Our crazy New Years, at a festival on the island of Koh Tao

Ok, so the start off the craziest new years we have ever had it began with a 6 hour bus journey from Khon Kaen to Bangkok. This set us back only 420 baht ( €10.50) for a VIP air con bus with reclining massage chairs and food given to you every 2 hours, it had a touch screen on the back of the chair in front with all the games and movies you would get on a long haul flight , the company is Nakcorn Chai Air and we were advised it's the safest one to go by as the drivers are fined if they arrive to early, as it shows they were speeding. We arrived in Bangkok and had to wait 12 more hours for our next bus which we had to get from Bangkok to Chumpon, then a ferry from Chumpon for 2 hours to our destination on the Island of Koh Tao. We booked into a hostel as we arrived in Bangkok at 1 am. This worked out well as we stayed on Koh San road, it was weird to see that many foreigners in one place, as in Khon Kaen you see a new Falang maybe once a week, in Koh San it was nothing but Falangs. But we did find an Irish restaurant which had full Irish breakfast with pudding and the sun newspaper - be it a week old. The fry was amazing and set us up for the day. We got a taxi to the bus station and the bus to the ferry. This is where the journey took a nasty turn. We arrived at the ferry to find 100's of people waiting to get across, we had paid for the bus and fairy totaling 8 hours with a 2 hour wait in between at 5am, but alot of others had just turned up hoping to get a ticket to find them all sold out. It was new years weekend after all.

Then the Ferry arrived. We had noticed the water was a bit choppy and the catamaran held about 500 people, of that 500 I'd say at least 200 were violently sick due to the non stop bouncing of this huge boat over massive waves big enough to splash onto the top deck where we were sitting. A young Thai guy was handing out black sick bags and there was Thai girls praying at the bottom of the steps. As most of the people on board were heading to the festival a lot of them were already drinking and in the party mood and somehow all the drinkers, bar one, was absolutely fine... so forget sea sickness tablets, just get tanked before taking a boat ride. Hangovers not advised.

We had met two friends in Bangkok who had put us onto the festival we were off to and were travelling with us, one of them went downstairs on the boat to get a more comfortable seat but staring at the horizon is suppose to suppress sea sickness so we stayed up top, while down there he witnessed a true pioneer of a man who had a Chang beer in one hand and a sick bag in the other who was taken turns sipping and em.. well you know in concession. This guy was not going to let a few waves stop the start of his new years partying. :)

 First thing we did on arrival was head up to the camp site to set up our two person tent ( which we had brought with us after buying it from Tesco for 300 baht ( €7). We had purchased the tickets at the entrance but we'll give you a quick over view of the festival. Its called the experience festival and its a trance/dance music festival, costing 2500 baht (€55) for 6 days of camping and 4 nights 5 days of non stop festival music that's on an island. Not bad deal.
The island of only maybe 1300 people living there had to put up with it but we were at the peak of the mountain in the middle of the island. There was free shuttle bus taxis which later turned out to be just 4x4 jeeps that you would sit in the back, to climb the 60 degree hills for about 5 minutes up to the festival grounds. They had over 50 Dj's who would play the 4 day festival non stop.. yep non stop for the whole time and DJ s from all around the world.

The camp site was only a few minute walk from the chill out stage and a bit further from the main stage so people would party the whole time in the festival and also in the camp site, which made trying to sleep some times intolerable as our tent would have 6 drunk french travelers stumbling close to our tent and even falling into it the odd time.We had a word and they were happy to move away. We even ended up dinking with them the following night.
The forrest got packed out with tents and hammocks as some backpackers had only brought clothes, money and a hammock which they could set up on all the trees as it was warm enough at night to sleep under the stars. There was plenty of spaces between tents were we would sit and play music and having a drink before heading into the festival made for a good way to meet some amazing people from around the world as they would just join us for a beer. Half the festival goers would be going to bed at 5/6 am or they would be getting up to party during the day with the amazing surrounding views of the forrest and ocean, but we found it was to hot to drink and dance during the day. I've had sun stroke before and I'm not a fan.

So the great thing is you could leave the festival anytime so during the day we would head to the beach for some swimming, relaxing and some cocktails :). The beach was beautiful and being an island,  it's surrounded by them, so we found a lot of smaller secluded beaches to hang out during the day with other festival goers who needed a break from the non stop partying.

When we first arrived, we checked out the dance floor as we had one night before the mayhem would start, some of the backpackers in our group decided to do some yoga on top of the mountain over looking the forrest and we joined in. I was in agony the next day from not having done stretches like this before and if you haven't tried yoga.. Its bloody tough and requires you to be very flexible and bendy,which I found out I wasn't. Kristine had it down though.

On new years night, we were sitting on a mat on the sand covered dance floor at the Chill out stage . It was really laid back dance music from around the world and we spent the night cheersing a guy from Zimbabwe and a guy from Bahrain as well as some other random nations. All 3 of us had never met any one from either country before so it was an amazing experience.

Most people stayed up for the sunset of the new years and shortly after then we made our way back to the tent. The place was very well set up and they had good shower facilities and toilets which where cleaned regularly. The place was covered in UV lights and they had amazing art work set up all around the site that came up pretty bright on the camera but it all looked amazing using the black lights to illuminate them..
They had a 3 bar set up and even a small area of stalls selling the usual festival foods from fruit shakes to burgers and chips and Thai food stalls of course and a coktail bar but it was a bit more pricey. Throughout the day and nights the place was full of performers with LED hoops, juggling acts, poi performers and people doing acrobatic yoga which is crazy to see. Everyone we met was very nice and there was no trouble at all.nothing like the Full moon party which can be too crowded at times.

This is the 6th year its been held there and they had police sitting at the entrance but this was all for show as they had been paid off  and only there for any big trouble but it was a great atmosphere and they never had to lift a finger all week. Most times we would be going back to the camp site they would be sitting drinking beer and listening to the music. I cheersed them every time and they would smile back and raise their beers.
They had a chill out stage playing much lighter music which had a dance floor made of sand and at night it would be full of mats so we could grab some beers chill out while meeting other backpackers on the top of a mountain and stare at the amazing night sky of stars. This is were we would get chatting with people who had come their from all around the world for new years at this festival were as the main stage was more for dancing but also had some hammocks set up around the outside for flaking.

 We spent the last day on the beach and got together for a Sunday roast in one of the bars which still had their Xmas decorations up so it was kind of a christmas dinner but still doesn't compare to the one back home (That's for you mam ☺). The beaches all had adjacent restaurants serving western food so we got our last few meals in before going back to a Thai diet in Khon Kaen which we started missing near the end.

 We took the same journey back which I can tell you from the camp site involved : A 4x4 back of the truck taxi down to the pier then a 2 hour ferry to Chumpon followed by a 2 hour wait then a bus ride for 6 hours to Bangkok with another 4 hour wait and finally 6 hour bus back to Khon Kaen arriving at 7 am and feeling like we needed another holiday to get over that one.

Happy days ,Kristine got all her paper work sorted for her working permit meaning she wont have to do border trips for a year so we have to make a trip to Laos in the New Year to come back across the border for me and a trip tot he embassy there for her.. so we will turn it into a small holiday for the two of us to relax and have some of Vientiane's famous French.,Indian and Turkish food.

Christmas in Thailand & Kristine's Xmas play

So in the few days leading up to Christmas, Kristine was getting nervous as she had just been informed that in 1 week she would be organizing the kids, with her fellow teachers in a school Christmas play in front of all the teachers and parents. Oh and also starring in it as Mrs Claus, being the only female teacher.

I'm guessing if she hadn't had started working there it would have been more of a Christmas meets rocky horror, with one of the male teachers playing the roll. :-) So she asked and it was allowed that I (Stephen) could come down to watch the show and I was so glad I did. It was really well put together and I got to go back stage to see the magic. I say magic, more like 30 screaming kids dressed as elves and reindeer running in circles screaming, as the teachers tried to get them into costume.

I must admit it felt weird being there to record and support Kristine in her fist school play. Felt like a proud parent taking all the snaps :) But all the kids were well behaved when it came to starting the show and the back room was filled with proud parents as their children had been chosen to be in the show. Well, some of them demanded it, and you have to keep the parents happy.

The story of the play was that all the kids were in bed waiting for Santa, who arrived with his elves, so they could make the presents (seemed like he had all year to make them but who am I to judge), but then mean old Jack Frost comes along with his evil elves and steals the presents and kidnaps Santa.

This is were Kristine comes in she ran out on stage to wake Santa and later she had to pretend to call Frosty the Snowman to come and save Christmas. There was then an epic battle between Jack Frost and Frosty the Snowman, accompanied by batman sound bites of "Whack..., Kapow..., Pop..." and other Looney Toon's noises. "She wasn't too happy about me putting videos up but she is asleep now so moo hoo haha :) So check them out.

So then the good guys prevailed and Christmas was saved. I have a few videos of Kristine in action and the epic battle between the other teachers seen in the videos here :) First video - Kristine's Xmas show
Second video - Kristine's Xmas play and Third video - Kristine's Xmas show . ( Just click the links to watch the video) The kids all loved it when Santa and Mrs. Claus went into the crowd handing out sweets and I have to say Kristine's acting was amazing, for some one standing in front of 1000 parents and kids doing a kindergarten Christmas play, I would have been very nervous as all the parents pay a lot of money to send their kids to this school as its seen as one the best in Khon Kaen.

 My phone memory died for most of her speaking parts so I was a bit gutted but managed to delete a few pictures to get the videos .
 Also with the families of the school being a well off , Kristine has been given a number of expensive gifts from the parents of her students, which is surprising as Christmas is not celebrated here but it is everywhere in the shops and streets. She had one student break her heart, a girl who had lived in Canada for the past few years so had gotten presents from santa and was accustomed to the whole idea, said to Kristine " Teacher, I wrote a letter to Santa Claus last year, how come he never came" this girl is 5 by the way :(

Then came our turn for Christmas as we were not feeling very christmassy and we're missing home a bit, but we came down to Supan's on Christmas Eve and Rainny had decorated the place and we even helped paint a sign on the front of Supan's house using her logo on a white wall which wasn't being used. While enjoying a few beers in the sun, Gagan and Kristine did most the work and I joined in after my class to help out. I said in the new year I'm going to definitely paint more as canvas here is quite cheep and the same with supplies as there is a fine arts course in Khon kaen university.

That night we made a list of all our favourite x-mas movies, from Bad Santa to Gremlins (yes, it's a Christmas movie as well as Die Hard) and we set the projector up inside. Dylan and Rainny made hot peppermint chocolate cocktails which started to bring the x-mas feelings back while watching.Rainny also dressed as Santa Claus and surprised us all with presents which blew us away from herself and Dylan. We were not expecting it but it made the night so much better.

We got a new toaster oven as we had mentioned we missed being able to have cheesy toast at home :-)
On Christmas day we wanted to return the favour and Supan's was hosting a food buffet and cocktail buffet where you pay 12 euro yep €12 euro for all you can eat and drink for 4 hours... so we went and bought 5 litres of red wine and wrapped it and when we gave it to them Kristine, as an addition to the present, said she would make mulled wine, which if you haven't had before, is heated wine with oranges, brown, sugar, cinnamon and cloves and tastes of Christmas.

We said they could sell it or keep it and once all the Thais arrived and tried it, they added it to the menu as people seemed to love it, especially as at night it had gotten nippy for us and when we say nippy we mean we were very cold and that was at 18 degrees.. it was so weird going from getting use to wearing a suit in 35 degree and 28 at night to 21 during the day and 18 at night.
I know people at home will laugh at that but our bodies have acclimatized enough were it was gloves and jacket time at night and still shivering. We had an awesome Thai style Christmas and hung out with some of the locals watching them try their first "on fire" absinthe from the bar. 
I was shown up by one Thai girl who had learned Irish dancing in Japan and advised me of my mistakes when I tried making it up on the spot. I figured its just keep your upper body straight and flail your legs around like your standing bare foot on hot coal.
They all had a good night and said they would start coming back to the bar to hang out more often.
There is also a veterinarian course in the university so they have some (unusual for Thailand) animals in big fields around the complex and they happened to  have couple of reindeer just to bring Christmas to Thailand.

With Christmas over we were packing our bags to head on a 24hr bus and ferry journey from Khon Kaen to the island of Koh Tao for a new years experience of camping on the side of a mountain at a 4 day non stop festival that has 2 stages and we would be camping in the forest beside it and hitting the beach during the day. Koh Tao has some of the most famous places for diving and beaches so we will have the story in the next blog

Holi colour party & the Issan Reggae festival.

We haven't had much time to post many blogs as we have been preparing and booking a trip away for ourselves for new years as a christmas present, rather than buying stuff we don't need. so ill be posting a few blogs over the next week of our trip but here is what we got up prior to new year.

Dec 18-22th
So over the last two weeks there has been some big party's in Khon Kaen, firstly the Holi colour party that Rainny held in Supan's House just off the Khon Kaen University. This was a first for us and something we've always wanted to try 1^st hand. If your not familiar with it it's a festival which originated in India and it is known as the festival of colours or the festival of love. It is an ancient Hindu religious festival which has become popular with non Hindu's in many parts of south Asia. 
The actual festival starts with a big bonfire the night before, where people gather to sing and dance the night away and the next morning is were it gets messy. Its basically an excuse to act like a kid again and not get in trouble :) You were handed a bag of various colours as we entered the bar and spent the next few hours dancing while covering each other in powdered paint. The whole bar looked like a rainbow had exploded. People came from a lot of the neighbouring regions just for this party, as the last time she held it, it was a huge success.

We got to meet alot more teachers and share stories of experiences so far. We had a lot of fun throwing paint powder at each other as I'm sure you can tell from the pictures. 
We have mentioned that we have met some very talented people while travelling and got to see some of them preform on the night with a few of the girls doing fire hooping while we danced til the early hours and I got to try out the light capture feature on the phone Kristine got me for my birthday which made the dancers look like they were engulfed in flames. 
  
Every one raved the next day of how good the night was and how hard it was to wash the paint out of your hair. 6 washes done and I still have multi-coloured hair but totally worth it.

Over the following week I got some good news from one of my part time jobs, that they had taken on more students meaning more classes for me bringing me up to 10 classes a week and because I've already been making lessons for my previous classes I have 10 strong, fun lessons in my arsenal, so no need to stress about lesson planning for a while. So 10 hours work a week and if I get it up to 16 I'm making the same as a full time job here working 40 hours which sounds pretty good as the other school has mentioned more classes coming up and one is at least a 6 month contract with guaranteed work.

That weekend the there was a big reggae festival being held in Khon Kaen and we had been introduced to some of the acts as they had played a mini gig in Supans house the night before the big gig. They asked Anthony up to do some acoustic songs with his guitar and he killed it as usual, he is planning on recording in the new year so will have an album out for us to share in the near future. The MC for the gig was a woman named Sista Apsara was preforming in Supans and she hung out with us for the night having a few drinks and telling us of travelling around Thailand preforming and how much she enjoys it. 

We got to meet some really nice guys and the next night we headed in to the grounds to find a a huge Chang bottle of beer at the entrance as they were sponsoring the event. 
The entrance also had some old done up cars and VW hippy vans.
They had a number of acts on playing Bob Marley covers and rock songs as well as some big reggae bands from around the world.

 Walking around the crowd was fire breathers and entertainers and the whole atmosphere was very friendly as groups of Thais would join us for a sing a long or a dance.

Our friend Gagan had brought her hoops with her and was asked to go on stage for a performance between bands and had 100's of people cheering her as she hoooped. 
There was one Thai guy who had clearly had more drink then rest of the festival combined who felt he needed to hug us all continuously for longer than any hug should go on for. we got one pic with him and Kristine but he spent most of the night trying to hug the entire crowd one by one. 

Now I say hug but that employs an embrace usually around the top half of the body, were as this dude's method was more of a grind on your leg and hump you hugger. After an hour of this his girlfriend came over and started hitting him with a rolled up magazine and dragged him away into the night which gave us a good laugh.