After a few days spent relaxing in Laos, we were back to Thailand for a few days to see a bit of the North and then make our way down to Bangkok to get our visa for Myanmar. Ah sure the craic was mighty!

Udon thani

Having made it across the Laos/Thai border pretty easily we were dropped off in the evening in the random town of Udon thani in the North East of Thailand. We were greeted by lashing rain and tuk tuked it to the second bus station further outside the city> Once we arrived we received the devastating news that there were no more buses left that night going to Chang Mai in the North West of the country. That meant we would have to wait an extra 24 hours in the town, of which we knew feck all about. But it turned out grand! We went back to the city centre and found a fairly cheap hotel for the night, which happened to be situated right beside a huge shopping centre. Like staying in the Shelbourne hotel opposite the Stephen’s Green shopping centre back home! Fast food was the consumption of choice for the Boys in Green and we visited the local night market after before having an early night.

We were up mid-morning the following day and checked out. We had about 8 hours to kill so headed off to the shopping centre and had some healthy breakfast before going to the cinema to see Spiderman 2…Ah Thai culture! While in the cinema had a strange old experience when we all had tostand for a 3 minute video for the King of Thailand followed by the National Anthem. We were the only single Westerners in town, so got a fair few waves to help boost the confidence. The only other Westerners seemed to be men in their 40’s with Thai wives. They must have wondered what the feck we were doing in this part of Thailand altogether! After some Pad Thai in the evening we were off to the bus station and hopped on the bus for Chang Mai.

Both of us were up at 7am, grabbed some breakfast and then hit the road with our tour guide Jacky. Jacky was still absolutely locked from his night’s antics the night before so we were a bit wary early on but he turned out to be a nice guy. His joint while driving really sobered him out. First stop was the Elephant sanctuary when we got the chance to feed, ride (not that type) and bathe the elephants. Kev and I got a ride atop of Nelly who was as mad as a hatter.  After a big feed it was on to a large waterfall where we got the chance to jump in from about 10 metres which was good craic. The dropped us off for some bamboo rafting shortly afterwards which was pretty easy going and would have been more fun with a beer or two.  We arrived back to the hostel around 5pm and had some food before debating whether to go out or not. We decided to order a banana smoothie and see where things went….We all strolled in at 4am after a serious boogie down the local. Word of warning: Don’t let banana smoothies dictate your night.

We were fairly shattered the next day and decided a McDonald’s breakfast might save the day. Always a bad choice! We killed the day playing pool back at the hostel before boarding the bus at 6pm for an overnight run to the capital.

Bangkok

We arrived in to Bangkok at 5am fairly tired after we got very little sleep on our bus which resembled a karaoke bar. So we got our bags and walked to the hotel, checked in and got a few hours shut eye before heading to the Myanmar embassy at 9am. After much bartering with taxi drivers we eventually made it to the embassy only to find out that it was closed for some bank holiday. Body blow. We checked online afterwards and it turns out they have 22 bank holidays a year! Ah here! That left us with only one more day to get the visa, so all our hopes were pinned on Tuesday. So we headed back to the hotel just as the heavens opened, so not much was achieved. In the evening we went for some dinner with some Israeli friends and then out for some beers and dancing. We were all tucked up pretty early as we couldn’t risk not making the embassy early the following day

That said we still had heavy heads when we arose at 8am, got some breakfast and grabbed a taxi to the embassy. And it turned out to be one of those days. The queue was miles long and the visa system seriously outdated. Eventually we got our application in and were told to come back a few hours later, which we did after some lunch and finally we had the visa in hand. We headed back to the ranch to pack our small bags with clothes and then leave our backpacks at a travel agent for the length of our stay in Myanmar. For dinner we found a cheap but decent Indian restaurant and headed to bed for an early one as we were up at 4am to catch the flight. After a quick sleep, we grabbed a taxi and arrived at the airport with loads of time to spare. Some breakfast in the bellies and we were off to Myanmar.

We landed back in Bangkok at around 3pm and swiftly legged it through immigration before hopping in a Joe maxi and making our way down to Khaosan Road. We had a quick look around for cheap hotels and found one pretty central. After some street food(delish but risky) we collected our bags from the travel agency and got nice and settled in. 2 minutes later we were out the door getting laundry done and then out down to the market for some last minute purchases. A big night was planned but there was some Buddha Day in Thailand so nearly all the bars were closed, so the Boys in Green had an easy night in after some more Pad Thai.

The following day we were up early to change rooms as the room had been an absolute sauna the night before. Once the bags were moved we were straight down to the Democracy Monument to do a bit of Irish dancing. Luckily we didn’t go 24 hours later as there were bombs and gunfire there with the protesters! Once that was recorded we snook into a pool at a nice hotel pretending our mate Smudgy was staying on the 3rd floor. Nicely bronzed we went for a nice Thai massage for half an hour. Our backs were in bits after once the Thai guys were through snapping us in 2. After a quick bite to eat we were out on the tow for our final night in Thailand. After a few beers in the hostel we hit our local and had an almighty night…we think.

We managed to make it up the following morning for the taxi to the airport. All checked in we said goodbye to Thailand with some local food. A lovely Burger King.

See ya in Hong Kong,

The Lads              

After our sober stay in Malaysia, next on the list was to the not so sober Thailand for about 3 weeks. See how we got on below…if we can remember accurately enough!

Phuket

After a quick 1 hour flight from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket, we arrived at about 8.30pm where we met an English friend Emily with whom we had met in South America and hoped into a taxi towards our hostel in downtown Phuket. To be honest there is not a whole lot to see in Phuket apart from some red light districts and very seedy middle aged men. We still have a few years to go! We checked in, organised our boat for the following morning and hit the hay for an early night.

Phi Phi

We were up early the following day for some breakfast at the hostel followed by a short bus trip to the pier to board the boat. The boat itself was jam packed with mid-twenties travellers with many nursing severe hangovers across the rocky seas. Once we arrived we met up with a friend from DCU, Gough, who had organised our accommodation in the centre of the town. Kev and I became roomies for the few days and managed to hike the 300 steps to our room on the mountains, showered, grabbed a bite to eat and went straight out for a night on the town with the rest. 

The next morning we were all nursing severe hangover, which were induced by our first few buckets in a number of years. The key ingredient of Red Bull must have some sort of drug in it, as you are wired until about 8am and even when you do eventually head to bed, the song “When you’re looking like that” by Westlife just resounds in your head for another few hours.  After a Pad Thai for breakfast, which was to become our dedicated meal in Thailand, we headed on down to the beach to relax. We were back in the room early enough to prepare for Brain O’Driscoll’s last home game for Ireland and legged it to the nearest Irish bar to get the best seats in the house. Eventually the bar got the stream going for the game and the party was in full flow as Ireland ran out convincing winner, setting up not only a potential Six Nations win, but also a serious night of partying!

The following day we got a day boat out to Maya Bay, made infamous from the movie The Beach, and did some snorkelling before having a nice beer on the beach itself. On the way back we stopped off at Monkey Island, took some snaps with the little lads and headed back to Phi Phi just in time for some dinner (Pad Thai of course). As it was our final night in Phi Phi, we did what we do best: got some buckets and partied on the beach all night!

Arising from our beds the next day was a toughie. And the trip that followed even worse:  4 hour boat to the mainland (like Father Ted), 6 hours bus across the country and another 3 hour boat to Koh Pahang. It was worse than driving from Dublin to Galway back in the 90’s!

Koh Phanang

Finally we arrived on the island of Koh Phanang at about 8pm and made our way to the hotel cabins located right on the party beach: Serious spot! A quick spag bol later and we were fast asleep in our beds as we knew what lay ahead over the coming days: lots of cultural walks and tours of course (that’s just for the Mammies).

The following day a number of friends we had made in Phi Phi had arrived on the island and our crew was properly assembled. We chilled on the beach for the day playing some tag rugby and in the evening went for a few buckets on the beach, but nothing too wild as the following day was the infamous Full Moon Beach Football Tournament. Rumour has it this is where Messi actually learned his trade. Due to the fact that Chris had suffered a career threatening injury with his old man knees and Kev had recently pulled a muscle in his back while summersaulting through a ring of fire, I was the only Wirld member able to take part in the tournament. Once we got a team together with Gough, our eccentric goalie, we kicked off. After a shaky first game ended in a draw, we managed to grind out 3 very big wins against decent teams and qualify for the quarter finals the following day. We actually looked to Big Jack Charlton for some tactical inspiration: “Just kick it up to the big man up front!”.  An unbeatable formula! We kept up the Paul McGrath soccer diet and went out celebrating that night on the beach! Not a great idea really.

With weary heads, we meandered to the pitch the following afternoon for the quarters. After a slow start we got going, won 4-1, beat the Israelis in the hotly contested semi on penos and then waltzed the final 2-0. Celebration time for the Boys in Green!

The following day was full moon party so we just chilled on the beach, grabbed some Pad Thai and got our illuminous clothes ready for the big night. The party itself also coincided with Ireland’s final Six Nations game to win the championship which kicked off at 12 midnight! Not really a tough choice though! After a few drinks on the packed full moon beach, we ran to the nearest bar which had the game on and watched the amazing game unfold. Thank Jesus we won! Queue an unreal full moon party.

The next day we decided to leave the island and head to Kao Tao about a 3 hour boat away for some detox: oh wait St Patricks day was the following day!

Koh Tao

We had an easy first night on Koh Tao in preparation for St Patrick’s Day. We managed to find a pub crawl, donned our glad rags and painted ourselves green before hitting the town. On the pub crawl we stopped off at a ladyboy show which was an experience to say the least. Not everyone’s cup of tea. We even made some mates to celebrate St Patrick’s Day with!

The next few days we spent chilling by the beach and taking in some rehab on the beautiful island. One of the days we grabbed a taxi boat out to a remote islands did some cliff jumping which was great craic altogether. As we departed for Bangkok, en route to Cambodia, we said goodbye to an awesome crew of lads we had made while travelling through Thailand and got back on the road…well boat first! 

Bangkok

We made it to Bangkok after another nightmarish journey and arrived at 3am with nowhere to stay so headed central and booked in for a night at a hotel. Only downside was that we had to wait until 6am to check in so killed time on the streets of Bangkok. Once in the hotel we grabbed a few hours’ sleep before getting up just before midday to see some of the city. As it was an election day BK was pretty quiet so we headed to a local market for some bargains before heading back to the ranch for some dinner.

After dinner we booked a bus for the following morning to Cambodia. As we were due to leave at 7am the smart option would have been to have a quiet night in. Scrap that! We had a few beers on Koo San road and it was a mad night all round with people dancing in streets. We were off to bed just after midnight so got some shut eye before arising to catch the bus.

So the next morning a guy arrives at the hotel at 7am and says in Thai, “Follow me lads”. So we walk outside with our bags and your man hops on a motorbike and speeds down the road. We slowly make it down the road and once at the corner he speeds off again. It was like a scene from Trigger Happy TV. Eventually we made it to the bus and crammed into a horrible mini bus for a 6 hour trek to the border. However we were dropped off about 2km from the border and the locals tried to scam us by telling us we needed to buy a visa from them for $35, when we knew it cost $20 at border. Pure arseholes. Once we refused they got a bit mad and sent us on our way. We flew through immigration paying the correct amount and were on our way!

We have probably been at our culture discovering lowest while in the south of Thailand, but we had already kind of known what lay in store before we arrived. But without doubt it has been a seriously fun 3 weeks. We met some really sound lads and had probably the most fun over the whole of our trip. We will be back before the end of the trip so hopefully we will be a little more culturally aware next time and not just stick to the Pad Thai!


The Lads