Thailand - Hat Yai, Phi Phi, Railay & Ko Pha Ngan - the story so far

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sorry i havnt blogged for a while the net has been pretty expensive where ive been so far but luckily there is a bar in Hat Rin in ko phangan currently called Moonlight Cafe soon to be Kaonashi ran by a very safe guy named Jo, who picks up free wi fi and kindly lets me use his computer. there are big plans for this place and will soon be the best bar in ko phanang by far so anyone reading this comin to hat rin i reccomend dropping by, the food is also very good! u can find it on the little street behind Zoom near the far right of the beach where every full moon they host a bangin street party so for all those who dont know get to know!

So i left Penang and set off for Hat Yai in the south of Thailand as it seemed to be a good point to cross over to. its basically a small city full of shops and markets where i bought 2 pairs of sandals for £3 (sweet!) but most importantly it now didnt cost an arm and a leg for a beer. So on that note me and Karen (the German girl i had been traveelin Malaysia with) went to a pub for some food and a few drinks, then it was on to a little club called Monkey which started off ok then all of a sudden a band came on with the thai version of Enrico Englacias and started playin soppy ballads, we left pretty sharpish! then it was on to west side sallon where before we had a chance to get a drink the waiter brought us 2 beers and pointed at the guy who bought them for us who signalled we come over. He turned out to be an Indonesian Sea Captain who had been out at sea for how ever long and was now sitting in this bar with me, Karen and 3 hookers. we ended up sitting there drinking tequila and beers all night all courtesy of our new friend and needless to say we were hammered by the end of it. i practically had to carry Karen home and ended up waking up to a bed covered in sick followed by a day of sick, sick and more sick! (do not mix chang and tequila) due to our sicknes we spent another night and the next mornin it was off to Krabi.

after a very sweaty coach jouney (supposed to be air con) where i met 3 girls one of which's brother is best friends with someone i went school with (Danny Apps for those who know), small world! anyway in Krabi there isnt much goin on we went to a food market and ate some very nice stick rice and some kind of spiced fish pieces that gave me a bit of a dodgy belly, nothin serious luckily. the next day it wa off to Ko Phi Phi.

I wasnt aware of how touristy phi phi is but it was still quite nice they had one beach that i went to that wasnt too bad but if your lookin for paradise you'll be dissapointed. Me Karen and the girls headed out that eve which was when i discovered what a 'Bucket' was, they basically get a sandcastle size bucket and fill it with your choice of Spirit, Sangsom is the one to drink in thailand as its cheap and actually not bad rum, and then a mixer which normally involves thai strenghth red bull. so we shared some buckets and went to reggea bar who have a boxing ring and watched tourists batter each other for a free bucket which was pretty entertaining. then bumped into Ash (a guy we met on the boat over had some more buckets and went bk to his for a little smoke.
the next day we did a trip to Phi Phi Lei did some snorkalling and kayaking in the lagoon and payed a visit to Maya Beach (where the film The Beach was set). its a pretty amazing unspoilt beach but not as impressive as in the film as they jazz it up with camera tricks and stuff, but we had to leave early as the wind was picking the sand up and lashing it at our faces. then it was back on the boat for the sunset over Phucket. that night was a quiet one as i had to be up at 6.30am for scuba diving.
we drove the boat into the eye of the storm and the current was pretty strong because of it, i hadnt dived for 3 years and the first dive was the deepest and most challenging as the wreck was covered in sharp edges and urchins that the current was pushing me towards. that coupled with poor visibility meant that it was more a battle for survival than anything else but the next 2 were much more easy going the storm passed and i had ecaped with only minor lacerations to my fingers and could now enjoy the rest of the day. there were lots of fish a moray eel and a stone fish that i only found out after that morays can bite your finger clean off and the other one is extremely poisonous. That night i went out with one of the guys from diving and drank more buckets than i can remember, my last memory was of a girl showing me her nipple piercing and then waking up to find my clothes hung up outside soaking wet with my wallet still in my pocket (i assume i must have fel in the sea?) when i finally got out of bed i went to the nicer one of the beaches and watched the sun go down before intending on having a quiet night watching a movie. however there were no movies showing and i bumped into Ash and went for a beer which ended up being a bucket which obviously turned into lots more. at around 5am we blacked out after smoking with my neighbours Angel and Gabrielle ( i shit u not) and didnt make it to the beach the next day as i had planned. next it was off to Railay.

Railay really was a very nice chilled place where i thought i would detox abit after phi phi. there are 2 extemely nice beaches one of which has an amazing view of the sunset and the whole place is pretty low key with locals running all the bars and restaurants which there wasnt really many of ....... well in comparison to phi phi anyway. the first night i started off drinking chinese tea and looking to take it easy when i was asked to take part in a pool competition where the prize was a bottle of sangsom and a bucket for the runner up. well i sloppily came 3rd only to find that everyone shares the prizes anyway so it was another night on the buckets much to the disgust of my liver, little did he know he hadnt seen anything yet! over at Geko bar (the locals favorite bar) there was fire dancing and a 10 year old was the best of the bunch who span these flaming chains like ive never seen almost setting fire to the place as they were all doing it insde but hey health and safety doesnt exist in Thailand. the locals all looked like they were from the hood even down to the mannerisms which was well interesting but slightly unnerving at first, but i soon found they were very cool and sharing zuts with me.
the next night i was adamant that i would drink only chinese tea, then 2 pots later Eddie (the guy from the night b4 in the pool comp) tried to get me to sign up for a fire dancin comp. i was only interested in spinning the stick whilst not on fire, but as soon as he saw me spinning it he ran and put my name down. so now after unsucsessfully trying to bk out i was stone cold sober in front of a crowd of people spinning a flaming stick around my body, needless to day i had some minor burns afterwards and a kerosene stain on my best shorts but it was good fun still. of course for taking part i got a free bucket and that was the begining of another long night on the buckets with Eddie and an Ozzie Guy named Tom that i'm still chillin with now. the next day we had arranged to go cliff jumping so we met at the beach and scaled the razor sharp rocks to the cliff edge. what didnt look to high from the ground was suddenly a pretty sheer drop but we all jumped and were instantly cured of our hangovers. it was sunny for the first day in a long while and we spent the whole day at the beach jumping and body surfing the waves, this place really was a slice of paradise. we headed bk when the heavens opened and the nearest shelter was................yep a bar, so we decided to have a bucket (of course) and Chrissy (a canadian girl from the night b4 who also met us at the beach) took my hair out for me as it had gotten pretty ratty from the sea. the rain persisted which led to another bucket and the night continued pretty much in that fashion.
a day or 2 passed and on the last day we went and climbed up to the view point which was about a 15 minute rock climb, at the top was a spectacular view over Railay. we attempted the lagoon but it was a more dificult climb and it was very muddy, so being as we all had sandals on we agreed that there was no way we would escape without serious injury. the last night was pretty much what u would expect only a little more excessive as Mong ( one of the thai locals who was now one of our pals) was pouring ridiculous amounts of Sangsom in the buckets. it ended up with me and him deciding it would be a good idea to have a sparing match without gloves. i was still not so bad that i would follow through but a fat lip later i decided we would carry on until he cought me in the eye leaving me with a fat bloody lip and a black eye. he apologised prefusely but i guess it was my fault really considerin i knew he had Mai thai training, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. the next morning extremely hung over me and Tom headed for Ko Phanang to get some accomodation early b4 it filled up for the full moon party.

Me and Tom arrived in hat rin at 6am after a night boat of being sexually harrased by the guy sleeping next to me, the sleeping arrangements were very cosy to say the least and the guy next to me in his sleep must have thought i was his girlfriend and i woke up on more than one occasion to find him basically spooning me or his hand on my arse! we had some breakfast and tried callin around for somewhere to stay only to find that everywhee was either full or too expensive, when suddenly a guy appeared on a moped and said "i have for cheaper". i dubiously jumped on the back of the moped to check it out and true to his word he had somewhere in a good location at a very good price, it was nothing short of a miracle as we checked a few more places on the way and everywhere was full.
i wont go into too much detail as my time is limited but we went to the pool party which was pretty crazy, one girl seemed to have lost her bikini top and was just runnin around topless and all sorts was goin on in the pool, i had been warned previously that unless u wanna catch sum kind of infection to stay out of the pool and i definately took heed. we chilled the next night in preparation of the Full moon which was definately needed as i didnt get to bed until 1pm the next day. the next day was a write off and last night we went to a secret party that happens a few beaches around that u catch a boat to which wasnt bad but a little bit quiet as its low season now. ive spent pretty much most of my days at Jo's bar chillin with him Tom and Jo's mate Eddie who was visiting him whilst on his travels and the evenings goin to parties. its been a fairly intense alcohol fueled last 2 weeks so i think probably 2mora i'll head to ko tao to chill out abit and detox for a while. well that didnt happen as i found out that the half moon party was last night so me and Tom headed over consumed huge amounts of sangsom and got home at 8 or 9 in the mornin. however i have just booked my ticket to ko Tao so i am finally leaving 2mora for some much needed chillin out with lots of green tea.

thats all for now but hopefully the net should get a bit cheaper and i can update more regular. feel free to leave comments or send a message to me as its good to hear from people bk home and find out how everyone is doin.

spk soon much love

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Comments

[Carol]

Birkenstocks!!
Hi David and his much abused liver!! Sounds like you are both having a fab time! Great photos. Me being the shallow shopaholic that i am found the most exciting aspect ,the thought of being able to purchase Birkenstocks for £1:50!! that really is to die for!! Keep having fun, take some olive leaf for your liver and stay away from bad women!!!