Sing: "I'm Poor": Altogether now....

Singapore was a fleeting affair; I arrived on Wednesday and flew to Darwin on Friday. My first impression was "How incredibly clean and modern this place is". My second was "How incredibly expensive this place is".


Still, all good in the hood. I jumped straight on the (pristine) tube system to the (gleaming) Financial District to meet up with Welsh James - an old mate of a mate back home from about five years ago. My wondrous brother Tobin posted out my new credit cards to James' place of work (the ones lost in Vietnam four weeks previously), so I picked them up and we caught up over a beer. A 33ml can of beer. An £8 33ml can of beer. Still, was great to be in a new city and see an old face (actually, the Financial District reminded me of the City of London....I had some serious nostalgia going on). After our drink James went off to meet his city-type chums, and I went for a five hour yomp around the streets of Singapore with both my rucksacks. Fine exercise, I though, dressed in the most sturdy of walking shoes; flip-flops.


The next day I left from my hostel, hobbled as far as Fort Canning Park (about 500 metres from my hostel) and realised my feet really were in shit state from the cuts I sustained diving in Thailand, exacerbated by yesterday's march. Still, not a bad place to hole-up for the day...the park is on a hill that overlooks the city, and it was like walking into a jungle! The noise of the cicadas and birds were overwhelming (in a city!) and the towering trees and vines contrasted the monolithic skyscrapers in the distance. I spent much of the day writing music here, hobbled home, changed into some glad rags and went to meet James for dinner in the Financial District.

We ate down by the river, and I haven't seen so many essex wideboys in pinstripes for a good few months! It was outrageous! The fresh sea-food was great, and James very kindly footed the bill (which, incidentally, was about two weeks living budget for Thailand. Each.) So again, utmost props to Ed (Hooper), Brother Tobin and Welsh James for helping me out of a very tight situation and sorting delivery of the new cards. Also, props to Holly, Lizzie and Thomas for giving me cash in exchange for online bank transfers during our time in Vietnam. You, my merry band of travellers, are legends.




The next day I crawled to the pharmacist, proudly showed her my feet, and asked what was up with them. She replied "Well, you haven't got gangrene...yet", and promptly gave me some drugs and creams. (F.Y.I, it's now almost six weeks after I sustained the cuts from diving - the fins dug in - and they have ALMOST stopped bleeding). I slapped some gunk on, had some fish and chips (as it was a Friday), and headed off the the airport.

Then I flew to Darwin, Australia! Ripper!

Thai Dhai

Not one to sequester my humble bumblings, here is a second slab of Thai Pie:

I'm actually a little sad to recall this section of the trip....'Twas full of merry making and sun baking. Same old, same old then!

First stop was Bangkok. It was good to be back on Rambutree and The Kaosan Road...it felt familiar and comfortable the second time around. I had two nights here before heading down to Kho Pa Ngang and the lure of the Full Moon Party.

Arriving in Bangkok airport was a little worrying; I had no Thai Baht, had lost my wallet in Vietnam (!) and it was about two in the morning. Luckily for me, I sparked up conversation with a little French-Canadian hotty at the airport, and she offered to share a cab and lend me 1000 baht (£20)! Problem solved. We ended up sharing a room together that night too (not like that), which is one of the things I love most about travelling; find me a girl in London that would be willing to share a hotel room with a complete stranger after half an hour of meeting him. No, seriously...get me her number.

So, a day lounging around by the hotel pool, a day getting my teeth done at the dentist, and it was off to the Islands with Thomas Allard (he flew into Bangkok the day after me). There is an archipelago off the East coast in the gulf of Thailand comprising Koh Samui, Koh Pa Ngang, and Koh Tao. We headed there.

Koh Pa Ngang:

Full Moon night.

The first Island we visited was Koh Pa Ngang ("Koh" means "Island"). The beach where we stayed was very, very beautiful, and to reach the Full Moon Beach (Hadrin) was a 45 minute boat ride down the coast. I checked it out a couple of days before the party, and I'm very glad we didn't stay there; it smelt of stale beer and sick and looked like Benidorm (again, awesomely beautiful beach, though).

Our beach. "Something Thong" or other?


Hadrin, location of the notorious party.

So, after a few days lounging around on our beach, Tom and I headed over to the Full Moon Party. The moon was, well, full; rising out of the sea - fat and red. The party was, well, most definitely a party!: The lasers beaming around the sky from Hadrin were visible from miles away. We arrived at the party by boat at midnight, and as we zoomed round the headland into the bay we were slammed by thumping bass waves from the beach. As we got closer we could see a teeming mass of bodies filling the entire length and depth of the beach. FUN TIMES!!!...

We jumped off the boat, bought some glowy sticks and straw fedoras, then partied hard til 1400 the next day. Oh yes, randomly bumped into Holly and Lizzie (both looking distractingly gorgeous, despite the fact they're chalet was burgled three nights before and everything stolen), as well as another couple of girls I met on the boat party in Nah Trang, Vietnam. I also met Graham Gold, who is a proper nice geezer, and had some mushroom shakes (proper NOT nice).



Koh Tao:
So, after recovering for a couple of days (Tom had left to go back to Bangkok) I journeyed on my lonesome over to Koh Tao; about a two-hour hydrofoil ride through VERY rough sea. Tao is regarded as one of the cheapest and best scuba-diving locations in the world. It's a very small Island (a couple of K across and about 6 down). The weather was CRAP for my entire stay (check pics), but when you're under the sea it doesn't matter. I stayed here for a week and got my PADI Open Water certificate, so I can dive on my own now (I think). Scuba diving is absolutely fascinating; it's like being in another world and I thoroughly recommend it to everyone.


Koh Phi Phi:
After doing a few more dives off Tao, I took a hellish and woefully disorganised journey back to mainland Thailand, and over to the West Coast. Here I caught the ferry from Krabi over to Koh Phi Phi; one of the places most badly hit by the 2004 Tsunami.
There are two Islands: Phi Phi Don (the main one), and the much smaller Phi Phi Lei (where The Beach was partly filmed). Phi Phi Don is where the town is built. The town nestles on a large sand bar stretching between two towering limestone hills - both shores of the sand-bar are concave and forming two opposing bays. This is where the majority of the population live, and was completely wiped out in the Tsunami. The wave got funnelled into the westerly bay, thundered over the sand-bar and out of the easterly bay. It's since been rebuilt with much more solid structures; a shame in many ways as it spoils the natural beauty.

Both bays and the sand-bar/town. The wave came in from the West (on the right)


If I was looking this way in 2004 I'd be shitting myself.



So, here I was - munching my breakfast and coffee - when who should walk past me but Holly and Lizzie! Cue several days of fun, fishing, partying and fire-jumping. I've never fished before, but we caught some very reasonable fish! We took them to a restaurant and I offered the chef four fish if he gutted and barbecued the others for me and my mates. "It was the best fish supper they ever tasted...it was delicious!" (F.Y.I. Tenuous reference to Thomas the Tank Engine there, as well as a Mr. Scruff tune).

Really?...

Yes....





Phuket:
After Phi Phi I took the short ferry journey over to Phuket to catch my flight down to Singapore. Nothing of real interest here (unless you're a sex tourist), although I took an hour journey to the airport on the back of a motorbike with all my kit! Sketchy.

Bye bye Thailand; I'll definitely see you again. I love you to bits, although the North was my preferred region of your geography. Your inhabitants of the South treat me like a number to be shipped about in appalling conditions. Sort it out.

Hello Singapore.....

'Nam: The Flashback.

The Overview: Travelling from the south up the the coast to the north, then flying back to Bangkok.

Ho Chi Minh:
Well, first stop was Ho Chi Minh City; previously known as Saigon, but renamed after 1975 to the name of a national hero.
The only really notable point of the city is just how many mopeds and motorbikes there are, i.e. billions. I was planning to buy a motorbike and travel up the Vietnamese coast, but after seeing how they I drive I decided that here wasn't the best place to learn. I'll learn in England and come back again in a couple of years to do it. Lizzie and I rented a couple of "cyclos"; push-bike taxis that have a seat on the front. We were on them for a day and checked out some Chinese temples, interspersed with narrowly avoiding calamitous moped drivers on roundabouts.

Nha Trang:
Nha Trang is a coastal town that could easily be on the Coste Del Sol, but not in a particularly bad way. It's main bonus point is the luscious beach; the first I've been to since Goa in India. We spent a lot of time sunbathing and larking around in the drink...plus a boat trip which took us around the islands. That was crazy, and involved a lot of beer-guzzling and being entertained by our host "Funky Monkey". We were served up a mouth-watering lunch on deck and "treated" to the crew's "band" playing "classics". The "drums" consisted of several cooking pots, turned upside-down with "Yamaha" etched on to the sides.

All very beautiful, though, and I DJed here in a place called "Why Not?". My ace travelling companions, Matt, Steph, Holly and Lizzie supported me and I played my track "Filth Hut" for the first time in public. Good times!


Funky Monkey


Funky Monkeys





Click on pic and check out the dude with the mic.


Our lunch on the boat trip.

Hoi An:
Hoi An was my favourite place in Vietnam....such a picturesque little riverside town, with massive Colonial-French and Chinese influence. On our first day here on the quay, Groove Armada's "At The River" player over and over in my head. There are more tailors than you can shake a mannequin's arm at, and I got a couple of quality three-piece suits cut and shipped back to Blighty. I kind of want to come home early just so I can strut about in them. I bumped into Thomas Allard here, a mate from London! He joined the team for the rest of Vietnam.
There's also a great, paradise beach a couple of kilometres out of town that we rented bicycles and cycled to.






Hue:
Hue Hey we're the Monkeys.
Hue is ok, but is another large town / city. However, we all rented bikes with drivers for the day, and were taken to all manner of tranquil temples and forts. I had some kind of Harley Davidson type bike and it was awesome! When we got out of the city it was very, very beautiful.
We also went to the monastery where the monk who burned himself to death in protest lived.







Hanoi:
The capital of Vietnam, and surprisingly scenic. The main backpacker places are in the old quarter of this city, and whilst busy, retains a lot of culture and French influence. Here is where we booked our tickets to Halong bay...




Halong Bay:
So...on to Halong bay! This place is incredible. If you haven't seen it, you really should. It's a vast expanse of water, dotted with thousands of rugged limestone islands jutting straight up out of the water. We took a traditional Junk trip to Cat Ba Island and some caves, and trekked up through the national park. It really is like the island on Jurassic Park! We sea-kayaked to Monkey Island (I know; great, eh?) but the sea got a little choppy so we ended up paddling around these fishing villages built entirely on the water. There were loads of dogs kept on these pontoons that went berserk whenever we got near, and our crafts were assailed by a bunch of completely naked children. They took immense pleasure from slithering up on to the kayaks and leaping off again. A certain member of our party wanted to take one home as her own child, but we held her down.


Jurassic Park




And so, back to Hanoi and then a brief flight down to Bangkok again, to head down to the south Islands and the infamous Full Moon Party. I parted company with Matt and Steph here as they were then going to China. Goodbye, Team Alpha....it was a good run. I also parted company with Lizzie and Holly, with the promise of meeting them down in Thailand.

Onwards to paradise!