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Published: March 1st 2007
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sawadee krap, namaste, banjour, sabade hello!
word to you all! yep unfortunatly for you guys i'm still alive and well and about to put you through another blog from hell, or south east asia at least!
where did i leave of, cambodia i think it was! well after being in sieanoukville, 6 of us left for Kho Klong up the coast line towards thailand, one pom, four cons (ozzies), and a dread locked canadian. the plan was to stay there for a couple of days and then go to thailand! after about five hours on a boat we made it to kho klong, only to find that it was a dump! we were only about 7k away from the boader so we thought sod it, go to thailand!
we arrived in bangkok at 4am, an ungodly hour, to arrive anywhere! but we had a little altication with the police when we got to the bus stop, and one of us ended up departing with the sum of $2000 for their freedom, quite cheap i thought!
we spent one day bangkok and then it was to kho ph phi. it was with mixes emotions that i returned to that
Phi Phi leh
suai mak mak! island! when i was working on Phi Phi after the Tsunami, there was some graffiti on the wall that said "rich man comes, poor man goes", and well if the truth be know it looks as though that's exactly what's happened! admitadly it is high season at the moment on the islands, but phi phi is just stupid, a bungalow on average will cost you bhat 800 - 1000, compared to paying between 100 - 150 the last time!
the island was rebuilt by the genourocity of many backpackers, now you don't see any backpackers there at all! it's mainly people who are on holiday for 3 weeks and can afford to splash out, and rich american tourist's! back packers have been completley priced out. i apreciate that the place was going to change, but i had no idea as to what extent!
for those of you that remember where jays tattoo was and oasis, resturant/ bar, you wouldn't know that they were there! for those of you that don't know the whole area was barren, no buildings in sight you could see straight out to sea! now it's a sea of concrete, the construction is unbelievable! with
Phi Phi leh
sun set leaving phi phi leh! the limited amount of accomdation, and the amount of bussiness's that are popping up everywhere, i'm wondering how their going to sustain this kind of growth, with out the people! for example the dive shops on the island are struggeling to get by because of the price of staying on the island, why dive on phi phi when you can do the same thing cheaper on the otherside thailand! never the less it was nice to see some old friends, and find out what they had been upto since i left almost 2 years ago!
Hunter S Thomposon said in his book 'Kingdom of Fear' that there are a few cities in this world that have a curtain lure to them, bangkok was one of those cities that he mentioned, and i would have to agree with the man! bangkok has got me hook line and sinker! get out of the tourist traps and bangkok is a city that will keep you busy for years! once you find a new place in bangkok you disover a whole new layer underneath that, you could spend years in bangkok and still not know everywhere!
i went back to bangkok with
the two ozzie chucks, sarah and kiera. the girls where going back to ozz the same day! when they were leaving, they said to me that they had left me a present in my bag! on returning to my room i thought i would have a look for this mystery present. my hand was searching around in my bag, when i came across something, it took all my mojo, i lay on the floor clutching this thing that was taking my strength away from me! after about 5 minutes i came to, i looked to my side to find the offending article! kryptonite! they had to try to kill me! how did they know that if i held a cd of jack johnson, i would die! this is a crime that is not forgivable, and one day i will hunt them down, and make them listen to the black eyed peas for the next month of their lives!
so the girls left and the then the ozzie guys arrived in bangkok, chris and jordan! so i spent the next 5 days with the boys in bangkok! we took a day trip to kanchanaburi (bridge over the river Kwi) the day trip was something that i would not recomend to anyone. in theory it sounded like a good day, the bridge, a ride on the death train, bamboo rafting and riding elephants! the bridge is nothing special, the death train was okay, bamboo rafting lasted about 5 mintues and so did the elephant riding! and to make things worse i didn't even have time to push that elephant left!!
i then went back to phi phi, for another couple of days to soak up some more suns raises', i bumped into more poeple that i knew! whlist i had been in bangkok, there had been a fire on the island, which took out about 6 shops, running down the sea front from apache bar to the hill, so if anyone was thinking about going back to try the 'chicken mans' bbq, don't because it's not there!
returned to bangkok! yep your probably bored by now and i bet your thinking that i'm about to go back to phi phi again! well your wrong! one night in bangkok i was going to meet some friends. anyone who knows me well anough will know that i am the person who will be late for their own funeral! so it's no surpirse that i was running late, and i had quite a distance to travel to get to see my friends, so i thought i would get a motorcycle taxi! i've done this many times in bangkok, it's one of the quicker methods to get from A -B in a city that is perminently grid locked! but this journey was to one of those white knuckle rides! so with me on the back and my bhuddist maniac driver with a firm belief in the after life, we made our death race through bangkok! the amount of times we almost didn't make overtaking manouvers, or close to getting wedged between buses at high speed, i don't care to remember, but with 'liquid zepplin' being pumped over my brain from the 'creative zen' in my pocket, the whole expiernce was most enjoyable. this would not be such a bad way to go out i thought, maybe a little messy, but alot of fun! and the bonus of the ride was i was on time and still a live and still had clean underwear. if anyone is going to bangkok, you have to get driven around bangkok by a complete nutter, it's the only way to see and get around bangers!
my last day in bangkok i was wondering down khoa san trying to find a new pair of sun glasses, when i saw the dreaded canadian, warren! turned out that he was going to loas the same time as me! so now i'm traveling with him for the next couple of weeks. tomorrow the motorcycle diaries start. we hiring motorbikes to get travel around loas for a few days, can't wait should be a good laugh!
so here it endeth once again. you stay safe, and i'll try my best, can't promises anything though!!
ps, sarah sorry about not paying you four pounds for your ten dollars, but you'll be pleased to know that i spent it wisely. i've bought an australian passport cover from chris! be proud i'm now a phoney winging con rather than a winging pom! Penguins!!
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josh
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phi phi is poo poo
what up simon? this is your friendly yank josh. sad to hear about phi phi. i cannot say i am surprised. it sounds like it is back to pre tsunami state. i am in australia right now. you heard of it? come to visit.