All good things come to an end..

And so that was it. I'm done, finished, its all over. I only have one flight left and it comes back to Heathrow. I can already feel the depression snaking its cold fingers on my skin! Why oh why did time have to speed up for me! Not much I can do about it now and to be honest, I'm looking forward to seeing all you guys and having a routine again (what a terrible thing to wish for, but its true).

So I've spent my last few days in Bangkok, doing what shopping I can (I aimed for the ladyboy shops, they have 'big big' size!) and just psyching myself up to be back in my world again. The week I spent in Koh Phangan was lovely. Highly recommended as a get away spot if anyone ever needs one. The part I was in, Haad Salad is the quietest place on earth with a lovely white sand beach that's shallow for about half a mile. All the huts in that area are lovely and reasonable, the food is really nice (though not as cheap as in Bangkok) and you're unlikely to have a giant lizard walk into your room!

My only strenous activity was going to the Full Moon party held on the other side of the island. Now that was something else. They have a full moon, half moon and black moon beach party, any excuse if you ask me, but noone actually looks at the moon anymore.

Think of it as an Ibiza resort (boys and girls out to snog and much more in public), mixed with Ayia Napa crowds ('ollie 'ollie 'ollie...), set on Miami beach (men with semi-buff bodies and tops off included), add some Birmingham Broad St alcoholism (quarter litre of vodka with red bull [the amphetamine kind] and lemonade for less than 3 quid), some Croydon on a friday night youths (jailbait with fake ID), a splash of your cheesy 'I love you long time' Thai people and ladyboys and finally sprinkle on the top all the varieties of drugs you may find at a trance rave in a Liverpool warehouse and you might start to get a picture of the debauchery I witnessed. I have only ever once spent so much time with my mouth hanging open in shock (that was with a particularly seedy student job I shan't elaborate on) and I wouldn't know where to start with the stories.

Unfortunately I didn't take my camera, I felt the security risk (as you can imagine) was rather high, but I think maybe it was a good idea not to put too much of it on record. I had already made up my mind to stay sober and make sure I could remember it all and boy oh boy if that wasn't one of the best ideas I've had this trip! Go if you will, just don't get pissed and become part of the freakshow, its really not pretty!

I've been thinking about the things I won't miss about travelling to help me look forward to going home and I realised that living out of a suitcase and flying are vying for top spot. Its only taken me 21 years of flying to confirm I hate it!! After that would come being stared at like a museum exhibit and mosquito bites, again both equally frustrating as hell. Cybercafes also deserve a mention for being annoying places but after that I start to get picky. Hostel besheets, so called 'breakfasts included' that consist of hard bread and horrid tea, bus rides that take longer than 2 hours and have ice cold air conditioning and insects/lizards. To be honest, none of it would ever stop me from doing this again, its all part of the experience and I'm glad to say I've done it and wouldn't mind if I could carry on!

Oh and finally, I thought you would all be pleased to hear that I was finally forced to put my backpack on my back. Yes, in Thailand you really have to 'backpack' especially if you're planning on island hopping by boat. For me, what I envisioned to hopefully be a short trip off a boat and on to a coach turned into a 15 minute assault course down the longest and most rickety jetty I have ever seen in my whole life. By the end of it I was bent over double and just grateful that I had managed to stop from falling after tripping on stray bits of wood a thousand times. I really was not impressed although its not like you can go around the world with a suitcase on wheels now is it?!