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RTW BLOG

Well I made it to the airport in one piece even though Mum and I couldn't find the biggest Terminal of them all and checked in with my kit with plenty of time to spare. Cost of excess baggage 135 quid !!!! Am going to have to be harsh with my stuff and flog or dump some of it (Not the SCUBA kit though!). Uneventful flight and chatted to bloke next to me call "Don" who I later bumped into during a drunken night out in Bangkok. 1st day was a wash out and spent most of it sleeping but finally got out of the room at about 14:30. Did I say it was HOT. Spent time walking the streets near Koh San Road which is the Travellers area of town. Started to chat to 2 blokes (Dave and Keith) who I spent the next couple of days (and nights) getting proper pissed with :) and they where staying at the same place I was so that worked out real good for me.

 

 

 

 

 


Take courtesy trip to Royal Palace which was fab and had to pretend to be interested in gems and pirate clothes for an hour or so. To hot during the day to do much so read the Lonely Planet to decide where to go next Pattaya next for some diving. Went back to last nights bar and bumped into Dave and Keith again and ended getting bladdered again ! Keith wanted to take in a "traditional" Thai show being the mugs that we are ended up in seedy Thai Brothel and made an exit as soon as we had finished the mandatory beers. Close call ! Went back to Koh San road and left the boys to there own thing. It transpires that they both pick up 2 girls and end up being robbed by one of them and spend the night being shouted at by the girl in the local police station.
April 5th Same again, to hot during day so wait until early evening before meeting up with D&K again for some more quality drinking. GROUND HOG DAY end up trying for show again and end up in same Brothel and exit once again and take a walk around for a bit (Not so pissed this time). Spend quality evening and meet some very pretty Thai girls who proceed to nickel and dime us out of any money they can get but with a drink costing 40 Baht a piece (a quid) it seems like a fair trade for the company :). However must get out of Sodom and Gamora Bangkok tomorrow !
April 6th So I do. Check e-mail and book A/C bus to Pattaya and have final drink with the boys before they leave for Chiang Mai tomorrow. Watch Spurs get trounced by stupid Gooners OUTRAGE !
April 7th Get dropped of at CJ's Apartments and meet CJ who is "Good old boy" from USA and spend afternoon swapping lies with him and other American Sean. Book diving with Mermaids diving for a couple of dives. Spend rest of day getting pissed.
April 8th Dive at 9:00 and get on board boat for the day, Dives not V good at all and end up leading dive for the outfit as I showed wrong card and they spotted OWSI rating ! No ALEX DON'T SAY I TOLD YOU SO ! Meet Barry who is doing DM and maybe AI who dives very well after only 11 dives , no problems diving with him but other buddy pair are a fucking nightmare and think there on some sort of underwater Safari. Bite through reg mouth piece half way though the dive and have to use alternate which has sharp edge on it(must sort that out) for the rest of the dive. Have drink with Barry afterwards to wash salt out of mouth and go to Class School 1 to watch the eye candy :) and then to Rodeo for same :) :) :) Quick wash and brush then out with Sean and CJ to do more of the same.
April 9th


Get up at 16:00 ! try to get Digicam to work, suprise suprise it would connect to aging PC in corner, so here go's ray here's the challenge. Can you issue this to my web site ? Bet you can. E-mail all real soon but you know how it is ' very busy right now. TA TA
April 10th

 


Go out with Sean and CJ to Go go bar after fat joint. CJ is a bit stoned and goes of if a huff which is sorted out later when Sean and I get back. Bit of a misunderstanding by CJ and we kiss and make up :) Shit happens !
April 11th
This site go's live with great help of Ray. Hooray !!! Still no pictures though as the PC was not broken, it just didn't have the com ports connected ! After several electric shocks I give up trying to fix it for my own health ! Packup about 10kg of excess kit including CD player and Scuba pro wet suit for cheap (2500 baht) shipment back to Welwyn Garden. I wonder if I will ever see my stuff again ! Also book plane ticket to Koh Samui for the 15th. Go to get out of here !
April 12th
Another day much like the others but has spoken to "Paul" on Koh Samui who says the place is booked up solid due to SohnKran water festival. Looks as though I will have to wait until it's all over on the 19th before I can get a place to stay on the island. Shame really as Koh Samui seems like a much better place to see the festival. SohnKran Definition (Version 1): Walk down street and get drenched in water by every tourist/bar girl within striking distance with water cannons ! SohnKran Definition (Version 2): Religious ceremony in which participant is blessed with chalk marks on forehead and anointed with small drops of water.
April 13th Can't Remember (Doh!)
April 14th
Nice lazy day for a change! Got up at about 13:00 and went down to the beach with CJ after a life or death buzz though the streets of Pattaya on the back of farty scooter, those crazy Thai's ! Nice and relaxing, couple of beers and watched as CJ skillfully bought a "ADIIDDAS" ADIDAS watch which lasted all of 10 minutes the second he got it into the shower later :).Internet chat with the lovely Hazel for awhile, not much going on at home though mmmmm Hazel :) But chat comes to abrupt end as big pile of KFC style chicken turns up Mmmmmm chicken. Sean turns up with Thai girlfriend whom he can't seem to get rid of :). He gets rid of girl by saying he's leaving in an hour and waves her goodbye. We go out for a drink (avoiding her bar on Soi 8) and he manages to find another one (For gods sake). He's also going to Koh Samui so maybe we will travel together for a while. Has promised to take him for a try dive if he doesn't behave himself in future!
April 15th

 

 

 


Determined to keep the site up to date for as long as possible so spend some time doing just that (Sorry Ray but here's another email ! Not much else really, just another day in paradise :)
April 16th
Can't Remember (Doh!)
April 17th
Another day on Songamat beach with Sean and another soaking by the Songkran gang! That's about it apart from a quick evening on Soi 6 where Sean managed to pickup his dream girl. Obviously an unwanted appendage after that so went back to Soi 2 to Play Pool with "Jai" and then to bed.
April 18th

 


Dive day today, spent an hour driving down to a local fishing village to board our dive boat (I use the term loosely) and set of for the HARDEEP, which is a wreck sank by the Australians during the 2nd world war. What a dive ! The descent line was definitely needed because we had to physically pull our selves down to the wreck hand over hand as the current was that strong ! Even when we got to the lea side the current was still trying to pull us up and into the wreck which was a bit scary as it was 24 meters ! Finished the dive and tried to lock onto the ascent line and had to change from a leg lock to hand as the current nearly broke my leg. Dinner then dive two. Which was another interesting dive which turned into a drift dive for the Dutch DM and his ward who ended about 2 miles from the island by the and and took 20 minutes to find in the middle of the sea! Hmmmmmm dodgy dive outfit ! Back to CJ's and an early night after a quick drink with CJ's mate and girlfriend.
April 19th

 

 


Nice early start to the day, and off of Koh Lan Island with Sean via the ferry (Only 20 Baht!). Got a Taxi to the beach which was everything you would imagine , white sand, blue water and little lapping waves :). Just chilled for the day and spent my time just layzing around. Lovely lunch of Fried chicken and rice which was probably the best meal I've had since coming to Thailand. Even this was bough to us by the local owner who waited on us hand, foot and finger. Later we where invited to the range to fire AK-47's and a couple of 38 pistols. The day ended all to soon and we made our way back to the mainland. We lasted all of 1 minute 48 seconds before being soaked by the SongKran crowd (Doh!). Off to Koh Samui tomorrow Hooray !
April 20th
Flight to Koh Samui at last and check into plush holiday complex. A bit to plush (and expensive 700Baht) so a quick trip into Chaweng to checkout cheaper accommodation. Shame to leave this place coz it's so nice and beautiful and quite. However if I wanted that I would fall asleep in front of the mirror !


April 21st

 

 

 

 


Up late again ! Doh ! Hire the scooter from hell and con Sean into taking a ride on the back :) Stupid gears (Not like motorbike) and flip flops keep getting stuck in the pedals ! Arrive at the Waterfall which is nice but a bit of an anti climax as there's not much water today. Back to Chaweng for the Muay Thai (Thai kick boxing). It's everything you would expect, Violent, skilful and hot. One fighter gets knocked out with 1 kick and lands lick a sack of SH"1"T!
April 22nd

 

 

 


Happy Birthday to me ! Got out of bed at an impressive 6:30 (Yes you heard right!). Picked up and went to Angthong National Marine Park via slow boat. The day was spent kayaking around the sea caves and watching the Newzelanders in the group capsize :) Lunch then a trip to the enclosed salt lake which was a climb and a half but worth it. More Kayaking and then a bit of snorkelling which was Seans first time. He seemed to love the corals and fish etc. even after admitting he's not the strongest swimmer in the world. Lazy boat ride back to Silver Sands and then out to get proper pissed (It's my birthday and I'll do what I want to !)
April 23rd
Lazy day !
April 24th
Not much of anything today, got up late and saw Sean off. He's off to Cambodia to renew his VISA and is taking a flight via Bangkok. A few beers and watch the Arsenal V Westham United match with that goal that never was (NOT!).
April 25th Met some blokes from Harrow and spend the rest of the night Slagging off Arsenal and any other team apart from Spurs we can. A couple of hours listening to the waves on the beach and looking
April 26th

 


Lazy Day in anticipation for this evening festivities, trotted down to the Ticket place and bought a speedboat deal to get me to Koh Pangyang for the Bash. Meet this Israeli bloke who's also travelling alone and into good old Trance. What can I say, Massive , Big up yourself, booyaka etc. Mental, loads of people dancing to the individual sound systems all of which are banging out tunes hard and load. Danced my tits off for a couple of hours until some stupid Swedish bird try's to drown herself after to much beer and pills , leaving me and some Auzie bloke to give her the old primary care and EMS treatment. She's ok just a bit of sea water and we give her over to the paramedics. Drama over and back to the party to drink loads of Vodka Redbull and dance what's left of my tits off :) Time to Crash and wait for the sun to come up.Mmmmmmmmmm Lovely. 7 O'clock and time to catch the boat back to Koh Samui. What an interesting time :)
April 27th What do you think I slept for the rest of the day !
April 28th


Three dives for today, All of them pretty average apart from the last one which is some of the best fish/coral life I have ever had the pleasure to witness in my life. Saw a beautiful ray (Blue glowing dots on it's back) and more....more, well you had to be there, and you weren't :) Met up with some other couples (One Northern Manc's) and some carrot crunchers :) And just had a few drinks and then off to bed absolutley pooped !
April 29th

 


Lazy day once again. In the evening played games with the girls down O'Neils sports bar II. Off to bed early ready fro tomorrows flight to Phuket.
April 30th Arhhh 6:30 again. No cash so dash around all the non functioning ATM's in Chaweng so an able to pay for:- A) TAXI B) Excess baggage C) Departure tax (400 Baht) Quick flight (35 mins) and land after flying over breath taking Similian islands. Get Taxi from Airport to Kata Noi which is kinda quiet after Koh Samui. Treat myself to semi-luxury appartment (700 Baht) with glorious Air conditioning ! Spend next 24 hours on the loo (must be something I ate !)