Global Traveller: February 2011

Greetings from Bangkok, my last week in Thailand.

Since my last blog, I have managed to clock up some miles around Thailand by island hopping here, there and everywhere. I have seen quite enough palm tree's and nice beaches and I'm looking forward to city life again.

Long Beach on Koh Lanta

After arriving back from Phnom Penh we had 1 nights stay at the airport hotel in Bangkok before catching another flight down to Krabi and then Koh Lanta. Our hotel was right below the flight path and, although great to see planes takeoff, it wasn't great trying to get to sleep! We met my Nan at Bangkok Airport the following morning and arrived on Koh Lanta later that day.

Koh Lanta is in southern Thailand, south of Phuket. It was a lot quieter than I thought it would be, but you had an amazing view of Phi Phi in the distance from the beach. As Koh Lanta is quite close to the equator, it's hot and then some.

The first few nights were uneventful as there was not a lot going on around us. The beach we were staying on was called Long Beach and as the name suggests it was long, about 5 km long meaning everything was spread out. If you wanted to walk between bars it was a trek to get to them along the beach. We spent a few nights having quiet drinks in some bars and the only interesting thing to happen in the first week was my Nan falling down a sand hole face first whilst walking along the beach!

Dave DJing and Me with Chloe

On the second week, Dave managed to bag another DJing gig at a bar we had come across one night that was loud, lively and had people in, something we had not seen for a while. We went in for a drink and after a few buckets we had gone from having a right old moan about how quiet it was to Dave being on the decks playing on the beach, all in the space of 2 hours. We also met Chloe that night who is from Manchester and 3 northerners pissed up is winning combination! We managed to stagger home at 6am and that was the next day written off with a hangover.

Dave bagged another gig the following week and we even went along the beach in the day handing out flyers for it. The night was the busiest yet and also probably the messiest! A 4am finish and a 3 km stagger back home up the beach, in pitch black is hard work in that kind of state. When we got back home, Dave went to the bathroom and I fell asleep. I was then woken up a short while later by Dave telling me to 'move over' in bed because he had just tried to climb into bed with my Nan, who politely told him to get out! Man, we were in a state.

BED Super Club in Bangkok

After 3 weeks on Lanta we flew to Bangkok. We saw my Nan off at the airport and it was back to the city for a week. I never thought I would have been to Bangkok this many times but there is something about this place which I love. We hooked up with Chloe again who we met on Koh Lanta and spent the day downtown in Bangkok with a trip up the Sky Tower, the tallest building in Thailand. The views were pretty amazing although the interior was typically Thai, a bit shabby and rough!

We went to BED super club that night, again with Chloe. The club is pretty swanky and it was only 600 baht to get in with 2 free drinks included. Bargain. What they don't tell you is that the drinks they pour are almost pure neat alcohol with a touch of redbull or coke, so after 2 drinks we were pretty steaming (Not to mention we were already pissed when we got in there) Also, free shots of Grey Goose vodka were being passed around which only fed the need leave and get to the nearest Burger King and eat a load of junk at the end of the night.

What a mess we were in Burger King, hardly able to string a sentence together laughing about nothing, spitting burger everywhere. Also, I managed to pick the only exploding bottle of barbeque sauce and this covered Chloe in the stuff! Good times.

Chinese New Year in Chinatown

The rest of the week was pretty quiet and then for Chinese New Year, we headed to China Town to see what was going on. It was packed, I have never been in a crowd like it, you could hardly move. Everything was colourful, bright, busy and bustling. It was exciting just being there in the thick of it. We managed to stop at every single 7-11 store along the way and grab a beer, so by the time we got the end of the street me and Dave were pissed, and we managed to do it on the cheap. Classy and Clever.

We then left Bangkok for Koh Samui. Why we decided to go there is a puzzle because we both knew it was a tourist hot spot, like a Thai Blackpool. We picked a quiet beach to stay on and a nice resort, however after the first night we realised it was a little too quiet, there was nothing and no one to see! We had booked for 10 days and spent most of our time sunbathing and sitting by the pool. I have never seen so many bugs as I have on Koh Samui. Every time you opened the door there was a swirl of massive moths and mosquitos around the door. Not to mention the millipedes that like to crawl along your bed. The bees were the size of small birds and sounded like helicopters, pretty bad if your shit feared of them!

Me and Dave at Sugar's 30th birthday party

We got invited to a 30th birthday party while we were there, it was the manager of the resort's birthday and she had invited us to join them. Free booze, free food and a social setting? We were so there. After 5 days of not seeing anyone it was nice to speak to other people.

We are back in Bangkok now for our final week in Thailand. I have mixed feelings about leaving; on one hand I have seen everything I wanted to see and I have exhausted this place now. On the other hand, I have met some amazing people and I have managed to make this my home for the past 4 months. Still, moving on feels like we are refreshing our our journey and that can only be a good thing. It's going to be nice being back on the road. First it's Hong Kong, then Kuala Lumpur, Singapore then off to Australia. and I can't wait.

For now, it's back to the hustle and bustle of Bangkok.

Bye for now!