Day 25 - Goodbyes

Checking out was our main task for the morning but even doing that was tough going after only having a few hours zzz. We managed to make it to the ferry with plenty of time but when it came time to board I showed them my sticker which our driver had got for us but they told me I needed a ticket also which I was adamant the driver hadn't given back to me. I got really angry saying "how can I have the sticker if I haven't paid?!" but they would have none of it so after holding up the boat for a good few minutes I paid another 350 baht for a new ticket. I sat down next to Sean on the boat and he asked if I was ok and that was the end of me - two hours sleep + ticket troubles (again) = an upset Tui. Poor Sean handled it well and I eventually calmed down. It wasn't the money at all it was just the principle! Anyway, I'm now certain I'm going to find the ticket in my bag but I'm too scared to actually look!

After a fairly bumpy ride across to Koh Tao I bid farewell to my new great friends, Roger, Sean and Niall. I'd been very fortunate that they'd been kind enough to let me doss down in their bungalow for the week, welcoming me with both arms and becoming comfortable enough with me over that time to consider me one of the "lads". I'll definitely be paying them a visit in Ireland next year provided they've returned from there year long trip that is!

It started pouring in Koh Tao from pretty much the moment I arrived, right through our open air taxi trip up to the resort and only just stopping in time for me to wander along the beach to find a place to eat. Fingers crossed that'll be it for the rain now as it'd be a bit of a bummer having to do my PADI in the rain!

Day 24 - Last Night Out

Not surprisingly it took most of the day for the guys to rise so I finally got the blog completely up to date and then went and made the slackers get up so we could actually DO something.

The guys had to book transport back to Bangkok and then take the scooters back so that was our missions for the day. Taking the scooters back turned into an ordeal as Niall and Sean had crashed their one so it had a few scrapes etc on it which gave the guy reason to charge them an arm and a leg. They finally haggled down the price they all agreed on and we got out of there quick smart. Seriously though, it's unbelievable the amount of people you'll see/hear about having crashed their scooters. Generally it'll be after a night out on the buckets at Haad Rin and they'll have been driving home trying to negotiate the nasty nasty roads out of there. Niall and Sean actually came off fairly lightly judging by some of the horror stories we heard and white bandages we saw on people all over the place.

Being our last night on the island we geared ourselves up for a night out, somehow first off ending up at the Thai Boxing AGAIN. I was bored out of my mind for most of it but thankfully there was some serious eye candy to the right of me so I had my eyes trained on that rather than the fight for most of the time. Oops!

When we got to Haad Rin the boys decided they were hungry again so just happend to go to a restaurant that had a bloody Manchester United game playing much to my horror. Sitting in a divy place watching soccer was definitely not how I envisaged spending my last night out in Koh Phangan. Thankfully we didn't last too long there but once we got down to the beach we were disappointed to find that once again there was no music or lights. Just thousands of drunk people sitting on the sand playing drinking games. So what could we do but grab ourselves some buckets and start out own game. We had a serious few hours of "I never" and a revealing and sometimes very embarrassing few hours they were! But a good way to have some laughs at any rate.

The laughs ended for me there as the hours wore on and I got soberer as the guys got drunker meaning it was impossible to keep tabs on them all. Finally after the sun had well and truly come up I managed to find two of my drunken charges to get them home. Bit of a de javu situation really.

It was a shame that we missed the actually Full Moon Party by a day and the days leading up to it weren't the usual madness like we'd experienced on my first night down there. I imagine it'll be a fairly quiet party on the actual night as there will have been a lot of people in the same situation as us with just not being able to stay on any extra days. Never mind, I still had a great week on Koh Phangan, mainly due to being able to spend it with three "grand lads" as they'd say.

Day 23 - Recuperating

The four of us were all under the weather with none of us emerging from bed until after 3pm and staying in a zombie like state for most of the day. We didn't even managed to make it in the water for a swim, just had a very subdues 4pm breakfast at the Coco Hut before watching the guys Ko Tao diving video at a divy bar. It got me really looking forward to doing my dive course next week though!

Amongst our scooter travels Sean had spotted a bar playing a football game he wanted to watch so we headed there for some drinks and then Roger and I left the less adventurous eaters there and went next door for a splendid buffet Thai BBQ meal. I'd been feeling like fish ball soup for ages and that was the main thing you could make aside from cooking the meat so I went to town eating more than my fair share of the soup.

Our favourite spot, the Coco Hut, was our next stop for some cocktails before Rog and I called it a night while the other two boys decided to head to Haad Rin. It was meant to be the night of the Full Moon Party but due to local elections the party has been moved to the 24th. The boys said when they arrived home at some ungodly hour in the morning, that the beach had no music, no fire dancers, no fireworks and no lights. Just people sitting on the beach drinking so it sounded like a completely different vibe to usual. Still, a good sleep was what I needed so am glad I didn't venture out, plus it gave the guys a chance to meet some girls as when I'm with them it decreases their chances of meeting any by about 99.9% they reckon. Ooops!

Day 22 - Mellow Bar

While the lads slept for half the day as usual, I went on the net to get a more up to date with the Blog. When they finally got up and we'd eaten I dragged them all into coming for a walk with me down the end of the beach instead of our usual lazy day spent lying on the sand. Well they even managed to enjoy themselves amazingly, although that could have been due to the fact that there were scores of topless European women sunbathing along the way.

We thought were were about due to hit Haad Rin again that night so we fed ourselves at Coco Hut before taxiing the 20 minutes to the party mecca of the island. Our destination of choice for the evening was the Mellow Bar up in the rocks at the end of the beach which had an awesome deck overlooking the whole beach. The bar lived up to its name and so we chilled out there for a few hours before making our way down to the beach to meet up with some of the lads friends from home.

Well it was an interesting evening is all I'll really say. I wasn't really feeling myself and so while the boys attempted to party and chat up girls on the beach I just sat and observed the whole scene playing out before me. It was a sight to behold I tell you. It's actually quite depressing seeing thousands of people absolutely off their faces having no idea what they're doing. But something that you've got to see and do on Koh Phangan all the same.

Day 21 - Muay Thai

Basically our day consisted of sleeping till the afternoon, lying on the beach, swimming and just having a whole lot of laughs together. Nothing too different to how I'd spent almost every day so far on the island.

In the evening though we felt that we had to DO something so we ventured into Thong Sala for a delicious Thai BBQ and then somehow I agreed to go along to the Muay Thai Boxing. When in Rome I suppose. Well at first it was kids who were all of 10 years old and that was pretty disturbing seeing how seriously they took the fighting. No blood was shed thankfully. As the 7 fights went on, each got progressively "better". The second to last fight actually had a New Zealand guy in it so I had to be patriotic in backing him but he was not a Thai boxer at all as barely could do kicks or knees at all which is what it's all about over here. So not surprisingly he didn't win the fight so I had to buy a beer for the Thai guy next to me who I'd bet against.

It was quite an experience I have to say with a pumping atmosphere and just seeing how amazingly fit and agile those boxers are was a real eye opener. It is not surprising that Niall got annihilated those few nights before by the Thai guys in Haad Rin!

Day 20 - The Reggae Bar

After our killer late night we didn't roll out of bed till about 1 in the arvo and we just had lunch and lazed about with Lisa and Trev before hitting the drinks again about 6. Eventually we got ourselves together and ventured out to the Reggae Bar about half way around the island where we enjoyed a meal and a the vibe of the bar.

We'd asked a taxi to come get us at midnight and we still had an hour or so to go so we wandered down the hill in search of the beach. Well, what a beach it was! We all just sat around completely mesmerized by the beauty of it. It made me wish I had a better camera just so I could take some decent photos of it. And of course while we were there I had to get my photo on what was my third swing for the day. I must be the chairman of the International Swingers Club by now!

After relaxing there soaking up the stunning picture before us we headed back up for our taxi which was a no show but a guy from the bar gave us a ride back on his ute which did have seats but no sides like the usual taxis. Well half of the group were completely paranoid the whole way home that we were going to fall off or crash. The whole way home I was just looking around in wonder at the situation I was in, keeping wanting to pinch myself as it just didn't seem quite real. A very memorable night with so so many laughs.

Day 19 - Being Ripped Off

My taxi hadn't shown up 15 minutes after it was meant to and it turned out that Alberto had gotten my taxi when it came instead of his so it eventually came back to get me and drop him back off. In the mean time his actual taxi had been and gone so I'm not sure how he went about making his ferry.

Well all we did really for hours and hours was catch a few car ferries and drive for a good five hours so most of us in the minbus just slept. We eventually made it to Surat Thani where half of us having one sort of receipt were told to get out at an agency we'd stopped at. Well, there we got ripped off nicely as they went on to tell us that what we'd paid for we weren't going to arrive in Koh Phanang till midnight even though some of the others had been told we'd arrive about 6pm. They said all we could do was pay an extra 450 baht and get the "faster" ferry that left in "10 minutes". 20 minutes later the five of us decided we didn't really have a choice having not booked accommodation so paid the extra and were taken to a bus which drove for another hour before getting a ferry which took about two hours to get to the island. It really wasn't a fast boat so I'm unsure as to how one could have been any slower. Never mind though as things got better once I arrived as after walking the gauntlet through the accommodation touts I went straight to an Internet cafe and there was an email from Roger saying they were ate Charm Beach Resort not far from the pier.

In a taxi I hopped while wondering how I was going to find the boys in the resort as when you stay places here you very rarely give them a name or anything when you book a room. When I turned up though there were not only the three Irish lads but the kiwi gal Lisa and her English bloke Trevor from the trek too, all sitting at the resort restaurant having dinner. It was like seeing family I was that pleased to see them all again after my crappy day. While travelling along, familiar faces are a fantastic thing I can tell you.

After we'd all eaten we hit the booze and the three boys and myself decided Haad Rin would be a good plan. Jeepers, what a place! We started off on the buckets as soon as we arrived so we were on full form after not very long. Things were going swimmingly and were injury free even after all running through line of fire (it was actually piss easy) but that's where the injury free zone ended. At about 2pm I'd say it was, Niall was messing around and picked up Sean and dropped him on the ground. Well, the barman didn't realise they were friends and so sprung over the bar in Sean's defence and Thai kick boxed Niall right in the head and shoulder. I tried to calm things down to no avail so I stalked off in order to not witness any more of the fight.

Afterwards Niall just disappeared and we spent forever looking for him and calling his phone with no joy so we just decided to head home. I needed to go toilet first and upon entering the bathroom I discovered a Swedish guy whose whole face and head was covered in blood. He'd been smashed over the head with a bottle by a bunch of Thai guys. Nurse Tui helped clean him up before escorting him to the doctors with the Thai culprits chasing us with another bottle ready to hit him with. Thankfully his friends were able to hold back the Thai's long enough for us to get him inside the doctors where he discovered he needed to get stitches.

I left the guy to it and went in search of Niall, eventually meeting on the beach where we sat and watched the sun rise as I recounted the evenings events to a dazed Niall. We went and ate a meal at about 7:30am before heading home. Since I had the key with me we discovered upon arriving at the resort, Sean in the bungalow next doors rocking chair on their deck and Roger curled up down on the beach with a towel as a blanket. After some hysterical laughing at the boys choices of beds we finally all rolled into bed at about 9am. I think that's a record for me... I'm dread to think what Haad Rin will be like on the actual Full Moon party if it was like that just for the Warm Up.

Day 18 - Lazy Days II

I was determined to fit some exercise into my day since I'd been lazing around so much the last few days. It ended up not being much exercise really as I just walked to the end of Long Beach and back which took about an hour but better than nothing I spose! After that I just returned to my spot on the sand for some more sunning and swimming. Ah, what a life.

I had to make an escape from the sun around lunch time as it was getting too hot so I had another Internet session after my Magnum for lunch then headed back down into the shade for the last few sunny hours of the day. If you thought my NZ tan was impressive before Ani, then you should see me now!

Alberto and I decided to venture outside the confines of our resort for dinner and ended up picking a Rasta place. About an hour later our meals still hadn't arrived and then the waiter rushed over saying they were out of one of our meals so had to pick something else. Thankfully it didn't take another hour for them to cook that though!

By the time we'd eaten it was fairly late so we decided better to call it a night since we both had early pick ups in the morning.

Day 17 - Lazy Days

Basically my day was spent laying on the beach soaking up some sun. I did managed to take some time out from the beach long enough to move my things to Alberto's bungalow and also going online to FINALLY upload some Thailand photos while having a nice long chat via Skype with Mum and Dad.

A singha on the beach with Alberto while the sun went down was a lovely way to end what had been a very relaxing day.

Day 16 - Ferry Time

I had a 6am breakfast before being escorted by Nana & Pop to my minibus where they refused to leave till they saw I'd driven away safely. Quite a funny feeling for me having been travelling completely independently to then have the grandparents watching out for me, but lovely of them all the same.

I got to have one last glimpse at the tacky tourist hub that is Patong Beach on our way to the ferry. Patong is really as I'd expected though, full of faraang restaurants and bars, lined with cheap and nasty stalls, full of middle aged men with young Thai girls on their arm (something I still find disturbing after 10 days of being here) and the beach lined with chairs. Not a destination I'd choose for myself under other circumstances.

The ferry ride to Koh Phi Phi (where The Beach was filmed) was quite amusing as many people went up the bow of the boast in the hope of getting some sun but after only about 10 minutes they all had to retreat to the back of the boat as they wind and waves were too much up there and they were all getting completely saturated. It wasn't much of an enjoyable journey for anyone on the open decks mind you as the wind and water was still reaching most of the deck.

Koh Phi Phi had big limestone cliffs like in the movies but I'd been told the really beautiful areas were off the main island so unfortunately I didn't get to see that as I was only doing a transfer here to Ko Lanta. As I went to board the next ferry they told me that I had to pay another 350 baht as I didn't have a special receipt. I was pretty pissed off as I knew I'd paid for the whole lot but I didn't know what I could really do so I reluctantly went to find an ATM. When I returned to the boat, thankfully the same woman waved me on saying I'd paid already, so I'm not sure what went on while I wasn't there but I was happy anyway.

The touts came around the ferry asking where I was staying which I managed to ignore and book a night over the phone at a Lonely Planet recommendation, Sanctuary. Two Australians sitting in front of me were hoping for a room there too so we split a cab once we arrived at Koh Lanta and they got the "last room", which I think is what they say to everyone mind you.

I spent a relaxing afternoon on the stretching white sand beach doing the usual, reading, sleeping and water frolicking. After a walk and some photo taking I decided it was about time to attempt to upload some photos which I managed to successfully do, just the Melbourne ones though.

At dinner back at the bungalows I ended up next to an Italian guy Alberto, and we got chatting for a few hours and ended up deciding it'd be a good idea to share a bungalow for the following few nights in order to save some money as both of us had been thinking we'd had to move on with the prices being fairly expensive. Cut in half it's a lot easier on the pocket!

Day 15 - Valentines Day

It was Valentines Day and I awoke next to my grandparents in Thailand - not the typical way to begin the day of love by any means. But I wasn't complaining. Nor was I complaining at the buffet breakfast where I had enough food to keep me going all day and I certainly wasn't complaining as I lazed by the pool all day reading and taking a dip when the heat got too much.

It was Don's turn to be host for dinner and he'd left our destination in the hands of Mark, their taxi "friend". Everyone was giving him grief for not knowing where we were headed and when the driver turned up (late) with a tuk tuk taxi the ladies all panicked. In their eyes the taxi was not safe and so they shrieked and carried on the whole way there which I found quite amusing.

The driver ended up doing well and picking, although a very touristy spot, a beachfront restaurant and everyone was more than happy with their meals. The clan were so funny with the kids coming around selling flowers and things as they were complete suckers and didn't have the hearts to say no most of the time so we were laden with necklaces and roses by the end of the night.

Being V Day, quite a show was put on when, out of nowhere, a big fireworks display was put on for us all and then later you could release big rice paper lanterns into the sky which Aunty Lo did for some lost loved ones. They were beautiful as you could see them in the sky for ages and so it looked like it was dotted with red stars all night.

The same carry on went on when we got tuk tuks back, all of them horrified at the fact that I wasn't holding on to anything for the trip home.

Back at the resort I bid farewell to them all as it was an early start for me in the morning. I'd been very fortunate to be welcomed into their party for two nights, enabling me to live a bit of a high life before going back to my backpacker lifestyle.

Day 14 - Travel time

A quick breakfast and session on the net was had before I farewelled the city that had been my home for the past week and headed to the airport.

I wasn't going to go to Phuket originally as I knew it was extremely touristy but it turned out that my Nana's brother inlaw was shouting his wife and all of her sisters and their partners to Thailand for his 75th birthday and the dates just happened to coincide with when I was going to be around that area so I thought I'd go and say hello for a few nights. Merlin Beach Resort was their destination which is a resort on a private beach the next bay around from Patong on Phuket Island.

Getting to the resort turned out to be as easy as pie thanks to the Thai woman in the shuttle bus so at about 4pm I knocked on my grandparents door in the resort and was welcomed by cheers of glee from them due to being so pleased that I'd arrived safely.

It was happy hour time after a swim in the impressive pool so we headed around to the hosts room and I was able to catch up with the rest of the party of 10. It was quite amusing spending the evening with them all as they were forgetting things, getting lost finding their way around the place etc. I was however, very grateful to be being put up in such a lovely resort so there was no complaints from me.

Day 13 - Mountain Biking

Another fairly early start as today was the day I was to go Mountain Biking. The route I'd chosen to take was the Old Smugglers Route down Doi Suthep mountain into the Samoeng Valley. The group of riders consisted of three others, two from England, and one from France. They were old family friends so conversed in French amongst themselves 90% of the time so I had no idea what they were saying about anything. Made me want to learn another language even more!

The other three had no experience in Mountain Biking before so we took the easy route most of the way down. This suited me fine as at two points we got the option of trying the harder trail and the first time I fell off twice and the second I had to hope off for two sections of it. This was mainly due to being on an unfamiliar bike and the brakes being reverse to what they are at home so I kept almost tipping over front ways due to grabbing the front brake too hard. Scary!

We did 25 kms of downhill and then about 10km back into town. The second leg of the trip was the hardest part even though it was flat but it was just SO hot! We eventually made it to where our guide wanted to take us for lunch which was at the university cafeteria. It was delicious but this was probably largely due to the fact that we were all starving by this point.

Upon arriving back at the hostel I was in desperate need of a dip in the pool and then Collum, the only remaining trekker, joined me to wander the Night Bazaar markets where I finally found a nice Coach watch and a singlet as surprisingly, I didn't bring enough of them! We shared a final dinner and drink together before calling it a night as the days exercise had caught up with me well and truly.

Day 12 - Tacky Tours

I was up early for my tour up to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Rajovoravihara (what a mouthful!) which is the famous temple in the hills on the edge of Chang Mai city.

On the tour it was just myself and an American guy Larry. Our guide Sun was pretty hard to understand so I gave up trying to listen much and just took in the sights of the golden temple and read the signs explaining the story surrounding it. The legend is that holy relics discovered during the reign of King Kuena (1355 - 1385) were placed in a howdah on the back of a white elephant which carried them to Wat Phrathat then dropped dead due to fatigue from the long journey. It was at this point that they chose to erect the temple.

Unfortunately there was too much haze/smog up there so taking a photo of the view of the city was pretty pointless.

Following the temple we were taken to a silver factory and umbrella making factory, which although interesting, were not all that enjoyable as there was a great sense of feeling pressured to buy things, which neither of us did mind you.

I'd had enough so got dropped in town to try find and adaptor which I did successfully and even managed to navigate my way back to the hostel without getting a tuk tuk or asking for directions. I was pretty hot and bothered by this point so after having lunch with Jo I had another afternoon spent by the pool.

The blog was seriously behind so prior to dinner I spent a good hour or two updating it before Jo, myself Colum and two Scottish girls, Leanne and Louise headed to Riverside for some nosh. It was totally booked out there though so we moved along the river elsewhere to somewhere a bit more quiet. This turned out to be a mistake as Colum and Louise's steaks hadn't turned up after 45 mins (while the rest of us had already finished our meals!) so they ended up giving up and settling for chips from 7/11.

Heaven Beach was our next stop which was quite an experience! There were touts (mostly children) hassling us every two minutes to buy things off them, even after the boys had gotten up flower necklaces and roses (bless them). One four year old girl in particular took a shining to us and sat with us for a good hour even though she couldn't speak english (but could count to 10 in english!). Another eye opener was the beggars in all shapes and forms, or deforms I should say. I'm not so good with this sort of thing so I had to divert my gaze any time on wandered into the bar with their tin for money. I'm glad I did experience this though as you can't say you've visited South East Asia without seeing these things.

Jo kindly drove me home on the back of his motorbike, pointing out the ladyboys as we went along. I kept having to pinch myself thinking I can't believe I'm riding on the back of a Thai guys motorbike in Chang Mai city! I have him a quick hug goodbye and firm NO! when he went in for a kiss. That's the major downfall of being a girl travelling alone, everyone assumes you're up for anything..

Day 11 - Lazy Sunday

After having only a few hours sleep, the only thing to do was hang out by the pool all day. I did manage to send off some emails and waste a fair bit of time on the net so that I a sense of achieving something for the day before lazing around doing nothing.

While the guys from the trek went wandering around town us girls stayed behind topping up our tans, sipping fruit smoothies and diving into the pool every half hour or so to cool off. Now that's what I call holidaying! Slightly different to my previous Sunday spent in Melbourne but still a pretty great way to spend the day.

After some cocktails by the pool we headed to dinner then along to check out the famous Sunday markets. Well, they were VERY impressive, mainly due to the sheer number of people there. It was absolutely packed. I was on the lookout for some white 3/4 fisherman pants but didn't seem to be having any joy until right before we were about to leave I found some for 70 baht. A steal!

Back at the BMP resident the remaining bunch of trekkers had a last drink together before final goodbyes were said. I'd been very lucky to have met such a great bunch of people and look forward to visiting them all in their home countries.

Day 10 - Trekking Day 3

An early morning fire was lit for those who'd been less fortunate than me in having double amount of blankets and had frozen overnight. Once warmed up a few of us braved the waterfall again for an early morning refresher, and refresh it did! It got rid of any grogginess there might have been and made me feel completely alive.

We had an early hour or so walk to a nearby village where we jumped aboard a ute and rove to a cafeteria type place for lunch before moving on to the elephant riding location. Here we climbed aboard the beautiful beasts in twos and went for about a half hour ride through the surrounding hills wilderness. Our guide Jo said that it is better in the rainy season though as it is a lot more green and lush but it was still good fun, even if a bit sad as you did get a sense of the elephants being very trapped and not enjoying it much at all, understandably. They did however seem to enjoy it when we were approaching a "food stop" as their pace would increase tenfold at the sight of them and once food was purchased they were very persistent in waving their trunk around to ask for more bananas or sugar cane.

Next stop was bamboo rafting. Before we boarded the rafts we spotted a swing in the water so of course I had to get a mandatory Swingers Club International photo. Rafting was relaxing and good fun just cruising along the river soaking up the sun, that is until we got to a small waterfall where you had the option of getting off. As we disembarked we saw/heard a guy on some rocks on the other side wailing and holding his shoulder. It took forever for the Thai captains to realise what was going on and assist in taking him on a raft to get to the hospital to tend to what appeared to be a dislocated shoulder. I'm not so good with this sort of thing so was feeling pretty queasy watching the whole scene play out before me. Our captain tried to joke about it the rest of the ride down the river but we were all on a bit of a downer so didn't find it too amusing unfortunately.

Once we all got back to town and had a s, s and s, we all met up at the Riverside Restaurant for what was to be a VERY messy night out. The boys had all give me lots of grief over the course of the trek for not drinking so I was pretty determined to show them I knew how to party. Between the 13 of us we managed to polish off a bottle of NZ red wine, numerous jugs of beer, three bottle of Absolute Vodka, a bottle of Tequila and a bottle of Jameson whiskey. It's fair to say everyone was well and truly trollied. Poor Richard drunk so much he was throwing up over the balcony by about midnight so his lovely wife Noemi had to escort him home.

About eight of the boys and myself powered on at Spicy Bar once the restaurant's band had finished up (I'm sure they were glad to see the backs of us rowdy lot!). At Spicy Bar things started to go a little pear shaped with Robert trying to get me to shack up with out other guide Jo. Every time I attempted to dance with another guy Robert would stand right behind me and say "I look after you!" I was getting pretty annoyed and feeling pretty claustrophobic after not very long.

Eventually at about 4am myself and the Germans got a tuk tuk home with a stop off along the way at an eatery of some description. Another hour or so later we managed to get out of there and so finally got back to my room and into bed by about 5:30am. Phew, what a way to end an awesome three day adventure. And I showed those boys that I knew how to party too.

Day 9 - Trekking Day 2

Roosters crowing first at about 4:30am and then again at about 7:30am meant I couldn't copy with the wooden mattress anymore so up I hopped to take some photos of the sunrise. It turned out many of the others felt the same as me so most got up and headed out to take photos then too.

Toast and jam was fed to us before we bid farewell to the two day trekkers of the group and headed off for our second day of walking.

Despite the boys having spent a lot of the prior evening drinking again (and some smoking opium!) they were a lot more lively which made for lots of hilarity as they turned out to all be a pretty crazy lot of guys.

The highlight of the day was when we'd just set off from a village after lunch and our guides suddenly became quite excited and it transpired they were chasing a 6ft (!!!) water snake. Jo kept shouting "My food!" as he raced along the streams edge after it. Eventually they beat it enough with a stick that they were able to grab it even though it was still alive. Everyone got to have a touch of it and of course I had to squeal like a right girl when it was my turn.

Where we were staying that night was some bungalows at a waterfall so upon arriving, those of us that dared to brave the cold water had a shower under the falls. It was effing FREEZING but well worth it as after two days of walking in the heat there was plenty of sweat to wash off.

Another delicious dinner was prepared for us and then later while sitting around the campfire we got to try snake. They had cut it lengthways and then beat it before rubbing spices into it and slowly BBQing it. Now, for the past two days whenever talking about food in any shape or form the joke was that the guides would always say "it tastes like cheeekin". But really, snake DOES taste like chicken! Combined with a bit of fish flavour. I was quite impressed I have to say, as we all were.

I didn't last long around the campfire after my sleep deprivation the night before so I headed to my bungalow with my two sets of blankets and mattresses and managed to fall asleep to the soothing sound of the falls drowning out the beer fuelled laughs from around the campfire.

Day 8 - Trekking Day 1

Banana pancakes are meant to be the backpacker staple so I decided that'd be an appropriate breakfast to begin my day with before heading off on my three day trek. They were slightly disappointing though I must say.

In our truck there was one other kiwi girl - Lisa, her English partner - Trevor, a Brazilian guy - Kamel, two german girls, Maree and Katherine and an American guy Jay.

The drive to the trek was an interest one with Kamel still being drunk from the night before and telling us tales of his night spent boozing with the other half of our group in the other truck. The others were two German guys, Hanass and Joerg, two Northern Ireland guys, Colom and Niel and a dutch couple - Richard and Noemi. Quite a mix.

The first day of trekking we spent about five hours of walking including lengthy breaks. It was pretty slow going as most of the guys were still drunk or hungover from the night before, some of them still continuing with the booze in the morning. There was some great scenery though and the guides did a good job of keeping us entertained with their quirky remarks along the way.

Our first night we were to stay at guide Robert's village which had about 30 people living there which consisted of about four families. The toilets were as they had been throughout the day, squat ones with no loo paper, just a bucket of water next to it to wash things down. I knew immediately that I wasn't going to be spending any time loitering in the toilets throughout the three days. Peeing was plenty enough time in there. The only running water was a pipe that sprayed water out of the ground that constituted as their shower so most of us gave a shower a miss despite our sweaty bodies.

Upon arriving we looked around the village and some of the group purchased some hand made souvenirs from various women in the village. One of the Irish guys Roger was a complete sucker and got a bag, bracelet and two scarves. I on the other hand managed to avoid buying a single thing. I'm sticking to this minimum baggage regime quite nicely so far!

After our beautiful traditional thai meal that had been prepared by our guides, it was time for singing to Roger and Kamel taking turns playing the guitar around the campfire. It reminded me of being on the Whanganui River Trip all over again. We managed to get the guides to play us some Thai songs too which were very soft and poppy sounding compared to the classic campfire songs the boys had been belting out.

When it came bed time it was a bit of a shock to find that not only was the mattress less than an inch thick, but that it was bloody freezing and the blankets were not warm enough to keep the cold at bay. This meant a long cold night spent lying awake listening to others snore and toss and turn as they tried in vain to get comfortable too.

Day 7 - Chang Mai

Another morning of me being a wimp at my hostel breakfast and not speaking to anyone before I checked out and headed to the Domestic Airport for my flight to Chang Mai.

I got there with plenty of time to spare due to my taxi driver being pretty radical a driver and weaving his way between all the traffic at 100km an hour the whole way, regardless of how many cars surrounding us at a slower speed. I was wishing the car had seatbelts!

Flying into Chang Mai it was immediately apparent that it was nowhere near the hustling and bustling city that Bangkok is.

After sorting out my tour and checking into my somewhat divey hostel it was time to take to the streets to check things out. I ended up wandering the Night Bazaar markets for a few hours and surprisingly didn't buy a single thing. A lot of the stuff is pretty tacky and cheap looking although plenty of the bags caught my eye but I'm just trying not to weigh my pack down with items until as late into the trip as possible.

Feeling a bit homesick due to not having met anyone yet and therefore feeling a bit lonely, I jumped on the net and sent of some emails and did a bit of blog updating before getting my first tuk tuk ride back to my hostel. It was fairly uneventful but a good way to take in the city at night as I wasn't game to walk through the streets alone after dark.

Day 6 - Bangkok's sights and smells

To be honest, I was actually quite scared of venturing out of my room, which wasn't helped when I finally did attempt to go downstairs, I couldn't for the life of me find the stairs to get down there! I was beginning to feel like a right fool but eventually stopped being a wimp and asked someone so managed to make it down in time for the complimentary fruit, muffins and toast. I was still too wimpy to chat to anyone though.

Next step was venturing out past the confines of the hostel into the real world. I started things off fabulously with getting on the Sky Train, Train and Boat Cruise along the river without any hiccups.

I made my way to the Emerald Buddha which was interesting for about 10 minutes but managed to get lost amongst the various buildings so didn't escape for another half hour or so.

Outside I asked a security guard for directions to the Grand Palace but he told me I couldn't go in because I didn't have covered shoes on. He then proceeded to show me other places on my map which were good places to see and explained I should get a taxi for 100 baht to take me around. Also most importantly he insisted was that I go and book my flight for Chang Mai asap. So off I went with a taxi to book Chang Mai which I ended up getting swizzed pretty much even though I was very wary but it was hard to know since I hadn't had a chance to research options at all. Also it is the Chinese New Year at the moment which means things are more booked up than usual. No matter.

After booking flights the driver too me to a buddha but I didn't enjoy the experience at all as was completely paranoid after the booking Chang Mai experience. It didn't help that the driver stopped and said "one minute" as he text someone before opening my door and then someone appeared to show me the buddha. Another guy then appeared telling me about and then "recommended" a tailor I must see. My driver caught wind of this and even after I protested saying I didn't want clothes he pretty much forced me to go in "just for 5 minutes". So I obliged and feigned interest for a few minutes before high tailing it out of there.

Next off was Golden Mount which was ok but not quite the Grand Palace I'm sure. I made some noises about being hungry to my "helpful" driver who suggested a seafood place which sounded fine so he dropped me off there and took his 100 baht happily, thank god! Turned out the seafood place was way overpriced so I exited there pretty quick, even despite the three wait staff hovering over me awaiting a decision. Proud of me mum?

Sadly being so late in the afternoon and being weak at the knees, literally, I ended up succumbing to an a/c mall and eating some Japanese gyoza. Pretty disappointing of me for my first real meal in Thailand.

Excuse any spelling mistakes etc in these posts, have just done them all so that am more up to date so trying to rush. Hopefully they make sense!

Day 5 - Crossing the Globe

Twas my last day in Melbourne which meant bidding farewell to my gracious hosts and setting off to the city to meet up with Nealesh.

Really we just did some more wandering together but did manage to find the best graf art lane so plenty of photo ops for us there. Nealesh kindly walked me back to the Southern cross station where I boarded the Airbus and waved farewell to him and the city that I still adore second time round.

The prospect of a 9 hour flight was not something I was looking forward to but it didn't seem to drag too badly at all. This could have been helped by the fact that the seats next to me were blocked out AGAIN so I could lay out across all three, and I think the sleeping pills did the trick nicely too.

Arriving in Bangkok I was determined NOT to get ripped off by the taxi drivers so I did as recommended by some and ignored the offers of drivers on the below level and headed upstairs. A family hopping out of a cab recommended it so that was good enough for me. In the end I think it came to about 260 bahts which is what my Hostel had said it would cost so being so happy to have not been ripped off I tipped him, giving him 300.

Driving into the city was all I'd expected it to be really, dirty, chaotic, sticky and smoggy. But it's just what you have to expect and enjoy from a S.E.A city really.

My hostel was just how it'd been described in the reviews clean and quiet most importantly which was just the ticket for a sleepy Tui.

Day 4 - Recovery

Sunday was spent how all Sundays should be spent, with a sleep in followed by brunch followed by lazing around all day followed by watching a trashy Sunday night movie while eating takeaways for dinner.

We did find out though that in the wee hours of the morning when my cousin Marlee and her friend Simone had got a cab home from the city he'd turned on them demanding they give him their phone or camera as "security" as he was certain they weren't going to pay their fare. When they not so politely declined his demands he did a "u bolt" on the highway in order to take them back to the city. Somewhere round this point the girls decided he was crazy so called the cops or "Po po" as they call them, and then when they were stopped at some lights decided to make a jump for it. The cabbie didn't like this much so got out and grabbed Simone and threw her camera and somehow ended up with Marlee's ID. Needless to say the girls were pretty shaken by the whole event. I'm secretly glad I'd lost them and didn't share the whole encounter with them! Not a good way to end a night on the town.

Day 3 - Drinking Time

Being a Saturday it meant a cause for celebration i.e. drinking. Brunch at St Kilda accompanied by champagne was the beginning on an alcohol filled day. Some un-alcohol related events did occur however like running into a friend from NZ who resides on the Gold Coast now and was down in Melbourne for the weekend, just slightly random! Also we had a wander around the St Kilda festival after brunch, which was quite disappointing apart from the eagles! There was three of them in this tent and one of them in particular was HUGE. We got to pat one of them as the guy did a speech about it saying it could fly up to 200 - 300 km per hour!! Not something you expect to see in Melbourne city.

Mango and strawberry daquiris accompanied our calamari salad back at home before training it to the city for a night out on the town. Much to my disappointment the Rooftop Bar was closed for open air movies so we decided to hit up Mai Thai for some serious cocktail time. Following that was an assortment of clubs/pubs before stumbling across the Carlton where the lovely Yule and Nealesh were so I partied the night away with them and ended up on their fold out couch in Fitroy.

Day 2 - Still at home?

Day two was almost like I was back home again. It was spent hanging out with family, patting horses, going to the beach, texting friends, getting a fringe trim, having a BBQ and playing drinking games. Not the kind of things I would have expected to be doing on my second day into my big OE! But no complaints.

The thing that kept reminding me just where I was though was the endless Kiwi / Aussie battles over our bloody language differnces and slag. Duvet / Duna, Txt / SMS, Jandals / Thongs, Chilly Bin / Eski, Sunbathe / Sunbake, Right / Wrong. Another amusing incident was when I picked that one of the drinking game contestants has some kiwi blood in him. I had a lot of fun teasing him with the fact that I could tell because he looks like he had some Maori blood in him. This horrified him as Maoris have quite the rep over here for being pretty crazy people.

Day 1 - Goodbye NZ, Hello Melbourne

Well as expected the airport farewell was pretty horrible. But it was nice to have a bunch of people there that obviously care about me to have sacraficed a few hours sleep to get up at such an ungodly hour to see me off.

After watching the inflight movie "Into the Wild" I'm feeling rather adventurous, although I do hope my trip doesn't come to such a tragic end and it's unlikely that you'll see me burning my hard earned cash any time soon.

Coming through customs in Melbourne I somehow managed to attract the attention of a 40 something year old scruffy Aussie bloke who, after I'd declined his invitation for a coffee, insisted on giving me his address to go visit him or at least write to him. Was an interesting welcome to the country I must say!

The rest of the day was spent wandering the city exploring all the different lanes, sometimes coming across ones I had visited with Mum and Dad a year prior. I even lunched at one place that we had been to which was playing Fat Freddies which was a lovely way to ease me into being weaned off NZ.

A little jem that I stumbled across was a place called "Little Cupcake" which is pretty self explanatory but it was just adorable, not to mention delicious. I think I could've stayed there all day but the rain eased so twas time to explore a bit more and check out some exhibitions.

After some initial doubt as to wether I was going to be able to, I finally managed to get a hold of cousin Marlee and so my first night was spent as planned, at the cuzzies place about a half hour out of the city.