OH me oh my - a lot has wizzed by!

---

Oh god......now where do I begin.....

So much has happened over the past couple of days I'm going to have a hard time remembering it all! I guess the best place to start as always however, is the begining, so......here we go.....:

On the 21st me and Max packed our bags and jumped on to a coach that would take an 11 hour journey southwards to the dock, where a ferry would then take us to the beautiful island of Koh Phangan. Once there we would be attending the full moon party - a massive rave that takes up the whole of a long beach once every month - something both myself and Max considered to be one of the highlights of our SE Asia trip!

To be honest, the coach, as coaches go, was pretty lush. The seats where comfy and if you didnt get too many complaints from the people sitting behind you; would fold right back. They also all came equipped with blankets to battle the artic temperatures of the in-built air conditioning system. We also had the luck of bonding with three other passengers; Leo a 20 year old 'Japanese-Canadian' student, Al - an experienced english traveller/builder who has hopes of begining his own media company, and George - a dutch government financer now living and working in China. This bond was first brought about over our mutual confusion when the thai bus driver (who didn't speak any english, which didn't exactly compliment the fact that none of us spoke any thai) took our ferry tickets off of us without (obviously) being able to explain why. But the bond was a lasting one, and for the next 11 hours we found ourselves locked in fascinating debates about religion, the meaning of life, films, books and other such cultured mumbo jumbo.

I have to say, it was pretty amazing hearing everybodies different stories. Al had travelled SE asia several times before, and was quick to correct my pronounciation of the only few thai sayings I had picked up. Leo had been living in Japan for the past year, and had decided on a whim to tour SE Asia for a month or two before heading back to his uni in Toronto, and George had been it seemed, everywhere, before deciding to settle down in China. The thing that stuck out about all of them was - they were all travelling on their own. If you've ever been travelling before, I'm sure you can relate to how I found this to be pretty impressive - I mean, Its a big enough thing to take on when you're going with someone else, let alone by yourself......but, I guess the one thing I have learnt so far, is that even if you go on your own, you're never going to be ALONE.

The travelling communtiy is like a utopia of social niceities. Everyone is friendly, helpful and interested. Even if your paths only cross for a second, you're all sharing the same adventure - the adventure of exploration. And its liberating, especially for a 19 year old londoner who has only ever really experienced the typical eyes-to-the-ground syndrom of living in a big city. But now, my eyes are open, and I'm so glad that they are, because there is so much to take in....so much more than I ever expected.

At around 1 in the morning the coach suddenly stopped and we were all told to get off and collect our bags. Tired and a little confused, we stumbled down the steps and looked about expectantly for any signs of a boat...or indeed, any water. However, it was quite clear that we were in the middle of nowhere.
Suddenly, me and Max were approached by a small little thai lady who started shouting at us 'Kho phangan? Kho Phangan?!' to which we dutifully replied 'yes', amidst several secretive glances of confusion and raised eyebrows. Before we knew it, we'd hastily waved goodbye to Al and George, grabbed Leo (who had decided he was going to come with us to the full moon party and try to stay in our hotel) and been pushed into a small little cart, leaving the rest of the coach occupants in the dust behind us.
Luckily we were not being kidnapped - and arrived at the dock about half an hour later.

The boat ride was nothing spectacular - apart from the views; looming islands appearing out of nowhere, covered in trees and obviously uninhabitated, surrounded by the clearest blue ocean I have ever seen.
I also got talking to three cool americans; Lee and Collette who have been teaching in China for the past year and their friend Tammy who came over to join them on their thai trip. After swapping numbers we left the boat and hailed ourselves a taxi to the Bounty resort, our home for the next three nights.

This place was amazing - true, not exactly a real 'back packing' experience, but it was nice to kick back and live in luxury for a while. The hotel had its own little private bay at the back, and a small pool. The food was great, the people that worked there fantastically lovely; and as everywhere else on the island - packed full of other travellers who would be attending the full moon party!
I spent most of that first day napping - having not slept properly since we'd lived through the gruelling experience of night time kareoke back in Bangkok; but by the evening we were all ready to get to the beach and get our rave on!

After a half an hour taxi ride shared with other guests from the bounty, we arrived at the entrance to the beach where the Full moon party was being held. It was packed. Quickly grabbing ourselves a bucket each (a literal sand-castle sized bucket which gets filled with a whole bottle of alcohol + mixer of your choice, equipped with the added kick of a can of Thai's version of 'red bull') we rang Lee and his fellow yankidoodles to arrange a meeting point, and made our way through a mish-mash of little beach shops, towards the sounds of a heavy bass and several cheers.

For the full moon party, several bars are set up along the coast, each with a blaring sound system playing every style of club/rave music you can imagin, from drum and bass to R+B. Infront of each bar was a foray of stages, fire dancers, stalls and hundreds of fellow party-loving tourists. For any one who likes a good raving experience, this was definitely it. Swarms of people milled around covered in UV-glow tattoos painted on them; giant signs that would later be set on fire were emblazed with the full moon party logo. The old and younger alike were mingling at a rapid speed,as if drawn together like magnets.

Now a gang of six after having met up with the yanks, we made our way to the far end of the beach and proceeded to get extremely drunk and dance the night away. This began (as these nights so often seem to at the moment?) with me getting up to dance solo on a stage before the night had really got going, eventually joined by the masses. But before you could say 'one more bucket please' every available space was occupied by a writhing body; the majority being (I was pleased to note) deliciously gorgeous Aussies - prime specimems of toned and tanned yummyness! It didnt take long before I had befriended a group of four of them - who will hopefully be providing me with accomodation and more fun nights out in sydney; and we were soon shaking our thangs like nobodies business!
The night ended slightly earlier then expected after Max has a pretty un-pleasant experience with a thai lady boy (honest mistake - trust me!) and we decided to head back. Finding a taxi proved near enough impossible though, and eventually we walked back to the yanks camp for a bit, leaving the aussies on the beach. After a while me and max (now having replaced Leo with yankidoodle lee after he had run off after some Japanese girls he had introduced us to over dinner) finally made it back to the Bounty; and while max headed to bed, me and Lee made our way to the beach, talking on the wooden swing hanging from a tree there until the sun came up -only being disturbed once, when a drunken leo arrived out of nowhere and announced he was going skinny dipping.

The next day, after having said goodbye to Lee, I was pretty boring and tried to catch up on sleep as I was starting to feel a bit ill from the lack of a proper good nights rest (my napping from the previous day not having been very satisfying and it now coming on to four days without any real sleep); whereas Max blossomed into a social butterfly and busied himself making friends with all of the other guests in the hotel.
The day that followed after that, Max (thankfully) insisted that I wasnt allowed to stay in bed any longer and made me sit by the pool for a bit with my book while he went and rented a moped to take us to another beach with. To say I was scared beyond my wits would be the understatement of the year - having in particular my mums personal experience of breaking her back in her teens when her ex's motor cycle crashed at the forefront of my mind. But after much coaxing from Max, I was on the back of that monster; and despite several severe roller-coaster-styled dips in the roads - the experience was thoroughly enjoyable, and max proved to be a very safety concious driver.

The beach we arrived at was beautiful, and Im gutted now that i didnt take my camera. If ever you wanted to see a picturesque, film style landscape, this would have been it. Think 'the beach' if you've seen it. We had a bit of a swim, although I was slightly put off by the screams of people who had swum a bit further out and had subsequently been attacked by swarms of tics and the stories of schools of jelly fish floating around in the distance. We also got chatting to a group of girls from devon who were also staying at our hotel, and who max had stayed up drinking with the previous night. After suggesting we all meet up later to go dancing, we headed back to the hotel and got freshened up.

That night was my favourite so far. Over dinner at the hotel we got chatting to some (again, gorgeous) aussies who max had also briefly chatted to previously and who also knew the devon girls. The boys exchanged magic tricks with a deck of cards, and the aussies encouraged us to try the barmans 'special' long-island ice tea. In particular I got chatting to Nathan (the most gorgeous in the group, it has to be said). I had noticed him around (it would have been hard not to) but had got the impression that he was one of those arrogant pricks who knew he was good looking and therefore oozed over-confidence from every pore. Indeed, he seemed to ignore me completely for a while even though he was sitting inbetween me and max, but as soon as we got talking he warmed up; and after a while even went so far as to confide that he thought me and Max were much cooler and laid back than the devon girls - who he found to be 'snooty and bitchy'. I happened to agree, and we toasted this common ground with another bucket, to which I added my half drank long-island. Half an hour later, a much gigglier Nathan and myself piled on with everyone else into one truck style taxi (meant to seat 10, now seating 15) as we made our way to what had been promised by the bar man/our taxi driver to be a 'very wicked party'.

It turned out however to be far from, but the night was still really enjoyable. Me and Nathan got another bucket and huddled ourselves away in the corner, finding it suprisingly easy to talk to each other. We got into the kind of conversations you usually wouldnt get into until youd known someone for a while; skipping the usual small talk and instead getting down to the nitty gritty; our parents seperations, our cynicalisms to long term relationships, our love of people, shared similar experiences. It was just what i needed after having spent the last day feeling a bit left out of any social circle.

After an hour or so, and now both feeling understandably tipsy (those buckets really do get to you) we decided to go for a walk, which turned into a manic run across the beach all the way back to the hotel. We had tried to climb into someones boat but they'd told us to go away, so instead we decided that an exercise regime would be the best thing to cure our tipsyness, and proceeded to jog up hill until we got back to the bounty. To cool off, we went down to the beach and sat in the sea, chatting nine to the dozen before eventually falling asleep on the sand. This had bad consequences for poor max (which trust me, I still feel horrifically sorry about) who was subsequently locked out of our room as I had the key, and had no idea where I was. I did let him in when I woke up after a bit but it was still not very nice on him - so sorry max! Me and Nathan then headed back to his bungalow and after chatting to his cousin for a bit fell asleep (well he did, I was a bit too squashed so ended up getting another night without sleep) in the hammock outside his place.

The next day, it was time to pack up, and after big goodbyes to all the aussies with many a swapping of addresses and promises that when we get to Oz they'll pick us up and take us out on the town; me max and leo jumped into another taxi and headed back to the dock. Here we met up with Leanne, a lovely aussie 23 year old student who had been staying at the same hotel, and has merged with us for the day. Together we all got the boat and coach back, arriving back in bangkok this morning.
And thats all I really have time for at the moment! In a little while, we're going to hit the markets, before me and Max have to catch our train to Chow, so until then, over and out everyone!! Love you all loads!

---

Photos

The boys
My coach crew

max and ,leo
After we'd got thrown onto the little bus

Lush
Mountains in the sea

Leos bitches
the beautiful japanese girls who had dinner with us

Me and lee
at full moon

Party heats up
the crowds pile in

Nice n sweaty
dancing with the aussies

Buckets
lets get druuuunk

me and moi hotties
the aussie boys

Brissy Boys
Nathan (next to max)

Comments

[liam]

:P
to think this is from a girl who didnt no how to use the tube :P

[shimsss]

last photo, guy number four, next to guy in white t-shirt, WOW! he is DELICIOUS. please bring him back with you...please