More of Thailand's good times.

Ok, so first, my apologies for the delay in keeping you updated. As you might imagine, when spending six days on the closest thing to paradise this good earth has to offer, hoping on a computer to write down one's thoughts is not the first thing to come to mind. That said, I'm going to make up for it now. Second, it is a 3:22am and I am ridiculously hot, having just come back from a night out and thus unable to sleep.

So, when I last wrote I mentioned we were going to a. head to Kanchanaburi Tiger Sanctuary and b. go to Koh Pan-Ngan. Well, we did one of those and I'm afraid it was the tiger sanctuary that lost out. We took an eight hour bus journey from Bankok's Hua Lamphong station to Chumphon port, before embarking the ferry that took us via Koh Tao to Koh Pan-Ngan. The ferry seemed to take a long time, but I suspect it was largely down to the lack of sleep and the fact that a dutch 'douche' decided to produce a guitar and serenade us with the likes of 'Bad Bad Leroy Brown' and 'Rocky Raccoon', sung to the same chord sequence and chords. Tedious, as you might imagine. Anyway, upon arriving in Koh Pan-Ngan, again dodging the taxi touts and heading towards Ban Thai, where we were reliably informed the Half Moon Party would be taking place, we found ourselves tipped out next to a 7-Eleven at the top of a sandy road that seemed to lead to the beach. This being the direction we wanted to pursue, we wandered down it, trying to look as if we a. knew what the signs for the likes of 'Liberty's' and 'Mac's Bay' were, before eventually stumbling across a One2Dive shop, run by a a behemoth of a Canadian, standing at 6' 5", called Jeff. Who was to become something of a regular feature of life on Koh Pan-Ngan. First, offering to stash our bags, recommending somewhere to stay and inviting us to his BBQ later that evening, we soon became immensely glad we had met him. Anyway, the resort we ended up in was the aforementioned Mac's Bay, run by the affable and invaluable Chaiwat. Who sorted us out with a very nice, four person, air-conditioned room for a more than reasonable sum of money.

Having gorged ourselves on Jeff's cooking that evening, we then headed into the jungle towards the rhythmic sounds of the Half Moon Party, only to find an enormously set-up worth of perhaps Global Gathering or any other decent sized dance festival in the UK. With people already dancing like lunatics (largely the Germans, oddly enough) and generally having a good time. We proceeded to spend the next 6 hours doing much the same, while running into Chris Nash, another Warwick alumnus and generally making friends all round.

The next day, thanks to a rookie error on the boat, did not start well for me. We had all failed to appreciate that sun+water+no suncream= SUNBURN OF DEATH!! Awaking to agonising sunburn is never the most pleasant sensation, but it is worsened by the fact that you really ought to be out enjoying the glorious azure waters and white sands of the beach, not 10 yards away. Regardless, the day had to roll on, so we made for the sandbar some 50 yards out from our beach and proceeded to relax there for a while before returning to shore and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. The evening brought a night out with a mixed group of English, American and Australian guys and girls who were also staying at the hotel, in Hat Rin at a bar called Cactus, which puts on fireshows, competitions, fire limbo and all manner of other ridiculous games and activities one can partake in, should you desire. As well as pounding music to dance to and copious quantities of alcohol. All in all, a pretty good night was had by everyone. I have to add one, rather surprising note, watching the Manchester Derby in the pub before heading to Cactus bar, even I had to conceed that Wayne Rooney's goal was incredible.

Having been out until the wee small hours of the morning, one might imagine that we were in a rather worse for wear state, which, to be fair, most of us were, but regardless, we got up at 10:30am to go snorkelling at Koh Ma, off the north coast of Koh Pan-Ngan; another, much smaller, island adjoined to Koh Pan-Ngan, by another sandbar, which we cross before heading out into the shallows to snorkel. To say the fish were colourful, would be doing them a huge disservice. This trip was organsied by the super laid back Jeff, who laid on a lunch-time feast and then entertainment in the form of an American football, that we spent some hours throwing around in the shallows of the beach. The evening, again, brought a night out at Cactus bar, although we weren't out quite so late this time. Instead making it home by an early 3:30am.

The following day, we had planned on going to Ao Thong Nai Ban, supposedly the most beautiful beach on the island, in the north east, but owing to general sleep deprivation and the unanimous desire to just relax on the beach, we proceeded to do so. I got a Thai massage on the beach, just to add to the all round relaxed nature of the day and then we spent the rest of the evening at Jeff's dive shop watching stand-up comedy, while sat in hammocks. All in all, not a bad day.

The day after, however, we did make it the Ao Thong Nai Ban and it really was a treat. Even more beautiful white beaches and clear water, both in colour and clear of coral fragments, which made for much a much more enjoyable afternoon. We returned to yet another BBQ at Jeff's, this time gorging ourselves on freshly caught and cooked Red Snapper, before, once again, heading out to Cactus bar, for another night of mayhem and chaos.

Sadly, the following day, saw our return to Bangkok, this time by sleeper train from Surat Thani. So, after a further few hours spend dozing on the boat and bus to Surat Thani station, we boarded the train a little after 7pm and began the 12 hour train journey back to Bangkok. Where you find us now, having spent another, rather more active night out on the town. Attempting a 'ping pong' show, but giving up in revulsion unsurprisingly.

Our flight to Australia leaves in a little over 12 hours time, so I will bid you good night and I promise to try and keep you posted more regularly!

Joe