Ko Phangan 1st October

Today is the day after the party . I'm now alone here at ko phangan. Today I slept very long .went to the beach and then again slept very long. Tomorrow I can return to ko tao :) . Here are somne photos of the beach at daytime ( its the same beach where the full moon party was yesterday.

the beach of ko phangan

   

the beach of ko phangan ( same same beach as full moon party beach)

Full Moon Party 30. September

After our arrival in koh tao on the 30th of september we first had to find a hostel for the night. We found a cheap one at mr. j'sbungalows for only 300 bath per night. After that we tried to find a ticket from ko tao to ko phangan, where at the same night the famous full moon party would be. It was easy for us to find a ticket to ko phangan. But we couldnt get a return ticket anywhere. They told us that we would have to buy it from there. But when we arrived at ko phangan we could not get a return ticket anywhere either. After checking all the travel agencies we finally found one return ticket for the next day. We bought that ticket in hope to find a second ticket at some other agency. But unfortunately we couldnt find a second ticket so we had to buy one more ticket for the second of october. Because I had brought some eqipment to the island like a tooth brush, I decided to stay at ko phangan. In the first night I stayed at some hostel at the beach, which was not so nice. But in the second night I stayed at the "phangan hostel" which was very nice and clean and even had air conditioning. This whole story was really annoying because that way we had to pay for both the hostel at ko tao and the hostel at ko phangan. On top of that the ticket for the ship was very expensive, and it would have been cheaper to go to ko phangan and take a hostel there for 2 days in first place. So what I learn from that is: never leave your backpack at another island or book a hotelroom if you dont have a return ticket. I think I'm losing the focus on the fullmoon party. As some people would say it was "pretty intense" . The whole beach was dancing and celebrating until the late night.

the party beach

At this party there were many stalls which tried to sell small buckets with alcoholic drinks ( as shown in the picture).

stalls selling buckets

    At the full moon party we met so many people who we had met somewhere before. A girl who we had met at bangkok. People who we had met in vietnam. And also some people who we had met at chiang mai 2 days before. What sucked a bit is that in this night I stayed at a hostel at the beach which had only a public and ugly shit toilet and shower. The problem about this toilet was that in the night I wanted to go to this toilet, but someone was sleeping there on the ground. Ill never take a toilet with such a public toilet ever again. It was not even possible to lock the door at this bathroom.

some guy sleeping on my toilet ^^

Chiang Mai 28th September

wewwechiangmai 28th september - on friday 28th of september we went on a one day tour which included: the visit of a butterflyfarm, elephant riding, trekking through the jungle to a waterfall, whitewater rafting (it should be called brown water rafting), and bamboo rafting. The whole tour only costed 700 bath. Well the butterfly farm sucked, because the farm was only " 3x3 meters" and there was only one kind if butterfly and there were not many butterflies in there. The elefant riding was amazing, we bought some bananas for 10 baht and then were aloud to feed them and then we rode on them for a while through a pretty landscape. Here are some fotos.

After we had finished the elephant riding, we did a small trekking tour to this waterfall, which was really amazing, because the nature was so beautiful. And also the waterfall was really nice. The rafting and bamboo rafting was nice but short ( compared to the rafting on the pai river).

we had this for lunch. it was good and it was vegetarian :)

Pai 25th/26th September

After only staying for on night at chiang mai in the morning of the 25th we took a bus to pai for 180 bath. we arrived there at about 10 or 11 am .

a street of Pai

On this first day we were walking through, the village and checked all the travel agencies for the different tours they offered. I think pai is a lovely small village, but on the other hand all people who live there work somehow for the tourism by either having a restaurant, a guesthouse or a travel agency. From this point of view pai is not a realistic thai village, its a village for the tourists. It's also sometimes funny to see how many people seem to have the same ideas like: "lets open a steakhouse here in asia" or "lets open a burgerhouse, everyone will love it and we are going to be rich." This leads to the fact that every 3rd restaurant is a burger or steakhouse. So we thought that perhaps in pai they would offer cheaper yours than in chiang mai, because pai is more in the country. But we were wrong. All the tours were way more expensive than in chiang mai. we finally decided to make a one day tour, because we didn't have that much time and didn't want to spend our whole money for a tour which you can have cheaper somewhere else. The tour we did was rafting tour on the pai river which was expensive (1500 bath) but a lot of fun.

26th pai river rafting - On the 26th of september we went on a one day rafting tour on the pai river. It was the first time that I ever went on a rafting tour like that. The distance we made on the river was about 40 km I think, but the whole tour was very relaxed. Because of the natural movement of the river water it didnt cost us much energy. Nevertheless there were many rapids, and it was fun to drive through them. The nature around the river was really beautiful, I made some fotos here although I dont think, that they look as good as the reality.

After our rafting we drove back in this van: you can look out of the back of this van which is why I took some pictures of the road.

 On our way back we stopped somewhere in the mountains at a very small village. A woman of these people sold different kinds of sweet roasted potatoe . She gave some of them to us for free. They were really delicious. I wonder why we cant buy such potatoes at home in germany. To cook with such potatoes would be a lot of fun I guess.

a woman selling sweet potatoes

sweet potatoes

Chiang Mai 24th September

Bangkok 18.-23. September

After our short trip to pattya we arrived in bangkok on 18th of september,in the late evening. We found a relatevely cheap and very comfortable hotel very close to the kaohsan road called "universe inn". They only wanted about 600 bath for a big room with tv, air con, hot water, fresh towels, and free wifi. On the next day we went sightseeing in the city. There we had a look at the monument of democracy, the big buddha, and after that we went to the golden mountain which gave us a great view on the city.

the monument of democracy

the big buddha

on our way i found this playground under a bridge which i thought looked funny

a temple somewhere in bangkok

the  stairs to the golden mountain

bangkok from the golden mountain1

bangkok from the golden mountain 2

bangkok from the golden mountain 3

the top of the golden mountain

we saw this monument on our way back to the kaosan road

near this monument there was a tent and many people who got kind of blessed by this monk. for the blessing they had to wear this golden crown

we also hit a night market on our way back and found a small sushi stall

we ordered this

In the evening we went to a club called route 66 where we met some people who we had met on kohsamed the day before. In this club i especially liked the colors of the lazers as shown in the pictures down below. I could only take a picture of them with my mobile phone camera.  Because we came home at 3 or 4 am the whole next day was destroyed.

lazer beams at the rout 66 club 1

lazer beams at the rout 66 club 2

lazer beams at the rout 66 club 3

On friday 21st we got up early at 8am because we wanted to meet a good friend of me at the grand palace who had arrived the evening before in bangkok. Together we then watched the grand palace and after that splitted up and met again later in the evening at the terminal 21 shopping center near the siam square.

my friend (on the right of me) and his travel mates

palace 1

palace 2

these guys have to carry the building ... at least thats what the guide said

palace 3

palace 4

palace 5

 until we met again we went to watch another temple shortly called wat arun. Which was pretty nice. On our way to the temple we got to know two very friendly girls.

im not sure whether this is the wat arun temple but i think so

the river of bangkok from the top of the temple

china town 1

chinatown 2

The only thing I remember from saturday is that on this day it had rained so strongly that some of the streets were completely under water. Fortunately the water was gone about two hours after the rain stopped.

the kaosan road "under water" 1

the kaosan road "under water"2

we had to walk through this in order to get to the laundry service but it was worth the 20 baht per kilo

 On saturday in the evening we met these two girls again at the so called sky bar. Its a sad thing somehow because I wanted to meet a girl from couch surfing in the same evening but somehow it did not work to meet her.

view from the skybar 2

the sky-"bar"

view from the skybar 2

 On sunday 23rd we were just relaxing a,bit again from the many sightseeing the days before. In the evening we met the two girls again who we had met the day before and had a drink together.

i really enjozed the fruit shakes from this stand - 2 roads parallel of koasan road

my favourite food in bangkok: pad thai - i ate this every day

In the night from sunday to monday (24th) we took a night train from bangkok to chiangmai in a sleeping wagon. This way we could save some money for the hotel and could travel at the same time. Although the bed was a bit to small for me I slept very well. And woke up on the next morning on monday 24th. As I woke up I realized that there were so many dead flies on my bed. And as I looked out of my window I realized why (at least I think this is the reason for it): our train is driving through the deepest jungle all the time. On this journey to chiang mai you can see beautiful landscapes. If you fly with a plane you would never see them. I think the rest of the journey to chiang mai I spent watching the landscape and taking fotos - if possible (if possible means : if there weren't too many trees hiding the landscape)