Back home after Thailand

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Back home now, after nearly 10 months of travelling. Not much seems to have changed, which is strange.
Last time I wrote this blog I had just arrived in Koh Samui. The next day I had a day to kill while I waited for Courts and Harri to arrive. I was staying in a town called Chaweng beach, which has got to be one of the most touristy places that I've been, I wasn't a fan, it was a real shame because it was an amazing beach. I hired out a laser dinghy and went for a sail that afternoon which was amazing as I hadn't sailed in nearly two years.

The next morning I met up with Courts and Harri. It was really good to see them after 9 months, they haddn't changed. We just chilled out for the rest of that day, while trying to ignore people trying to get us to take a taxi, by beeping their horn or just shouting 'taxi?' at us, it got very frustrating after a while!

The next day we caught a taxi up to the big buddha, which is basically what it says on the tin, a huge golden statue of a sitting buddha. It was pretty amazing, and the view from the top was great as well. We then got what we were expecting to be a ferry but turned out to be a speedboat, over to the next island, Koh Phangan.

The next day we hired a couple of mopeds. We rode up to the north of the island to find a beach we had been reccomended for snorkelling. It quickly became clear how small the island was as we reached the other end of the island in under 20 minutes. On the way to the beach we saw a place that did elephant trecking on the side of the road so we slammed on the brakes and went for a look. We payed the equivelant of 50p for a big basket of bananas and could feed them to the elephants. It was amazing, they were so gentle, one even hugged me with it's trunk. The beach was amazing, the snorkelling was as well althought it was quite tricky as the tide was so low on the reef. The beach was in a small bay with an tiny island at just off the coast connected by a sand bar. I snorkelled to the island and walked back across the sand bar, the island looked beatiful, but we didn't have enough time to explore it properly as we had to get the mopeds back.

The next day we went for another ride up the island and caught a long tail boat to another beach. The beach here was absolutely incredible, probably one of the best i've seen. We bought a frisbe and chilled in the water and on the beach before catching the boat back. The next day we caught a taxi out to another beach and me and Courtenay hired a kayak and went for a bit of a paddle which was fun. That night we went to a 'black moon' beach party. From what i can remember it was pretty fun. Unfortunately the night didn't end amazingly, I had a bit too much to drink and ended up getting lost and then my wallet got stolen, i made it back to the hostel safe and well though, although i didn't feel that well the next day.

After a day killing my hangover I caught a ferry to the next island, Koh Tao, leaving Courts and Harri behind on Koh Phangan to have a bit of time to themselves. When i got to Koh Tao I went to Ban's diving resort to do my PADI open water dive course. We had a theory session first then the next day we had our pool dive, quite a strange feeling at first but amazing still. The next day we were up early and had our first two open water dives. It was absolutely incredible, its like being on a different planet, probably the most amazing experience of my trip. Saw so many different types of fish and coral. We then had more theory in the afternoon and finished off the theory with an exam. Courts and Harri came to Koh Tao that day so I met up with them for a drink. The next day we finished off the course with two more dives and a few drinks with dinner that night.

I was planning to go to Bangkok after I finished my course but I found I loved the diving so much I decided to stay and do the Advanced open water course, after Courts very kindly lent me some money. The first day was very tiring. We had a tiny bit of theory in the morning and then went out on the boat for two dives in the afternoon. One was a deep dive on a huge pinnacle which was probably my favourite dive. The other was a dive to practice navigation which was really good as it was just me and my buddy rather than an instructor as well. After this we went back to dry land and had a quick half hour for dinner and then were back on the boat for a night dive. The night dive was amazing, we saw a couple of huge baracuda, one nearly as big as me. The best bit though was when we turned off our torches and played with the phosphorescent, it is caused by flourescent algae which light up as you disturb the water, its just like fairy dust.

The next day we did a wreck dive on a retired Thai navy ship which was sunk as a dive site a couple of weeks before. When we got to the wreck the visibility dropped to 2m which made it really spooky, it was great! We then had our final dive to practise more navigation to finish off an amazing course with some great people, and now i'm looking forward to getting enough money to do some more diving!

I was up early the next morning and on the ferry to Chumpon and from here onto a bus to Bangkok. That night I had my first look along Khao San Road, the backpacker capital of Bangkok, in the old part of the city. It is such a bustling street with shops, bars and street food stalls squashed around the tuk tuks and hundreds of people, I loved it, it was mad.

In the morning I started off with a bit of suit shopping, not hard in Bangkok as every other person seems to want to sell you one. I eventually found a suitable shop and was measured up. I then headed towards the centre on a local bus. I got off at the Chatuchak market. This was probably the maddest, strangest and busiest place I'd been. You could buy anything from puppies to shoes. I picked up a few bargains after a bit of hard bartering and left completely knackered.

The following day I went for a wander down to the area where there are a lot of temples. I went into Wat Pho Temple. It was a really impressive, huge spires and amazing patterns. The most amazing part of the temple was the reclining buddha, a golden statue of Buddha lying down. Its about 8m long and so its quite a site.
As I was walking around the temples I was becoming more and more aware of a small cut on my ankle which I had got from coral whilst diving, it had become infected and was getting worse, to the stage when I couldn’t walk very well. I was trying to put off going to the doctors as it was so soon until I went home but I gave in in the end. After arranging mum and dad to send me some money out I had a blood test and had it cleaned and dressed. It turned out that the infection had spread to my blood and I actually had two infections in my blood, one from a bacteria and one from a microscopic tropical worms. I had to go on antibiotics straight away, which put prevented my homecoming drinks when I arrived home.
The next day I felt much better. I went and very proudly collected my tailored suit, which seemed very nice. Then finished off the present and clothes shopping in Khao San Rd, before packing my stuff up for the final time and checking out. One thing I haven’t mentioned yet about Bangkok is the incredible street food. I don’t think I ate from an actual restaurant once when I was there, why would you when you can get amazing Thai food from a street stall and watch it cooked in front of you. I had a dish called Pad Thai every night and loved it, and didn’t get food poisoning once!
That evening I headed over to the airport to fly out. I had a bit of a wait around as my flight didn’t depart until 12.45. I managed to get placed in a row of three seats by myself because I needed to elevate my leg. The wait went a lot quicker because of the free leather reclining seats that I found at the airport. The flight went pretty quickly really because I could sleep pretty well. When I arrived in Heathrow I was met by my friends Mark and Anthony, and a big welcome home sign which was nice. We then headed up to Taunton and onto the farm. As I arrived a day earlier than my parents expected I managed to surprise both of them, which I think they liked.
Had an absolutely incredible year, I’ve seen so many amazing things and met amazing people. Thank you to everyone who looked after me and put me up over the past 10 months. Hopefully I’ll be back out travelling as soon as I can!

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