"On An Island In The (Sun?)"

Hey folks,

So it's been awhile since my last post and things have definitely slowed down on the activity end of our trip, but I still have plenty to report. Unfortunately, due to a bizarre turn in weather, a lot of our plans haven't panned out and there has been a lot more confinement to our hostel rooms or porches due to the rain. The locals keep saying that this weather is not normal for this time of year and it should get better any day now, but I'm still waiting. I think today marks Day 8 of cloudy skies and frequent rain, sometimes at a monsoon level. I should be used to it coming from Vancouver, but I've learned that the rain is something I never get used to. I was born for the sun!



Our view from our bungalow on Koh Tao



So our stop in the beachside city of Hua Hin was a complete bust. The weather was terrible the entire time we were there, except our first night. Because it wasn't pouring rain the first night, we decided to go out for dinner and then try and meet some locals or other backpackers at some of the many bars scattered throughout our neighbourhood. We soon learned two things... One, Hua Hin is a city that caters to tourists and doesn't hide it in the least. The streets are scattered with sleazy-looking men that often don't look at all like they are of Thai descent, who hound you at every shop window to come in and buy a suit because they will give you the best deal in Thailand. On top of that, this is the first city where the price of food was stilted and the menus were mostly of European or Indian origin rather than the traditional Thai fare we have grown accustomed to... Two, we learned that Hua Hin is a city for old people. Now to all my family members reading this, don't get offended when I say that by old people, I mean people over the age of 40, but even then, the majority of tourists filling the streets were above the age of 65. This made our efforts to meet people our own age rather difficult and after a couple of hours of walking the streets in search for a cheaper venue with fellow backpackers, we gave up and headed to bed early. The next morning, it was pouring down buckets and so we had to cancel our bike tour we had been looking forward to. We spent the day lazing around our hostel (which was actually quite a peaceful one) and napping before our long journey late at night to Chumpon, the transfer point for getting to the islands.

We departed from Hua Hin at 11:30PM by bus and arrived at the pier at around 5AM where we waited till 7AM for our boat to leave. The boat ride was by far the rockiest I have ever been on, a combination of rain and waves slamming against the window and making the wood groan ever ten seconds. Luckily, I had my MP3 player handy and was able to tune out those around me, because although I don't get motion sick (like my poor buddy Goose who was outside puking the whole two and a half hours), I can't stand the sound of others puking and there were at least eight people around me who couldn't hold in their breakfasts! The little kid next to me was cute for the first ten minutes of our journey but not when he was swaying into me with a bag over his face... Upon arrival on Koh Tao, our first island stop for one night before heading to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party, I quickly looked up a nice place to stay and we hopped on the back of a pick-up and drove there. The place turned out to be pricier than what Lonely Planet quoted, but we were tired and didn't want to find another place so we decided to splurge. We had a fantastic bungalow perched on the rocks overlooking an amazing turquoise blue bay. The only thing that would have made the view more picturesque would have been the blinding sun we so desperately craved, but alas, it was not meant to be...

Full Moon Party insanity!

The next destination was the island of Koh Phangan, better known as the home to the world-renowned Full Moon Party. Our arrival was greeted by one of the craziest rainfalls I've seen yet and our stupid money-blind taxi driver (who crammed 12 of us into the back of his pick-up!) dropped us off at the wrong destination, a hostel about 1 km down the road from where we actually were supposed to be staying. So we trudged through the rain to our hostel and arrived looking like we had taken showers but happy to have at least arrived. Not for long... the hostel alerted us that the partner website we had used to book the hostel had never notified them about our booking and that this was a common problem with Hostelbookers.com (don't use it people!). The man in charge of the booking confirmation had disconnected his phone so it was impossible for the hostel to contact him and tell him to stop this nonsense. So we said goodbye to our booking deposit, but thankfully the woman running the hostel found a bungalow for us right on the beach and it just so happened to be the last one and not out of our price range. How lucky we were, because it had a fantastic view, a comfortable hammock, a mini-fridge to store my insulin, a nice bathtub, a great little restaurant, an adjoining internet cafe with Skype access, and a taxi service to the Full Moon Party and to the ferry for our departure two days later! The woman running the place, who I will refer to as "I Heart Bear" because that is the only shirt I saw her wear in three days, was amazing at her job and very helpful and accommodating. So we settled in and took the day to get some rest before amping ourselves up for the Full Moon Party... 10PM came quickly and we were off, zooming across the island in a taxi bound for the craziest party any of us will ever experience. Stories and rumours couldn't quite prepare me for what met us at Haad Hin beach... Booths galore selling neon merchandise, from tank tops and hats, to jewelry and glow-sticks... hundreds of booths selling buckets of alcohol, the only way to drink at the Full Moon Party, where they pour in a small bottle of whiskey or vodka and mix it with Coke and Red Bull to keep you dancing all night. The amount they must have made off the thousands of 20-somethings ready to get drunk is incalculable... and then there was the beach itself, a 2km stretch of white sand packed full of thousands upon thousands of sweaty, dehydrated partiers, dancing their little hearts out to loud DJ's and ready to make the night one to remember (or one to forget!). There were people skipping with a fire-rope, which was ending badly for most of them, people using the ocean as a toilet all along the shore, and people on their worst behaviour, aware that most were not foolish enough to bring a camera to document their temporary insanity... After a night of debauchery, I managed to walk down the road a few kilometres (barefoot at this point, I lost my sandals within the first hour), and got a good deal on a cab back to our hostel at 6AM. I paid only 100 Baht (around $3.30CDN) whereas my good friends, who took cabs home at different times, each blew around 1000 Baht for a motorcycle ride home, something I surely couldn't have stomached at that point. I can now say I have experienced one of the craziest parties in the world, although I'm not sure I would do it again... It was a little too crazy for my taste!

Grandmother Rock

Grandfather Rock

Our last island stop (as a group at least) was the island of Koh Samui, the most southern and largest island on the Western gulf of Thailand. We spent three days on the island, once again a little confined by the rain but we got a little time in on the beach. We stuck mostly to our little neighbourhood next to the main beach and ate at a cool little 24hr restaurant called Ninja Crepes which had over 100 items on the menu to choose from, most of them fried and coronary-inducing. We made one trip on our last day to the Grandfather and Grandmother Rocks, a famous spot on Koh Samui where nature imitates man. The story goes that an elderly couple were on a fishing boat long ago and a storm threw their boat up against the rocks on the shore, leaving their remains to become one with the surrounding landscape. This results in two rocks, coincidentally very close to one another, that resemble... well I'll let the pictures explain... I also found a little art gallery with a guy my age who was quite talented and paints a lot of contemporary pop culture paintings. I decided to buy one of The Joker from the movie The Dark Knight which will be a nice wall hanging when I finally return home to Vancouver (and which will certainly make my brothers jealous). Because I didn't want to pay high prices for shipping, the guy offered to drive me on his motorbike to the post office to get the cheapest shipping price (which I did get thanks to him!). However, the experience of driving on the back of his bike was absolutely one of the most terrifying experiences of my life! As soon as we got going, the rain came down and hammered the streets, completely blinding me as we zoomed in and out of traffic through narrow alleyways . Drivers in Thailand rarely stay on one side of the road, and this painter was no exception! At one point, we actually hit a bump and got off the ground! I have no idea how he was able to see in the rain, without anything shielding his eyes from the pelting raindrops, but thankfully he got me back to my hostel in one piece and shook my hand goodbye. Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

This morning, we took a flight to Phuket on a tiny, little plane which looked like it was straight out of an Austin Powers movie and began a tour with TourPhuket. The first day was short and sweet, a few stops at key cultural points in the city, but nothing too special. Tomorrow, we being an island-hopping adventure and visit the sites of two famous movies so I will update you soon on how that goes.

Hope you're all fantastic and keep me updated on your lives too!

Ciao for now,

Max