Khorb Koon Ka Thailand

Khorb Koon Ka = Thank you (for ladies) "Khorb Koon Kap" for the lads.

It took me forever to leave Singapore. Most people visited around 3 or 4 countries in the first 6 weeks, which I would consider the norm. Yet, I was firmly grounded in Singapore.

But then came RECESS WEEK a local student's time off from uni. I stress local student because the exchanges don't seem to care much about the attending university bit. They're all about the travel! Granted, for many of them this year does not count. Many of the French, Canadians and Americans are on a pass/fail experience (a couple of brain cells will get you a pass). Anyways, less of the foreigner hating. Manchester states that our grades out here will count towards our degree. It matters immensely that I don't take this for granted. And so I work harder than I ever have before - all work and no travel makes Charlene a really sad student.

But I digress. Recess Week came and to mark the occasion I joined a couple girls and flew off to Thailand! Phuket to be precise. Whilst in Thailand I went to the Full Moon Party which I blogged about before. 6 nights, 4 islands: 1 week of firsts!

1. It was the first time I've ever slept outside a 7-eleven. (It's a good thing 7-eleven is 24hrs)
2. It was the first time I've ever ferried. (scratch that, my mum says I did when I was a kid, but if you don't remember it, does it really count?)

3. It was the first time I saw the sunrise in South East Asia.. (there was another time when I was awake for sunrise in Singapore, but I couldn't see it clearly enough from my room).. now I'm just scavenging for firsts...

4. It was the first time I've hitched a ride. (With these awesome people!)

5. And it was my first FULL MOON PARTY!!
6. It was the first time I'd rode an elephant and sat on it's head and had a mini-photoshoot like I'm from ANTM.

7. It was also the first time I considered sleeping on the beach instead of a hotel but considering we returned to our bungalow room to find a roach just jamming on the bed, I guess the beach wasn't such a stupid idea after all.
8. It was the first time I went snorkelling.
9. It was the first time I saw a ladyboy.
10. And it was the first time I tallied up 39 bites on my body...ouch!

Those are my 10 firsts. Hopefully my second trip will bring another ten more. :D
 (p.s. If you go to Koh Phi Phi DO NOT stay at Pavillion Bungalows, DO NOT book your hotel room as soon as you come off the pier and DO NOT go for anything just because it's the cheapest and certainly not because the sales guy says it's "different")