I arrived in Bangkok the night before Holly arrived and Songkran was in full flow. People shooting water from guns, getting buckets and soaking you at every opportunity. I had not left the hotel since arriving, except when I tried to get involved and got soaked, and just wanted to get dry.
I spent a day working and eating at McDonalds as this was in the hotel so it was safe from all the bellends with water guns.
I told Holly about Songkran and she was not impressed, thinking about it, it was not the best thing to be happening nor was it the best place to be staying when you have to walk around with a backpack. So after her moaning at me for a while I decided to try and find a hotel away from the festival and brave the water and shit that they rub on you. I got changed into my swimming shorts and told her I would be back online in 30 minutes…
I left my hotel and made it to the end of the road. I was soaked and I literally could not get any wetter. I had been squirted straight in my face, had buckets of water thrown over me, and cold water poured down the back of my neck from bottles, and all with “Happy New Year”. Once I made the main road, the water fights had eased but next, there were about a few hundred people I had to walk through who were rubbing some sort of paste on your face, body and anywhere they chose.
I literally lasted 50 metres and gave up and covered in the shit. I got back on Skype and Holly went into a fit of laughter at the state I was in, covered in the paste and soaking wet.
I got no sleep that night, the tannoy kept repeating some Thai speech, music blaring out, and people screaming. I was tired, pissed off, moody and needed to move hotels. I got up at 7 am and the streets were dead. I looked around for a hotel and found the nicest one I could and I think the only 4-star hotel in the area. I needed some luxury after the night and a few days I had just had.
I booked into the hotel, chilled by the pool and then did some work and set off to meet Holly at the airport. I had not seen her for 2 months and I wanted to make sure she remembered the reunion. I know Holly hates bright colours, and any cheesy lovey-dovey sort of stuff, so I managed to find a bright green day glow vest with “I love my girlfriend” on it in luminous writing. Perfect for making Holly die inside.
Trust her to arrive right at halftime in the Semi Final of the FA Cup. I left at halftime when we were losing to Everton and I was not in the best of moods, all I needed was the next hour to go smoothly. Of course, this was not going to happen.
I had sent Holly pictures of where to wait and stand for me when she arrived and not to move at all until she saw me as I know how bad she is at following directions. I went to head to the agreed meeting point only to be stopped by security about 300 metres away. I was not happy, they were laughing at me because I was panicking that she was on her own and I had to meet her. I did not have my passport with me so I was not allowed any further.
I went mental, and I think I was pretty close to getting told to leave the terminal as people started to see I was kicking up a fuss. In the end, I text her and thank god she was sensible enough to put her phone on as she wondered where I was.
It was so nice seeing her after 2 months, she hated the vest, which was good and we headed back to our hotel, of course, I was hoping she would get soaked and covered in crap. Nope, not a drop on her!
The next day, as neither of us wanted to get soaked or full of crap we decided to go to a mall for the day. It was awesome, they even had cars Lambo’s, Ferrari’s etc dealerships in there.
We went bowling, and as Holly was shit hot at bowling she beat me again, I swear she was a bowler in another lifetime. I embarrassed her there though by getting the DJ to play her favourite song and over the tannoy for everyone to hear at the bowling alley, “Holly’s favourite song, Justin Bieber, Baby”.
Our bus to Koh Tao left at 9 pm that night, and if anyone knows me I am very rarely early. I did not get the “let’s arrive early so we are there in plenty of time” gene from my mother. So setting off from the hotel at 8:15 pm was not the best thing to do. Our taxi driver took us to the bus station and after running around trying to find the bus we then got another taxi to the other bus station, only to find out that this was wrong too. We then take another taxi and this time get to the correct bus station, but it was now 9:45 pm and the bus had gone.
I asked the taxi driver to take us to Khaosan Road so I could change the date to the following morning. The taxi driver refused and took us back to where he originally picked us up. I lost the plot, much to the amusement of Holly. I can’t fully remember my rant but she said it was like listening to Karl Pilkington talk total utter crap and she couldn’t look at me as she was close to tears with laughter.
We then got another taxi back to our original hotel and the driver would not take us to Khaosan Road because of the festival. So we set off to walk the mile to the Lomprayah Ferry office. I was in a bad mood, stressed and ready to blow if anyone soaked me. I could not believe it, we managed to walk a mile, down side streets, and alleys and not get one drop of water on us. When we did come across the occasional person with a water pistol I think one look at my face and telling them, “Don’t bother dickhead” warned them off.
We managed to change the time to 6 am the following morning, so we decided to head back the way we came to the hotel and get an early night.
What happened next is, without doubt, the scariest thing that has ever happened to me, and I think ever will happen.
We walked out of the Lomprayah Ferry office, into the road with literally thousands all dancing and spraying each other. You could not see the floor it was that busy and you were literally just pushed down the road without moving your feet. We then heard “Bang Bang”. Everyone just froze and then we heard it again, “Bang Bang Bang”. Gunshots. Then, everyone panicked and started screaming. Everyone in front turned and just ran screaming toward us.
We all ran into the thousands who were coming the other way and it was just like hitting a brick wall. I saw how scared Holly was, if she had slipped she would have been crushed, anyone would have been hurt, the floor was soaking, my flip flops had gone, and I was pushing with every ounce of strength I had on people in front of me. I was pushing 2 Thai lads in front of me, who were pushing people too. it was that bad I was running and leaning my full body into them and was actually getting pushed backwards
it was getting really dangerous and it was clear someone was going to get really hurt. I grabbed Holly’s arm and just charged sideways. I got within a few metres of safety and 2 Thais would not let me past, shouting at me in Thai and pushing me. I just grabbed them both, threw them to one side and dragged Holly with me, she was saying “Sorry sorry” and they both tried to hit me.
We managed to climb over a barrier and an ice cream box to safety and as cheesy as it sounds just hugged each other. Holly had chest pains and could not breathe in the crush so we chilled for a minute and then climbed over barriers, boxes, and tables on the side so we did not have to get back in the crush. We got back to the hotel, shaken up and just glad to be OK.
We got to the ferry pickup at 5:45 am as Holly was adamant we would not be missing another bus. Thankfully I had spent 2 months on buses and dealing with the companies so I managed to blag the best seats on the bus (the advantages of going on so many, you know where the best seats are without knowing which bus you were on). We sprawled on them and got a good sleep.
We got on the ferry to Koh Tao, away from Bangkok again and the holiday was now starting properly for us. An hour into the ferry and some Thai bloke comes out of the doors singing away getting filmed for some advert for the ferry company. He walks past us and sings to the flag and then sings “Welcoooommmeeee to Thailand” then he shakes people’s hands and it ends. So that’s me and Holly in some shit Thai advert for ferries. P&O eat your heart out!
We arrive in Koh Tao and it is still as gorgeous as I remember, but it has suddenly gone expensive. I was paying 300-500 baht (£6.00-£10.00) a night for a room last January, now the average price was 1,500 baht (£30.00).
We ended up treating ourselves to a nice hotel with a pool, which is rare in Koh Tao for £40, as we were tired, and hot and needed to put our bags down. That night we found a nice bungalow for £35 a night so stayed there for the remainder of our time on Koh Tao.
As we only had two weeks to do the Southern Islands we decided to take the 50-minute flight from Samui to Krabi instead of the 14-hour ferry and bus trip to save a day travelling as I would prefer being on a beach than a stuffy bus.
The buses are not as good as the ones in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, which is strange seeing how developed Thailand is compared to those countries. We spent the night before the flight in Samui. I really enjoyed it a lot more this time, the beach was gorgeous and the nightlife was not as seedy as I remembered it to be.
We took the flight to Krabi and then got the 2-hour ferry to Railay. Railay is very quiet but very nice, it is mainly a place to go rock climbing, we spent a night on this island and decided to go to Phi Phi the following day. I treated Holly to a gorgeous hotel, one of the nicest I have ever stayed in.
The next morning we headed to Phi Phi. The island really is amazing, so gorgeous, with the most amazing water, and beautiful beaches. Amazing seeing the Tsunami destroy this little island. As we had spent money on some nice places and paid for the flights we had to cut back a little in Phi Phi, and we found a place for 900baht a night (£18). it was so cheap as you had to walk through the restaurant kitchen to get to your hotel room.
We are now in Phuket. This place is probably the main tourist place and the most heard of in Thailand. It has some amazing hotels.
We spent last night on Bangla Road, this place is just mental and somewhere you have to see, even to say you have seen it. It is full of Go-Go bars with women stripping for men, Ping Pong shows all over the place, hookers walking around wearing next to nothing and old men wandering the street looking for a lady.
We sat in the Irish bar and looked at some of the horrors and some of the old men trying their luck. We are heading back to Bangkok on Saturday for our flight home. I am ready to come home now, 10 weeks of eating the same stuff, and staying in hostels, guesthouses and hotels soon get tiring, moving around every couple of days, doing 6-30 hour bus trips etc takes its toll.
I have loved everything about this trip, It has been so amazing seeing the things I have seen, meeting the people and doing something I have talked about for so many years, I know I have done this at the right time in my life. If I was any older then I would not have fit in at all. Most people backpacking are between 22-30. I have not met anyone older than me anywhere on my trip who was backpacking.
I hope to do more travelling over the coming years. China, Japan, India, Malaysia, South America, and I’m sure the experiences I have had on this trip will help me have a better and easier trip on coming adventures.
My favourite place on this trip was Cambodia as anyone reading this blog may realise. The people were so nice, the places I saw were touching and unbelievable, and the country was how I imagined Thailand to be years ago before all the holidaymakers came in and took over.
I really enjoyed Laos too, although I spent most of my time in Vang Vieng tubing and most was a blurry haze I loved every minute.
North Thailand was fun, it was cheap, so many things to do and feels like a totally different country to the South.
I was not keen on Vietnam as I had the worst experiences of my trip here, got ripped off a lot, and the people were not welcoming or friendly, it was not just me who felt this, I met so many people who felt the same.
I love South Thailand, but it is no longer a cheap getaway, it’s worth every penny but not the place to visit on a budget. I know my parents spend a fortune to go on cruise ships, but if they spent the same money here and moved around a little I know for sure they would never go to the Caribbean again.
I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and did not put you off backpacking with my moaning about trips and being skint, it was an amazing trip, totally different to a holiday. I will definitely appreciate what I have at home and when I am next enjoying the comforts of a 4 or 5-star hotel on my next holiday!