WELCOME to the FUTURE!

Where are the flying cars, I ask? Maybe they don't have flying cars in Thailand. Someone at home should tell me if you have flying cars. Are they solar powered? I imagine they would be, being futuristic cars and all. More importantly, do they have cup holders?

Futuristic musings aside, I hope everyone had a spiflicating New Years! We gave a few lucky people a call around 11pm AEST, so I hope they appreciate our gesture of good will! You were all sloshed though, which was excellent to hear. You made us proud.

We found accommodation just after my previous post at a place called Leela Beach Bungalows, just around the point away from Hat Rin. 900baht a night for yet another shanty, but this one wins hands down. It doesn't have a sink, a toilet lid, or a shower with any discernible water pressure. On the plus side, we're a short 10 minute walk (up a freakin' huge hill) from Hat Rin, and we're right on the bay. Sunsets have been stunning, I gotta say.

We've just been chillin' and lazin' around, waiting for last night. And then New Years Eve was upon us. We kicked off the festivities by watching sunset over the bay and contemplating the year that was. We drank some Moet Chandon minibottles that I've been carrying around since we left Oz, chilled inside the bucket we bought on Ko Tao. We've named the bucket Doug, and he speaks in a British accent, likes to eat Oreos, and is fond of using the word 'chilly willy'. We had a scare two days ago when we were afraid we'd lost him, but he was just hiding. Cheeky sod.

After the champers, we went off for dindins, then chilled in a little bar having cocktails to kill time. It was here we found out about this, but don't worry. We've done some asking around, and if you apply some logical thinking you realise that we're not in any danger. The targets weren't foreigners, so we assume it's a local issue related to Thaksin and the coup. So never fear for our bodies, though you might want to spare a prayer for our livers.

After dinner we made those phone calls, and then went and found some minibuckets to start the party proper. We spotted a MEGABUCKET!! at this point, and at 11.50pm we sent Jono off on a mission to buy one before midnight. We rang in the New Year with a crowd of a billion people crammed onto Hat Rin beach at what was quite possibly the largest rave party I have ever seen. Sadly there was no co-ordination or countdown, so the New Year came...and went. A lot of fireworks though. Drew and I decided to start our own countdown and ring in the New Year Wanglor style...we wanged that beach like it's never been wanged before.

At this point I got rather antsy, keen to get into it. I gave the room key to D and J and dashed off into the crowd to party on, ne'r to be seen again. At least until the next morning.

We leave Ko Tao tomorrow, catching a boat and a bus to Surat Thani on our long trip down into Malaysia. New Years was an excellent experience here in Thailand, and I recommend it for anyone at least once. Though the same club/party music is played the world over, so practice your moves before you come and you'll be fine.

Here's some more notes on Thailand, courtesy of Jono.

• You shouldn't come here if you're very attached to being clean. I pretty much live in filth. Whether it's used dirty toilet paper in a plastic bag in the bathroom for a week, walking through filthy public toilets barefoot (coz you have to take your shoes off indoors), having bugs crawl all over you at night, or wearing dirty underwear for days on end, travelling through Thailand is not a hygienic experience. Come to think of it though, many of the things I just mentioned are a result of us being cheap and lazy. If you're willing to fork out for more upmarket accommodation, you can probably avoid such things. (J and D love the fact we can't flush toilet paper. Honest, they do.)
  
• Thai accommodation can be dodgy. For example, if they say the room comes with a shower or fan or air con, that's exactly what they mean. They're not saying that any of those facilities actually work. A number of times we've had to do stuff like have a sweaty night sleep under a busted air conditioner, or shower while crouching next to the toilet using one of those squirt guns they use to wipe their butts (that's called a bidet, J). In the place we're staying at the moment, Adam had to do some minor plumbing to fix the toilet upon our arrival, haha. (first time we get a flush toilet and I'll be damned if I'm not gonna have it flush when I want it to!)
  
• Thais don't believe in customer service. In some places you get very good professional service, but most of the time, it's hit and miss whether you'll get what you order. (you could order a burger, and end up getting pad thai. I love this country) Also, most of the time, meals don't come out at anywhere near the same time so usually someone ends up waiting after they've finished their meal for the meal of their companion to arrive. Also, you frequently have stuff randomly arrive at your table that you didn't order. For example, you may be sitting there munching on your meal when a bowl of fruit and yoghurt or a can of coke just gets put on your table. Sometimes it turns up on your bill, sometimes it doesn't. It never bothers us coz we're always hungry, and the extra thing that arrives only costs an extra dollar or something anyway, lets face it :)

Wise words from our own miniature hairy Buddha. I'm going to go find some ice cream now. It's one of life's little pleasures in the middle of the tropics!