Right then everyone - Happy 2008!!!

Hope you've all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year, drunk lots of mulled wine, finished the scraps of turkey and stuffing in your curries and sandwiches, and have relaxed ready for the blossoming new year! Heard you've had snow?! That's just damn fine! Hope every single last one of you played out in it regardless of age, personality, responsibility or prior engagements….there's no excuses!!So… I'm doing the blog again today, best get yourselves comfy, as Chris is scuba-diving! Whoop whoop for him! And whoop whoop for me too...for the 1st time in 4 months I'm alone for a couple of days, and it's quite nice!

Anyway, enough of that! Christmas and New Year in Thailand…..what a bizarre experience! We eventually left Phi Phi, which hurt a lot, and travelled to Phuket. We meant to spend a few days here but the weather was naff so we stayed one night! We did the usual long journey by bus, 3 hrs, boat 2 hrs, then bus again till the end of the day, and when we arrived we were harassed by a local who wanted to get us a room. Obliged as we were tired and it was late, we trusted the guy (a complete salesman) and he took us to a hotel in the 'old town' of phuket , well cheap and the non-tourist part. However along the way he asked if we would spend ten minutes in a jewellers shop, just browsing, as he was on commission and the shop paid for his petrol if he brought custom. We well couldn't be bothered as we just wanted to dump our bags, get some food, and chill out, but it happens all over Thailand so we ended up pretending we wanted to buy christmas pressies from a jewellery shop in Phuket!.

Eventually we got away and the guy took us to a well nice cheap room with TV, fridge and
OH YES, hot water!!!! Yeah for us!!!! Before he left he sold us 'cheap' tickets to Koh Phangan, the island we were spending Christmas and New Year on, but we didn't know if they were real tickets. As a gesture of good will he took us to his home to meet his wife and we borrowed his dvd payer before heading to MACDONALDS!!!! Can u believe it! So we spent the night eating super size big macs and watching Prison Break Season 2. What a programme. That's our experience of Phuket!

The next morn we got up at 7 and had the all inclusive brekkie before departing for Phangan. As usual the bus/boat journey took the mick , but we enjoyed all the new travellers asking about our experience so far, we felt like pro's. I made friends with this 60 year old man from canada who was a carpenter and lived on a solitary island and hated his ex-wife so was travelling the islands for xmas. Interesting man. Anyway, in Chris' absence, I suppose I best give some details. Phangan is brimming with tourists every year as it's the new Ibiza, and finding accommodation is very hard. Especially when the monthly 'Full Moon Party' is due and 30,000 people flock to celebrate it on the beaches of Haad Rin (the tourist corner of the small island). Even more so, when it's Christmas and New Year. Knowing all of this months in advance and having considered it many times, especially with all the hyped chat on the other islands of "have u booked anywhere? you best book now or else you've had it!" we smiled cooly and, naturally, didn't book any accommodation. Ha! Idiots! When we arrived at 10pm however, we somehow we managed to get a room for a tenner with tv and air con and fridge! Boo to all those pessimistic travellers!

But...hem hem... the next morn we awoke very early to spend the day, in the heat, frantically searching for a cheap room that was nearer to Haad Rin - the beach bungalow resort (with a pool may I add) that we were in was not a ten minute walk away like we'd been told, but a 2 hour walk away!!!! Or a 20 min taxi ride over the steepest, 60 degree hills you've ever seen! And this would've cost a bomb every day! By mid afternoon we got a little worried as the locals told us stories of how there were no beds on the island last year and this year was expected to be bigger! Oops. Anyway, long story short, by tea time we found a scruffy wooden hut in the jungle on the side of a cliff overlooking the sea and Haad Rin beach for an exceptional 4 quid a night! Best buy on the island. It was called 'Secret Garden' and we were tipped off by a nice traveller who knew that we'd end up spending 30quid a night as prices tripled 22nd Dec - 3rd Jan! Thank the lord for that guy! The hut owner was an English alcoholic with 2 Thai kids (he didn't even know their birthdays) and a missing 2nd wife. A great yuletide atmosphere.

Don't really know what to say from here on in. To summarise the days leading up to Xmas we just went out partying on the beach all night and slept in our shack all day! We met a lovely Irish couple, Wez and Kerry, on the build up to the 'Full Moon Party', which coincidently fell on Xmas Eve (BIG DIRTY NIGHT OUT AHEAD!!!) so we tagged along with them for the 3 nights! On the 2nd night b4 the Full moon Thailand was holding its elections and so the whole country was refrained from drinking! Eh!? Apparently they didn't want drunk votes, like the Thais get wrecked or like the travellers would vote! Anyway it was a bummer because all the bars had no music on and all the shops would definitely not sell beer for fear of being caught by the police! By Full Moon (Xmas Eve) however, the elections were over, political morons, and everyone on the whole island was on Haad Rin beach partying till sunrise!!! Was an immense night! We hooked up with 3 more couples who Wez and Kerry knew from Cambodia etc. and THEY WERE FROM BLACKBURN!!!! Eugh. I'm sorry Dad. But they were real party animals for their late twenties! Must admit, me and Chris hated the hardcore dance music, but after Thai whiskey anything was fun! Loved, what we can remember, the sun rising with everyone still boogying with their santa hats on and illuminous body paint smeared everywhere! Think we went to bed on Christmas morning at 9am!

Awoke on Christmas day at 5pm !!!!!!!!!!! But to be frank we really did miss family and friends that day so best to sleep off the day and not think of what everyone back at home was up to! We managed to drag our hungover asses down the mountain by torchlight for Xmas dinner at our fave western restaurant by 8pm. Took them two hours to serve our grub, by which point we were on the brink of death, but we got good ol' leek and potato soup, turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes, braised onions, caramelised red cabbage, and apple crumble desert! Yum yum! We were over the 'moon'. The only draw back was that we had no pressies for each other to open which we'd planned to do as we were unorganised from spending the week wrecking our livers! We missed the crappy Xmas songs, mass, and the queens speech but the owner put a Xmas film on for us so t'was okay! Hit the sack, SOBER, by midnight!

I think Boxing Day and the days after that were spent pretty much slobbing in our hammock on our balcony, reading and listening to music, and at night eating BANGERS AND MASH followed by episodes of 'Friends' and multiple films! We love modern tourist spots! We found it quite hard to sleep too as we'd been nocturnal for so long, and what didn't help was our pet mouse! The little buggur had made a full-on Tom and Jerry shaped entrance to its house in the skirting board and would squeak every night at 3am! The 1st time we hard it, we shot out of bed thinking someone was in the room cos i swear it sounded like squeaking floorboards! These shenanigans continued for many nights with me waking Chris up, confused with sleep, screaming that someone was in the room, and Chris, with no glasses on, shouting out "Who's there?!"!

Funny times!

I do however have a very un-funny tale to tell! If u check out the vids you'll see that on the beach party they have a gigantic skipping rope of fire for people to skip with! Yes, not a good idea for a scene full of drunk people! On the 1st night me and Chris were shaking our heads at the idiots doing it. However, on the 2nd night out I decided it would be ever so enjoyable to join in with the fun and games....so in I jump and start skipping! Lasted for a good few minutes with this other guy and returned to the crowds laughing and unscathed! I remember talking with our group of ten the next night about how stupid yet very lucky I was to have not got burnt! In spite of this, another Debs, the lass from Blackburn, decided she'd have a go. Must be the name Debs meaning lunacy or something. You can see her on the vid where everyone gets knocked over one by one (obviously not as good as me) wearing a peach top and pointing when she leaves the ring - we had no idea we caught her on camera, I was just randomly filming! Was funny to realise the next day! Anyway, that night, having decided that I'd never skip with fire again, I placed a bet with a fellow traveller of ten baht (thats about 12p - what was I thinking?!) that I could jump through the ring of fire! This was a new game, and as I wasn't that drunk I thought I'd be sensible and fool this guy and win the bet by just rolling under the ring as it was about 5foot in the air. I won! On the downside, I rolled through the petrol that had dripped onto the sand, burnt the whole of my right arm and forgot to collect my winnings! Not big and not clever I know. It didn't really hurt on the night but the next morning, or afternoon, when we awoke I had the ugliest blister and had to visit the pharmacy for bandages and anti-septic cream! Just can't keep out of harms way I'm afraid! That's why I look like a goon on the beach with bandages on! It's okay now, peeled all my freckles off but no long term scars we don't think! I'm sorry parents!

So......New Years Eve then! This was a biggy! We started drinking (just a few beers) late afternoon, and played pool after we'd had some tea, whilst singing along to Swedish songs at this loud Scandinavian bar we hated! After a few jugs of snakebite (lager and cider...with a few shots of vodka from Debs - Alex and Kirby, the classic snakebite turbo from Uni returns!!!!!) and the next thing we know we're painted in illuminious paint and watching the massive fireworks being set off at midnight! Was a very busy night as the tide came in from nowhere and 30/40, 000 people were squished onto the beach trying to make room to breathe! Could have been a better night to be honest but New Years always a let down!

We watched films all day New Years Day, as u do, and on the 2nd Jan we headed off to Koh Tao - the first island we visited - for Chris to get his dive certificate ready for the expensive Oz coral!

That's it. The End.

Don't think I've waffled too much in this one, so enjoy the first week back at work (hahahahaha) and we'll catch u later!

Much love, Debs and the absent Chris

xxxxxxx