Full moon parties, snorkeling and elephant trekking

I'm going to have to summon all my strength to write this update...wish me luck!

First of all let me wish you all "HAPPY NEW YEAR" or whatever the (ridiculously long) Japanese saying is! Hope you had a wonderful time at Christmas! I also hope that those with exams, work etc. still managed to have some festive fun.

I`m back at work today at the Board of Education, the only place that is warm in all of Susami! Having just returned from the sunny beaches of Thailand, the non insulated homes of Japan seem colder than ever.

As per usual, the first think I did upon arriving in the building was to offer my omiyage (souvenir- in this case a box of chocolates) to my boss. Return to my house in Susami, there were dozens of New Year cards. As Christmas cards aren't really done in Japan, the average Japanese person sends around 70 cards to wish people a happy new year. Everyone seems to print their own photos on these small postcards, complete with a little message (in both Japanese and English), some of them are pretty cool actually. People around the town hall and local schools are constantly bowing (even more than usual) to one another mumbling something resembling “HAPPY NEW YEAR”. Classes start tomorrow and I'm expected to plan a lesson on my trip to China and Thailand. Even my JTE encourages me to use facebook1 for “research purposes”. I don't think he quite understand how it works and even wants to join it! It's good to be home but is strange being back and to be 100% honest, I wish I was still on a beach in Thailand soaking up the sun.

Beijing was definitely an interesting city. My first impression was that it was bleak, polluted and COLD but, by walking around, you began to see the character. Yet the pollution was so bad that it was difficult to see buildings in front of you. However, the impending Olympics mean that a real effort is being made to clean up the city, especially all the tourist spots. Upon our arrival, we hired a Chinese lady to take us around the city and to the Great Wall. Of course we paid more for her taxi because it was “ a nice car”. We had a dodgy moment at one point when we came down the Great Wall and couldn't find her car. She played, of course, the old “I know this nice place for lunch” trick which roughly translates as follows, “eat at this tourist trap and I get a free lunch!” Yet she was cool and her insistence upon playing trance songs at full volume will stay with me!

We pretty much saw the main sights such as Tiananmen Square (designed to contain 1 million people), Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City (complete with its own Starbucks), markets, Ming Tombs (BORING), Great Wall (really does live up to its name)and Mao's mausoleum. It was just as creepy as Lenin's mausoleum, but at least there weren't gaudy gift shops 5 ft from his dead body! It makes me think what Mao would have thought of people selling Mao watches and bags not 10 ft from his tomb! We even found time to eat deeep fried centipede and cockroach – not bad actually! Yet before I knew it, it was time to set off for Bangkok.

Like every other backpacker in Thailand, we arrived on Khao San Rd and made our way to our hotel at midnight dodging thai lady boys, prostitutes, piles of rubbish and neon lights. It really didn't feel like Christmas day to say the least! Only having a day and a half in this bustling metropolis, we rushed around the Old City, refusing to listen to anyone who told us that the Grand Palace was closed. The Palace was magnificent, the detail that must have gone into constructing it was breathtaking! After rushing around on the final day, seeing the “amazing” floating market on the Chao Phraya river, thinking, “No, I don't want a f**king tuk tuk” (I think there's even a t-shirt with that caption), avoiding being scammed every 10m, we were ready to head to our next destination! After a while in Thailand, we became used to the chants of “Hey lady, I give you GOOD price....Christmas price!” We also looked around the red-light district where people insisted on selling us tickets to a “ping-pong show”. In the end we looked around the night market where my ruthless bartering was successful. I find it amazing how the phrase “same same but different” (= similar) has been assimilated by nearly every Thai person!

Travelling around Beijing and Bangkok was a lot of fun but we were all really looking forward to sitting on a beach with a Singha in our hands. That's why, when we arrived at Phuket, we were annoyed to discover that we'd missed the last ferry to Ko Phi Phi. However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we got to explore the nightlife in the beach area of Patong. The crammed streets were full of lady boys and go-go bars where people dance on the bar tops. We all got suitably drunk and even had a go dancing on the bar (a la Coyote Ugly). Sometimes it was hard to tell whether these girls were women or men!

Therefore, by the time we arrived on Ko Phi Phi, we were ready to take it easy. Ko Phi Phi is a tiny island an hr ferry ride from Phuket where parts of “The Beach” were filmed. The “city centre” is a narrow stretch of sand, devastated by the 2004 tsunami. Although many tourists were there when we were, you can still see areas destroyed in 2004. The beaches were as blue and warm as I expected and we could see the whole island by hiking to the highest point – stunning. The following day we rented a boat to take us around the neighbouring island in order to swim, snorkel and see Maya bay. We saw so many clown fish, puffer fish, eels etc, such a cool experience.

Waving goodbye to Ko Phi Phi, we flew in a tiny plane to Ko Samui airport which was more of a wooden shack! Yet another ferry ride later and we were on Ko Phangnan (never know how to spell the thing), the party island of Thailand. We were really lucky to find a bungalow overlooking the ocean, with its own bar right downstairs. Days there consisted of driving around the “roads” (apparently you don't need a license to drive there), hiking up waterfalls, eating good food and consuming many fruit shakes. We spent New Years Eve on Haad Rin beach where the infamous Full Moon Party takes place every month consuming the buckets of booze. They hand out an actual bucket complete with straws, a can of soft drink and a whole bottle of liquor to throw in.

Ko Phangnan was also cool because I got to see Immie again who has been travelling all around Thailand since she left me in Japan! We spent the day with her before she set off to start her new job in Auckland, New Zealand. We went to see Muay Thai (Thai boxing) which consisted of 8 fights. The final fight was between some NZ guy and a Thai guy. Apparently they pick random people off the street and give them a month to train before they throw them into the ring!

On my final day in Ko Phangnan, I decided to do a safari tour and go elephant trekking, snorkelling, hiking etc and see some of the temples. Despite the copious amounts of tourists, it is still a stunningly beautiful island! Then it was time for the Full Moon Party. This huge party attracts up to 30,000 people during peak season when the beach is packed with fire throwers, people on drugs, dozens of sound systems pumping out any genre of music you can think of and people covered in neon body paint. People generally catch the first ferry back after the party as finding accommodation on Ko Phangnan is difficult in January. “After parties” run from 10am-6pm for those still wide awake. It was a fun night and definitely an unique experience. However, speaking to some other travelers made me realise how crazy the island is, as they narrowly escaped a shooting en route to Haad Rin beach!

After 24 hrs of non-stop travelling and a certain someone worrying he'd be thrown into Chinese prison (visa issues), I arrived back in Susami and spent the weekend relaxing and (finally) checking out the new Bond film – well worth the wait!

So that's all folks! Will probably be taking it easy this month and catching up with the other JETs etc but I shall be planning my family's visit in March. The plan is to see as many cities as we can in 13 days! I'm sure I'll be putting those countless free periods at school hours to good use!!

Take care. Once again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Lots of love,

Sara

xxxx

1For those who don't know, “facebook” is a highly addictive internet network that enables the user to stay in touch with friends, upload photos and generally procrastinate.