The Thailand Islands

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Wednesday the 12th

On wednesday morning I woke up in my hotel room in Koh Samui an island off the coast of thailand. The first thing I noticed about thailand, or Koh Samui, is the amount of scooters and moterbikes. Everyone drives them here. Without having much time to look around Koh Samui, i got my stuff together and headed to the ferry terminal. I caught a ferry to Koh Phagnan, another thailand island famous for the full moon party. And today the 12th of November was the day for the full moon party. This was the reason I rushed through Singapore and Koh Phagnan. Now i didnt know anyone so the first thing I had to do was try and find some new friends to go to the party with. I checked into my hotel/beach resort and got myself a room. The resort is called Phrueksa Resort and is situated on the south of the island. It is really nice with a pool and a nice beach just out in front. When I was out in the restaurant having a bite to eat I met some cork lads. Straight away i had someone to go to the party with. For most the evening i relaxed by the pool or on the beach.

That evening I met back up with the cork boys and about 10 other people from the resort and headed to the full moon party. The party is on a beach that is lined with bars and its a nice party setting when the full moon is shining down through the palm trees. I hada real good night with the people I met but i probably would have been better with some friends i already knew. Also it is very commercialised and with the loud dance music it might not be everyones cup of tea, depends on what you are looking for. There was a lot of people on drugs and some of the things I saw on the beach I probably shouldnt mention here. Lets say there were some very affectionate people and also there was this girl who was lying on the sand trying to swim. She was convinced she was in the water so that shows how crazy some people were and they certainly were not just on alcohol. There were about 5 thousand people on the beach which is one of the smaller parties apparently. The drink of choice was buckets of vodka and red bull, a nagan of vodka with two cans of red bull, and it is pretty good at keeping you awake, it even kept me awake. When the sun started coming up, i went home, but some people dance on until 10am. Nuts.

Thursday the 13th

I wasnt really in the mood for doing a whole lot. After a refreshing swim in the sea which somewhat alleviated the grogginess i took a stroll around the local town, Thong Sala. Theres feic all to see there so i soon went back to beside the pool and read and relaxed the day away. The food here is great. I always loved thai food and guess what, in thailand, its brilliant. They have a spicy rice and chicken soup for breakfast that i tried once which wasnt bad but i think I prefer toast for brekkie. However the curries and Phad thai for lunch and dinner are great. I wont get sick of the food anyways and my tummy hasnt been acting up so far. I suppose i shouldnt be counting my chickens....

That evening a few of the group from the previous night went back to the beach. More of the same but not as crazy. I brought out my camera and shouldnt have. It a moment of sheer brilliance i went into the water forgetting my camera was in my pocket. Its a gonner. That makes it three cameras that have been lost or broken since i started travelling. Its getting pricy at this stage.

Friday the 14th

Rented out a scooter with Lawrence, a lad from clare and we drove around the island, camera-less, so i dont have too many photographs of Koh Phagnan. It is a beautiful island with some really nice beaches lined with palm trees. Some parts are very hilly and the scooters had trouble getting up them they were that steep. Didnt do much that evening. The queens sister died here so all bars are closed for two days. Not a bad thing time to relax. Just watched a DVD that evening

Saturday the 15th.

Again spent the morning driving around on the scooter and some time in the pool at the beach. I bought my fourth camera of the trip and amazingly i could haggle for it. Im sure i pushed a good bargain as the girl had to call her boss to see if it was ok for the price I gave. Still not as cheap as new york though.

Also myself Lawrence and Gordon the clare lads, they are the two corner backs off the clare football team, rented out a kayak which was a bit of excercise, no harm considering ive put on 3 or 4 kilos at this stage. But in general i think I have enough beaching. Time to leave and do something more than just lay about. Ko tao tomorrow for some scuba diving.

Sunday the 16th

I got the early ferry to Koh Tao and when I arrived there i went straight to a dive centre and registered for a two day Advanced diving course. I met the group, Mette - Danish, Marcus and Rachel - english and our Instructor Emma and her assistant Johnny Scotland. The course was great. The dives were challenging, having to swim through hoops, navigating with a compass, diving at night, identifing fish and a deep dive. In the deep dive i was a 30m water depth. Insane! Unfortunately the visibility wasnt as good as Australia, its monsoon season which messes up the water a bit, but still there was plenty to see. I saw a box fish. Its the shape of a box would you believe. Sunday night was a real early one as I was up for diving at 7 the next morning.

Monday the 17th

It was pissing rain when i woke up, bloody monsoon, but it did clear up and after we did the dives we could rest on the sun deck of the diving boat or else dive into the water. I hurt my arse doing a cannonball from the top of the boat, maybe 4 metres up. What a slap.

After the diving was finished i had to spend the afternoon studying, boo, and filling in answer sheets about the dives I had done. But by that evening I had my advanced certificate. So now i can dive at night, down to 30m and down in ship wrecks. Im pretty sure ill dive again this week.

That evening, myself Mette the danish girl and Claus another Dane she is traveling with went to a restaurant right beside the beach. The setting was incredible, a candle lit wooden deck out in the open built around a tree with lights hanging off it. We sat at a low table with just colorful cushions on the ground to sit on on the floor. And as well as this we were 5 metres from the water listing to it lap on the sand. Real nice.

After amazing thai food (I had pad thai, noodles with shrimp and vegies) we went back to our dive centre to meet Johnny. Claus had to go to bed cause he was diving early again but myself mette and johnny having finished the course didnt have an early start so we went to a bar. Again it was on the beach and there were fire dancers to entertain everyone who were asain sitting on cushions on mats placed on the sand. The music was a bit dated but after a few beers everyone was dancing on the beach. We left pretty early as I did have a boat in the morning but when we got back we went down to the beach at our resort and we took turns playing Mettes guitar and singing what we could manage with the all that beer inside us.

Tuesday the 18th

I took a ferry off the island leaving behind all my new friends again and headed for Phuket by ferry and then plane. The journey took 8 hours so wasted most of the day. From the airport I got a minibus to the resort of Patong in Phuket famous for its nightlife. The minibus stopped at a travel shop so we could book accomodation. We were greeted here by the first lady boy i have seen in thailand (some people call them shims which i find hilarious). Now this lad, or girl as he/she might want to be called, had the figure of Chabal the french rugby player, very un-feminine but his/her voice was very feminine as was the make up and blond wig. After we were sorted with accommodation we got back on the bus and as shim closed the door shim said to one of the lads "Call me". I nearly wet myself laughing.

Once in Patong i checked into my hotel and took a walk around. It is a very crazy place. About every 10 metres I had a girl asking me if I wanted a massage (which im sure had extras given their get up) and about every 100 metres a guy would ask me if i wanted extasy, cocaine or marijuana, and as well as this every body else was in my face selling trips accomodation or food. It really was a bit much. One street was full of go go bars where you can go to meet a professional lady if you so wish. There were plenty of tourists and couples on the street, all having a look to see what its all about so there was a kind of festive air about the place but given that i was a guy on my own I was hassled by these ladies from the get go.

There was no way I was going to get any peace so i headed back towards my hotel and went for some food in a restaurant to get away from it all. The waiter was a real friendly guy and thought me a few thai words which will come in handy, hello, goodbye, thankyou, the bill please etc. I had enough of phuket, it might be better in a group but on my own it was awful, and booked the earliest boat out of there to Phi Phi island for more scuba diving.

Wednesday the 19th

I was picked up at my hotel early and headed to the ferry to go to Phi Phi island. I arrived in Phi Phi at 11.30 and immediately booked myself in for diving the next morning and a boat trip around the islands for that afternoon. Phi Phi islands stick out of the ocean in an array of cliffs, rocks and beaches like something out of my idea of paradise. The boat trip started with monkey beach, an isolated beach sorrounded by cliffs that is home to some not so friendly monkeys. As i was taking a photo of one of the monkey, he hissed and ran at me trying to scrape me. I would have kicked the shite out of the little fecker only for the locals might not have been so happy so instead i ran away from an animal about 1/5th my height. What courage!

After monkey island we did some snorkelling and then we visited the beach out of the film the beach. It was fantastic with blue blue water white sand cliffs and palm trees. On the boat I talked to the guide about the tsunami. Lots of his friends were killed and he survived because when he saw the water coming he was beside a hill that he ran up to escape. He thinks he was very lucky to be where he was at the time. Nowadays they have a decent warning system set up in the area so if there is an earthquake offshore they have an hour or two to get everyone to high land.

That evening I met up with the clare lads, Lawerence and Gordon who were also on the island, Ashley and Hayley two english girls that they were hanging around and Niall John and Aoife, three more irish that the lads know. We all went for a dinner together and afterwards had a few beers. The night life here is good with DJs playing in bars along the beaches. With diving the next day I didnt stay out to late.

Thursday the 20th

Went diving in the morning. My divemaster was a japanese girl called Emi. We saw a leopard shark, a funny looking shark covered in spots. I did two dives and brought a camera down with me so this time i got some photos myself.

In the afternoon i met up with lawerence gordon and Niall and went snorkelling looking for sharks. We didnt find any but I had a bit of craic teaching the lads how to dive down under the water and we did see lots of fish. In the evening a big gang of us met up again and went for dinner at a really cheap place. The food was incredible, possibly the best meal ive had in thailand and to top it all off the waiter was an arsenal fan. After dinner we grabbed a few beers again but again i hit the hay early.

Friday the 21st

Again early in the morning I went diving with Emi. Again We didnt see any sharks but we saw two enormous turtles eating the coral. Scuba diving is my new love. Ive now done 16 dives and have an advanced open water qualification. Ill have to do some in ireland when i go back (might be a bit chilly though). So tonight is my last night in Phi Phi with the clare lads. It might have to be a big one...
Phi Phi is the best place ive been in thailand so far in terms of both natural beauty and ambience.

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Photos

Koh Phagnan
The beach at the resort where I stayed

Johnny and Mette
Diving buddies

Phi Phi
Incredible

Thai Food by the Beach
A pineapple stuffed with rice and shrimp

Papaya Restaurant
Waiter was an arsenal fan the legend.