Beaches,
Birthdays, Buckets, and Blogtastic brilliance!!
Its all here
for you blog fans! So strap up, and pack your uzi's...
This shizzz is tha bizzzzz....
The last
time we blogged it up blog fans, we were on the verge of leaving Koh Samui. To the
party paradise, that is KOH PHANGAN... We set sail on Aug the 4th,
which Im sure you’re all FULLY aware of, is the day before my birthday :D Yooo!! So,
the low down on our Koh Phangan situation was basically this... We were
gonna enjoy my birthday in a nice fancy hotel for 2 nights, then we had a cheap hostel
arranged from a long time ago, to stay during the Half Moon Festival from the 6th
to 10th. Which was going to be the celebrating and getting retardedly
drunk part of my bday :p Oh yes... Cat and I found a really really cool hotel to stay
firstly... It had an infinity pool, set on the beach, private rooms with
air-con, and a restaurant on the beach which did a BBQ at night... It was
EXACTLY what I wanted for my bday, and what made it even better was, we found
an ad in a local magazine to buy one night, get one free... PERFECT for my bday
plans... So we got off the boat and headed there... Got to the reception,
checked-in, and dropped our bags into our room. Looked really really nice, and
it instantly felt like my birthday :) But there was something strange about
Cats mood... She huffed, and sighed at the room... I asked what was wrong, and
she said it wasn’t as fancy as she expected... I said “Are you mad!? It looks
awesome! All I wanted was to not be in a dorm, and maybe be treated to air-con...
This is the shiiizzz!”.... Then, she dropped a major bomb... She confessed
something shocking blog fans... This was NOT THE HOTEL WE SAW THE AD FOR!! :o I
said... “Oh, well, thats ok... This is still amazing! Whats the probem!?” “This
place cost over FIVE times the amount as the other one...” :o lol!! OMG blog
fans.... I was really REALLY appreciative of the gesture, and everything she
had done for this... But I said, surely you know me by now... I am not a Fancy
Frank... Im the most tightest budget guy on the block... And Cats even worse
than me about saving money most the time!! But she said she wanted to surprise
me, and get something with a bit more of a “wow factor”, so she booked this...
And to be honest blog fans... She did well :) The pool was really nice, the
room was great, and the waters on our private beach were some of the clearest,
and by FAR the WARMEST ive ever ever felt in my LIFE... Was crazy... On top of
that, we figured the total price of this place is less than what we would
usually spend on a drunken night out in Australia or London... So it was well
worth it... And I wouldn’t forget my stay there any time soon.
I woke up on
my birthday, and Cat treated me to a little morning birthday treat... Which meeeaaans
blog fans, she woke up, got out of the room, and let me have a lie in :D How romantic ;) As I was starting to wake, I heard a knock on the door... I
thought I was imagining it... Then it happened again... I got up, and the hotel
manager was there, standing with a BIRTHDAY CAKE :D I was really surprised, and
slightly embarrassed by it... Then I walked up to Cat with a cheesy smile, and
she knew it had came... She did well ;) We ate birthday cake for breakfast and
got a bike around to some beaches slightly north of us. They were recommended
online, and in books, so we thought we’d check them out... And when we got
there, they were nice, but they had nothing on the private beach at our hotel
to be honest... So that confirmed Cat got it even more right... In the evening
we went to a restaurant that was considered to be the best on the island... It
had fresh sea food, caught every day, and was set on a beach with the sun
setting... The sun must of been jealous of my bday or something, coz it didn’t
really set in a spectacular way. But the food was AWESOME. I got a seafood
curry with prawns, king prawn, fish, and crab... Im not even the biggest
seafood fan, but loved it... Unfortunately though blog fans... My stomach
didn’t... As soon as I finished this quality piece of fine dining, my arse rejected
it like a stubborn child, and aggressively shat it all out :( ...I hadn’t had
diahhrea for at least 20hrs or something at that point... Thought I was setting
a new record! But obviously not blog fans lol -_-
After our
last night in luxury, eating cake and pooing... we checked-out, and walked 2km
with our backpacks to our dorm roomed hostel for the next 4 nights... Four
nights in this place, cost less than HALF of ONE night in our last place
haha... Living life on both ends of the spectrum blog fans ;) But to be
honest, this hostel was still really cool too. The rooms were nothing special, but
the grounds had a big pool, bar, tv, video games, lounge area, pool tables,
table tennis, 5aside football pitch, volleyball, basketball, EVERYTHING! Can’t
complain with the price either... Cat wanted to walk to get a smoothy, then she
tricked me to walk on further and further... She wanted to torture herself by
looking at the hotel we NEARLY booked for my birthday for quarter the price...
We got there, and it was pretty damn good lol... Really nice pool, right on the
beach, gym, nice rooms... It was exactly what I wanted for my bday really...
But I assured her she did a really good thing... I said this place was
definitely worthy of anyone’s bday, and I would of been well happy. BUT, what
she booked was like... honeymoon worthy... Just had that extra special feel...
My brother is considering a honeymoon in this area next year, so maybe ill
recommend this lol...
But lets forget
about lame-arse honeymoons blog fans... Half Moon Festival was approaching! But
on the day before, we decided to go on a trek up to the highest point of the
island to a viewpoint. By “we decided” I mean, mostly Cat. I still would of
preferred to hang by the pool, drink cocktails with umbrellas in, and meet
people. Plus the night before I went to bed and midnight, and didn’t fall
asleep til gone 4am for some reason :/ Anyway, we walked... Got a scooter
again, and headed up there with a German couple, and a girl from England. We
were told the walk would be roughly 2hrs up, and one and a half down... That didn’t
sound too bad to me. I like a good walk to a look-out point now and then. We
started on a dirt track, and there was NO shade blog fans... And it was at
mid-day peak heat... Carried on walking, going ok, then only 45mins into it, I
had to sit down, and I was feeling pretty bad lol. We all had a litre of water
each, but by this point, my tshirt was like 99% sweat, 1% cotton... The others
carried on, and I fell further and further behind... Now, im not exactly a
proud man, blog fans, but I aint THAT unfit... It’s becoming common knowledge
now that the heat really seems to affect me and my body a lot worse than the
average person. A couple years back, we were doing the Inca Trail walk in Peru,
at high altitude, and I was more or less SKIPPING that shit like Jiminy
Cricket!! But this was killing me!! Finally got to the top, feeling like a
raped zombie, and the view was pretty amazing... Can’t say id do it again...
But it was pretty cool lol...
That day of
strenuous exercise, and excessive perspiration set us up nicely for the Half
Moon Party the next day. We had to make sure we were either gonna experience
the Full Moon or Half Moon during our time in Koh Phangan, and the Half was the
one that fell nearest to my birthday. Thankfully I got a decent nights sleep
that night, and the day wasn’t too strenuous. We just paid a short visit to Koh
Ma (pronounced coma – ironic) and chilled at the beach there. The evening came,
and It was time for Cat and I to get UV’ed up, and FINALLY start drinking our
first Thai buckets! Must of got about 4 buckets each during happy hour, and got
a taxi bus down to the party...
NOW BLOG
FANS, brace yourselves for another, HEROIC, RobCat Travel story...
Sooo, the
German guy we were with the day before, said he had spoken to a friend who had
been to the Half Moon a year or so back. He put the idea into this guys head, that
it is possible to SNEAK into the party, and not pay the massive $40 entrance
fee... So, once we jumped off the bus, we kinda started strolling away from the
entrance... acting all casual and shiz... By this point, we had a group of
about 8 of us, all feeling brave / drunk enough, to give this plan a try... We
downed the last of our buckets, and started to all run through the dark jungle
surroundings towards the massive thumping party... We got up a small hill, and looked
down upon our entry point... Only trouble was, it was being guarded by the Thai
security... I make a point saying “Thai security”, because I started having
visions of the movie The Beach, where the guys protecting the weed had shot
guns, and killed the American tourists sneaking in there... So basically blog
fans, I thought we were risking getting shot for this party lol... We crouched
low, and ran one by one through the parts that weren’t lit up by the party lights...
The last three left were me, Cat, and a Spanish friend we made called Bibi... We
took one deep breath, and just like that, Cat, Bibi, then me, bish, bash, bosh,
ALL GOT IN! :D $80 saved for me and Cat. WINNIG! We all gathered our small
group together by the toilets that we snuck in by, and had that small euphoric
celebratory moment. We snuck in, survived, and saved more money for BUCKETS!!
:D Good start! Then we saw the party... MASSIVE! Standing from the top, we were
looking down at thousands of party people dancing below... We joined them too,
Cat got on STAGE at one point, and we had a really good night :) There were 3
minor incidents were I nearly got into fights though... Stated when I went to a
bar, and asked how much it was for a small beer... He said “100”, so I looked
through the wallet, and I KNOW I gave him 500 blog fans... I started to speak
to two Danish girls next to me, and waited for my change... He walked towards
me, saw I was talking, then walked away... I was like “Excuse me! Change?” Then
he goes “No, you give me 100”... “NOOO!! I give you FIVE hundred.” I think from
my loud, confident, and slightly aggressive response, he was thinking “shit...
he isn’t drunk and stupid...” He then just stood at the back of the bar,
looking sheepish, not serving other people... I kept waving my hand at him,
holding up five fingers symbolizing the 500 I gave him... He spoke to some
co-workers, and it looked to me as if they were saying “stop being a dick, and
give him his change”. But he made his claim, and couldn’t really go back on it.
After making more fuss, I went round the back of the bar, and stood RIGHT IN
THE MIDDLE of it, holding my hand up, and shouting “HELLO! MY CHANGE!” lol... I
must of been pretty pissed off blog fans, but I wasn’t in the mood to be taken
for an idiot... Eventually security came, and told me to come and speak to
someone... I was like “OK”, but I knew by this point I couldn’t prove anything.
I just wanted to embarrass the guy, and make it clear to everyone he was a
dickhead... I spoke to someone, they said he had no 500s in his hand, it was
all bullshit... I knew it, they knew it, but hey... This is Half Moon lol...
Another incidence was when Cat bent down from the stage to speak to me on the
ground below her. A guy grabbed her and tried to perform doggy style... So I
jumped right up, and we had a stand off where his mates had to separate us...
THEN seconds after that, there was some drunk guy who was just staring at Cat,
Bibi, and me... I stared back at him, still agitated by the guy before, and he
grabbed me saying “Come with me! I am police!” ... I was like “Get the f*** off
me!!” and pushed him away... He then dropped his straight poker face, and
laughed, and said “Sorry, I am German”.... Like its some sort of excuse... I
said “No... you’re a f***ing prick!!”.... So that was 3 close fights in quick
concession blog fans lol. Not really my style to get in confrontations. But the
rest of the night was just me, Cat, Bibi having fun and dancing... Bibi
eventually got with a guy, and me and Cat stayed partying til 7am... Almost
getting into an argument with a hardcore Tottenham fan. Who admitted he hated
me, as a Chelsea fan, by default lol fair enough... But that was pretty much
just friendly rivalry... We got off the taxi bus home at 8am, and got a full
English breakfast... We then started talking to a drunk Irish couple there, and
Cat let it slip it was my birthday... I was like “Errr no its not... That was 3
days ago”. The drunk Irish couple got excited by this and bought me 2 beers
lol... I was like “ahhhh... I just want food, water, and sleep! Lol”... But we
ended up drinking them, and headed back to THEIR hotel. Which was coincidently,
the hotel Cat booked for my BIRTHDAY! :D So was nice to see that again... We
passed out by the beach, and eventually dragged our sorry, UV’ed, stop-out, dusty
arses back to our hostel.... Finally got in at 1:24pm.... Fenton blog fans...
Fenton!...
4:30pm was
the time of our awakening... Dont think ive ever started a day so late. But in
reality, we’ve just had a 3 hour nap... And, to be honest blog fans, I played
out this hangover like a pro... Firstly, went to the bar... Made sure I had a
shady seat, shades on, and a bottle of water... Ordered pizza... After pizza,
jump into the pool... Fresh as a daisy... Hangover gone... After that, Cat
decided to go to some bar called Amsterdam Bar with an Argentinean guy we met.
But my hangover day was just getting started blog fans... I walked to 7/11, and
bought a big cup of cold chocolate milk... Walked back, ordered a Panini, and
watched back to back Premiership football, whilst stroking a dog... Best... For
hangover advice, just give me a bell on WhatsApp blog fans ;)
Went to bed
at around midnight, and woke up to go to our fourth and final Thai island...
Koh Tao... A lot of people seemed to like this island the best out of the lot,
so we went over to see the hype. We arranged to see Catherine, a Canadian
friend we made at our school job in Darwin. She was there with her boyfriend
working as a dive instructor until she gets bored of it basically... Anyway, we
got off the pier with all the other tourists like a swarm of locusts... I swear
ive never been to a more touristy place... We didn’t see Catherine at first,
but we knew it would of been impossible for us to see each other in crowds
anyway. We refused all the cab offers and walked 10-15 minutes up and down hill
to the main strip. A lot of rooms seemed to be full, or out of budget... so we
kept walking.... We eventually came across Catherine’s work place, and poked
our nose in to see if she was there. As we turned around to continue our
accommodation hunt, there she was! :D Good timing... She had just got of the
sea for a swim, and was wrapped in her towel. We were gonna give her a hug, but
she was wet from the sea, and we were even wetter from all the bloody sweat.
She had to go home, so we arranged to meet her later. We continued our walk to find
a room, and eventually managed to find a nice one, bang on our budget. So we
were happy with that...
We met
Catherine and her boyfriend later for food and drinks. Her boyfriend had an
exam the next morning, so didn’t stay out long. But the 3 of us went to see
fire twirlers on the beach, and then off to see another ladyboy show... coz I
loved it so much the first time blog fans ;) The next morning Catherine had
work, so Cat and I went for a walk around the beaches. We debated getting a
scooter, but we were told a lot of the roads were dangerous, or only footpaths
for pedestrians... No shit blog fans, those people must of been right. Coz on
that first walk, we were going uphill, downhill, stairs, gravel, sand... It was
killer! We eventually got to a restaurant for a late lunch. It was called “I Love
Salad”. It was awesome... Ironically, I got a FAT arse burger... Beef, egg...
Very little salad lol... We then got to a beach called Shark Bay, and rented a
snorkel there. Apparently you can often see small blacktip sharks there, and
turtles... We didn’t... But what we did see was a BIG scary looking trigger
fish. We were recently warned about these guys. They have big teeth, can get
very territorial, and can attack... I videoed him for a few seconds (you can
see that on our YouTube page), and then backed off. He must of been about a
meter long. I wasn’t gonna be messing with him... After snorkelling at Shark
Bay, we just had that bullsh*t walk home. But Cat then decided she hadn’t done
enough walking yet blog fans... There was another viewpoint close by, that we
NEEDED to see, and to be honest, It was worth the extra bit of pain... Again...
Similar to the view we saw in Koh Phi Phi, but a view like that doesn’t really
get boring....
We didn’t
see Catherine that evening, as we were both slightly sunburnt, dehydrated, and
totally knackered... So we woke up in the next day, and how did we treat ourselves
blog fans!? :D More WALKING!!! Yayyyy!!.... Cats 6 page long “to do” list
basically listed several different beaches and lookouts to see... I suggested
maybe we should just see the best one or two beaches, views, and relax a
little... You know... The cocktails with umbrellas, listening to summer tunes
on the beach, swimming, laughing, chilling balls?.... But she wasn’t having
none of it. She told me I didn’t have to come, and I could stay on our beach...
But I ended up just tagging along with her... Again, uphill, downhill, super
hot... We got to beach one, and it was really nice... We actually managed to
chill a bit there and snorkel. I didn’t mind walking on to beach two... It
looked pretty close on the map, and the day was still young... But OMG blog
fans... The road just kept going up, and up, and up, and up.... The concrete
was white, and reflecting the heat back on to us, and there was no shade...
After an hour or two of that, we saw our first road sign... One way was to the
beach, and the other one to a restaurant, and the highest viewpoint on the
island... But from where we were on the road, we could see the top of the hill,
just a little higher than us... And the beach was WAAAAYYYY down below us... I
was like “Look Cat... Im taking a stand now... The beach is gonna be at sea
level... We are in the bloody clouds....” I knew she wanted to do both the
beach, and view, but she agreed.... It wasn’t worth dying for... So we made
another gruelling 30min climb to this restaurant. Was really really nice. Had a
great view, and I got a coconut lassie to drink, and a Pad See Ew for lunch.
Perfect... After that, we had one short climb to the peak of the hill, then a
simple downhill stroll back to our beach... Or so we THOUGHT blog fans!! We got
to the “2 Rocks” lookout. Was awesome... Again, check the videos on YouTube ;)
Then we started going down... The map was a bit shitty and confusing, but we
thought “There’s our beach, so, just that direction, and downwards... simple.”
Or so we THOUGHT blog fans... We followed the gravely, slippery, walk
downwards... We had pretty crap shoes on, and we were struggling a bit... But
we kept going... Then we started to sink deeper and deeper into jungle... The
path was slowly disappearing, and then it became very obvious that no one EVER
walks this way down... We kept going though, thinking maybe we will come to an
opening soon. But we were literally fighting through bushes, slipping down dead
leaves on the floor, and cutting ourselves and sharp branches.... We got to the
point of no return. We looked back like “We can’t climb that... Its like a 80
degree angle.” But after fighting a little longer, there was NOWHERE to go...
The word jungle is an understatement... We had to go up... Again, we climbed,
falling, getting cut, and poked by everything around us, and had to REALLY
struggle to get back up. It was Bear Grylls shiz, trust me.... We got back to
this 2 Rocks lookout, and then headed own the opposite direction... Again,
going down, down, down.... But we made it :) Back to our beach, back to
civilization... This time we did meet Catherine, and this time we did manage to
drink and stay out... Dont ask me how.... Catherine’s boyfriend Simon passed
his exams, and it was our last night, so we made the effort... We got happy
hour drinks, buckets, cocktails... Then some 46 year old who seemed to have a
thing for Cat bought us a few jagerbombs and stuff.... Considering we sweated
out about 60 gallons of water whilst walking, and we didn’t eat that much... we
drank quite a lot lol... Which is why blog fans, I came home, sat down,
messaged some people, then... chundered EVERYWAAAHH!! Haha... Classic Rob way
to end his stay on the Thai islands ay ;)
So that’s
the end of an era really blog fans!! After three whole years of our life being
dominated by beaches, and sea... We have now left the Thai islands, and got a
sleeper train back to Bangkok... And then... tomorrow... we fly to INDIAAAA!!
:o Our last country!! :o And no more beaches for..... God knows how long, and
no more South East Asia :( We got our train from a little town called Champorn.
It was really nice there. First time in a while we felt we were in a normal
Thai town, that wasn’t dominated by tourists... “Parasites!!” As that mad
Scottish guy from The Beach says lol... I can’t complain about tourists though...
I am one of them, and I chose to go to these hotspots...
So, in the
end blog fans I didn’t get my cocktail on the beach with an umbrella. I dunno
if ill regret that... I also don’t know if ill regret not diving... Koh Tao is
famous for its diving there, and I think I really should of... On this trip
full of “bucket lists”, diving should of really been up there. But we managed
to talk ourselves out of it each time... Cats done it once before, and didn’t
cope too well... Ive never tried... Ive always just thought “Snorkelling is cheaper”
or “I can’t motivate myself if Cat doesn’t” or “When am I ever realistically
gonna use my PADI if I get one?” At the end of the day, I should of... But oh
well.... Maybe next time blog fans ;)
I’d also
like to mention a family we met at the station... There was a mum, dad, and 3
kids... 2 bothers, and a sister... They were from England, and doing a small 3
week travel together... But they were SO nice. The kids (only between 7-11
years old) were writing in their little travel diaries, making notes of all
they’ve seen and done. They were eating the local street food, talking about
cultural differences, and asking how to eat their wraps... I was like “Wow, after
being surrounded by parasites and chavs, here are some British people that are
not embarrassing to be associated with! And they’re children!” :p Only joking
blog fans... But honestly, they had been to some really cool areas. Not just
beach holidays, and tourist spots. But places that would really challenge a
young mind... In a good way. We spoke to them, and they asked us things about
our trip, and why we had so much crap to carry lol... Bit embarrassing. The
little girl actually wrote “RobCat Travel” in the back of her diary! :D She
wanted to see our videos and to read our blog!! Haha... How cute... She must of
only been about 10... So, if you’re reading this nice family... Hello.... And
sorry about any of my language in my blogs and videos :D Haha....
And thats us
done blog fans! Wow... One more down.... We will speak to you from Delhi.... Take
your bets on Rob getting a Delhi Belly... I think the bookies have stopped
taking bets lol... We are excited, yet apprehensive about it.... We only have one
month or so there, and THEN... YOU BETTER GET YOUR DANCE SHOES ON, coz we are
coming HOOMMMEEEE!! And if THATS not a reason to keep your shorts tight blog
fans, I really don’t know what is........................... :D
ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPY
LALA!!! Xxx
*** YouTube
Link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAfiBjNHpl_Rybkp7-v4Mag
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