Bangkok, Ayutthaya and Kanchanaburi

 After the Full Moon Kirsty, Simon and I set off for a huge bus journey up to bangkok which could have been done in half the time were it not for some uneccessary moving us around from different places within the same town. Anyway, one Xanax and I woke up in Bangkok after a ten hour kip... magic!

Bangkok is a dive. A smutty, dirty, complicated and disorganised dive. After one day there we decided to drop our passports off at the Vietnam embassy and get out of the city.

We got a train from bangkok to Ayutthaya, the old capital of Thailand. The town is built on an island in the confluence of three rives which is pretty impressive in itself, and formed a natural form of defence. However, after it was sacked a number of times by the Burmese the capiutal was moved to Bangkok. It still however houses some magnificent temples and Thai culture is more pronounced than in any other place I have visited yet.
Unfortunately, I wasn't too into the temples as I had some serious glands growing under my chin and a fever so went to the doctor who has given me some tablets and feeling better already. Saw most of the temples though and got a good feel for the town.

Day two and we headed to Kanchanaburi, the site of the River Kwai POW-built bridge. Our first stop was the JEATH museum which depicts a typical POW bunk and displays various atrifacts, pictures and newspaper clippings. My dissertation taught me that the two World Wars like most wars were a result of misplaced faith in the nation and religion -the two most important apparatus we look to for guidance.
The bridge itself, aside from the lights the Thai's have added for the tourists, is nothing but a typical, functional railway bridge. However it stands as a monument to the lengths people will go to when their faith is misplaced and they are misguided.
There is evidence that people themselves are not all bad, such as the statue of one Japanese officer who later worked to repatriate the bodies of those who perished working on the Bridge, the Australian Ernest Dunlop who performed basic surgery to save the lives of fellow prisoners, and the local Thai man who smuggled him basic drugs such as penicillin.

Following the museum we went by longboat to a local temple situated by a small cave system. After a few photos and risking life and limb on the wet, barely-secured, 30 foot high, ladder we travvelled on to one of the war cemetaries via a village of houseboats!
The war cemtary was really sobering. Some graves had really touching messages from parents, siblings and offspring, whilst some didn't, and some didn't even have names. I've never been to a war cemetary before and it's the closest I've come to the consequences of war which I'd only read about.


All in all, it's great to be doing some proper travelling again and actually seeing interesting things rather just getting pissed again and again, however much fun it is. Unfortunately, I've got to head back to Bangkok to pick up my passport and then it's off to Chang Mai for some trekking, hopefully with a few wreckheads I met in Phangan... so best of both worlds really!

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Koh Phangan Take II

Already written a post for the last full moon so I'll keep this one brief. Same as before but me even more sound people from all over. Tempted to brave a huge journey down from Laos for the next one. Absolutely love it!

I will however draw your attention to one Daily Mail article published back in the UK, which has done me few favours in letting my mother know exactly how the Thai islands are but with typical British-tabloid sensationalism!

Drink, drugs and sex on the beach: Is THIS what your teenager is up to on their gap year?

By Laura Topham

Last updated at 2:34 PM on 25th September 2010

Were it not for the waves of green, clinking beer bottles, you’d think the hundreds of inert ­bodies strewn along the shore had washed up dead.

Behind them, many more youngsters are slumped, their heads between their knees, ­vomiting into the sand.

Then there are the men ­urinating in the sea and an array of naked couples bobbing up and down in the water. The sordid scene is lit by a beautiful, white full moon. But then this is the Full Moon Party on Thailand’s Koh Phangan island — the most renowned and revered experience on every backpacker’s itinerary.

Popular: The Full Moon Party on Thailand’s Koh Phangan island is a must for all backpackers (file pic)

Every month, 10,000 youngsters gather here and many of them are British middle-class school leavers for whom a trip to Thailand — and the rich cultural experiences it has to offer — has become a rite of passage.

Well, that’s what their parents would hope as they wave their offspring off at the airport.

But the sad reality includes ­spectacles such as this on Haad Rin beach.

As the monthly event has grown, so too has the level of theft, violence and rape. Western youngsters regularly die here from drunken accidents.

So, with all these dangers, what exactly is the lure of this beach to teenagers who are, after all, meant to be Britain’s brightest?

I’m here for October’s Full Moon Party to find out.

Party: Every month over 10,000 youngsters descend on the beach (file pic)

Privately-educated Mike Coe, 19, from Exeter, is the first reveller I encounter. ‘I’ve just come to ­Thailand for the party,’ he says, before adding sheepishly, ‘and a bit of culture, of course — although there’s none here.’

There is, however, plenty of what he and friend Roland Greenslade really want: sex and alcohol. ‘I’ve already slept with four girls this week,’ says Mike.

‘My friend had to sit outside on the step and wait.’ Roland, also 19, privately educated, and from ­Exeter, adds proudly: ‘I’ve had a threesome with two Aussie girls.’

So, what do their parents think? ‘They love the fact that I’m seeing the world,’ says Mike. ‘They don’t realise what it’s really like.

‘Mum thinks I’m sitting around having one glass of wine and a nice, healthy seafood dinner.’

Tonight, the two blond, bare-chested boys have, in fact, had a cheap curry, and are looking for girls. They have just drunk their first highly-potent and ubiquitous ‘bucket’ — a container holding a terrifying cocktail of spirits.

For if there’s one thing this party is about — and it is certainly not Thai culture or the stunning beach setting — it is these vats of ­alcohol.

Legendary among attendees, they contain a 35ml bottle of ­spirits such as vodka, whiskey or the local liqueur Samsong, along with a can of cola and a ­medicinal-looking bottle of super-strength Redbull.

Parents believe their children have gone looking for some culture in Thailand (file pic)

The concoction is mixed in a plastic bucket, from which people drink through straws.

Containing seven large shots, they cost from just 200 baht (£4) and are sold at more than 50 stalls along the beach, all of which have obscene names such as ‘f*** my sex bucket’ or ‘Jesus f*** it’.

One female vendor even carries a sign saying ‘f*** me’.

This obscene word is ubiquitous; most signs contain swearwords and stalls sell T-shirts emblazoned with the words: ‘F*** you man’.

Hard drugs — illegal in Thailand — are also sold on the beach, both by Thai men, who approach offering ecstasy tablets for 500 baht (£10), and at Mellow Mountain and Kangaroo, two bars over­looking the beach which sell ‘Happy Shakes’.

These cocktails contain a heavy dose of magic mushrooms and also cost around £10.

Amphetamines are sold at some of the pharmacies on the main street. Though the ‘speed’ I am offered — from a special drawer behind the counter — is actually Phentermine, a prescription-only weight-loss drug. Tablets are 120 baht each (about £2).

Sitting on a rock below Mellow Mountain is Jess Bainbridge, 20, from Windsor, a bubbly brunette with ‘I love Winkers’ written in pink paint down both arms.

‘It’s the local nightclub back home,’ she explains of the writing. ‘I want it in the photos for Facebook so my friends can see it.’

Cheap: The low prices of alcohol at the parties encourage binge drinking and partying to excess

After finishing her A-Levels, she worked for her local council to save for a gap year. After 12 days in Thailand, she’ll spend a year in Australia. ‘I just came here to go to the party and it’s brilliant,’ she declares. ‘Just like Malia and Magaluf. I’ve only really met Brits and Aussies. Mum didn’t want me to come, as things can be dangerous, but I’m not worried.’

By midnight, the beach has filled with thousands of revellers ­dancing in the sand, on wooden benches and specially erected stages. There are around 20 ­permanent pubs, hotels and restaurants on the beachfront. Each place belts out hardcore dance music at ear-bleeding levels.

The full moon parties were started in the Eighties by Sutti ­Kuasurkul, owner of The Rock bar, at the end of Sunrise Beach.

Initially, he held a gathering as a send-off for some Australians after a prolonged stay at the resort. It was such a success that they became a regular occurrence — but they have developed beyond recognition, as has the resort.

Sitting alone overlooking the messy bay, Sutti looks miserable and will only say ‘It’s ok’ when I ask if he likes the party.

When further pressed, he simply turns his hand in an ambivalent gesture. It is clear he feels — as many locals do — that he can’t complain because he lives off the money the party brings in.

‘People from Europe are not like us — they are out of control,’ says bar worker Bo, 27. ‘They have boom boom (sex) on the beach and don’t care who sees them. They are crazy.’

With the burgeoning popularity of the parties comes further destruction to the resort, which now only attracts young drinkers, rather than discerning holidaymakers.

The main street is a cramped, smelly, shabby mess of neon signs and cheap, run-down restaurants. It’s no secret which nationality the resorts are aiming at: restaurants sell ‘pies, bangers and branston pickles’, pubs show films such as Sex And The City and live football from England.

Internet café computers automatically load Facebook when started.

Store after store sells fluorescent Full Moon Party vests with slogans such as ‘I not drunk’ or ‘drunk drink drunk’ and feature pictures of buckets with straws — one even shows a naked boy urinating into a bucket.

Passed out: How many backpackers' evenings end (file pic)

Other businesses booming as a result of all this include doctors’ clinics (there are three on the beach) and pharmacies. After all, 10,000 drunken youngsters demand a great deal of medical assistance.

‘People can’t control themselves,’ says one of the local doctors, ­Kritsada Wonghianchai.

‘They suffer acute alcohol intoxication and serious dehydration. It’s mainly young backpackers, aged 18 to 22.’

Pharmacist Miss Leck often treats people who have been fighting or wounded by cut glass.

‘People hurl bottles and they break on the beach,’ she says. ‘Most people are barefoot. Others fall and hit their head. Some fall asleep then come round with awful sunburn.’

She adds sadly: ‘Fifty years ago, it was a beautiful place to see the full moon, but not now.’

There are also lots of ­accidents from drunken driving after the party. One 21-year-old from ­Manchester University is covered in bloody scabs from a motorcycle crash; the driver — her travelling partner — is still in a coma.

But if that all sounds quite ­dangerous enough, then what about the burning skipping ropes? Many people are treated for burns because they’ve been encouraged to jump over huge, petrol-doused ropes that have been set alight and swung from stands by organisers.

British teenagers travel to Thailand as part of their gap years after finishing school

Within a few swings, they trip and are lashed by flaming rope on their legs, chest or head; one man even has his clothes set on fire.

Later, a 2 ft wide ring is set alight and partygoers dive through it with varying success. The ­abundance of fire — even a slide that revellers speed down is alight — is astonishingly reckless given that I don’t meet a single sober person all night.

Another serious hazard is the sea, of course. Stories abound of ­drownings during intoxicated swims. On the shore at 1am, one man is unconscious in the shallow water, his head held in the air by his panicking friend. After a five-minute struggle, his friend finally lifts him from the water and carries him off. Around them, people are staggering out to taxi boats, occasionally falling over and being pulled out of the water by friends. The low safety level of this transport was highlighted in June, when 42 party-goers were injured, many seriously, after two boats collided. Five years ago, a boat sank, killing 18 people.

At 3am, thousands are still ­dancing, covered in fluorescent glow paint and wearing flashing devil horns. More and more are collapsing on the sand and remaining there.

One 19-year-old English girl on her gap year is lying on her back being comforted by a male friend. She has taken magic mushrooms and keeps covering her face with her hands and squealing with fear.

‘She’s not having a good time,’ says the boy. ‘Please keep away — she can’t handle being near people.’ Which might prove ­difficult in a party of 10,000.

A Full Moon Party at Koh Phangang in Thailand (file pic)

Home time yet? Some struggle with the quantity of alcohol consumed (file pic)

She isn’t the only girl suffering drug effects. Over in the ‘sleep’ section — a cordoned-off area now housing 12 inanimate bodies, plus one man sticking his fingers down his throat — a girl with a Union Jack painted on her leg is coiled in the foetal position, shaking and sobbing. ‘We only shared one Happy Shake between us,’ says her boyfriend. ‘I can’t believe how many mushrooms must have been in it.

‘They shouldn’t be selling something so strong, it’s not fair on travellers.’ He says she is suffering severe anxiety and depression, and the effects won’t wear off for hours.

Indeed, suicides after bad drug experiences here are common -—enough to warrant a warning in the Foreign Office advice.

According to the Rough Guide, two Westerners a month are hospitalised for ­psychiatric care after taking dodgy drugs here.

Despite pledges to crack down, ­little appears to have been done. ‘It’s too busy, too much work,’ says ­Sergeant Amon, head of police in Haad Rin. ‘Lots of theft and drugs and fighting.’

Despite which, he claims the 100 police drafted in from across the island for the parties usually make only five arrests.

By far the most sordid scene that I witness occurs at the waterside at 4am. Three couples are having sex in the sea.

Thousands drink until the sun comes up at 7am by which stage the beaches are littered with drunken bodies (file pic)

One particularly indiscreet pairing attracts attention, and soon a crowd of more than 100 people surround them, taking photos and whooping — less than a metre away.

Undeterred, the couple continue. The spectacle lasts for more than ten minutes.

When at last the pair drag themselves out of the sea, I hear their well-spoken English accents. One can only imagine what their ­parents would think.

The beach is now difficult to ­navigate due to leering men with ­groping hands. In the dim light, it’s impossible not to step on people, though they don’t stir if you do.

Most have been decorated with buckets and bottles by passers-by. Party-goers who are still conscious pose, arms in air, next to those who aren’t: presumably to testify that they survived unscathed where ­thousands didn’t.

The stench is overwhelming; a­ ­nauseating blend of alcohol, sweat, urine and vomit.

Not that the revellers notice. When the sun finally rises at 7am, ­thousands are still drinking and dancing.

Among the litter, lost belongings and lost people, it’s hard to recognise the beautiful white-sand beach from yesterday.

But nobody here cares — after all, they didn’t come for the scenery.

Koh Phi Phi

So, after the full moon party being so good I decided to stick around on the islands in the south for a month and wait for the next one. This left me with about 2 weeks in Phi Phi. (PP)
PP is a tiny little island where the whole settlement is situated on a sandbank between two stunning limestone karsts. The action centers around the beach at night where eeveryone hits the beach for free shots and buckets. You can, if your organised enough, get three free buckets in one night, but you really wouldn't want to: the alcohol they usee is actually called 'white spirit' and you can definitely feel the effects of it after a couple of days! After a while  I called it quits on the free buckets and shots (started coughing up blood and feeling sick at the smell of them...nice)  and went back to the samsong whisky.

I ended up PRing for a bar called Banana Bar in order to save some cash and get involved at the same time. The deal was you get all you can drink in 4 hours, a free Mexican dinner and cash if you stick at it for long enough. It was pretty good for a while. The guys working there were all cool and sound as hell, and we had a good go at the Israeli's who, lets just say, weren't the friendliest people on the island to the PR's.

A few of the other guys working at Banana Bar were well into their tattoos and I ended up back at the tattoo parlour as couple of nights with them. Now, if there's one word of advice I can give anyone going to Thailand its don't mess with the Thais! Respect is a massive thing to them and if you disrespect them or their family or friends they get angry pretty quickly! Maya, a sound as hell Thai woman owned the Tattoo parlour and worked there with her four brothers and after a few visits and chatting to them in the evening we got to know them and she started calling us our brothers. She also told us that there was a lot of Thai mafia in PP (which would explain the fight I heard about between 30 Thais on my second night and the gun that was pulled out in the process).
So when Chan, one of the guys from BB, told a drunk Israeli guy to sit down when he was stumbling round the tattoo shop whilst his best mate John was getting tattooed, and the Israeli guy got loud, Maya shot up, gathered a few Thai blokes, and before you can say "maybe its time to go now", one of the Thais was offering to kill the Israeli guy, whilst another was offering Chan a gun!
Fairly quickly, the Israeli left - 'Go on now, tail between your legs, off you trot'
And a wise decision it was too.

Since we'd been travelling in Oz endless people had told us to go to the Rock in PP. It's a shithole, but a legend of a shithole! It's essentially a cramped, filthy, mosquito ridden dorm with barely enough fans but you can write on the walls so its quality! It's also really social which is what you look for when you travel by yourself. True enough, in the 2 weeks I was there there was no end of sound people, so many in fact I'm not going to name everyone but we had some epic nights out and I've got some epic stories not suitable for publication, and now I'm heading back to Phangan knowing so many people I reckon it should be even better than the first one. At least when I inevitably get lost again on the FMP itself I should run into someone in under three hours, thus beating my previous record!

I left PP a couple of days ago now and have been staying in Ao Nang near Krabi. Nothing has happened. Nothing at all. It's been amazing! Just sitting on a beach reading a book. Seriously needed some R+R after PP.

Leaving for Phangan today so tomorrow night should back on the buckets again... loves it!
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Koh Tao, Koh Samui and Phuket

After a wicked week in Koh Phangan we had a few days chilling out in Koh Tao. The island is mostly focused on diving schools for people training for PADI licenses but a lack of money meant that we didn't go for the courses, even though diving in Australia was good fun! For a cheaper alternative we rented out a scooter and some snorkels for the first full day there and went to a few dive spots around the island, even one rather ominously called 'Shark Bay'. I'm not gonna try and act hard because when it comes to the 'S' word I'm a girl, although less so now than when we first started travelling. Un/fortunately, 'Shark Bay' had, despite our best efforts to find them, no sharks. It did have some huge shoals of fish and massive coral gardens though, which was nice...
Anyway, after a busy day snorkelling around the island we were just about to get back on the bike and go home when we got stuck in our first proper experience of Thailand's rainy season, a ridiculous downpour that left us wetter than the snorkelling. We got some pretty funny looks from the locals when we decided to brave it and drive home in the rain, no doubt muttering in Thai some equivalent of 'bloody tourists!'

The following day Andy decided to go diving, whilst I chilled on the beach, making the most of his i-pod before he left. He came back with a quality story about his dive instructor getting attacked by some trigger fish. Trigger fish are apparently these big territorial fuckers who hide behind rocks and attack anything entering their space. The instructor managed to get bitten in the head and needed a fair few stitches afterwards. Andy was pretty chuffed though, he got 50% off!

Alas, all good things come to an end. After nine and a half months together, Andy had to go home due to lack of money. We had a few ridiculous arguments which are only natural when you're with someone 24/7 but I had a quality trip with the boy and hopefully he can say the same. Goodbye's were said, and I left for Koh Samui in the morning and he went to Bangkok later on that afternoon.
It's really different travelling by yourself. After such a long time with a mate you end up chatting absolute shite for the majority of the day to fill the space. Now I seem to be chatting absolute shite to myself! Travelling with someone means you always have someone else to do stuff with, but it also means that sometimes you want to do different things. When your by yourself you can do whatever you want, and you end up chatting to so many people you might not have otherwise.

Koh Samui was my first stop after Koh Tao, I stayed at Moonlight Guesthouse, which run by a guy called Ritchie. Ritchie is an animal! The only other person in the dorm was a girl called Flora, who may be going though some kind of personality crisis! (public school, finance graduate with shares/ wannabe hippie - think hair braids and mediation)
A few casual beers in the hostel soon got messy and Ritchie, Flora and myself decided it would be a fantastic idea to all get on Ritchie's scooter and drive from Chaweng to Lamai for a night out! Lamai did not however turn out to be what I naively expected, so it was a good job I was steaming! I'd heard Koh Samui was seedy and did not cater for backpackers but I didn't expect it to be so bad - we were the only people under 35 in a bar full of Thai girls and old men.
I found a book in the bookshop the next day that summed it up pretty well: 'Dating in Thailand: A guide to finding a Thai girlfriend'. A lot of these blokes are just pretty lonely and come to Thailand to find a partner because they can't back home. Others however, like Ritchie, just like Thai girls... I'm sure you can imagine where his night went! (He told us a funny story the next day from a previous night in Lamai involving a lady-boy) Ritchie is a deviant, but a character nonetheless! Oh and in case you're wondering no I didn't, I got a cab back with Flora, and no I didn't either!

I'm now in Phuket which is much the same as Samui but I'm staying outside of the main tourist area (I intended to sit on a beach for a few days but it's rained non stop) and its pretty boring here. The people staying here are all sound though! Did some sight seeing yesterday with a couple of Canadian girls and went for  a few beers with a big group of Irish in the evening so it's still good fun post-Drew, even if the weather's worse than home!

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