beautiful bungalows; they kind of reminded me of the bungalows from Dirty Dancing. We walked down the path and we were paired off, me and my Sister Laura in one, Lauren and Alysha in another. We weren’t there two minutes before we went to explore our bar and beach that our bungalows were sat on. It was amazing. So beautiful, even more beautiful than the last. We were gearing up for The Full Moon Party which would be taking place in a matter of days, so relaxing and exploring was more on the cards for us. Our bar was constantly open, I don’t know whether this was a good or bad thing, because now looking back I can’t differentiate the days because they seem to merge into a Mojito filled daze that Lauren and I took full advantage of. When drinks are so cheap there’s not really much you can do but take advantage. Bottles of beer for a pound, Cocktails for £1.50, it would have been criminal to walk away. This is what I tell myself to ease the guilt of my lack of memory.
We took a walk into the town which was two internet cafes, a general store, and travel agents. The road was made of dust and sand, and open air trucks rarely passed by. It was amazing (I’m sorry to overuse certain words but every time I think back to this trip I become awe struck that I went there and did the stuff I did, and experienced how truly life affirming a trip it was). We went into the travel agents and discovered a day trip that was a once in a life time opportunity all for under £20. I couldn’t believe what we could do here, the freedom that we have, I felt like I was always taking advantage of the people and the country because of how far out British money can take you when you’re there. So while in Thailand we all became good tippers! To show our appreciation to the locals and the different communities who allowed us to integrate their circles and help us. So for less than what you could spend here on a lunch with friends, or some drinks, and for a lot less than a decent haircut back here we had a fun filled day ahead of us. The Day Trip.
The day began at 7am, and we sat on the dusty road awaiting our ride to meet the rest of the people we were going out with. The trip began immediately for us, as we sat waiting and waiting. Our ride eventually arrived. It turned out we were actually forgotten about, and the usual taxi could not come back for us. We were loaded into the back of a white open back truck. Not the usual ones you would see around Thailand. This was actually a truck with two wooden blocks on each side for the four of us to sit on. We were held in by nothing! We really felt the fear this time. We wound around lanes, and dirt roads hitting 60, even 70 mile an hour. Nothing to hold on to.
Nothing to keep us going over the 2inch frame that held us in. Everyone looked at us as we screeched to a halt in front of everyone who was eating their inclusive breakfast. A banana and a cup of tea was given to us and we set off again. Having no time to thank god for us getting out alive.
The Elephant trekking was the first stop on our day. We watched as our guide, a crazy haired Thai version on Russell Brand called Honey showed us around the camp and demonstrated how they had trained monkeys to collect Coconuts from trees that were too tall for me to climb. This being Thailand, and like I said before their general easy going attitude towards health and safety meant that looking up and oohing and ahing over a monkey jumping from tree to tree turned into fleeing from a rainstorm of coconuts. They dropped literally feet from where we stood. Looking back it’s funny that we were so close to skull cracking danger, but at that moment in time we were all nervous.
We all hurried as a group away from the crazy coconut wielding monkey, and back to the Elephants, we all climbed on one by one. Us being a bit awkward wanted to ride in a three and thinking that they would let us all climb onto the seat on the Elephants back we jumped on as well. First Lauren climbed in, then I squeezed up next to Lauren, but before Laura could climb on they motioned for the Elephant to move back. We all started shouting “wait” thinking they were forgetting Laura. If only that were the case. Laura was quickly rushed onto the Elephants back and made to sit behind the huge beast’s gigantic ears and sit on his neck!!!! This for her was less than enjoyable, because though like most peop
le I thought of Elephants being smooth, kind of like in Dumbo, not like they actually are, rough like sandpaper and covered in hair. I may sound naive, but I’ve never been close to an Elephant, or even really watched them on TV programmes, so my reaction was Hair! Seriously! As we went up hill, and downhill Laura the exercise expert had the chance of using her thighs of steel to stay on. We held onto her so she wouldn’t plummet to her death. Mum would blame me if this happened! After this it was pretty much a terrifying ride. Mine and Lauren’s seat was barely strapped on and at one point I had to scramble back up one of his legs just to stop me hitting the floor. All we were doing was laughing as we made it back to the camp. We reconvened with Alysha and the group and jumped back in the truck for a visit to the Chinese Temple.
The temple was gorgeous so old, and beautiful, I would recommend anyone who went to Thailand to take this trip because we just saw everything. The guides were so informative and fun, just joking around with us all day. We learned how all Thai people know their day and time of birth because they have a different Buddha to represent each day of the week, it’s a better version of a star sign. We walked around and saw all the gold Buddha’s and the different Temples where people prayed. It was good to get a bit of culture from the trip, but then we were straight back on the Longtail boats and headed over towards Bottle Beach where we snorkelled. Once again, our guide didn’t care much for health and safety and just handed us our equipment and said “jump in”. SO we began to and then after half of us had hit coral he turned back from his stoned state and simply mumbled “watch the rocks”. I loved their laid back carefree attitude. It was fantastic, it’s something that I would like to adapt to my way of life, it’s so addictive, and it would be a much better Britain if we lived more like that too. Unfortunately I lost my contacts so when everyone else was shouting “look at the colour on that fish”, and “that one’s a weird looking fish” all I could see was little blurs!
After an hour or so we headed over to the beach to have lunch, also included in the price. We were given a couple of hours to hang out with everyone else, sunbathe, play in the water, relax and enjoy the time off the boats. We met some really amazing people; two American’s a South African and a fellow Brit! Sounds like the beginning of a joke! We joined forces and hung out with them for the rest of the day trekking, waterfall diving, and being soaked on the Longtail boats. We were all so relaxed that we couldn’t’ think to change seats and try and give someone else a go at getting soaked. The water was choppy as we made our way back towards Koh Phangan making one last stop at one of the Island, Tong Nai Pan. This was where Laura found her Mecca. There was one small bar along the whole stretch of beach where we landed, and all along the stretch of palm trees beds hung and people were just sleeping on them in the shade. It was the most beautiful places I had ever seen in my life. We had some beers and once again the focus of the holiday we relaxed. So much of our time was spent just drinking in the moments and the memories that we were creating so we would never forget them.
All for less than a haircut we had the best day of our lives, made some fantastic friends in the process, Ryan, Jenna, Becca, and Scott, and experienced things we’ll probably never experience again. But that’s not the end of the trip.
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