Thailand part 1

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Well folks the last time I left you I was sitting in a trance in Hong Kong airport unable to sleep waiting for a plane. Obviously enough we got it eventually after a mammoth wait in an airport which was probably as happy to see us go as we were to leave - lets just say the smell of the globetrotters along with the sound of snores doesn't encourage much love.

Anyways after a short plane journey we hit bangkok and set about making our way to Koahsan road to stay at a hostel called the Palace. After a taxi ride we arrived in and booked up a few rooms - me and consey were bunking up for the nite. We hit the street to get grub and check out the local markets. We had planned to get food and stay awake for the football and so we ate in a bar and made our way to the happy beer for the football. Needless to say at 2 nil down after the match and everyone slagging me off and shouting and singing in my face I was less than impressed. However as I huffed and had a face like thunder we left the bar with unknown intentions some of the lads (no one really knows who...) decided to bargain for a good price for a ping pong show. A show which will remained tatooed in my memory untill the end of time not just because i have no idea how women discover they have these "talents" but also for lenny and Mccarry trying to steal the show with their own display. After about 40 mins of laughing uncomfortably we left, with a new taxi as our driver was drunk, though still wanted to take us home. That night it was me and consey sharing a room and we discovered that both Grandfathers had been best friends and we hadn't ever known - strange to say the least that you fly around the world with someone and only find out something like that on the other side of the planet.

The following day we awoke to find Barry and jamie missing - turned out they'd been out all night at a new friends house but nothing happened baz. We made a plan to get the night train to Koh Tao which we bought of an attractive looking lady with hands on her that looked like they could crush walnuts. That meant killing a bit of time so twe planned to go on a boat tour of the city then hit MBK shopping market. We were greeted outside the hotel by a swarm of Tuk Tuk drivers and after a quick bite they agreed to take us round. However, they we insistent on driving us to suit shops and by the time we had arrived at the second wegot fed up and went straight to the market. Wasn't overly impressed and everyone left to go back to the meeting point outside the hostel. We had a quick bite and then went to the train were we had nine of us in an "air conditioned" cabin and one of us in a cbin with "a fan". Safe to say neither were as cool as we would have liked. Conan took the bullet and volunteered to stay in the fanned cabin and the rest of us settled down into the air conditioned one. There was a running suspicion between a few of the globetrooters that the nighttrain (and possibly the staff and people on it) weren't the most trustworthy and so 4 of us set about staying up the night. A few buckets were ordered and we settled down to enjoy a bit of craic. The plan was to stay awake - Lenny was drunk within an hour and one of the orderlys who'd become quite fond of us - not just because of the songs we were singing but more than anything the taste of lenny's bucket of sangsom - was also enjoying the craic but had to put him to bed. Good old Sam. He was determined to serve us all night even after his boss came down took him away and he returned with his normal clothes on and no uniform. The lads wondered if the fact he was drunk may have annoyed his boss into firing him or whether he was off duty like the rest of the staff. Either way he was to sit with us for the rest of the journey wanting arm wrestles and songs even though the rest of the cabin we're trying to sleep. Meanwhile on the other cabin, Ciaran and Sean leo had gone down to keep conan company and urned out the couldn't get back up so ciaran joined conan in drinking with a couple of irish girls they met. After a while they eventually made their way back up to the cabin with conan and managed a whole 10 minutes of sleep before we were awoken to a panicked daly saying this is our stop.

Off the train we had a short wait for a bus and then a two hour boat trip to Koh Tao. We arrived and checked into some huts with a fan and priced around 3 quid a night each. They were far from luxurious but they had their own charm. Over the next few days we explored the island and it's night life. Lenny and myself and our own christened Mopeds "The Rascals" along with the rest of the fellas explored around the beaches and rock pools and enjoyed cooling down in the sea. The night life was quieter than bangkok but still had beach parties every night till the wee hours. Lenny and I were the first out of the group to go for a thai massage were a small thai woman beats the crap out of u - unfortunately for me, lenny and I got into a kink of laughter over his excitement at the prospect and we couldn't speak or open our eyes the whole way through the massage due to the fear of laughing. I had the first spell of home sickness after a night out on the beach and was sick all day. That day also involved us travelling to shark island to enjoy one of the most beautiful thai islands I have seen so far. The scenery and chilled out attitude of the locals made Koh toa my favourite place so far and the only down side being that it was incredibly hard to sleep without the air conditioned rooms we'd been used to. Some great times had been spent but as Jamie was nearing the end of his stay he wanted to go to Koh Samui and we all decided to join him instead of going to Koh Phangyang like originally intended.

So after another boat trip about 2 hours we landed on the farside of the island and made our way via a taxi to chewegn (forgive the spelling it's definately wrong.) This is a much more developed island and alot more built up, lenny and I travelled to a tesco if that puts it into perspective. Anyway we arrived on the saturday morning and booked into the mandalay hostel and nearly wept with joy at the sight of an air condition room with showers that actually had hot water. The first day a lot of recovering was needed by most of the fellas who were knackered from the travelling on the boat. Daly, conan, sean leo and myself headed up the town for a look around and i bought new flip flops haggling the woman down untill she finally give in at a couple of quid. Later on a few of us headed out to see the local night life and jamie took us to the green mango were the women and ladyboys gather in swarms and it is very difficult to tell whether or not the women fancy you or your wallet. The next day we rented 5 rascals and all ten of us went in search of a fabled waterfall. We were pointed in the general direction of this water fall and we trekked and climbed through a unbelievable amount of jungle for about 40 minutes (having been told it was only a ten minute walk we were begining to get annoyed) and then up the steepest hill to get to a waterfall that basically had no water in it. Unimpressed we headed home and hit the beach bar to watch the football and have a couple of chang. Later on me, mccarry, jamie went out back to the green mango and after I went to a Jimi Hendrix bar which promised a better bar by the sign but unfortunately was dung so headed back home only to find lenny had locked me out - so had to bunk with Jamie and McCarry.

I was awoken by jamie getting up at 7.30 to leave to get his boat back to suratanni to head home. Bid him fairwell and fell back to sleep. Later on we sorted out that we were staying on Samui instead of getting accommodation on the full moon island to save money. We bargained our new pall Sue the moped renter down to 600 bhat for each ticket and we were sorted. The sunday was a lazy day just lying by the pool, me attempting this blog and it deleting on me after an hour of writing and a game of poker later that night that Barry is convinced i didn't deserve to win. And who thought he was a bad loser. I will leave Thailand there for now and tell you all that the monday was to be the full moon party...awesome!!

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