Thailand

Ok, so, Ummm, back to Bangkok again...

So to bring you upto date I was a smart boy and Lost my Passport, you know the thing you NEVER lose, so I had to go back to Bangkok to go to the New Zealand Embassy to get a new one, and to get it all started ASAP I decided I'd go the quick but expensive way and go by Plane from Koh Samui to Bangkok on Friday the 18th.

So the night before I'd decided to have a quiet night, funnily enough that didn't happen as I had to say goodbye to all our Coral friends and what better way to do it but with a few Beers/Buckets, and well one bucket lead to another. So after 3 hours sleep I actually woke upto my Alarm at 8:30am to get ready for my boat trip to Koh Samui at 9:30. Aftee the Boat trip I got to the airport on Samui and Booked a flight for Midday, but at just before checking in over the Load speaker they say the Flight has been cancelled due to technical problems, so I rush to the ticketing office and get my ticket changed for the 1:40pm flight (next non-full flight). I arrive in Bagkok at 2:45pm and get my bags, jump in a taxi and explain where I want to go, after almost 2 hours in the taxi I get to the NZ Embassy at 4:40pm, yes they closed at 4:30, what a day, and yes all on 3 hours sleep, I couldn't even sleep on the plane, so now I have to wait till monday.

After getting in a Taxi and heading for Khao San Road I booked myself into the same Place Grant and I stayed in last time, and got a Much needed Beer or 5, there we go I feel much better now!!!

Atleast I knew a few of the Coral friends were going to be In Bangkok shortly so I wouldn't have to spend my time on Khao San Road alone, never alone on Khao San!!!

So on Monday I get to the Embassy to sort out my Passport, and get told the quickest way is to get and ETD, Emergency Travel Document, which is basically the same as a Passport but only valid for 12 months. I get given a form to fill out and hand in with a couple Passport Photo's and a BIG bundle of cash, then get told I should be able to pick up my ETD tomorrow afternoon. I'm actually starting to feel fine about it all now, next day and I'll be able to catch back up with Grant.
That night I caught up with a few of the Coral guys and we decided to have a few drinks, as you do.

Alan and a Nasty, but ohh so Tasty Bucket.

Alan with a few of our Coral friends on Khao San Road

So after the night before I got up a little later then I'd wanted to, but as it turned out I couldn't pick up my ETD anyway, they had only given me one valid for 3 months. Which was useless as I needed atleast 6 months validity to get into Singapore, So to cut a long story short I had to wait another day, to get it, then another day to get it sorted through Thailand Immigration, so Thursday comes around and I can travel again, yes I was pretty stressed by then!!!

So I spent the next couple days just relaxing/shopping, yes you read it a Male relaxing and shopping at same the time, obviously no Females with him, and got a flight down to Singapore yesterday (26th) to catch back up with Grant.

As they say better to learn from others mistakes then make them yourself, so I hope this taught you all a good lesson...

Alan

Ok so we arrived in the backpackers haven in Bangkok called Khao San road in the pouring rain at about 6 am which sucked as nothing was open. So by about 9 am we had a place to stay and full stomachs so we had a nap. We were pretty tired so went out to sort out our suits, and have a wee shop (I had to replace my ipod that I lost in Hanoi). But after that we were just too tired, and took a boat along the river back to Khao San Rd. Not much else happened that day.

By the 2nd day we were just sick of the noise of Khao San Road, so we just chilled out all morning until we checked out and went to see Grand Palace, but we missed out on seeing it by 10 minutes as the King had some Coronation thing that day, so we went to Wat Pho and Alan was pretty amazed by the temple complex. Grant was bored as he had seen it before. Then we just had to kill time before our bus and pack our new suits away. Now Grant looks like he has way too much luggage for a backpacker....

So we arrived in Koh Pha Ngan after a very long bus and boat journey, we decided to stay on the area away from all of the partying which was great. We went snorkelling, sat and read books, ate, had naps, and that was about it for 2 days. Brilliant!

Then it was off to Ko Tao, the boat ride was about 90 minutes which was just long enough to get a bit of an addition to the tan! We arrived there and sorted out our open water dive course, and we got free accommodation if we do the course. Diving is one of the coolest things we've done, and the water is pretty warm which made it pretty easy. Not getting eaten by a shark or attacked by a trigger fish made it much better!

Alan diving

Grant in Diving Gear

Ko Tao was a pretty cool town, very much set up for tourism. Plenty of bars on the beach and parties. On the 1st night we went to Thai Kickboxing with 7 fights. Saw a couple fo guys get knocked out by elbows to the temple. It's pretty crazy and I wouldn't go near it!

Next was Koh Phangan... party central! We stayed there for 7 nights and partied a lot as we picked Coral Resort which had a bunch of crazy (but cool) people staying there. The first few nights were just about meeting new people that were staying there. We've made friends from all sides of the globe and partied with them all. There was basically a party on the beach every night that went to about 5am, and there were always people keen to head out all night.

On the 15th there was a pool party at the resort, we both agreed it was one of the best parties we have ever been to. It started off with drunken Jack from Holland putting on a performance that only he could, swinging from table to table and shouting whatever came to his head... Then it was time to get in the pool before it became horribly polluted, then everyone started arriving from over the island so we went and partied. Great fun!

The next night was the Black Moon Party, Alan wasn't too keen after the pool party, but Grant went... It was actually pretty lame, really psychadelic trance with everyone seemlingly off their heads on drugs and not in any mood to be social. Not my idea of a good time at all!

The last night was a really fun night out, our group of new found friends just hanging out at Coral all night as most of us were leaving the next day. Grant had fun throwing ice whenever Richard and Mel started sucking face as we were sick of them doing it all day!

Grant and some of our Coral Friends

Then for other reasons which Alan will specify in his blogs, we had to split ways... Alan back to Bangkok, and Grant to Krabi. We will update you on these antics later

Ka kite
Grant & Alan

Firstly we appolgise for taking so long to add anything, we have been waiting to get an Internet Conection fast enough to allow us to upload some of our Photo's.

Just as a Highlights package...

1:30am 31/03/2007 - We arrived in Bangkok Airport, grabbed a taxi to Suk 11 Guest House and slept. We spent the next couple days looking around (Climatising) Bangkok and organising a Visa for Vietnam. We also0 went to the Night Market, Huge Market with Garden Food/Beer Court, Live Band, and 2 Huge Screens showing Football.

This elephant was just outside the restaurant we were at!

03/04/2007 - The Journey to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and what a journey it was. To start with we had to be up at 5am to get a taxi to the Bus Station for a 6am Bus. The Taxi Driver obviously misunderstood and took us to the airport, so we missed the 6am Bus and had to take the 7am bus. After a 4 Hour bus ride to Aranyaprathet and a Tuk Tuk ride to the border we were ready to go, but that was all to be the easy part of the journey. After about 1 hour at the border sorting out our Visa'a we shared a Taxi (Toyota Camry) with 2 other Tourists to Siem Reap, 155km away. The trip took us about 3 1/2 hours, the Road Is Terrible dirt road for probably 90% of the way and just in a terrible condition.

04/05/07 - Angkor Temples, Beautiful Place and a must see for all Cambodian Tourists, we got up for sunrise, sadly cloud in the way, stayed at the temples till sunset and again cloud in the way, but still a Great day.

More to come tommorow.