Thailand and Laos

THAILAND!!!

Day 1 20/12/2009

Suprisingly I slept quite well considering there was the constant drilling and loud crashes of workers building a new section of the airport. The girls were waiting for a friend to arrive at the airport in the morning so I asked whether I could join them with the cab into Phuket City and join in on the accommodation if I didn’t get a bus for Bangkok for the night, but when their friend arrived they decided to go another place around Phuket. So me waiting around with them at the airport was a waste of the morning.

Anyways, I left on the airport bus where I met Hans, a Norwegian guy who just arrived from Norway. When we arrived at the bus station and I quickly organized the bus to Bangkok that left in a few hours.

We then headed to a hostel where despite I was not staying for the night I was hoping to have a shower and use some of the facilities like wifi, they refused and I was left without having a shower that was much in need after sleeping at the airport.

Hans and I met an English girl and Australian girl and we walked around looking for food.

After eating I went into a coffee shop and sorted out a few things I needed to do on the internet for a few hours before getting some food from the market and headed to the bus station, on the way I randomly met a Canadian girl and joined her for dinner.

Just before boarding the bus I met another Canadian girl who was living in Thailand teaching who incidentally was sitting next to me on the bus.

The bus ride was luxury… reclining chairs, free bottled water, little cakey things that I took more of from the bus hostess from the plastic bag that she had placed in a vacant seat next to me when she had her back turned.

I slept unbelievably well, it really is good to travel like a normal person again, cycling can be a pain in the ass, literally.

At midnight the bus stopped at this unusual market place thing, Deanna and I were well confused about how things worked but apparently the food was free… and there is nothing better than free food. The waitresses asked us to sit down amongst some others and there was a bunch of food on the table, I tucked right into it filling my gut quickly as the bus only stopped there for 25 minutes.

After watching an episode of American Dad, I went back to sleep and awoke in Bangkok at the morning.

Day 2 21/12/2009

Deanne, myself and two other couples we met on the bus headed to the main backpacker spot in Bangkok, I decided not to go to the hostel I booked online because Deanna told me of a place that was cheaper by a long shot.

We had breakfast with the Slovenian couple at the place we were staying, put our things away in the room and Deanna and I went on a bit of a wonder around the city, we headed to Golden mount and as it says in the guide book has a great panoramic view of the city.

To be honest it was rather disappointing, it was a nice clear day but there wasn’t much in the way of sights you could see nearby. Anyways I passed on taking a panoramic scene of the city and Deanna and I did more wondering around the city.

We got on the river taxi back near to the hotel and grabbed some lunch meeting an English couple and then I crashed out for a few hours.

In the evening we grabbed dindins and used the intraweb for a while and chilled at the hotel. I went for a walk down Khao San road where I bumped into Ben who Id met in Hue in Vietnam. Apparently he has some accommodation available at Koh-npan for the full moon party, so I may take him up on the offer… we will see.

Day 3 22/12/2009

What a wicked day! I got up mid morning and sat downstairs of the hotel to get breakfast where I met a smoking hot Swedish girl with a guy from Germany. I went for a bit of a wonder with them through China town, taking pics of some temple and into the big shopping market MBK. It was a good laugh making fun with the Swed because she was like a Barbie doll wanting all the fake tacky handbags and clothes.

After wondering around MBK for a while we left so I could meet with Arron and Beaver, Matt and Scar. Unfortuanatly I missed them at the meeting spot but later we bumped into each other. Malin and I got a tuk-tuk from the mall back to Khoa San Rd, the driver insisted that we go to some tailors to have a look around, apparently the driver gets some sort of commission for taking tourists to these places. The driver kept on insisting that we go and told us we wouldn’t have to pay anything to the ride. The first place we went to was very fancy, as soon as I walked into the shop the shop owner looked me up and down, gave me a very stern look and right away he knew that we were only there because the tuk-tuk driver wanted his commission.

The second place Malin and I had a better game plan, it was kinda fun making up a whole back story telling the store owner that my sister was getting married and that I needed to make a decision whether buy a suit in Bangkok or Hoi An in Vietnam. He insisted that I get measured up and get a suite tailor made right away. I simply told him that Id come back tomorrow. It was a free tuk-tuk ride to koah san rd with a few detours and some bullshitting.

I went back to Malins hotel to hop on the internet to find that uncle Brian was around the corner eating dinner. I went to find him by getting directions from locals, the bastards made me walk all the way around the walls of the palace before I made it to the navy club it see uncle, Wannee and Lara, I joined them for a meal and headed back to my hotel to have a few drinks with Malin and some others. After a few we wondered Khao San Rd always being asked if we wanted to see a ping pong show.

We drank quite a bit on the street where we met a random English guy and continued to drink more. We then bumped into Aaron, Beaver, Matt and Scarlette. Matt was off his trolly very recently knocking out one of his front teeth. Had more drinks and somehow ended in a night club where I stayed till 6am.

Day 4 23/12/2009

I woke was a terrible hangover this morning. I bummed around all day waiting for Aaron and Beaver to show to have cheaper accommodation sorted but I had no idea where they were. Anyways, I did run into Malin again and we shared pics from the previous night... they were pretty funny.

I waited around more waiting to meet with uncle, there was a bit of a mix up with where to meet at 7.30 so I gave him a call and waited more.

In the end it was all good and we ate at the same place we did the previous night.

The food was great, I basically ate 3 curries and stuffed my face.

I was suppose to spend Christmas with uncle and his family but with a change of plans we could not... this was a little upsetting because I really wanted to spend Christmas with family as it was the first time in 4 years. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to meet with Beaver, Aaron, Scarlette and Matt as they are the closest thing to family I have.

Anyways, after dinner I headed back to Khoasan Rd and went looking for the others but with no luck. I was tired anyway so I headed back to the hotel for an earlish nights sleep.

Day 5 24/12/2009 and xmas day

-met christna who is also cycling Vietnam so I gave her the map Alex gave me..

-Bus journey to koh Toa leaving fat fuck behind.

-slept at bus station at port.

- Met South African guy Ewan and Anistasia from Greece.

Arrived seaacrching for Arron, beaver matt and Scar. Stayed at bottle house, met with anistasia, Ewan, a german and irich couple had a wicked xmas dinner only spending 100baht. Wan even bought me some snuss…

Had a lot to drink

Day 7 26/12/2009

Not very exciting day, just met with anistasia and chilled on the beach. Also met an Italian couple who found a cheap place to eat that was unbeievble.

Went out for boxing day drinks meeting a bunch of ppl.

Day 8 27/12/2009

After sleeping outside because beaver had his thai missis in the room I awoke made breakfast and headed down to the beach passing by Anistasias place. We found a cocomut and spent a good hour trying to open it. Eventually we did and we saved the juice and bagged up the pieces of cocnut and went odown to the beach.

We then hired a kayak and cruised around part of the island finding some crabs chilling on the rocks , we tried killing some with the oars but unfortuantlly theywe too fast.

Later we picked up some things and went fishing for dinner. It really was so much fun, we caught a tiny little fish that we were hesitaton killing and the fact we didn’t know how to kill it . I tried stabbing it with my little pocket knife but couldn’t bring myself to do it again so we let it suffocate. We only caught one fish but wiredly I caught 2 rocks…

Anyways we heasdded back to my place where we bought some veg and ingreadiants on the way and had a little cook up. I used the coconut milk from earlier in the day to cook the rice with and made up a small stir fry. The fish was delissious.

Because it was anistasias birthday at midnight we headed out to have a few drinks.

Again meeting a bunch of randoms and having a good night.

Also I organized the tickets for the ferry to koh pang.

Day 9 28/12/2009 – 10/01/2010

Koh Pang yang and Phuket!

Between the 28^th of December 2009 to the 4^th of January 2010 I was on Koh Pan Ngan to attend the full moon party to bring in the new year that I would describe as unbelievably epic; and incidentally why I waited till it was over to fill in this journal space.

Ok, where do I start?

Things certainly jumped up in price coming from Koh Tao as I was expecting and thankfully I had accommodation sorted from Ben who I had met in Vietnam and again in Bangkok; it was in a nice bungalow right next to the party beach sharing with 2 Dutch girls, a Thai girl (Jan) her friend Ben and myself.

Walking around the streets of Koh Pan Ngan was nuts, I literally couldn’t walk for 10 minutes without bumping into somebody that recognized me from a country I had recently traveled to. I would have said ‘somebody I knew’ but as we all know my memory when on the drink and sometimes when not is shockingly bad. I would have to say and I’m not kidding, I had run into at least 50 others I been in contact with throughout China, Vietnam and Bangkok. I even bumped into a guy I had spent the day with in St. Petersburg 4 months ago. What’s even more crazy I was confronted by a guy that just said “Jono Cane”, I replied “yes” and he says “Daniel Gormley”, this guy I went to Primary school with, I would have recognized him but I was kinda out of it (Ill get to that later) as it was my birthday and very drunk.

I was hanging around with Casey a Canadian who id met in Nha Trang in Vietnam and his mates. Casey and I figured out a cheaper way to get drunk avoiding the small alcoholic bucket mixers that were sold in the street; we went to the supermarket and bought all the ingredients separately saving us quite a bit of money; we even optioned for the gigantic bucket that we filled with vodka, sprite, red bull, ice and straws. Come to think of it every day prior to new years the bucket we bought for our alcoholic concoction increased in size inevitably having us to make extended straws to drink the stuff.

On one night I introduced myself to some of Caseys friends of friends. Amongst this group were 2 American girls who were teachers in Phuket, one of which I could tell she was well into me, her name Liberty Jefferson… it dosent get more American than that.

She was a very nice girl and I ended up hooking up with her several times… ill spare the details that involved the top of a slide on the beach and the fact that the condoms bought here are of the too small variety, having to ask a random on the beach for a rubber…

I spent a lot of time on Koh Pan Ngan with her and had a wicked time especially for my birthday where I met with Aaron and Beaver amongst some others and drank a stupid amount of alcohol then headed to Mellow Mountain where they offered mushroom shakes. A bunvh of us hit these hard and stayed awake for the sunrise and into the early morning, perhaps the most epic birthday ive ever had.

Although I was literally bumping into people I knew I did meet some newbies including 2 german girls and an Irish guy who was traveling by himself and I suppose he wanted company, he bought me, these girls and some other random dutch girls loads of rounds of beer and buckets… he then took me and the dutch girls out for food where he paid for it and then went to an ATM where he withdrew some money and gave me 1000 baht. What a great guy! Thank you Dave.

The night of the full moon was crazy then entire sunrise beach was completely packed, it was difficult to move about let alone keep an eye on the people I was with, thankfully people spotted me easily as most of my dreads had a glow stick embedded in them.

There were fire shows, flaming jump ropes, entertainers with fire poi and fire sticks. And for the countdown for 2010 an impressive amount of fireworks that at times exploded on the ground sending bits of flaming debris into the crowds of people. The party was unreal, it really was a crazy crazy night and what a way and place to be to bring in the New Year of 2010!

Getting into the early morning when I woke to see the aftermath of the party the beach was littered with smashed bottles, straws, buckets and passed out people amongst bloody foot prints and vomit. People were still dancing on the tabletops of some of the bars on the beach at 11am. It was nuts.

Im sure there are a lot of other things I can comment on about the full moon party that slipped my mind or have forgotten altogether due to the copious amount of alcohol consumed during the week I was there, but this will do. Happy New Year!!!

11/1/2010

Today I left Liberty and Amanda’s place in Phuket. These girls were so generous; a few days ago they spent so much money on a Mexican bbq feast that I cooked everything on a makeshift barbeque as the stove had ran out of gas… and their kitchen wasn’t equipped what-so-ever, but everything turned out great feeding some of their teacher friends.

Liberty gave me a note as I left her place at midday, telling me how much of a great time she had whilst being with me, I wanted to leave her a note too but I didn’t have time, tomorrow ill sent her a msg on facebook.

I packed all my stuff onto the scooter that I had hired for the week and headed into town to catch the next bus to Krabi. When I returned the scooter I met an American guy (Mark) who suggested going to Ton Sai near Railey where I would be able to camp for free. I basically have to kill 2 weeks before Yaf shows up in Koh Samui… and doing everything as cheap as possible so I have money before heading to India, of which I still need to purchase my flight there that should be 1500 baht ($50).

When I arrived at the bus station I paid for my ticket and was herded onto a bus immediately by some random, I was a little skeptical that it was the correct bus as previous journeys in Thailand have shown to be random and crazily unorganised but I couldn’t do much about it because within seconds the bus was off. Thankfully the bus took me to Krabi with no hidden surprises.

When walking the streets of Krabi I bumped (surprise, surprise) into Jason and Mary a Scottish couple who I had met on 2 occasions in Vietnam. We organized to meet for dinner and I set off to find some cheap accommodation. Luckily I found a bed in a dorm room for 100 baht a night where I met a French girl (Charlotte).

We wondered around the day market were again I bump into some people I knew from not only Nha trang in Vietnam but also at the full moon party. Charlotte and I then headed to meet Jason and Mary via the hostel when we met a Quebecer (Sandra) who was very keen with her photography; the 5 of us went out for dinner at the night market and had a few drinks at some bars where Jason and Mary were generous enough to buy us all the first round of drinks.

Sandra will be pretty much on the same route as me heading up to Chaing Mui early feb… I’ll be hoping she will contact me whist im on Koh Samui with Yaf.

12/01/2010

The room in the dorm was air conditioned which im not fond of and for some reason I had a little company in my bed for the evening… the neighbors cat that slept on my belly all night… It would have been nice to have a pussy of the other variety instead J.

Charlotte and I headed to a beach 25km outside Krabi where we spent all the morning lying on the sand of an island that was walkable from the mainland. It was a great spot just to chill and soak up some rays.

After bumping into all the people I knew in Krabi the previous night I guaranteed Charlotte that I would run into somebody I knew when walking with her. Unfortuantlly I didn’t, I did however after Charlotte had left to catch her bus literally minutes after she had gone run into Tom and Shaun at the beach. Tom I had traveled from Ko Pha ngan to Phuket and Shaun Toms mate from home that arrived in Phuket a day or two after we arrived.

I spent the arvo with them playing a wicked frizbee game in the sun; they then offered to drive me back to Krabi where we looked around the local market for some weird eats unfortunately not finding the crickets I so wanted to crunch on… seriously I do want to try them.

In the evening I met with Tom and Shaun again and headed for food at the market where again I bumped into Mary and Jason who gave me a book I’ve been so wanting to read (Kitchen Confidential). I had an early one and watched 28 days later with Omar an Israeli at the hostel before catching some sleep.

13/01/2010

After a terrible nights sleep, damn air conditioning! I headed off to go shopping for camping on Ton Sai beach south of Krabi next to Railey beach, ive been told by a bunch of people now that you can camp on the beach at no cost which is exactly what I like to hear. Although Ton Sai being a tourist area food and drink are still a bit pricey but thankfully when I met with Tom and Shaun we found a cheap place to eat and the guys being kind, let me sleep on the floor of their bungalow for a small amount of money.

I again ran into another guy (John) I had met in Vietnam and Koh Pha Ngan who’s face was attacked by some bug. We chilled at the bungalow reception for the evening and watched Bruno, not something id watch twice but still funny.

We then watched ‘The Beach’ in the bungalow on my laptop… well suited considering where it was filmed was only an hour boat ride away. Towards the end of the film Shaun accidentally knocked my laptop of the table breaking the headphone jack… so guttedL. But with the right part I should be able to fix it, he was very apologetic and gave me 400 Baht… it really could have been worse but it is completely usable.

14/01/2010

This morning I said goodbye to Shaun and Tom and headed to the beach to pitch my tent.

I quickly met everyone else that was camping and I chilled on the beach all day. There was a dutch woman who was even nice enough to give me her leftover food as she was leaving the following day. The three Spanish guys that I was told were pirates were awesome too, offering me tea and biscuits hardly pirate food but nice of them none the less.

I met some finish girls at the beach offering them some coconut that I had opened that had also took a lot of effort and chatted for them for a while, they invited me for lunch and I tagged along. Knowing just how much of a budget traveler I am I didn’t order anything, I knew that the girls would not be able to finish their meals, I then ate all their leftovers… in know its bad but it would have just gone to waste.

Also at the restaurant there were two aussies that were doing a cooking course that I got chatting to and because they were full up they gave me pretty much everything they cooked… I didn’t need to eat for the rest of the day. J

I later checked out the people rock climbing at the other end of the beach and chatted a few randoms, two of which, a Italian and French guys, invited me for a drink.. but as it turned out it was quite a few drinks from a variety of people from Norway, Sweden and some Germans. I ended up sitting at the same place in the bar for 9 hours drinking and chatting away to heaps of people that kept on offering me drinks… all in all I didn’t spend a cent on anything for the day.

The walk back to my tent was cool too, as I walked along the shore some of the sand was illuminated blue from some sort of algae, it looked amazing.

15

Hiking with Nathan and Haakon to the lagoon and viewpoint, meeting 2 gay german guys

Free food from geramn girls . and had an early one. Meeting Mark who suggested the place to camp.

16

Chilled on beach all day bumping into Mary and Jason again as well as Sandra the Quebecer. Meeting Daisy and having a few drinks.

Drank a lot taking advantage of the cheap beer 100 baht for 3 changs and sayig farewell to Nathan.

17

I did much of the same as yesterday and just chilled on the beach with Haakon, his friend from Norway and a group of south Americans. In the evening we went back to my local food place and I had perhaps the best meal ive had in Thailand, it was so spicy to a point that I was sweating and crying at the same time, but it was so painfully delicious.

We then headed to Adaman resort to take advantage of the cheap beers and had a wicked night playing pingpong getting progressively worse from the alcohol.

18

Last night one of the Germans I had met (Jacob) gave me his coupon for an all you can eat breakfast because he was leaving early in the morning. I awoke at 8 to take full advantage of the free feast and I handed the coupon to one of the staff members, I then filled up two plates of eggs, omelet, toast, fruit and various other breaky goodness and went to sit down, just as I was about to tuck in I was approached by another staff member asking whether I stayed in the resort, I replied “no” and explained a friend gave me the coupon. They then told me that the breakfast is for people staying in the resort and I would have to pay 150 baht obviously money I was not willing to pay. This was perhaps the most upsetting moment in recent memory, I was so upset … I cant believe it, I was literally 20 seconds from eating before having to leave.

I went to grab a curry at my local and hit up the beach for the day. Sabina, one of the German girls I had met a few days ago joined me and the Norwegian guys over at Railey beach where I had such a good laugh with Sabina; she was a wicked chick with tattoos and piercings all over. It was a little disappointing to find out that she had a boyfriend because I did fancy her and because she had a boyfriend she didn’t go out much and drink.

I really tried to have an early one this evening but again Haakon and his mate who’s name I cannot pronounce or spell kept on buying me beer as everything here for them is so cheap.

19/01/2010

Today was another day spent on the beach with Sabina, and like yesterday we had a lot of fun just chilling. Although instead of going to the usual Railey west beach we went to another beach called Phranang that was a bit of a walk away and much much busier making it a little difficult to find an empty place on the beach.

The afternoon I walked out at low tide and took a panoramic of Ton Sai beach from quite far out getting an amazing view of the sunset and surround area.

I met again with the German girls (Sabina, Nisa and Sonya) to watch a film (Semi-pro) they were showing in one of the resorts. I then walked around various bars with Sabina looking for some others we had recently met and I went to bed for a relatively early one, on the way home in the dark I found this insect that had a really bright glowing green rear end, which Ill put up the pic.

20/01/2010

Thinking last night that I was going to have an early one, I was woken up by Nisa, one of the German girls at 2 am telling me that Sabina was looking for me and there was a whisky coke waiting for me at the bar where the girls were… I didn’t know what this was about as I just woke up and whether it was the idea that Sabina was searching for me or the whisky was waiting for me I got out of my tent to see what was up. I take that back, obviously I went to see Sabina as I did fancy her. I went to see her and she had a drink for me, we spent the evening on the terrace of the bar by the beach chatting away whilst she kept on buying me drinks. We did this till 7 am when I made a move on her despite the fact she had a boyfriend and took things much further in my tiny and roasting tent shortly after.

I just got to say she has an amazing body on her!

Anyway, I walked her home a long ;) while later via getting some breakfast and went back to the beach to sleep.

I met up with her later where she had some fried rice that she had bought for me and again spent the day and our hangovers with each other. I love this chick!

In the evening Sabina had bought a pizza that was expensive that I ate half of also finding a small bit of metal in the dough… not stopping me from eating the other slices. We returned it back to the shop getting another pizza for free that I again ate most of.

We just chatted for the night about how shes going to miss me as ill miss her and about her not having regrets about being with me because her boyfriend was jealously waiting for her at home. I’m hoping she will forget about her boyfriend just enjoy her time with me whilst we are here together on this island.

21/01/2010

Ive actually done nothing for the past week since I have been here in Ton Sai, it has been every bit exciting as I thought it was going to be. Although I would like to go climbing as 90 percent of the people staying here are climbers I just feel a little lazy.

Either way it has been great getting along so well with Sabine (not Sabina) so well, this girl is awesome.

22/01/2010 – 23/01/2010

Pretty much the same old story from the last few days, basically chilling on the beach soaking up the rays having a good time with Sabine, had to say my farewells to the Norwegian guys and thanked them for their generosity an sorting me out with so many free drinks and meals.

Come to think of it I only spent 1500 baht for the 8 days I spent at TonSai thanks to the kindness of everyone I met, buying me drinks and eating the leftovers of others.

It was quite upsetting leaving Sabine, although she did give me a gift, a German Army knife and a card telling me how much she is going to miss me. So touching, really! In return I printed the collage I had made her the other day of the beach were we met with some other pics with the background being a beautiful sunset taken from Railey beach. She loved it… hopefully her boyfriend dosent read the note I included with the gift.

Im going to miss that girl, it’s a shame she lives so far away from me, I hope I do see her again under different circumstances meaning she dosent have a boyfriend.

I headed off to Tonsai’s long boat dock and waited for more people to arrive so the 15 minute journey to Au Nang to catch my bus to get to Koh Samui would be cheaper. I met some Australian brothers who offered me some Valium for my journey, I had never taken the stuff before and I was curious how well it worked. I met some English guys and two Dutch guys on bus over to Surat Thani who joined me on ferry also, these guys got straight into the Changs (cheap Thai beer that says 6.4% but can be anywhere between 4 and 10% alcohol) meanwhile I went and passed out completely on the deck of the boat.

24/01/2010

I got to say that the valium that I took last night worked extremely well. I really was out like a light waking the next morning at Koh Samui getting off the ferry at 5.30, I then got a tuk tuk to meet yaf at the airport as he was suppose to arrive at 8.30… I waited for three hours and 3 landing flights around this time before I became skeptical that he was arriving at all. I eventually asked a local woman where an internet café was and she was kind enough to take me to the closest one where I checked my facebook seeing that Yaf got his dates wrong and was arriving the day after. I was furious at this point and try to send a message full of abuse back but unfortunately the message couldn’t send. On a happier note I also got a message form Matt and Chipper who told me where they were staying in Koh Samui. I then had to pay for another tuk tuk to reach them and surprised them at their front door.

It was great to catch up with both of them having not seen them in about 2 years. In the arvo we headed to a reggae bar where I recorded a timelapse of the sunset that was beautiful but unfortuanatly I got that problem at the best of recordings “memory card error”.

We had a bit of a chilled one just meeting some randoms and a few drinks after getting some dinner from Chipper and Matts local that was cheap and really tasty.

25/01/2010

I woke up at 7 to go pick up Yafa on Matts scooter where again I waited for an hour at the airport this time actually picking up Yaf. It was great to see him again and because it was his birthday the following day we started the drinking as soon as we got back to the bungalow we were staying at.

By 4 oclock I was nackard and needed a bit of rest, so I slept for a little while before getting more drinks and with a bunch of others we had met that day and the previous day went out to celebrate Yafs birthday in Koh Samui. Well, lets be fair we had been drinking all day and we hit the Vodka redbull buckets as soon as we went out, it really wasn’t going to be a long night. We went to a bar and then a club, certainly not my taste in music but still a good laugh with the crew we were with. When 12 oclock struck Yaf got some birthday shots by which point he was unable to stand. Fifteen minutes into the day of his birthday he threw up all over the bar and all over a stool and floor. Matt, chip and I took him to burger king where on the way he was dribbling on himself where I had to find some napkins to wipe his face because with those lifeless drunken state of his eyes and the dribble it honestly looked like he had rabies or one of the zombies from the film 28 days later.

We then got a tuk tuk back home where watching him make a cigarette was hysterical, even after 20 minutes he still couldn’t put it together. When we got back to the bungalow where we sent him to bed despite him wanting to stay out which he really wasn’t in the state of doing.

I went out and chatted to some others Id met during the day and headed back to get some sleep where I find Yaf passed out between the 2 beds with chewed up bits of Burger King and stomach acid in a pile on his bed sheet despite me giving him a bucket. I did him a favor and washed it that night in the ocean and hung it up to dry. I don’t blame him for his state as I did help him get there and it also being his birthday. I have never seen him that drunk. Hehe

26/01/2010

We had to get up early to check out at 10 as the four of us wanted to head to Koh Pha Ngan to celebrate the rest of Yafs birthday and the full moon party a few days later. This would be the 2^nd time in a month id be attending this. Yaf all day was not in the state to move let alone travel but we got him up and moving after lunch and headed to the port to catch the ferry across.I suggested to stay where I stayed last time on the sunset side of Haad rin (Leela bungalows), where I shared a double bed in a bungalow with Yaf and Matt and Chip in a nicer and more expensive place with hot water just down the path. As im writing this im watching the sunset over so calm clear blue waters with very few people and two male dogs trying to fuck a female dog at the same time (front and back)… very funny.

27/01/2010 – 01/02/2010

Yet another week in Koh Pha Ngan for the full moon party in less than a month, I honestly didnt think ill be headed back here for another session of constant boozing with the buckets filled to the brim with mock red bull alcoholic concoctions.

It was a little different this time round because it was catch up time with Yaf, Chip and Matt.

The first few days after arriving here in Koh Pha Ngan were quite quiet but it didn’t take long for Haad Rin Beach to host the thousands of drunken drugged up foreigners stumbling along the beach front. I know because I was one of them…

Pretty much every day we were on Koh Phan Ngan Chip, Yaf and Matt stayed at Drop in Bar where every night they danced their feet into the sand meanwhile I went on random adventures looking for nice Swedish girls with Mike an American who joined me.

I bumped into only a few people who id met whilst on my travels around asia, not nearly as many as the last full moon.

There are certainly a few holes in my memory from the amount of buckets that were consumed during each evening only to get slight reminders of the events the following morning from questionable pictures on my camera.

All in all another great time in Koh Phan Ngan.

I left on the 1^st to get a bus back to Bangkok where I had to get my Visa sorted for India as I am leaving on the 14^th of Feb.

02/02/2010

I arrived in Bangkok at 5am where myself and 2 Swedish guys I met on the bus looked for accommodation around Koh Sain road not having much luck. After a while we did manage to find a room but only for 2, so I generously let them have it and I went looking for another place.

Luckily, on Koh Sain Rd I bump into Martian, a tall bald Danish guy who I traveled with for 3 weeks in China with Beaver, Aaron, Scar and Matt. He was hobbling and walking with a cane because he was in a Motobike accident in Loas fucking up his leg and sides He had a recommendation to walk to one place he stayed at last time he was in BKK so I joined him and helped him with his bags.

We arrived there meeting a Dutch guy who was also looking for a room waiting for someone to check out. This place had a chilled vibe also offering free wifi and free tea and coffee. After finding a room sharing with Martian and Tom (The Dutch guy) for 200 Baht we all slept from being fatigued from bad bus journeys.

I spent the rest of the day taking advantage of the free wifi and sorting out all my online shit.

03/02/2010

Well today started with a picture frame from the wall above my head falling and crashing into my face at 4am scaring the shit out of me and Tom. It left a bit of a bump on my forehead, I should have used this event as the beginning of a bad day but stupidly I ignored the signs.

I had to make my way to the Indian Consulate to sort out my visa so I went with Tom to rent a bike to get to there via the big shopping mall MBK. Apparently there were free city bicycles that you could take on route around to see some of the sights but we wanted to run our own errands. We waited at the stop to get the bikes for an hour and a half for the person running the shop would come back from lunch, but after this time we gave up. Although I did bump into Peter, a guy I met in Ton Sai a fortnight ago. Tom and I parted ways and I headed back to the hostel to linger around until I figured out a cheap way to get to the Consulate. The guys running the hostel offered me their bicycle that I was happy to take off their hands. This bike was terrible… the brakes did not work, it was stuck to one gear and the seat would pop off if you stood up on it. Needless to say I was almost in quite a few accidents. The roads here I honestly thought were worse than the cities in Vietnam – Motorbikes go around you meanwhile cars get in your way.

Anyways after cycling all the way to the consulate arriving at 4 finding it was close at 3 pissed me off a little because it wasn’t an easy cycle about 30km round trip on a shitty bike.

I was suppose to leave for Chiang Mai tonight but now I have to postpone it for another day.

I arrived back at the hostel at dusk when I joined Martin to the electronics Market to help him buy a memory card for his camera, meanwhile I needed to purchase a soldering iron and a USB soundcard for my laptop.

We chilled at the hostel all evening and I tried to have an early one but maving changed rooms into the dorm I didn’t sleep well because of one mosquito that flew around under my fly net eating me to death. I honestly thought that they only bite once and move on… I was wrong! I have now got 50 bite marks all over myself including a slightly swollen eye from two bites there.

04/02/2010

I have just now triumphantly slaughtered the mosquito that raped me last night at 8.43 am!!! Today is going to be a good day… I hope.

I left to get my Visa just before midday and took a better method of travel than yesterday first had to walk to a river port, take a river boat then the sky train to a place near the embassy. All worked out so much better than yesterday and the process to get my visa has started, I have to be back in Bangkok in a week to pick it up.

I went to get my ticket for Chiang Mai but unfortunately all the buses were fully booked; looks like ill be leaving tomorrow.

05/02/2010

Basically Spent the entire day just chillin at the hostel… thankfully the staff at the hostel who were gay fancied me enough to give me a free dorm bed for the night. Yay, free stuff.

I left with Martin and his friend to the travel agent where we had booked our buses and then waited to be taken to my bus to Chiang Mai.

I hopped on hoping there were blankets but there were none, the bus was freezing cold as most of the bus journeys in Thailand are. I was reassured by the driver that the next stop on the trip we would get some blankets. Unfortunatly this did not happen so I took matters into my own hands and snuck onto another bus at one of the truck stops and stole a blanket. I shared this blanket with an English guy sitting next to me which I soon regretted because he kept on farting and the smell would travel under the fabric and straight into my face… that bastard.

06/02/2010

We arrived in Chiang Mai at 6.45 am and it was so cold… I didn’t expect it at all; wearing only shorts and a t-shirt I froze on the tuk tuk ride to some sort of travel agent from the bus station. We (Mark and Nathan from England) walked from here to the Hostel where we would be staying, I was lucky enough to get a dorm bed because the hotel was almost full up.

Julies Guesthouse is wicked; free pool, massive chillout areas and when you wanted a drink you took it out of the fridge and wrote down on a notepad to pay another time.

I wasn’t able to check into the room till midday so I joined some Dutch girls, one of which I met on Cat Ba island in Vietnam, for breakfast and coffee. We wondered around town and found that there was a parade with floats and music around the outskirts of old town that kept us entertained till we had to check in.

The evening was messy; two English girls (Amy and Sally) and I got started early on the Sangsom and before we knew it, we were quite intoxicated. We continued the drinking at a Reggae bar where I met two Australian girls who at first were really cool but shortly after they got into an a few arguments about the pettiest things.

I ran into Peter again and his German friend I had met in Ton Sai and with their Thai friend we headed to a random nightclub in a hotel.

At this point I was wasted and I ended up dancing with a ladyboy on the podium of the dance floor. It was too funny.

We ended up at one other place that I only vaguely remember and went with the german guy and his thai friend to a restaurant that was closed but was owned by the Thai girl.

I ended up cooking up some random food in the kitchen and set off to bed.

07/02/2010

I woke with a crazy hangover… or what is called a changover (Chang being the name of the beer I was drinking excessively last night).

I got talking to a girl I was sharing a room with and as it turns out she has a good friend that did a winter season in france with who I went to High School with and also worked at Ritchies with; Chelsea Stark.

Anyways I went downstairs where I chilled for a while before getting invited for a bike ride around town by Daisy another girl I knew from Ton Sai and cycled with her and Alex around town when we found a driving range that was entertaining.

We went to a Buddhist monastery that wasn’t that impressive and headed back into town.

I chilled for the rest of the afternoon and hit up the Sunday night market with Amy and Sally that was massive and packed full of people. I found myself some new sunglasses ‘fakeleys (fake oakley’s) for $4 and chilled some more in the hostel before heading to bed as I was still feeling the post effects of drinking too much alcohol.

08/02/2010

I had to wake early this morning as I was heading to Pai with Sally, Amy, Daisy and Alex.

The bus to collect us was an hour late but took us all the way to Pai, no changing of vehicals on this journey which was a nice surprise.

We arrived at 1pm and found some accomodation where the 2 couples paired off; that’s right Sally and Amy are a lesbian couple. Anyways, the accommodation we found were of the bungalow variety, and relatively cheap, thankfully Amy and Sally had an American friend coming from Chaing mai I ended up sharing a bungalow with her.

It turns out Megan, the American was very attractive although a bit placid and a nice girl.

The group of us wondered around town and bought some Sangsom and started playing the American version of Ring of Fire at 5pm. The game got us really pissed and we headed out where I did my thing and met everyone in all the bars we went to, we were told there was a place with live music where everyone would be at but unfortunately we couldn’t find it. It did turn out to be a good night out with us and 3 German guys that were friends of Amy and Sally.

When we were back at the bungalows I headed off to bed with Megan (as we where sharing the bed) and she told me she was a snuggle slut… fair enough. We had a little bit of cheeky fun but nothing too in depth...

09/02/2010

It was friggin freezing in the bungalow last night and Megan didn’t sleep well because of this. She got up early whilst I tried to sleep off my hangover. The group of us all hired out scooters and set off to find something to do around the town, we found some hot springs that charged 200 Baht for the entrance fee, so we skipped that and then went to a waterfall that had a walking trail of 6 hours round trip so we passed on that one too.

We grabbed lunch back in Pai where Megan got a little weird towards me but I thought nothing of it and she headed off to do her own thing. The 2 girls went to get some sleep, so us guys went to see another waterfall where I almost ran over a chicken.

I headed back to Pai by myself to catch up on some sleep.

Later that night I caught up with the others that I knew from Ton Sai who convinced me to go on a motorbike ride to Mae Hong Son with them and two Dutch girls. The group of us went out for dinner at a cheap and very tasty place then went to a bar for a drink, not to have a too late night as we organized to leave Pai at 9am for the Cycle trip.

10/02/2010

Again it was freezing during the night and I didn’t sleep very well especially having to get up so early to pack my things and get organized for the trip to Mae Hong Son.

I booked my bus ticket back to Bangkok and got another motorbike that was manual.

I opted for the manual because there were 1864 Curves on the route we were taking and I tell you what the motorbike trip was well worth it.

Myself and the two Dutch girls waited for the others at our meeting point at 9 but the others slept in and we didn’t head off till 10.30. It was a good laugh with the crew and we all had a wicked time only stopping at a view point and a few places for a drink and a bite to eat.

We arrived in Mae Hong Son at around 3 where we got some beers in and chilled at the front of the guesthouse where we staying for 200 baht a room whom I shared with Moe and Peter.

We all went out for food at a cheap place but I must admit that the food there was the worst I have had in asia, there was so much MSG used that could actually be seen on the sauce. Everyone was disappointed apart from Sanne who didn’t eat anything.

It was so bad that I even told an American couple to leave the place as the food was disgusting, they thanked me for the advice later that evening.

There wasn’t much in terms of night life here but I thought we would have more foreigners our age, I ended up playing pool and leaving early because there wasn’t much else to do.

11/02/2010

I got up early with the guys that were on the original trip on the bikes to say goodbye as they were headed back to Chiang Mai and I had to get back to Pai with the 2 Dutch girls and to return our bikes.

The Dutch girls and I set off soon after saying goodbye only grabbing a bite to eat at 7 eleven and filling up on fuel.

I really didn’t expect the girls to gun it on the bikes as much as I did, which honestly made the journey back so much more fun. We didn’t stop for any breaks and we made it back to Pai in only 2 and a bit hours.

I chilled for the rest of the afternoon with the girls and went for a drink in the evening… nothing too exciting as it really wasn’t happening in town.

12/02/2010

Alright… I have just made a f%^*ing stupid mistake, I had my bus back to Bangkok via Chiang Mai sorted for the afternoon/night but on the journey from Pai to Chiang Mai I realized that I will be arriving in Bangkok on a Saturday, I quickly checked the company that was outsourced by the Indian Embassy to organize Visas only showing that they are closed on weekends… my flight to Calcutta leaves on Sunday, im sure by now you can figure out my mistake.

It was 5.45pm when I called this company to see if they could go in the elevator, cross the road and drop my passport and my visa to a hostel that was no more than 20 meters away… obviously it is against regulations to do this but I had my fingers crossed.

Unfortunatly there was nothing I could do except change my flights which turns out to cost only 836 Baht ($25), so I checked the availabilities of flights and the only option I have is a flight 2 weeks away. When I arrive in Bangkok tomorrow the first thing I do is to change my flight.

If I am stuck here for two more weeks I will have to do a border run to extend my thai visa… well there could be worse places to be stuck… but where to go??? Cambodia, perhaps?

13/02/2010

I arrived in Bangkok in the early hours of the morning and headed to the chilled hostel I stayed at last time I was here. I didn’t do anything much for the rest of the day other than change my flights to India in 2 weeks time.

Ive now decided to go to Laos for a week before heading back to BKK for my flight (hopefully).

In the evening I caught up with Jan, a thai girl who studied in Australia who I met in Koh Phan Ngan for the full moon party on new years and who sorted out our accommodation when we were there. Anyways it was Jan, myself and some girls I had just met at the hostel and we headed to China Town hoping to see some of the pre celebrations for Chinese new year, sadly there wasn’t much going on so after getting something to eat we headed back to Khoa san road where we got some drinks and went into a rooftop bar that had some live music. Not surprisingly I bumped into a few people I knew from around Thailand. Ill admit I was in quite a drunken state by the end of the night namely because the bucket that Jan and I shared was topped up with some more sang som bought from the 7 eleven across the street.

14/02/2010

Happy Chinese New Year and Valentines Day and Happy Birthday Jaf and also Congratulations on the Engagement!

I spent all of the morning and most of the afternoon trying to sleep in the heat that is Bangkok to cure my hangover and fatigue.

In the evening a bunch of us from the hostel hit up Chinatown for the celebrations, there were 15 of us altogether and shoulder to shoulder crowds filling the streets of the area, to be honest I was very surprised that we kept together for the entire time we were there and because there was plenty to see people kept on scattering from getting drinks, alcohol, food and gifts.

Some of the performances on stage were fantastic namely the mask changing show where the performers would change there mask at the blink of an eye only to reveal another mask continuing this whilst blowing fire.

After we literally raced back to Khao San in tuk tuks, 3 of them, which was a lot of fun where some of us stayed out whilst the rest of us went back to the hostel to chill, being the weak one I went back home and slept.

15/02/2010

Another uneventful day in Bangkok where again I just chilled at the hostel until the afternoon when I had to pick up my visa from the Indian embassy office.

I thought I was going to be running late arriving a little after 6, thinking the office was going to closing… fortunately it was still open but unfortunately I had to wait an hour for my ticket number to be called. I have now got my Indian visa that expires on the 9^th of May. Yay. If everything went to well as it was originally planned, I would be in India at the moment, well at least I get to see another country.

I moved from the hostel in the evening to one closer to Khao san with an American guy who we went out with last night named Kevin. The guesthouse is cheaper and with fewer mosquitoes too.

16/02/2010

I hung around Khao San road for the day and spend a lot of time updating this journal/blog. I booked the journey from Bangkok to Nong Khai (boarder town with Laos) that cost 650 Baht, thankfully this bus supplied us with blankets that were much needed cause the air conditioning on the bus was set to blizzard mode.

17/02/2010

We arrived in Nong Kai at 6 am where everyone who was going to Vientiane needed to fill out the departure and arrival documents for Laos, I neglected to do this as I was suppose to organize this stuff myself. We arrived at ‘friendship bridge’ where I had found out that my visa had expired by one day… I didn’t realize this because I entered Thailand on the 19^th of December with a 2 month visa thinking it would expire on the 18^th. As it goes to show my visa was a 60 day visa as appose to a 2 month, meaning my visa expired on the 16^th. Sadly I had to pay the 500 Baht fine… already this trip has cost me too much money, if only I was able to get on board my flight to India L

I managed to sneak onboard the bus taking everyone from the boarder crossing to Vientiane and again on the bus from there to Vang Vieng, but unfortunately I had to pay 300 baht for that crazy journey up winding dirt roads and witnessing the results of an accident where a western boy ran out onto the road in front of a motorbike causing serious injury to the motorist and shock with a few cuts and bruises on the boy. They were both taken to hospital.

Both on the journey from Vientiane and in Vang Vieng I did bump into a bunch of people that I met more recently in Chiang Mai.

I went out with an English couple and hit up a place called bucket bar that were offering free buckets between 8.30 and 9.30. I took full advantage of this special and managed to down 4 bucket mixes over the course of the evening, needless to say I was ruined and I really don’t remember the walk home.

18/02/2010

Get this… I went out to where everybody starts the tubing where there are plenty of bars, flying foxes, rope swings and a lot of drunk people attempting flips of all sorts. I wasn’t even finished with my first beer when I gave the rope swing a go successfully landing a backflip. Shortly after I went again and attempted a double backflip, failing it miserably and landing flat backed in the river, this was painful enough but having to swim back to shore and to the people who saw me do this which was everyone was excruciating. I had difficulty catching my breach and thought I was a little bit winded until I started coughing up blood… never good.

I had shortness of breath and was then taken to the hospital with two guys I just met Blacky and Lee where the hospital staff gave me an injection of some kind and an xray.

The xray apparently showed that I had gas in my lungs and that I would be ok and if I felt nauseated I should go back to the hospital immediately. Thankfully this was not the case and I was feeling much better.

The hospital bill came to $36 that Lee knowing my financial situation covered me for the cost… Seriously Lee, thank you!

We then went back to the bars where everyone was maggoted but applauded me for my effort on the rope swing but being told I couldn’t eat or drink for 6 hours I wasn’t able to celebrate like everyone else.

Ill take it easy tonight.

19/02/2010 – 25/02/2010

Vang Vieng, what a crazy place… only in festivals have I seen such a mixture of drinking, partying and the appeal to be wasted 24 hours a day from the variety of drugs that were on offer.

During the day everyone heads the bars at the beginning of the tubing experience, these bars were appropriately named, Bar I, Bar II and Bar III and so on. Unfortuanattly during the time I spent in Vang Vieng I passed on the actual tubing experience as everyone said the bars following down the river past Bar III were terrible and there was no need to get a tube as you can swim and often walk to all the bars in the area. As I painfully experienced on my first day the thrill of the rope swings took my fancy again after 2 days of rest although I did not attempt the double back flip again but simpler tricks like rotations, front flips and back flips.

During my 8 days in Vang Vieng I suffered from my usual symptoms when attending festivals for example, loss of voice, forgetfulness due to excessive drinking, hangovers that were often cured with more alcohol and fatigue which was again cured with more alcohol.

I only spent money on food and accommodation, there was a nice route that I took every night that abled me and whoever my party may be to take advantage of the free buckets and shots from the bars in town. Doing things this way made my time in Vang vieng so cheap and always fun.

Again like everywhere else I go I kept on running into people that knew me from my travels including a guy who worked in Tignes 2 seasons ago, some girls I met in HCMC in Vietnam, the two Dutch girls and Daisy from Pai and even the girls who I knew quite well from Koh Pha Ngan for the last full moon (Laura, Anni and Nick) who stayed in the same guest house I did. These are to only name a few random occurrences during my time here.

To be honest my time in Vang Vieng is more of a blur as it was the same routine from getting out of bed, making your way to the bars on the river, drinking lots of shots to cure the hangover, drinking some more, going back to town, having a quick nap, drinking some more until you cant remember, stumbling to bed, waking up at midday and the process continues.

I did meet some lovely girls during my time here that ill keep to myself and in my memory now that I know when I put this up on my blog all my relatives read this. All I got to say that Kathrin during the 2 days I met you, you are truly a special person, I’ve never met someone who wants to have sex more than me. Bitte shun.

Apparently although drugs were freely available amongst the bars and some shops in Vang Vieng it was still illegal to smoke any kind of drug. There where however designated smoking areas where the bar or shop that offers it pays off the local police.

If you are caught smoking weed for example in a non-designated spot and I saw this first hand, you would be stunned, taken away, bashed and taken to an ATM where the police would make you withdraw the maximum amount of money out of your account and thrown in the gutter. The guy who I saw this happen to I will not be able to forget, as he was getting dragged away from a non-designated smoking bar he passed Kathrin and I in a secluded spot, and yelled ‘HELP’ to both of us, at the time I did not know what was going on and did not know these Laos guys were police, I was going to help but Kathrin told me not to… the next thing I could hear was the sounds of pain as this guy was getting the shit kicked out of him. I do wish I did something, but that probably would have ended with me on the ground too.

I left Vang Vieng fatigued and exhausted, all the redbull they add to the buckets really can’t be healthy for you, I had a 17 hour journey to Bangkok that wasn’t so bad as I slept the entire way, although at some points on the journey my back was still sore from the first day on the rope swing… I may get it checked out at the free clinic in BKK.

26/02/2010

Wilam the Dutch guy who I only met briefly in Vang vieng left the bus with a bunch of others and started searching for a place to stay, unfortunately all the cheap places were ‘Fully Booked’ and only the really expensive places had available rooms.

This is a bit of a scam because all the guesthouses and perhaps the bus services too collaborate in a way to get tired tourists from long bus journeys that all arrive in the early hours of the morning to pay the ridiculous prices of a room. I know this because after Wilam and I headed back to one of the guesthouses from chilling at Phiman water view hostel where I had stayed plenty of times before there was a sign saying ‘fully booked’ as soon as we arrived at the guesthouse, the receptionist removed the sign and pulled a key from the draw, in this draw there were plenty of keys for available rooms.

Anyway Wilam and I checked into a double room where he was kind enough to pay for the majority of it, we then went for breakfast and I napped for a good few hours.

I spent most of the day on the internet sorting things out and arranging meeting up with Liberty of whom you know from previous entries in this journal in the evening.

Although I was nacked from the morning bus journey I agreed to meet Liberty on Khoa san at 1.30am.

Personally I didn’t want to meet her cause she is a nutter and what we had in Kho Pha Ngan and Phuket was just for fun, anything more would turn it into something more complicated that I did NOT want to get involved with.

Despite my excuses to not see her that evening I eventually caved in and saw her and Amanda (her friend) for a drink.

It turned out not so bad and we laughed about things we shared, she also got me a leather bracelet that had a marking of a tree on it, well suited for the fact I tree plant.

27/02/2010

Wilam and I check out of the room and I checked into another that was a single and cheaper, Wilam had to leave that evening to catch his flight back to Amsterdam that he was very reluctant to do as it was freezing there.

I went to go meet up with Liberty again along the way bumping into Christian (Wales) to say my farewells and that’s it.

I ended up getting quite drunk with the girls and a bunch of their friends and some randoms only drinking the girls alcohol which they kept on offering me.

After a few drinks Liberty became all emotional and thought I was looking at her as if she was some kind of whore or something like that.

My intentions where to not lead her on in any way because I would be leaving to India and what ever she wanted from me I couldn’t provide not did I want to.

Needless to say she got progressively more emotional and started to cry, I tried to cheer her up but after the next 4 sob sessions I kinda just switched off and agreed to everything she said about me… whatever.

Also, she was meeting her mum on Khoa San too, where I introduced myself, spoke for a little while and apologized for making her daughter upset.

I went for dinner with Wilam before he left but bumped into the English girls, we all went for dinner and at a local street stall where I arranged to meet the girls later that evening for a drink, but I really was so nackard, it must have been having to put up with all that shit with Liberty. Anyways, I met up with the girls where I tried an insect grub thingy that tasted horrible and said my goodbyes.