Happy 5th Birthday To Me!
22nd March 2001
Well, as you may or may not know, yesterday was my birthday. Now, according to my date of birth, I should have been 19... but I felt like I'd just turned 5 instead.
Rather than hang around on the Perhentian Island any longer, I decided to go to Kota Bharu on the 20th and then come to Krabi in Thailand on my birthday, yesterday. Well, it didn't quite go to plan!
Woke up nice and early as I have been doing pretty consistently here actually. Got out of bed at around 7:30 - about half an hour into my official birthday time, if you consider the time difference. Got the bus to the border fine, and was in Thailand by midday. On the Thai side of the border, I had to walk about 1km to a place where I could get a bus to Krabi. Only there wasn't a bus that went to Krabi - instead I'd have to get one bus, and then another after that. Sounded alright - so that's exactly what I did/planned to do.
I expected that Malaysia would be very similar to Thailand, but I was wrong. In Malaysia, everything is written in Malay and in English, so I know where I am and where I'm going. Also, lots of Malays speak good English so you can ask them for directions etc. Well, on arriving in Thailand I felt like a little child - I couldn't understand anything and the border crossing I took isn't a very well-trodden one, and so the people there don't need to speak much English. Well, I managed to get on a minibus, and on it I made a friend who could speak a little English. He told me that he'd show me where to go to get the next bus after that one.
Three hours later, we both got off the bus and I followed him to another bus and jumped on it. I made sure it was going to Krabi - although no-one really understood me, including the bloke I was with there. Well, I sensed I wasn't going to Krabi, and I figured correctly that the 'friend' was simply some bastard who wanted me to give him money for helping me get to where I wanted to go... and not only that, but the bus was going to Nakhon Si Thammarat rather than Krabi. F'ing bloody marvellous. My 'friend' said to me 'you give me 200, I need rice' and I pretty much told him to go jump off a cliff/get of the bus and piss off. This he did, and I was left at sunset on a bus full of people who didn't speak a word of English, going to the wrong place... on my birthday. Whooppee-do!
Then it was time for my birthday party - a game of Pictionary with two people on the bus. Now, when I say a game, what I mean is that I was trying to figure out: where the bus was going; when it would get there; what I could do when I got there. My artistic skills saw me drawing a bus with a stick-man getting out and then a clock next to the bus. Blatantly this means 'when do I get off this damn bus' but no-one could fathom it. After a bit of sharades still to no avail, I finally got off the bus at about 8pm in the middle of nowhere.
I did actually have some fun on my bithday - a ride on a motorbike. A motorbike was there when I got off the bus, and I figured I was supposed to get on this bike and it would take me to a magical paradise beach somewhere. Well, it did take me to a mystical land/expensive hotel, and at least when I got to the hotel I could speak to the receptionist in English to find out what to do. Clearly I didn't want to pay 20 quid for one night. I want budge accommodation, and thankfully the nice lady could tell me where to go for that. Whilst there, someone walked into the hotel and she told me it was some famous movie star. Eat your heart out NG.
Of course to get to the budget accommodation wasn't simply a matter of crossing the road. I did indeed have to cross the road though, so that I could get a mini-bus/thingy down the road. Miraculously, an hour later I was in a hotel room which was only costing me about 3 pounds a night. With a craving to email people on my birthday, I went around town to find an Internet Cafe. An hour later, it was pissing it down and I still hadn't found a cafe. Oh, and I'd forgotten the name of my hotel as well, so there I was wandering around with a useless map in my pocket for about another hour.
I did however manage to find my way back to the hotel, where I celebrated my birthday in style by watching the news on TV whilst drinking a Fanta.
Other stuff...
2009-09-29: Emerald Acupuncture, Cambridge2008-12-16: My yearbook company
2008-10-24: Benjamin Luke Flash Gordon
2006-06-07: Mr & Mrs Jake Gordon
2006-05-08: AllYearbooks.co.uk Relaunches!
2006-04-11: Building Collapse!
2006-04-03: Getting Married
2006-01-19: Estate Angels & Drupal
2005-09-10: Hard Drive Fried
2004-12-23: US Election Ohio Recount
2004-11-19: GlobalPublicMedia.com
2004-11-03: Peak Oil Dissertation
2004-07-15: Internet Explorer vs. Mozilla Firefox: Google Zeitgeist
2004-07-13: Fahrenheit 9/11 - good, but nothing new
2004-07-10: Fahrenheight 9/11
2004-07-03: Using the Disability Discriminatin Act (UK) to force companies to provide e-books
2004-06-20: Slashdotted
2004-06-08: Mr Jake BA
2004-06-05: JakeG Limited & Degree Results
2004-05-13: Yearbook Production
2004-04-25: No Jobs & No Oil: the unsustainability of full employment and cheap energy
2004-03-14: My Own Radio Station - For Free
2004-02-24: More on Peak Oil
2004-02-24: BBC License Fee Debate on Century FM
2004-02-24: New Blog!
2004-02-23: P2P Internet TV
2004-02-18: More Bleak Predictions
2004-02-11: Jobless Figures
2004-02-05: Ski Photos Online
2004-01-27: Ski Champ!!!
2004-01-18: Interesting copyright law with tape recordings
2004-01-12: Twisted economic values
2004-01-11: As I suspected - never trust unemployment figures
2004-01-08: Sociology essay: Internet and freedom
2003-12-19: Dissertation Plan
2003-12-07: Trampolining
2003-10-16: Sociology Essays
2003-10-12: Exploring Snowdonia
2003-10-10: Wireless Networking
2003-10-07: Disabling Education System
2003-09-19: Wealth Concentration & Technological Freedom
2003-08-31: Travel Photos
2003-08-27: Boy I'm glad to be back home
2003-08-24: The Real Mexico
2003-08-24: Argh... Airport, Travel Agency... Argh!!!
2003-08-24: Cigar Smuggling
2003-08-24: Marcela in Monterrey
2003-08-24: Cuban Brawl
2003-08-24: Socialism, The Cuban Way
2003-08-22: Cuban Prostitutes
2003-08-17: I do like to change my mind...
2003-08-16: Hammock Havan
2003-08-15: Capital Village and Belizean Quirkiness
2003-08-13: Robinson Crusoe
2003-08-11: Coke snorting policeman
2003-08-10: Dreams
2003-08-08: Are you okay? My name's Jake, I'm a rescue diver, may I help you?
2003-08-01: Industrial Action
2003-07-29: Honduras
2003-07-28: Almost Dead
2003-07-25: School's out for summer!!!
2003-07-21: Yo Hablo Espanol
2003-07-20: Twin Peaks
2003-07-16: 'First Class' Chickens
2003-07-16: Opa
2003-07-16: Waterfalls And Even More Ruins
2003-07-12: Jungle Ruins
2003-07-11: Pain In The Arse
2003-07-09: Guatemala and a Cunning Plan
2003-07-08: Hammock Haven
2003-07-04: Travelling Budderinos
2003-07-03: Cuban Cigars and Beached Turtles
2003-07-01: Rambo
2003-06-29: Go West!
2003-06-27: Pyramid Funkiness
2003-06-26: Hola! Je suis en Mexico!!!
2003-06-24: Photos for all!
2003-06-24: MexiGo
2003-05-14: musicdonor.org
2003-04-01: Mr Bump
2003-03-12: So maybe I will update
2003-03-11: Should I bother updating?
2002-01-24: Derby Hall President Elections
2001-11-26: Travels 2001 Photo Album - Online!
2001-10-24: I'm still alive... and having fun!
2001-09-28: Uni Life
2001-07-15: Home Life
2001-07-15: Hi Guys, I'm Home!
2001-07-07: I Can Fly!
2001-06-24: Brisbane Photos... And I'm Back Home (kinda)
2001-06-22: The Reunion
2001-06-21: Aussie Photos Up
2001-06-20: Bungyyyyyyyyy...
2001-06-18: Mindless Stagger
2001-06-17: Freezing My Nuts Off
2001-06-12: A Browne Moon Rise on Fraser Island
2001-06-07: Learn To Fly
2001-06-03: Gagaju - Backpackers Retreat
2001-05-31: Another Change Of Plans!
2001-05-30: Back To South East Asia?!
2001-05-16: A Memento of Brisbane
2001-04-30: We All Live In A Yellow Submarine
2001-04-24: Perhenthian Islands Photos Up
2001-04-20: Aussie Life
2001-04-08: Mumma In Thailand
2001-04-06: Thai Boxing and Lady Boys
2001-04-05: Go Go Bars
2001-04-04: More India Photos Up - I'm In Bangkok
2001-04-02: Back In The Womb
2001-03-29: India Photos Up
2001-03-28: Noname
2001-03-27: Scuba Diving and Motorcycling on Koh Pha-Ngan
2001-03-25: Lady Bars
2001-03-24: Koh Samui
2001-03-24: All Washed Out
2001-03-22: Krabi
2001-03-22: Happy 5th Birthday To Me!
2001-03-20: The Island
2001-03-20: Under The Sea
2001-03-20: Such A Fantastic Time
2001-03-20: The Wedding Invitation
2001-03-12: Camping, Jungle Style
2001-03-12: Alone Again
2001-03-12: A Cave, a Snake and a Leprechaun
2001-03-12: Theme Park & KL Stuff
2001-03-12: Taman Negara National Park - arrival
2001-03-03: The Con-Job
2001-03-03: Kuala Lumpur
2001-02-26: Malaysia
2001-02-23: Night Safari, The Beach & Underwater World
2001-02-22: Time Travel
2001-02-22: Planes, Trains & Automobiles
2001-02-19: Indian Work: Child labour, wage and baksheesh
2001-02-15: Books and Weird Shit
2001-02-14: To Spew Or Not To Spew
2001-02-12: Imprisoned for 42 hours!
2001-02-09: Museums, forts, palaces and temples
2001-02-05: Horn Please
2001-02-03: A Week In... Kashmir!
2001-01-28: I'm In India!
2001-01-27: Plane in just over 4 hours!
2001-01-23: Only a few days to go
2001-01-06: Posse Page
2001-01-05: Travel Plans
