A holiday from the vacation

This posting might not be my most coherent; if that's the case, my apologies.  You'll have to understand that a night at a Full Moon Party will leave you... tired.

For those that have never heard of a Full Moon Party, it's developed into a bit of a legend in the backpacker/traveler culture with imitations all over the world.  There's only one original of course and that just happens to be the Island of Phangan where Steph and I have been for the last 3 days.  The island is full of nice beaches and some jungle, but more than that it seems to be jam packed with Brits and Aussies (many fresh out of college or high school).  The party is more than a little ridiculous with one particular beach lined with bars and drunken people from all over the world dancing to rave music and playing with black lights.  I didn't make it as late as I hoped (those booze buckets (and yes I do mean a bucket) are deadly), but the party was still going at 8am apparently.

Our time on the island went pretty quickly and without us doing a whole lot.  The first day we did rent a MoPed and checked out the western half of the island.  It was a lot of fun, once I realized that Steph wasn't going to crash into anything (actually I was more concerned about the other tourists crashing into us!).

Before getting to Ko Phangan Steph and I had made a stop at a really nice jungle national park called Khao Sok.  We only spent one night there, but it would be a great place to check out more.  We took a canoe trip down the river as soon as we arrived.  I think Steph enjoyed it more than I, as the jungle is a little less of a novelty to me now.  Seeing some snakes and frogs was new though.  As was nearly flipping the boat!

Khao Sok was basically just a way to break up our travels from Phuket to the big party.  Phuket was nice enough, with some beaches and we also did a tour out into the bay which is filled with limestone islands.  The islands were very beautiful, but after El Nido I just wasn't as impressed.  The water wasn't nearly as nice, but the limestone was a little different and just as stunning.

Probably my biggest complaint with the tour and really all of Thailand has been how touristy it is.  There are more bule than locals it seems.  To be frank, I haven't really cared for Thailand.  Granted we have only visited the tourist locations, but the vibe here just doesn't fit my style any more.  A big part of this is my dealing with coming out of Indo.  Just lately I've been realizing how special of an adventure I have been undertaking, but a 'downside' is that now I like to travel 'on the beaten path'.  I actually feel out of place and more than a little awkward being in a big tourist location.  It's a really catch-22, but I'm a tourist that doesn't want to be a tourist.  Like I said, I think this is at least partially about my reverse culture shock, but so far Thailand has not been by favorite.  It certainly is a very nice place, but I think it's better for someone who doesn't want to explore as much or is new to the travel bug.  My assessment of the bay tour we did pretty well fits my whole opinion of Thailand: it's beautiful and I like it, but I feel like I'm 30 years late.

Oh well poor me right!  What problems I have to deal with!