I couldnt sleep a few nights ago Do you know why? It was Full Moon Night! So I was over thinking and I recalled the great time I had in Ko Pha Ngan Have you ever been to its infamouse Full Moon Party? I promise it is a lot of fun
What is exactly a Full Moon Party? It is a Beach Party to celebrate the Full Moon! The most famous Full Moon party in the world started and still takes place every month in Thailand, on one of the islands of the Samui archipelago, in the Gulf Coast, Ko Pha Ngan. It is held every month for more than 30 years now, on the Full Moon night.
The Gulf coast of Thailand is worldwide well known for the three tiny, fine islands of the beautiful Samui archipelago: Ko Samui, Ko Tao and Ko Pha Ngan. The best known, and very popular with tourists and backpackers from all over the world, is Ko Samui.
If you know me by now at least a bit, you might have guessed I decided to stay away from Ko Samui: although a beach heaven, and a bigger island with plenty of choices for any taste apparently, the place has recently become too crowded. Its resorts and beach bars are attracting far too many tourists, rivaling Phuket.
By Sergio Scardia – Full Story at The Scruffy Italian Traveler
Note from a reader: The author should have noted that the full moon revelers have so trashed, misused and desecrated Koh Samui, Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao that the government has made them off limits and will arrest anyone who sets foot on any of the islands.
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Japan is an incredible country. Everything is so advanced, done with such careful precision, immaculate attention to detail – and always with a smile.
A visit here will satisfy everything you want from the perfect holiday. The Japanese culture itself is rich with tradition, dating thousands of years and manifests itself in the way the people behave to each other, the many beautiful temples and even in the delicious Japanese food.
PLANNING A TRIP TO JAPAN?
This is our Japan trip blog 10 days itinerary for first timers to discover the best the country has to offer.
We set out 2 options:
Option 1: Japan, Kyoto and the Yaeyama islands (Okinawa)
“As Sayuri was standing beneath the Cherry tree, speaking to the one man she loved but could not have, a sprinkle of delicate pale pink petals fell upon them like snow…”
At this point, Sebastien GRABBED the remote control, interrupting the most beautiful moment of Memoirs of a Geisha to declare: “STEFAN! One day, we too, will become geisha!”
Fast forward a few years and we find ourselves in the unassuming Studio Geisha Cafe in Morishita, suburbia Tokyo, ready for our own Geisha makeover and experience of a lifetime.
“50% of our customers are in fact Japanese (mainly heterosexual) men who simply want to transform into something completely different”. Michiru, a former model/actress, set up the Studio Geisha Cafe with her husband to provide people the chance to live out their dream. She’s used to Japanese men who want to be transformed and we were fortunate to be her first foreign male geisha makeover.
Oh yes, Angkor Wat and the the Cambodian temples – a bucket list favorite and truly outstanding, if you love ruins. From a distance their enormity and grandeur awed and humbled us as we realized what the toil of thousands of workers had produced. But seriously folks, once inside the huge blocks of stone and surrounded by countless depictions of gods, warriors and dancing girls the excess of it all melds together.
To the uninitiated, one interior is like another as they trudge across vast anterooms and then face stairs up to the towers, stairs down to the gardens, stairs up to the gates, stairs down to the pool and stairs up to the main stairs. At every point, the eyes are inundated with imposing statues, elaborate columns and enormous carved panels depicting battles, rituals and kings all with names having six to10 syllables which were reverently intoned by our guide. He had learned it all by rote and happily rattled on (and on) listing everyone’s pedigree and claim to fame.
Also included were minute details regarding the hero’s inevitable companion – usually a lion, three-headed elephant, monkey or bullfrog. Our heads aching and reeling from the mostly incomprehensible verbal deluge, but so grateful for the finale, we gushed our thanks and tipped him hugely before trekking half a mile to our tuk-tuk and hurdling on to the next massive dilapidation whose rooms, towers and corridors duplicated what we just left, including the stairs.
Over the past few years, I’ve been finding it increasingly difficult to take a vacation. You might be thinking ‘Aren’t you always on vacation?’, but the truth is, that no matter where in the world I am, I always find myself working. Writing articles, answering emails, working on freelance projects, pitching ideas, being active on social media, dealing with the technical side of running an online business, and so on. I am always connected, always checking my emails, and a true vacation is rare.
So when I welcomed my first visitor to Thailand and her visit was 100% vacation time for her, I saw this as the perfect opportunity for me to get some R&R, too, instead of working on my laptop until I fall asleep with my head on the keyboard (happens more often than I’d like to admit). The plan was to take some time off together, to splurge on tasty food, take time to relax and to explore together, lay on the beach and enjoy sunset beers.
And Koh Tao turned out to be the perfect place to do exactly that. I’d long wanted to visit Koh Tao, the smallest of the three most popular islands in the Gulf of Thailand. It is less touristy than the other two (Koh Samui and Koh Phangan), known for great snorkeling and diving spots, pristine beaches and a clientele of independent and younger travelers. While Samui largely attracts a resort clientele and Phangan is the backpackers haven with now not only a full moon party but also a half moon party, black moon party and I’m sure several other moons to celebrate, Koh Tao attracts mainly divers as it is known to be home to some of the best diving sites in South East Asia.
What’s it like travelling in Malaysia?
It’s all about the rasa sayang or Feel the Love!
And boy did we have plenty of rasa sayang moments in this awesome country.
Our video highlights start with the wildlife of Borneo, especially the orang utans, proboscis monkeys and pygmy elephants which we saw in the wild near the Kinabatangan River in Sabbah. You can also see orang utans at the Semenggoh Nature Reserve, proboscis monkeys at the Bako National Park – both near Kuching in Sarawak.
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“Why should I spend my tourist dollars in a country that wants to throw me in jail?!”
This was our dilemma before setting off for our big travel adventures in Asia – as a gay couple. If it isn’t illegal (like in Sri Lanka, Singapore, the Maldives, Malaysia, India, Myanmar…), then it’s certainly not truly welcomed (think Indonesia, China or Mongolia).
A few (like Nepal and Vietnam) have taken proactive steps to start to protect their LGBT community instead of criminalising them. And some have gone further to not only protect their LGBT community, but to embrace, support them and in addition, actively promote gay tourism: Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines.
So as a gay traveller, does that mean you shouldn’t visit countries like India or Myanmar? Are you really under any practical danger visiting a country like Malaysia or the Maldives? Should you take that hard line approach and avoid visiting some of the most beautiful areas of our planet just because of some really archaic, backwards laws?
Dreamy and surreal, we drift in a hot air balloon over the fabled Plains of Bagan where, as far as the eye can see, golden temples and stupas jut skyward, and, in the dawn light, we see the molten sun creep above the distant violet-hued mountains. Floating over a cluster of brick pagodas bordering a field, I turn around in the wicker gondola and below us appears the impressive Dhammayangyi Temple where dozens of early risers enthusiastically wave and point cameras at us as we languidly drift past.
Nearing the ruined walls of Old Bagan, a flock of birds flies below, a shifting breeze nudges us onward. To the West, the broad curve of the Irrawaddy River wends down from the mountains of Kachin State on the China border to the Andaman Sea. Before we gently land near a schoolyard between the trees at the river’s edge, I briefly glimpse the white-and-red-trimmed Belmond Orcaella, the five-star riverboat that will soon become home base after having traveled in Burma for ten days on our own.
Two hours later, my traveling companion, Peter, and I board the Belmond Orcaella where we’re offered cool minty drinks and the staff genially welcomes us for our weeklong cruise through Burma–an exotic country seemingly preserved in time. Now that international sanctions have been lifted, tourism is booming; well over two million visitors arrived in 2014, compared to about 800,000 in 2010. Catering to well-heeled and adventurous travelers, the recently launched Belmond Orcaella (Orient-Express re-branded as Belmond), named after an endangered river dolphin, rises up three decks, is 200 feet long and 40 feet wide, with a shallow four-foot draft enabling it to pass unencumbered over shoals in the dry months.
“OMG careful you don’t get caned for being gay over there you two!”
We did of course point out to our concerned friends and family back home that Sharia Law is only in place in one small part of Indonesia in the Northern Aceh province. If the rainbow flag gets out of control in Aceh, you risk being convicted by the Sharia police to 10-150 lashes in public for being gay.
And yes, this now applies to foreigners too!
But we don’t go around waving rainbow flags. Nor do we have any interest in getting publicly canned in Aceh (our caning adventures at the Komodo National Park were more then enough)…
I spent five weeks traveling around Sri Lanka just before the main tourist season started, still enjoying the bargain deals of the low season and seeing prices go up in the high season – this applies mainly to accommodation, however. I am breaking down all of my expenses in the country to give you an idea of what costs to expect when you budget for a trip to Sri Lanka.
Overall, it has been one of the cheapest countries I’ve been to and it is possible to travel the country on $20 – $30 per person a day (on a shoestring), or around $50 per person per day in nicer accommodations. Read on for the full breakdown of food, transportation, sightseeing, accommodation and other costs.