Thailand - the bit that everyone else does as well.

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And so back to Thailand - having "done" the north on our previous visit here, 2 months ago - this time we were headed south, to the beautiful beaches and islands - where mainstream backpacking mixes with package tourism and becomes as alternative and independent as Starbucks. But for all that, it's a stunning part of the world, and an absolute blast.

So having escaped from the more exotic world of Cambodia, we had a few days in a sweaty and chaotic Bangkok for some r&r, shopping, and mundane things like visits to doctors and dentists. We stayed on the legendary Khao San Road - probably the most infamous backpacker ghetto in the world.
Amongst the neon lights, the tattoo parlous, the internet cafes, the McDonalds and the English pubs, you see all sorts - the fresh faced 18 year olds who have just started their travelling adventures, all the way to the crusty dreadlocked hippies who've just been here too long, and are reduced to scraping a living by bashing out fake press passes, braiding hair, and offering tattoos.
As horrific as the Khao San Road sounds, it's actually rather fun - buying t-shirts, fake sunglasses, and drinking cocktails on the street as you discuss with other backpackers the best place to buy knocked off Birkenstocks.

Since flights from Europe to Bangkok are so cheap, Thailand has become an affordable alternative to the Med for a week's sun, along with much cheaper shopping, so we saw plenty of freshly sunburnt people hurrying to squeeze in as much shopping as possible, and buying massive suitcases to stuff with all the bargains they've picked up in Bangkok's 10 million shopping malls and street markets.

So leaving the busatle of Bangkok, our next stop was the islands of the Gulf of Thailand, off the East Coast. We flew into Koh Samui, the most developed and upmarked of these islands - and wanting to get away from the same circus we saw on the Khao San Road, we headed to the tiny island of Koh Tao for a few days on the beach, combined with some pretty good diving. This was a pleasant little place - very popular with backpackers for it's cheap dive courses, but it was nice and laid back, and although every restaurant had the same backpacker/thai menu (pad thai noodles and banana pancakes are ubiquitous); the beach bar scene was pleasant enough.

Next on the list was the slightly bigger island of Koh Phangan. This place is an absolute gem of an island - stunning beaches in sheltered coves and towering mountains covered in lush jungle. Because of it's terrain being so rugged, there are very few roads, and therefore major resorts arent really anywhere to be seen. As a result, Koh Phangan is a (generally) blissfully quite island that attracts beach bums for several months at a time - we had a lovely few days at a remote northern beach, met a great crew of people (including a Dutch guy who had backpacked overland to India some 30 years ago, and had some seriously good stories!) and just generally chilled on the beach in the day, then a few beers and a meal at night - great fun.

Now, I mentioned that Koh Phangan is generally blissfully quiet. There is one exception. In the South East of the island, at the rather ugly tourist town of Haad Rin (7-Elevens, "Rose & Crown" English Pubs showing Premiership virtually 24 hours a day, drunk English/irish lads swaggering down the street with football/gaelic football shirts etc... like Ibiza or Corfu, basically) - there is a long stretch of beach that once a month becomes ground zero for the world famous Full Moon Party. This "event" attracts big name DJs from all over the world, and the whole beach is transformed into a dancefloor, as all the beachside bars open up, set up stalls on the beach, play very loud dance music, and the masses lap it all up. Lots of people fly over from Europe just for this event, and since we were on the same island, we thought we'd have a look.

Now this event is known for it's liberal drug use, but being god fearing "just say no" types, we made the decision to execute our livers with alcohol instead. As we finished our mexican meal (in thailand, of all places, I ask you..) we headed down to the beach from where we could hear the techno beats already being cranked out over the 3 million decibel level sound systems.

I stopped to make one last purchase - I had thought long and hard about my outfit for such an evening - eventually cutting up a pair of jeans that needed to be thrown away and digging out my most spiritual Brama t-shirt bought back in India - but I was still missing something - something a true hardcore clubber needs - and then I saw it in a touristy tat shop - a silly hat. Although much maligned at the start of the evening, it proved popular with everyone, including one overly camp international back row forward that I wont mention here.. my outfit was complete. I was ready for some kickin' techno/garage action...

anyway, we then bought our first "bucket" of the evening. This is how you drink at the full moon party - you buy a small plastic bucket, a can of soda, a bottle of red bull, and a bottel of vodka or whisky, and some straws. Mix it all together and you are well on your way. The red bull in particular is very potent - depending on which brand you buy, it's either 10 times stronger than the english stuff, or laced with amphetamines. Either way, it's rocket fuel, so after a couple of buckets, we were flying.
We also had the (mis)fortune to bump into a load of guys from my brothers rugby team - they were all top lads, and we had an absolute blast as the evening ploughed on until the early hours.

Then something strange happened. At 4am, I was erudite, witty, funny, drunk, but in control - generally on fire. By 5.30am, I was in another world. I think the sugar/caffeine effect off the red bull had just overloaded my system, (several bottles of vodka probably didnt help either) and all of a sudden I was struggling to talk/walk/stand up/do anything at all.
As the sun came up over the still packed beach - Rachael, who'd envisaged a romantic sunrise moment, didnt look kindly at my pathetic state. Particularly as I was lying face down on the sand, having lost my shirt. She decided to kick sand in my face, but I was oblivious. The Wasps boys joined in with this funny game until I was the sand monster of Haad Rin beach. I was in a world of pain, and I just wanted my mum... I dont think there has been this much pain and suffering on a beach since the Americans landed at Omaha beach some 61 years ago.
Eventually at 8am, with the drum'n'bass still slamming in my ears, self preservation instincts kicked in, and I staggered to my feet to look for Rachael, who thankfully had been looked after by my brothers mates.

As we trudged off to find a taxi for the rough, bumpy, but completely necessary drive home to bed, I looked out on the beach. Many clubbers, (with the help of chemical additives, I'd wager) were still dancing away to the music. The rest of the beach was scattered with victims like me. With the scores of taxi boats moored just offshore, and the beach scattered with bodies. I instantly thought it looked like Normandy in 1944 - only with very loud music, and lots of Thais selling glow in the dark tribal tattoo tranfers and buckets of whisky. think "Saving Private Ryan" at a rave...
Finally, as I was about to collapse into bed, I finally noticed that I had come home with a completely different set of shoes to the ones I'd gone out with - the sign of a good night, I reckon! and if anyone has my blue brazillian flip flops, good luck to em'.

After a couple of days recovering on our nice and quiet beach, we returned to the mainland, and made our way over to the West coast, to the town of Krabi, where we had a couple of days exploring the stunning coastline - with it's limestone cliffs towering straight out of a turquoise sea, picture perfect beaches and secluded islands. (Scaramanga's base in the Bond film "Man with the Golden Gun was filmed around here) It would have been a great place for a holiday if you had a load of money, a speedboat, and had a couple of spare weeks. Unfortunately, we had none of these things, so we had to keep going.

Next stop was Koh Phi Phi. Some 40 miles off the coast of Krabi, this stunning island is basically two towering mountains, covered in jungle, providing 2 spectacular coves that are connected by a thin sandbar, on which virtually all of the islands hotels and restuarants are built.
As an unfortunate result of it's geography, Koh Phi Phi's low lying centre was absolutely devasted by the tsunami, that actually came in the shape of 2 waves, from opposite directions. The "wows" we uttered when we first saw the raw beaty of the island on our approach on the ferry quickly turned to horror at the scale of the devastation. Huge swathes of the island are completely devoid of anything - other areas are still huge piles of rubble and rubbish.
But life is going on here - some less damaged hotels and guesthouses have opened up again, tourists are retuning, and there is a small army of well meaning backpacker volunteers who spend their days helping out with the clear up. (the Thai government isnt giving any more assistance, for reasons too long and political to describe here). The whole place reverbarates to the sound of sawing, hammering, chopping, and generally of people putting their businesses back together.
It will take years, of course, but Koh Phi Phi will get back on it's feet. If you want to help, just go on holiday there - it's still as lovely as ever, hotels and restaurants are opening up again all the time, and they'd be very glad to see you...

We decided to do our bit by giving custom to lots of restaurants, shops, doing some excellent diving with a local dive operator, and we even encouraged investment by upgrading our rooms to a plush air conditioned job. (our original room hadnt been redecorated since Dec 26'th, and had an ugly water line about 5 foot from the floor - not a nice reminder!). We also took a boat trip to neighbouring uninhabited Phi Phi Ley, where the huge cliffs tower around a secluded bay, and a stunning beach. This is where they filmed "The Beach" a few years ago, and it was certainly jaw droppingly lovely.

It was tempting to stay in Phi Phi, but we had to get moving again. And so in one night in Krabi, where we spent our last night in Thailand, appropriately, eating fantastic food at rock bottom prices in a lively night market; we headed off southwards, into Malaysia, and on to Sumatra.

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Comments

[deleted_1508]

nice to see phi phi
ive just left phi phi after a month and a half, nice to see someone elses point of view, really miss the place www.travelblog.org/bloggers/Alessio

[Nick]

Great Site
I stumbled across your site by accident really as i was looking for details of Koi phangan as i'm visiting later this year. Your description of the full moon party sounds spot on , i cant wait now, I'm on a night shift and have spent the last 2 hours looking at the rest of your travels. Excellent site and really interesting, you've been to some great places m8ty. Thanks

[EDD]

the party
Your version of the full moon party sound exactly like mine. what a great night. Just got back yesterday.