Thailand - The Islands !

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I arrived in Bangkok feeling very much under the weather. Some kind of flu or virus, who knows. All i do know is that i felt bad enough to consider going back to bed instead of watching Man u Vs Blackburn - very worrying....
Jim and I said goodbye to Anat and Raphi and we flew to Surat Thani (down south) then bus then boat to Ko Pha Ngan. Flight took and hour, bus 2-3 hours and then the boat 2-3 again. So i arrived at the port (Thong Sala) mid afternoon. Jim had got the later ferry to guarantee geting a Glastonberry ticket.
I had come to this island in Jan 99 and was unsure if i should come back. I had such a great time then, would i still like it now ? Will there be 7 eleven's and hotels everywhere ? Last time we got off the boat and went to the left of all the taxi's and asked for a guy called Mr Too / Two / Tu, who was waiting in a white pick up. Bizarre i know. So this time i got off the ferry and saw in the distance a sign saying coral bay travel, which filled me with dread - how commercial had it become, should i get back on the bus ?
Thankfully the guy in there assured me that not much had changed and that he would call for somebody to come and collect me, not Mr Too anymore though.
The first thing i noticed as we left the port is just how many shops there were and how good the roads were. The journey took about 30 mins, bit quicker this time as the roads were much better. The last stretch of road from Chaloklum was still a dirt track (last mile or so).
So i arrived at Coral Bay early evening on the 1st April, still feeling rough but very excited. I'm not sure how long i spent there in 1999, but i do know i had a great time. All in all it was still the same. There were now 30 huts not 13 and there were new staff, a new dining area oh and the bucket for a shower had been replaced by en suite toilet facilities at the back of most huts. I got room no 7 on the beach side, which i think was next door to where i had stayed in 99.
So i ordered some food had a good chat and waited for Jim to arrive ready for the full moon party the next day.
2nd April - Full moon party. Maggie (who is married to one of Mr Too's son's - 1 1/2) had organised the truck to take us all to Had rin which is over the other side of the island for the full moon party. I wasn't really that bothered about going as i still felt a bit dodgy and as i recall was a beach full of hammered 18 year olds, bad trance music, heavy drinking, fireworks and general carnage. Great when you're 22, different when you turn 30. The full moon party was best descibed in a guide book i read as being like Apocolypse now (the film) without the war. It was actually quiet this time. There are now half moon parties and black moon parties, so maybe the novelty was wearing off. I recall there being a lot more there last time, i guess there were still 5-10,000 peple..
Being the old fart that i am, i actually went home about 3 ish, which is very early and a nightmare as you have to waite ages for taxes to leave, negotaite prices and walk the bit at the end that they wont take you. I was knackered, had drank too much Thai whisky and ready for a kip. Next day i had my first ever migraine, which wiped me out for 2 days.
I guess if you're going to be ill i'm glad it was there rather than Vietnam, Cambodia or anywhere else. The next week or so was spend relaxing. Jim did a diving course and i did very little at all. I had waited 9 years to sit around doing nothing. I used to be good at doing nothing, clearly still got the knack, hence the reason for one of my many knicknames - Lizard !
Its not that hard to amuse yourself when the weathers great, the beach is on your doorstep and a nice group of people to chat with, play Carum (think thats how you spell it), poker or whatever. If you get bored you can go rock climbing / jumping for the day.
The only other thing of note to report was the Thai New Year, what a day. Basically wherever you are in Thailand the idea is to spend all day drinking and throwing water over everyone and everything. Including old women and police. We got into Thong Sala at about 11am and spent 6 hours throwing buckets of water at people & having a brilliant time. People drive cars, floats and taxis through the streets with big drums of water on them. There are sound systems pumping music out. I forgot how much fun water fights can be. Beats paying stupid prices for taxis and clubs back home . Water fights on New Year is the way forward. It actually rained that day, not that it made a difference as everyone is soaked bar none !
So after 2 weeks of Island life it was time to head to Singapore. The plan was to travel through Malaysia but i was enjoying myself so much i went for the usual approach - fly.
Coral Bay and Thailand as a whole is a fantastic place which i'm sure to keep coming back to and hopefully it wont change much more.
More important than the place is the people. Lucking we met a great group just like in 99. Tommy and Marty from
N. Ireland, the Saffers - Saun and Gareth, Ulrika from Sweden, James and Chrissy, Mat & Chris from blighty, Nick and Belinda from Oz etc etc
It makes the time fly by there and actually means you end up staying longer than you planned, however long that was..
Jim and I spent 7 hours at Singapore airport hotel and wandering around the shops and drinking before flying to Oz the next morning.

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Photos

Coral Bay
The view from my Bungalow

Fire
Mr Too on the left of the picture started it to get rid of snakes & nearly burnt the place down..