Goodbye Thailand. Hello Vietnam. From a country based on dirty tourism to a land that seems so young an innocent. An innocence from an increasingly irrelevant communist regime.

I landed in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in the evening. The city seemed very busy and I have never seen so many scooters in my life. My first daunting experience in this country was trying to cross the road. Unlike in western countries, the vehicles don’t stop and allow pedestrians to cross when they see a green man on the lights. Instead to cross you just walk…right out in front of the thousands of scooters heading towards you, and, hopefully, they go around you. When you are not used to it, its a much more difficult task that it sounds. For my first couple of times I could only manage arm in arm with local girls who have been used to the practice their whole lives. I couldn’t help but laugh at the elderly western ladies, who didn’t have my advantage of locals, who were stuck on their side of the road. But all in all my brief time in the old Saigon was positive and it strikes me as quite a nice city.

I was lucky that during my time in Vietnam I was hosted by locals. This made it a relaxing and enjoyable trip for me as I didn’t need to worry about trying to speak the language or organise transport.

The way Vietnam struck me was very poor, or at least the majority of people are very poor, and the country very underdeveloped, at least when compared with Thailand, but it was also very beautiful. The landscapes were green and picturesque, just like you may have seen in films depicting the Vietnam war. There are some very sad scenes, such as terribly deformed beggars, possibly unfortunate results of the war, and children living in what we might call disgraceful squaller. However there were equally good scenes such as a beautiful green land, and cliché images such as Vietnamese in the round pointy hats harvesting grain.

Our tour took us all around the Mekong Delta, and gave us a glimpse into the lives of the locals who live in and survive off this river. The river is the lifeblood of so many who live on, trade on, fish in, and even bathe in (I hope they don’t drink it too). We saw houses built on stilts  over the river, with a hole in the middle of the house containing a fish farm, providing all the fish the family can eat, and probably excess to trade with.

We saw the markets where vendors and customers are on boats on the river. The vendors with a boat full of a particular produce. I’d never seen anything like it before and looked on with fascination. The fisherman casting their nets. Life here seems so simple, and if this is a good thing or a bad thing the jury is still out.

We saw the cultural diversity of this country, where there is a Muslim minority, and we saw a Muslim village. We also saw a small example of how the communist government of Vietnam uses propaganda even to this day when we visited a war museum. Plaques telling of the terrible atrocities committed by the American and allied troops during the war were surprising to say the least.

But all in all I thought Vietnam is a beautiful country with lovely friendly people, great cities and is a jewel in Asia. I hope one day to return here again as well.

My time in Pattaya is over. What an amazing and eye opening experience it was. I had fun there that I will never forget. But now I set my sights on new horizons. Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and the full moon party.

Our flight out of Pattaya to Koh Samui was interesting to say the least. Sitting next to a Thai man for the journey, he told me how he is a regular on this flight, and how on it he has nearly died 3 times. As someone not 100% comfortable with flying (is anybody?), this did nothing to help me relax. According to him the plane has free-fallen in the sky and nearly collided with other planes, all scenarios that do anything but put my mind at ease.

I have to say that my first impressions of Koh Samui were disappointing. We arrived at our hotel, and it looked no where near as good as the photos of it did on the internet. We went to the beach where our hotel was and it looked even worse. The photos when we booked looked like an amazing beach, a paradise. But when we got there the beach was ugly, not swimmer friendly and had boats tide up in it. The hotel brochure even advertised free beach deck chairs, but when we enquired about there not being any they put a plastic garden chair on the beach for us…thanks!!

But it’s best to get over the gripes and concentrate on having fun. We are staying on the main island of Koh Samui but tomorrow night we head to the nearby island of Koh Phangan for the infamous Full Moon Party. Every full moon party revellers from the corners of the globe descend on this small island to party till the sun comes up. Hardcore drinking, dancing and partying is what we’ve been promised.

We spent our first day, or night I should say, in Samui by checking out the local nightlife. We can see that this night was a precursor to the next night, with all the British, European and Australian tourists already in the party mode. We bar hopped a bit and ended up at the Green Mango, a large and well known club in the main district of Koh Samui. We already started drinking the traditional full moon party drink, a child’s beach bucket filled with a mix of spirit of choice and soft drink or Red Bull. After drinking and dancing the night away I’d embarked on the mission to meet someone of the opposite sex. Lucky the alcohol protects against the hurt of rejection. Finally I met a very pretty young Thai girl who, believe it or not, wasn’t a prostitute. We started getting friendly on the dance floor and then she suggested we leave for another club. Always wary I ignored my better judgement and followed her. Luckily I was safe and we ended the night by an early morning scooter ride back to my hotel, and lets just say the night ended well .

Now is the big night. Full Moon Party!! I am excited and hope the party lives up to the hype. We get to the other island via a speed boat, and the driver definitely had fun jumping the boat off every wave on the way and splashing everyone on board. I couldn’t help laughing at the two Swedish girls at the back of the boat who were done up to the nines, makeup and all, only to look like circus clowns after being splashed with water for the whole journey.

We arrived on Koh Phangan and had a walk to the actual beach of the party. However our walk took us through streets of shops, bars and street vendors which was a good precursor to get into the party mode. When we arrived I have to say I was underwhelmed at the number of party goers. Although there was a lot there, it was nothing like what I had been told. We got our buckets and then explored, seeing the swather of clubs and fire performers. It was an amazing atmosphere, with the warm weather, the ocean, the music, the people, all in an amazing synergy. Buckets became buckets upon buckets and we took to a particular open air beach club and danced and danced for hours. The people everywhere all seemed to be in an amazing state of mind of universal fun, friendship and good times. It was a great experience, especially since people from all over the world were equally unable to communicate, not due to the language barrier, but more due to the loud music. However the universal smile says it all.

My initial disappointment with the crowd was shot out of the water as the night progressed. I couldn’t believe the number of people that had crammed that beach! The night got even more electric as the night went on, with more and more ravers packing the beach to capacity. My memories of the night get more and more hazy the later the night got but I can remember dancing. Lots of dancing. And drinking. Lots of drinking. I remember I had one of the greatest nights of my life. Was it worth it? Definitely!

I remember trying to find our boat back to Koh Samui in the early hours of the morning, and the hundreds of boats and thousands of people, combined with my intoxication making the task very difficult. But eventually our boat was found and we made it back to our hotel for a well deserved rest. But full moon party…I hope to see you again!

My first blog post. My first time away from my home country. What an amazing experience it is to leave for the very first time. For months before my greatly anticipated trip I was dreaming about what a foreign land might be like.

Finally the day arrived and I experienced my first long haul flight. Aside from shitting myself every time there was turbulence, it was an enjoyable experience. I’m sure if I wasn’t flying budget it would have been even more enjoyable with free alcohol.

Thailand! A land like no other. A country once suffering from the poverty that gripped most of post-colonial South East Asia has risen on the back of tourism to new heights. That tourism, however, is heavily based on inexpensive and indiscriminate prostitution. Where else in the world can a middle aged western man on an average income walk hand in hand with a barley legal beauty? But not to discredit the place, all parties seem more than happy with the arrangement.

My holiday to this exotic country first took me to the Thai city of Pattaya. A beautiful seaside city and also the world’s biggest brothel. It is easy to see this city is built on tourism both for the grown man looking for some fun and also for families looking for inexpensive holiday experiences.

My experiences in this city by day took the usual path of cliché holiday experiences. Lookouts, beaches, temples, markets. Amazing gardens that only a country without a minimum wage could maintain, due the the labour intensive effort required for such spectacular, well manicured gardens. An aquarium, animal parks, a mountain with a   giant gold Buddha carved into it. One of the highlights would have to be the elephant show. Elephants riding bicycles, playing soccer, darts, painting pictures. Who would have thought these animals were so trainable?

Then comes the experiences unique to Thailand. Thai massages, which kind of feels like being beaten up by an older sibling rather than the usual massage we get in the west. Still in the massage department are the foot massages, which are heavenly. These woman touch your feet in ways that feels so good its hard to believe they are only touching your feet and not another part of your body. Firing a gun! I had never fired a handgun before, but in Thailand it is relatively cheap and easy to do so. What a thrilling experience that is!!

My first impressions of this country are a very fun place, a playground for adults. A place to enjoy without the usual restrictions on recreation such as high prices and legal red tape. I hope my next couple of weeks in this part of the world take advantage of this and I enjoy it immensely. And I’ll be sure to keep you posted the whole way.