So here it is, the final chapter in the story. After 6 unbelievably amazing/fulfilling/insane/enjoyable months, I am now in Bangkok awaiting my flight home on Sunday night, arriving back in London on Monday.
Following on from Bali, Dan, Cat and I went to Laos where we spent 10 days in Vang Vieng (still not entirely sure where exactly in Laos this is), mostly just doing tubing, which, for those who don't know, is where you spend the day floating down a river in rubber rings, stopping off at a series of river-side bars along the way. We had a great time, although did get a bit bored of being in one place for so long. We managed to spend a couple of days varying our activities, by going kayaking and caving one day, and taking a tuk tuk out to a really chilled out lagoon 20 minutes out of town. I managed to get a job in one of the bars in the town as well, which was good fun.
But after Laos we were pretty ready to leave and head to Thailand, which has been amazing. We went pretty much straight from Laos (via Bangkok and Phuket for one night) to the island of Koh Phi Phi, which is gorgeous. The beach had amazing sand, the water was bath-water warm and best of all our group of 3 became a group of 13, as we were joined by several friends from uni/past travels/home etc. Having bumped into some by chance on the beach and arranged to meet up with others, all 13 of us were staying in one guesthouse on the island, occupying 6 rooms between us, which made for an incredible time. The days were spent in and around the beach enjoying the fantastic weather, whilst there nights were mainly beach parties. The 13 of us had such a good time together, and on our final day in Phi Phi we went off for a day and night of camping on a remote island 45 minutes away. We were taken to Bamboo Island on a private trip as there were so many of us. We stopped off in the boat on the way at Monkey Beach, which is, as the name implies, a beach occupied by dozens of monkeys. We then were taken to the island, where our amazing guides set up a camping/eating area for us on the beach. We went snorkelling, did a lap of the full circumference of the island, and then spent the night around a bonfire on the beach. We all eventually went to sleep in various spots on the beach.
Following on from Phi Phi, we all went to Koh Phangan, which is an island on the other side of Thailand, mainly visited for the notorious full moon party - the world's largest beach party, which takes place every month on or around full moon, and is basically an all night party taking up an entire beach on the island, attended by thousands and thousands of people. We arrived in Koh Phangan 5 days before the full moon, in order to enjoy the build up to it. Unfortunately we didn't have great weather in the run up to full moon, but there's such a good atmosphere on the island that it didn't really matter. Our group of 13 this time was split into 3 hostels, but there were still 9 of us staying in one homestay in adjacent rooms which was perfect. And full moon itself was such a good night. Everyone partied in the rain on the beach until the early hours enjoying themselves.
And now Dan, Joe Mcgratty and I are in Bangkok, where the boys depart from to go to China tomorrow, and I wait one more day for my flight home. I am dreading this all being over, but look forward to seeing you all very soon!
