Winter Sun: Thailand Adventures

Riiiggghhtttooo! I’ve had a cracking eclectic summer where I’ve dabbled in chemical engineering, waitressing, modelling, mooching in Cornwall and of course blogging. But the time of year came where as a student I ….headed to Thailand apparently!

When the last week of September comes most students have a ‘to do’ checklist that covers the likes of: Buy new bag, check timetable & look forward too seeing uni chums (or if you are my mate Jeni this also includes looking through exam papers) this year mine was a little unusual, as the normal collecting stationary flurry was replaced with a ‘where’s my passport and antiseptic cream’ one, as I prepared to take flight to that cheeky South-East Asian country.

Okay so an unconventional start to the semester, but a few of my best buds were crossing the waters in search of adventure. I thought I may never get this chance again, I’ve saved up some cash this year (some jammie modelling! Still can’t get over this….) Let’s do it! So on Sunday 15th Sept we set sail (or set erm aeroplane), destination Bangkok!

I actually got rather excited, and thanks to mother glencross and my fairy godmother sally I was packed and prepped. If anyone pointed out something I haven’t got I just retorted with “yea, but I’ve got a Nintendo DS”.

So Gand, Lon, Bobbie and I flew from Bangkok straight to Koh Samui and arrived pretty late at night. We were greeted at a creepy looking villa by a couple of Thai folks, a little ‘Cabin in the Woods’ style (non of the taxi drivers knew where it was!). We didn’t appreciate it too much at the time but after 10 hours post jetlag sleep we emerged like pastey white butterflies into the glorious sun, and were presented with a pool and no neighbours, bliss!!

So our landlord offered to take us to big Buddha pier destination Koh Phangan, being brits we were v. sceptical, why would someone be so nice? But it turns out (when you get outta Bangkok) the Thai people are just that. Super duper nice.

Okay next stop Koh Phangan, Full Moon Party time! We took the ferry over to Haad Rin pier. We didn’t stay on the main beach, but a bit south just round the corner at Leela, so off we set on one of our many 15kg backpack treks. It was wortth it when we rocked up to a lush white and sandy beach, what more could we ask for?

The partying had to be done, but not before a day of….

Scootering! We explored the island for the day on peds, which was mega ace. The island roads were not super busy, you could literally ride round the whole island in about 3 hours & there were tonnes of waterfalls/beaches/elephants to see!

We basically made a scooter gang, buuuutttt compared to the UK heath and safety sort of doesn’t exist, sooo the dress code was shorts and t-shirt. We met a sterling French chap Simon at one of the waterless waterfalls, who a pic for us. He joined our gang for a bit 🙂 (don’t worry this may sound boring but he comes back later!)

The cost? 150 baht per day ~ £3, bargain!

Oh and we also paid 700 baht (about £14) to do Total Wipeout Koh Phangan! After being on the show anything ‘Total Wipeout’ esque my mates and I love. It was ace! I think it can only be told in pictures…….

Next stop Full Moooon.

Okay so we had heard loads of crappy things about the full moon. These included drink spiking, poop in the sea and other unmentionable scary goings on. So we were really quite unsure what to expect! However I have to admit after making some new chums at our villa we did start get a little excited as we shopped for tye dye clothes and the ritual ‘painting each other with neon crap’ began.

And guess what, out of the gazillion people on the island who should we bump into shopping….French Simon! So we adopted him and bought him back to meet the Leela Beach bunch.

So back to the party.

Guess what?

It was freaking insane.

Sweet Neptune’s trident what the blimmer is in the red bull?? Oh wait amphetamines, that explains a lot…..

We left out lodge about 11pm and returned about 8am, and that was only because the music got a bit naff. Apparently no other nationality is familiar with the Macarena……

So here are my top tips for surviving (and hopefully enjoying!) the Full Moon Party:

1) Arrive a few days before.

Leading up to the event there are some groovy parties anyway, but this is mainly so you can judge how much alcohol you can handle before the main event. The ‘buckets’ are lethal! I’m not a mahuisve drinker but Gand found this particularity helpful with her pre-full moon hangover. Got some great pics tho 🙂

2) Make friends.

Before we went there was the ritual ‘painting each other with neon crap’ team bonding sesh. This also meant we had big guys to protect us and made some travelling buddies too!

3) Stick in groups.

Just in case you never know.

4) Buy your own drinks.

Or let you real mates buy them. Oh and watch the bar staff make it up. Just minimises the chance of them getting spiked.

5) Clean your cuts when you get it and sort out any mosquito bites.

My flip-flops DE-stroyed my feet. I left one cut and it got really sore, and so many people we spoke to were on antibiotics for bites and cuts! so Sanitation is not so hot….

6) Get involved, but be careful of the crazy fire ropes!

There are some cool balloon games and monkey bars, but the fire well hurts!

7) Blimin have fun.

Enjoy yourself. Be like on it but don’t like stress, ultimately there are about 15,000 others just looking to have a good time. So boogie until the sun comes up

So after the night/morning shenanigans we headed back to camp. However we were so wired we went for a swim on the way! It was great for washing off the paint, which literally stuck like shit to a blanket and was fun as we swam with some of the guys we met earlier, until Bob and I got stuck on Coral….had that cuts for ages!

Sooooo the weather took a turn for the worse, no more island fun was to be had. Most people go to Koh Phangan for the crazy parties but she hosts so much more, so we were pretty lucky to have done other stuff too.

After the full moon we kept swinging between totally pooped/crazy pumped (red bull)/totally pooped, perfect for a 24 hour journey. Soooooooooooo Bangkok here we come!

To be continued………..

p.s OMG I nearly forgot the food!

The chomperies were all yumtastic and so cheap! We got Pad Thai for like £1. If I got a plate of noodles in the UK I’d be a bit disappointed, but in Thailand everything tastes crazy good and proper strong, so like really really sweet or savory or sour.

Plus they love Maggi (a liquid seasoning I got addicted to on my placement year) & sweet chilli sauce. And they loooove cornettos and Magnums, they do like a million flavours. My fave ended up being green tea or blackberry yogurt cornettos, ahhhh yuuuummmm! SO cheap too like 40p. But the BEST bit was the corn on the cob!!!! Like salty/peppery/buttery goodness, my fave

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/Thailand

Leela beach – http://www.booking.com/

(book ahead in the full moon party season!)