leicester called Alex. The walk is, as well as being completely knackering, an excellent experience as we spot Monkeys, Millipedes and even the rarely seen 'Pretends to be dead' snake! The relief at reaching the summit soon turns into childish fun on the way down as we come across a vine and much swinging is undertaken by all present with Big Dave nearly bringing the whole forest down on our heads! Retuning to the lodge in the middle of the afternoon refreshed by some fantastic Indian food seved on a Banana leaf (well, it saves on washing up I guess!) we laze around till the evening when we head out, along with Alex, in search of the FA cup final.
That just about does it for me, I'll leave you with Freddie for the next five days, and if anybody wants me I'll be scouring Sydney for a late night internet cafe in which I can torture myself for ninety minutes of Playoff final carnage next sunday. Come on you yellows!
The best laid plans of men and goats.... We had originally planned to hire out bikes and ride off to the other gorgeous waterfall in the centre of Koh Pha Ngan (see the Goatman's diary entry below) with Nicole and Sara on thursday, but as a rumour has reached our ears that it's unsuprisingly also bone dry at the moment (plus 35 degree heat is not conductive to bike riding when you're as lazy as we are) we sack that plan off. Despite only getting in at 4am the previous morning, myself and Freddie (the ones who aren't in the middle of a summer fling, that is) haul ourselves out of bed and make it out for midday in order to see what Hat Rin looks like in the daylight. The other two and their respective entourages promise to meet us at 5pm, I'll just quickly let you know what they spent the rest of the day doing: pool; chatting. Right, back to us! During the by-now-familiar Hills Of Death cab ride we got chatting to our co-occupant, an Ozzy-accented English guy, and happened to mention our sob-story about the faulty Spy Game DVD in Shanghai and how the cliffhanger has now stretched for 3 weeks. Et Voila! His hotel starts showing it ten minutes! We spend the next 3/4 of Spy Game attentatively following the plot, until Bin Watson's mates from home that (as you'll all remember of course) we met in Bangkok walk past, and we end up missing the finale while catching up with them! Doh!! We catch the sun's dying rays on a beach that looks like it has been lifted wholesale from Magaluf, and see an American couple who shared one of our taxi's a week ago. Small world.
We arrange to meet up with Ben and H later then wander up and meet Niso (but not the other guys because, as a text message from Camp Goat lets us know, they're still tired so will meet us at 9pm) who is now living at what turns out to be a beach paradise a mere 5 minutes walk from Hat Rin! It kicks our place into touch - sloping sand, no rubbish, great view, SWINGS, I mean honestly! The three of us walk around the headland on a rotten, 10 foot high wooden walkway above the jagged rocks ("Safe bridge Doctor Jones!!") extremely tentatively - so much so that Freddie causes a traffic jam towards the end! - then climb the adjacent hill looking for the lighthouse and associated view-point that turns out to be obscured by trees. In our eagerness to find a decent view to make our climb worthwhile we head off the path a few feet. This turns out to be a huge mistake as Dave comes out screaming like a big girl, covered in huge warrior ants that not only bite painfully, but won't get brushed off without climbing onto the hand doing the brushing! One of them looks to be trying to bury itself into Dave's stomach at one point too, pretty scary stuff, so the evening quiet of the hill side is broken by the tramp of feet of two Englishmen and an Israeli desperately heading for sea level at top speed! Back at Hat Rin we have some pretty standard noodle fare while watching Human Traffic at a cafe, before the others turn up and we head off to the beach for another night of mayhem. It's the normal Hat Rin carnage - drinking, dancing, talking, drunk conversations while dancing etc etc. Gareth, Little, Sara and Nicole take off around midnight, while Bin Watson and myself make it to another 4am in the Cactus Bar with Niso, H and an on-the-pull Ben in attendance. And this is meant to be the warm-up for the full moon party tomorrow?!
Friday day-time is spent in a much lazier manner than was thursday, due in no small part to the tropical monsoon that seems to have arrived above our heads. When it abates for a while, Little, Gareth and the girls head off into the local town to get some money, and in Dave's case to impulse-buy a hammock. Useful things in Norfolk so I've heard! Meanwhile the symbiotic entity known as Bin Chops are doing little other than play pool and laugh at how the waiters at the restaurant can only pronounce Simone's (one of the English girls who came out with us on wednesday) name as 'Seamon'. Ahh, maturity! When 9.30 rolls around we don our glad rags (or in Bin Watson's, Little's and my case, our loud hawian shirts purchased in Bangkok, see piccy here) and head off into Hat Rin for the full moon party like a bunch of over-excited school children. Our enthusiasm is dampened somewhat by the police drug-check on the way in, but soon raised again by the sheer terror of the taxi ride over the hills. After a group meal at a restaurant that seems to have decided that chairs are superfluous, and that cushions on the floor are the way forward, we head down to the beach.
Truth be told, it wasn't all that different at first to the previous three nights, just a lot more people. After we had drunk one of the local bucket concoctions (1 half-bottle of Thai 'Rocket Fuel' Whisky, 1 red bull, 1 can of coke and give it a whirl!) however, a strange thing began to happen. We started running into loads of people that we'd met elsewhere in Thailand! First up was Mr Montreal (the French-Canadian guy from from Bangkok), then Nikki and Michele (the two English girls from the same drunk night out in Bangkok as Mr Montreal) and finally Kat, Alex and Kirsty, three girls who were on the boat with us during the last day of our dive course. If you add to this Ben and H, who we accidentally met the day before, and it seems like everybody who is anybody is on this island at the moment! The Goat & Ickle Party again don't last out the night (leetweights!), but myself and Bin Watson, abley assisted by Niso, Nikki and Michele, dance the night away and end up sitting on the beach at 6am watching first the sun come up, then Niso and Michele going for a swim/dunking session fully clothed. We are finally persuaded to head off home at half past seven by the huge wasp-like things that start patrolling the beach front, so after taking down anyones e-mail address who's within arms reach, and a tearful farewell with the most insane Israeli we'll ever meet, we taxi it back then collapse into bed at 8am.
Being thoroughly creamed, myself and Big Stuff miss Shay departing at some point in the AM (if you're reading this, have a good trip mate!), although the Goat and Little do say farewell (after rising from their air-conditioned room, grrrr!). The Big Man and I do even less than yesterday, understandably, other than play Jenga with the fruitloop waitresses. One of them, in between moves, keeps telling me that my beard looks bad and that I should shave it off - what service! We also make the annoying discovery that the next beach resort down does absolutely fantastic food at half the price of the pretty average, meager portions at our place. Very useful when we leave tomorrow morning!
While we have been doing diddly-squat, Gareth, Dave, Nicol and Sara have gone off to Hat Rin for a Thai Massage. By all reports this turns out to be more violent than a particularly nasty interrogation session with the Spanish Inquisition, but nevertheless the masochists say that they enjoyed it. Weirdo's. The beach party is also apparently still rocking at 4pm, although by all reports the cove has lost some of its pristine character and is now covered in rubbish and the occasional passed-out raver. After a meal while watching American Pie 2 (during which Little gets his food last again, making it a 100% record for the waitresses not liking him in Hat Rin. Or something), they head back and meet us at the hotel where we celibrate our final night in the party capital of Thailand with a game of pool and an early night. Rock on, baby!
Sunday starts for me with a hug from a departing Sara and Nicol then a drift back to sleep again because it's still rather early. Meanwhile, the Goat and Little Dave see the girls off properly, loading them into the back of a van that has no taxi markings (probably with a banjo on the passenger seat and a shotgun mounted on the back of the cab...) but promises to get them to their boat on time. After rising, washing and packing we settle up our hotel bill (they operated a tab system, I really wish people would stop tempting us like that) and say goodbye to the various Ward-9 occupants that worked there. We make the ferry at half past 12 easily and head off to Koh Samui across the water, the next island down towards the mainland and a place that we've decided to spend a couple of days in tranquility after last week's exploits! The journey doesn't take long, and by the afternoon we're checked into some bungalows fronting out onto Cheng Men beach, an extremely gorgeous stretch of sand which mostly seems to draw the older couples crowd so it's a bit more peaceful. We take it easy for the rest of the day - take a swim (would have been nice apart from unidentified stinging things in the water), play pool, check e-mails, phone girlfriends, oh and there was something that Little was getting excited about as well, something about Norwich City's Lay Off chances? I can't remember, it's slipped my mind!
Monday is a dedicated beach day, oddly enough the first of its kind for myself, Freddie and Ickle due to diving courses and late nights over the last 2 weeks. Although we try our best, by the end of the day we are still left with some pretty distinct t-shirt lines that will quite likely still be there in Oz! The sea decides to be nice and not sting us today, unlike the corn-on-the-cob seller who tries to charge an enquiring Big Stuff 70 Baht for one ear of corn (that's about the price of a full meal), ahahahaa get lost! Once the sun goes down we grab some food from one of the beachfront bars and play pool on a table so beaten up and lopsided that I think I could be prosecuted for calling it pool. Dave and Dave take a whooping at the adjacent table-footie game from a man who could surely win the gold if ever this was made into an Olympic sport, then myself and the Little Man stay up drinking on the beachfront deckchairs until late - quite why when we have to be up at 6am to get our boat I don't know! I guess that the mood of Hat Rin is a difficult thing to shake off!
Well, that finishes things for me for the time being. It's just depressing to think that because I've written this so late it's almost my turn again! Laters.
Another early start for the dive boys, and this time I pulled my lame arse out of bed and went with them. There were some anxious faces amongst them as it was their first open water dive, for myself the day ahead involved the less arduous task of snorkelling. By 8.30 the boat carrying several dive parties left Ko Lanta and made the two hour trip to Ko Ha, a tiny Island surrounded by several rocks immerging from the sea. After two hours of sunning and some final instructions for the boys we arrived at Ko Lanta. Within 30 minutes the boys were kitted up (see piccy here) and making their first descent into the open sea. To my shock, the lads seemed to have picked it up fairly quickly. After 40 minutes of snorkelling around I watch them ascend. Once back on the boat it was apparent that their previous nerves had changed to a pure lust for the experience.
A 1 hour 30 minute break followed and some lunch was consumed by the hungry explorers, followed by some gossip with some fellow dive groups. Then it was back into the water for the second dive of the day, again the dive went off smoothly and even Chops successfully cleared his mask under water (all the practice back on Ko Lanta had paid off). After the second dive the boys were made to swim around the boat 4 times and then tread water for 10 minutes, well, a Goat ten minutes (which was nearer 15, never trust a Goat!). After the formalities were over the childish play began. With myself, the little man and Nick all trying to catch a frisbie served up by the Big Man from the top of the boat. Some of the attempts were more successful than others (see piccy here). After the fun died down we took the 2 hour trip back to Ko Lanta.
Once back at base we headed out for a drink with 3 of our 5 new aquired chums. The other 2 were taking the exam that would challenge the lads in a days time. After arranging to meet up later we headed back to the guest house for some more sea style antics. That evening we started the walk to the restaurant to meet the others, the walk that was supposed to take no more than 30 minutes seemed unending. After loosing interest, myself and the big man headed back for the guesthouse restaurant, whilst Ickle and Chops valiantly marched on. In they end they were successful and ended the day chatting and drinking with Cat, Alex, Wig, Kirsty and Tim. Myself and the Big Man did exactly the same, but in the usual surroundings with Kev and Ed.
The next day was the last of the dive course, and the boys faced the hardest examination of their short lives (not). Again I joined them and we headed out for another trip to Ko Ha. This time the lads looked even more impressive in the water. Who knows what they looked like under water? Probably the same as above the water but with stupid outfits on. Two dives were again completed with the same amount of time left for lunch. More water antics followed, but not in the same style as the day before. The return journey to Ko Lanta took shape in two parts. The first for the boys was some last minute revision, at which they had become very acomplished at university, and for myself, the first part involved some well earned sleep. The second part involved a spot of whale watching. For about 45 minutes we searched the open seas for a Minky Whale after it was sighted earlier. Roughly a dozen times the whale surfaced. Several times all the dive instructors hearled themselves into the sea with snorkels, mask and fins on in the quest for a closer look, each time they were unsuccessful, but it was a sight to behold.
When we had returned to Ko Lanta the boys were trooped into the examination room. I headed back for some more well earned sleep. After completing the exam, which they all passed (the major surprise of Horne coming out on top with 98%), they headed with Nick for a few beers. We met up later at our guesthouse for some dinner and a few more beers. As it was our last night in Ko Lanta we invited the two girls (On and Dam) who ran the guesthouse out for a drink and agian met Kev and Ed (see piccy here).
After waving ta ta to our new friends working at Lanta Gardens guesthouse, we boarded the stupidly early ferry that left the port at 8am. We arrived in Krabi 90 mins later and had a quick brekkie and got on the boat destined for Surat Thani. Once at Surat Thani town we boarded another bus that took us to the port. We boarded the 5pm car ferry to Ko Pan Nagn and got settled on the top deck for the two and a half hour journey. During the ride we mey Boi (pronounced boy), a slightly insane Thai bloke with an amazingly fresh Cockney accent. Not to be out done I put on my best cockney accent, but unfortunately I was well and truly put in my place. After selling his beach bungalows to us he went off in search of travelling women to accompany us there. At the time this was very embarrassing, but had to be taken in the spirit it was meant. On arriving at Thong Sala, the port of Ko Pan Nagn, we were quickly zoomed off to the bungalows. After agreeing the bungalow, which was perched right on the sea front, was fine we signed in and relaxed.
That evening we decided to take it easy after the arduous (not really) journey. After a bite to eat and a couple of beverages of the alcoholic variety we decided to play Jenga. We were fairly loud, which is what probably attracted the attentions of the table behind. Before we knew it the Jenga game had doubled in size. We had been joined by two Israelis (Shay and Niso) and two Americans (Sara and Nicol, in England we say 'Nicole'). As soon as Niso joined the fun the noise level doubled. Unfortunatley for everyone staying in the guesthouse Niso had been taught the first few lines of 'Don't Look Back In Anger', by Oasis, and was content in singing it with the wrong words, out of tune in an Israeli accent. The sounds of 'Oh, Sally cold wait....' was to haunt us for the next five days. After a few more beers Niso and Shay decided to get an early night, but the rest of us decided to hit the beach. What was to follow can only be described as a massacre of the English language.
I awoke the next day to find Ickle and Chops both missing, and the big man still half asleep on the other side of the room. The fact that it was around 12 noon had nothing to do with the others leaving. Myself and the big man spent the early part of the afternoon playing pool and having a spot of lunch. Then we headed to the beach for some frisbie style action. On the way we noticed two spots in the distance, as they came closer we realised it was the others. After providing us with their excuses why they left without telling us, they joined us with the frisbie. After several minutes of stupidly bad frisbie throwing we decided to make a game out of it. Myself and the Little Man took on the taller two. It was a 'David and Goliath' style encounter, the result of which was the same. The shorter teamed showed far superior mobility and skill and took the game 7-5, after trailing early on by 2 goals. Later in the avo we met Sara and Nicol again and went for a paddle. How lame you may think! But you have to paddle 150 metres out into the sea before you can swim.
By 7.30pm it was time to get ready for our first night out in Hat Rin (party capital of the island). By our departure time of 9.00pm I had taken 20 Baht of Boi at pool and the size of the group going out had increased a lot more. Adding to myself, Chops, Ickle, Big Stuff, Sara, Nicol, Shay and Niso, were Boi, Susie (who we found out later was Boi's lady) and Jim (a mad Irish guy). We all piled into the back of a van and started our 20 minute trip to Hat Rin. What followed was a roller coaster of a taxi ride. No-one bar Niso felt overly comfortable, he felt right at home, and within minutes was standing on the back of the van singing, that right, you've guessed it... After a quick bite to eat, in a crap restaurant recommended by Boi we hit the Cactus bar, the first bar we came to on the beach. Several minutes and beers later we were on the D-floor (dance floor), prancing around like a bunch of wallies. After a while we moved bars, where an important discovery was made by the Big Man. The beers were 20 baht (33p) cheaper from the shop than from the bar, plus they will open them for you, bonus! (Well it was my round then). After several hours of tomfoolery and more booze the clock hit 4am and we all decided to make an exit. All bar Jim, Boi and Susie. We found out later that Jim had past out on the beach, not to wake till 11.00ish. Even though the cab ride home was as trecherous as the one there, the alcohol had taken its toll and everyone was singing badly, very badly, in fact we sucked.
The morning of the next day arrived and it was a lovely day. We had agreed to go to the waterfalls that day, but had been told that it wasn't the right time of year (lack of water), so we sacked it off. Nothing to do with hangovers. The rest of the day was spent doing as little as possible, and feeling as bad as possible. Well, we needed to recover for the next night on the sauce! During the pre night out pool session we met two more girls, Simone and George. Two cabs were needed to get down to Hat Rin, only because yanks take even longer than brit girls to get ready. I couldn't believe it either. That night was very similar to the previous. Food, booze and plenty of prancing around. Again a cracking night was had by all. Myself and the little man left with Sara and Nicol and hour earlier than the others. We agreed the cab ride for 50 baht each, which is the regular price. Then we got taken to a rave in the middle of nowhere, once there the cabby tried to charge us another 50 baht each to get back to the bungalows. After a few beers I occasionally have a loose tongue, which didn't help the situation, but the others calmed it down. I eventually agreed another 25 baht each. We got back to the bungalows and paid only 50 each, they were not overly impressed, but we had only lied to them in the same way as they did to us. The others turned up an hour later and that was the second night of total party over.
Now over to chops, for a married man's view of the Ko Pan Nagn party scene.
After setting at least three alarms between the four of us for Monday morning at 8am, our good intentions of getting up and leaving our bags at the travel agents shop before the crazy crowds of Khao San road emerged were dashed when we got up at around 11am after another late night enjoying the Thai New Year celebrations. In the end though it was ok as we took this little side street that took us to the office without getting hit by loads of water and flour. After a bit of a late breakfast we headed up to see the Royal Palace in the city as all we had seen so far was Khao San road really and the Thai kicking boxing. I successfully managed to reach the palace virtually un-scathed after dodging the water and flour protaganists, but the others are drenched and floured. When we arrive the actual palace itself is closed due to the New Year holidays, but the rest of the grounds are open to the public to view so we have a look around those instead.
After a few hours of looking around impressive murals depicting battles and religion, small temples, nearly seeing the King (we saw his motorcade later) and sweltering in the heat we decide to leave as we have to catch our bus to Krabi at 6pm. On our way back the only clean and dry one out of the group, me, finally gets nailed with water and flour as we head back towards the Khao San district to get some food. Now before I tell you where we went for this food, we would just like to add this little disclaimer: “We as group believed it would have been rude and culturally inept to have left Thailand without sampling the delights of McDonalds ‘Samurai’ Pork burgers”. They were not as impressive as Mumbai’s Maharaja Macs but still quite tasty. After a quick change of clothes we departed on our bus which had loads of leg room, reclining seats and air-con which we started to soon despise as we were all freezing as we drifted off to sleep after a few hours.
We got woken up at 5am after 11 hours on the bus as we had stopped somewhere and we were all told to get off the bus as it was heading back to Bangkok - great! We didn’t have a clue where we were (it later turned out to be Surat Thani) as the agent hadn’t told us about this change over, it was still dark, and nobody told us for an hour when our next bus was coming. It all worked out ok, and at 7.30am we got our next bus to connect to Krabi with the on-board movie of ‘American Pie 2’. After a short stay at the bus drop off point in Krabi, we got taken to the pier to get our ferry to Koh Phi Phi (the islands where they filmed some of ‘The Beach’) and we were soon on our way to our first island destination of Thailand. After a two-hour ferry ride, Gareth and the only Norwich city fan in Thailand (by the way did you know they had reached the Play-offs – we do!!) go and find accommodation for us all. They have success, and we check in to the Harmony guesthouse for one night only. Koh Phi Phi is just very expensive so we took the decision to move to Koh Lanta tomorrow, a nearby island, which is supposed to be just as beautiful and cheaper. After checking in, Dave, Jimmy and myself go for a paddle in the very low tide beach whilst chops decides to shape his newly grown beard! After a meal in the Chili House restaurant we head off to watch more Thai boxing at the Reggae bar as we had heard that the provincial matches were more entertaining. They were not wrong, it was brilliant, with loads of quality moves, betting on the outcome between ourselves (never mind Gareth) and more knockouts than a night out at the Lumnipee stadium in Bangkok.
Wednesday morning sees us checking out of the guesthouse, as we had to catch the ferry over to the island of Koh Lanta. We arrived in Koh Lanta after an hour and a half on the ferry, a little sun-burnt and hungry as we had missed breakfast. After getting bombarded by agents on the ferry, and at the pier in Lanta all offering us places to stay, we decide to grab some lunch and sort a few things out first. After getting some currency from the bank and booking a four-day scuba diving course to start tomorrow for myself, James and Dave at the local dive school we decide to give the Lanta Garden Homes a call and they agree to come and pick us up from the pier. Queue our first experience of taxi rides in pick-up trucks in Thailand. We loaded all of our bags on to the truck and then sat ourselves down on the sides of the truck. After about thirty seconds ickle Dave is nearly sent crashing off the side of the truck as we rocket over a bump in the road,he was ok though (so don’t worry Mary & Ken), and we arrived a few minutes later at the bungalow resort. Although our bungalow wasn’t quite on the beachfront it was still impressive as it slept all four of us comfortably, had a massive bathroom (wasted on us boys, but the goat loved it!), and a veranda to sit out on and look at the sea – oh, & by the way it only cost us £1.25 each per night, bargain! After we dumped the bags we went and checked out the nearby beach. The agent wasn’t lying to us when she was selling the place to us; it really was a beautiful beach. After getting sun-creamed up to the max (sorry, I’m talking mockney!) we headed in to the sea for a dip, and as you would expect from us it took all of about a minute for the water fights to begin! In the evening we had a meal in the resorts restaurant then headed to the bar for a drink with the two guys from the bungalow next door to us from Tunbridge Wells, Kev & Ed, who are a good laugh, but complete nutters!
It was an early start for the three dive boys of the group as the dive school had told us to wait at the entrance to our resort at 7.30am, the driver turned up a good 15 minutes later to pick us all up. Now he was either late, or he had heard that we had a Prettyman traveling with us and was just hedging his bets on whether we would be late or not! When we arrived at the school we got introduced to our Danish instructor Martyn, who spoke with impeccable English, and the fourth guy on our course, Nick. We soon got down to the task of watching loads of PADI videos (just like the health & safety ones you have to watch at work, but with more bad jokes), and completing quizzes on what we had been watching. After getting kitted out in the scuba gear, the afternoon was spent testing the skills we had seen in the videos in some shallow water in the sea. It was a really strange feeling at first being able to breathe under water with the aid of the Regulator as your brain tells you that you should be really holding your breath. After a few minutes we all got the hang of it and continued with the skills practice. After around two hours in the sea we called it a day due to the poor visibility in the water and decided that tomorrows session will be in the swimming pool. After getting a ride back to the bungalows we found Gareth on the beach and discovered that he had a taxing afternoon of getting out of bed, having lunch and checking the England footy news on Soccernet! After probably the best sunset we had seen so far (see piccy here), we spent the evening similarly to the previous one, on the beachfront in the restaurant and in the next-door bar with Kev, Ed and some of their Kiwi mates. There was a dead funny guy called Ralph who we met and we ended up just talking about new year in Bangkok, footy, rugby, cricket and life in the UK, as he and his girlfriend actually lived in London and called that home (well i suppose they're more cockney than Gareth).
The second day of diving on Friday began as yesterday with another early start, followed by a session in the pool at a nearby resort on the coast. After kicking out the resorts residents from their pool, we began to practice the skills that we had learnt from yesterday’s sessions. The pool work really boosted our confidence about going out to sea over the next two days, as the visibility improvements meant that we had a lot of time to practice the skills that we would have to do in the Open water sessions. We all did pretty well apart from when we were asked to take our equipment off, whilst underwater, and then put it back on again. People by the poolside were probably surprised to see my air tank rise to the surface as I lost my grip on it, shortly followed by my hands coming up to retrieve it so I could put it back on. Yep, our friendly smart-arse instructor ripped me for the rest of the day about that one - cheers Martyn! As it was another scorching day on Koh Lanta, none of us wanted to go back in to the classroom after lunch for some more mind-numbing PADI videos, but we did, and after a few hours we had finished and walked back to the bungalows along the beach. After another meal at the restaurant we discovered that it was the 30th birthday of Dam, one of the daughters of the owner of the resort, and so to celebrate, as they always work such long hours, we invite Dam and her younger sister Ons for a birthday drink at the bar next door. Here we find Ed (no Kev, he’d shandied out and gone to bed), and we all end up playing Jenga for a few hours before crashing out ready for another early start for diving.
Right…apologies, but we’ve just been pretty bone-idle at this since we arrived in Thailand-sorry! Over to you Goat.
What? Far from a playoff place? One point. Do you know anything abouty football, Chops? Get back to 'War and Peace'! The mighty yellows will make the playoffs, mark my words. Now if you had said Bradford city....... (of course by the time this actually makes it up on to an already ridiculously delayed website the matter could well have been decided) - please read the updates notice section if this makes no sense, I am not guaranteeing that it will help!
Anyway, with that Football related rant behind us, you will be delighted to know that I have the task of describing our time in Bankok, Thailand's "City of Angels".
From the moment that our plane set down on Wednesay afternoon it was clear that we had left the order of China well and truly behind us. Refreshed from two more superb Singapore Airlines flights (complete with 'Ali' and 'Ocean's Eleven' for viewing entertainment) we stepped out and straight into a taxi to take us to the traveller's epicentre of Khao San road. On arrival we are stopped by a traffic cop who, following some raised words with the driver, proceeded to tell us that our man doesn't have a license - welcome to Thailand!
After a quick exit from this scene, and finding some minimal rooms, we spent the evening introducing ourselves to the road's bars. Surrounded by more westerners than we have seen in the last ten weeks put together, we bump into some of the Big Dave's mates from home. A few more drinks with Ben, his brother Anton and their friend H (unfortunately for our own Steps look alike member, this was not the pop version!) were forced upon us before we ran the gauntlet of Thai Girls (and boys maybe???) lining the sides of Khao San road in order to get back to our hotel.
We spent the majority of Thursday (after a substantial lay in) sorting out our onward transport from Bankok and wandering the travel shops. As we have inadvertantly stumbled into Bankok in the middle of the Thai new year celebrations (much more to come on that later) and everything is booked up, we book tickets out for Monday. A quick check of the emails (and to read about Beckham's broken bones, disaster!) before some tea and we again head back down to a few bars. The New year festival isn't supposed to officially start till the next day but when water pistols and buckets are primed ready and despatched over us by one of the waitresses, we cotton on to the fact that things may be starting early! Just when we think that we have had revenge, in the form of a soaking under the guise of asking for the bill, she steals the last word with a further soaking when giving us our change, much to the disgust of the table of unhappy (and wet) looking Germans on the table behind us!
Friday morning and war is fully underway. The whole of Thai new year is an excuse for the city tio grind to a halt and to drench everybody and everything in as much water as possible whilst applying some sort of flour/water/clay combination to the faces of anybody walking past. Carnage. If we thought that Khao San road had looked busy yesterday then today was just off the scale. Masses of waterpistol gunmen and bottle carrying dudes trade mass fire across the entire area whilst dozens of heavily armed trucks cruise the area dispensing drive by squirtings and extra weapons of mass destruction are also employed to good effect (namely massive buckets tipped from hotel rooms and one bar owner's awesome high velocity spray gun!). It was never a scene that four dry western lads, who may as well have targets painted on their backs, were going to survive for long.
Having showered and changed we managed to stay resonably dry until the end of the street where we dived into a taxi whilst under heavy water gun fire. After a short stop at Anton's cushy apartment we collected him, Ben and H, and headed to the Lumpinee stadium to watch some Thai kick boxing. Much sweaty fighting later we emerged again and headed, via crazy, wheely-pulling, Tuk-tuks (the Thai version of the Indian rickshaw) to a nearby bar. After a few hours of exploring the back end of Bankok's nightlife and a quick Kebab stop we found ourselves in another hotel bar in the early hours. It was from here that the unfortunate big man had his wallet and glasses relieved from his possesion by one (or more) of the dodgy establishment's theiving inhabitants - it was like being back in Hull! Needless to say, he was not amused and an otherwise superb night out was promptly spoiled.
We awake just in time to pay another nights rent on Saturday morning (apart from Dave who has had to run through the chaos still raging outside in order to file a report at the police station). Is everybody ready to spot some serious repetition.....good, here goes, if we thought that Khao San road looked busy yesterday then today it was off the scale. It is quite simply impregnable. With little option other than get soaked or do the soaking we spent another afternoon in the midst of the water and clay fighting. Well, when in Rome...... (see piccy here)
The evening is spent in a bar across the street watching films and football whilst discussing politics with a Canadian guy called Brady. All pretense at getting to bed early is abandoned in favour of a sing-along outside the bar with various dudes including a Kiwi who knew every word to just about every song ever written (and looked suspiciously like a younger Sting), two essex girls, a very loud Mockney (not Gareth) and a strange local bloke who could only play one song on the guitar that was regrettably passed to him. So it was that we traipsed off to bed around 5:00 still hearing (to the tune of John Denver's 'Country Roads'), "Take me home, Khao San road, to the place I belong........"
As we wake on Sunday it occurs to us that we have seen hardly any of Bankok and we are leaving tommorrow. As we wake on Sunday at around 3pm it occurs to us that we aren't going to see much of it today! Rash plans are immediately made to wake up ridiculously early tommorrow to go and see the Royal Palace and City centre area. For the rest of today we do manage to get as far as the river (soaked of course, as the water fighting is still going on with every bit as much enthusiasm as the past few days) and spend a bit of time wandering the surrounding streets before heading back to hotel and then on to a bar with the same motley crew from last nights sing-along. Unfortunately, this seriously hampers the whole get an early night plans yet again. I am not quite sure when our body clocks slipped back into student weekend mode again!?!
Anyway, thats quite enough from me, all yours Freddie.
