Buckets, hammocks and ropes of death...

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Sawadee Krap.

I stayin in Ko Samui for 5 nights where i was hanging out with a bunch of british girls. Ko Samui consisted mainly of chilling (as has most of my time recently). The resort i was booked into was wicked, but totally not aimed at back packers (i had a massive double room, with cable TV and a fridge!), so most of the people staying there were couples on holiday. The area we were at was cool as it was very secluded (there were only about 6 resorts on our beach). I hired out a Moped one day and drove the 52km circumference of Ko Samui.

We went to Thai kick boxing one night which was awesome. There were 9 fights during the night, with the last one being a british guy up against a Thai boxer. It was shameful to watch. The brit didn't stand a chance. After that we went to the 'reggae bar' which is a huge, semi open air (no walls) club, where there were a Thai cover band playing reggae and other stuff. A few hours later we went to 'the hendrix bar', which was a trip as i went there on my last trip to Ko Samui 6 years ago!

So Ko Samui was cool. But then i came to Ko Phangan and fell in love with the island!

I was only supposed to be staying here for 4 nights, but have extended in to 7 (leave 2mro). Ko Phangan is much more chilled than Samui. Samui was a bit 'Costa Del Samui', where as Phangan has both cool nightlife (not tacky and full on 'brits abroad', like samui) and is an amazingly beautiful tropical island. I've spent my time here hanging out with 2 british guys (Tim/Dave) who i met on the ferry here and were staying in the same resort...

Things we've done in Phangan that i can remember right now....Lots of swinging in hammocks reading. We had 2 big nights out at Haad Rin beach (the main area of the island)....both ended up being very messy and involving way to many buckets (you can buy 'buckets' of drink - think of a bucket for making a sand castle, then take away the sand, and add a bottle of whiskey, a coke and red bull concentrate)...The beach front at night turns into loads of 'clubs' i guess....basically there are loads of bars, and each bar has its own sound system on the beach, so you just wonder about on the beach getting drunk. They have loads of people doing fire shows etc every night. At about midnight on the first big night out we saw the 'jump rope of death' - which is 2 Thai guys standing on podiums probably 5 meters apart from each other. They have a giant jump rope which they swing and you play jump rope on (like kids do). The twist comes when they douse it in petrol and set the thing on fire! And like moths to a flame, me, tim and dave couldnt resist. I did it 3 times on the first night, each time lasting a fair amount of time and avoiding getting burnt. There are some vids which will hopefully be on facebook sooner or later. It was all fun and games until after i came off from my 2nd go (when you come off your so pumped up on adrenaline your just buzzing for ages) and next thing i know some girl jumped on after me, miss timed it, and the rope hit her around her neck. So she got pretty fucked up....she was in shock and tears for the next 20 mins before she disappeared. After the jump rope, we just ended up dancing on the beach till about 5am. Tim got horribly fucked, and became a tourist attraction for the night. He was out cold on the floor for about 3 hours, with people coming up and posing beside him for a photo!

Next day no one could shake the hang over! Spent it on the beach slowly dieing.

I think the next day we wanted to explore the island, so me Tim and Dave hired a jeep for the day. We set off to go to a water fall in a national park. After treking to get to the falls, there was no water!!!! But we carried on the trek and got to a view point, which was amazing!

After than we drived to another beach, and finally on our way back we randomly drove past 'amsterdam bar' (which we'd heard about and had wanted to go to)...Its an open air bar at the top of a mountain, and apparently the best place to watch the sun set! The view was beautiful, you see miles and miles of jungle, then sea and islands on the horizon! (i'll put some pics on facebook!)

Again, that night ended up in another messy one!

Yesterday i was hung over all day again, and decided to treat myself to a 1.5 hr massage from a massage school and spa (cost about 7 quid)...i had the thai girl walking on my back at one point which was interesting!

Today, i'm just chilling again, the weather is a bit overcast (its been a cloudless sky for the most of my stay here). I may go on the 'reggae magic' boat tour today - i need to call to see if its going today!

Anywho....that was a long one!

Love to you all, and check facebook cuz i'm about to add pics!

My next steps are:

2mro i go to Ko Toa where i'm spending 5 nights. I'm doing a 1 day 'introduction to scuba' course, which i may extend into a full 4 day padi course if i like it...after that i'm heading to northern thailand to trek in jungles and float down rivers in a tube!

Btw - my phone has been a bit weird...i've been sending people tx's and they've not been receiving them!

Until next time.......

xxx

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