Thailand's Final Chapter

We actually arrived in Koh Phangnan a day earlier than planned as we were originally going to Koh Samui to stay and get the boat over just for the party. And it was a good job that we did go early and stay on the island as when we arrived, the party was the next day! (Part of me was quite sad as I was slightly dreading the party!) I wanted to experience a moon party but from what I’ve heard it really isn’t my kind of thing – the music mainly and we were told that half moon would be hard techno – brilliant!!! So I wanted to go but didn’t, so if we had missed it I wouldn’t have been too sad!

As usual while everyone else who got off the boat disappeared within 5 minutes, 10 minutes later we were still standing there surrounded by ladies with leaflets trying to sell us their hostels. I was hoping to find a decent priced place with aircon but it didn’t look like that was going to happen. Only Barry and Art would be lucky enough to afford it! :0( There was one place that looked nice and seeing as we had been in party areas pretty much the whole time since the boys arrived I was trying to push to go North of the island which was much quieter but there was a lot of to and froing and in the end I gave up trying to say what I would like – I just wanted them to choose somewhere!! In the end we did go to the place I wanted which was quite a drive away but I was hoping that when we would arrive it would be worth it. However, it wasn’t! It was supposed to have its own private beach which it did – if you can call a rocky algae filled bay a beach! The huts were shacks and one even had a hole in the roof with the coconut still sitting on the floor! Dangerous!! So no need to say that we left there and went to another resort around the corner. The beach was lovely this time as a beach should be and quite deserted really. The boys found a lovely room, even though we had to go without aircon, and I really wanted to stay here the whole time as we could have easily have got a tuk tuk down to the party but it was too quiet for the boys so before we had even had dinner it was decided that we would move on to the bar strip the next day, which I was not happy about, but the boys were only out for another couple of days and it was their holiday so I had to go with it.

We didn’t hurry out the next day, had breakfast, relaxed on the beach for a while and then hit the town. The hunt for a place to stay was on again so I sat in a bar with the bags and let the boys go off. They were gone a while and came back in a car which took us to the hostel. Again it was a pretty nice room up the hill from the beach and bless Barry – he paid extra so we could have aircon!! THANK YOU!!! The room was nice but even nicer with aircon!

It was party night! We had some dinner and then went to another hostel for some pre party drinks and it was at this point that my dread was starting to take over. I was on the verge of not going. The drinks weren’t really going down very well and I was really torn between wanting to go and not wanting to. I thought maybe I could go for a while and then if it was really bad I could always grab a tuk tuk and leave the boys to party on, so off we went. All four of us!

Now, the half moon party is supposed to take place in the jungle so when we got in the tuk tuk I was expecting a 20 minute ride right out into the middle of the island. Well – I’m not sure what the definition of jungle is in Thailand but it can’t be the same definition as mine because we barely went anywhere in the 20 minutes let alone into the ‘jungle’! We pulled into a clearing in the woods shall we say. There were phosphorescent lights everywhere and glow sticks and glow tattoos so it looked quite atmospheric. Then came the entrance fee which was about EUR15, although you did get a cd with that!! As we walked up to the main area of the party we passed lots of food stalls and then to the left it was there. Just this large round space with a big tree in the middle. Jungle my ass!! It wasn’t even that big an area and it was absolutely empty. I mean we were quite early as it was just coming up to midnight but still – I thought these parties were the highlight of everyone’s trip to the islands. However, the music was not hardcore trance, so for now I was happy. It was just like any other club music – house, which I could deal with. We got some drinks and milled around before finding a quiet spot in which to fill up the buckets with our own booze that we had smuggled in. (Well that Tymon managed to smuggle, Barry and Art got busted so we lost 2 bottles of rum :0( ) All in all I’m not going to go on about the party. It was ok, it got fairly busy but no where near what I thought it would have done. Thankfully the music stayed housey all night so it was bearable, Tymon tried to get a MC gig but they didn’t trust an unknown in the end which was a shame, but maybe another time back in Thailand! I left the boys there at around 3am as I was done. Noting exciting was going on and I had done what I came to do – experience it. Although I certainly won’t be rushing back next year. What a hype for nothing!! But the boys seemed to enjoy it so that was the main thing.

The following day was Barry and Arts last day so we relaxed and sobered up on the beach in the sun, had a nice last supper and then had a fairly early night as the boys were up at 6am to get the boat back to the mainland.

It had been nice having the boys around for 2.5 weeks, although I didn’t realize it was going to be quite so girl mad as it was. I think we were both hoping for at least a couple of nights chilling, drinking and paying poker or something, but hey when you’re single you want to party right? And they had a great holiday!

Tymon and I hung around for one more day, hired a scooter (and saw the puppy get run over which I can’t even bring myself to talk about!) and then we headed to Koh Samui, our final destination for Thailand.

Most backpackers stay away from Koh Samui as it’s the honey moon island so it’s expensive, but I really like Koh Samui and finally we had a normal beach. The water was lovely and clear and there was water at the beach that graduated out normally so you could swim. You didn’t have to walk half a mile into the ocean and then another half mile to get wet beyond your waist!! We met a guy in the taxi from the jetty who said he had a decent place that was quiet and towards the end of the strip so we decided to follow him to check out the room. It was pretty decent and budget for the area so we decided to stay.

There’s not a great deal going on in Samui, I mean most people are there to drink and lie on the beach for 2 weeks. The main strip is about 7km which parallels the beach and is full of shops, bars and restaurants. It had all the Western requirements – a McDonalds, Starbucks, Boots etc. It also has loads of counterfeit shops selling bags and watches etc – so we did a little shopping!! The restaurants look amazing with all the fresh seafood and BBQ food out the front on ice and the bars look lovely, so it was definitely another island where I wanted some nice clothes, to be staying in a nice hotel and eat and drink lots of yummy food. I mean we still had a few beers and all the food we ate was yummy – it’s hard to go wrong when you’re in Thailand and we found this great food stand that we went to every morning for breakfast/lunch. I would get a papaya salad and a couple of satays and Tymon would get satays and sticky rice – she was amazing, the best papaya salad and the satay was delicious too. God I miss papaya salad!! :0(

We basically spent 5 days lazing on the beach, playing a lot of Frisbee. One day we hired a bike and decided to cruise around the island which was pretty nice. They had a huge prayer complex that had several massive Buddha statues which was pretty impressive and lovely beaches all around the coast. We also went to a boxing training gym that we had been told about. The owner wasn’t there yet and Tymon wanted to ask about taking some photos so later that day he went back while I sat doing the internet. When he came back he said he’d met 2 Moroccan boxers from Holland and they had sponsored him a ticket to watch the fighting in the stadium – the real Muay Thai and not a ‘show’. We had both wanted to go but it was really expensive! In the end we decided that Tymon would go alone and we’d save the money for buying me another ticket. He was going to be off at the ringside taking photos all night and I knew I’d get bored after one or two fights so it was great that he’d been given the money by the guys. It was sooo nice of them.

It was very tropical on the island and would usually cloud over and rain torrentially in the evenings. And I mean RAIN, but at this point we were either in the restaurant or the room watching TV. One night we were going to have a big night out but ended up getting drunk in the room until 2am playing cards (which was a feat for me as Tymon never plays cards with me – even though he beat me rotten at shithead! Beginners luck!!) We did amble up the long dark road to the bar area but it was soooooo dead! The bars were all barely a quarter full, if they had any people in them at all. And it was pretty young too. Drinks were expensive so we had a wander with our bottle of rum and coke, got a burger and headed back to the room!! Exciting!!! :0)

One night we could hold out no more. Walking past this amazing restaurant every night with all this food was too much – so we caved. I mean it’s pretty cheap really but just not for our budget, but the imported Australian steak was calling. So we went on in.

We had a blow out!! Oh my God it was heaven!! We got a platter with steak and ribs and schnitzel and jacket potato and corn on the cob and a beer and glass of red wine. It was perfect – so delicious and worth every penny!! It was a good job we didn’t have far to walk back to the hostel as I thought my belly was going to explode I was so full. But that was definitely a good night!

Mmm…what else. Not much I don’t think. Our time in Thailand came to an end. After 6.5 weeks travelling the country from North to South our time was up. It was onto Malaysia. We’d been struggling with our route into Malaysia as my mum and dad had finally booked their tickets to come out and meet us. We were hoping that we could go to the Perhentian islands which are North East of Malaysia, then travel down to the highlands, and onto to KL to meet them, but then we were on a tight schedule with my parents and we needed to sort out our Indian visas in KL so we really had to figure it all out for a while. In the end we decided to go to KL first and sort out our visa as that was the most important thing. Then we could go to the Cameron Highlands for a couple of days and Melaka while waiting for my mum and dad and then we could fly up to the Perhentian islands with them before heading to Singapore. It was messy but seemed the most logical.

And that was it, we booked our bus to KL and left on the 24 hours journey the next day.

So – Thailand. What can I say? I absolutely LOVED it! It wasn’t one of the countries I was really looking forward to. I mean I wanted to go, but thought it’s just full of Westerners on holiday – which it is! But Thailand’s charm and beauty is hard to deny. It’s relaxed and fun and you can find some home comforts too which is great after being on the road for a while. We met some great people and did some great things. The Thai New Year in Changmai is an event I will never forget! INSANE!! Playing with tiger cubs, scuba diving and the islands. It’s an incredible country and let’s not forget the food! YUMMY doesn’t even cover it. And it’s also where I started my love affair with dried broad beans. Seriously if you see them in the shops anywhere – buy some. They are super lekker!!

So with a heavy heart was boarded that bus onto our next adventure….