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Sunday, February 07, 2010
Koh Samui : A Night to Remember
Day 5: December 27, 2009

The long bus trip aint fun at all! That was the longest bus trip I’ve had in my entire pathetic life, EVER. And I swear, I’m not gonna do that again in the future, given I have other options, NEVER. The seat was uncomfortable for people my size so I didn’t get enough sleep. I think I was already occupying half of Andy’s space haha.

We had the usual 30-min bus stop in the middle of nowhere, and that’s where I filled my almost-empty stomach. Though I bought chips, juices, and water for this trip but it’s still good to have a nice food when you’re hungry. I had a very nice sausage dipped in mayonnaise. When I was about to take a big bite, it fell to the ground! Annoyed about what happened, I just ordered another one! and additional cup of rice, egg, and beef! Hahaha. Yummy!

I was already a bit upset with Marius this time because of what happened in Bangkok. When I came back from my “massage”, he wants us to go to the Lomprayah office right at that moment to get the ticket early but I told him we can still wait and go there around 8:30pm. But he insisted to go there earlier than that. So I took my backpack and waited for him on the street outside. But the good Marius kept me waiting for 30 minutes! And when he came out he was with this group of backpackers also heading to Koh Samui. So all this time, he was just talking to them... the fact that he knows I am waiting there outside! And in the end, this group of travellers are actually travelling on different bus. Grrh! So irritating...

After long hours, we finally arrived in Chumpon Port almost 6am. However, the ferry to Koh Samui will only leave at 7:30am! So it means we have to wait for almost 2 hrs there. I saw Anna waiting alone so I told her to join the group. She booked on the same us company, same time, but boarded on different bus. To kill time, we had the usual chitchats like what do you do for a living, blah blah blah. And to break the ice, I made jokes of her profession hehe; it was just for pure fun. :)

But 2 hrs of waiting became 3 and then 4, hopes began to wane. I thought we’re going to stay there for whole f*cking day. Then they finally announced that we can already board the HUGE ferry. After 4 hrs of waiting, grrh!

I managed to find some sleep during this 4-hr boat trip. We first stopped in Koh Tao, then Koh Phangan, then lastly Koh Samui. We didn’t buy the taxi ticket in Chumphon because we thought it's easier and cheaper to find a taxi in Koh Samui port to our Resort. Wrong! Haha. We ended up paying the same amount + the time waiting time.


I usually don’t print my tickets/bookings when I travel. So to be consistent, I didn’t print my booking for our accommodation haha. Problem is, I forgot to jot down the address hihihi. Well, I assume the driver should knows our hotel. I just told him to drop us in “The Room Chaweng” near Chaweng Beach Resort. Luckily, he dropped us near the location where our place is. ;) Later that day we found out that they actually changed their management so as with their name that’s why most drivers don’t know it yet.

The hotel is nice and clean... and we have free internet, but the connection sucks! It was so slow like a dialup connection and they only have one station working lol. But it was fine, I’m not gonna use it the rest of my stay there anyway. The staffs are very friendly and accommodating, not to mention that the operation manager is a Filipino hehe. ;) We’re all so friendly and nice and humble too! Haha :P

Andy, Marius, Anna and I had our late lunch near the Loft. And I was happy to see Karen there! We met her in Bangkok. She’s one of the cool people attended the XMAS party. 4 of us walked a bit and went to the beach area the rest of the afternoon while Karen head to her room to get fix herself, but we all plan to meet that night for another PARTY! ;)

Only Anna was wearing proper swimming attire. I didn’t bring my speedo! Hahaha just kidding. Marius was wearing pants and Andy was even wearing sneakers. But that didn’t stop me, it was very tempting so I took my shirt off and dipped into the sea. While the rest are just staying there doing nothing I guess.

While on our way back to the hotel I suggested to Marius that next time bring shorts since he’s travelling in tropical countries. It’s just a simple valid suggestion but what this sissy lad replied is somewhat offensive. He told me something like “Do you know what are you talking about? Have you been to Europe? You don’t know we don’t wear shorts there blah blah blah.” The fairy godmother inside him started to come out hahaha. Dude, it’s just a common sense to bring light clothes in a tropical country like this. Not because you wear winter clothes most of the time, you will bring winter clothes too hahaha. Just be rational. Anna is from Canada, and it’s damn cold there to, but she’s well-prepared. So don't rub it in my face that you're European.. coz for me you're nothing haha :P. Anyway, I just tried to understand him. It’s his first travel, first visit to Asia, first to travel alone. He should have brought his Lady Gaga’s costume haha. Ok from now on, lemme call him Ladyboy Gaga lol.

Together with Karen, Drew, and Alex (amigo), we had our sumptuous dinner @ Andaman Steak House Seafood Restaurant. Alex, Andy, and I shared a set meal which we didn’t even manage to finish. The serving was so huge and to be honest, I’m not a fan of seafood. Not that I hate it, I just don’t like it as much as chicken or pork hehe. But it was alright, good enough to feed our appetite.


Before we start the “night party”, we stopped by first on different travel agencies to book a package for the next day’s trip! We all decided to go to Angthong Marine Park and do water sports. Karen, possesses good negotiating skills, managed to cut down the package price from 1800 to 1350 Baht each! That’s a good bargain. However, Drew won’t be joining us since he’s been there few years back.

I don’t know what’s wrong with Ladyboy Gaga but he’s getting on my nerves lately. I find him so annoying and loud! I was tired of listening to his galling voice and wanted to just go out and drink. But seems like everyone doesn’t want to go yet so I left them and walked out! Was I drunk? No. I dunno hehe.

Not answering Alex and Andy’s calls and text messages, I went to a go-go bar few blocks away from them. I had a bottle of beer there trying to cool down before I head back. I didn’t stay there for long. I don’t want to spoil the night so I came to meet them again. This time they were already drinking. I ordered beer and bucket and shared to everyone. But Ladyboy Gaga decided to go home and have his beauty rest. Anna also hit the bed early that night. So it was only me, Karen, Andy, Alex, and Drew stayed there.

A mate from TB, Punit, texted me that he’s just around the corner and want to meet us. He came with a friend to see us and invited us to join them partying in the beach area but we were just started the night while they’re already in the middle of having some good time. So we opted to stay where we are while they head back to the beach.

After we finished our buckets and beers we walked down the street to see other bars. I think this time we already lost Alex. Most likely, he went to go-go bars haha. But 4 of us (Karen, Drew, Andy, and me), stayed in the Soi street. We first went inside an open-air club just down the street but the music is freaking loud and the drinks ain cheap either. So we went out and find a cheap place to drink. When we were about to give up, we found this dodgy-stinky pub along the street where customers are so few. But hey, they have the cheapest bucket out there! 9-shots bucket for 249 Baht! Niccceeeee!

We consumed so many buckets! (countless hahaha) I was pretty drunk I must say. I can’t even remember how we lost Drew. Coz in the end, it was only me, Andy, and Karen left drinking haha. Karen impressed me! She’s a tough girl. It’s hard to make her drunk! Hahaha. But she’s wasted too for sure. She even almost passed out inside McDonalds haha. We took a tuktuk and brought her home.


If you think we already called the night off? NO! Not yet! Andy and I decided to go back to pub street and find a place that’s still open that time hahaha. Sounds crazy, aye? Hihi But since it was probably around 5am, most of the bars were already closed. However, we found a small bar which’s still open and few people still drinking. That’s where we met Charmaine.

Charmaine is a young Scottish girl currently living in Thailand. I don’t know how it all started but it was a very profound conversation, she told us her experiences in life, all her struggles to attain her dream to travel, her sacrifices, adventures, even her situation with her parents. It was surreal! It’s weird that you meet strangers with almost the same experiences, same obsession, and same principles on that kind of place and time. I nearly cry just listening to her stories. I can so relate to her. I am very emotional especially when I’m drunk, but I don’t want to sob my heart out that moment. But really, it was something so special, so bizarre.

In an hour or less, we’ll see the sun. And we still have a day tour that morning so we really have to go back to our room. So we hugged her and bid our goodbyes. It was pleasure meeting you Charmaine, hope to see you again in the future.

posted by Joseph @ 7:06 AM   6 comments
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Killing time
Day 4: December 26, 2009


There's nothing much things happened on my last day in Bangkok. We checked out before 11am then we left our luggages in the storage room as our bus trip to Koh Samui is still at 9pm. We basically did our own thing that day. Marius went for a day tour with the South Africans. While I just wandered around the area killing the time.

Andy and I had our late lunch together; no noodles this time for god’s sake! We were craving for Western food and we ended up eating at a pizza parlor. But we didn’t order pizza haha. I had a chicken wings and lasagna while he ordered pasta, the spiciest pasta ever!, too spicy that you can’t even taste the food itself.

I was so feeling tired this time. I know I need to recharge! After our lunch, I headed back to our hotel while Andy went out to meet his Thai girl. I just stayed at the sofa in the lobby since we already checked-out. But I found a comfortable place to rest anyway.

I was already in the middle of my sleep when Mark and Dave woke me up! Guess what?! just to inform me that they went to a nice go-go bar the night before! Sweet! I just nod and smiled to them. I think they realize I was so damn tired and need to rest so they leave me there and went back to the street.

When I was about to find some sleep again, Alex arrived! He looked terribly sick. He said he just came back from clinic for some medicine because he wasn’t feeling well after last night’s party. Too much alcohol haha.

Our bus will leave Bangkok at 9pm so I still have few hours to kill but not enough to go far from Khao San. So instead of just waiting for the time to come, I decided to go for a massage hehe. I had a nice foot spa in one of the legitimate massage parlors out there! Hahaha. Not only I had a nice massage, I also manage to get the much needed rest! ;)

Before 9pm, Marius, Andy, and I went to Lomprayah office to get our tix. There were already tons of travelers waiting to board. I wasn’t looking forward to this long bus trip, to tell you frankly! But since its the cheapest way to go to Koh Samui, so I bear with it hehe.
posted by Joseph @ 9:45 PM   0 comments
Loving the Phad Thai...
Day 3: December 25, 2009

Surprisingly, I didn’t feel tired at all. I woke up before lunch time and headed out to get something to eat. But it feels like an ordinary day. I didn’t feel the spirit of Christmas. That wasn’t I was expecting. Yes, Bangkok is a Buddhist country but I am in the backpacker’s area and most of the people there are westerner so I am expecting that they will somehow put some effort to bring the Christmas spirit in town, but not.

I came back to the hotel and meet Andy with his Thai girl haha. How he ended up with this girl and what happened after we left him in the club is none of my business. But his stories were hilarious! Being his 1st time in Thailand, I’m kinda not surprised about his crazy adventures. That’s pretty normal hehe.

We only have two days left in Bangkok before we head down south. With nothing else to do, Andy and I decided to ride a ferry to take us to Bangkok Central (downtown I guess). It was a calm and relaxing 30-min ferry ride. Though the river is nowhere as blue as the water in other parts of Thailand (pollution alert!), but the scene was pretty cool.

Then we took a MRT going nowhere haha. We alighted at the station near National Stadium. Seriously, have no idea what to do or where to go. We were just walking and walking ‘til we both feel tired. It was like a ghost town. It was way too quiet, totally apart from the busy street of Khao San and not many annoying tuk-tuk drivers.

We went back to Khao San Road before nightfall. I just had my quick shower then I met up with the rest of the gang. I had a nice dinner with Drew, Jodi, Andy, Marius, and Alex.
I invited Anna to join us but she already planned to have a massage that night. She’s also from Travbuddy and staying at Rambuttri.

That night, we also met up with Carlyn and Hakima from South Africa. They missed the XMAS meetup because they landed in BKK late last night. We were already in Gazeebo when they arrived in Hippie Hi Bar.



After our dinner, we went on the same bar that we hang out the other night, Rooftop. And my buddy Anton from Russia joined us too! I met him a year ago in the airport on our way from Manila to KL and we chilled out here for few nights. Since then we still keep in touch and few days before my Thailand trip, he told me that he will be there the same time as me. So we planned to meet that night and party in Thailand! He didn’t stay with us the whole night though. He went back to his place around 2am. But it was really nice meeting you again my friend! J

A group of UN volunteers joined our table and jammed with us. Everyone was already drunk I must say. But I still know what’s happening around. I’m bit surprised that I don’t easily get wasted despite all the walking and touring during the day hehe.


I think it was past 3am when the bar closed but we are still going strong and kicking. However, Alex was so f*cking drunk already. He went inside the next door club named “The Club” by himself swerving. We both fell down on the ground when I was trying to pull him out. No one cared to help us lol. He doesn’t want to leave the place so we left him there.

Jodi, Drew, Andy, Marius, Carlyn, Hakima, and I moved to Gazeebo for more booze of course. But the music was so loud that we can’t even hear each other. After few drinks there, Andy and I went back to The Club to find Alex.

There are a lot of hookers hanging around inside waiting for their potential clients and some of them are obviously minors. Prolly Alex already hooked up with one of them because he’s no where to be found. Andy and I stayed there’s ‘til closing time. The crowd was mixed of tourists and locals… and ladyboys too! Andy had a funny experience with one of them. All the while he thought that the girl he was dancing with is a real she, but she’s NOT. And the “girl” even kissed him! Hahaha. How’s that? :P

It was past 5am when the club closed. I think Andy can’t get over with the ladyboy yet as I still have to convince him to leave the place hahaha. Poor boy. :P

Before going home, we feed our alcohol-filled stomach with the most sumptuous Phad Thai ever haha! Everything tastes good when you’re starving and drunk haha. We sat on the sidewalk for an hour, eating our Phad Thai and talking none-sense to the Phad Thai girl. Andy finds the girl cute! Everyone is cute for him, duh! But in fairness, she made our night even more fun and memorable. Despite the language barrier, she still kept us entertained. She’s amusing. ;)

posted by Joseph @ 5:26 PM   0 comments
Whatta AWESUM Night!
Thailand (Day 2): December 24, 2009

I woke up around 10am pretty excited for the meetup. It’s been months of preparation and it all boils down to one amazing night! one epic night of madness. Bring it on!

It’s already past lunch when we started the day right. Andy, Marius, and I did a short tour in the city. Armed with our reliable bible and maps, we strolled down the streets and went to our first stop, Royal Grand Palace!

But on our way, we stopped by at Wat Mahathat; very quiet place in the middle of busy city. Grand Palace closes at 3pm so we didn’t stay there for so long. We then went straight to the palace to not miss it.

We’ve been approached by tuktuk drivers every single minute. “How are you? Where’re you from?” the usual statements you will hear from them followed by offering to show you the city. Again, this is a scam. And you’re stupid if you don’t know about this haha. It’s quite annoying but you’ll get used to it and you will learn to ignore them eventually.

Good thing you can rent pants inside the palace as I was just wearing short. Yes, it’s not permitted. But I am not the only one; a lot of us actually even Andy.

We roamed around the Palace for a little over an hour. It was a majestic place I can say but the striking heat is unbearable.

After Grand Palace, we took a ferry to cross on the other side of the river to visit Wat Arun. The steep steps make it difficult to climb but the view on the top is worth a try.
Tired and exhausted, we went back to our hotel and prepared for the Christmas Eve. I’ve been receiving numerous text messages and calls from everyone joining the meetup. Everyone is pretty much excited.


I have never met anyone yet (except Mark) so I don’t know how they look like other than the pictures they posted in Travbuddy. Alex, arrived first who I didn’t recognize since he doesn't have pix on his profile.

Mark, whom I met here in KL few months ago, arrived with his brother Dave. I also met up with Drew, Peter, and Jodi in the lobby. Together with Andy and Marius, we went to Hippie Hi Bar to meet the rest of the group. It would cost pages to write down all their names. But more or less we are 30 people celebrated the XMAS Party.

After Hippie Hi bar, we went to Gazeebo to groove the night. Man, it was so hard to organize this group but I think I manage it pretty well. We had so much fun and it’s nice to meet like-minded people and partied with them.


It was already midnight when 6 of us decided to hit the club. Mark, Dave, Alex, Andy, Juan, Juan’s brother, and myself left the rest of the gang and went to Patpong Area for Bangkok’s cultural awareness haha! We watched the infamous Pingpong show. That would be my 1st and last time ever. It was disgusting! I wouldn’t deny that I was excited at first because this is something that we missed to do on our first visit. But after a while, I feel bad for the performers. It was sickening to watch them do their tricks. Pity them. What made it even worse; they want us to pay more than 1000 THB per person! Hell no, we’re not gonna pay 1K for one beer and freaky show! Alex confronted the manager but in the end we settled to pay 300THB each.

After that awful experience, we went to a go-go bar. After that incident in the patpong house, we were a bit skeptical if they will try to rip us off again. But the place looks real (alcohol is talking ok), so we went in. Whatever happens inside this bar is private haha. I can’t recall what happened to be honest hehe.

The bar closed around 3am but we still want to party! We walked along the road looking for a cab to bring us to an after-hour club. But all of them was trying to rip us off! What’s wrong with these drivers? Yes, we’re tired and a bit drunk but we’re not stupid. Speaking of which, out of nowhere, horny Andy was accompanied by an ugly old prostitute haha.
It took us an hour to leave the area because: First, Dave doesn’t like the idea of taking a cab. Second, we're still waiting for Alex to buy his food in KFC. Third, Andy has to ditch the girl. After long discussion, we finally agreed to leave and take a cab. However, Dave and Mark didn’t join us and went straight home. And yeah, Andy ditched her girl lol :P

The driver brought us to Bossy Club which I have no idea where. It was packed by locals and tourists! and sleazy girls too! We met an Iranian girl which obviously a hooker. It was an interesting crowd and a party place to go but we were so f*cking tired already. We called the night off past 5 am... But one of us, Andy ehem ehem, was having so much fun with a local girl that we had so leave him there hahaha.

What an incredible night! fooking awesome! And thank you for those who attended the XMAS Alcoholiday Meetup! You guys rock! :)
posted by Joseph @ 5:51 AM   0 comments
Sawasdee
Thailand (Day 1): Dec 23, 2009

After so much preparation, anticipation, and excitement, I finally arrived in Bangkok. Not like my Phuket trip where I almost miss my flight, everything turned out smoothly. Except that I can’t find my roommate Marius.

Marius, a Romanian guy working in France, WAS my online friend prior to this meetup. We chatted couple of times in FB and Skype. And we planned to get hammered, plastered, and wasted! My drinking buddy so to speak… NOT!

I looked for him for an hour, asked the information service to page him but to no avail. I tried to call him several times but he can’t be reached. When I was about to leave the airport and to go the city, I received a text msg saying that he’s just having lunch with a friend on the second floor of the airport! Sweet! duh!

Since I have already taken my brunch in KL, we didn’t stay there for so long. After the usual hi hello, we took a cab and went straight to Khao San Road where I booked our room at Rambuttri Village Inn. His French friend (which I forgot the name), joined us since he still have few hours to kill before flying to Australia. Our room wasn’t ready yet when we arrived. But not to waste our precious time, we just leave our luggage and head out to see a glimpse of Bangkok. This isn’t my first time in Bangkok. I was here in 2007 with my friends Anai, Gen, and Dru. But they were the one who booked our hotel, prepared the itinerary and planned everything. I did nothing so to speak. This time, I am doing it by myself or with fellow solo-travelers and just all play by ear.

Like I said, Mr. French guy only have few hours to spare so instead of wasting our time navigating the streets, we hired a tuk-tuk for only 20THB to bring us to different sites nearby. Alas! We were trapped in a scam! Stupid me, I totally forgot about these numerous modus-operandi in Bangkok where we once victimized (almost) last time. He forced to bring us to tailor shop and travel agency in exchange of free gas coupon. Marius had some heated argument with the driver but in the end, we bowed out. Come on, this is just our 1st day in city of smiles, I don’t want to ruin my mood at this early stage… NOT YET… hehe.

After the stupid argument, attempt to visit temples, and a long walk, it’s about time to bid goodbye to his friend. But before we headed back to our hotel, we had our 1st local noodles and our 1st bottle of local beer at one of the local cafeterias (god knows where).

We went back to our room and took a quick nap. Did I? nah, but I think he did. Prolly, around 6-ish, we went out to find something to eat (again). We were strolling in Soi Rambuttri when we met Andy! We exchanged messages in Travbuddy few times since he will be joining us in Bangkok, Koh Samui, and Koh Phangan but I barely know him yet. Dunno if he's nice or not haha. I also met Ben, my kayak-mate in Halong Bay, in Khao San Road. He’s traveling with Chayne and Nick but I didn’t see the Kiwi couple. On that same day, I also randomly bumped-in with the Brit guys I traveled with in Halong Bay, Vientam a week back. Small world, aye?

At night, we met up with Jodi, a Filipina-Australian, who’s also staying at Rambuttri. We've been talking in Facebook and Travbuddy weeks prior to this but I haven't met her in person yet. Since all of us were there for the XMAS Alcoholiday Meetup the next day, we decided to check out the meetup place Hippie Hi Bar. It took us almost an hour searching, to the point that I have to call Dodge (Thai) for the direction. Still, we got lost and we found Hippie ‘de Bar instead. We ordered a pitcher of beer and chilled out for a while before hitting the bar/club for our first taste of BKK’s night life.

There are tons of bars, pubs, and clubs to choose from, name it and you’ll find it in Khao San. We chose to stay in “The Rooftop” bar, situated in the middle of Khao San, which has a live band / singer playing nice acoustic and alternative rock music. The night wouldn’t be complete without the 1st taste of bucket of joy! Yes, buckets! We ordered Blue Lagoon and Redbull Vodka coupled with our beers. Out of nowhere, an American lady (Jodi’s bestfriend haha) joined our table. She’s obviously drunk or may be stoned but she's harmless and funny. She entertained us actually (a bit).

After the bar closed, two Aussie guys on the next table recommended going to an Irish after-hour pub just few blocked away. We all went there but it was almost empty. And since it was already past 3am, Marius decided to just hit the bed and have some beauty rest lol, Jodi stayed with the Aussie guys, while Andy and I decided to go somewhere else.

We found a place that’s still open at that time and we ordered our last beer for that night. We just stayed outside and watched people pass by; we even witnessed local people fighting. What an interesting scene!

With nowhere else to go, we just stayed at the sidewalk trying to finish our beer. It was already past 5am when we called the night off.

What a nice way to start this trip. And yeah, I found a drinking buddy in Andy! A bloody good mate! :)
posted by Joseph @ 5:46 AM   0 comments
LOooOooNg HiAtUs AGAIN and again and again
Ok I won't say any excuse right now. I don't even have a valid reason in mind why I stopped blogging. It's been almost two years since my last entry. That's a looong break!

I'm not gonna promise that I am back in full blast... I don't want to make promises this time. I'm not gonna force myself to write just for the sake of writing, no way. I will just write if I feel like writing. If I'm not in the mood, then sorry. ;)

I started blogging my recent Thailand trip but wordpress is giving me so much headache! from the way you navigate your dashboard, fixing your entry, and even to attaching your pictures! so f*cking complicated! I had enough so I decided to resort back to blogspot. That's why I'm here again haha.

IM BACK! (I hope so haha)
posted by Joseph @ 5:31 AM   0 comments
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