Thailand!

So I'm in Thailand having what by my standards is considered to be a quiet and relaxing holiday. I wasn't going to write a blog, but then since Im traveling alone and some somewhat interesting stuff has happened, I thought
I might write a bit. I'm about to head home, and have had an amazing time.

Some things:

- I flew business class (points - it was free). It was awesome. I don't remember the last time I've eaten so much. The combination of 2 flights, and two airport lounges added up to 5 full meals. And my drink of choice for the day was champagne. Just unlimited champagne, all day. 

- When i got to Bangkok airport I had to check in for a flight to koh samui (slumming it in economy). At the Bangkok Airways check in counter next to me, almost every single person in line had big flat screen tvs. Some people had 4 or 5 tvs, and some had just 1 or 2. The flight was going to Mumbai...it must be cheaper to get a budget flight to Thailand and buy TVs than to buy them there. Surprisingly.

- there are a shocking number of American college students on the islands, seemingly convinced that they are reliving the hangover 2.  "Dude, I didn't even tell my mom I was coming to Thailand to party - I called her from Singapore just to let her know" 

"Dude, that's totally intense. If I was home right now, I'd be in class. How cool is this? We are skipping class to go to Thailand" 

"Dude, this is crazy"

 (actual conversation overheard).

- you can't buy alcohol in the shops here between 1pm and 5pm. It's the law, but no one knows why.  8am, no problem, 4pm, no dice. 

- The Thais make the worlds best pancakes. Banana with condensed milk is where it is at. On that note, Thai tea is also amazing, especially cold with condensed milk. Actually, maybe its not the thai food, maybe I just really like condensed milk....

- Wine here is usually goon. A nice restaurant may have a "wine list" which will include goon (under the disguise of "house wine") and a selection of very cheap, mass produced Chilean wines. 

- I've been adventurous and tried a few foods that I had to google after ordering, including "morning glory" and "no name". I got lucky on both counts. Morning glory is a green; water spinach I believe. And No Name is a fried ball of mixed veggies, which used to be peasant food when they mixed together any veggies they had available. The dish was never given a name.

- Thailand is one of those countries where you can't throw toilet paper in the toilet. This drives me crazy - I find it so gross disposing of used toilet paper in a trash can next to the toilet. Especially in public toilets. Yuck.

- I spent 3 days trekking, staying 2 nights at homestays in the Akha and Lahu villages. It was quite the experience. The way these people live is intense; it's a bit of a strange mix of tradition, poverty and more modern technology. For example, some places in the villages have a TV (25" box style), where people gathered to watch and socialize. However, some other houses don't even have electricity. Likewise, all villagers know their traditional dances and have nicely kept traditional outfits, however most people wear second (or third) hand Nike shirts and board shorts. The showers and toilet facilities were awfully primitive. One night my shower was a hose hanging from the ceiling. The next, just a tap with a bucket. For me, it's an experience, but for these people it's reality. We are lucky. 

- Koh Tao has the best looked after stray animals i have ever seen. I asked one of the girls at the dive shop who said that each shop kind of adopts 3 or 4 dogs and a few cats and will feed them and make sure they are healthy and such. Sometimes some people will even take one of the dogs home as a pet. Also, there is a vet on the island who takes on volunteers and they go out and spay/neuter every animal they can find. They also go out vaccinating them all against rabies. I thought that was a nice change to how strays are usually treated.

- while at the hill tribe museum in Chiang Rai, I learnt that Heroin was given its name by the pharmaceutical company Bayer and was originally sold as a pain killer. There was an advertisement on display advertising Heroin along with Aspirin. Opium is not as prevalent in the hilltribe a as it used to be - the government has come in and wiped out many of the opium plants. To compensate, fruits and vegetables were planted and the farmers don't have to pay rent to have a stall at the chaing rai markets.

-  May and June are apparently low season (it's summer so very hot and in some places rainy). The benefit was that everything was "low season" rates and therefore cheap. Also, I didn't have to make any advanced bookings. The negative was that it was pretty quite in some of the hostels (especially in places a little more off the beaten path) and so it was harder to meet people.

-On Koh Phangan (home to the full moon party), there is literally a huge party at least 15 days a month. Other than the full moon party, there are 2 half moon parties, a new moon party, a fortnightly pool party, a fortnightly jungle party, a fortnightly waterfall party and a party for every other holiday or event. They are all overrated. 

That's it. Time to head home.