Koh Phi Phi...once there you'll never leave!

Arrived Koh Phi Phi on the 16th Jan and had the intention of staying for 2 nights....7 nights later....

View from the hostel

On the first night I met a girl who stayed in my dorm in Bangkok for New Year can you believe!  We all ended up going out together....and the rest is history.  Our hostel 'Blanco Dorms' was great and turned out to be one of the best for meeting people and location.  It is right on the beach and next door to all the bars.  We headed up and they showed me the fire shows.  They were amazing.  Louise told me she had skipped over a skipping rope on fire and I could have a go later....AS IF!  I dont need any help to fall on my ass and I was definately not going to chance it with naked flames!  Off we went to to Thai Kickboxing which was fun but I was well on my way to being inebriated.  We went to a few more bars and the rest is a blur.

The gang

Woke up the next morning and jolted out of bed. MY BAG!!!! Where's my bag???!!!!  I was so upset.  I couldn't believe i'd lost it again.  The girls helped me look around the hostel and I looked up and down the beach.  I'd checked all my accounts and they hadn't been touched.  Luckily I had my spare currency card and headed over to the ATM to draw some cash out.  On the way I checked all the bars on the beach to see if by some miracle it had been handed in.  With no luck I got my cash out and started to head back.  I don't know what possessed me but I tried one more bar as a last resort.  When they pulled my bag out of the desk behind the bar I bursted into tears!!!  It was all there, cash, cards, camera, phone, everything.  I couldn't believe it.  I got back to the hostel and told the girls and owner and they all hugged me and cheered. The rest of the day was spent chilling out and I'd decided to stay in that night but extended my stay another 2 nights.  I wasn't done with Phi Phi yet.

The next day we went on a day trip with my new friends.  There was 6 of us and a great little group.  First we headed out (on a long boat) to Monkey Bay.  We got of for 5 minutes to take a few pictures thats all.  Next we headed to the Cliff Jumping area.  I wanted to try it since i'd done zip lining and whitewater rafting.  OMG! Never again!  The feeling was horrible and when the water hit my ass I thought I was gonna throw up. It was like having a reverse colonic! OUCH!  After we headed to the snorkelling area (which I gave a miss can you believe haha!) then to Maya Beach where they had filmed 'The Beach'.

Bricking it.....

That's were we attempted the pyramid and the photo jumping in the air.  Well funny!  Everyone was looking at us like we were loons and taking their own photos haha!  Later we headed to a beach cove to party.  We had neon paints done, a BBQ and music.  So much fun.  When we got back we headed out.  This would be the night of my first tattoo on Phi Phi.  I shoved 1000 Baht (£20) in my bra and left everything else at the hostel.  Another great night with the girls.  Wondered in about 4am with 3 feet tattooed on my groin and the words Phi Phi to commemorate my travels and what a great time I was 
having.

First Phi Phi tattoo

BBQ time in the small cove

The next day was another chill out day.  It was great because our hostel was on the beach and facing the sea.  An amazing view to chill and upload pictures and get online.  Stayed in that night.

The next day (after extending my stay another 3 nights!) we decided to head to a small beach together.  It was gorgeous! We were gonna head to Monkey Beach but we couldn't take anything because the monkey's would have nicked everything.  All of a sudden a random monkey came out and strolled across the beach we grabbed our stuff quicktime.  At one point Janek was having a staring contest with it because it wanted his iphone.  Funny as.  

Monkey after Janek's phone

Nai Bay...pure paradise

We returned later and chilled for a bit before we hit the beach parties again.  Another fantastic night and ended up with another tattoo!  This time is was to commemorate my time at Temptation Resort in Mexico and got the logo on my foot.  That was it, my last one!  

Foot is not swollen don't worry...just the way the pic was taken

We'd found a giant penis on the beach next to Slinky's bar and took some hilarious pictures.  

Then the girls found a table to dance on so they all ran up and jumped on it.  It was my turn next.  I ran up tripped up and ended up face first sprawled on the bloody thing!  I couldn't move for laughing and neither could anyone else.  This was the reason, I told them, that I didn't jump through the ring of fire...can you imagine!  Another fantastic night.

The dreaded buckets...

Fire limbo...one of many fire things to do

The next day was a chilled one again since I hadn't got in until 5am!  Another night off for me.

It was our last day and we went to book our ferry ticket for Koh Phangan for the next morning.  Again, we chilled in the day and contemplated going out for our last night on Phi Phi.  We swore we would have only 2 buckets between us and go home.  We headed out and had a walk through town.  The girls wanted their picture took with a small monkey.  It was so cute.  We walked off and I looked in my drink.  'What the fuck is that?' I pulled a lollipop out of my bucket and they burst out laughing....it was the monkey's!  He obviously wanted a taste and lost it.  I pulled it out weeing myself laughing and gave it back to the monkey.  We spent the rest of the night laughing so much it hurt.  The kind when you cant breathe.

The Monkey with the lollipop

Laughing my make-up off....hilarious night

The next morning we woke and headed for the ferry to Krabi then bus to Surat Thani then the ferry to Koh Phangan via Koh Samui.  It was a long ass day....especially with a hangover that wasn't supposed to happen from the night before....3/4 buckets later.  Whoops!

Extreme Sports in Chiang Mai

I saw the whitewater rafting advertised when I got to Chiang Mai.  I've always fancied it but always been to chicken to try it.  (Funny...I saw The River Wild the other day with Meryl Streep).  I thought, bugger it, why not!

I'm at the back in the orange vest...

On the morning of, I woke up for breakfast but wasn't hungry.  I was so nervous but excited too.  We headed over to the river an hour and half away and had lunch.  Only had a little bit because my stomach was churning now we were finally here.  I got talking to a couple from Brighton (in their 50's!) and a young couple from Dublin.  After lunch we headed up the river.  The ride was so bumpy that the Brighton guy bounced off his seat at one point and landed on his two veg.  After the green went from his face he joined in the laughter, we were pissing ourselves.

After a demonstration we all ended up on the same raft.  The Dublin couple were at the front, the Brighton couple behind them and then me at the back near the guide.  I thought it was the safest place..oh how wrong I was.  I don't know if you know but the rapids are graded 1-6.  One being the most tame and six being so strong even most experts won't chance them.  The river was low at this time of the year so we were going to hit 1-3's.  As we headed out we practiced the commands...paddle left, paddle right, get down (into the raft ideally crouched not sat to avoid the rocks hitting your ass), over left (everyone to the left), over right (obvious really) and get in (everyone lean into the raft).  We hit the one's and two's and I was loving it.  In fact, I couldn't wait to hit the 3's.

We rounded a corner and spotted the 3's.  The commands were flowing and when he said 'get down' I started in the crouch position and ended up on my ass unable to get back up.  I couldn't stop laughing.  We came upto the next 3 and the guide said 'get in'....which my body, once again, took to be 'land on your ass and flap round like a fish trying to get back up'.  I set off laughing again.  The guide also found it highly amusing that all his commands apart from 'paddle left' and 'paddle right' resulted in me bouncing off the side of the raft and ending up on my backside at his feet.  We went down a few more rapids... forwards, sideways and backwards (resulting from not paddling hard enough and us all forgetting our left from our right when he called 'over left' hahahaha).  

'Over left'....we got it right this time

We came upon another big one and as we hit the first part of the rapid the Irish girl fell back into the raft in the middle of the Brighton couple and was on her back in her life vest unable to get back up.  We were laughing so much!  They tried to pick her up from her impression of a ladybird on its back struggling but laughter weakened them and let her go again.  We hit the next rapid and as predicted I bounced off the side of the raft but this time launched forward past the Brighton couple and nearly landed on the poor ladybird.  I felt this tug on my back and it was the guide.  He'd grabbed the back of my life vest and pulled me back to my seat where I bounced off, from the force, and yet again landed on my dairy aire at his feet.  I was scrambling to get up but my stomach was cramping from laughing so much I stayed put until we cleared the rapid.  He was pissing himself too.  We also got stuck on a couple of rocks on the way down and we had to bounce our way off them....which as you can imagine I did mostly on my ass in bottom the raft.  The end of the rapids were 1's and 2's and calmer but we were all still giggling all the way back.

Only one on my ass as usual lol!

Guess where I am...???

When I got back to the hostel I had a few beers (being on a high) with James and Lars and told them the tale of the wierd Australian couple.  They were shocked.  A few games on Jenga later I went to bed.

Yeah...we so cheated haha!

The next morning I was up early ready for my cooking class.  We all met at the market and had a walk round before catching a train to a small village and cycling to the farm where we were to take our class.  It was so relaxing, quite the opposite from the day before.  We all had 5 courses to cook and 4 dishes to choose from from each course.  It turned out we were cooking and eating from 11am to 3:30pm. 

Chicken Coconut Milk Soup

Thai Green Chicken Curry

Chicken & Cashew Nuts

Do I really have to say.....

Deep Fried Banana in a Coconut Milk & Sesame Seed Batter

I really enjoyed it and I can't wait to try these at home. We were all stuffed.  I'd not eaten this much food in one day in months.  Had a fantastic day.  A great way to finish my trip to Chiang Mai as I was heading back to Bangkok and South Thailand from there.

Menage Et Toi... I dont think so!!

So I arrived in Chiang Mai 2 hours earlier than scheduled.  So there I was, streets deserted sat out side Mojito House where the bus/taxi dropped me off.  I was certain this was the wrong place as I was booked into the Mojito Garden.  So off I went in another tuk tuk only to arrive at the 'old' Mojito Garden.  The guy who opened the gate told me to walk back down the road turn right then left.  I eventually arrived at Mojito Garden 2.  This was the place.  It was now 5:30am.  I still had to wait until 8am when the owners began to stir and check me in.

Rooftop Reggae Bar

James...wankered

The guy on reception was called Boom.  He was so lovely.  He took my bag to my dorm bed and told me to get some sleep before worrying about paying up and showing my passport...bless.  Before this he had placed blankets over 2 sleeping Danish girls outside on a bed/sitting area instead of waking them...awww.  After a few hours kip I woke and got some food.  I was still tired so I stayed in the hostel.  I got to talking to a guy called James from New York then Lars from Sweden joined us, then a couple from Australia.  We drank for a while before going out for a few more and to get something to eat.  We went to a reggae bar (its full of em over here) for a drink then to a restaurant/bar for food.  James was plastered (typical yank not handling his beer) and went home.  After food, Lars headed back too as he'd hurt his knee during the day.  So me and this other couple went back to the reggae bar for one more drink. (You can tell whats coming can't you...).

Lars

The Swingers!!

So, his girlfriend strangely decided to get a neck massage and meet us in the bar.  So we were sat there when Ramone started looking at me funny.  He whispered to me 'would you like to join us tonight?'.  God I nearly spat out my beer.  Its not that i've never been swung at before (being a regular at Temptation in Mexico for the past 6 years) and I had never had any intention of saying yes then, let alone now.  His girlfriend came in and he'd whispered to her what he had said to me.  She wasn't in the mood THANK GOD! but he looked pissed off.  We headed back.  I decided to take a shower as I'd not had one since the day before.  The next thing I know, Ramone is tapping at the shower door.  I tried to ignore it.  As I went to leave the shower he pushed his way in and tried to kiss me.  I told him to piss off and get out.  Then I heard his girlfriend shouting for him.  Oh great!  He's locked in the bloody shower with me, how's that gonna look!  She started banging on the door cursing us both!  I told him to man up and get out!  As he did I locked the door again whilst she continued to shout profanities at me.  AT ME!!!! I'd not even done anything wrong (for once lol).  I waited until it went quiet and ran back to my dorm for fear of getting slapped by this crazy bird.

Temptation Resort's favourite saying

The next day, I was a little hungover so I stayed in bed.  At lunch time I peeked out of my door and they were nowhere to be seen.  I remember them saying they were out all day today, thank god.  I ate some lunch and went back to bed.  At dinner time I peeked out again and they were sat at the table opposite my room. Shit!  Luckily my mum called to save the day.  I wondered out with the phone glued to my ear hoping that my thinking was true....no one interrupts you if your on the phone.  It worked.  They drank up and left the hostel.  Phew!  I knew they were leaving the next day so early night for me.

Bangkok Baby!

Arrived in Bangkok on the 30th December.  We were supposed to be dropped off at Khao San Road but I think the driver couldn't be bothered so I took a taxi from the memorial to NapPark Hostel.  When I checked in they told me I had to stay in a different dorm to the female one i'd booked for 1 night.  I wasn't bothered.  Turned out to be me and 5 guys...again!  It was fine until I woke up in the morning and it stank of boys and alcohol breath YUK!

My female dorm

They had told me I couldn't move until 2pm so I went out to Khao San Road for food.  I'd decided to get a few things for New Year that night so I bought some make-up, new flips flops to go with my dress, new sun glasses because mine were so scratched (Ray Bans £3) and then treated myself to a foot massage.  Before I headed back to my hostel I saw a hairdressers and decided to book in to get my hair curled as I was sick of scraping it back on my head all the time.  It looks a mess down with no hairdryer or straighteners.

Having a pre-new year beer.

Khao San by night

I got back and changed rooms then went downstairs to meet some people.  I was determined not to spend New Year alone.  I got talking to a couple of girls and everyone was asking where to go for the night.  I suggested putting up a poster to ask people to meet in the hostel at 9pm for a few drinks and decided where to go from there......

Had to get down with the lingo lol!

The result of my poster.

I went for my hair done at 8pm and grabbed a quick burger on my way back.  I was all ready and set to go before I went.  When I arrived back I was really chuffed.  The bar area was filled with about 20-30 people who had seen the poster!!!!  Check me out hahaha!  So we all mingled until 11pm and some of us decided just to head to Khao San Road as the fireworks were way out and we couldn't be bothered.  There were about 10 of us.  We got there and it was hammered.  We knew a shortcut to where they had set a stage up with a countdown.  The bars were 6 deep so we went to the 7/11 and bought beers and waited for the countdown.

Everyone in Khao San were shouting out the countdown for 10 which was amazing.  There where about 50,000 people there.  I got quite a few kisses on the cheeks but no snogs unfortunately haha!  We then headed for a bar.  When we left me and this other guy Ian got lost from the others.  He was a strange guy and a little simple so I was determined to find the others.  After looking up and down Khoa San for an hour I thought 'fuck it' lets got to McDonalds and head back to the hostel.  Low and behold, all our friends were in there already!  We headed back to the hostel and drank a few more. It was 7am before I went to bed and the sun was up.

There were 1000's on Khao San awaiting the New Year

The next day I slept until 2pm, went out for lunch then went back to bed at 5pm until 8pm.  I wasn't too bad but a little delicate.  That night I stayed in the hostel with some others and had a few beers.

A little old lady cooking on her boat...she looked about 90.

On the 2nd I was booked on a day trip.  We went to the floating markets which was fun but loaded with tourists.  The boat dropped us off at a cobra show.  Yeah, I stayed outside and waited.  Good job too because looking at the photos they were right up in your face with the things!  Next we went for lunch.  After that we headed for the Bridge over the River Kwai.  It was really great.  Whilst walking over the bridge, a boat went by playing the song from the great escape.  The one where the soldiers are whistling.  It was really surreal, walking over the bridge and hearing that song.  

Next was the Tiger Temple.  I was really looking forward to going here what with monks walking amongst the tigers.  I was really disappointed.  It was more like a purpose built park with tigers and a couple of monks.  The large tigers looked sedated and the younger ones were being dragged around on a lead poor things.  I just wanted to leave.

On my last day I just hung around.  Francesca invited me to lunch and then I went for a Thai Massage.  Bloody hell!  The guy thought I was a contortionist!  He was bending every which way he could and didn't seem to understand me when I said 'it wont go any further!'.  At one point he managed to crack every vertebrate which was a kind of nice pain and then he crushed my toes in his fists and everyone cracked.  I'm surprised I wasn't sick.  Next time i'll stick with a good ole fashioned oil massage.  

Later I went for my bus at 6pm to Chiang Mai.  It was 12 hours or so I thought.....