Thailand's Beautiful Islands

I started writing this a long time ago, so please excuse the post date... I'm well aware that it's almost June now!! And may I therefore just say...
MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS TO ADAM AND RACH ON THE ARRIVAL OF BABY JACKSON!!! I can't wait to meet the little man :o)

So... I travelled North from the Malaysian border on a train in which I sat bolt upright and had just about enough room to stretch out my big toe. I hadn't really thought about the 'class' system when I booked the ticket, so was stuck in 3rd class. Previously, this would have consisted of just hard, wooden benches for 9 hours straight! But thankfully they have recently been upgraded to plastic cushioned ones - still sitting bolt upright though... There was also just a fan which circulated just far enough away from me that I didn't receive any of its cooling reprieve from the heat.

For the first 5 hours, I was sitting opposite an elderly Thai lady who insisted in having the window shut and the sunblind down just enought that I was unable to gaze out of the window - no breeze and no view!! She also provided great smells from the big box of fresh durian fruit that she was storing above my head... Stinky stuff!!!!... So it was hot. Really hot. And smelly. And I vowed to get an air conditioned cabin the next time...

But the whole '3rd class' experience was pretty fun - including the the people who I 'met', via smiles and my made-up sign language! The first lady I sat next to had a massive box of durian fruit directly above us. And it smelt reeeeal bad! But I got used to it, and she was only on the train for a few hours. Then there was the little boy sitting opposite me with his dad and (I think) grandma, all squeezed onto the 2 person bench. He had the most smiley eyes, and was so inquisative of everything I had, and his dad kept talking to me in Thai... so I spoke back to him in English and we had our own made-up conversations, neither of us having a clue what the other was talking about :o)

When I finally got to Surat Thani, it was late and there were no hotels in the vicinity. By the time I found somewhere to sleep it was already midnight, and I needed to book my place on the bus & ferry to get over to Koh-Phag-Ngan the next morning. All that sorted, I had a shower and went to bed for 4 hours. Sleepily I made my way to the bus stop, where I got on a taxi with 3 dutch guys, (Casper and 2 friends) and a French divemaster, Harry. We had a bit of an adventure getting to the taxi, being told to get out of one taxi, into another, out of that and into another... finally we arrived at a big bus, and squeezed in for about an hour. Then finally... we arrived at the ferry port, after being ferried from ne mode of transport to another for 5 hours. We had to wait at the ferry port for 1 1/2 hours before the ferry arrived, during which time I spied my friends, Kirra and Vicki!! 

I ran over to them, jumped on them, and scared the absolute hell out of them! Vicki looked at me like I was a mad lady, not recognising me with dark hair, and Kirra was annoyed with this crazy lady pushing the (obviously injured) Vicki! Not the 'hello' I was hoping for! Then it clicked with them who I was, and we all jumped around in the gay way that only girls can. Vicki, poor thing, had had a motorbike accident up in Chaing Mai, and had really hurt her ankle. She was hobbling around, and Kirra was having to carry both of their backpacks! It was such luck that I saw them at the ferry port, as I'm not sure how I would've found them on the island!

Me, Kirra & Vicki on the ferry

So we caught the ferry over to Koh Phan-Gnan, and went to the hotel that Vicki had booked for us. It was amazing. This whole 'splitting the bill 3 ways' thing meant that we could get a beautiful room for the same price that a really rubbish one would've cost me on my own. 2 double beds, toilet and shower with HOT water (!), and an amazing balcony space overlooking the sea, with a hammock. We even had a fridge!! It was so nice, we didn't want to leave! But we went off to buy Vicki some crutches, and to go to a party in the jungle.

A 'broken' Vicki, happy in her hammock with her guitarlele (cross between a guitar and a ukulele!)

Luxury...

Vicki and her crutches

The jungle party was fun! We drank as many 'buckets' of vodka redbull as our money would allow, met up with some other friends from Wanaka, and finally found our hotel at around 5am. 

The Jungle Party

Kirra and me... and a bucket.

Beautiful ladies!

We met up with some other Wanaka friends, including Emily!

The next day was a complete write-off for me, but that night was to be the infamous 'Full Moon Party'. Liam came over that night, and told us about where he was staying, in Haad Yuan. It was apparently so chilled out, and like paradise. We left our hotel (minus Vicki, who had decided that she should stay in instead), walked down the streets, saw all of the drunken people and decided immediately that the 'Haad Rin' beach party was not for us. Way too rowdy, messy and... well... young! So we clambered into a taxi-boat and made the 5 minute journey over to Haad Yuan. What a good idea that turned out to be!!!

Liam

It was all just way too much for us!!!

So we hopped on a boat and went over to Haad Yuan

Slightly quieter than the other beach!! And the full moon...

With UV paint on us...

Awesome paintings!

UV facepaint on my feet and others'... (mine were the smiley faces)

Sunrise :o)

We moved our stuff over to Haad Yuan, into a lovely little beach shack. We just realsxed, but then, 2 days later, we decided to go over to see the 'post Full Moon Party Carnage' on Haad Rin beach... 

It was so so different to the last time that I'd been there! The beach was practically empty - we had a pretty fun night!

On the boat over to the beach

This is the moment that Maurice (far left) tore the ligaments in his ankle... :o(

L-R: Maurice (Australia), Alex (Russia), Dave (UK), Angus (Australia)

Sunrise at Haad Rin

There's not really all that much more to say about Haad Yuan. It was an amazing place, and I met amazing people, but it really was just a party / relaxation beach. Not really much more than that to write home about! But it sucked us in for about a week! :o)

L-R: Raj, Marie-Anne, Maurice, Angus, A dutch girl whose name I've forgotten, Kirra, Vicki

L-R: Dave, Kirra, Vicki, Liam

And then it was time to leave... Some went to Bali, others to Koh Samui, Bangkok, Phuket... and me to Koh Tao to do some dives. I managed 3 dives, including a night dive, and had the massive revalation that I can practically halve my air consumption just by having a well fitting mask!!! Without the need to constantly use air to expell water out of my mask, I was so happy. And the dives were pretty awesome too - 1 night dive and 2 day dives. J'adore diving!

I then headed to Koh Samui and spent the night there, where I (thought that I'd) lost all of my photos due to a dodgy computer. I think I've got them back now... fingers crossed! Koh Samui airport is the best in the world! It's all open-air... I really wish I'd taken a photo of it!

So from Koh Samui I left the Islands of Thailand and headed way up North to Chiang Mai, where I was to meet up with Kirra again. Vicki had decided to go back to the UK as her ankle just wasn't getting any better (I don't blame her), so it was just the 2 of us for the next few weeks... Travelling with someone else definitely has its advantages - not least the cheap accommodation rates!! No more dingy shacks for me! :o) 

Bye for now...