Around the World in 120 Days

First stop: Thailand. Aka, LOS (Land of Smiles). After flying back to the UK for a week, we headed off. With a fleeting stop in Abu Dhabi, followed by a small tumble down some very public stairs, finishing with (another) long plane ride, we finally arrived in Thailand.

Following the steady stream of backpackers, we took the overnight train down to Surat Thani. An interesting experience to say the least. The drop down flip beds were quaint, and despite the ladder required to climb up to, manageable. Even the random stops and noisy commuters were novel. Less thrilling however, were perhaps the toilets. Essentially a hole in the floor of the carriage which opened up onto the tracks. Interesting. Aiding this already difficult setup was a definite lack of anything to hold on to. The whole escapade involved a lot of balance and strength in the quad muscles. At least I savoured a little dignity, unlike HT who was subjected to a demonstration, despite her protests, on the proper squatting technique. 

Finally we arrived at Shiralea (Had Yao), Koh Phangan. We had racked up an impressive 48 hours of solid travelling and were exhausted. Koh Phangan is the stereotypical picture post card island. Gorgeous beaches, gorgeous weather, and gorgeous people. And as a result, we spent three exquisite weeks there. HT completed her PADI (whilst I did some not so subtle sulking on the sidelines – bastard asthma), I wakeboarded, and together we managed to survive the Full Moon and the Half Moon parties, both of which, I hate to say, passed by in a blurry haze. 

Reluctantly we left Koh Phangan and headed to Koh Phi Phi island, the other side of Thailand. We arrived in the midst of a downpour, everything was completely flooded. After we had organized accommodation, we felt that vodka was the best way to pass the time. We spent that evening (and subsequent ones) at Jordans – apparently no place is complete without an Irish bar. 

Phi Phi, Thailand

Phi Phi, Thailand

Phi Phi was promising. We had a brilliant first night followed by a fabulous day of rock climbing. Unfortunately, it only went downhill from there. Two days after arriving I discovered I had conjunctivitis, a highly contagious eye infection. Sorry HT. I feel our trip was slightly marred by this unfortunate event. Even so, we were living in paradise so couldn’t really complain. I would like to think that with the help of HUGE sunglasses and (countless) bottles of eye drops, we massively manned up. By the way, there is a chance we may have been to blame for the outbreak of said disease June 2010. 

View from climbing, Phi Phi, Thailand

Rock climbing, Phi Phi, Thailand

Regardless of the rather negative remarks we had heard about Phuket, we headed off that way. Had a ‘small world’ encounter when we met a friend of a friend at the lovely hostel we were staying at (surprisingly standard when travelling). We spent our last few days in Thailand horse riding, sightseeing, suntanning and warding off Thai MAAASSSAAGGGGGEEEESS, which unfortunately I found to be rather painful. Indeed, my one experience was quite disturbing. At one point, I was literally fighting back tears, I politely asked my Thai woman to be a bit gentler. She just laughed politely and kept going at what I suspected, an even harder pressure. Needless to say, I did not wish for a repeat.

Next stop: Malaysia. 

NB: Thanks HT for the pictures! I had just broken my camera by forcing into the hold on a moped and promptly sitting on it.