Christmas and new year (thai stylee!)
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2008
1
43
65
Trip End
Jun 20, 2009
Koh phangnan, Thailand
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Had than Sadat (resorts name) consisted of 3 beach bars, and two cliff top bars. It is home to about 100 bungalows / huts and well thats it. With a perilous road out and one taxi aday you can safely say they have a captive audience. No complaints here, thats what we signed up for. With sunshine, warm blue / green seas and a cliff side water front bungalow life felt pretty good. A couple of days getting acquainted and Christmas soon arrived. Although home sick for family and friends at this festive time we put on a brave face and enjoyed a impromptu jungle trek to the next beach (the only way to get phone signal). The evening was spent with our hosts enjoying a banquet of barracuda and a million other things you would not associate with Christmas dinner. During evening revelry I was shocked to here of the local wildlife inhabitants. It turns out the island is alive with undesirables including the world famous king cobra, not to mention the bog standard cobra and the viper and so on. Also turns out they like the watering holes and seeking shelter when the weather turns, lets hope it stays good. The following day the clouds rolled in the waves got up and the rain emerged. Turns out this winter weather is common on this side of the gulf and the next 10 days did little but sit and brood. Clear in my mind that jungle trekking was no longer fun/safe, and marooned on the beach in brooding climates with the wildlife encroaching the romanticism of the spectacle began to fade. Emily enjoyed a mid night visit to the bathroom to be greeted by a hand sized spider that had a head so big you could read his expression. It was not uncommon to here shrill shrikes in the night and we were both soon wishing for glazing and 24 hour electricity. Us city folk are a bit on the soft side. Still there was good company to be had and an after noon or an evening whiling away time in the cliff top bars were always a treat. A big shout out to wow and her impressive bang lassies. New years eve was soon upon us and it was time for me to celebrate the success of being born 34 years ago to this day. The evenings entertainment would be the world famous hadrin full moon party. 20000 dance folk storming the beach to party with some of the worlds best djs. Unfortunately the weather was rotten, my sleepers felt comfortable and it would mean staying out all night (ahhhhhhhhh I'm 34). Actually the choice was a good one. Full moon has had its day, the resort is tired and over populated. I had a wonderful day and evening with good company, good food and my special lady Emily. Many thanks Emily for making it so special x. (ps Sorry for throwing us off the cliff face at the end of night, what did you call it, a step of faith?)
Those of you who have been lucky enough to be with me on New Years will be astounded to hear i made it past midnight. And as proof you can ask my Israeli friend illum, or erum or something.
After 2 weeks of feral living we set sail for koh sumui and an instant upgrade to accommodation with glass. The islands of Thailand are expensive and yet again we were back paying through the nose for basic needs. (china, i see you in my dreams). The weather finally returning to clear skies we packed bags and set sail for bangkok. Thailand is extremely westernized and we both felt ready for a new adventure, a new country and new horizons, pity our flight was still 2 weeks away.
