Jason Harley's Corner of the Web

We crossed the border from Cambodia at Trat, and in order to see the Merseyside Derby decided to stay the night in a small guesthouse. English football is so big out here that most Thai people follow at least one of the teams. Our host's sister followed Everton and reluctantly agreed to pose for a picture the morning after Liverpool beat them 2-1! Emma arrived in Bangkok late on the Monday so we traveled all day to meet her at the Airport to all connect with a flight to Chang Mai. Seeing Emma was great and we'd planned a bit of culture, beach and city for her 12 day stay.

Chiang Mai 21st-25th March 2005

We started with Culture and Chiang Mai was once described as the most beautiful city in the world - things have moved on but it still holds charm with most people coming here for the night market, temples and trekking. Unfortunately the first culture we say was that growing on the mattress of the accommodation I'd booked for our late arrival so after a night in the Eagle 2 hostel that can only be described as a dump we moved to a fantastic little place called Janya Guest House with clean rooms and a helpful Mr Tum as owner. Zoe was preparing for a phone interview, so Emma and I headed up to the spectacular Doi Suthep Temple on a hill overlooking the city. Made of gold it shines in the sun as the Buddhist monks ring the bells and people prey at the different Buddha.

The night market is famous and Emma was in her element. Cheap and fake good line the streets and she plunged in handing over the asking price without question! I explained swiftly that the price they suggest 1st is a joke and you should aim for about 1/3 of the starting price - with her new knowledge she soon realised she could buy 3 times more things if she haggled so we soon became so laden with bags of fashion items and things for her primary school kids, a Tuk Tuk was the only way home! Girls will be Girls! I predict a new suitcase purchase for Emma in Bangkok to get all the stuff home.

Zoe organised a cookery course and suggested myself and Emma spent 2 days and a night trekking in the hills. Although only 9km trek, the first day was hard going with the heat and steep hills but we eventually made it to the Karen People and cooled off in the river. The food was really good and a few beers later the very basic beds (10 to a room) didn't seem to matter, however the temperature drops in the hills to below 10C at night so even the dirty mattresses have their use it that cold! The next day, the work was shared between a 1.5 hour elephant track and a bamboo raft down the river squeezing between rock and rapids - we all fell in as we collided with a big rock but it was good fun and made us ready for a bit of luxury at the beach resort.

Koh Samui 25th-30th March 2005

The beach! Emma only has 12 days with us so no holiday for a hard working teacher would be complete without some serious beach time. We flew from Chiang Mai to Koh Samui - one of Thailand's more popular resorts, it has everything you'd expect and a few things you wouldn't. Basically a 3km stretch of beach we based ourselves at the Resotel resort in a bungalow on the beach. It's pure luxury and more expensive than we are used to in our backpacking capacity but well worth it for a few days with a good friend. The beach is perfect and the main drag full of shops and pubs however it is a bit Brits Abroad with theme nights in pub (Elvis is alive!), traditional Lady Boy shows(!) and MacDonalds also line the street - a good place for a family holiday or away with the lads etc but if you were looking for a quiet paradise - this is not it!

We tried to organise some diving but poor visability meant that we were cancelled, however Emma went horse riding and we all managed to get on a jet-ski for an afternoon of fun and hire a 4WD jeep to explore the sites on the island for a day. On our last night we went to the Thai Kick-Boxing stadium to watch 8 matches, although a violent sport, it's good entertainment and the matches were from all levels, boys, women and a regional final. The highlight was a great match between a French guy and a Thai guy - 15 minutes of pure non-stop fighting with the French guy winning on points.

Bangkok 30th March - 3rd April 2005

The City. We arrived in Bangkok to temperatures reaching 37C and booked into the The Tower Inn Hotel (website) with amazing views across the city. Silom Road is a nice area near the red light district of Patpong (which is a major tourist attraction). Zoe had been here before so Emma and myself decided to head off by boat to see the 3 major temples - the beautiful Grand Palace, Wat Arun - a temple made of Porcelain and Wat Pho with it's gigantic gold plated Reclining Buddha some 46 metres long and 15 metres high. For more see The Grand Palace , Wat Arun and Wat Arun respectively. A quick look round these web sites will give you a taste of why so many people fall in love with Thailand and Bangkok. It's like it's straight out of 'The King and I'.

A trip around Jim Thompson's House and Museum filled in one afternoon. Jim Thompson was the man who established the Thai Silk Trade, then went missing without trace (!) and was rumoured to be a CIA agent but the mystery remains unsolved. Excellent food and some shopping made the most of the rest of our time before bidding Emma goodbye for her return to England and us getting a flight down to Phuket.

Phuket 3rd -7th April 2005

Phuket is the scene of the Tsunami that ripped into the coast in this part of Thailand on the 26th December 2004 killing thousands of people. The decision to come here was one we thought long about but we know we made the right one. It's a stunning part of the world with beautiful beaches and islands to explore. Although towns like Koh Lak (30km up the coast) have still not recovered from the damage, places like Patong and Karen Beach have cleaned up and open for business. The problem is tourism is still down by about 40% and a lot of people depend on tourists in this area so every one that comes is helping the economy to recover. In an attempt to get things back to normal asap, the hotels and dive shops are offering special deals and this part of Thailand has some of the best scuba diving in the world.

We just had to come, so booked 5 nights in Central Karon Village Hotel (website) for a bit of luxury. Patong Beach was hit hard by the Tsunami with a huge loss of life and despite the obvious signs of building work the beach road is about 75% back up and running. Patong beach is all the worst bits of Tenerife and Benidorm with all the best bits of Thailand - you can party all night if you want and many do, but also this place is a Mecca for divers and sun worshipers and it has raw charm about it that makes it slightly more appealing than Koh Samui. The shops have pictures and marks on the walls where the Tsunami hit and everyone has a story to tell not least the dive masters and our dive company ScubaCat had pictures of their beach front shop completely destroyed by a lorry going through their building.

Similan Islands 8th -10th April 2005

We went ScubaCat Diver (website) to visit the Similan Islands, 85km north west of Phuket. They are a collection of 9 islands which offer some of the best diving in the world and they didn't let us down. Over 3 days and 2 nights we managed 11 dives - 2 at night and saw some amazing creatures in water with visibility of up to 25 meters. The highlight was meeting 'Scarface' a 2m Moray eel, that was so well fed by the dive boats he's way beyond his natural size. The feeding has stopped now to encourage him to hunt but he'll still come out and play with dive parties.

Koh Lanta 11th - 16th April 2005

It's only April and we've experienced our 4th New Year so far of 2005. This one is called Songkran and involves blessing of water which is then thrown over everyone to celebrate. The locals and Ferangs (tourists) take this to an extreme and it results in 3 days of being soaking wet day and night. We'd booked in to the Sri Lanta Resort (website) which is far too posh to allow anything so trivial to disturb the guests so instead we had the blessing of our water by some well behaved monks - all very agreeable. However venturing out into the town on a moped resulted in the removal of the need for a shower and the cleanest motorbike on the Island.

Obviously, I didn't keep dry enough and an ear infection ruled out any further diving but the local hospital, proved itself to be rather efficient - although the queue for A&E was basically me and a man who'd hurt his foot in the Tsunami. The Pharmacist, no doubt on commission from a local drug firm, decided the requested antibiotics could be replaced with whatever drug was taking up too much space on the shelf but I eventually left with some thing for my pain and deafness (although keeping Zoe on my left hand side allows me not to hear her - a rather unforeseen benefit!)

Taking a leaf (not the ones on the track) from British Rail, Thai transport ceases to exist once the Songkran festival is underway so getting to Koh Lanta was difficult enough - getting away was near impossible. Despite our flights being booked from Phuket, most tourists rely on the good will of the boat company owner to see if he can be bothered to keep the service running and allow you to leave the island. Luckily for us, we found out we could leave a few hours before the boat was due to leave (a decision possibly made in proportion to Thai hangovers after the new year) and we got to Phuket in time for our flight to Bangkok.

Bangkok 16th - 18th April 2005

This is really the start of the end of our journey. We fly out of here on Monday night so planned to spend time here shopping for fake goods and souvenirs that will look crap when we get them home. We headed for Chatuchak Weekend Market, a sprawl of over 15,000 stalls selling household accessories, handicrafts, religious artifacts, art, antiques, live animals (for pets as well as food), books, music, clothes, food, plants and flowers.

Some careful planning was needed as we couldn't possibly see all 15,000 stalls... oh how wrong I am sometimes... Zoe's plan was to see them all and then go back and bargain with the top 7,500. Predictably, she now has a whole new kitchen set, soup spoons, condiment holders, foot spa, cuddly toy, cushion covers, silk elephant heads, frozen flowers, handbags... have I said cuddly toy?... while I resigned myself and my wallet to a few new T-shirts, jeans and some trainers.

THE END 19th April 2005

At 6.50am we'll land in Heathrow Airport, get off the plane, comment to each other how hot it is(!), and then spend a few days going our separate ways. Zoe is off up north to see her family while some fantastic planning by me means my tenants don't move out until the end of May so I'll be living ironically like a traveler, squatting in my mates spare room for a month. I have tickets for the Liverpool game against Portsmouth on Wednesday and again on Saturday when we play Crystal Palace in London - my life is almost back to normal already! I have comedy gigs booked and I'll content myself with searching for employment or playing the PS2 whichever proves more fruitful. Zoe will come back to London and we'll see friends here before popping up north again for visiting of my family and mates.

I hope this web site has provided you, the reader, with some entertainment, maybe a little thought about a few places you may want to see yourself, possibly a little laughter and even a few tears! It's been a pleasure doing it and thanks for all the feedback. For me, the last year has been fantastic, full of hard work and rewards, full of surprises and amazing things. I never knew the world had so much to offer... it's been a wonderful education.

... HOLD ON...

if it's been an education then I must have learnt something...

and if I've learnt something I must have been studying...

that makes me a student...

and what do most students do after finishing learning and before finding a job...

they have a GAP YEAR!!!