My Birthday in Thailand

My 48th birthday was a revelation for me, and it was one of the greatest for making me realise how fortunate I was to be alive.
Michele and I had been in Thailand for two months, and after starting off in the dirty, disgusting prostitute-driven centre of tourism that is called Pattaya, we had progressively moved ourselves south in search of the real attractive heart of Thailand.
We next stopped at Hua Hin, which is the of the King of Thailand, and a very picturesque place it was too. We stayed for a few days. The beach was very refined and sandy. You could see the style of the very expensive guests that were in the grand hotels along the (very striking) beach front, and the restaurants and entertainment along the beach and in the town were extremely welcoming after the fifth-style facilities we had got used to in Pattaya.
We left our baggage there while we went further south to renew our visas in Malaysia, but to be honest we thought we would be returning to stay in Hua Hin in the end. I don’t even remember who I spoke to, but I think it was a very mature American man at a train station in Malaysia, and he told me about the island of Koh Phangan, beside the tourist spot of Koh Samui. He made it sound so paradise-like, I straight away told Michele that we had to look there first before deciding which was the unsurpassed place to stay for the long haul.
We only stayed in Kuala Lumpa for a few days. We were in a top refinement hotel (paying peanuts) but the whole way of life and the immense difference between the haves and the have-nots didn’t much appeal to us, So we went back to Thailand, and specifically Koh Phangan.
We weren’tlet down. It was stunning. I had spent a few hours on the internet in Malaysia doing some research, and had decided on a place called “Rainbow”, because I liked the photos, the prices were first-rate, and it was run by an Australian bloke with a Thai wife.
We got ourselves a beach hut, and a fortnightlater it was my birthday! We met somepeople that were on long-term holidays at Rainbow, and by the time my birthday came along, we had a little group of acquaintances that wanted to come out with us to have fun.
There was a young American lad called Liam. He was in truth into the spiritual side of Thailand, and was doing massage instruction with a local spiritual guru. Then there was Lasse, a Swedish guitarist, who tried to get to Koh Phangnan every year. Ron was a Canadian that was also not on his first visit, and seemed to be going through a small depression, perhaps because he knew he was going home soon. These three, me and Michele, started on the merriment in the afternoon.
The inn at Rainbow was literally yards from the sea, and I sat there during the day whilst doing my work on the internet. You couldn’t possibly hope for a better view while working in the office. So about four o’clock I put my computer away and we all gathered around the table.
I brought out my bottle of Absolut vodka which Michele had kindly got me as one of my presents, and we had a small toast to my 48 years, joined by the Aussie “landlord”, Martin, and washed it down with a few freezing cocktails. We then all got on our mopeds and went to the main town, where we had got off the ship when we arrived, and found ourselves a trendy seafood bar beside the beach.
The meal went splendidly, and we sorted the world outwhile knocking back a few more beers. I had a pizza as I’m a vegetarian, but the others had been fishing together (including Michele), so shared some big local fish dish.
We were all pleasantly warmed up by then, and I was dying to introduce them to this small saloon I had heard about which was made completely out of driftwood. It was still quite early so we were the only ones in there. It was charming, with shells and fishing nets strewn about the saloon, which was literally made of driftwood! There were fish in pools in the bathroom, and me and Michele sat on fishnets which were made into hammock-like seats.
First we started off with tequila shots, and then each of us had to pick out a shot from the bar before we moved on to the next venue. We were aiming for “saloon street” and our next task was to find a pool table for a few games. We were joined by an English couple that we had been introduced to through a friend in Spain. I won all the games (or they let me triumph because it was my birthday!) until Ron came first-rate in the last game and knocked me off.
By then we grew drunker and drunker, and the inn was shutting at 11pm, so we thought it prudent to get us, and our mopeds, a bit closer to home before indulging too much.
About a mile from the Rainbow it started to rain, and when I say pour I mean RAIN! so we pulled into one of the tourist bars on the side of the road. The girlies were very friendly and we all got beers and chatted to the lovely Thai “excellent-time-girls” as they kept the beers coming..
We told them it was my birthday and the whole bar joined in a chorus of “Happy Birthday” for me, which was nice! One of the girls had taken a liking to Liam, who was fending her off as politely as possible, but when she rolled a enormous joint for us he became much more cosy with her.
Michele and I couldn’t resist a duet of “Singing in the pour” as we dodged in and out of the pouring pour and the puddles, and I knew this wasn’t going to be a birthday I would forget in a hurry!
The night went on, and suddenly it wasn’t my birthday any more (well not in Thailand). The bucket down died down and the saloon looked like they were finishing up for the night, so we saddled back up and made our way back to the Rainbow.

Although the bar was closed (well it was about 3 am.!), we all regrouped around the table again. I got out the rest of the Absolut vodka, and Larrson got his guitar out. He was extremely excellent (okay he was a professional) and most of his repertoire were English songs, so we sang and talked for another couple of hours, with the sound of the waves in the background as the tide came in, which it did early every morning.
slowly but surely Liam and Ron sloped away, and the rest of us didn’t last much longer, but I didn’t want this exceptional night to end, and while Michele went to bed. I lay there listening to the waves and watching the early fishing boats go out, and I was wishing that every birthday could be just like this one!

Article Source: http://www.globetrekkerarticles.com

This article was written by Pat McLachlan and This article first appeared in my justwebsitereviews.com website, and I also have a website called justhomebrewtips.com and a Bingo site called justbingoonline.com

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