Slow boat down the Mekong and Tubing in Vang Vieng

Hello all, hope everyone is well. I am now in Laos and have been for the last 10 days. My last blog ended with me just about to board the slow boat in 'Huay Xai' at the Laos border. The trip would take 2 whole days lasting 8 hrs each and arrive in Luang Prabang at around 5pm on Friday 18th, with a 1 nights stop over in small town called 'Pak Beng'.

Wednesday 18th November

Slow boat down the Mekong

I had heard a number of horror stories in regards to the slow boats mainly in relation to over crowding. On getting down to the jetty, if you could call it that, a plank of wood stretching from shore to the boat, there were 2 slow boats, both boats already had people on them. In our group we had at least 60 people, which included Andy and Nick the guys from Hull plus a number of other people I had met in the hostel the night before and the few hours in the morning while waiting at immigration and so on. We were pointed towards one of the boats, looking from  the outside the boat was already full with only a few spaces, a few got on a filled the places, however we were still be guided to the boat, it was chaos, with lots of shouting and people refusing to board the full boat, to be fair who wanted to be cramped and standing for 8hrs. In the end we all just piled on the second boat, myself, Nick and Andy decided that we would sit if we could right on the front so we could catch some rays. The slow boats are really just large barges, there is no deck and you cant sit outside or even go outside apart from the small area at the front. Inside the set up is like a plane with double seats (car seats in fact) lined either side, at the rear there is a small 'bar' and i mean small, selling beer, snacks and soft drinks. Further back is a toilet and behind that is sort of an empty galley used for smoking and chilling, well if you call listening to the over noisy engine 'chilling'. So all on board, probably around 80 people we set off at around 11:30. We had already had a few beers and the Hull boys had picked up a slab before leaving mainland. The sun was hot but where we were sat we had the best view of the house as we set off down the famous Mekong River. The boat actually didn't go as slow as I thought it would but still slow enough to enjoy the beautiful Laos scenery and culture of rice fields, fisherman with just nets and green countryside. After a few hours I decided to go indoors and get out of the sun, there wasn't much space so headed to towards the rear, were a bunch of girls were crowded having a good time playing drinking games and getting generally sh*t faced on vodka, whiskey and Beer. A few hours later, guys had joined the group, more drinking games were played and it turned into a full on piss up and party. All kinds of people get on these boats, from backpackers, elderly travellers, tourists on holidays and locals, what some of the older generation must of thought of us and the non party people god knows but we were having a great time, especially the girls who had by now done in 3 bottles of spirts between them and number of beers. During all the mayhem i had got to know a few people and would end up travelling with them for a while later on after Luang Prabang, mainly Aimee, Thelma, Raami, Kirsty and Nit Nat. For now we all just carried on drinking, I also met here 3 Irish guys, Brian, Nick and Paul, these would turn out to be the funniest and biggest piss heads I had met so far on my travels. We had seen the other boat that we had all refused to get on a few times on the river, it certainly wasn't as lively as our boat, we were definitely the 'Party' boat. We arrived i Pak Beng after dark at around 6.30pm, everyone pissed right up, we had to negotiate a steep sandbank, really not ideal for a bunch of pissed up travelling backpackers especially in the dark. Some people had booked accommodation through the guy who had organised the slow boat, he had give a speech about how we should book through him and that we would get ripped off if we just rocked up in the town, most of thought this was rubbish and a scare monger tactic to get us to book through him. However he was partly right, not about the prices but because the town was so small there was little places to stay. On the struggle of the boat i had lost Andy and Nick and was now with the Irish contingency and a few of the girls. Eventually we found a place, well I say a place it was dining room in one of the guesthouses and they agreed to put some mattresses on the floor in a line, it would 35,000KIP each (£3), we took it, we were all drunk and planned to carry on, so anywhere would do for the night. Looking back we all thought it was cheap however since I have had whole rooms to myself for the same price. The thing with the town of Pak Beng its a nothing town, all slow boats stop here so they can charge what they want, it was however I think a very quaint town. We went for dinner which took so long to get our food that I almost sobered up. After dinner which I am sure it felt like 11pm rather than 9.30 we went looking for a bar, it didn't take long, not because there were so many but because there was only 1. 'Hive bar, the only bar in town' a sign read, we headed for it. After a long day most people had hit the sack, however party crew were still going, Aimee, Nit Nit, Kirsty, the Irish guys and Hull Nick plus a few others hit Hive, it was poky little place but we had no choice, by now i had almost drank myself sober, so mostly i sat chatting and at around midnight headed back to my mattress on the floor were I'd join the rest squeezed together like a tin of sardines, great way to get to know your fellow travellers.

Thursday 17th November

On the slow boat 2nd day

After a reasonably good nights sleep despite the conditions, I woke early as always and just chilled and read my book before getting breakfast. We all had to be back on the boat at 9am and soon everyone was waking. Aimee who had left Hive earlish the night before hadn't even remembered getting back and was feeling a little worse for wear. The Irish however were as always in a lively mood, if anyone in the whole town wanted a lie in, they could forget it. We headed down to the boat just before 9, as the day before there were 2 boats and I had already heard that 1 had already filled, the party crew all stuck together and managed to board the same board, however the Hull lads who had stayed elsewhere had got down early and on the 1st boat so had split from them, I'd seem them later however in Vang Vieng. The day started quiet with a few sore heads, especially for some of the girls. The Irish however were straight on it and by midday they and another group who had previously been on the the quieter boat the day before were taking over from the girls the day before. Myself and the Irish had boat a bottle of whiskey and within an hour we had polished it off, we were soon playing drinking games and singing. Some of the people from the quieter boat the day before must have got on ours today and we had a couple of complaints, which in all fairness was warranted, so we moved to the back of the boat were usually the smokers went and carried on with our shenanigans. The day went pretty much the same as yesterday. I must admit on both days i hadn't been that drunk, the bottles of 'BeerLaos' were heavy and filling and I had slowed down, I was really, really missing a nice cold pint of Thatchers Gold cider!!! We arrived in Luang Prabang at around 5.30 and disembarked, as the previous day no one had booked anywhere to stay. So alcohol fuelled we trudged round Luang Prabang looking for accommodation, we had all split up by now and I was left with Aimee, we found a place which to be fair was pretty expensive 150,000KIP for a twin room, however it was nice with hot shower, AC and even slippers. We met up with everyone about an hour later for Dinner. Luang Prabang has a very French feel about it, and Seeing as Laos is an ex French colony it makes sense. Not a party place, the main street sported no out and out bars, only restaurants and cafes, with at one end a pretty big night market. I wasn't too see Luang Prabang as I was moving on the next day to Vang Vieng with Aimee, Kirsty, Thelma and Nit Nat. I had lost all the guys and had no way of contacting them. I knew that within a few days they would all be in Vang Vieng anyway and Nit Nat, or Natalie from Australia and what I would call your typical hippy traveller who wore no footwear ever (unless she was going to the loo and she would borrow someone elses) was a tight schedule and had only a few days in Laos and she really wanted to tube, hence only staying one night Luang Prabang. The girls were cool and as i couldn't find the other guys thought I'd also leave with them. After trying to book a minivan through out hotel, which turned out to be mission impossible we found a travel shop and booked our tickets for the following day to Vang Vieng at the cost of 115,000KIP, around £10 for a 6 hour journey leaving at 2pm. After 2 days drinking all day on the slow boat everyone was feeling pretty shattered. We met for a dinner at a place called 'Pizza' which was known for good pizza's, personally I wanted to carry on my trend of eating the local cuisine which they also served but some of the girls really wanted pizza. I made a good choice with the local food and had 'Lab Chicken' a local Laos dish, it was SPICY though very good and came out quick which is more than could be said for the Pizza's, even though the place was called 'Pizza' and had a huge Pizza menu, they could only cook 1 pizza at a time in the kitchen, so given that there were 3 of us who ordered pizza and not to mention the other punters who ordered, some of the group had a long wait for their food, perhaps they shouldn't call themselves 'Pizza' when they can only cook one at a time. Even though all feeling tired Aimiee and Thelma were up for going out, as i mentioned earlier Luang Prabang is not a party place and the main street didn't have one bar. After asking a couple of locals we were pointed toward a 'discoteque' again very French. We had to get a tuc tuc and after 15mins we arrived at what seemed a very seedy and very local looking bar/club. It was however free entry, it was around 10:30 now and inside it was populated only by locals, not another westerner in sight, the music was local music. I really wasn't feeling it and regretting agreeing to come out, I didn't fancy a beer so chose to drink red wine in a bottle, very random but surprisingly not bad. Aimiee and Thelma were well up for it and danced around while sat at a table still wishing I had stayed in. We were soon asked by a local if we wanted to join him and his friends, it was 3 youngish guys and i was very cautious as they seem pretty drunk, we did anyway and apart from one who was studying English the rest spoke to English but to be fair they seemed pretty cool. At around 11:45 the place was full of people from the slow boat, they had been in another bar but had been chucked out after one of them got naked for a dare, of course he was English and had been a bit of a dick the whole slow boat trip. They new comers were up for a big long night until I advice them that in Laos places close at midnight!! The club did however probably realising they could make some money from drunken westerners stayed open until around 12:45am. By now i was done and couldn't wait to get to bed, we grabbed a tuc tuc and headed back.

Friday 18th November

Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng

After 2 days on the slow boat and plenty of alcohol I slept well and had a nice lie until around 9:30am, probably the latest I had slept in for a while. Our minivan to Vang Vieng wasn't leaving until 1.30pm so we grabbed breakfast had a decent hot shower in our nice hotel and then randomly chilled out and watched a 'Chuck Norris' film in our hotel. Aimiee, 28 from Canada, travelling alone for 3 months until December until her boyfriend meets her in Thailand, Kirsty, 27 originally from Bristol ( we know some of the same people) also travelling alone, Thelma 27, also travelling alone and from Ireland and Nit Nat, also 27 and again travelling alone from Australia all met for lunch at 12:30. Actually on time we were picked up by tuc tuc at 13:30 and taken to the local bus station and we transferred to a minivan. As well as us 5 there 2 girls from England, Lowrie and Ellie and 2 Aussies Sarah and Jack. The minivan was tight and Sarah and Jack sat up front with the driver. The drive to Vang Vieng was far from smooth, with windy, bumpy roads and potholes the size of craters. It was a dangerous road with sheer drops, one wrong move and we were over the edge. Despite the hazardous roads the scenery was awesome, with lots of greenery and mountain back drops, the journey seemed to go on forever, the highlight of the trip and brought a smile to everyone's face was the amazing sunset, the colours of the sky and cloud formation of the mountain range was spectacular. One person that really didn't enjoy the drive was Aimiee, she had felt sick the whole time and really didn't have a good journey. We arrived on the outskirts of town at around 7.30pm, we all jumped in a tuc tuc after bartering a price and we were dropped off in the middle of Vang Vieng near were we thought the hostel was, Kirsty, Nit Nat and Thelma had already booked into one and myself and Aimiee
were hoping that they had space, along with Sarah, Jack and Lowrie and Ellie who also thought they would chance to see if they had space. I think after getting the price down on  the Tuc Tuc the driver decided to get is won back and we had a 20min walk to the hostel. Pan's Place, was a little out of central Vang Vieng and the main hub of action but still close enough to walk. The hostel was run by an expat Aussie, it was basic but had a small Internet cafe and served food from 7am till 11pm. We all managed to get a room, myself and Aimiee got a twin again. The room really was basic, just 2 beds and a fan, the bathroom was a shared one but it didn't bother me and it was clean. We all freshened up and minus Lowrie and Ellie went for a little explore and find food even though it was getting on 21:30. No one was up for going out and seeing as we were Tubing the following day and no doubt going to be pretty smashed we all hit the sack.

Saturday 19th November

Vang Vieng if you didn't know is world famous for Tubing. Hiring a tube the size of an arctic lorry wheel and tubing down the (insert river) stopping along the way at river side bars, playing beer pong and drinking copious amounts of buckets as well being able to obtain mushrooms, dancing, numerous rope swings and slides and generally partying. The combination of water, drink, drugs, slides and swings, is, i am sure you will agree a dangerous combination and thousands of people each year end up loosing money, clothing, camera's and so on, as well as numerous injuries and deaths, nether the less thousands of people head each year to Laos and Vang Vieng for the infamous 'Tubing' experience. So we all rose early, I hired a 'wet bag' from Pan's reception, we hoped it would be enough to carry all our stuff, t-shirts, my small point and shoor camera and money. However I was boardies with a zipped pocket and thought the money in a plastic bag would be safer here, I also looked after Aimiee's too, with between us nearly having 2million Kip. We set off for Breakfast at around 10am had breakfast and then all, (me the four girls, Jack and Sarah and Lowrie and Ellie) set off for the tubing station. We paid 115,000 KIP which included 60,000 for the tube, if you brought it back before 6pm you would get the 60,000 back and signed our life away which basically said no one was liable for anything that happened to you. Our tubes were loaded on top of the tuc tuc and we were driven to the start of the river which was about 20min journey over some very bumpy roads. On arrival we had to cross a bridge, we were greeted by a guy who was sporting a bottle of 'Tiger' whiskey and shot glasses, even before getting to the first bar we were doing shots of rocket fuel, man that stuff is wrong!! We crossed the bridge to the first bar, it had a huge decking area on the river were you could chill, relax and catch some rays before heading down the river. There were also numerous beer pong tables, so we all got involved and played beer bong and started the downward journey of getting sh*tfaced. It was pretty quiet when we arrived when we jumped in the tubes to leave the bar was rocking. We weren't floating down river for long as the next bar was only 200m away, we were soon being thrown lines from the shore and being pulled in by the bar's staff to the river bank. They had a couple of rope swings at this bar and a 10m dive platform, i decided to give both a miss and instead headed for the bar and with flash backs from Koh Chang got on the buckets. Music was blaring and everyone now getting slowly drunk and having fun. After an hour or so we moved on and back in the tubes. We were in the tubes a little longer this time but were soon grabbing lines and being pulled to shore. This bar was less crowded but still enough people to give it an atmosphere, they also had a slide here. This bar is were it all went wrong, I had kept good care of mine and Aimiee's money also remembering to zip my pocket, however after a one time on the slide i noticed my pocket open.. yep I had lost my money, around 600,000 KIP, i was pissed off for no more than 10mins and alcohol fuelled as well as having a great time, i thought oh well, its only £30. Worst was yet to come, the wet bag that we had hired had been stuffed with too much stuff and after getting in the river the last time it hadn't been water proof, it was mainly clothes in it but my camera also was inside, this was also soaked and no longer working, to add to the money and camera loss I had also just noticed that I was minus flip flops!!! Without really having time to take it in, I was handed a bucket and all was quickly forgotten! We hit another couple of bars but by now even though only 4ish the once blazing sun had disappeared behind a mountain and it was pretty chilly even with a beer/bucket jacket on. Some of the girls feeling worse for wear jumped off the river about half way down. Basically tuc tuc men stand at certain points shouting if you want a ride back into town. Myself, Sarah, Jack, Thelma, Lowrie and Ellie stayed on and floated down river for a little while longer, my tshirt was in the bag which had now gone with the girls and it was freezing so myself, Thelma and the 2 girls also jumped with Jack and Sarah carrying on down river. We jumped in a Tuc Tuc and headed back to town, with it being so full I was literally hanging on the back. With a few KM's to go the Tuc tuc broke down, I am not surprised with the amount of people and tubes, we tried to get our money back but it was futile and he wouldn't even get us another one, Tw*t. With only 15min before 6pm we decided to walk back, flip flop less, shirtless and money less I was man possessed and managed to make just after 6pm which luckily they accepted and got my deposit back. We walked back to the hostel, now in darkness, i really must have been hammered even after the long walk, shower and food i still felt drunk. Aimiee, Kirsty and Nit Nat decided they were going to take it easy, however I was up for carrying on and so was Thelma, Lowrie, jack and Sarah headed for 'Q' bar. Now being a party town, you would expect plenty of bars and clubs, this isn't the case in Vang Vieng, everyone pretty much descends on 'Q' bar after tubing, I guess in a way its a good thing, you meet up with all the peeps you met on the river. Q bar in all fairness is a shithole, it stinks of puke and piss but as you can imagine after a day tubing drinking all day no one is any state to care. After a few buckets and a dance at Q bar i headed home around midnight after 12 hrs drinking, I maybe almost 32 but can still party!!!

Sunday 20th November

I awoke the next day still a little drunk and head feeling more than fuzzy. I grabbed some breakfast to see if it would sort me out, it did a little but after a restless nights sleep and weird dreams I was tired. I found out later that most people while in Vang Vieng experienced the same sleepless nights, this I also found out was due to a form of redbull called 'M-150' banned in a lot of countries they add to most buckets to give you a kick, its alleged to have amphetamine in it, which would explain a lot. Nit Nat was also leaving today, we said our goodbyes and Aimiee who i was sharing with decided that my snoring was too much and wanted some girlie love, as Thelma, Kirsty and Nit Nat were sharing and with Nit Nat leaving she could now move in with those guys, which left a room to myself. at only 30,000 a night less than £3 I really didn't mind. The rest of the day I wondered round in a daze, visiting one of the many, many restaurants which most had wifi and randomly played either only friends or family guy. To be fair as shit as the actual place of Vang Vieng is the set up is quite good with all these chill out spots to relax after days of tubing. Mid afternoon i found the girls down by the river chilling and sun bathing. We spent a few hours reading and chilling before the sun went down and heading back to shower and change. We ate dinner in a BBQ restaurant that served fresh BBQ chicken and Fish. I opted for the fish and sticky rice, it was REALLY good. After dinner we headed to a place next door that served 'happy shakes' we shared a few between us but in all honesty had no effect. After a few beers and getting the taste myself and Thelma headed to Q bar again, not Tubing that day and still quite sober, Q bar is a hard place, with most people on a completely different level to yourself. However tonight I was reunited with the Irish guys and Raami along with Jack and Simon a couple of other guys who had been on the slow boat and were travelling together. The Irish guys were wasted as always with Nick barley even able to stand, they hadn't even been tubing had just arrived early in VV and got on it. Q bar closes at midnight and everyone then heads down towards the river to 'Sunset bar' a more chilled and relaxed place with an open fire, usually by now the numbers decrease as all day tubers start to fade away. I left around 3am actually feeling quite sober even after 3-4 buckets, though i had shared them Thelma.

Monday 21st November

With now nearly everyone in town that i had met on the slow boat including Nick and Andy who i had also seen the night before in Q bar it was going to be a lively and messy affair on the river Tubing. we had all agreed to meet around midday and by 1pm we were all drinking and playing beer pong at the first bar on the river. I was right, it was a messy affair, however this time i had only took money, flip flops, Tshirts and camera were all left being with only swim shorts and money i couldn't loose anything. As can you imagine as they day went on it got messier and messier. We didn't make it past the 3rd bar by the time sun disappeared behind the hill side, myself, Andy, Nick and Irish Nick grabbed a tuc tuc back before 6pm to get our deposit back on the tubes. We then ate some food while watching another episode of family guy and agreed to meet at 8pm at Q bar to carry on the antics. I got back to the hostel and laid on my bed and crashed out. I awoke at 10pm, feeling not the greatest, however i showered and headed for Q bar, i took one step inside and turned around, i really was not on the same level as everyone else. I found a restaurant and that was playing friends and was joined by Aimiee who hadn't tubed due to still not feeling good from the previous days tubing. we got some food and watched friends before having an early night.

Tuesday 22nd November

In all honesty there isn't much to say about today other than that Kirsty left for Hanoi in Vietnam. I was done with drinking and tubing, since leaving Chiang Mai I really hadn't had a day off the drink, I had hurt back the previous when tubing and had a rather large lump on my lower back after hitting a rock in the tube, i later found out i had tissue damage and just had to wait for It settle down. I spent the day chilling and looking for a new pair of flip flops which i still hadn't bought since loosing mine on  the 1st day tubing, i was getting used to walking round in bare feet.

Wednesday 23rd November

Dusty Road to Blue Lagoon

I was feeling refreshed but still not 100%, myself and Aimiee along with Raami, Jack and Simon all from England along with 3 girls they knew, Angela, Laura and Sandra and a German guy we had also met on the boat Marcell headed out on a day trip to a local blue lagoon. After a fiasco with Tuc Tuc's and prices we made a rather bumpy and dusty 20min journey to the lagoon. The lagoon wasn't amazing but was good. The lagoon was really chilled with decked areas to chill out and a bar/restaurant shack to buy food and drink. The prices were extortionate and double that of Vang Vieng. The water was fresh and cooling and was welcomed after days of tubing and drinking. There was also a cave to visit, we made the 15min very steep walk to the cave. The cave again wasn't amazing, it was a hot, hot day and we were all sweating buckets but it was nice to do some exercise and something different.

Inside the Cave

After a 30min trek through the cave we headed back to the lagoon to cool down before heading back to Vang Vieng. After showering and changing we all agreed to meet for dinner at 7.30pm. In the mean time the once glorious sun had gone and we had a down pour of rain and when i say rain, i mean rain, the type that stings your skin on impact. Nether the less we headed out to the meeting restaurant which was the BBQ place we had previously been. I had the chicken this time along with sticky rice, again it was good. That night despite me being sick of drinking, i was peer pressured, yes that's right forced into drinking again and after a few buckets i was merrily drunk. In all fairness I was slightly pissed with myself for giving in but had a good night anyway and ended up again at sunset bar until 4am.

Thursday 24th November

We were all done with Vang Vieng and the previous day had decided to leave for Pakse in the south of Laos, there isn't much to do in Pakse but Ellie had lived there for 5months and given me some tips on what to do. The main reason for heading south was to visit the 4000 islands. we had bought tickets the previous day for 260,000 and would be a 4hr trip to Vientiane and then a short stop of a couple of hours before 11 hour overnight journey on a sleeper bus to Pakse. Raami had decided to join us along with a girl he had met Bridget from Australia, those 2 myself, Aimiee and Thelma left behind the craziness of Vang Vieng at 13:30 and headed for Vientiane.  We arrived in Vientiane around 6pm. Though the capital the of Laos, we had all decided that there isn't really alot to do so would give it a miss. So far Laos hadn't really impressed me, the local Laos food wasn't that great and not much to choose from compared to Thailand I was hoping for all that to change when we got away from Vang Vieng. we boarded the sleeper bus at around 7.30, they were pretty cool and comfy if not a little small. 3 quarter mattresses with pillows and blankets set up like bunk from front to back. They were for 2 people and as Thelma shared with Aimiee and Raami with Bridget I had one to myself, so I thought. We were the first on, so i waited in anticipation at the joy of the rest to see who i would be paired with. We set off from the station at around 8pm, I was overjoyed that I could spread out with a bed all to myself. I had just nodded off when i got a shake and a short Laos man asked me to move over. I was gutted and unable to get in the foetal and not wanting to spoon a stranger along with my painful lump in my back, for 11 hours i hardly slept, with no lights on either not even the overhead reading lights working i couldn't even read, it was long uncomfortable journey to say the least, that wasn't helped by now and again the little Laos man getting a little close for comfort.

So finally I am almost up to date after a month of not blogging, I am surprised how good my memory is. I am now only 5 days behind which I will write about in a new blog.

Koh Samet And Farewell Thailand

Hello All, hope everyone is good and well. It's been a long while again since I blogged. So firstly, apologises for being absent. I am  now in Laos and have been for I think for a week. I have really lost all comprehension of time, day and at times even the month. This will be the first of 2 blogs and I will explain my time after koh Chang.

Sunday November 6th

As I had explained at the end of my last blog (if you can remember) I had decided to head to koh Samet with Ellie. Koh Samet a small Island only 6km in length and 3km is north of koh Chang and would be around a 4hour bus journey and 30min ferry ride from the town of Ban Pae. We had booked our ticket the previous day for BHT500 each which included the taxi on Koh Chang to the ferry, the ferry to Trat, minibus to Ban Pae and then the ferry across to Koh Samet. We were picked up at 8am from Siam Huts and should have had only a max 30min bus to the ferry terminal, I say should because we made a number of stops of which one we had to wait almost 20mins for a passenger to emerge from his hotel, along with a very angry German guy who refused to get on the minivan due to the condition of it, to be fair he had a good point with all the tires bald and noises coming from rear suspension. Nether the less, first of all it was a short drive and secondly this is Thailand, what do you expect?? MOT's?!??! The whole journey to Koh Samet was around 8 hours, after changing minibuses waiting for ferries and scheduled pit stops, 4 hours my arse! this is 'Thai Time'. The only saving grace was that we got to see yet again an awesome sunset on the ferry over to Koh Samet.

Another awesome sunset

We researched a beach we wanted to stay on, it was going to be quiet, with no partying or rowdy backpackers (yes I am sure i am one of these at times). The beach 'Sai Thong Beach' and with the island being small i guessed it would only be a short taxi ride, if the roads had been tarmacked it would have been, instead they were dusty, dried muddy potholed roads, only 4x4 cars and trucks as well as ATV's dare try and negotiate these roads, along with of course mopeds, though this was a tedious and slow way of getting round. We arrived at Sai Thong beach. It was less than a 1KM long with bungalow resorts lining the edge with many of them having bungalows only meters from the beach and sea. We were both tired and picked the first resort on the beach, it was BHT400 for a bungalow but not on the beach, we took it and decided that we would look for something on the beach the following day. We dumped our stuff and wondered down the beach, it was dead, hardly a person in sight, the odd couple or single lone traveller here and there. The beach however was almost the colour of snow and super soft, by far one of the nicest beaches I had been on. Each resort had a restaurant that overlooked the sea, and there were more workers in each establishment than there were guests. The whole time on Koh Samet i wondered how they even made enough money to pay the staff. We ate dinner and then grabbed a beer from the one and only 7/11 on the beach, found some deck chairs and drank our beers sitting inches from the waters edge.

Monday November 7th

Tree house on the beach

We rose pretty early after a reasonable nights sleep, grabbed some breakfast from the resort we were staying and then wondered down the beach to see how much the prices of the bungalows were over looking the sea. The ranged from BHT700-1200, this was more than we really wanted to pay. However in the last resort on the beach we picked up one for BHT600 and it was on the beach only 5m's from the sea. It wasn't exactly a bungalow but a tree house. It was tiny with only enough room for a bed but it had balcony with 2 deck chairs which over looked the sea. The bathroom was a short walk away, but given the price and of course the view we took it. The rest of the day we just chilled out, I couldn't still get in the sea as my tattoo was still pretty fresh. So we spent it reading and relaxing.

Tuesday November 8th

Today was spent pretty much doing the same as yesterday..nothing! It was so nice to have some down time, during the day the beach got busier with holiday makers (mainly Russian again) getting ferried over from a boat that obviously did day trips to different beaches on the island. By 6am it was again like a ghost town. That evening though we found 'Roger's bar' it was the only place that seemed to have something going on. It was as the bar suggested run by a guy called 'Roger'. He had a huge collection of music video's, so Ellie and I sat at the bar drinking cocktails,listening to music and chatting to the odd random and local workers who had by 9pm already finished in the restaurants which had now already closed. Roger suggested that we go with him to another beach resort round the coast were it was a little more lively. We were both up for it at first but then decided against it and hit the sack at around midnight. That night I awoke with 'something' crawling over me, I am pretty sure it was ants but couldn't be sure, it freaked me out the rest of the night i tossed and turned with paranoia.

Wednesday November 9th

View from Bungalow on the beach

The previous day I had suggested that we should maybe move from the tree house bungalow to somewhere a little bigger with its own bathroom. We already knew that they other bungalows on the sea front were a little more expensive but it was Ellie's birthday in a few days so as birthday present i said i would pay for a couple more nights before heading back to Bangkok. Ellie was still trying to decide whether to stay in Bangkok or head home back to Switzerland. We found a bungalow for 600BHT right on the sea front. It was nice, with our own bathroom and outside decking area with chairs and table. After moving our gear we decided to go for a walk to some of the other beaches, there was a coastal path which went from beach to beach. We were meant to leave early but by the time we got going it was almost 12 and the midday day sun was so hot that by time we reached the first beach , which only had about 5 bungalows and was very secluded we were perspiring from every pore. We grabbed some lunch and chilled out for a while before deciding to head up to the road and grab a 4x4 taxi to the main beach. 100BHT each later, which was quite expensive and 15min journey we arrived at the main beach. This was as you can imagine very touristy, full of foreigners, and again mainly Russian's. We walked around shops, not really looking for anything in particular. We then ate at a local Thai restaurant, the food was great and it overlooked the sea and beach. We chilled for a while and then headed back. Again that evening we just chilled, Ellie having lots of decisions to make and still undecided whether to go back home or not.

Thursday November 10th

Our last day on the island before heading back to Bangkok, as the rest of the time on Koh Samet the day was spent chilling out. It would be the last time for both of us to enjoy beach life for a while, with Ellie pretty much decided she was going back to Switzerland and me heading north to Chaing Mai and then Laos. We booked our tickets through the Bungalow resort back to Bangkok at a cost of BHT500 each and leaving at 10am the next day for the ferry with the minivan leaving Ban Pae for Bangkok at 11am. That night we walked to a neighbouring beach for food, it was semi lively but still no real bars to talk of, just lots of restaurants on the beach. This beach was mainly for families and the older generations. We found a place but the food was pretty bad and over priced. However we were treated to one of the best fire shows I have seen in Thailand (i had seen lots on Koh Chang) the shows were very impressive and i managed to get a plenty of pic's. (insert pic) We headed back, grabbed a beer on the way from the 7/11 and sat on our balcony while watching a DVD on Ellie's laptop.

Friday November 11th

Ellies Birthday

We were picked up by the taxi at 10am and made our were to the pier were we jumped on the ferry, we would hopefully be in Bangkok by early afternoon. This wasn't to be the case, the ferry was late leaving and it was slower than the ferry we gotten over. We arrived on land at 11:20 and then struggled to find the pick up point. After finding it, we hoped we would be straight off, of course this is Thai time, the lady that had booked our ticket hadn't given enough time for delays on the ferry, the next minivan to Bangkok was now 13:30. We grabbed food and randomly played 'connect 4' in a bar to fill the time. The minivan arrived at 13:30 and with only 1 stop along the way we got into Bangkok at around 4.30pm. We then had to grab a taxi to Ellie's apartment which was only another 15min. We didn't have long to chill out, while on Koh Samet Ellie had arranged with friends to meet at restaurant to celebrate her birthday which was the following day. Along with her Bangkok friends 2 friends from Switzerland were also in Thailand and had come to see Ellie and celebrate her birthday also.

At Condoms and Cabbages

We met in a garden restaurant which despite the weird and wonderful name 'Condoms and Cabbages' was really nice and served great Thai food. there were 9 of us in total. After great dinner, chit, chat, laughs and of course alcohol we moved on to a popular night life area of Bangkok, 'Royal City Avenue' or 'RCA'. RCA is on 1 of 3 Goverment designated nightlife zones and caters for all music tastes with around 10 bars. We ended up in a bar called Route 66 which was big and busy with a mixture of foreigners and locals and played mostly Hip Hop. We managed to get a table outside, now with only 6 of us left we ordered a bottle of vodka and a number of mixers. soon we were dancing and getting pretty drunk. At around midnight we moved onto a club which was back near the restaurant we had been in, so jumped in a taxi. In all honesty the club wasn't really my scene and I wasn't feeling too great, we got in another bottle of vodka but I remember not really having much of it. We made our way home for about 4ish. Was a good night though and Ellie's friends were good fun people.

Saturday November 12th

Today was Ellie's birthday, I awoke really not feeling too well, I had a chesty cough for a while and couldn't shake it, on top of that I felt tired and drained and maybe slightly hungover. Ellie, now decided that she was going to go back home in a week wanted to visit the dentist as it would be a lot cheaper in Bangkok than Switzerland. I decided to stay in bed and get a little more sleep and try and feel a bit better. We agreed to meet at the shopping after her appointment and we could could grab some food. Around midday we met at the shopping mall, I still wasn't feeling the greatest and hadn't eaten, the top 2 floors of the mall were all eateries, plenty to choose from, however it still took us nearly an hour to get into a place, firstly not sure what fancied and the fact it was Saturday every place had a 20-30miin wait. By the time we sat down in the Japanese restaurant we were both almost passing out from hunger, well I thought that's what mine was anyway. When my food came I couldn't face eating, I had barley half and felt sick. After lunch we headed back to Ellie's place and just chilled. It was today i noticed when flicking through my passport that my 30 day visa was quickly coming to an end. Though Ellie had said i could stay as long as wanted, I had to think about what to do next, for nearly a month I had just been playing it day by day. I wanted to see the north of Thailand, Chiang Mai and Pai now with only 4 days left on my visa I was cutting it fine. I had only 2 options, miss the north and go straight to Laos or go into Cambodia on a visa a run, staying one day and on re-entry get another 15 days visa for Thailand. I decided on  the 1st option, getting a flight to Chaing Mai staying maybe 2 days and then moving into Laos and taking a slow boat from Houayxay to Louangphrabang. After chilling most of the afternoon we decided to get a massage from a parlour just down the road which Ellie had a used a number of times before. I decided on just a back and shoulder 1 hour massage. It was a nice place and very relaxing, however the massage was far from so, I opted out of the traditional Thai massage for just a normal one. Now, I either i wasn't relaxed enough or the guy doing the massage didn't have a clue what he was doing but i walked out of the parlour feeling like my back had been hit with a sledge hammer, Ellie on the other hand was on cloud 9!! That evening we met Ellie's 2 Swiss friends and one of the girls brother. We found a nice restaurant close by, still feeling not 100% i opted for a no alcohol day. We ate and chatted for a good few hours before all heading back to Ellie's to chill and listen to some music.

Sunday November 13th

Feeling alot better today, we got up reasonable early, did some laundry had some lunch and I booked my flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai for the following day. My visa ran out on the 15th, I hoped to get into Laos on that day, with the possibility that I may have to pay BHT500 for that day, even though I was leaving the country. That afternoon we made our way to famous MBK shopping mall in the Siam square area of Bangkok. 9 floors high more like an in door market than a traditional mall, very popular with backpackers and tourists, from the outside looking like a fancy up market mall which would sport all your top world wide brands but inside more like a up scale street market. I needed a couple of t-shirts and also a card reader for my Sony point and shoot camera as thus far I had been unable to get the pictures from the card due to Sony having their non standard memory card. After picking up a couple of t-shirts and finding a card reader for less than a BHT100 (bloody bargain) we met up with Ellie's Swiss friends who were going to be leaving for the north that night. We grabbed some food and then headed back to Ellie's. We had decided to go the cinema, so got changed and took short taxi ride to the cinema complex. It was pretty quiet in the cinema, but I must admit the actual theatre was impressive, the normal seats were big and comfy with plenty of room, the sort of seats back home you pay a small fortune for. We decided to walk back to Ellie's after the film rather than a taxi ride and it was the first time i had really noticed Bangkok at night, still at nearly midnight on a Sunday, was full of people and traffic. As a 'tourist' city Bangkok really isn't somewhere I would tell all my friends about back home, however for somewhere to live, I think i would really love it.

Monday November 14th

It was time to move on and after 3 weeks with Ellie, time to say goodbye. We had breakfast at cafe down the road, did some Internet stuff and before I knew it, it was time to leave. My flight was 14:20 and it would take around 30mins on the airport shuttle train. I left around 11am and jumped in a taxi to the station. I got to the airport with no hassles and checked in with an to spare. at 15.30 we are all still waiting to board, that had been no announcement of any kind to explain a delay, everyone else didn't seem bothered and in all honesty nor did I. 10mins later I was boarding and heading for Chiang Mai. I had attempted to persuade Ellie to come with me but TNA, I was going to miss her. I arrived in Chaing Mai just before 5, that morning i had found a hostel dorm for BHT100. Getting a taxi at Chiang Mai airport seemed a slow process and at nearly 6 i finally was on my way, the driver knew the hostel and within 15mins I was paying the overpriced fare and checking in to the hostel. It was weird being back in a dorm, for nearly 3 weeks i had been either ion a bungalow on my own or with Ellie. It was back to actually travelling again. I need to get to Laos ASAP and needed to leave the next day without fail. I needed to get Chiang Kong which is the border town on the Thai side from which then I'd move into Houayxay in Laos and then get the slow boat from there down the infamous Mekong River. The hostel advertised the trip for BHT1700. That included the minivan to Chaing Kong, one night stay over and then the slow boat ticket. The boat takes 2 days with a stop half way to Louangphrabang. The guy at the hostel said that there was a space. This 1 night stay over in Chaing Kong also meant now that my over stay in Thailand would perhaps be 2 days and that i would have to pay BHT1000, i guess its much better than getting thrown into a Thai jail. All booked up I grabbed a beer in the garden of the hostel and chilled, I was soon joined by a group of people and we chatted and drank beer. We all grabbed some food and then went to supermarket to get some cheap beers. Compared to south of Thailand the north was a lot cheaper with large beers being 10-15BHT cheaper. I ended up buying 2 bottles of rocket fuel, the 7/11 had sold out Chang so we opted for a 25BHT a bottle of what I can only describe as snake bite. It tasted like shit and after finishing the 2 bottles along with the 2 from earlier I was well on my way. We then headed to a reggae bar. Here i met 2 English guys from Hull, Nick and Andy who turns out had booked to leave the next day also, we were soon on the buckets.

Tuesday November 15th

The next thing I remember was waking up outside my dorm on a sofa at around 8am, I hadn't even made my bed. I didn't feel too bad but I had stomach pain's, I attempted breakfast but the thought of food made me feel sick. We boarded the minivan myself Nick and Andy at 10.30am, we had a short stop to pick up more people and we were away. For the first hour I felt OK, but soon i was really struggling I thought hangover but it really didn't feel like that and my stomach was turning and in pain. We had a 15min stop to see the white Temple just outside Chaing Rai, it was pretty impressive.

We still had a couple of hours to go and with 10mins before Chaing Kong i really felt like i was going to be sick and almost shouted to the driver to stop. It was almost 5pm when we reached the border town. The nights accommodation should have been included in the price I paid at the hostel. For some it was, for however because i was on my own, they wanted to charge me 200 extra baht, why i didn't really know, i was now feeling very Ill and i just wanted a room so paid the money. Before i could retreat to my room and die we all had to sort out our visa's, the hostel to make things quicker and of course for a small fee would do this for us all so that the next morning on the Thai side at least we could just breeze straight through. After paying $25 for the visa and 100BHT for hostel to sort it all out I crashed in my room, it wasn't long before I had my head buried in the toilet and puking, this carried on for the next 3 hours on and off, I hadn't eaten all day and my stomach and body was in agony. I stayed in my room all night and even drinking water only proceeded to make me be sick again. By midnight i felt better, now starving and no way of getting any food I just went to sleep.

Wednesday November 16th

I awoke feeling much better, even though I didn't sleep well, breakfast was included and it though it was only 2 bits of toast with an egg, made me feel much better. Our visa's had been sorted and the lady in the hostel handed them out. I had paid an extra 500BHt because knew i had stayed over a day, however i now had to cough another 500 as they included today as another overstay day even though i was going to be out within the hour, robbing gits!! We headed down to the border, the Thai side was easy as the hostel had sorted it all. We then had to jump on a long boat which ferried us across the infamous Mekong River to the Laos border town of 'Houayxay'. The long boat took all of 3min's and we were soon in Laos. The Laos immigration was less organised, when i say less organised the office had only 2 windows and with a good few hundred people waiting to get stamped in, it was far from ideal especially when the last Slow boat left at 11:30. by 10am an hour after reaching the Laos border we had all been stamped and ready to go. We were picked up by a guide who would be looking after us and taking us to our long boat. We were showed to what seemed to be a travel office, in total around 60 of us. Here we were left waiting for another 30mins before being taxied to a shop with which sold fresh sandwiches, drinks and beer. We then waited here another 30mins. We then all received our slow boat tickets were guided down to the river and the slow boat.

Another epic blog by Ruffy, really sorry for those that are still reading, its hard to keep up a daily update. I have decided to leave it here, even though i still have 10 or so days to cover but now in Laos, thought it would be a good time to stop and I will blog again very soon and hopefully will get up to date. I really enjoyed Thailand and I am gutted I didn't see more of the North, Chiang Mai had a great feel about it. If i have time i am going to head back that way before going home.

2nd Week On Koh Chang, Tattoo And More Partying

Hello all again, my last blog finished after week 1 on Koh Chang, we pick it up again on Monday 31st October for my second week on Koh Chang.

Monday 31st October

After a quiet night the night before due to today being Halloween and of course more big parties I was feeling pretty good. I had stayed at Ellie's again at Siam for the 5th night in a row and we had decided that it would be cheaper for both of us if I shacked up with her, this also benefited me as it was right on the beach. So I headed back to Magic, packed up my stuff, checked out, paid up and headed for Ellie's Bungalow just off Lonely Beach at Siam Huts. We had lunch at Siam and i bumped into Lek who had designed my scaled down version of the tiger on his wall. It was amazing, all drawn free hand, I wanted it, it wasn't massive but still big. I paid him for the design and said that I wanted it, even though deep down i still wasn't 100% sure, he said to come back the following day at 2pm and he would make a start, it would take around 6-7 hours! I hadn't taken it in when he first told me but later i thought 'shit!!! that's a long time!' However I had always wanted a tiger and this was the 1st I had seen which i thought 'I really want it', I decided 100% I'd get it done the next day. The rest of the day I chilled on the beach and swam as I wouldn't be able to for a few days after my tattoo. That evening we met in Magic Garden for dinner, which was strange, the whole time i had been there, not once had I eaten there. Myself, Ellie, Jazzy, Christina and the French guys met at 8pm, had a great meal, with most of us taking Thai chicken green curry, apart from Ellie who is a veggie and then headed to Siam for the big Halloween party. I knew it was going to be a messy one, i had already started on the sangsom buckets in Magic, I think i was in strange mood and wanting to get wasted. That was soon to be proved, at Siam the buckets flowed freely, i remember dancing around the beach dance floor at around 2am, the next thing i know I am waking up in bed with Ellie only just getting in at 6am!!

Tuesday 1st November

I got up still drunk and headed to Siam, it was now empty apart from a few party goers who had fell asleep there and others still drinking. I don't know what possessed me but i ordered another beer, clearly still drunk and not really knowing what had happened. I left the drink after only a couple of sips and headed for bed. I woke later at midday and still felt drunk, it turned out that i was in such a state at the party that Ellie had to put me to bed, I have no recollection of this at all, along with a number of things which people had pleasure in telling me throughout the day. I met Lek at 2pm, to my delight he had hurt his hand the night before and said could i come back on Friday, that was fine by me and gave me more time to decide whether i really wanted it. The rest of the day i almost hung my head in shame, I had embarrassed myself and upset a couple of people with my actions, I know my limits but for some reason the night before I had gone far beyond them. I laid low for the rest of the day and obviously didn't drink at all!!

Wednesday 2nd November

Today myself and Ellie headed for Whitesand beach. We hired a scooter and drove the 20KM or so in the midday heat, it was a hot, hot day and even the breeze hitting us as we rode was warm. Whitesands pretty much the Costa brava of Koh Chang, with go, go bars and old western men with their young Thai girls that they had probably picked up in Pattaya and had been talked into a few days away on Koh Chang. The beach was really only accessible by resorts as they all backed onto the beach, they were up market and definitely not for backpackers or even flashpackers. The only reason we were here was that Ellie was getting a tattoo from a well known tattooist who specialised in Thai writing, she was getting a well know Thai proverb. It would only take 1hr 30mins, I waited for her and took photos, as well as watching another great sunset. We headed back to lonely, on the way stopping at an Indian restaurant (there wasn't one in Lonely) as we both really fancied it. It was run by an Indian couple from Delhi and it was good. On arrival back at lonely i had a text from Nicholas advising of a party at Paradise Cottage's, which was just past Magic Gardens. I was cautious about drinking again especially after my last eventful night, of course this thought soon was lost. We all met in Stone Free for a couple first before heading to Paradise as the french guys had gone early and said it was dead, well of course, it was only 8pm!!! We left stone free at 11ish and headed for Paradise Cottages, it certainly wasn't dead now. It was a great setting and buckets of vodka and lemonade were on offer, these actually tasted good. For a change we bought one bucket at a time at passed it around, rather than having 2 or 3 on the go at once. Myself, Ellie, Christina, Dani and Gabrielle (american guy who we had bumped into a few times) who had joined us and the french guys partied hard to the early hours. Pierre worked his magic tonight and ended up pulling a rather good looking if not pastie polish girl, their lips were stuck together all night like 2 teenagers at a school disco!!! nice one Pierre!!!

Thursday 3rd November

Sunset View from Siam Huts

As I hadn't stayed out too late the night before or got in a drunken stupor i awoke feeling not too bad. However my body was really telling me now that I had to stop drinking. Even though I hadn't a date for when I was going to leave I had already booked accommodation for the full moon party on Koh Phangan on the 7th for 5 days on 'Hat Hin Beach'. The full moon was on the 10th but all the hostels, due to it being Full moon week required a min 5 day stay. The french guys, Ellie, Dani and Christina where all up for coming with me. So on this I cancelled my reservation, meaning that I no longer needed to be there for the 7th. That said koh Phangan was on the other side of where we were and it would take a whole day to get there, so we all agreed we would keep the 7th as the day we would leave. I was starting to think in the back of my mind that the Full Moon party might be a bad idea this time, I had already spent more than I wanted in firstly OZ and now in Thailand and I knew that koh Phangnan would be a very drunken, messy affair. I would think about it for a few days. Today I chilled on  the beach and swam, we ate together on the evening and then headed for a bar called 'Ting Tong', no drinking tonight but there was a live band on, they were pretty good and then best live act I had seen since being on Koh Chang. The following day would be 'tattoo' day, I was nervous, I loved the design, that wasn't the issue but it was where I was going to have it? top of my back on the left or right or bottom, left or right or bang in the middle. Ellie had placed the design on my back in various places and Nicholas had taken photo's, I couldn't decide between top left and middle of my back underneath my Japanese symbols, the others had indifferent opinions, I guess I would have to wait until he stenciled it on but I think top left was going to be my choice.

Friday 4th October

After a relaxing day the day before and not a drop of alcohol I was feeling good. Myself and Ellie went for Breakfast at a place called 'Joy'. A rustic, quirky old place, much like many of the restaurants and bars in Lonely it was a perfect chill out place and served good food. The french guys, Christina, myself and Ellie had arranged a scooter ride to the other side of the Island to see a couple of waterfalls, we were meeting at Siam at 10:30. While in 'joy' we bumped into Gabrielle and Dani and we invited them along also. I had arranged with Lek that i would be at his tattoo parlour at 4pm, so this gave us plenty of time. we didnt leave until gone 11am, the sun was beating down probably in the mid 30's and with various stop along the way for pictures, water and cash we arrived at the south east of the island just after 12:30. We found a roadside local Thai restaurant where we all had meals for 30BHT, less than 80p. After a longish lunch we set off to find the 1st waterfall, already 13:45 I was starting to worry about the time and getting back for 4. Even between 8 of us we got lost a number of times to the waterfall but finally found it. I figured leaving at 3pm would give me enough time to get back shower and meet Lek. However this wasn't the case we found the start of the waterfall walk and we started to climb into the jungle after 15mins we came to a dead end and had to come back by now it was 14:30, they had found another path but not knowing how far the waterfall was away. I decided that i was going to head back to Lonely, this meant unfortunately Ellie had to come back also, which i felt bad about but there was no other way of her getting back unless she did a '3 up' with 2 of the other guys, not a wise idea. So we left with Ellie driving, it had been flat on this side of the Island and even though she had ridden before she had preferred to negotiate the steep and tight corners on the west side of the island, so we would swap over before we came to those sections. As we got to the west of the Island everything was going smooth, it had crossed my mind we should swap soon but didn't say anything, we came to a real steep section with some 90 degree turns, as we climbed the hill there was a sharp left and then right still climbing, Ellie slowed down and instead of just turning and then accelerating after the corner she panicked and thought we were going to stop so accelerated, I calmly shouted to slow which she did and turned to get back on our side, however there then was a tight right, by now I think she had just lost concentration and accelerated towards the left heading straight for a 4ft ditch, I shouted, stop, stop with my feet now off the foot rests and she let go of the throttle but we had momentum, she turned hard right and next thing we were both on gravel floor with the bike on top of us, I slid from under it and quickly picked up the bike up, we weren't in the middle of the road but if 2 cars tried to pass at the same time at this spot they wouldn't be able to. We were lucky that no cars were behind or more importantly coming the other way, as we had veered across onto the other lane. Neither of us were badly hurt, only both our right sides had grazes on the arms, legs and ankles, Ellie I think taking most of the impact, now sporting a rather large gash on her right arm, she was clearly mad with herself and upset, I assured it was all good and neither of us badly hurt, which was more than could be said for the bike, the front right panel was all scratched, the indicator light pushed in and the front mud guard also with paint scratched off, it was going to cost us!!! We headed back bruised and a little shaken, we got back just before 4pm and I showered. I was now feeling really nervous especially at the thought of laying on my front for 6 hours.

1st Session, outline and Bamboo Shading

I met Lek who made some final adjustments to the design, he stencilled it on the top left of my back, it looked good. Lek started just after 4.30, i was told that bamboo tattoo's hurt less than the machine ones, I have to strongly disagree, the first hour or so went smoothly and only now and again did I feel in pain, we took a couple of 10min breaks and after 2 hours all the outline of the tiger and bamboo was complete. we then took 20mins break were i grabbed a beer with Ellie, who had been watching and taking photo's. After the break it was time for shading of the bamboo, this was pretty painful and thankfully being laid on my front with head turned away from Lek, he couldn't see me wincing. After 3.5hrs it was gone 8pm, the bamboo was finished, all to do now was the shading of the tiger stripes, we decided to call it a day and carry on tomorrow at 2pm for another 2.5hrs. I was already impressed, there was no bleeding and it looked great. I was even more impressed at the precision and detail of the work, especially given it was done by hand, i thought I had it rough, i cant imagine how Lek's hand was feeling. That night there was a party at Siam.. AGAIN!! The now, newly named 'bucket club' were all out but apart from Pierre and Christina no one was really up for partying and we had a reasonably early one hitting the sack at 2am.

Saturday 5th October

Today was decision day, myself and the French guys met for breakfast to discuss getting over to Koh Tao and Koh Phangan for the full moon party. Ellie had been waiting for a couple of friends to contact her that were coming over from her home city in Switzerland. They had been planning to come over and see her for a while as Ellie lived in Bangkok and also like many others had escaped to koh Chang after the floods hit. she was unlikely to becoming with us. We discussed various options of getting over to the other side, most having to go via Bangkok. It was here i realised that i wasn't that bothered in the Full Moon party, I had already partied enough over the last 2 weeks and the fact i only had 11 days left on my visa and i wanted to see the North also, Chaing Mai. Chaing Rai and Pae, I broke the news to the french guys that I wasn't going to go to the Full Moon or even South of Thailand this time around. what i did know was that I needed to get of the Island of koh Chang, I had loved my time here, made some great friends and had sooo much fun but I needed to move on. Everyone was the same, the french guys were still going to go south, Christina had left the previous day to do a visa run into Cambodia and Ellie was still unsure but thought she might go to koh Samet for a few days. After speaking to her we decided that we would leave the following day for Koh Samet. I would stay a few days before heading North to Chaing Mai. We found a travel stand and booked a minivan for the following day to Koh Samet, for 500BHT it included Ferry back to mainland from Chang, bus to Rayong where we would then get the ferry across to Koh Samet. After returning the scooter and having to pay 1500BHT, which to be honest was a lot less than we thought it would be I headed to Siam for the second part of my tattoo.

2nd Session Tiger shading

Well i got to say this was 2.5 hrs of pure pain but in the end it was all worth it, after just over 2hrs it was finished, if I thought the half finished version yesterday was good then the finished article was amazing, I couldn't believe the detail, I was chuffed to bits with it and have no regrets in getting it done and for £150 it was probably half the price i would have paid back home. That night was a quite one, we met up with the french guys for a farewell final dinner and chilled out, no one was up for partying and I think all a little sad to be leaving each other and not going to the full moon.

Me and Lek 

So after 2 great weeks, where I have made some great friends, partied like there was no tomorrow, got a new tattoo and experienced my first and hopefully last scooter accident I leave Koh Chang. After only meaning to stay a max 3-4 days, I really love Koh Chang, Lonely beach is a perfect spot for sea, sand, food and of course partying. The only thing is, its too easy to party, with something going on most nights at one of the many bars/clubs, its very hard not to party every night. There is plenty to do on the island as well as day trips to other islands and snorkeling. The sunsets from Lonely beach are the best I have ever seen and its a perfect spot. I was eager to get out in the end but only because I had overstayed my time there, now looking back i have some great memories and for sure if in Thailand again, will revisit Koh Chang.

Lastly I want to give a big shout out to all the great people i met on Koh Chang who I had so much fun with and who I am sure I will stay in touch with... Ellie, Jazzy, Camille, Pierre, Nicholas, Christina, Gay Dave, Guy, Carl, Dani, Gabrielle and Tomi, Kim, Will, Lyn.

End Result!! Amazing

Koh Chang, Partying And New Friends

Magic Garden Bungalow

Hello All. Its been a while since I blogged, nearly 2 weeks now. I have no real reason other than i have been enjoying paradise island life. Sun, sea, sand and partying, lots of it. I have been on the Island of Koh Chang for the last 10 days. I was originally only going to spend 3 days here but after meeting some great people and enjoying it so much decided to base myself here for a little while. I write now because i am now coming to the end of my time here before I move on to Koh Samet for a few days before heading north. I arrived here on Koh Chang on Monday 24th October, Koh Chang is south east of Bangkok. So i left the not so lovely Pattaya at 8am, booking a place on a minivan for BHT500. It was a 4 hour journey followed by a 20min ferry crossing from a town called Trat. The journey down was uneventful, however I got talking to a girl called Jasmine who had also been in Pattaya visiting her brother who owned a bar there. Jasmine, 19 from Darlington had been travelling for 15months, she had not booked any accommodation so asked to tag along with me to see if they had any spare rooms, of course this wasn't an issue. We arrived at 'Magic Garden' which i had already pre-booked for 3 days at around 3pm. The west side of Koh Chang is where all the main beaches and towns are situated. After reading up I chose Lonely Beach as the place i wanted to be, it was the party place and more for the backpacker, with cheap accommodation and some really cool bars and places to eat. I checked into magic garden and so did Jazzy (jasmine), when i say checked in, we were just given a key and pointed in the direction of the 'bungalows'. We found them pretty easy as Magic only had 12 bungalows for rent. I had never stayed in a bungalow before. These very common on all the Island's are pretty small wooden 'shacks', usually with just one room with a bed and very basic bathroom. The bungalows in magic were on stilts, one room and a bathroom. Very, very basic but as I was so close to the beach  about 10min walk and great socialising and party scene, i knew i wouldn't be spending alot of time in it anyway and for BHT200 a night, it was a bargain. On the porch was a hammock and the 12 bungalows surrounded a garden of palm trees. Jazzy and I dumped our bags and headed for the beach, Lonely beach town is pretty small, maybe only a 1-2KM from one end to the other. We got to the beach were another resort was situated, 'Siam Huts'. They had a big bar and restaurant which overlooked the beach and sea, they had low tables with cushions to lay out and enjoy the view. This was a popular place and would turn out to be were I spent a lot of my time, especially at sunset. We wondered down the beach, with crystal clear blue clam sea with not a wave in sight to our left and a number of beach bungalow resorts and bars/restaurants to our right. The sand not quite white but nice all the same. We walked the whole beach only around a KM and started to wonder back. We were stopped by 2 English guys who were 'flyering', advertising a bar in the lonely beach center, Ricki's, it was that night and as it was Monday was the only thing going on in Lonely as Monday to Wednesday's were usually non party nights. With the flyer we would get cheaper cocktails and half price buckets of vodka, it sounded good and the 2 guys, 'beefy'and 'andy' seemed pretty cool and though it would turn out they totally over sold it we would have a good night. We left them saying that we would come along and headed back to Siam huts to watch the sunset. What a sunset it was, we had the perfect view, I didn't have my camera and was slightly gutted but I would have plenty of more chances over the next 12 days. We headed back to Magic and agreed to meet for dinner at 7.30. We had dinner and then found Ricki's, the bar pretty small but had a vibrant atmosphere. They had a local Thai playing a guitar and singing, he was maybe in his 40's, and was going for the Johnny Depp look in Pirates of the Caribbean. His guitar playing was great, however his singing was awful!! That said, everyone joined in with the songs and soon enough no one really cared as beer, cocktails and buckets of vodka and mixture flowed. Jazzy and I had bumped into a girl from the USA, Christina, 31 from NY, in Siam huts earlier that day, she was also at Ricki's and we asked her to join us. We chatted and got to know each other, Christina soon made a school boy error and mentioned it was her birthday!! In True Ruffy style i was soon wondering back from the bar with 3 sambuca shots!!! As the night went on Ricki's singing got worse, everyone got drunker and soon a french guy called Nicholas had stolen the guitar from Ricki and was strumming out 'Wonderwall' by oasis, the bar was now rocking and everyone was singing in their best drunken tone. After Nicholas was finished i made a compliment and we were soon talking, he invited me to his group, were i was introduced to his travelling friends Camille, Pierre and Cher. These guys had actually come to Thailand to do an internship in Bangkok but due to the floods had come to koh Chang until it had passed, this turned out to be the case for a lot of people i met on Koh Chang, all fleeing Bangkok and enjoying a few days on a paradise island. I would come to be good friends with the french guys, all in their early 20's, friendly, fun and overall great people. That night i also met Tomi, 27 from Finland, Dani 24 from London, also 4 English guys who were on Holiday, Phil, Guy, Karl and David, these guys were just party animals and so funny, all these guys and gals I would come spend alot of time with and subsequently party hard!! At around 2am, everyone was well and truly drunk and we moved onto a 'bar/club' called 'Himmel' were we pretty much just danced the whole time. At around 5am i headed back to Magic, Jazzy already leaving a good few hours earlier and crashed out!!

As always I am detailed in what I have done, i think If i wrote this amount for the next 11 days this would be my biggest blog yet, so I am going to summarise each day the best I can, I hope you can bare with me.

Tuesday 25th October

Rose earlyish despite not getting in until 5am. Headed down to Siam Huts and the beach, grabbed some breakfast and a Lemon shake. Lemon shakes would pretty much be my only non alcoholic drink other than water that I would consume for my time on Koh Chang, i love them and their soooo refreshing!! The sun was beaming, it was hot probably mid 30's and was boiling, I was sweating vodka buckets and sambuca, the crystal blue clear sea was calling, I found Jazzy on the beach and dumped my stuff and almost ran to the water, it wasn't as cold as i had hoped due to the heat but still so refreshing. The rest of the day was spent swimming and catching rays. I headed for Siam Hut again for Sunset, not as impressive as the day before but still great. Jazzy and I then headed back to change and agreed to meet at 8 for dinner. I was ready early and so took advantage of free wifi at magic garden bar. Here I spotted a a couple of girls chatting, one I thought was, you know 'cute'. The next line would become a running joke, as I shouted across to her 'excuse me, do you have the time?' she didn't and i had to ask someone else, the best thing about it was that I not only had my camera and phone on me but also had my laptop open, yes OK, i know it was a cheesy line and I was later to find out that the girl I had asked, Ellie, also had noticed the many other electrical items I could have used to get the time. I ended up chatting to Ellie anyway and her friend Femka. We didn't chat long as I had to meet Jazzy but said that I would be at Siam Huts later as there was a party there, they said they would come down. After dinner at a local Thai place, costing less than 110BHT for dinner and a beer Jazzy and I headed for Siam. It was here i noticed a Tattoo hut, I took a look inside and saw a picture of a Tiger on  the wall, it was about 4ft by 2ft and i loved it. Tattoo's in Thailand, if you didn't know are traditionally done by hand using bamboo. I was to experience how this worked as a Swedish girl called Sarah was having a flower on her foot, it was amazing to watch the Tattooist (Lek, being his name) at work. I really wanted the tiger but it was too big, I wondered whether he could draw it smaller. Later Ellie and Femka joined us from Magic, we chatted and the drinks started to flow, we had gotten a flyer during the day and happy hour was between 6-11 with cocktails only 50BHT a glass (£1). The french guys, Pierre, Nicholas, Camille and Char soon joined us, later Tomi and the 4 English guys, Phil, guy, David and Karl had joined the party. Even though this was an arranged party night at Siam with banging sound system and dance music, it was pretty dead. It didn't matter we had our own little group and soon the buckets of vodka, Gin and Sangsom (local Rum) was flowing with all kinds of mixes. It was soon 4am and everyone was drunk, we had, had a number of people join us, leave and new ones join. It was funny awesome night and everyone got to know each other and have a great time. The night, or should i say morning was finished with a 5am dip in the sea, myself, Tomi, Femka, Ellie and guy stripped to our underwear and waded into the the still warm sea, it was a clear night with the stars shining brightly, and the moon lighting up the night sky. we swam, fooled around and here I discovered my cheesy earlier chat up line of 'have you got the time please?' paid off!!!!!!!!

Wednesday 26th October

Woke the next day at around 9am, only 3 hours sleep but was feeling pretty good. I had arranged with Jazzy that we would hire a scooter and explore some of the many waterfalls that the island had to offer. Everywhere hired scooters and it was the main form of transport for tourists, backpacker's and locals. I hired from Magic and planned to keep it for 4 days, at a mere 180BHT a day (just over £3) it was a bargain. We grabbed a map of the island and chose a waterfall, it had been many years since i had drove a scooter, after a shaky start I picked it up again. We left around midday for waterfall on the east of the Island. Koh Chang is very hilly with lots of windy roads and tight bends. It was nice to ride with the wind through your hair, especially in the midday scorching heat. We reached the waterfall after about an hour. It wasn't spectacular but we had, had to walk for about 10mins through forestry which was pretty cool. We got back to the scooter and headed back to Lonely Beach. jazzy was wanting to book a padi course for Friday so i dropped her at one of the many dive shops. Here i bumped into Ellie, so we headed to Siam for a beer and to watch sunset. This time i had my camera on me, it was yet another amazing sunset and I snapped away, also posing for a few myself (add photo here). Here we got talking to guys from England, Kim, Will, Sandra and Lyn, these guys had arrived that morning and had started drinking at 10am, they were already well on there way. Jazzy soon joined us to watch the awesome sunset. We had picked up a flyer that day for free BBQ at one of the bars on the beach, myself, Ellie and jazzy were up for this, as well as 50BHT cocktails. We headed down the beach to 'Sandy beach' bar where the free BBQ and cheap cocktails were. The BBQ was more than a disappointment, it was basically very small kebab sticks with chicken, peppers and pineapple, we had a couple of sticks and had a cocktail and headed back to our bungalows. We changed and met back down at Siam. The french guys were leaving the following day, their internship was under threat due to the floods in Bangkok and as the situation there was getting worse rather than better there start date was still undecided, this meant that they had to head back home to France, it was sad because they were great guys. So this was their last night and of course we had to send them off in style. The 4 English guys were at Siam, along with myself, the french guys, Ellie, myself, Jazzy and Femka, who was also leaving the following day. We were soon on the buckets and playing drinking games. The french guys at first couldn't get into the party mood and i didn't blame them, they really didn't want to leave. However the drinking games soon changed their mood and they were in the partying spirit. I had been wondering for the last few days what had happened to Christina, since her birthday night i hadn't seen her, this soon changed as we spotted 2 people swimming in sea, it was 2am gone, and just like a mermaid rising from the deep Christina along with Tomi submerged from the water, it seemed surreal but probably only because we were all so wasted on buckets of vodka, Gin and sangsom. Myself and Ellie were soon joining them in the sea, however tonight it was cloudy, no stars and no bright moon, it was also cold. We didn't stay long and headed back out to say our farewells to the french guys before they left in 4 hours. We got to bed at around 5am again.

Thursday 27th October

One of many Awesome Sunsets

Had a bit of a lie in, woke at around 10am and must admit was feeling a little worse for wear after now 3 nights drinking, it wasn't to stop though, the English guys were leaving the following day and tonight was their last night, of course we had to see them off with a few buckets. The day was spent between the sea and beach, by lunch i was feeling great again, the sea, lime shakes and Stuffed Thai omelette's had sorted me out. We all met as always in Siam Huts, myself, Jazzy, Ellie, and the 4 English guys, along with a new friend Chobby from Romania. By the time myself and Ellie had got there they had started a poker game. So along with a few others that weren't playing we sat around chatting and drinking. At around 11pm the buckets were put and being passed round, we had already had at least 10-12 between 8 of us before we left Siam. Himmel Bar was the place to be on Thursday nights, so we headed there already well on our way. Himmel was rammed to the rafters and even though a bar was pretty much a club with a large dance area. The staff in Himmel are awesome, dancing, singing and my favourite pouring pure alcohol over the bar and lighting it, a few local Thai girls got on the bar at the same time and danced with fire burning between their legs. The buckets still flowed and by 4am we must have down 30 between us, if it wasn't for all the dancing I am sure we all would have been passed out on the dance floor with people dancing round us!! The English guys weren't leaving until 2pm the next day so agreed to see them at Siam before they left. I had also received a text earlier that evening from the french guys, they apart from char were heading back to Koh Chang on Friday, they had decided to wait out the floods, this was awesome news.

Friday 28th October

Next day was another sea and beach day, I actually wasn't feeling too bad, i think!!! I say that because i cant really remember now as the days seem to all mingle into one. I know the night before had been big so I know sea and beach would have probably been on the agenda. Myself and Ellie lunched at Siam where i knew the English guys would be. We talked about the previous nights antics and said our farewells. Finally no one was leaving the following day, which meant no farewell partying. Farewells may have been off the cards however welcome back party was now on the cards, the french guys had arrived back and were up for a few drinks to celebrate their return.. more buckets??? Oh OK, go on then!!! Today i had bumped into Lek, the tattooist from Siam Huts, i had asked whether he could re-draw the tiger on the wall in his parlour, he said of course, I'll do it tomorrow, I would have to pay for the design which was cool as I wasn't sure if i was going to actually go through with it. In the afternoon myself and Ellie went for a ride on the scooter, we headed for a waterfall which was just past the next the bay, Kai bae. This waterfall was in a national park and we had to pay 200BHT to go. We hiked around 20mins up to it but it was worth it, hot and sweaty from the forest canopy we welcomed the cool clean and non salty fresh water. it was so refreshing and the waterfall tho we didn't get too close was pretty impressive. we stayed an hour or so and then after a few poser shots headed back to lonely beach. That night we met the french guys for dinner in a french owned Mexican restaurant, it was really nice if not expensive for the amount you got. We headed back to Siam where we knew a party was going on that night. It wasn't long before we were on the buckets, of course. Will. Kim and Co. were also In attendance, along with another group of french internship students who had also fled Bangkok, however unlike new super french friends, these guys were not so friendly and soon enough they were make comments to Will, who even though a great guy is not one to be messed with, luckily he kept is cool after some guys said 'i hate the English but your alright?' and headed to the dance floor to shake off the anger!! Despite the our unfriendly french friends we all had a great night and yet again at around 4am  we all headed for the sea for a early morning dip! Tonight we also met Gemma, Gemma from Bristol, also escaping Bangkok where she was teaching English had come with a couple who had left earlier in the evening so we had invited her to join us, another recruit to what later would be called the 'Bucket Club'.


Saturday 29th October

After 4 days with the scooter i decided that it was no longer needed. I headed back to Magic after staying at Ellie's for the 3rd night in a row. I had parked the scooter at Magic the night before, when i walked past in the morning i thought it was gone as all the bikes outside magic were facing outwards and i remember parking it, inwards. I panicked and headed to my room, 1st thought was that my bungalow had been broken into and  the key stolen, not to mention my laptop and camera. To my relief i was wrong, so i showered and changed and headed back up with the key. Handed it in and paid, i was just about to leave when they called me back, the indicator light was broken, everything then became clear, so one must have knocked it over the night before and picked it up and turned it the other way, of course i couldn't prove this and had to pay up BHT300. Not a huge amount but nether the less, annoying to say the least. I then headed for the beach for some rays and swimming time. I bumped into Christina who again i hadn't seen for a few days. So we chilled on the beach and caught some sun, we stayed on the beach for sunset, which as always was awesome. We then headed to Siam for a beer and bumped into the french guys, we arranged to meet for dinner at a place called 'Stone free'. We met at 8, Ellie, myself, Christina, Pierre, Camille and Nicholas in Stone Free. The had a live singer playing the guitar, not Ricki thank goodness. We ate dinner, laughed, played pooled and drank, it was cool chilled night, i was getting to know all these guys so well and we all got on great, they felt like good friends who I know i will definitely stay in touch with. As the night went on, Nicholas again gave us a demonstration of his guitar skills and Ellie and Christina sang along. We then moved next door to a more lively atmosphere in 'Ohem' bar. We danced and I believe a had a sentimental moment with Pierre and Camille, too much alcohol I think!!! we left around 3am, pretty early for us!!

Sunday 30th October

Snorkelling Trip

Myself, Ellie and Christina had arranged a boat snorkeling trip around some of the smaller Island that surrounded Koh Chang. We were all picked up from our accommodations at around 8.30ish, which was good for me as I had again stayed at Ellie's and had to get back to mine, shower and change. We headed to the next bay along, 'Bang Bao', this is where the pier was and all the boat trip's for tourists and fisherman left from. The trip was only 500BHT for a whole day, it included lunch, drinking water, pick to and from hotel and snorkeling gear, we all thought this was a bargain at £10 for the whole day. We were soon to find out why, the boat wasn't the greatest, the snorkeling gear didn't include flippers and the the actual snorkeling wasn't that great either, with only a few types of fishes to see. However it was a glorious sunny day, some of the Islands looked so exotic and it made a change from drinking or just sat on the beach. The only other down side was that 90% of the people on the boat were Russian. 3 youngish girls in particular certainly stood out. Around 20ish, if that, all 3, i am sorry to say not that great looking, made the boat trip into their own personal photo shoot, I kid you not, they much have had at least 3 different bikinis which they changed between and every time they came back from snorkeling, piled on the make up like it was going out of fashion, everywhere you looked they were posing in every position possible, was funny to see but seriously who do they think they are?? Since then however i must say this seems to be a common thing with the Russians and there amateur photo shoots, even the guys in their tight speedo's and beer bellies!! We arrived back at Bang Bao just before sunset. There was some good shopping here also so we wondered around until sunset and then jumped into a bar for a beer to watch yet another spectacular sunset.


So this was week one of 2 in Koh Chang, i thought it better to post 2 blogs as, with pictures also they would be too big. As you can tell i really enjoyed Koh Chang, Lonely Beach is a cool place and ideal for backpackers, especially those travelling alone, the locals are friendly, the prices for food, accommodation and bike hire are cheap, the only thing i would say is that prices for bungalows rises dramatically in peak season, i arrived just before they changed the prices meaning i kept the original price. I will post the 2nd week shortly, which will include scooter accident, a new bamboo tattoo and of course more partying, late night dips and of course Bucket's galore!!!