As I come to the end of my time in Thailand, I thought I’d look back on what I’ve been up to. A review of sorts.
I started off in Bangkok, my first few days were spent orientating myself, and then disorientating myself at nights on the ol Changs! I went on a tuk-tuk tour of the city, seeing a few temples and that. Went to Dusit Zoo and visited the Grand Palace with my Swedish friends, and took a boat up the Chao Phraya river. I then travelled west to Kanchanaburi. The 85 mile bus ride cost a pound. Had a great day out at Erawan Falls, a fantastic seven-tier waterfall and went on to sit on an elephant’s knee and take the Death Railway to the Bridge on the River Kwai. Whilst in Kanchanaburi I also visited the war museum and cemetary, before going back to Bangkok and meeting up with the guys from Brackley.
After a couple of days getting steaming with the boys I got on another bus east this time to Si Racha for the ferry to Ko Si Chan. More or less the only caucasian on the island, I rented out a motorbike and explored the rocky coast, finding time to hunt down the elusive white squirrel. Further east I got to Ko Samet where I stayed in a little hut near the beach, met back up with the Swedes and generally just chilled winston. I had one night to kill in Bangkok before flying down to Phuket where my brother was waiting for me. A few more lager-fueled nights with the Brackley crew were enjoyed and we saw a few ’sights and sounds’ in Patong. Chris arrived from England and we did a four-day PADI Open Water Diver course finishing with three fun dives at the Similan Islands led by our hilarious instructor The Wolf Man. Saw a sea turtle on my first dive, as well as moray eels, trigger fish, clown fish, barracuda and cuttlefish.
Next stop for me and Chris was Ko Samui, where me met Pierre and Luke etc. It seemed a pretty good place at the time but paled in comparison to Ko Phagnan just north of it. Had my phone and wallet nicked on my first night, which has been a headache ever since, but soon got over that and looked forward to the full moon party. That was mad, about 15,000 people on the beach sipping on bucket concoctions. Met a load more people but had to hurry back to Phuket so Chris could (reluctantly) catch his flight home. Since then I’ve just been taking it steady in Phuket, although found time to check out Khao Lak a couple of hours north which was obliterated in the tsunami.
I’ve now just got to wait for my replacement cards when I can book a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I’ll spend a couple of nights there, and get a train down to Singapore for a few days before flying all the way down under, to Sydney. The only bad thing I can recall was that first night in Ko Phagnan, otherwise it’s all been gravy. And I’ve spent around the same in nearly seven weeks in Thailand as I did in two weeks in Ibiza last year. It’s not so much the places I’ve been but the diversity of people I’ve met whilst travelling which has been most interesting so far. For example, last night I met someone who grew up in Moss Side, Manchester, who told me he’s robbed banks. A couple of weeks ago I met a multi-millionnaire from New Zealand who told me he’s got a gardening job waiting for me at his mansion in Christchurch (I know bugger all about gardening, but I’m sure-as-hell prepared to pretend if the money’s right..)
There’s some more videos in that section (see right). Oh, here’s one to do before you die, go swimming in the sea during a massive thunderstorm. Did so this afternoon and it was awesome, and also a bit scary when you’ve got lightning coming down around you and you’re not quite sure of the conductivity of salt water…