New Found Home

New Found Home
Well Dan and I have cancelled our tour of the other islands here in
favour of staying in Koh Phangan. The beach raves, chilled out mood
and the fact that Harvey's bar is located on this island means that
we're staying!
I've also found out that the 800baht a day we're paying for our
bungalow is extortionate in comparison with some of the homes that are
available for rent here, from as little as 5000baht/pcm or 10000baht/
pcm (which is what I opted for) which got me a brand new bungalow with
air conditioning, a TV and DVD, electric shower (a rare thing out
here) and a kitchen! That's right, I can cook my own bacon sandwiches
and such in the comfort of my own home. Brill!
Now, I'm sure you all think we're crazy for not continuing to travel
the south islands and for staying here, but I'd be more dissapointed
to leave Koh Phangan than excited to see yet more beaches and
snorkelling spots.
So it looks like were going to be here up until June 18th or so.
Stay tuned...

Brad

Koh Panang continued...

Koh Panang continued...
After a few days recovering from Half Moon, I was finally well enough
to brave the outside of the bungalow.
So we rented mopeds again, which I must say I'm becoming quite the
expert on, and headed north to Haad Yao to see what the beaches in the
north had to offer. The craziest moped journey so far, riding across
unfinished or unstarted roads and 20% downhills, got us to our
destination. The beaches, in comparison with Koh Samui left a lot to
be desired. Gravelly sand, dirty water and tourists everywhere are
what's on offer. It's just aswell that this leg of the trip isn't a
beach holiday.

Brad

Offline Blogs

Offline Blogs

Here they are, the blogs I promised...

Brad

I'm Alive!

WOW!

It's been wayyyy too long since i last blogged, sorry!

Well, where to start?

Last time i blogged i had just been to my first Half Moon Party, what a Thailand freshman i was!

Well to cut a long story short, Dan and I are still in Koh Phangan! We fell in love with the place after the insane parties, chilled out mood and great people we met and decided this was the place for us to spend our time in Thailand.

So I moved out of the resort (which was costing a fortune) and moved into a Bungalow in the North of the Island (a place semi-immune to the invasion of foreigners ever full moon party). My bungalow is...well it's gorgeous, a brand new build and i love it. And i get this paradise home for the shocking price of......200 GBP a month, bills included (Photo's to follow).

Now, Dan and I are quite the Phangan resident's. We have friends both foreign and Thai, it's irregular for us to go into town without seeing atleast one person we know.

However, i have a predicament.

My Australian Visa states that i have to have 2000 UK pounds in the bank to enter the coutnry and my arrangements to take care of this have fallen through...soooo it looks like i'm going to spend the rest of my holiday here in Thailand, perhaps travelling down to some of the other islands to see what they have to offer before returning back home.

My flights booked from Bangkok back to London Heathrow on August 14th (sad face), so I'll be seeing you all sooner than expected!

Afetr making a decision to stay here in Thailand for the remainder of the trip, i had to commence a Visa Run to Burma. Urgh! What a trip. 23hours of non stop travelling got me from Phangan to Surrtiani, Surritani to Ranong, Ranong to Myanmar and then back. A sweaty trip with no food or sleep see's me good for another month here.

I'll update you all with more information on what i'm up to when i have it/when i have decided, but for now I'm heading home August 14th!

I haven't got too much time to update with too many tales as i have very little money on me and i need to go and eat, but i'll be sure to upload my offline blogs as soon as i get chance so you can see what's been going on here.

Speak soon!

Half Moon Party

Half Moon Party
A combination of alcohol induced memory loss and selective memory loss
means this blog won't be too long...

Wow.

...that's all.

Brad

Koh Panang

Koh Panang
So we're here! The highlight of our Southern Thailand adventure. And
after less than a week it's lived up to all of my expectations.
On our first night here we decided to upgrade our room from the
cheapest bungalow to the most expensive. A whopping £5 a night extra
gets us air conditioning, a flushing toilet (that's right, the other
room didn't have one), a hot shower, satellite television and plug
sockets. Not a bad deal at all.
After unloading our packs we decided to head to Had Drin, party
central, to see what we had in store. A town made up of bars and only
bars saw us top up our depleting alcohol levels and decide that it
would be a good idea to ask a stranger if we could hitch-hike in the
back of his pickup truck. A great decision on my part, as the guy
lived opposite our hotel and we were back home in no time.
The next day we took a wonder up and down our street to find 'Harvey's
Bar', a brand new bar Dan had found, owned by a Scotish chap. This
time we really have found the greatest bar in the world.
This place is so new that the pool table had never been used, we order
food from a menu that hasn't even been written and after one nights
drinking, that sees us dust off a box and a half of Heineken, we're
now the barmans best friends.
So far, we've helped write the food menu; suggested, collected and
installed a Playststion 2 from the owners house into the bar and when
Harvey needs to pop out for a bit, we run the bar, serving drinks and
choosing what music to play. In exchange we often get the keys to the
pool table, I got to update my iPod from his HUGE music collection and
when we're the last customers he closes up, turns off the music and we
watch Family Guy until it's time to sleep or until it's time for
breakfast. It's like being back home in a mates house, who's
girlfriend cooks the food and you have a few beers whilst playing the
Playststion.
Half Moon tomorrow...

Brad

Paradise Found

When I said perfect beaches, clear waters and easy living I thought it was wishful thinking. But that's exactly what we've got. Koh Samui is paradise. White sand and crystl water beaches with so few people on them it's incredible. The sea is warm and refreshing and the weather is fantastic. 35 degrees on average.
I live in a bungalow that looks out onto the sea. We have plug sockets and room service! Water costs 15p a bottle and a bottle of Heineken is about a pound.
The food is excellent, usually a toasted sanwich, burger and fries or a salad wrap.
This really is living the dream. I was up at 5:30am yesterday and went for a jog along the beach, sea splashing against my ankles as i ran. That Everest trek really paid off. Half an hour running in 30degree heat was only halted by my body's need for water, oh and the fast that 3 (rabid looking) dogs gave chase to me. However the resort owner reassured me that I'd be safe to continue "jus' thro' stone" she advised me. I decided against pelting dogs with pebbles and went for a shower.
Tomorrow we're going to rent some mopeds and book ourselves a game of golf at the local course. Because apparently I can ride a moped and play golf? I love Thailand.
Infact I'm quite the expert on the old Suzuki moped. Just 2 days ago I overtook an American guy, who was acting ultra cool, on a Harley Davidson...
We've got 7 more days of lounging around on the Koh Samui beaches until we leave for Koh Pang Nang, the paradise island with beach parties every night. Alcohol is bought by the BUCKET not bottle or glass and the government tourist adviser showed us a great photograph of a sign outside the Half Moon Party that read:
No Drink
No Drugs
No Weapons
from outside...

I think I'll be going to the SevenEleven to stock up on Paracetamol tomorrow.
Just had my 1st beer, hmm I wonder where this is heading?