I write this with the bittersweet relief and sadness that only comes from leaving a relentless 2 week party in Paradise....
But first I must start from the beginning.
I was in my last days in Sri Lanka, so felt I needed to peel myself off the beach and head back to Colombo to meet with my mate Emraan (and his wife [Shobi] and sister [Arthi]) and have one last crack at the pub quiz. Jumping the train with Jessie and Lib, we head for Colombo and our final meeting with destiny at the pub quiz table. The mood was tense as our team struggled in the middle of the scoring tables. Needing a perfect score for the last category we pull one out of the bag and score ourselves the 10k rupee prize (and in my mind, my freedom from this entrapment).
Finally feeling free to continue my ordinary travels, I once again meet up with Emraan (enthusiastic heavy metal dude) Shobi and Arthi. We decide to road trip it down south to a town whose name escapes me. However I do remember walking with trays of fruit early in the morning to pay tribute to a now very healthy God. My mortal enemy the monkey, watching me all the way, waiting for a slip.. I could feel it...
After paying our spiritual respects to the gods, I decided we should pay our godly respects to spirits, and we headed for the beach and nightlife of Hikkaduwa. The rain was heavy as thunder roared overhead and suddenly at 4am all power at the beach club went out. Not yet finished with the party, we fulfilled Shobi's ambition and went for a moonlit dip in the very swelled up ocean, as lightning streaked the sky.
On arriving back in Colombo, I sadly said goodbye to my new friends promising to return in May for their wedding.
Then I hit Thailand... wow. After three months in India and Sri Lanka, Thailand was a culture shock. There were cars, and buildings and white people, the locals weren't always staring at my skin... weird.
Meeting up with a girl called Roxy, we decided to take in some culture and took the ferry down to Chinatown which is a fantastic little buzzing place that sells everything anyone could ever want to buy. Emerging from the mayhem we then ferried to Wat Pho which houses the largest reclining buddha in Thailand, they really like this guy here. Receiving a phone call from my friend Sarah (who I'd met in Sri Lanka), I decided to hot foot it down to Phuket and Phi Phi for some more fun and frivolity.
Phuket was built on nothing more than partying, and it knows its trade well. I was introduced to buckets (bottle of whiskey, some coke and red bull), a few of these and the night is out of your hands.. I was also introduced to the concept of lady boys (girls who were once boys), they own Phuket and prey on the likes of fresh blokes like me... however scary I must say it was fun. (No I have no embarrassing stories to tell... how 'bout you Joe? ;) ).
I met up with Sarah and her friend Joe and we established a nice little party crew (some Dutch, American and Aussies) for a couple of nights before we had to leave for the sake of our sanity and we headed to Phi Phi. Assured that the pace there was much slower we entered a tropical paradise.. and quickly ran into more buckets!
The nightlife in Phi Phi is frenetic which seems to have the motto "all or nothing" (everyone opting for "all"), and one bar offers two fighting rings in which volunteers are encouraged to try some drunken kickboxing with their mates. However the beaches in Phi Phi are a fantastic place to spend a recovery day and we had to make sure we spent some completely sober to enjoy such a beautiful island.
One day we went on a long tail boat trip and went to Monkey Bay (you guessed it, with plenty of my pal monkeys - however it was Sarah and another girl Rizka who were bitten this day). Then onto Maya Bay (where they filmed "The Beach") - absolutely stunning, then went snorkelling with sharks which was an absolute highlight. For the most part they ignore you, but for a while I was afraid one big one took my fancy.
After this Joe had persuaded me with such convincing words of "well, when you're in Thailand.." to get a bamboo tattoo. Yep, the bloke spends some hours jabbing you with a piece of bamboo with inked up razors at the end. Sounded like a good idea... I am happy with the result though.
So, we said goodbye to Joe (and other friends we had picked up on the way) and Sez (who's become a cool - and very patient - travel buddy) and I then got ourselves a boat to Krabi, then a boat to RaiLea then a boat to Ton Sai (surely, this remote must be peaceful?). Ton Sai is a beautiful bay and recognised worldwide as a rock-climbers mecca. All the blokes there were very big and each sported their own six-pack, however they were rivalled by the girls who were ultra toned and had a stomach you could do your washing on... everything there was beautiful...
Again, quick to find a posse of our own, the first night was once more christened with buckets! However, there was a much more chilled and relaxed atmosphere as we rolled out the night listening to reggae on the beach and watching the fireshows which have been a regular all over Thailand. Ton Sai seems to be a favourite with outgoing Americans who proved to be very fun and adventurous.
Sez and I decided we needed to do something active on this sporty island and so jumped in a sea kayak and paddled our way on the tourquise waters around the clustered islands which were all so beautiful. Again, it was sad to say goodbye to some more good friends, but we jumped a bus to Bangkok, heading for our final destination of Chang Mai in the North.
This was not without its own adventures, as after the 13 hour ride we all noticed our bags had been rifled through whilst we were sitting up top. However after we were dropped off, we could do nothing but watch on as Sarah yelled at the bus driver who quickly took off when he realised we knew. I haven't yet found anything of mine missing despite the obvious violation, however Sarah had some personal jewellery stolen.
One good thing today though, has been meeting up again with Roger who I had travelled with in Rajasthan. We're crossing paths in opposite directions but should be good to share some drinks and swap some stories with him tonight.
So, Chang Mai tomorrow, then on to Laos.
Hope you are all well. Later!
