That little piece of heaven named Koh Tao

So after left Pai my visa was rapidly running out and I was going through all the options for extending it. All came to the conclusion that I'd only be able to extend or another 14 day period. SHIT. I'd stupidly crossed the border to start with hence only getting 14 days and now I could only get 14 more days! There was only one thing or it. Get to Bangkok, fly out and fly back in. That way I would get 30 days. But OF COURSE the cheapest bloody place to fly to was Vietnam. Saigon in fact. Of course only me would end up flying to where I left 3 weeks before!

That journey was horrific.

27th August: 6 pm

Bus from Chiang Mai - Bangkok. (12 hours)

Bus from Bangkok - Airport. (1 hour)

Wait for my flight. (6 hours)

Fly to Vietnam. (1 hour)

Wait for my flight back. (5 hours)

28th August: 1 am

Arrive at Bangkok Airport

Sleep in the Airport. ( 6 hours)

Train from Airport to Bangkok. (30 mins)

Taxi from Train Station to Khao San Road (20 mins)

Sleep in a room for half a day (9 hours)

Bus from Bangkok - Chumpon (10 hours)

August 29th: 3am

Sleep at Chumpon Dock (4 hours)

Boat from Chumpon - Koh Tao (3 hours)

I think in all I was in transit for approx 48 hours. All for 16 more days on my visa. And MY GOD IT WAS WORTH IT! Getting to the beach was SO worth it. In fact it was so good I laid there all day and burnt myself! :) I was happy.

On the first day a group was created. Jose, Becci, Jess, Luke, Dom,Timor and Chris who I had met in Chiang Mai. We were unstoppable. I thought I had had my fair amount of buckets in Siem Reap, Pai and Chiang Mai, but what I did not realise is that the southern islands of Thailand also has other name. I believe it's 'THE PLACE WITH MILLIONS OF FUCKING STRONG BUCKETS'. Ok maybe this name isn't official but it should be.

I had buckets coming out of every pore.

Jose, Chris and I decided to get a bungalow together. It was conveniently located right next to The Chicken Baguette Lady. How didn't vomit up chicken baguette from over indulgence I'll never know!

We hired bikes one day and drove to the other side of the island. We arrived at a beach called Tanote Bay. I put on my snorkel and dived into the water and the sight I saw was breath taking. It was the exact replica of a scene from Finding Nemo! We spent hours just following fish around, mesmerized by their beautiful colours. We also visited the next beach along called Shark Bay. This was due to the small sharks that would come into feed (not on people) at dawn and dusk. However I didn't see any sharks, which upset me somewhat. Especially when the boys came back boasting they'd seen two AND a turtle. I just kept seeing lots of poo like objects resting on the seabed. They were slimy and squidgy! This I found out after Jose had thrown two at me!

That night I drowned my non-shark-seeing sorrows with 4 buckets (between 3 of us mum!) and ended up dancing on the bar until early hours of the morning. I had also fallen in love with one of the fire poi dancers and shortly after decided that fire poi/stick dancing was the sexiest talent EVER!

After a few nights of partying on Koh Tao we all decided to leave to find the real party on Koh Phangan. Whilst on the boat we met up with 3 Canadian guys I had met in Pai. They are the coolest guys ever so I was happy that we were going to party Koh Phangan styleeeee together.

Candy for the eyes. Click here.

I gots nothing but ❤ for Pai

Place: Pai

Date: 20th August - 26th August

One thing we need to get clear. Every body NEEDS to visit Pai in their life. It's one of the most magical places I have ever been.

I'm totally in love with this town. The photo's describe the scenery better than me!

I arrived at the bus stop not knowing where to stay, when a lovely Thai guy named Tor asked me if I had anywhere to stay. I was totally wary at first. I had my 'I'm not getting ripped off' cap on. I kind of ignored him and left. He pulled up next to me in his ride, which was a scooter with a metal cage attached to one side. This later turned out to be home to the most amazing drunk taxi rides. It's truly and amazing piece of machinery.

Eventually I was persuaded to look at the room and I'm so glad I did. As soon as I arrived at Happy House I immediately felt a vibe. A good, homely vibe. I then met Fritz who was the hostel owner. He is an amazing, crazy, gay, Dutch/Australian old man, who had done just about everything in his life - including Kangaroo Boxing, having his own book, owning a Zoo...I could go on. He had retired to Pai and is just basically living the dream!

So back to the Happy House Taxi. Whilst I was there is was rolled, crashed, got stuck in mud and it still lived on. One guy was telling me they got 16 people into it one night and Fritz, in his pissed state, crashed the thing. Everyone was cool because in Pai you drive about 5 mph. And as if nothing had happened, Fritz just shouts 'right we're here'. No rules in this town.

The rest of my visit was very interesting. I made some amazing friends, who I partied with on Koh Phangan later on. I had visited caves, mountains, waterfalls and swam in some amazing swimming pools with fantastic views. I also rented a motorbike every day as it was only 600baht for the 6 days. That's £3 for 6 days by the way. Insurance was an added 50p. CRAZY.

When they all left I decided to stay one more day and Luke, a guy who lived in Happy House and worked in one of the bars, decided I should go promote his School Disco Night. Dressed in his manager's daughter's school uniform I made my way up town looking like a complete idiot, drunk as anything!

At the end of the night I decided to dress in my normal clothes again and walk home. On the way I saw Tor and he was chatting to some girls. I spoke to the girls, tried to make some more friends, but they just looked at me totally weird and walked off. I couldn't believe how rude they were!

15 minutes later I got home and happened to look in the mirror. SHIT I had the word 'Virgin' scrawled across my forehead. No wonder the girls had given me such a weird look!

The time had come to leave Pai. I was only meant to visit for 2 days. I ended up staying 6. Yes, I love Pai.

WARNING: Clicking here may seriously push you into visiting on hell of a place. I take no responsibility for any missing persons.

Making friends with travellers and lady boys (and their assets)

Place: Chiang Mai

Date: 16th August - 20th August

I had an amazing day to start me off in Chiang Mai. It started shitty because I was on a bus for 12 hours, with the roof leaking rain water. But sitting at the top of a mountain, with that view, I'd say it got considerably better.

We started at 9.30am. This was when I met my group. It consisted of Laura and Javier and Spanish couple, Chris - A Scottish guy, 2 Korean guys, whose names I cannot spell, Demetri and Mikyoung - another couple. Our guide was called Wat.

It was one of the hardest up hill treks I've ever had to do but it was so worth my buckets of sweat! We finally arrived at our camp and the view was simply breath taking. Wat cooked us up a Thai feast and we drank beer whilst watching the sunset. Later, after eating and drinking more the moon rose and bought with it a lightning storm. We definitely had the best seats in the house.

Coming down the mountain the next day was just as strenuous but a gorgeous waterfall awaited us at the bottom, it was so refreshing! We definitely needed that the day before! We continued down the second half of the mountain to partake in some riding of elephants and white water rafting. Such an awesome, action packed day! I LOVED IT!

The rest of my time in Chiang Mai was pretty chilled out. I hired a bicycle and found my way around the town. I visited a few temples, but to be honest I was starting to feel a little templed out. That night I met up with Chris and partied the night away with Lady Boys! We turned up at some bar next to a boxing ring where the girls were blatantly boys. We played Connect 4 and Jenga quite happily with them until suddenly YMCA blared from the speakers. The 'ladies' equip with their massive fake boobies, broke out into a dance routine. The added bonus was their enormous breasts popping out of their clothes every 2 seconds. And they loved playing with them...I suppose any man would if they suddenly had boobs.

After that experience I decided to jump on a bus to Pai....possibly the best decision EVER.

Touch your arrow here for your Chiang Mai photo experience!

Welcome to Magaluf, oh I mean Bangkok! :/

Place: Bangkok

Date: 13th August - 15th August

After an epic journey (and I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last), I arrived in Bangkok. I set off at 8.30am and reached Khao San Road (the main backpacker road in Bangkok) around 5pm. The backpacker area is filled with crazy little shops and bars and the distinct smell of shit lingers in the air like a vulture lingers around a dead carcass.

As it stood, I wasn't really in the state of mind to be hanging out alone in busy bars filled with annihilated teenage drunks. I did feel like I had maybe taken the wrong mini bus and actually arrived onto a Brits Abroad TV set in the Mediterranean!!

I decided to head to Chang Mai ASAP for some soul searching and trekking. Going alone it is very hard but I felt it was going to get easier.

(14th August)

Whilst I had time to kill I thought I'd better do a bit of site seeing around Bangkok, would have been stupid not to.

Anyway - good call!!! It was an awesome day! So many things to tell. So firstly I set off with my city map to walk to the Great Palace and Emerald Buddha. I had to cover up with a beautiful pastel blue workman's shirt. Made me look like an absolute DIV! Found out the Emerald Buddha isn't actually emerald, made of Jade the little liar! Still stunning though.

I took a lot of pictures of the gods because they're shiny and I love shiny things! Also watched the royal guards do their little marchy thing, which was cool . After seeing the palace sights I decided to hunt for food. Because I was on my own and very aware of the money I was spending, I was all for public transport. 7 Baht is a trip on the bus. By tuk tuk that would have been multiplied by about 15! Plus the drivers are mental which is always fun! They don't really stop...you just have to jump on. And the buses themselves are basically tin cans with 4 wheels stuck on with a noise like a tank.

I arrived at Siam Square and stumbled upon the most wonderful little cafe named 'And it happened to be a closet'. Such a lovely little place filled with THINGS! I sat, ate Italian food and watched Iron Man 2. I literally had to tear myself away because it was too good! I wandered over to Bangkok Culture and Arts Centre. One of the most amazing exhibitions I have ever been to - and I've been to a lot!

Got back to Khao San Road, not before some old man decided to show me some bullet holes scarily close to the tourist district!

All in all a productive day!

Click that index finger on the left mouse button for some awesome Bangkok photes!