A Blissful Birthday!

So my time of teaching in Thailand has come to end. I have loved every second of teaching and can't wait to do it again in the future. But for now its on to a new adventure and to start some travelling for more than just a weekend. First stop - Koh Chang.

For five days Jess and I, shortly followed by Hanisha graced the island of Koh Chang which is south east of Bangkok about 6 hours by bus. I think it has to be my favourite island so far. The island is basically like a jungle with a beach surrounding it. It is far less busy and commercialised than the other islands, for example there was no MacDonalds and only a few 7/11 stores!! It was Bliss.

Jess and I arrived in the afternoon on Sunday to the bungalows of the Magic Garden which we had booked before arriving. At a first glance they were adorable little rustic bungalows in a jungle area, however they were not all they seemed. We are pretty good at roughing it in hostels, but we were not sure we could stay there the whole week. Number one, Hanisha was joining us in a couple of days and it was a tight enough squeeze with two of us and our stuff, there was no way we could get a third in the bed comfortably or on the tiny floor space on the air bed. Number two, there were ants, as you know we don't do well with giant ants, but these were tiny so we could bear it for a while, but when there are hundreds falling on you while you shower from the celling in the tiny bathroom we decided it wasn't great. Number three, the noise at night, either loud music or when this had stopped the scurry of rats in the woodwork. Number four, it was my birthday week and I wanted a little bit of luxury!

Jess and I braved it for one night and then found a gorgeous newly opened hostel near by and decided to move there, it even had a swimming pool. If you go to Koh Chang please stay in KLKL Hostel, the staff were lovely and it was clean and bug free.

After settling in to the new hostel it was time to hit the beach and work on our tans, well for Jess to work on hers, we all know I'm just white or red. And yes I started the day white, and despite sitting under an umbrella and wearing factor 50 sun cream I ended the day bright red, I think this photo proves my point. So much pain!!!

That night we decided to go check out the night life and see what Lonely Beach was all about. We'd been given a flyer during the day for a bar that had a free BBQ and cheap drinks. After several buckets, free beer, meeting some great people and a kebab (Well Jess may have had more than one....) the night ended in the two of us climbing over a barbed wire fence to get in to our hostel as the front entrance was closed and we were too drunk to work out where the alternative entrance was. The rest of the week pretty much consisted of this, beach chilling during the day and buckets and dancing during the night. The whole week was great. Hanisha arrived on Tuesday giving us even more reason to go out the next night. 

On Wednesday it was my birthday and the girls spoilt me rotten after opening some gorgeous presents and cards from the them and home, we went to the beach. As the clouds threatened we found a lovely beach side place to have a massage. I had an Aloe Vera one as the sunburn was still painful. We then got our nails done and the girls treated me to dinner! Delicious pesto pasta at an Italian restaurant, one of my all time favourite meals that I've not had since leaving the UK.

   

                  

It was a perfect day, but it was not over. We still had a fantastic evening full of cake, wine, prosecco, free buckets, the macarena on the bar, more free buckets and a kebab to finish off the night. 

                                             

                     

The whole week was awesome, our last night spent on the island was watching a beautiful sunset after another glorious day spent on the beach. It was then time to head back to Bangkok to go our separate ways. Jess and Hanisha headed off to Koh Tao while a few days later I flew to Singapore. It was time to say goodbye to our Canadian Princess as she left for Canada for a cousins wedding by the time I got back from Singapore. Throughout my time travelling out here I have met some amazing people and as you can tell by my blogs Jess joined me in many adventure along the way so will be extremely missed. However I know our paths will cross one day again soon, we both love travelling too much not to bump in to each other at some point!

 With Love from Thailand xxx