Okay so after a morning of sad goodbyes to the TEFL lot, it was time to have the most awkward flight of my life. Myself, Megan and HB already has a flight booked with Adam so obviously having paid for it were going to take it. Knowing that we didn't want him travelling with us after the island's events and just generally his behaviour the past two weeks, must have been awful and we felt awful too, but it was a decision we didn't take lightly. We had put a lot of effort and money into our travel plans, especially christmas and new year so our happiness had to come first. Nevertheless, it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. His plan was to stay in the same hostel as us for two days before he left to meet people from his new job. The hostel was so cute and clean, so happy we stayed there. The old town in phuket doesn't have a lot to offer however the night market on the saturday was pretty impressive and we spent a good few hours there. I bought a snapback which I always promised myself I wouldn't but ahh well. The last day with Adam, we went to a Gibbon rehabilitation, we couldn't see many but the ones we did were so cute, especially the one with only one arm and leg. We also walked to a waterfall but it was no Erawan! On his last night, we searched for a chinese but ended up stumbling across a Chinatown weekend market which was cool. Then the awkward goodbye...
After Adam left the following morning, we didn't really get up to much; we shopped, we slept, we got caught in the rain (a lot), and we had a girly night in with face masks before our transfer to Koh Samui the next morning.
So there we were, Christmas Eve and we were on a boat packed like sardines to a beautiful hotel on a beautiful island, not my usual festive season it has to be said. This was the night I had a mini breakdown on FaceTime to Emma, bless her, I was just missing christmas at home and was tired of travelling but when we popped on a movie and chilled in bed, all was well with the world again. Waking up on christmas day was the most unusual, a casual 'Merry Christmas' to the girls and putting up my christmas cards from the kids, then we went for cocktails on the beach which was lovely. Then I got to watch Megan on FT open her presents! So cute! Our hotel did free transfers to the next beach over so with my father christmas hat on, off we popped. The next town over was so nice, a lot more lively than our little beach, lots of bars and resteraunts and many many westerners in christmas hats which I loved! We found one of the cheaper places to have a christmas roast, yummy yummy, and headed to the bars to take advantage of happy hours. And after a long day, we headed back to watch mine and Megan's favourite film - Forrest Gump, which we have not stopped quoting since. I also got to FT mum's side of the fam too, chaotic as ever but I miss them all so much!
After the actual christmas day, things didn't seem festive anymore, we had a lazy boxing day morning watching Forrest Gump again (dont judge) then in the late afternoon headed to the walking market further down our town. We got absolutely drenched walking home!
Then the sunshine came out the following morning yayyyy! After a morning sunbathing, we headed to Chewang again for a beer and a burger but the atmosphere wasn't the same as xmas day so we headed back to the hotel and had a poker night just the three of us and a bottle of Sang Som, it was such a funny night.
On the monday, we got up for a 6am walk to the Big Buddha in the hopes that we would be able to watch themonks chanting butbthat failed. We still got to see some amazing temples though.
The time to go to Koh Phangan soon arrived and we were staying in the cutest little hut and got to see more of the other TEFL girls. We had a chilled night as we had been travelling and the day after was New Years Eve, which was awesome! Plus we got to meet up with Gemma and Holly who we love! The NYE moon party was mental, we arrived at the beach literally for the countdown into the new year and the fireworks, then proceeded to find 'megans good friend eden' who worked at one of the bars there. We all lost eachother at various times, and even bumped into more TEFLers, Ben and Jaime along the night! I lost my entire bag at one point but turned out I had thrown it at HB demanding pizza and then ran off. Drunk people eh?!
The next day we were all pretty fragile as we didn't arrive home until 7am, and then stayed up catching up with Ben. And ofc it was Emma's birthday!!! So I got to FT home too. Later we met Gemma and Holly so they could fill us in on the night before, such a funny meal filled with laughter and stories, but not much food for me as I was still rough as. So sad saying goodbye to them that night.
The day after, Ben rocked up in a tiny little jeep he had hired to take us out on a day trip to the Amsterdam bar. I can let that speak for itself. Later, we had an awkward meet up with Adam, god knows why we agreed to it, but we were at this time drunk drunk drunk and found the entire night hilarious and had to apologise constantly. But that was the end of Adam, thank goodness.
Another chilled day followed as the Full Moon Party awaited on the Sunday. Ben came over for predrinks and we played a few games before heading over to the other TEFL girls, where things got a little awkward when Mary flipped out at us, saying we didn't make any effort with them, totally the opposite way round but she was so out of it she didn't know what she was saying. The party was not as good as the NYE one and we headed home early in the bumpiest of tuk tuks home.
Our last day was spent by the pool on the onlu really sunny day we had had. It was a nice chilled day, spent with all the girls befofe saying goodbye the next morning.
The boat ride back was so fun as we met a yorkshire lad called Jacko who was a comedian and provided great entertainment all the way through to the train station. We said goodbye to Ben and waited for our very delayed train, which was the most uncomfy smelly awkward local train ever. Not fun.
And that was it, the last of our Thailand adventures. Next stop, Malaysia.