Well, I guess this is my last entry from Thailand after an amazing month here. I feel like we've seen so much and covered a lot of ground (although of course, in reality, we have just scratched the surface) I'm now back in Bangkok, having survived the Full Moon Party. Harnaik left for England yesterday evening and I'm here for a couple of days on my own before flying to Beijing. It feels a bit weird not having Harnaik here anymore.

The full moon party was the most amazing experience. We went along with Claire and Keera (the aussie girls we met at our resort). We also met a couple of guys called Chris and Dave from Brighton who we knew from our resort.

We arrived about midnight and the party was in full swing. It's one of those things where you have to be there to understand how amazing it was in terms of atmosphere (see my Full Moon Party photo album). There was an estimated 15,000 people partying on the beach, without a care in the world. The music was out of this world - trance, drum and bass, dance, R & B depending on which DJ station you went to.

There were no inhibitions, people just come up to talk to you randomly. We drank literally bucketloads of alcohol (a feature of the Full Moon Party are the buckets which are mixed drinks served in small plastic pails. A bottle of alcohol (usually Sang Som rum) is poured over ice and topped up with a can of Coke and a bottle of Red Bull syrup. Several straws are then thrown in. Needless to say we got through a few of these but could afford to at only 200 bht (about 3 pounds a bucket). I can't imagine that I'll ever get to go to a bigger and better party ever again - it was ace. Everyone should experience a Full Moon Party at least once in their lifetime.

It made me laugh when I saw all the people sleeping in the designated sleeping area on the beach (see the pics). For some people it just became a little too much.

We had a great laugh and Claire and Keera were excellent company and a real laugh. The party ended for us about 6am when the sun came up because we were very drunk and very tired. We also needed to check out by 10.30 the next morning - (ouch) just a couple of hour sleep. It was worse for Claire and Keera - they had to catch a boat at 8.30am and we left them at the party at 6am!

We will be staying in touch with them (in fact I just got an email to say they missed their flight to Oz and are in Bangkok so will probably hook up with them for dinner this evening before they fly tomorrow). Can't wait to hear the story about the flight.

Needless to say, We were both in a bit of a bad way in the morning, so had to literally chuck the stuff in our backpacks and leave. We got a taxi to the port and endured a tedious 4 hour sea crossing to Don Sak, followed by a 2 hour coach journey from the port to the train station (and the young coach driver drove like a madman racing with another coach virtually all the way - wondered whether we would make it in one piece).

We then boarded the overnight train at Surat Thani by which time we were feeling rough x 1000. I didn't sleep well on the train so felt even worse on arrival in Bangkok (although I would recommend the overnight trains here as they are comfortable (go first class because then it's a cabin for 2 rather than 40 but avoid the food because it's dire). To make matters worse, I think I pulled a muscle in my leg at some point so had to hobble off the train and then got a really bad stomach upset which has just cleared up today (the last time I eat food from a stall on a platform!!).

I'm just going to wonder round and enjoy Bangkok for a couple of days - shop, eat Swensens ice cream and relax. I want to go see all the people doing Tai Chi in Lumphini park in the morning (apparently it's amazing but will mean getting up early). I also want to explore a bit more on the Skytrain (similar to docklands light railway but Bangkok equivalent of London underground but overground).

THANKS FOR READING - THAILAND OVER AND OUT (ALMOST) - BEIJING HERE I COME!

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