The Journey Begins...

Subject: Hello All :D

Brisbane to Bangkok
April 18th 2005 – May 3rd 2005 (16 days from last email)

Howdy everyone!

Well first off I’m alive and well, my Gulf Air flight didn’t crash and burn into the Indian Ocean like expected!, was actually a really good flight and contrary to what people said they do serve booze, so good times indured :D

Well where to start, where to start. So much has happened in the past couple of weeks I could just go on and on, but I won’t bore the shit out of you all and try and keep it brief, the Internet is very expensive in Thailand (not too mention slow as a snail), you know I could buy five beers for the same price it takes to write this email LOL.

I can't even think back to how Singapore was, so I'll start of with Thailand and work my way back.
Arrived in Phuket which wasn’t so great, was just too touristy, so got out off there quite quick and into a cosy mini van for a 6 hour drive to the east coast where the ferry was awaiting to take us all to Koh Samui. Met up with some Singapore fellas who offered me some of there "goodies", and well lets just was it was a very long and kinda scary night, thought I was on some tropical island with there weird tribal fellas, anyway long story short, no more stuff for me in Thailand and this was BEOFRE the Full Moon Party LOL, managed to fix myself up and climb aboard the Full Moon Ferry.

Found me a nice pad in Koh Phangan with some magical views of the sunset and beach from my bungalow, really nice place to chill out and recover and a fantastic family running the joint.
Now the Full Moon Party, well I can’t really remember much (no surprises there) but after 2-5 buckets I was passed out on the beach for about 3-4 hours and woke up just in time to see the sun rise and dance off my coma to some wicked Psy-Trance. I found out later that the Red Bull over here has some kind of amphetamines which might explain my comatized state, and I spouse the Tequila didn’t help too much with that either LOL

Fast forward a couple of days (recovery + some wicked sun burn) and I'm in the scuba island of Koh Toa.
You are now talking to an ADVANCED deep open water scuba diver!!!!!!, yup scuba Steve himself. Absolutely fantastic reefs and so some pretty nice fish (both eating and looking ). One word of advice for anyone planning on doing a diving course, listen to the instructor about his advice on alcohol and diving and don’t go getting absolutely tanked the night before a dive. Didn’t think it would be that bad surely, a couple of drinks, I’ll be right as rain… well ended up spewing up underwater and couldn’t dive for a day because I was dizzy and disoriented. What seems to happen as you move down the water column and pressure groups, the toxins that you think have all gone get pushed up back into you brain and really fuck you up. That would have to be the longest hangover I've ever had, took me a couple of days to get back on track and finish off my course.

Ohhh yeah Singapore, did a shit load of walking and blistered up my feet really bad, so the only way to sort that out is to get numb which some cool refreshing Tiger Beer. Oh fuck now I remember Singapore....To all those people that warned me about Lady Boys (do I have to say anymore?). Anyways met up with a few people from the UK who have being living in Malaysia for the past year and a couple of us decided to go hit the piss and check out the nightlife, now being a Tuesday/Wednesday night apparently the nightlife ain't that crash hot, all the bars were closed by 11pm and were itching for another beer and what do you know 7 Eleven comes to the rescue, they sell booze, and a quite the selection I must say. Fuck me I’m rambling, you just want to here the lady boy bit right? Well hold your horses I’m getting there ok!

Ok so with freshly cooled beer in hand we set off for some nightlife and we stumble across a Japanese Karaoke Bar (yes there are pics ), all I remember is chugging down two jugs which were kindly donated as we realised that we had no money after they were poured and after pursuing there wide selection of tracks started singing Barbie Girl by Aqua (just admit it, you know the one I’m talking about!)

Heres where things get interesting, the stumble back home. So where walking down the middle of the street with map in full spread trying to find our way back home and not knowing where the fuck we where (turns out we were the other side of town, god knows how we got there), anyways we turn down this street and all of a sudden there where all there girls coming out (well I thought they were girls), she/he/it starts talking to the other guy I’m with in Malay, so I have no fucking idea what they are talking about, the only word that I recognised was "Blow Job" LOL. All I can say is thank god for my Malaysian friend as I would have got myself into all sorts of trouble as I was rearing to go LOL. I have however learnt a valuable lesson, which is go for the tap first or better still, look at the feet
Turns out I spotted ,my first Lady Boy in the day time on the subway in guys clothes except for some pink shoes LOL, he/she/it's feet were kinda small, so I left Singapore kinda confused and relieved LOL

Anyway, I could ramble on for hours on all the crazy shit thats happened, all I can say is that I’m having the best time of my life and that you don’t realise how much of a rut you get into just being back at home and not travelling anywhere, its only being two weeks and two different countries so far, but I’m just gob smacked to realize how much of a world out there needs exploring, I can't wait already for what my travels will bring, bring it on I say!.

Anyways gang, I’m off to find me some cheap accommodation and cool beer

Over and Out
Jase

p.s I've just realized that my contact grouping have fucked up when I imported them into Hotmail, so sorry to anyone who gets this and wonders who the hell this freak is

p.p.s Sorry for any spelling mistakes, I've being awake for 26 hours on a rickety bus and saw a dead body, well that my excuse and I’m sticking too it

p.p.p.s If anyone is interested, my tow nail fell off AGAIN LOL

________________________________________________________

Check out the pics here >>> http://redmonkey.smugmug.com/Backpacking%20Jaunts/189933

The view from my bungalow

Scuba Crew!!

Full Moon Party