Mishaps

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Have made it to my final destination - Thailand - and am having a fantastic time. Nepal seems like so long ago, but it was only a week ago I spent my final day in Kathmandu Guest House drinking my Everest Beers with the trekkers..

Even getting on the flight to Bangkok was like a world apart from what I had been doing - Thai Airways are brilliant and it was such a nice flight - looking out over the snowy himalayas peeking out the clouds, and then 3 hours later I was in Bangkok airport, waiting on my flight to Samui. It was crazy even being there- there was a Boots the chemist! Duty free, cosmetics, I was a bit taken aback. I sprayed up with the latest Marc Jacobs perfume (I didnt even know there WAS a new one), and waited on my connection - feeling incredibly scruffy and unstylish compared to all my fellow passengers who were sporting lovely clean holiday clothes, ironed hair, and presumably the latest fashions.. what would I know.

Arriving in Samui was a bit weird. I got a room for the night at the accomodation office at the airport (which has been totally upgraded to a pretty nice airport - I remember it being like a wee shack before). My room was in Chaweng, really busy resort in Samui and I took myself out for a few drinks and then hooked up with Paul and Dave - two travellers living in the same bungalows. They were great and gave me loads of beers. I was pretty shellshocked though - outside our bungalows was a 24hr burger king, a pizza hut and a starbucks.. I really was back in disneyland it felt like.

Got the ferry over to Phangan the next day and made it to Had Tien Beach - home of The Sanctuary, which has been recommended to me as a lovely resort, and also home of a yoga teacher who I had also been recommended. The beach is tiny, there is only a couple of shops selling basic stuff, 3 or 4 sets of bungalows, electricity shuts down at 11 every night - it was lovely. I had a weird run of bad luck though.

First night I hadnt been told the electricity shuts down and had to stumble in the dark through the jungle to find my place, and I was pretty scared all night. Every rustle outside the room sounded like monsters and snakes, and I hardly slept at all. I reckon I was just unsettled from the trip and moving around for 2 days. So much for being the hardened traveller. I moved the next day to a sweet bungalow up the hill a bit, but part of a resort which had a lovely restaurant and really nice crowd of people hanging out. This was more like it. I had a lovely day, and retired to bed about 10 mins to 11 - all sorted before lights out. Then I discovered a family of rats living in my bungalow. 3 super cute babies and a pretty aggressive mother rat. That was it. No way. I baled out, leaving all my stuff and ran out down the hill. Promptly falling over and grazing my elbow. I ran to The Sanctuary - lovely swanky resort - which had all but shut up for the night, but I brandished my bleeding arm and told my terrible rat tale, and they let me sleep in the dorm above the restaurant.. I really was shaken up and again didnt sleep well.

The next day I moved again, to another hut - this time looking a bit more solid, and no gaps for rats to come and visit. I tried to get into it again - had a lovely thai massage on the beach, drank some beers - NOW I was relaxed. And then the terrible terrible news that an aussie backpacker had drowned in the nearby Had Yuan beach at lunchtime. He hadnt even been that far out, but the current got him and he just couldnt make it back in. So sad. He was on his own. That, and the next day someone fell off their balcony at The Sanctuary and broke their arm. I was feeling the bad vibes and figured that it was time I had a holiday... so I have now moved back to Had Rin - which is actually home of the infamous Full Moon Party - but I am not at that side of the beach and have found a lovely resort, with a pool, which is quiet at a night and I have a lovely bungalow.

Finally this time, surely, I could settle in. I was staying next to Dave - the irish guy I met in Samui on my first night - and he was a great laugh. We lay at the pool all afternoon and he kept saying "you're going really red, you are burning" and I was like "nah, I'll be fine, Ive got a base tan from India, blah blah" and I was lathering the lotion on anyway. But I did start to feel really hot and my skin was tight. At that point I realised that the lotion I had been slathering myself with all day was actually my nivea moisturiser, not my suntan lotion. This behaviour is one step away from baby oil. No wonder I was feeling hot. As the night progressed I looked more and more red and burned. I felt fine, and had a great night out down the beach. What happens is that the beach is like one long party every night, and it just gets progressively busier in the run up to actual full moon party- so it was a great atmosphere.

Yesterday though I awoke to a hangover, and I swear I was the colour of a tomato. I look crazy and was feeling quite strange. Milly and Silas arrived though! My travelling companions, and I hadnt seen them since January - so that was lovely - but as our day and night progressed, it was obvious my skin was suffering and then we all noticed that I had totally swollen up. Hands, legs, feet all swollen and full of fluid. Was really weird. I think I might have had mild sunstroke - but was tipsy and excited to see my friends so sort of didnt notice.

I am now staying out of the sun until I feel totally fine (which I sort of do, but dont want to take the risk). Is nearly hilarious that I can make it round India and Nepal on my own, feel like totally Miss Confident, and then arrive in Thailand which is just the easiest place to travel it seems, yet have a series of mini-disasters. A good lesson in not getting too big for my travelling boots.

I am feeling really relaxed now though - it is great here, not built up at all - and everyone is really friendly. It is expensive though - so much more so than India and Nepal - but its really worth it for this last leg of my trip..

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