Koh Phangan

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We arrived at Friendly Resort in Koh Phangan, as recommended by my good man Charles and it did not disappoint (although the caves on the roof left a lot to be desired!). I went for a walk and on my return was greeted by Oli Maxey who had decided to join the party and show us all why he is colloquially known as the "man about town". Wasting no time, we hit the beach in the evening for our first buckets and they well and truly did the job! We purchased these from a bar on the beach called Tony's, where we were invited to write whatever we felt like on the bar facade...naturally I scribed the family name underneath the name Tony. Having dodged the bullet being relatively hangover free, we decided to do some exploring, scaling rocks on the beach to uncover some idillic and secluded beaches with nothing but the swaying palm trees, searing sun and the sound of lapping waves for comapny. It was at this point that the bullet caught up with me, having to answer the call of nauture in an act which perfectly illustrates man's imapct on this beatiful planet we call our home...I'm so sorry beautiful beach! The second of the beach nights left me in such a state that I have no idea how I got back home. I had established that 2 large Chang's and 2 buckets was officially my limit! A summary of the next few nights follows; Jake and Gibbo tried happy shakes and did nothing but make them feel sick (but only when Gibbo was sat down watching someone eating a falafal); Oli Maxey met his hero Troy and swiftly pefected his impression of him which will no doubt stay with him for life (for clarity, Troy drives massive trucks in the mining industry and is therefore several steps closer to being the man Oli Maxey wishes he was, than Oli himself); Jake got food poisoning in the middle of the night; Gibbo payed for a girl to have the 7eleven logo painted on her face; Gibbo and I were dog-men and there is video evidence of such events; Oli Maxey wandered off wistfully in search of something metaphysical which would make his life complete.

Day of the Full moon party, I did my last day's training at a very cool Thai boxing/ weights gym and managed to complete my raver look with a Dire Straits-esque headband, which had previously only consisted of bright fluorescent pink short shorts. The full moon party itself was completely packed and rife with visitors from Koh Samui who cearly did not have a handle on the best price for a bucket. We were way ahead and got on it, enjoying a good night of fire rope skipping, chatting absolute bollocks to people and asking everyone where Troy was. The highlight of my evening had to be Gibbo switching mid conversation to very very broken french whilst talking to a 45 year old Harry Potter lookalike (complete with lightning bolt) - said lookalike quickly cottoned on that he was being bullied and very politely asked gibbo to cease harrassing him. Gibbo then stole a banana cake.

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