Royal Crown Hotel Patong

... parasailing & sunset. The parasailing was insane!!!! It was such a production line with people lined up with their harness on & as the parachute would land on the beach in front of me 5 guys would run in & undo that person & shove them aside & grab the next one, buckle them in & off they would go. It would be a 20 second turnaround but the crazy bit was ...

... kicks. Sean is a beginner from Australia..training for 3 weeks with his girlfriend Michelle....really nice "Mates" as the Ozzy's say..but beginners none the less. I was paired with Sean for the morning sparring session. The nervous tension was obvious from the moment he stepped into the ring.. I took it really easy..slow easy jabs..couple of tapping roundhouse kicks and front kicks.. I could see Sean getting more comfortable..knowing he wasn't going ...

... Drove up to the big Buddha and then to Chalon Temple. Went to a monkey show which was entertaining. Lots of contact with monkeys, including a gorgeous baby monkey sucking a dummy. Russ had one climb all over him, and they had one dive into a pond to retrieve a watch. On the way back we had to stop at a jewellery factory so the driver could get a fuel docket, but it was almost not worth the hassling from the sales staff. Final stop was an all-important visit to ...

... Patong. The area was swarming with tourists, and the whole atmosphere was a bit sleazy. The streets were just lined with bars and even a good few "go-go " bars. Hat Karon seemed a bit more peaceful when we got there, but it still felt rather like being on a sun holiday. Lots of package tourists around, but luckily we ran into some fellow backpackers just after we arrived. The 2 lads were from Dublin, and had spent ages scouring the town for budget accommodation. So we just ...

... those that even had blue cheese in their fridge. Somehow in a brief month or 2 he turned me around and sugar was out and red wine and blue cheese were the routine snackettes each night when we got home from the pub. While other guys would get pie and chips for their dinner Graham used to make Woody (other lodger) and I treats like pheasant stuffed with walnut and apricots and other such delights. He loved making it and we loved eating it. So the point is that Graham ...

... place for us to chill out, but in reality it's a tacky tourist beach full of rugby tours, loud but ****** bars and the worst looking lady boys so far, thank god we were on the hill overlooking the beach and not in the centre of town. We definitely won't be back here again as we don't fancy doing Benidorm in Asia, however we did learn Krabi and Phi Phi are a lot nicer and less touristy, so maybe we can try them for a winter break, when we get a job that is !!

... this made the rocking a bit easier, the sea sickness pills were working and prince valium wasnt far behind. I woke up when a little bit of wood (no bigger than a lighter) fell onto me. I brushed it off and thought nothing more of it until the pane of glass from the window fell out and smashed on both of our heads! It was about the size of a sheet of A3 paper and had a wooden frame. All I could think of was...'is Tom ...

... in retrospect but it was working well enough. Thankfully, neither of the roommates were home that afternoon as I sat down and peeled off my boots from my worn feet. I had just leaned back, beginning to relax and trying to forget another meaningless day in my life, when the phone began to ring. It had been no more then five minutes since I had arrived home and I just didn't feel up to the task of talking to the outside world just yet ...