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Published: February 17th 2008
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Firebugs
Setting alight the lanterns and sending them off into the night Koh Samui (Part Deux) & The Phi Phi Islands
Koh Samui
After all the excitement and shenanigans of the Full moon Party we hopped on a boat back to Koh Samui where we had a week before catching flights to the West coast of Thailand to visit Phuket, Phi Phi, and Koh Lanta. The frenetic pace continued more or less from the word go. There was just no stopping the lads, they were like kids in a sweet shop!
Straight out on the town that night, we were sat in Solo’s bar on the main drag in Chaweng beach when Stan spotted our mates Mum n Dad from back in Leeds, Judy and John Cunni! They joined us for refreshments just as a fire juggler was setting himself and everything around him on fire just in front of us. They stayed with us the rest of the night, continuing to the beach party and joining us in a marathon bucket drinking campaign. The local Thai kids were selling floating fire lanterns which we purchased and sent skyward, glowing brightly then fading into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, in a dark corner of the beach somewhere, ‘Shame’ had found himself a ‘Horse Head’
Lifejackets for the kids
Snorkelling trip to Koh Tao & Nang Yuan and was trying to tame the beast and teach it new tricks….
Next morning, rough but ready, we boarded yet another boat for a days snorkelling trip to Koh Tao Island and the beautiful Nang Yuan Island. Our guide for the day ‘SunSet’, the funniest, strangest, campest guide I reckon Thailand has ever produced kept us in stitches all morning. In fact we imitated him 30 times a day every day for the rest of our time in Thailand! First stop was Nang Yuan which is a pair of very small islands rising out of the Gulf of Thailand that are joined by a walkable stretch of sand. We all agreed the snorkeling here was amazing. Some decent coral and wide range of marine life made for a good morning. Barracuda’s, Clown fish (Nemo’s) and Angel Fish etc. were in abundance. Unfortunately, after the morning session the day took a nose dive. It was just crap from thereon. Our boat suddenly turned into a ferry and we spent the rest of the day picking travellers up and dropping them off at different islands. To top it off, the sea on the way back to Koh Samui was rough as
Nang Yuan
Aaaah, 10 years on and we still actually touch each other! hell. The boat was all over the place, smashing into the waves, bouncing us in every direction. Out came the sick bags and sea sickness pills, too little too late for some of the lads who emptied their dinner all over the back deck of the boat and proceeded to lie in it! Luckily I was OK so managed to film them in their sorry states! Once again, sorry lads.
The rest of our week in Samui involved a lot of partying. We met up with Jordan and the Jersey mob again. CyberStan smashed his leg and arm in, running full speed into a sunbed whilst partaking in sprint races on the beach at 3am. He was disabled for the rest of the week, oh what a sorry sight he was. “That’s it. No more messing around for me anymore. It’s about time I grew up and acted my age!” were his wise words as he lay motionless in his hotel bed sucking on an ice pop. Will he learn? I doubt it.
We all took a trip up to the highest mountain peak in Koh Samui and had dinner at the restaurant. Recommended.
One morning Kelly stepped out
of our hotel room and accidentally kicked the outside doormat. Next thing I heard was “Fraaaaaank! There’s a Snaaaaaaake!” Experience told me that she was probably overexaggerating but I went to investigate. Sure enough, curled up under the mat, 3 floors up, was a sneaky snake. We called the hotel handyman up who promptly assured us it wasn’t poisonous and proceeded to smash its head and throat in with a broom handle before calmly flicking off our balcony. I thought these Buddhist people were supposed to love all living things!!??? It calmed the wife down. We all lived happily ever after.
Lots of other seriously crazy stuff happened that week. Some of which is not fit for broadcasting to a worldwide audience and a lot of which is not worth repeating for sake of tarnishing a lot of peoples upstanding reputations! Those of you that know us will no doubt here it all soon enough anyway. I’m just not too keen on being the messenger that everyone wants to shoot!
Phi Phi Islands
A one hour flight from Koh Samui takes you to the West coast of Thailand and to Phuket. Phuket is an absolute over-commercialised, filth ridden
Scuba Shane
at Nang Yuan hovel with one function - to satisfy the sex trade. Its only plus point (in mine and Kellys opinion) is that it’s a gateway to the West Coast islands such as Phi Phi and Koh Lanta.
After one night of getting groin-groped and dragged into Ping Pong shows by Phukets ladyboys (I think a few of the lads actually liked it), we set sail (again!) to the astoundingly breathtaking Phi Phi Islands.
On arrival we sorted out some pretty expensive accommodation (Phi Phi is expensive) and hit the beach. As is par for the course in Thaialnd we were promptly pounced upon by the local beach sellers plying their trade in Cornetto’s and Marijuana. After quenching our appetites, some with ice cream, some with spliffs, we spent the afternoon kayaking around the secluded bays surrounding the towering limestone cliffs of Phi Phi Don Island. On one island we were greeted by a family of little monkeys that ate food from our hands.
3 chilled out days followed. We sampled some excellent seafood and spent most nights in a crazy bar. Can’t remember the name but it was huge. In the middle of it was a Thai boxing ring where drunken
Big boys on the rough seas
Heads down, looking a bit green punters took it in turns, challenging other punters (usually of different nationality) for a fight. Next thing you know they’re hammering the living daylights out of each other in the ring, blood and sweat everywhere. Again, Thailands Health & Safety were nowhere to be seen! Our mate Scott got in when he was out by himself and admitted to us that he’d knocked out in the first round. Gutted none of us were there to see it or get a photo!
The best day by far was the trip to the smaller, uninhabited Phi Phi Ley Island. This is where they filmed ‘The Beach’ with Leonardo DiCaprio. We had hired a local man and his traditional Longtail boat to ferry us round all day and he didn’t disappoint. The Beach was awesome (although me and Kel have seen it before), he took us to some amazing snorkeling and swimming spots and to top it off, I think he was Bob Marley in another life! He never stopped rolling all day!
Phi Phi was fantastic. Although they are still rebuilding the almost ‘total’ destruction from the Tsunami, they are getting well back on track.
After talking to our friends
Poor old Stocksy
Just after he emptied his spaghetti bolognese all over the deck. Keira and Mahood in Samui, they recommended the Island of Koh Lanta for our next stop, said it was one of the most chilled out places in the world. Sold. We booked our tickets and were Koh Lanta bound. They weren’t lying…
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stacey Robbo
non-member comment
Well i never - its Judi and John!!!! that really made me giggle-mad! The beach looked great- blah blah blahhhh im wasting time - need my next instalmant!!!!