The aftermath of a Sansong bucket

OH. MY. GOD. To say I feel like shite would be the biggest understatement of the year. It was Eve and Charlie's last night. So we headed out to a bar in Sairee (Bands bar - never, ever have a bucket from there!) with Ayesha, Emily, Hannah, Kelly and Matt.

For those who have been fortunate enough to never have experienced a bucket - basically it's Thai Sansong whisky with either Red Bull, Coke or Sprite. Sounds harmless enough you think. You're wrong. Massively wrong.

The poison is served in a bucket - the type you get when you buy a bucket and spade -and 15 or so straws are added which gives the illusion you're not drinking that much.

So three buckets later and I am flying (figuratively speaking of course!). Eve is whipping up the dance floor. Hannah is hanging off Matt's (who's 20) neck and asking if he minds being chased by 'an old boiler' (she's 30!) while I have 'Eric' from Israeli banging on in my ear. God knows what he was saying. To him it looked as though I was smiling. The reality is that I was subtly trying to gasp for air to avoid honking up all over him.

Eventually we finished around 5am - they don't tell you the poison lasts for hours. You feel really drunk, then not etc.

Had a few hours sleep then waved Eve and Charlie off - still drunk - lots of tears but I think we were all feeling so horrendous we were too busy trying not to fall down where we were standing to worry too much about saying goodbye (18 weeks till I see them in India and counting!).

Spent the rest of the day in my hut sleeping, moaning and battling with the most horrific fear to date. This ranged from 'I've damaged my stomach lining', I'm reckless, I need to grow up, to the tried and tested 'the circulation in my left leg has suffered from the stupid nos of fags I smoked last night, therefore my left leg will be amputated.' Seriously, I wish I was joking. These are the thoughts that I have to battle with when I'm hungover. I know I'm not alone on this one. I've done a survey with my friends and they get it too! Phew!

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again - NEVER. EVER. Will I touch the Sansong poison in a bucket!!

My next Steps

I'm leaving Koh Tao on Friday 3rd August and taking the boat (with Emily) to Khao Sok National Park for a two/three day trek. Can't believe after that after batgat I'm heading into a rainforest to really get close to nature. However the opportunity to see wild elephants, gibbons, tigers and leopards is too good. Apparently it's one of the oldest rain forests in the world so it should be good and fingers crossed I won't come face to face with too many creatures.

Have stocked up on the strongest deet spray you can find, tactically purchasing suitable items to ensure I avoid leeches (yuk)and the like. I've been told to put everything in a plastic bag and be prepared for creatures. Not sure why I wince when I write this. I mean I'm heading into the jungle after all so it's really no surprise. Either way it still makes me cringe. I can't believe I'm doing this!

Thankfully Emily isn't at one with nature either so we're in agreement as to what we will or won't do. For example at no point will I be camping over night in the jungle in a one man tent for instance. I have no desire to go chasing big spiders with the guide (I've heard this happens on the 'rustic' treks). Equally I don't have the slightest inclination to hack my path through the jungle using a machete. Perfectly acceptable terms in my book. We'll see!

Anyway, after roughing it with mother nature we're heading for some sun Hua Hin which is on the coast of Thailand and was where the royal family used to holiday. Well if it's good enough for them then....We're staying 2 nights there and then catching the train to Bangkok and then getting the overnight train to Chaing Mai for more trekking. It's supposed to be pretty cool - you can see how the tribes live, ride elephants.

We're also staying overnight in a monastery. Basically you have mediation lessons with a monk, stay over night and then have more mediation lessons with him in the morning. Can't wait. Very intrigued to see what that's like.

So that'll take me until the end of August. Have another month in Thailand where I'll check out the east coast, then fly to Kathmandu.

Batgate 2.0

Eve and Charlie arrived a few days after I did so I was able to share in full my bat experience from the previous evening. Little did we know we were about to share another 'Batgate' 'experience.

The 'house' we're staying in at The Sanctuary is certainly traditional Thai. Bit misleading when you read the info on the website though. You pay pretty high prices for a 'house' which isn't enclosed. That's fine if it's what you want but doesn't really help to manage your expectations when, as we found out, you're trying to go to the loo and there are several bats flying through your bathroom!!

Unbeknown to us this is actually the bats route at dusk. Naturally we can't mess with mother nature so at 5pm if you need the loo you have to either get on all fours and crawl there, while trying to avoid bats flying into you or wait (the latter option is much more preferable believe me).

Eve nearly had a hernia when we 'discovered' the bats route about 10 minutes after she arrived. Naturally Charlie and I tried to act like it was nothing to get over excited about or frankly shite yourself over. Charlie because she works with horses, is used to nature and is pretty fearless. Me because I've been here 5 mins, have experience a bat eposide myself so naturally now feel like an authority!! Anway, needless to say it ended up with all 3 of use screaming and vowing never to use the loo at dusk!!

Has she gone yet?

Has she gone yet? A question that was asked many, many times before I actually left to go travelling. I think I managed to have around 10 leaving do's - any excuse for a party in my book! As my mum so eloquently put it - 'you took longer to leave than Tony Blair!' Barbs is not often wrong and yet again she's right!! And frankly rightly so - personally I'd like to think more people were less happy about me going (in the sense they'd miss me!) than Tony Blair. Anyway, won't dwell on that too much!!



I will be adding some pics of the various 'leaving' dos I had (having probs working out how to upload them at the mo)- from London, Paris, Juan Les Pins, Brighton and Ibiza Town - think a substantial area of Europe knew I was heading off travelling. Any excuse for a piss-up really but to be honest I've left feeling utterly thrilled I have so many gorgeous friends. Naturally I'm missing you all massively but I'm managing to cope now I've settled into the whole travelling 'thang' now I've spent a week or so in Thailand.

I've finally made it here in one piece. Journey was pretty smooth; the stewardesses gave me pitying looks as I wept from London and finally stopped as we flew over Turkey. The weeping was definitely a combination of the heinous hangover (that'll be the whisky shots around 5hrs before I had to get up - thanks Oli, Nat and Eve!!) and the various emotional good-byes I've had over the last couple of days. I actually don't think I have another tear left in my body!!

Once I'd finally stopped sobbing I got chatting to Doug, an oil digger from Canada. Nearly felt like crying again after a two hour conversation about him about his life on an oil rig, his problems with his girlfriend and why every five mins a little black bug appears on the planes tv screen (no I'm not joking).

The flight from Bahrain to Bangkok was much more interesting - this time I was sitting next to Chris. A rather large yank who also worked in the oil business but was married to a Thai. Naturally my mind went into over drive and I quickly had him talking about his life, why he married a Thai, how they get on - the works. It was fascinating esp as I confusing him with quite direct, dare I say confrontational and some might even say judgemental questions mixed with easy 'I'm so open minded ones'. He was confused but spilt the beans anyway!!

Arrived late at night in Koh Phangan and I'm staying at The Sanctuary which is gorgeous.