Date 17th April (day 1)
Place: Bangkok
Weather: absolutely boiling!! Well after a long flight and sitting next to Katie and pete from middlesborough I finally landed in sunny Bangkok, where I was met by Mina (our Tour guide from Thintro). It was absolutely boiling and I was'nt sure that I had started my amazing journey (Bangkok is a s***hole,in my opinion) not the Beaches and Coconut Dream I expected,lol, Could've been in the backstreets of anywhere, but I can still see how some people would like it there. I arrived at my Hostel (Wild Orchard, Koh San Rd) and the first person I met was Simon, we instantly clicked as we were (are) the eldest of our group (I suddenly became to realise 27 is old) Until, I came out of my shell that is… I went up to my room and I came down later to meet some more people from our group. There was Neils, Simon, Aimee, Lucy and Emma. I have spoken to all of them except Neils and Simon online before so it was nice to put a face to the name. We all had a drink at the bar before heading out for a meal and a couple of drinks down kho san road. We ended up at a bar called Gazeebo that Andrea another girl from the group had heard about and had a few drinks and a sheesha, whilst listening to a live band which I couldn't believe was Thai as he sounded better than most welsh or English band I'd heard live before. The first night out with most of the group was great and we all get along really well. I have a feeling that this week is going to be absolutely amazing…. Date: 18th April 2011 Place: Bangkok Weather: Boiling hot 40'C Today was absolutely boiling hot! We got up to meet the group at 11am in the hostel and had breakfast (My healthy eating of Muesli, Yoghurt and Fruit did not last long) I also swore I'd cut down on coffee (Ice Coffee's are now my favourate) We then walked down to the river and went on a boat trip around the houses of Bangkok which are so run down its unreal. They are all on stilts which look like they will collapse into the water at any minute. We also saw river dragons which live in the water and are like lizards the size of crocodiles! I won our little competiotion to spot one first. The boat took us to the first temple which was all outdoors so it was really hot to look around. The worst thing was we had to cover up our shoulders and legs to go in there so it was baking. Especially when we walked up the steps as they were sooooo steep. We didn't stop there very long because it was just too hot, and in all honesty I was bored! Another boat took us from one side of the river to another where we went to another temple which had a reclining Buddha inside which is meant to be the way he was just before he died. After having a short guided tour around there we got some Tuk Tuks back to Kho San Road. I had wanted to go in a Tuk Tuk for ages and was saving it for then since it was already paid for. When we got back we stopped off for some Pad Thai from a side street vender which was gorgeous. We were told then that the street opposite us was the one where they filmed the beginning of The Beach where Leonardo drinks the snake blood so obviously I had to have a walk down on the way back to the hostel, even though I haven't even seen the film,lol. When we got back we decided to head to the pool to cool down for a bit which was at Vanilla Cha Cha's, a sister hostel to the one we were staying at. We were only there for about 15 minutes when the other girls that got there slightly earlier than us said that they fancied seeing the red light district just for an experience and that they were going to go before dinner just to see it, so we had to leave the pool to go and get ready almost straight away (I love those girl's, Vanessa and Andrea for saying just what I was thinking) Once we were ready and had all met in the lounge area we decided to wait until after dinner so we weren't rushed so just had a few drinks and played a card game until Mina (our awesome tour leader) came down to go to dinner. After dinner we got a mini bus to the red light district (Nana Plaza) When I first got there it felt so wrong and seedy! The first bar especially was terrible, with girls just dancing so lifelessly on a stage with numbers on them. It wasn't until we left there that I actually started having a good time and we went to a second bar which was a rodeo one, YES! It was basically empty so they looked after us so well and we got to use the rodeo bull for a few hours which was such a laugh. I went on for the first time with a Thai prostitute (she looked about 12) and I managed to stay all the way to the end, the second time I went alone and they made it harder so I fell off but it was such good fun. We then all took over the podium and had a dance and just generally messed around. The last stop of the night was a club just down the road and out if the red light district. There was a band playing which were really good except I don't think they understood the English songs they were singing and were just making noises that sounded close to the actual words. We had a great dance in there, that's where for some reason I got the nickname Paris Hilton. We had a sing along and a dance with the band then they gave us all a high five as we left. Date: 19th April Place: Bangkok Weather: Thundering badly! But still hot and very humid. I was woken early today by the sound of really heavy rain and thunder. First place I chjeacked was the bathroom, I could've sworn someone was in our shower (I shared a room with Emma) after inspection and found nobody ion the shower I looked outside and it was raining ridiculously heavily so we decided to go down to breakfast a bit early to see if there was a change of plan at all. It stopped before we had to go out thankfully so it wasn't too much of an issue. After breakfast we walked through Bangkok to the Grand Palace which is where some of the Kings used to live and will do in the future. It was absolutely amazing; there was one building that was made of gold!! And the others were all sparkly and nice ( I actually lijec seeing this plave and didn't get too bored, or maybe just a bit) After looking around there we got tuk tuks back to the hostel. They were much better this time, a bit madder, yey! Ours overtook the other two and took a little short cut… he was right speedy! The rest of the afternoon was just chilling and waiting to leave for the night train at 4ish. We got a minibus to the train station and sat on the floor amongst everyone waiting whilst we got food from the thai food courts. When we got on the night train it was simply just seats apposite each other. They come around at about 8pm and fold the seats down so they join in the middle to create the lower bunk and then the top bunk folds down an above compartment. I sat with Andrea, Vanessa, Simon, Lucy and Emma and we all entertained ourselves by playing a few games like I have never,ha. There wasn't much entertainment so every so often when the smokers went to the doors to have a cigarette Id go with them to see what we called 'the death chair' (Ok so I ahd a few fag's too) It was basically that you had to have the door of the train open to smoke and you could sit on the steps as it was whooshing down the track. Good fun, much better than alton towers, and even better after a few Chang's. Overall I think I got about 3 hours sleep on the train because I was immensely paranoid of turning over and falling out of the top bunk because they were so narrow and had no barrier. I sat down on Simon's bed most of the night and we all just passed the time by talking and telling jokes, and drinking the beer boy dry of Chang, Tiger and Singha Beer. Date: 20th April 2011 Place: Kho Sok National Park Weather: Really really hot! I woke up on the train about half an hour before our stop. When we did get off Minas friend Tuk was waiting to give us a lift to the national park (Koa Sok). We stopped off on the way to get some breakfast and had to go through some of the towns that were flooded. A lot of people were camping on the side of the road because there houses were so badly effected. When we got the national park it was absolutely beautiful. We took a long boat out onto the lake and were shown around and taken to a place where we all jumped out to have a swim. It was great fun and there was a rope so the guys we decided to climb up the rock face and swing into the lake. We got to the floating bungalows after that which was absolutely amazing.They were made of Bamboo and very fragile. They were so simple and you had to watch your footing because otherwise you would go straight through and fall into the lake (just like Vanessa did,lol). It was so secluded it was stunning. There were free Kayaks to use and Tubes but me and Emma decided we would go caving instead, where we met Laurena and Simon and Kesia we hads such a good time and my pictures will never do the cave justice, it was just beautiful. For the rest of the day we were just swimming in the lake next to the bungalows and played some games like a kayak relay. Once dinner was finished we only had until 10pm until the electricity for the whole place was shut off, so no lights or anything. We all sat around on the decking having a chat and once the lights had gone out we were given a lantern and all sat around that. Some people had gone to bed because they were tired, but some of us were still up talking when we heard a terrible scream from the girls (Andrea and Vanessa) bungalow at the end. I thought it was someone in the jungle saying "is anyone out there" which really freaked me out. Apparently what had happened was the door had swung open and they panicked. It could have actually been a rat because they had food in the room. Everyone was then super paranoid and convinced there was an axe murderer in the rainforest. I had woken up to a noise and said to Mina I think there's something in here. Mina said can she hear it scuttling but I said 'no its breathing deeply and I can hear its heartbeat' to which everyone laughed and said is it Emma?! I said no I think it's a frog because it is doing little short breaths, this is now known as the asthmatic frog. After all the drama I magaed to get to sleep for about 4 hours at a push. Date: 21st April 2011 Place: Kho Sok National Park to Koh Phangan Weather: Boiling boiling boiling!! Today I was woken up by the sounds of people jumping in the lake. It was a gorgeous day and the paranoia from the night had gone. It was quite rushed to get ready and have breakfast as we had to leave by 8am sharp. Breakfast was free so I was determined to make the most of it and finish my plate. I had a banana pancake which was more like a cake! We left at 8am sharp as said and took the boat back to the minibus which drove us for most of the day to the ferry to Koh Phangan. I slept a bit in the bus and had Simon putting things in my ear to scare me. He also took a picture of me sleeping with my mouth open and against the window which in all honesty is hilarious. When we finally got to the new hotel (Friendly Resort) a few people went in the pool. I decided I needed a shower and a chill out so I stayed in the room and got ready slowly for the night, and did a bit of unpacking and washing. We went out to a restaurant for dinner (same same) and then headed to the beach for a beach party. We had to have a bucket of drink since this is Koh Phangan so I shared one with Emma. It was such a great atmosphere; there was a fire skipping rope and everyone was dancing on the tables. After a lot of dancing and talking to a welsh fireman (Wayne) we walked back to the hotel. On the way back we stopped off to get a sandwich which was lush; think Subway but posher J I looked at my watch just before getting into bed at 5.30am. Date: 22nd April 2011 Place: Koh Phangan Weather: Perfect! Now at bearable 30'C and bright skies! Woke up at 8am. Sleep doesn't seem to happen in this week. I got dressed and went down to the pool where Aimee and Simon were. All the electricity was turned off so we didn't know if we could get breakfast or not and we were all really hungry but it was ok, they cook by gas J We got another long boat today to take us around the island. We were supposed to be going to see some waterfalls but it looked a bit like there could be a storm coming from the sea and if it did the boat would be stuck so we couldn't do it. So our first stop was at a place called bottle beach. It is very secluded as you can only reach it by boat and there are little beach bungalows, this place started to make me feel like I was in Thailand…but just not yet, still no Coconuts. For the next few hours we had a play in the sea and I watched the lads play volley ball, then spotted a lush pool in the corner of my eye, so I grabbed Emma and decide to chil out there, but I didn't tell the other's as I didn't want to get told off for causing havoc at a 5* resort, they hated it when they found us, but then realised we had o leave, oops! We then went back on the boat and around the corner where we went snorkelling. It was lovely, fish everywhere, awesome visibility and this made me want to Dive and be part of the real ocean and explore even more… That night we had a bit of a quiet one so that we could catch up with ourselves. We went for a meal on a roof top restaurant and then went to have a chill out at this bar called mushroom (mellow) mountain. It was a really nice setting, right next to the beach and sat on cushions on the floor. It's called mushroom mountain because they sell shakes that are made from magic mushrooms. Some of the guys tried them (including mylself) and apparently I was saying thing's along the line's of, Im crying vodka and coughing butterfky's (this sought of thing just happen's to me all the time anyway)lol. The shake itself taseted like compost..not nice!! From what I can remember I was a crazy experience that night, Aimee was seeing geckos everywhere and scream faces were popping all out of the sand, amongst other things. Date 23rd April 2011 Place: Koh Phangan Weather: once again…hot (im going to stop writing this) The final day of ThaIntro! Cant believe it, after today we would have to fend for ourselves. We started the day by getting a pick up truck lift to the elephant trekking. It was a good laugh just in the truck but it was great when we got there! Because there were so many of us we got split into two groups. Whilst the first group were elephant trekking we went to see a monkey that sat on our heads and jumped everywhere. It started cuddling a cat…and breastfed it!!!! Weird!! Our ride on the elephants was a good laugh. I went on with Emma; we got to sit on the neck at the front. They plod along and make you scared that youre going to fall down the edge of a hill. At the end they went to some tanks of water and cooled themselves down, but with us sitting on the back so we got soaked as well!! When we got back to the hotel we chilled by the pool for a bit before going to have a massage. I chose the Swedish oil massage which was amazing! The evening was our goodbye meal which ThaIntro paid for so I chose the best thing on the menu, Duck. The taxi on the way there was entertainment enough because the spare wheel of the van fell off and the thai woman driving the taxi just chucked it to the side of the road and left it. We thought she would pick it up on the way back from picking us up but when we walked past later it was still there! Typical Thai way. The meal was incredible though. We were sat outside on a private beach on some cushions on the floor surrounding a table with candles everywhere…dead romantic for a date with 14 people. The meal was great as well duck with orange sauce and mashed potatoe, yum yum, I made the most of having someone else pay for my meal by choosing the most expensive thing on the menu, even though it was probably still only about £6. At the end of the meal we set off some Chinese lanterns. I did one with Emma. The rest of the night…to the early hours of the morning were spent on the party beach. We once again took part in fire skipping ropes and dancing in the sea and on table tops. I love beach parties. When we got back we ended up taking a dip in the pool and then having a water fight! All in all an absolutely fantastic end to the ThaIntro week!! Date: 24th April 2011 Place: Koh Phangan Weather: I will tell you when its not hot Well most of today was really written on yesterdays blog. Since it was actually almost light when we got to sleepmost of us didn't surface properly until about 3pm. Everybody was seriously hungover. We knew this would happen though so we had planned a chilled day around the pool to recover. So that's basically all I can write about the day. Apart from the fact that Mina was supposed to have left at 7am to catch a bus back to Bangkok but because of the nights antics she missed it and showed up half way through the afternoon to shock us all. After a day of doing nothing we went to a Mexican restaurant across the road from the hotel then chilled by the pool drinking lots of Chang.