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It’s just over a year ago that I hung up my backpack and even though this trip was really just a holiday to a country I’d been three times previous there is something strangely liberating slinging it on my back and going to Sydney airport.
I arrived in Bangkoks new ‘Suvarnahumbi’ Airport which had only been functioning for the previous 6 days in a Capital which itself had just witnessed a military coup two weeks ago. As expected Thailand was functioning normally although the airport was still undergoing some quite significant cosmetic adjustments. I was actually surprised to find the new airport open as Thaksin Shinawatra (PM) had previously staked much of political reputation on the airport being ready after the first opening date elapsed that it should surely it would have added weight to the coup had the airport not been open in time. Thai pride however does not stem their democratic system but their King and whatever western nations may think about the removal of a democratically elected PM his landside elections were only a reflection of available options and not his popularity or very questionable business/political integrity.

Thai Tales

Stucros
2006-11-13 10:59:29

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to catch up not even my 36 sleepless hours could stop us having a good yarn and making it out that night. A night which started in Hadd Rinn and ended in Guys bar (Had Tien our beach).
It’s well know that the ‘The Beach’ was filmed on Koh Phi Phi and that the book was set on an island off of Koh Phanga but it also is becoming increasingly talked about in backpacking circles that Garland was actually writing about an Island he visited in the Philippines(credit to Coby). So it seems Garland was prepared for popular backpacker quest for their holly grail and rather than draw his map leading to his own beach sent us all to Thailand. I suppose Thailand has been suffering from this legacy ever since. I read ‘The Beach’ just before my first trip to Thailand and when I arrived at the Sanctuary all those years ago and experienced its community feel (where everyone is slightly unique and extremely friendly) I thought it was normal. It’s really only now after experiencing another places in Thailand and talking to others that have seen much more of Thailand than I have that I’ve realised it is unique experience (note the film from memory doesn’t really touch on the community and peoples roles and the sanctuary is most definitely not like the film)In our temporary community we were known as ‘the two Stus’- where actually being same same does mean we were a little different from the other thousand of names and stories that backpackers exchange daily. Others included Coby ‘I like it spicy’ Dutch Princess, Laura the ‘mushroom massage’ Yank, Sgt Liz ‘least likely to be in Canadian Army but somehow is?’, Caroline ‘tell it like it like it is’ fellow sinner from Pinner, Sabrina the yoga teacher with a real move how you feel attitude, Kate ‘Surrey Diver extraordinaire’, Sarah ‘I’ll sell you this bungalow Loyd Grossman style’. Kylie ‘Australian Pharmacist turned Canadian Bar manager’, the two Germanswiss girls that both had French names?
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