Seeing as I am sitting in a Starbucks in Kuala Lumpur airport with 6 hours until I board my flight to London I have a sneaky suspicion that I may be writing what might be my last blog...of this trip anyway.
Ummm, even just writing that's pretty upsetting!
I remember writing the first all those months ago in May 2009, 5 weeks before setting off to Heathrow’s terminal 5. I can't remember what it was about, pear cider and DVDs I think but it seems a million miles away from where I am now and only yesterday at the same time.
As you might expect i'm going through that clichéd self-reflective deep and meaningful stage...actually i've been doing that since day 2 or 3 back in LA. That's being a left handed Aquarius for you I guess.
Looking through my journal and blogs reminds me of all the randomness that's happened, the thousands of new faces i've come across and the 'interesting' situations i've found myself in. I can't imagine being in a place for more than 5 days now so have come up with a plan to hang out in hostels and Aussie bars to re-adjust myself to life while still feeling like i'm on the road, it might work...might not.
So anyway, back to the Thai Islands. After I finished my diving course on Koh Tao we ended up staying there for another 3 days, at first the weather played nice and the sun shone but by late afternoon we were woken from our sandy slumbers by fat drops of water falling on our faces and reminding us that even paradise has its off days.
Unfortunately, this off day turned into an off 2 weeks and although fun was to be had, it wasn't to be had with a growing tan.
Without the beach as an option more importance became placed on the evenings and the continued destruction of our livers. We had a good couple of nights out and met some unlikely randoms including the perhaps overly friendly Gary who drove Lottie and I up and down the promenade on his moped many, many times.
In the cloudy haze of vodka-redbull Gary seemed fun and a bit of a 'character'...in the sharp sober light of the next day it was clear he was just plain chav and to be avoided whenever possible.
The other highlight of Koh Tao was Ali the pancake man. This guy is a legend amongst those in the know, he makes the best thai pancakes i've ever come across and with such skill and pride. He's probably been doing it every day for years...litrally.
I ordered my usual (banana and nutella) and in seconds was presented with a chunky, chocolatey, bananary creation that melted in the mouth and sent the taste buds to heaven.
We decided to get out of Koh Tao fairly rapidly to try and chase the sun over to the west side of Thailand. This involved catching a boat to the mainland and then 2 more buses to the town of Krabi. It turned out to be a full 12 hours travelling (pretty standard now) and we arrived later than expected. Spontaneously we jumped in a cab to the town of Ao Nang, we'd heard it was supposed to have more life to it than Krabi and served as a good connection point to the stunning Railey Beach which we'd planned to visit the following day.
However, plans often change and when we got to Ao Nang I realised we might have well as bought a one way ticket on the tourist bus to 'Seedy Town'. This place was pretty grim. Very overpriced, too many 'happy ending' massage parlours, bad food, old men with young thai women and to complete the towns unfavourable portfolio a set of suped up supercharged tuk tuks lurked on a street corner complete with body kits, neon under lighting and throbbing subwoofers. All fairly hilarious really.
Unfortunately we woke once more to pouring rain and seeing as Lottie only had 4 days of her Thai holiday left we scrapped the visit to Railey Beach and just made the last boat of the day over to Koh Phi Phi, the party island. Our mentality here was, if we can't get the sun, once again, we'd go for the red bull. And that's exactly what we did.
Even shrouded in cloud Phi Phi was a beautiful island. Jaw dropping vertical limestone cliffs, turquoise waters and soft fluffy sand. We tried to ignore the fact it would have had a better vibe if the sky was blue but even without that we partied hard and all came good when we realised that not only one set of friends was also on the island with us, but two! Chris and Andrea who we'd met in Vietnam arrived within seconds of us and Dan, our northern bud from Singapore had also come to play.
There were loads of bars to try out, my favourite being the Reggae Reggae bar because the centrepiece is a large boxing ring where the public are encouraged to get up, don gloves and helmet and fight other random travellers for a measly bucket. It makes good entertainment and I was dyingggg to get up there and fight another girl, all the chick flights we saw were pathetic, really weak. Unfortunately I never did get the chance, maybe next time.
Our other local was the Irish Bar, it sold 3 for 1 buckets. Enough said.
One day we hired a longtail boat to get that productive feeling back and see some of the local area by sea. We went over to Bamboo Island, a tiny deserted island but picture postcard perfect and also Phi Phi Lai. Home of the infamous Maya Bay, also known as 'The Beach' from the book and film. Being a huge fan of both I loved standing where I knew Leo Di Cap had been and milked every second of it.
It was a great day and after much jumping in and out of the boat, backward somersaults and back flips we headed home to the big island for food.
On Chris and Andrea's last night we were on the beach dancing when the heavens opened and the monsoon rains came to party with us. It was obvious they weren’t going to stop so it became a case of if you beat them, join them. Obviously we couldn't beat monsoon rains so we danced on the sand and in the rain like devils possessed, soaked to the skin and bone, clothes and hair hanging limp from everybody. It was all a bit tribal but really fun and random.
I'm dribbling on now aren’t I, only 5 hours till I board the flight so might as well carry on...
By day 7 (and STILL no sun) Tina and I were Phi Phi'd out. Lottie had gone home, Dan had moved on and Chris, Andrea and Matt had all jetted off down to Malaysia. We decided we couldn't stay on the island anymore, it had had its fun with us and spat us out and now we had to leave. We opened a map and searched desperately for a new destination, somewhere to hold us for the 5 days we had left before embarking on the journey home and eventually, we found it. Koh Lipe.
Neither of us had heard of Koh Lipe before that afternoon but less than 12 hours later we were cruising south on a chartered speed boat under blue skies and fluffy white clouds (typical on the day we leave!). That's the great thing about travelling, so spontaneous you never know where you might end up.
It turned out that Chris, Andrea and Matt had also spied Koh Lipe on their journey down and it was all smiles as we were reunited on the new island.
The weather held up the following day and once again we chartered a longtail boat to take us out into the big blue for some snorkelling and sunbathing on the untouched beaches. This time the day couldn't have gone better and we splashed about in the currents (which were disturbingly strong I might add), bathed under palms and watched a pretty magnificent sunset from the bobbing helm of the boat. Paradise indeed.
And really, that brings me to now....the days after that were a bit non-descript, the weather faded and the looming prospect of packing for the final time was hanging over my head like the grey clouds outside our bamboo bungalow. It's been a medium sized mission getting here this morning involving a very wet boat, a bumpy minibus, a cramped tuk tuk, a claustrophobic night bus and a freezing cold coach but eventually, we made it, we are here at KL airport, for the third time, eating our third Mc Donalds and receiving our third immigration stamps.
Tina has just arisen from the dead on the table next to me which is good because I was beginning to think she'd past away at the last hurdle, but alas no, she's reaching for that banana chocolate muffin again.
I know it'll be awesome to see family and friends back home but I feel so disconnected from England at this very moment it's hard to imagine being back, it feels like another destination on my trip and then i'll be off again... who knows, maybe I will ;)
