Eye of the storm

So Phuket was spain with ladyboys we missed Koh Pi Pi and headed to Koh Lanta where the pace came down to a snails pace, expensive hotels were replaced by bamboo huts with the owners usually stoned by midday this was a much better island where everynight there was a party but you needed to be in the know...........of course I was. This is my favourite place in Thai it was cheap(er) to stay and drink there the hut owners let me plug my ipod to the sound system and there were lots of hammocks to laze around in. We met quite a good crowd including 2 english girls one from Bromley who's accent made me feel slightly home sick. I planned to do my advance diving course here but as I have learnt nothing ever goes to plan. We went to some great parties here and slept a good portion of the day.

We all booked our flights out of Thailand so it was time to go to Pi Pi which has been ruined by tourists the only good thing is the island is not motorised. We headed to the look out point to get pictures of both the bays, I have to admit this is a gorgeous place but has been ruined with all the tourists and the thai's looking for the $. We only had one night here and that was spent partying on the beach and I have learnt that partying with Jay and Ed every night is full of laughs and stories. It amazes me that with a bit of booze and a flamming skiping rope people want to try it, still it amused me. The next morning after the night before was horrid even though they had put a curfue on the island due to someone being shot at xmas I had a major hangover but without this I would never have learnt the best cure.......Soda Water this has now become my drink of choice to battle the hangover! Thanks to the jumping girls from England we found a way to see Maya Bay without the multitudes of tourist boats that pollute that area....we decided to sleep on the beach!! Maya Bay is the same place Leo Dicaprio found in the film 'The Beach' so once this hit the screens in 2000 everyone wanted to see paradise! Unfortunatly our group of 25 was polluted with the type of people other travellers from Europe mistake me for, they were there to drink themselves silly starting with the boat out to Maya they polished off a 1.5 ltr of smirnoff and it didnt make a dent. They continued to drink through the night, these were the type of people why I wanted to leave England, the same happened in Lanta where someone said they were from Bexleyheath I just didnt want to speak to them. Eddy Jay and I stayed away from them had our food a few beers and headed with our sleeping bags to grab the best spot on the beach, it was quite an experience sleeping under the stars like that and I saw 3 shooting stars but this has now become common place when I look up at the sky like seeing blues and twos in Newcross. The sleeping trip was expensive but worth it to get the photos of the beach deserted (the english cu*ts didnt even take pictures) and the beach was truely beautiful it was pure white sands none of that claiming they are white these were white with crystal clear water teaming with life. There were some rats on the island and some guy had left some food in his bag and the rat decided to knaw through it and take the chipsticks other than that only crabs disturbed us on the beach. I woke us up at 0600 to see the sunrise over the island but this was not that great so we headed back and after everyone was up we headed on the boat back to Pi Pi, the English were hungover and it was quite satisfying to see them at the harbour all throwing up : ) This is where we said goodbye to Eddy he was off to Hong Kong while me and Jay boarded the plane to Malaysia.

This was my second visit to Malaysia and I done pretty much the same thing, petronus, kl tower and reg bar. I also bought a notebook here which I wish I had done on the first visit, needless to say my bag is busting at the seams like an American trying to fit in her prom dress 20 years and 4 kids down the line.

Time for another plan change was going to go to singapore but they are not so poor and it costs a lot to stay eat and drink there so we got a flight from KL to Bali in Indonisia. Instantly this place annoyed me as the street is only wide enough for max 2.5 people to walk down but you have scooters shooting down there at breakneck speed then you have all the people trying to sell you Bintang tops, skirts, bottle holders, stubby holders bingtang everything! Bali (Kuta) is spain for Australians and they are the same as the English who flood spain but the term in Oz is Bogan. Every 4 feet you get "Traaaaansport", "Massssage", "Hey mate" (in an awful Eastenders way), "Brother", "Friend". The beach here is awful the sea is cloudy and the beach full of sand flies and rubbish the only good things here are the waves but seeing as I dont surf we headed out after a few nights of partying.

We had a choice of a slow boat which is 11 hours but costs nothing or the fast boat at 2 hours costing too much, seeing as time is now becomming my most valuable item due to Melbourne on 3rd Feb I opted for the go-fast-boat and headed towards the Gilli Islands. This was like Lanta but with white sands and crystal clear waters where you can see turtles and mantas snorkling, this place also had a hint of Jamacia about it too. One thing I under estimated was the strengh of the sun here we are only a few miles south of the equator and the sun was a bastard, one guy I met had a 2nd degree burn on his shoulder, the humidity was also at breaking point too I have never sweat so much ever and considering we didnt have aircon I think we done rather well although the sheets went yellow and the room stank of musty men and booze. There is not really much to do here we cycled around the island and hit a few of the beaches where we snorkled and lazed around which is where we coined the word lazepackers doing nothing but being a beach bum. There are no police on the Gilli Islands so they are flooded with Shrooms and partys going on till sunrise. The food on these islands are not so good some of the dishes were straight out of Gordan Ramseys Nightmares!

So it was time to say farewell to Jay who I had spent 3 weeks with travelling and only the second group of people where I would travel to another country to meet.....The first was in Palolem that doesnt mean that other people I had met and travelled with were not my friends but there are the odd few who you feel like you had made a great friend it was good timing as well as the day before 500mm of rain fell in just over an hour. I got the fast boat back to Bali to pick up my flight to KL the boat ride was a fitting end to the Asia trip, taking my 'seat' on the sun deck above we hit a storm and that was the best ride of my life ipod in listening to some music hitting massive waves in a go-fast and litterally flying through the air with every 5 mins one of the 3 crew asking if I was ok up there I felt like Lieutenant Dan (Forrest Gump) on the Bubba Gump Shrimp boat with rain pellting me like sheets of water with the ship trying its best to speed over the waves!!!!!. Storms in Asia are not like that in England you have so many and they can rip the sky apart, we were hitting 6ft waves and getting some serious air but the best part was seeing in the distance the eye of the storm it was about 1 mile sq and it was a pool of calm water with the water around it crashing and breaking into it, when we sailed through this patch it was one of the most memorable moments of my journey it looked like the sea was from a cgi movie, the water was rolling but the rolls had no texture it was like we were sailing on mercury when we got through the eye the waves on the edge are indescribable like nothing I have ever seen before.........................no I didnt have my camera!

So back in Malaysia for a 3rd time now and every journey has a beginning a middle and an end and this is the end of my beginning I have had such a great time in Asia and everyone you meet always asks the same Q. Where is your best country you have been to. A. Sometimes the people you meet spoil things and sometimes the people you are with make a shit place truely memorable but for me to put a answer on this I would have to say Laos it was such a relaxed place and the locals dont bother you for anything they have only had their doors open 15 years so have not got into the tourist scene so to those of you who have not been there go before they get $ signs in their eyes.

India - Malaysia - Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia - Thailand - Malaysia - Indonesia

Goodbye Asia

Hello Oz