Koh Phi Phi, Thailand – Day 60

Day 60! Wow!

Right so me and Cats did the camping. It was the most surreal experience of my life. Its gonna be hard to describe but I’ll give it a go….

We got picked up by our guide and we had to make him carry Aoife’s bag coz she was still in Phuket. We lobbed the bags into some room that 2 westerners were staying and then headed for the boat. There was me and Cats, Ken and Kerrie-Anne and 2 other people – that was it!! So we stopped on the way to the beach and did some snorkeling, saw Crocodile fish which are scary lookin lads! Eventually got to the beach after getting our heads wrecked by the crazy thai guy on the boat, we were praying that he wasn’t staying the night(He didn’t). We were shown to our hotel tents for the night, just 3 little tents set up on the very right of the beach under a limestone over hang. Very sheltered! We then messed about until eventually we were alone on the beach, the 6 of us and the family that actually live there to look after the campers. It was weird just being alone on an island in the middle of nowhere! Took some photos of us and the sunset and went back for dinner. It was curry – yum yum. Ken luckily brought his iPod and speakers so we listened to that (The Beach soundtrack obviously!), had a good few beers and a free bucket and just chatted into the night. The thai guy who was minding us played a few drinking games but nobody was into getting hammered… Eventually it started thunder and lightning. When the lightning struck it lit up the whole bay and for a split second it looked like daylight, the water looked pure blue and everything!! I got a great video of it. After an hour or so of the best fireworks show ever the rain started. It lashed torrentially for about 45 mins, we were sitting single file under the over hang. It stopped and we stocked up on beers before the guy went to bed. Me and Ken got into the water late enough and messed with the phosphoresence. That is plankton in the water that lights up when its disturbed. So we had our snorkels and were in an underwater light show. Breathtaking! After that we just lay on the the beach and looked at the stars til God knows what time. It was a very romantic time for me and Ken! Went to bed eventually!

We got up at 6 the next morning after very little sleep in a sandy hot tent. We walked across the other side of the deserted island and watched the sunrise. We actually couldn’t see the sun but it was pretty none the less. Then we snorkeled (I found 100 baht on the seabed!) and had some breakfast and came home on the boat. It really was a cool cool night. We worked out using averages and stuff that only around 7000 people in the  world have done it. That puts us in 0.000001% of the population!! I loved that beach.

Got new crappy accomodation when we came back and Ken and Kerrie got showers and headed off home! They were gutted that we were continuing on the Oz and they were going back to work!

Aoife came back with her new eye! Didn’t get up to much last night. But we checked out this morning to better accomodation.

We’re heading to Phuket in the morning for a night, then flying to Kuala Lumpur on Wednesdat for the last leg of the trip

Next Sunday we are flying into Sydney and we’re all a bit nervous about getting accomodation, getting jobs AND paying for stuff at the prices they would be in Ireland! 

Was talking to Barry Kelly, he is leaving on the 9th for NZ and we arrive the 6th, so we have 2 days together! Can’t wait! He has organised for Me, Cats and Aoife to climb the Sydney Harbour bridge with him on the 8th! Thats gonna be mental!!

Thats all for now.

Happy Birthday to my Mam!

Ronan

p.s. I’ll probably do my photo’s later so I’ll throw a few of the camping up to try and give you’s a better idea of it!

Koh Phi Phi, Thailand – Day 58

Right we (Me and Cats) bumped into Ken yesterday and went for a few beers that turned into buckets last night – good stuff outta us! Today we’re booked in to go to “The Beach” for the night, we get to swim, snorkel and then camp on the beach, I cannot wait!! There’s music and drinks all night too! They give us a storage facility for our big bags which is cool. Aoife is staying on Phuket for another night with her eye, she’s there wiith friends we met on Phangan!

Ken and Kerry are also doing this camping trip so should be a good laugh!!

Koh Phi Phi, Thailand – Day 57

Morning sportsfans!

So havent done much since we last spoke. Watched a few DVD’s last night – EXCITING!! Its nice to relax though!

Aoife woke up this morning and looked like a boxer – her eye was swollen as hell so she got a ferry at 2 to Phuket to see an eye doctor. She just has a bad infection and is on pills for it, she’ll be back tomorrow or the next day…we just lay around the beach and did some shopping…bumped into my mate Ken again from the airport so we’re meeting him in a while for a few. Me and Cats reckon we’re gonna go camp on “The Beach” tomorrow night. Its an opportunity too good to miss!

Paul is back home in freezing cold Ireland! HAHA…hope you get well soon dude. Heard a rumour he might be bringing a random traveller back with him, tell the person to do it mate!

Right, drinks are a calling!

Ronan

Koh Phi Phi, Thailand – Day 56

We went out on Tuesday night with a good few of the people we met on Koh Phangan in the Coral Bungalows, had a bit of dinner and a few drinks, watched a fire show, pretty cool! They said they were all booked on to a tour the next day which brings you to a few places including Phi Phi Lei which is where the film The Beach was filmed, and the picture up above on the heading there,  so we said – we’ll do that…

Got the boat the next day, first stop was Monkey Beach, which was a teeny tiny beach with a load of monkeys on it, they anchored a good bit off shore and we had a choice of swimming it or getting a wee boat to the shore. So we swam. Lets just say it was a whole lot further than it looked!! Got there anyway and the monkeys go mad for a bit of food! Next stop was a cave on Phi Phi Lei where these people actually live. The have bamboo canes all over the place which they climb up to get birds nests. Apparentely the birds nests are made with swallow spit and it is a delicacy here! But they live in a cave on an island!! Next stop was a cove with a lagoon, we were allowed kayak, snorkel (We saw loads of Nemo’s), swim and the dude brought us on a little tour around the cove showing us bats and stuff!! Next stop we pulled into this other cove and we were all told we had to swim to the shore (it wasn’t that far) then we had to climb through a cave then walk through a bit of jungle and then we were there – on the beach. I was slightly happy! IT is such an amazing place…So we took the cheesy tourist photos, swam a bit and by then the boat had pulled around so we thought it’d be a fantastic idea to walk and swim to it, coz you could walk for miles out into the lagoon. We found out that there was a small amount of sharp rocks and stuff we had to cross! Not fun! I hitched a lift with 2 Israeli lads on a kayak! After that we got a bit of food on the boat and watched the sunset, unreal! They had music and beers for the trip home, it really was a cool day, one of the best we’ve had since we’ve been away.

We went home then and got cleaned up and went out for the last supper and drinks with all the guys coz they were heading on to Phuket today! Awww…We’ll miss them!

Paul should be home today sometime!

Aisling and Lisa should be home sometime today!

Ciaran is back fruit picking in Oz haha, he hates it!

Today the sun is shining and we’re gonna hit the beach for some tanning time!!

Ronan

Koh Phi Phi, Thailand – Day 54

So got up at half 5 this morning, said goodbye to Lisa and Aisling and got our taxi to the seaport. From there we got a boat to DonKat, From there we got an extremely overcrowded bus (i sat on a stool in the aisle) for  2 hours to Surat Thani. Sat there for an hour then got another bus to Krabi. Then got a super high speed ferry to Phi Phi, which I might add is absolute paradise, all in all it took 11 hours.They showed Rambo 4 on the ferry so I was slightly happy!!! Got some sweet accomodation too!

Phi Phi has no roads and no cars, just beaches and bicycles. Cant wait to explore it.

Gonna go get some food

Ronan

Koh Samui, Thailand – Day 53

So last night was our last in Koh Phangan. Went and had a fabulous night with the lads from Tallaght. Then this morning Me, Aoife, Cats, Lisa and Aisling got the ferry to Koh Samui. It was only 45 mins which was grand. Got a hotel handy enough and headed straight to McDonalds! I had a relapse with my stomach infection thing so I got me some more antibiotics and lay in bed for the evening watching TV (we hadn’t had one in 18 days). The girls went shopping and spent a fortune. We also booked in for an epic trip to Koh Phi Phi at 6 the next morning. Ash and Lisa were getting a flight home at half 4.

Thats it!

Koh Phangan, Thailand – Day 52

Happy Easter!

Today we’ve decided we’re going for a roast dinner like we all would have back home! Anyway, the past few days were a bit mental, especially with the full moon party. I can’t even describe to you what it was like. 30000 people on a beach where anything goes….we actually heard a thai guy was shot in the head! So yesterday was pretty much a write off due to that. Didn’t get out of bed til 5 in the PM. A lot of people had left by then and moved on to the next destination. Even more left this morning….so the place is pretty quiet.

Last night we said our goodbyes to Paul. We had to pack his bag and documents and brought them up to him. A fella was coming in from Bangkok this morning to escort Paul back there with him. From there we think he’s staying in a much better hospital for 2 weeks then flying home to kick the Typhoid. It was upsetting having to say goodbye. And to top it off Ciaran is out of here in 2 hours so gonna have to say goodbye to him too!!

Ronan

Koh Phangan, Thailand – Day 49

Morning.

Firstly, Paul is still in hospital. He has a stomach infection and has been on drips for the past 2 nights. The hospital is a 40 min drive from where we are and costs a bit in a taxi so its kinda difficult to visit. We brought him up loads of stuff last night. If he doesn’t improve later we’re going to bring him to a bigger better hospital on the next island. He does seem a lot better though and has been taken off the drip…

Apart from that we’re having a grand oul time! Weather sis roasting and this place is completely BANANAS. There was a pool party in our resort last night and it was NUTS. Its a kind of good thing that this island has a 2 am shut down law. Coz i’m pretty sure people would have started dying and stuff…i’m not gonna say what was going on…but BUCKETS + POOL + GIRLS + BOYS = MAYHEM

Lisa and Aisling are hanging around with us now which is cool! Ron is leaving on Sunday which is not cool.

FULL MOON PARTY is tomorrow night, can’t wait to see that madness!!

Anyway I’m going to go get Ciaran out of bed and go watch some Family Guy in a flake out bar….

Laters

Ronan

Koh Phangan, Thailand – Day 47

Happy belated St. Patricks Day!!  

So we made it to the island without destroying ourselves…just as we were hopping out of the taxi at the Coral Bungalows an Australian girl says “Good luck staying in there!”. Rooms are grand and we have hot water and A/C which is a good thing. There was a pool party the first night! It was MENTALLY loud! I lasted not so long at it due to a dodgy stomach but Ciaran and the girls had fun!

So yesterday (Paddys Day) Paul says he’s doing nothing so we headed down to Haad Rin beach, did a bot of sunbathing and watched a beach football competition with a few beers. Made some friends and supported the Irish team in the comp…then we headed out for the night. Went to outback bar which was having a big Paddys day bash, great fun there then we headed down the beach. Great night!

Today we brought Paul to hospital. He is in a bad way. He has to stay overnight , he’s taking a rake of medication and is on a drip. Not fun. We’re gonna try rent a jeep so we can visit him more regularly.

Probably gonna take it easy tonight. Another pool party tomorrow…..:)

Ronan

Koh Tao, Thailand – Day 45

We’re finally leaving…10 days on Koh Tao was amazing. I wholeheartidly recommend it. Getting a boat at 2 to Koh Phangan where we already have our accomodation booked. The girls rang this morning and we have a double bed and single bed per room – which means Ciaran will fit, we have A/C which we miss and hot water! Hopefully there’ll be a TV too.

Ive been in bed the past 30 hours, I kinda got Pauls tummy bug thing. Its really horrible. Scared to leave the room! Paul had to get more antibiotics and nearly a drip, he’s not allowed drink for a week.

Met Lisa the other night, really great to see her. We’re meeting back up on Koh Phangan!

See you’s on the next island…

Ro