Where to go next?

Okay, having said goodbye to all my travelbuddies from 2007 it is now time to decide where to go next. Weather used to look good for up north in Chiang Mai, but it turned from "really sunny" to "partly cloudy with rain/thunderstorms" in the past few days. I also checked down south, and most of it seems to be rain all the way - only Krabi/Phi Phi has a really great forecast going for it.... Or should I skip Thailand and simply go to Vietnam, which I missed out on during the last trip? Tough decision! But as always, the old Denis Leary line i like to quote for backpacking is true yet again: "Don't make any fucking plans!"

Back from the South

Okay, I'm back in good old @home Guesthouse in Bangkok after my trip down south. Couldn't make it to Kho Pha Ngan after saying goodbye to the Swedes in Patong and got stuck for a day in Surat Thani (port town for the ferry to Pha Ngan). The rain was so intense I had to come back up north when I had the chance - Not so lucky were the thousands of people stranded on one of the islands down south (Kho Pha Ngan, Samui, Phi Phi etc), because 2-3m waves mean that no ferry will go. Even on the mainland the trains were not going, and quite a few buses were cancelled, too, they also shut down the Airports on Kho Samui and in Phuket, at least for some time, due to the heavy rain. Even 3 crocodiles escaped from the zoo in the floodings that occurred because of the heavy rain, it's really true, even though it sounds like an urban myth! Next up will be a few pictures, I just have to download them from the camera... What sucks is that I broke my eeePC's screen with some really pointy bit on my seat's footrest (laptop was in the bag down there) on the really nice and comfy 24-seat recliner-seat bus that I traveled up here with, so the top left quarter is blind, I'll go to Panthip Plaza today, need to go there anyway and I'll see if I can find someone that can repair it...

Time to move on..

After a few nights of partying, it is time to move on and fly down south to Phuket and Kho Pha Ngan to meet a few people from my 2007 trip who are both leaving soonish: Ted of the swedish posse and Nadine from Germany. Weather is supposed to be super rainy down there, so fingers crossed it changes when I get there!... Weather in Bangkok is really nice, humid, but not too hot and no rain, so let's hope that old Crowded House song actually carries some truth ("Everwhere you go, always take the weather with you..").

On the road again...

Okay, another four weeks backpacking have just started. I just arrived in Bangkok, took the bus to Khaosan Rd and checked in to my favourite okayish place slightly off the Burgerking end, with average rooms & prices, but good food and free WiFi! ;-)

It seems hardly anything changed. I'm already sweating my ass off. You're still not allowed to throw toiletpaper into the toilet, so the plumbing still sucks. ;-) The supercheap 30-Bath vegetarian Pad Thai food stall on Khaosan is even at the same place still, Khaosan is what it always was, the Tribe ladies are still flounting their wooden frogs, only the gimmicks they sell are different - the latest seem to be propeller-like things with LEDs that you shoot into the sky with a slingshot and that come down slowly. Gotta get myself one of these...