Amazing Thailand!
Thailand is that place where every backpacker starts his or her journey. At least for me it was one of my first backpacking experiences traveling completely by myself. When I got there I didn't have much idea on what to expect as my main purpose was to go to the mytical Fullmoon party which is held every fullmoon in the island Koh Phangnan located in the gulf of Thailand. I traveled there in December and stayed there 30 days.
Anyway, my first destination in Thailand was Koh Samui. This is a beautiful island. There are several nice beaches and you will find several travelers from all over the world. Koh Samui weather was warn and nice. The prices are quite cheap compared to Australia or any other Western country. I stayed in a nice hotel there which was quite far from the party area so I was taking taxis but quickly realized that taxis were too expensive. Therefore, I decided to rent a scooter.
There are several places where you can get a scooter but there are many chances that you will get rip off and even can get into serious problems if you do not what you are doing. My advice is to book a hotel with scooter rental service so you will be able to rent a scooter from your hotel. Otherwise ask around but never ever leave your passport as a guarantee. I saw too many people leaving their passports and they having to pay thousands of dollars to get them back because they scratched the painting of one of those scooters. Anyway, no matter what never give your passport to anyone when you travel. I managed to convince one guy to rent me the scooter without living him my passport and by giving him instead some money as guarantee. I also left him a fotocopy of my passport.
Once I had a vehicle I went onto explore the island, one thing you will need is access to the Internet so I recommend you to get a local SIM card with several GBs of data. I then befriended a Russian guy and we drove around the island and foudn some amazing places and beaches. There was even a beach pig in one of those beaches.
Anyway, at night we went to the party area close to Chaweng beach and then enjoyed the night drinking and meeting people and girls. There was a drunk guy we befriended who paid a working girl for the Russian guy and he went and did it in bar toilet. It was a good fun we were lauging our assess out. The night went by and went to my hotel completely wasted. I was so drunk I slept on the floor.
The next day we went to explore the island again and took some pictures
At night went out again but this time my new friends didn't want to go so I went out by myself and met a cute girl that I took back to my hotel.
The next day I got up late and took a boat to Koh Phangan, or as I renamed it Pirate Island. This place has a vybe of total chaotic island full of backpackers and crazy party all day long non-stop. However, if you drive a few hours from Haad Rin beach you will find awesome and unspoilt beaches.
I also found one of the coolest tree houses bar, in this bar you could buy food, beer and also get mary jane if you know what I mean ;)
I spent a few days there, just relaxing and basically having fun and exploring the island.
I went to the jungle party, which was basically a trance party in the middle of nowhere deep inside the island.
The next day, we drove the scooters for several hours and we arrived to an amazing beach.
And then Fullmoon party, this party was crazy and must be experienced to understand what I'm talking about. Perhaps there was more people when I was there because I went in December and lot of people want to travel for new year but the whole shore was full of people dancing like crazies.
Hot Korean chic
There was a dude so wasted that was running around naked. LOL
Next morning, only the strongest or the most intoxicated revelers keep the party alive
After that I think I slept for a whole day and when I woke up I did more exploration and party.
After a few days doing the same, I got bored and I was sick of drinking so with this amazing view I decided to leave the Islander lifestyle and head to Bangkok, so I packed my bag and I left while my friend was still sleeping and took a boat to Surat Thani.
The boat took me from Koh Phangnan back to mainland Thailand and from there I took a bus to Surat Thani.
In Surat Thani there was nothing really interesting so I only stayed there one or two days and then decided to go to Bangkok.
The train was fine and clean and took about 12 hours to arrive to Bangkok. I spent the whole trip listening to music and looking out the window.
Arriving to Bangkok I can see a few building out the window already
Finally here in Bangkok. Amazing city and also very impressed by how the city combines tradition with development and by the traffic there
At night I went to explore a few rooftop bars, but my favorite was Lebua in the State Tower
I also visited Sao Kan Road but I didn't see anything interesting so I think is more hype than anything else so I do not recommend going there.
After a few days in Bangkok I had to fly back to Koh Samui to take my plane to Australia, so I went back and relax a few more days by the beach and saw one the friends I met before was still in the island
I found a cool reggae bar and there was a cool graffiti in one of the walls around and you could also get some grass there.
This was my last picture in Thailand. Overall Thailand was great, food was also great although I did not talk much about food in this post, great price. It may be one of the cheapest destinations, very safe. At least I didn't feel unsafe at all made some friends and met a few girls. Furthermore, Thailand is very tourist friendly because most locals in the islands and even Bangkok can speak English which is not ususally the case in other Asian countries.
Have you ever been to Thailand?
Do you want to go?
Where did you go?
Let me know in the comments below and sorry for the long post