Getting to the Phuket hostel by taxi was easy enough. As was finding our way around, the hostel is in a fantastic location right in the heart of the most touristy area, Patong. I would normally have thought of that as a bad thing but it was just so easy finding excellent bars, restaurants and clubs that none of us cared. Another bonus was that we were less than a 10 minute walk from the beach. After getting our bearings on the first day and negotiating a great deal for our tours (one of them was for a day of whitewater rafting then elephant trekking in the jungle and the other was for a day of island hopping), we headed to a pub for a drink. After unwinding a little we walked to the beach for sunset. We had a good view but missed the actual sunset, it was still very nice though.

The next day for the first tour, almost everyone else in our group did not speak English. It was ok though because we still had a great time. The weather was fantastic (one of the only days during our stay that it wasn’t rained out), and we were off to a good start with the monkey cave, well more of a monkey playground really, the cave looked too shit to warrant paying the entry fee. The monkeys were entertaining though.

Next up was a half an hour drive to the river for whitewater rafting. The guys were really excited when we got there and started gearing up but I was a bit sceptical about how good it would be because of the handful of photos I’d seen. I was right to be sceptical. It was a fun experience because I was with the guys and everything and they absolutely loved it but it was nothing compared to last year when Jill and I whitewater rafted in Zambia on one of the best rafting rivers in the world. This river was almost still in comparison, it was much slower, narrower, shorter and less exciting. The rapids were weak sauce.

There were some close calls where we almost fell out of the raft but the foot straps in there near enough guaranteed that we wouldn’t (the raft in Zambia didn’t have them). If we had fallen in it would not have been fun though. Since the river was significantly narrower than the Zambezi in Zambia (I’d estimate it was less than 20% of the width), if one of us did actually fall out, it was much more likely that we’d go head first into one of the many rocks there. On the plus side, at least there were no crocodiles in the river like there were in Zambia!

The group split into two for the next part. The first group stayed for lunch and the second (of which we were a part) left to do the elephant trekking. It was a very strange feeling setting foot on an elephant. At first the ride was very sedate and relaxing (possibly even a little boring) but it quickly picked up when we started going up some of the steeper gradients in the jungle. We (Sundip and I on one, Rocky and Raj were on another one), were sitting in a seat for two but after short while, the elephant handler hopped off to take pictures of us and offered one of us a chance to “drive”. Sundip didn’t seem keen so I said yes almost straight away. It was so strange sitting on that elephant’s neck as it was walking. With every step it took I could feel its huge shoulder blades moving underneath me and as I had my hands on its head to steady myself, I could feel how rough its hair was, it was like moving your hands over the bristles of a tough, outdoor broom. I’m very glad I made every effort to steady myself up there, I was a long way from the ground and it felt like I was going to fall off with almost every step. It was especially nerve racking on the steep climbs and descents. There was a point during the trek where the elephant (with both me and Sundip still on his back) went into the river for a brief walk, it didn’t seem like it at the time but he was supposed to go that way. I was also reminded of a story my friend Avtar once told me. He was on elephant back in India when the elephant decided to go cool off in some water. Shortly after entering the water, the elephant took a huge gulp of water and sprayed it backwards (directly at Avtar) with its trunk. It sent Avtar flying and left him with a massive bruise all the way across his chest. Nothing like that happened to me but the thought was not a pleasant one! I knew elephants are huge having seen them up close but each footprint this elephant was leaving in the jungle mud was just massive, there was so much water in the elephant prints that had been left there previously, it was ridiculous.

After the trek, we had the chance to feed the elephants bananas. Rocky decided to do it and the elephants ate those bananas like there was no tomorrow! I could tell that the elephants were being well treated, otherwise I might have thought they were underfed. They must just really love bananas. Who knew?

It wasn’t just the elephant lunch that was (apparently) tasty, the one they provided for us was too.

After that we were nicely energised for our on-foot jungle trek. In the end, it wasn’t really much of a trek, in this case it was all about the destination, not the journey. At the end of the trail we reached an amazing waterfall. The waterfall itself was very nice but it was the pool of water it fed that was really interesting. The pool was quite deep near the waterfall itself but got shallow very quickly as you moved away from it. There were some rocks and trees to the right that could be climbed relatively easily and since the pool was so deep, the only logical (and clearly sane) thing to do was to climb said rocks, the high point of which was maybe 4 metres, and then jump into the pool. We climbed and we jumped. It was brilliant, I went back for another go.

The 2 hour journey back to the hostel went quickly and so did the time we spent at the hostel before heading out. It was going to be another big night but one of us wouldn’t be coming. Sundip wasn’t feeling well so told us fairly early on in the night that he couldn’t make it out. We made sure he was ok then set off.

There are SO MANY bars and clubs on the main road in Patong, with everywhere I’ve been I haven’t seen a higher concentration of them on a single street anywhere. The road isn’t very long, it takes maybe 5 minutes to walk down it but it must have had at least 200 different places to drink on it, and loads of clubs, restaurants, dodgy massage parlours and tourist booths as well. Our first stop for the night was one of the many bars with Thai women dancing on the bar itself. After a couple of drinks, some of the women that are up there dancing step down to play games like Yahtzee and Connect4 with the people drinking there. It was a little weird, we didn’t stay long. The next bar was a little more interesting. There was torrential rain outside by this point of the night; everyone had taken cover inside the bars and clubs. Our bar was cool though because it was on the second story but it was still open so we could see outside without getting wet. There were a bunch of (obviously drunk) people outside dancing in the rain. After we got bored we went to what would be our final stop for the night. It was only maybe 1 or 2 so we were thinking we’d move on after a little while but it was just so much fun that we stayed the whole night.

The whole next day was more or less wasted and pretty much the only thing we did before dinner was go to Sweet Lemongrass Massage. It came highly recommended on Trip Advisor so we knew there wouldn’t be any funny business going on. Trip Advisor was right, the massage was excellent and it was Rocky’s favourite of all of Thailand, though his experience was probably a little soured because of the fact that he lost his phone on the way back to the hostel. I really liked my massage too but I still rate the two hour one I had in Bangkok as possibly the best one I’ve ever had. Raj enjoyed his too but he wasn’t particularly vocal about it. Sundip didn’t come and it was during dinner that he told us he didn’t want to go on the island hopping tour we’d booked for the next day either, this was despite the fact that he’d already paid his share.

I’ve written too much already so I have to wrap this up but Sundip can probably be glad he didn’t come, he definitely would have thrown up on that boat or worse (use your imagination) but I will say despite the seriously heavy rain we had that day, the beaches were incredible, probably the nicest I’ve seen. The towering rock structures in the water were close enough to make the view amazing but not so close that they made swimming in the sea unsafe. They were covered with lush, green vegetation and surrounded by some of the bluest water I’d ever seen. On the beach itself, the sand underfoot was the softest I’d ever felt, it almost didn’t feel like sand, it was more like I was walking on mashed potatoes or something. (I realise that doesn’t sound particularly pleasant but it felt great). Snorkeling was very cool too, much better than Langkawi because the water was so much deeper. I think that experience has convinced me to do some scuba dives here too. I might write a separate post if I end up doing that.

Phuket had a few more big nights and a lot more wasted time, what can I say, 26 year olds don’t recover as quickly as university students, but what it really gave me was a lesson about myself. I was sad to see my best friends go but not as sad as I should have been. I couldn’t have changed so much on this trip that I’m not even upset to say goodbye to the only piece of home I’ve had in a month, right? I must have. It seems that even at 26, nothing is set and a catalyst for personality change can be something as small as a few weeks away from home.

Top: Waterfall Jump!; Above: Bangla Road, main street in Patong

I haven’t actually been travelling for very long so far. 5 weeks is not a huge length of time (and one of those weeks doesn’t even count because I was just with Jill in Detroit, not exactly the most difficult or exotic of circumstances to find myself in). Nevertheless, because of the type of travelling I’ve been doing, moving from place to place, living out of my backpack, eating, drinking and travelling with people that I knew I’d only be with for a few days at a time, it feels like it’s been a lot longer than 5 weeks. Home is becoming a more and more distant memory with every passing week.

I knew that this would be set right in a big way on this leg of my trip; I knew that my 3 best friends would be joining me for Bangkok and Phuket and that we’d have as legendary a time as we do on all of our other trips, but it taught me something I wasn’t expecting about myself too.

From Bangkok airport I took a taxi to the hotel the guys had booked (and generously paid my share for as well). I called on the way there to let them know I was almost there (and to ask where the hotel was because the non-English speaking taxi driver had no bloody idea). Eventually, with the help of the Google Translate iPhone app (big thanks to Steve Jobs and Google!), I managed to get relatively close to the hotel but still had to walk for about 20 minutes in the Bangkok heat, with my two backpacks on before I got there. It was a massive relief when I finally did though, even more than it normally is when I get to my accommodation. After I got up to the room I was stunned by how nice it was. The hostels I’d been staying in so far were good but this was on another level, it’s possibly the nicest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in and it was only £40 per night. Everything was immaculate and ultra-modern. It had every convenience you could possibly want and the rooftop pool and view of Bangkok were amazing. We had some really cool Hangover 2 style moments up there :) It was great seeing the guys again when they got back to the hotel, we all gave each other big hugs and I had a great time filling them in on the trip so far (I guess my best friends are too busy to read this website!) They looked pretty fresh (it was maybe 4:30 in the afternoon at this point) but it turned out that they’d only woken up a couple of hours earlier. I probably could have guessed it would happen but this fact set the tone for large sections of the rest of the trip, their previous night, their first in Bangkok, had been a big one, it sounded pretty cool. Though it wasn’t as cool as my first night in Bangkok ended up being!

Once I’d finished admiring the room and had left my stuff in the room safe (it was funny seeing Rocky’s face when he first got in and saw me standing in the room with the safe door open – his choice of lock combinations is far too predictable), we headed out and the guys introduced me to the surrounding area. We’d all comment on it at various points of our 2 night stay in Bangkok but the streets bloody stink. Now I’m not an ignorant xenophobe, I know that different countries have different cultures and cuisines but this smell wasn’t just the food, it was everything. We quickly learned not to breathe in when we were near a manhole and everywhere else, the aromas of the exotic cooking ingredients were combining to leave an unpleasant feel to the air every which way we went. That first day, we all wanted a massage so we found a nice looking place and each went for the two hour Thai oil option. I felt fantastic afterwards, my massage was outstanding. (I wouldn’t feel so hot later that night, the fact that we all got smashed negated any positive effects the massages might have had. Oh well, live and learn!) Anyway we felt great after our massages and headed out in search of a bar, the first decent one we found was, surprise surprise, an Irish one. We ordered a few pints and before we knew it this American guy came up to us and asked if we’d like to take part in the pub quiz. This really was turning into a little piece of home! There were a lot of cool people in the pub that night but some creepy ones too, like the old English guy that kept telling me about his 30 year old Thai wife and the fact that he had skin cancer. He told me some pretty messed up stuff, luckily the pub quiz was at hand to help me forget about it. Our team picked English Language and recent technology news for our double points round, most of the questions fell to me since the guys weren’t up to the challenge but unfortunately, my lack of recent Internet access meant that I wasn’t either. We got 24 points for that first round, which for a short while put us on top. Our egos were inflated but that didn’t last long either, at the end of the game we were dead last. We headed back to the hotel after that for pre-game round 2. As they always do, the guys had bought two bottles of vodka and two of Captain Morgan for the trip. We poured a few drinks and kept the night going. Rocky was (also as usual) more drunk than the rest of us and so was causing some trouble but it was all good fun. We headed up to the roof pool next. The view was amazing up there, it was a 360 degree panorama of the Bangkok skyline, the pool lighting was really cool (I almost got a much closer look than I would have liked when Raj and Rocky almost threw me in), and the company was fantastic. It was perfect up there.

The next stop was the backpacker nirvana, Khao San road. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a street filled with bars, clubs, shit restaurants, hostels and street hawkers selling cockroaches, assorted bags full of nasty deep fried bugs and various other disgusting foods that you’d only ever eat if you were really drunk. It’s wild, it’s hedonistic, it’s way, way over the top, or in other words, it’s exactly the thing you’d want in a city as seedy and disgusting as Bangkok. We met a couple of Australians soon after our taxi dropped us off. Eli was cool but Rory was already a mess. They were obviously drunk and since we were too, we (I) kindly obliged when they dared us to eat a horrible looking and smelling dried squid. It tasted horrible and I gagged constantly as I chewed and tried swallowing it but I got it down eventually and the dudes were suitably impressed. As we were walking down this street packed with young tourists looking for a big night and locals with rolling metal carts filled with assorted nasties, we were running into all sorts of interesting sights and sounds, everyone there was on it and there were all sorts of random shit like break dancing going down. As we passed the various bug carts, Eli and Rory were daring us to eat more and more stuff. One of the next ones was a cockroach, I put it in my mouth and started chewing while trying to think about anything else, but it was just too disgusting and I had to spit it out. Rocky later succeeded in eating one but he didn’t look happy about it. We all hand handfuls of the lucky dip mixed bug bags though, I think they had things like grasshoppers and maggots in them, we also ate these deep fried frogs but they were horrible too. It was a relief to finally sit down at a bar and carry on drinking when the guys were done with that stuff. The famous Thai buckets we ordered each had six shots of vodka and Red Bull in them; they did not go down well. I have no idea what the place we ended up in was called but there were a lot of cool people inside. I lost track of the guys pretty quick after getting in but I had a great time in there. The only problem was that the clubs close so early. Everything was done by 2am but what we didn’t know is that the party continues on the street itself afterwards. Everyone came out and the break dancers and food and stuff were still there but now there was much louder music playing in the street. It was like a massive rave and people were going crazy.

We all slept well that night.

The following day was a late start at maybe 12pm but we decided to do something productive. After “breakfast” (Sundip and Raj didn’t get out of bed until 2:30 so we had to wait for them), we headed towards the temples of Bangkok, unfortunately when we left we didn’t know that we were inappropriately dressed and would not be granted entry to any of them. Even worse, by the time we got there the temples were all closing so we couldn’t even change clothes and come back. Instead of going to the temples, we settled on a boat tour on the main river. There wasn’t really much to see but the flimsy, make-shift houses by the sides of the river were kind of cool. The ride was definitely more interesting because of all the rain and the choppy waves too. After wandering around for a few hours and re-charging at the hotel for a bit we found our next activity for the day, an evening of Muay Thai fighting.

It was a pain finding the stadium but was well worth it when we did. Well, for a while at least. The fights were really cool and everything, they did the ceremonial dancing at the start of each one and there were some brutal knock-outs where dudes had to be stretchered away (one of them wasn’t even moving at the end of the fight) but the whole thing was 4 and a half hours long and towards the end it was definitely starting to drag. We had great seats because we paid for ring-side (there was rampant betting going on in the cheaper seating areas) but even with the great view some of the fights were a bit boring.

It wasn’t a particularly late night for us but Phuket was calling.

Top: Good times now!; Above: Bad times coming!