sarah babes & steve-o RTW!

What a week! From celebrating the King's Birthday on Kho Phangan (great night! free muay thai boxing, street food etc...and a chance to really see the Thais let their hair down), to the crazy streets of Bangkok (again!) where we are sat right now, the craic's been 90...so it has!

It takes a while to get under your skin, but there really is a tangible buzz to this city that's quite addictive. Great to walk the streets again and get hit square in the boat-race by all the food stalls (smells to die for! killer on an empty stomach!), deranged hawkers and the really quite insane tuk-tuk drivers!

Btw, couldn't resist getting a tattoo. I'll post of it in next blog or something, when it heals up a wee bit. (...well, maybe a bit obvious actually to a few people, i know i'll get the piss ripped outta me for this...lmao!).

Anyway, I'll post some of what we were going to previously, which kinda succinctly sums up what we've been doing for over a month (or not doing. think i actually put in a 7 hour shift on the beach one day without a single thought passing through my head...which crossed my mind is exactly what a dogs life must be like...mmm).

Here goes (the usual rambling mess):
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...maybe this blog has the wrong title? As pointed out by others, we have indeed just realised that we are in fact not intrepid backpackers, but actually consumate loafers! This was of course worked out over a few Chang beers btw..lol! (for the uninitiated, Chang (thai) beer rocks! held in same esteem here, as bucky is back home (including usual urban legend surrounding difference in strength from bottle to bottle, due to brewing method), and weighs in at around 6.5 percent! grrreat!). Also, (lol) you know you're getting it tough 'backpacking' when you...PUT ON weight! wtf?! Seriously, as if to back up the 'loafness' of this whole trip, i've somehow managed to put on 7 lbs from leaving Belfast!

Anyway, we thought we would drag ourselves out of our beachlife sloth existence for at least 5 minutes, and update the blog a wee bit (and prove the above...ahem!). Been nearly a month since we seen nothing but sun, sea, sand... (and the rest). The first few days of December were spent sticking in a (now scarily usual) 7hour shift under the sun (Can't seem to remember the last time we did this in Norn Iron...). I hope that doesn't sound like rubbing it in btw, but we really hope in some small way our pics of tropical beaches can help brighten up your day back home. If not, feel free to assume we're rubbing it in...ha ha!

So, we left Khao Lak, and headed up the peninsula for Khao Sok national park. Didn't really get into park to see much though. Recent floods wiped out bridges etc, and also there was several tourist deaths in the cave systems, so most of the place was closed. BUT, we did do some extreme hammock-ing! Hung out in our jungle bungalow with our 'roomies' the rats (introduced themselves in person on the second day after keeping us awake all night on the first). You can imagine Sarah's bake lmao! Also attended a Thai cookery school. Really cool experience actually (hangover nearly caused cancellation though lol), and resulted in a few deadly curries getting knocked up! Grreat! Oh yeah, and we located a 'Rasta' bar. And well, as they say, 'when in Rome...get rastafied' ...ahem!

Ditched the jungle after a few days (beach withdrawal), and headed to Kho Pahngan. Unfortunately, it was only the fekkin' full moon party weekend ffs! I kid you not we were looking to chill. Sarah even suggested crazy stuff like, eating healthy, and running on beaches...nearly choked on my chang! Anyway, so again, 'when in Rome', & we ended up partying down at Haad Rin (too many spazzy dancers for our liking, but was fun observing the wildlife), then we bailed out up the east coast to Ban Thong Nai Pan (nice small beaches, nice surf) for some serious r&r.

home of original full moon party, paradise bungalows, haad rin beach.

keeping ourselves busy, inventing new buckets...lol! (the infamous thai bucket. stalls everywhere knockin' these out. for around 2 squid or so you buy the bucket, half bottle of thai whisky, 2mixers and loada ice! here's me whaa... these things were responsible for some quality carnage down at Haad Rin btw...lmao)

anyway, after some diy experimentation...voila...the green zombie/green mountain...

'downtown' (lmao) ban thong nai pan noi...

...spending our time devouring thai cuisine (shrimp tom yam there...mmm!) - really CANNOT get enough of this chow. and btw, we seem to be developing an unhealthy immunity to even the most killer chillies...

...the famous mr handsome's, 'downtown' ban thong nai pan noi. quality! not only do his t-shirts make you handsome, but his petrol makes your bike go faster, his laundry makes you smell clean forever...and you aint lived 'til you necked a handsome sandwich! this dude got it dooown! (and mrs handsome a complete muay thai boxing nut - took us to the fight above).

...loving the way you get random beautiful buddhist statues etc. in the middle of (seemingly) bugger all.

leela. quality beach...

sarah. on a swing. beach life is tough...

seriously, the above pic may come as much of a surprise as the horse riding pic from mongolia, but yes indeed that is sarah, CARRYING A RUCKSACK! lmao, in almost 3 months this is the first time we've had to actually properly carry the fekkers! (well 100 metres up the beach to our bungalow...cough) mark our words though, it will NOT happen again...

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And here we are then...as mentioned back in Bangkok! Sorted the visas for Laos today, because get this, we are going to spending xmas in Laos - Huay Xai to be exact! Hurrah! Seriously, we are made up about the fact that we managed to get ourselves places on a Gibbon conservation project up there. For those that could be arsed, check out this link-

http://www.gibbonx.org/

Gonna have to get used to taking a dump out of a tree...ha ha! Anyway, the plan (plan, wtf?! there aint been a plan from Belfast ffs!) is to meander on down to Luang Prabang, then Vientiane (Laos capital) for new years eve, and perhaps continue on via Mekong river into Cambodia, taking the itinerary into first few weeks of January '08 (don't think we'l make Vietnam now ffs because we have to catch a flight to Australia on the 28th...we will see).

So for now, it's 4 days of loafing around Bangkok. Leave next week for Banchanaburi (the 'real' bridge over the river kwai), and continue heading towards the Laos border via Chang Mai, Pai and to be honest, fek knows where in between ha ha! Need to be at Huay Xai for Xmas day.

Ok, this nonsense must stop!! Until next time then, as always, much love to you all from the both of us! Being in all these Buddhist countries means Xmas hasn't even registered (which tbh has been great avoiding the associated onslaught), so seasons greeting aswell! (strange saying that whilst the air con is on max inside, and it's about 30 outside). we will try and knock up a v-card for yous or something?

Oh yeah, thanks Dave for the pics of wee norn iron! was good to get a glimpse of the Belfast eye! Must be a great view of those dead pigeons on the roof then? he he!

So it's goodnight from us,

Sayonara!

S&S

x