Thailand, part two!

Bangkok to Koh Samui took far longer than we'd ever imagined it would, it was a little frustrating that a train, two buses, one boat and a cab took us over twenty hours to be in our dodgy dodgy residence. Our hostel was the most horrible place I have ever stayed in in my entire life, and bare in mind I've stayed in a lot of hostels. One day I woke up not only to find no hot water, but no water at all, i couldn't even wash my face. The toilet had a lovely bucket of water next to it as a flush, the bed didn't even come with a fitted sheet and the guy running the place was a joke, I never actually saw him do anything but sit on his arse and order his family around. Don't stay at Ko Kheow 40! WANKER!

Other than that, the five days were incredible, such a nice place, warm weather, (semi) blue skies, great food, thousands of tourists, a beach, a full moon party and bars on the beach. We basically spent our days on Koh Samui Island eating fantastic food, lying on a beach reading books (Life of Pi for me, very fitting I think) and meeting people to party with. Kristal and I met up with Jia on the second day and went to the full moon party with him, we also found Tracy and Lydia on the first night and lay on the beach relaxing and hearing about the travels around Indonesia and Malaysia. There was a really cool Reggae Bar close to where we were staying which is where we did most of our nights out on the Island, it's major downside was you had to walk past all the Go-Go Bars to get to it. Not such an issue as females I don't suppose, still a little disturbing at points. The other great area to drink was on the beach, lying in reclining "hookah" beds and having a few drinks while watching people light off fireworks and lanterns. Even had monkeys dropped on my lap, not once, but twice, they were so cute, i wanted to keep them. This is where we spent our last night with some Adelaide guys we met on the first day and Mark, was a great way to cap off our time in Thailand, and also a great way to stay awake until our early morning flight.

Now for the full moon party, which actually happened somewhere in the middle of all this fun. It was incredible, we awoke to a torrential downpour, need I even mention this was the first time it had rained since leaving Hong Kong. It literally didn't stop raining until we finished our late lunch in Koh Paghnan. Good news though is once it stopped the rest of the night was relatively dry, other than the sleeping on the sand which was cold and wet. Buckets of Vodka, flaming jump ropes, tens of thousands of drunk twenty-somethings and at least fifty beach side make-shift clubs later and you have one Epic Party. Kristal and I went for a walk along the beach at around 8am to find a huge group of people still raging away (clearly not just alcohol fueled) and multiple people with bleeding feet or being stitched up, it was insane. Breakfast, some Friends watching and a huge wait for a ferry (where we miraculously happened to bump into Mark) and we were headed back to Samui where we slept for a few hours before starting again.

I loved Thailand, getting to Laos we had some dramas and Bangkok to the Islands is a bit of a hike, but it was soooooooooooo much fun and I'll definitely be back there someday!