Blogs from Southern Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 27

Songai Kolok, same day in the evening of 13-02-2009. Muezzins call the faithfull to prayer, attend the many mosques in this ach-typical border town while I disembark from my last Song-thaew, shouldering my bulky backpack feeling worn out, sweaty and semi-frustrated after a whole day of travelling on local chicken buses, road blocks with severe looking police men and soldiers getting on sometimes taking people out for frisking purposses outside the Song-Thaew with the driver patiently waiting for the - to him no doubt - daily procedure, unfriendly and at times even outright hostile stares from my other passengers. Leaving the bus terminal my eyes are under a strange and constant attack of contradicting impressions, sights so unusual for me in this part of the world. women pass me in the street dressed head to toe ... read more

Songai Kolok, 13-02-2009. Songai Kolok is supposed to be the heart of muslim territory in Thailand, within walking distance to the Malay border and - as rumour has it - the place of origin of the masterminds behind the Islam uprising in Southern Thailand. Basically this small and claustrophobic town houses a hotbed of islamic fanatics that are bend on total independence, create an Islam state in Buddhist Thailand, no matter what the cost!!! Blow up a police station, roadside killings or maybe a mortar attack on a public school...all that in the name of Allah, never mind the innocent, unschooled local farmers whose main concern is trying to feed their families. I spend most of the day changing Song-Thaews, looking from the glassless windows at an endless array of rice paddies, women working the rice ... read more

Sunday May 10, 2009 Ko Phangan We were woke at about 8am and it sounded like there was a night club out side our room, turns out it was actually coming from the top of the hill and a good 400 meters away, it was the after p-arty in the Back Yard which started at 7am. Mary nearly went mad, the music was going through her head but finally we got a bit more sleep and stayed in bed til 2 nursing the hangovers. We were both relatively fine then. I got my book and headed down the beach for a while to read and listen to the pumping tunes. Had to make the most of our last beach day though. One good thing about the FMP was that it made us spend much longer in ... read more

Thursday May 7, 2009 Ko Phangan Got up and had some cereal before heading out to lie on the beach for a few hours, we were going to use the pool, but it was packed with what looked like the cast of a Super Sweet 16 UK party so we headed up a little away from our and chilled out. Was another glorious day but a good breeze kept us from getting too hot. Quiet hard work all that reading so we had earned our lunch and headed up to Same Same and got pizza which was delicious and used their free wifi before heading back for the afternoon session in the sun, tough life! While on the beach playing our spot the accents game there were 4 girls in front of us from Ireland, got ... read more

Tuesday May 5th 2009 Ko Tao Third cloudy day in a row, starting to feel like home, but then you dip your toe in the water and you realize that it cooks rather than gets frost bite so you know you are far far away. This was to be our last day in Ko Tao so wanted to get at least one dive in so headed up to the Irish lads diving school and booked in for one at 4, after turning up at 2 and getting told it was full. Sat around on the beach reading with Mary until about 3.30 then headed off. Just me and Mick from Ludford Park out diving so it was good, we went to a place called White rock, and it was full of fish, absolutely loads and some ... read more