Day 21 - MONSOON! And Full Moon Party madness.

Firstly, thanks to those of you who said you enjoyed reading about my meeting with Victor, the Austrian guy who was hit by the Tsunami. I wanted to add that he no longer gives money to charities for this cause. He said that in many cases the money doesn't go where it's needed, for example they'll build a school in the middle of Bangkok instead of where the wave hit. Obviously a RUBBISH idea! Instead, he sends money directly to people's addresses, then visits them when he next comes to Thailand. Sooo...just to let you know in case any of you have been donating!

Righty ho, back to my big adventure. Sitting comfortably?!

Since the last write up, I spent a couple more days in Koh Tao, mostly chilling and going out in the evenings. The Lotus bar that I mentioned before was a great place to hang out, the party would go on quite late and they have a bit of a dancefloor, all be it shaky rotting wood, but it's something! It was raised up with open sides to the beach, quite convenient as the drunk people tended to fall off and pass out on the beach.

Sunset on Sairee beach

I hopped on a ferry on the 28th for Ko Phangan (another small island), a couple hours trip. Got chatting to Natalie, a teacher from Durham and it turned out we were heading for the same resort. After a particularly dodgy journey to the main beach (you know, going up a steep hill with the van gradually getting slower, luckily we reached the top with all the momentum of a snail), we trekked for about 25mins to the resort. I say trekked, it was a brief time but we were pretty soaked from the workout. However it was worth it, my room was nice and big and CLEAN, made a welcome change from the insect zoos I had been getting used to. And the blood on the sheets, and the broken fans...!

By now the monsoon season was well on it's way, it rained everyday almost all day from then until I left Thailand. I wasn't best pleased, especially since I was relying on those days to get a tan before the full moon party! Because of this, I'm ashamed to say I didn't get much done while I was on Ko Phangan, so i'm sorry for the lack of stories and pictures! Mostly ended up staying at resorts and chatting to people, watching the occasional movie, and playing with the resident puppy at my resort (very cute, but well trained - he stole your money belt at any opportunity!). I also met someone from KPMG Manchester (the company I worked for in England), small world! Made me remember all the good times I had before I left.

You may have heard about the legendary full moon parties of Ko Phangan, but if you haven't it's basically a huge beach party (approx. 8000 people) that starts at 7pm, with most DJ's packing up at 11am the following morning. A real rave! Sorry that sounded very old man... Well it was a mental night, I went out at midnight and partied until 5am. There is drink and drugs everywhere. Most people drink Sangsom buckets, which is a Thai whiskey mixed with red bull (extremely strong stuff here, it's just a caffeine loaded syrup) and pepsi. I hardly drank anything, and noticed a lot more because of it. During my walk along the beach at 5am, I saw a guy getting rushed away on a stretcher being carried by 15 others. Then there were girls my age passed out face down in the sand on their own, and people who could hardly walk were swimming in the sea. I spoke to some guys who had seen a drowned man get pulled out earlier on that night. Not meaning to put you off, but if anyone else wants to go then just be careful!! And avoid the drugs, apparently if you buy some there's a high chance you'll get searched by police a few minutes later - they 'somehow' know exactly who and when to check. The going rate for bribery is currently around £20,000 according to most people, otherwise you go to a Thai prison for quite a while!

Left for Bangkok in a rush the next day as I overslept. The mammoth 15hr journey back went surprisingly quickly, arriving in the city at 4am, awoken by the shrieks of our excited bus driver - probably ecstatic he had managed to get us there in one piece despite drinking Sangsom all the way. I found a room and dumped my pack, then went for a beer with someone from the bus ride. Beer never tasted so good, and it was 5am!

Had a few hours sleep then went out, had ALL my clothes washed and ironed for me. Guess how much? Just under a quid!! Mind you, I went to pick it up from the little street hut, and watched 2 rats jump out the washing machine door, lovely. Then went shopping, Bangkok was much more different to when I had been there during Songkram (Thai new year), not as crowded and there were lots more market stalls. Haggling for stuff was fun - the Thais always smile and stay pleasant, it becomes a bit of a game. Bought my nephew a pressie from a guy on the street, he makes mini tuk-tuks (a Thai motorcycle taxi) out of beer cans and coat hangers. Very common to live on the streets like this guy, he sort of snarled at me when I asked to take the picture, so I was quite quick to get going!

Miniature tuk-tuk maker, lived on the street

In the evening I met Vicky, another person from the KPMG gap programme - such a coincidence! Was good to catch up, we went out with her friends that night to a bar on the Khao San Road. A couple of ladyboys spent most of the night waving and blowing kisses at me from the bar, urgh! On my way back to the hostel I got drenched by the rain. A good time to be leaving Thailand, I thought! My flight to Perth was at 2.30pm the next day.

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written by  Ayglesia on May 7, 2007 from Ko Phangan, Thailand
from the travel blog: Alex's round the world adventure
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