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Published: July 25th 2011
Travel blog
Hey everyone, sorry this has taken me so long but the last 3 weeks in Thailand has been one long whirlwind! I'm having an absolute blast, however am shocked at how touristy and commercialized it is out here! I was expecting 5 weeks of culture interspersed with massage and some sunbathing. Instead I have been hurtled onto a very welltrodden back packer trail fueled by cheap Thai whiskey, parties and lazy days at the beach. Combine this with ALOT of drunk british uni students due to it being the British summer holidays, and Thailand is miles from what I was picturing. It is not difficult to get from place to place, you simply walk into the nearest travel agent, pay a few pounds and find yourself on the next coach, cheek to jowel with tons of other backpackers, also just as dissappointed as I am at the lack of .... Well, 'real' Thailand.
Despite this, I am still having a really good time. It's sort of a holiday from a holiday after leaving Aus, which was really sad. When I arrived in Bangkok, alone, at midnight, I experienced my first feeling since I left home of 'what the f*ck am I doing here!?'. It really is mental. For all of you who have seen The Hangover 2 ... They really aren't exaggerating! There are lady boys and ping pong shows by the truckload, and I have never heard the words 'tuk tuk' and 'masssaaaage?' so many times in 10 mins! I spent the first 2 days wandering round in a daze, sorting myself out with the bits and bobs I quickly realised I would need to get by in this mayhem. Despite the initial intimidation, Bangkok does hold a certain charm and I did find myself getting quite into haggling with street dealers. At the side of the road are women making amazing Thai dishes out of 1 wok and a few meagre ingredients and some spices for about 80p which are fantastic and I have found myself addicted to fruitshakes.
I left Bangkok pretty quickly because I found it hard to meet people and this was the first time I had been alone for months! On the advice of someone I met in a bar, I took a bus down to krabbi and then a boat across to the island of Koh Phi Phi, on the Adaman coast on the west side of south Thailand. I met some people on the bus on the way down and spent the week with them on a really beautiful island. It was not the secluded paradise i had expected, it was being exploited to it's full backpacker potential but it was still a stunning island and once you got a longboat out of the main town, the beaches were picturesque! One in particular was Maya beach, used as 'the perfect beach' in the film The Beach starring Leonardo dicaprio! I urge you all to watch this just so you can be jealous. Getting there involved clambering up cargo netting on a cliff face whilst getting pounded by waves with a camera in one hand however ... I very much doubt Leo had to risk his life to get there in this manner!! Still, it was funny afterwards.
I was very lucky with the weather on Phi Phi. It was supposedly the rainy season but I experienced 6 days of full sun and only 2 days of rain, the latter during which I had an allergic reaction to some Thai paracetamol and had a migraine for 2 days but timed it pretty well!
After spending longer than planned in Phi Phi, it was a short bus journey and a night boat (picture 75 people on 1 giant mattress for 8 hours with a few meagre fans and no lighting) to the east of the southern gulf of Thailand to the island of Koh Phangan. While this island has potential to be very pretty, it is the home of thailand's infamous Full Moon Party, where every month on or near full moon, in excess of 20 000 backpackers party into the night on one of the most amazing party beaches I have ever seen. Flaming skipping ropes, giant foam parties, water slides, neon body paint, huge dance platforms and, of course, 'mushroom mountain' are amongst the entertainment for the evening. About 15 different bars back onto the beach, each playing earsplitting music with thousands of people dancing and raving wayyy into the next day. It was definately a once in a lifetime experience!! I had a really good night and bumped into lots of people from Thailand and Australia but I don't think I'll be in a rush to go back. I actually had a better night the night before when there were 1/4 of the people there and it wasn't so easy to lose your friends! While on Phangan, I did the obligatory scooter hire and zip around the island tour which was really good fun and was worth it for the amazing views despite the panic sometimes that you weren't going to make it to the top of a hill and would infact start rolling backwards! The amount of people the day after full moon walking around with bandages/crutches was ridiculous and was a result of stupid attempts at jumping the flaming skipping rope or scooter accidents! Never fails to amaze me as to why people risk ruining their holiday, and then try to carry on as normal when they should obviously just admit defeat and go home to recover! The only injury I have required, touch wood, is some scratches on my foot from some coral. While Phangan was good fun for partying and drinking buckets of whiskey cocktails, it wasn't really what I was looking for.
Next stop was the island next door, Koh Tao. Famed for it's superb diving spots, it churns out 30% of the worlds open water qualifications!! I however had no money with which to learn to dive by this point so that is still on the list. I did manage to get in plenty of smorkelling though. A group of us decided to brave the worringly named Shark Bay and it did not disappoint! I can now say I have swam in shark infested waters and come within touching distance of a 4ft black tip reef shark! Not even going to pretend I kept my cool, I have never panicked so much in my life when I turned round and saw it and very quickly put the boys I was with between myself and it! Was absolutely amazing though and something I will never forget. Koh Tao itself was without a doubt my favourite place so far. It had an awesome chilled out vibe and everynight people hung out in the various beach bars watching the Thai men perform fire shows which were mesmerizing. I'm adding 'learn to spin fire sticks' to my list of things to do before I die! ... I'll let you know how that one goes :S it was really cool just chilling on Koh Tao and I bumped into so many people I had met on Koh Phangan aswell as making new friends. I could easily have spent the rest of my 3 weeks there, found a job in a bar and just relaxed before coming home. But I managed to tear myself away because there is so much in the north of Thailand I have yet to see. I am currently on an overnight bus to Bangkok, where the plan is to spend one night and watch Chelsea vs Thailand! Dad will be so proud. Mum just wants me to bag a Chelsea player. Then, for the first time since I left Bangkok for the first time, I'll be travelling alone again up to Chiang Mai, a city in the north of thailand. I'm a bit nervous, but very excited as there's so many things to do and see and I'm sure I'll have no problem meeting people. Home feels closer everyday and I have mixed feelings about knowing I'm leaving in 2 1/2 weeks. Still, for now I'm making the most of my time in this crazy country that's a mix between paradise, poverty and Ibiza!
Basically I'm safe, sound and thoroughly enjoying myself, so don't worry about me! Love you all, hope you're all well in England. Not long til you get stuck with me again soon! Over and out, Nicole x x x x
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Mum
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Just found this, after speaking to Grandad, who advised me he'd read it. Sounds so amazing! Only 1 and a half weeks til you're home! So proud of you. Mumxxxx