The long bus Journey back to Chiang Mai followed by a night bus brought me back to Bangkok. You now you’re back in the capital when the taxi driver first drives you round the block, then tries to charge you twice what the meter clearly reads. My spirits are picked up though when a middle-aged woman on the Skytrain sees the bad mood I'm in and offers me her seat.

After days recuperation in Suk 11 I got the sleeper train to Surrat Tanni. My first train in Thailand and I have to say I'm pretty impressed. A short ferry ride later and I'm being hassled by pickup drivers on Koh Pha-Ngan, a place famous (or infamous) for it’s full moon beach parties. It takes around forty minutes to reach Tong Nai Pan beach over some of the worst I had ever seen. It being a couple of days before Christmas cheap beach bungalows are few and far between so I took the first place I could find at a reasonable price.

Christmas day was surprisingly similar to home, drinking too much and a semi-traditional dinner, thanks to the girls at Bamboo Bungalows. The only thing that was missing was the snow but when you've got sun, sea and sand you can't really complain. The next day one of the guys received a phone-call from a friend back home asking if he’s OK. This is the first that anybody's heard of the earthquake or the devastating tsunami that followed. Two hundred kilometers to the West and we’d have been in real trouble. As it is I sent a reassuring email home confirming that I’m on the unaffected side of the country and am in no danger, not from the weather anyway.

Not going to the full moon party that night didn’t really cross my mind. Someone strangely suggested that it’s what the dead would have wanted. At this point we didn’t realise how bad the situation was. On the truck ride to the infamous Haad Rin beach anticipation was building. Slightly disappointed to find that it is just a big beach party with all the different bars blasting out their own brand of dance music. Things did get a little crazy, you’d expect that thousands of people pissing into the sea all night would put partygoers off that late night swim.

The next couple of weeks were spent in hammocks and at various parties scattered around Tong Nai Pan. The after party scene being Dr. Hotdogs, the slowest fast-food restaurant in Asia. Conveniently situated across the road from the karaoke bar, where you can hear the occasional westerner belt out a classic Thai hit. I realise I’ve spent too much time here when the short stroll down to the beach becomes a bit of a struggle.