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    Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia situated between Malaysia, Burma/Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia.

    The Adventures Of Sweep: Thailand Edition

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    sweep

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    Edited By sweep  Moderator

    I'm back home.

     Back to the world of mentally crippling social networks, commitments and protocols. I only got back from Thailand yesterday and I already miss it. 
     
    I travel a fair amount, and this was my second trip to Thailand. 3 Years ago I hopped from Bangkok to Chang Mai, in the north, then to Koh Samui, one of the larger more commercial islands in the south. This time we opted to skip the foreplay and hit the Beach from the getgo. Koh Chang became our home for 2 beautiful weeks. Koh Chang is the largest of a small group of Islands in a marine park in the east of Thailand. 

    No Caption Provided

    So let's discuss the politics

    As Thailand is often used as an example of the negative effects of Tourism. The Beach is perhaps my favourite book of all time and through my repeated readings I have reached an understanding. 

     It's 2010 so the whole country has committed itself to the plague of tourists that  flock there each year, but Koh Chang is still in the early stages of development so it hasn't reached the level of fucked-upness that can now be associated with a large chunk of Thailand. That's a dickheadedly elitist attitude to take but the idea of people travelling halfway round the world to some of the most beautiful tropical islands on the planet only to get trashed at full moon parties and eat pizza kind of offends me. I'm a hypocrite, but at least I know i'm a hypocrite. What's perhaps worse is the pretentious bohemian backpackers who display every contempt for the mainstream tourists without realising they are just as bad, if not worse, in their contribution to the corruption of Thailand.
     
    The only way to be completely safe is to never travel anywhere, terrified of fucking up someone elses "pure" society. Don't panic. They are fucking it up quite competently themselves.  
     
    So the options you have are xenophobic smallmindedness or arrogant western imposition. My solution, and consequential attitude, has been to say "Fuck It" and do what I want. I'm going to travel as much as possible, but I'm not going to be a cunt about it. That's as much as anyone can ask. I try to moderate my hypocrisy.
     

     So yeah, back to Koh Chang.

     We got a minibus down from Bangkok which took about 5 hours, after an 11 hour flight, which drove us to our Island of choice. We had to get a ferry over there, then a taxi to our first hotel - a larger resort with a 200 meter stretch of perfect white sand. We stayed there for a week. It was low season, so there wasn't much activity. A lot of the other bars and resorts had closed down for the summer, the only other tourists were Eastern European families who sat around the swimming pool looking glum and ordering increasingly alcoholic cocktails. A perfect example of why I resent most tourists - you fly to a perfect beach in Thailand then spend the day sitting by a swimming pool. Cunts. The sort of people who put on aftershave instead of mosquito repellent - then complain when they get bitten. By the end of the week I had taken to walking further down the beach to avoid that crowd completely, and in the second week we (My brother and I) packed up our shit and moved to a much smaller, cheaper beach-hut resort further down the island. 
     
    For a whole week we basically had this beach to ourselves. 
    For a whole week we basically had this beach to ourselves. 

    You probably have pretty romantic ideas of what a beach-hut consists of. You would be mostly right aesthetically, but the reality of actually living in one is slightly sobering. Those beach huts (lovingly referred to as the "first generation" of beach huts) were the super-cheap wooden shacks picked up by the humble broke backpackers and the pretentious kids who wanted the "real" Thailand experience. Apparently you aren't fully appreciating Thailand unless being eaten alive by mosquitoes and chewing splinters out your own feet. We got a pretty cushy concrete hut slightly further back from the beach (about 100 meters away) but a lot more secure and comfortable. We then proceeded to spend the week sitting on the beach under palm trees, chatting to other backpackers and groups of Thai kids on vacation from Bangkok.  

    I'm on a boat.
    I'm on a boat.
     

    We got up to all sorts of awesome stuff.

     We went snorkelling around some mind-blowingly beautiful corals, we swam with elephants (yes, you read that correctly), we ate large quantities of rice, noodles and seafood. Some of my best memories are sitting in a bizarrely warm sea in the middle of a thunderstorm (welcome to the rainy season) and watching the mountains slowly disappear behind a wall of water. We chased monkeys, we played jenga in a monsoon (monsoon jenga is the best jenga) and we got to meet some of the greatest, most friendly people on Earth. Wake up, go to the beach, drink some beer, go for a swim, play some frisbee, relax till dark, go to a bar, eat some rice, drink some more beer, find a girl, go to sleep, wake up, go to the beach... 
     
    Thailand. 
      

    No Caption Provided

      
    Now i'm back I have some blogs backed up. I played a hella lot of Phoenix Wright on my DS which I want to write about a little (That game is fantastic) and I have 2 weeks worth of news to weigh in on. It's going to be busy busy. 
     
    Stay tuned, kids... 
     
    Thanks For Reading 
    Love Sweep
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    #1  Edited By sweep  Moderator

    I'm back home.

     Back to the world of mentally crippling social networks, commitments and protocols. I only got back from Thailand yesterday and I already miss it. 
     
    I travel a fair amount, and this was my second trip to Thailand. 3 Years ago I hopped from Bangkok to Chang Mai, in the north, then to Koh Samui, one of the larger more commercial islands in the south. This time we opted to skip the foreplay and hit the Beach from the getgo. Koh Chang became our home for 2 beautiful weeks. Koh Chang is the largest of a small group of Islands in a marine park in the east of Thailand. 

    No Caption Provided

    So let's discuss the politics

    As Thailand is often used as an example of the negative effects of Tourism. The Beach is perhaps my favourite book of all time and through my repeated readings I have reached an understanding. 

     It's 2010 so the whole country has committed itself to the plague of tourists that  flock there each year, but Koh Chang is still in the early stages of development so it hasn't reached the level of fucked-upness that can now be associated with a large chunk of Thailand. That's a dickheadedly elitist attitude to take but the idea of people travelling halfway round the world to some of the most beautiful tropical islands on the planet only to get trashed at full moon parties and eat pizza kind of offends me. I'm a hypocrite, but at least I know i'm a hypocrite. What's perhaps worse is the pretentious bohemian backpackers who display every contempt for the mainstream tourists without realising they are just as bad, if not worse, in their contribution to the corruption of Thailand.
     
    The only way to be completely safe is to never travel anywhere, terrified of fucking up someone elses "pure" society. Don't panic. They are fucking it up quite competently themselves.  
     
    So the options you have are xenophobic smallmindedness or arrogant western imposition. My solution, and consequential attitude, has been to say "Fuck It" and do what I want. I'm going to travel as much as possible, but I'm not going to be a cunt about it. That's as much as anyone can ask. I try to moderate my hypocrisy.
     

     So yeah, back to Koh Chang.

     We got a minibus down from Bangkok which took about 5 hours, after an 11 hour flight, which drove us to our Island of choice. We had to get a ferry over there, then a taxi to our first hotel - a larger resort with a 200 meter stretch of perfect white sand. We stayed there for a week. It was low season, so there wasn't much activity. A lot of the other bars and resorts had closed down for the summer, the only other tourists were Eastern European families who sat around the swimming pool looking glum and ordering increasingly alcoholic cocktails. A perfect example of why I resent most tourists - you fly to a perfect beach in Thailand then spend the day sitting by a swimming pool. Cunts. The sort of people who put on aftershave instead of mosquito repellent - then complain when they get bitten. By the end of the week I had taken to walking further down the beach to avoid that crowd completely, and in the second week we (My brother and I) packed up our shit and moved to a much smaller, cheaper beach-hut resort further down the island. 
     
    For a whole week we basically had this beach to ourselves. 
    For a whole week we basically had this beach to ourselves. 

    You probably have pretty romantic ideas of what a beach-hut consists of. You would be mostly right aesthetically, but the reality of actually living in one is slightly sobering. Those beach huts (lovingly referred to as the "first generation" of beach huts) were the super-cheap wooden shacks picked up by the humble broke backpackers and the pretentious kids who wanted the "real" Thailand experience. Apparently you aren't fully appreciating Thailand unless being eaten alive by mosquitoes and chewing splinters out your own feet. We got a pretty cushy concrete hut slightly further back from the beach (about 100 meters away) but a lot more secure and comfortable. We then proceeded to spend the week sitting on the beach under palm trees, chatting to other backpackers and groups of Thai kids on vacation from Bangkok.  

    I'm on a boat.
    I'm on a boat.
     

    We got up to all sorts of awesome stuff.

     We went snorkelling around some mind-blowingly beautiful corals, we swam with elephants (yes, you read that correctly), we ate large quantities of rice, noodles and seafood. Some of my best memories are sitting in a bizarrely warm sea in the middle of a thunderstorm (welcome to the rainy season) and watching the mountains slowly disappear behind a wall of water. We chased monkeys, we played jenga in a monsoon (monsoon jenga is the best jenga) and we got to meet some of the greatest, most friendly people on Earth. Wake up, go to the beach, drink some beer, go for a swim, play some frisbee, relax till dark, go to a bar, eat some rice, drink some more beer, find a girl, go to sleep, wake up, go to the beach... 
     
    Thailand. 
      

    No Caption Provided

      
    Now i'm back I have some blogs backed up. I played a hella lot of Phoenix Wright on my DS which I want to write about a little (That game is fantastic) and I have 2 weeks worth of news to weigh in on. It's going to be busy busy. 
     
    Stay tuned, kids... 
     
    Thanks For Reading 
    Love Sweep
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    Tireyo

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    #2  Edited By Tireyo

    That looks like a trip that will definitely be remembered! Good to see that you had a great time! That beach is gorgeous, and the water is actually BLUE!!!

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    hockeymask27

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    #3  Edited By hockeymask27

    Wow, That was a great read. Makes me wish I went out in the world myself more. Looks like you had a very fun time. 

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    Red12b

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    #4  Edited By Red12b

    Sweeps on a motherfucking boat, where is T-Pain? 
     
    AND WHERE IS THE MONKEY! you didn't take my advice, I am extremely disappointed in you my man,  
     

    We got up to all sorts of awesome stuff.

     We went snorkelling around some mind-blowingly beautiful corals, we swam with elephants (yes, you read that correctly), we ate large quantities of rice, noodles and seafood. Some of my best memories are sitting in a bizarrely warm sea in the middle of a thunderstorm (welcome to the rainy season) and watching the mountains slowly disappear behind a wall of water. We chased monkeys, we played jenga in a monsoon (monsoon jenga is the best jenga) and we got to meet some of the greatest, most friendly people on Earth. Wake up, go to the beach, drink some beer, go for a swim, play some frisbee, relax till dark, go to a bar, eat some rice, drink some more beer, find a girl, go to sleep, wake up, go to the beach...     
    Thailand is awesome, go to your doctor if you sampled some of the finer things in life, just to be sure...
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    Red12b

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    #5  Edited By Red12b

    I love being in the sea in a thunderstorm, it shows you just how insignificant we really are, the word awe gets thrown around too much in this modern world we live in, but it truly is awe-inspiring.  
     
    I am glad you had a good trip man, it seemed like you needed it, peace brother.

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    sjupp

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    #6  Edited By sjupp

    Been there once myself with family. It was great. Albeit the rather large tourist-watchamaycallit taking the trips into the jungle was amazing. Too bad I was too much of a nerd to really appreciate some of it.
    I'd like to go there again but with friends, I just turned 18 and it's just a way different trip to be making when with friends only. 

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    Video_Game_King

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    #7  Edited By Video_Game_King

    A bit of that read like JD Salinger, you know. On that line of thought, it does propose a decent solution to all our cultural problems: send all the phonies to a mosquito-infested island and hope they can't swim :P.

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    FunExplosions

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    #8  Edited By FunExplosions

    I'll read all this in a second. But first, that girl is gorgeous, and that elephant is delicious.

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    cap123

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    #9  Edited By cap123

    I went to the place where they filmed the beach and it was quite possibly the worst and dirtiest beach i've ever been on. There were some amazing places of course, we didn't stay around too long after bangkok though, because we needed to move quite far south in a short amount of time. I would have loved to have stayed in the northern areas for a while too!
     
    Sunsets!

    No Caption Provided
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    Scooper

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    #10  Edited By Scooper

    Nice one. I'd love to go to a place like that one day.

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    #11  Edited By turboman

    cool stuff

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    #12  Edited By sweep  Moderator
    @Video_Game_King said:
    " A bit of that read like JD Salinger, you know. On that line of thought, it does propose a decent solution to all our cultural problems: send all the phonies to a mosquito-infested island and hope they can't swim :P. "
    Most tourists really fuck me off. The number one rule of travelling is "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" and most people simply can't appreciate that simple rule. English tourists especially annoy me. Every time I travel to a foreign country and see full English Breakfast on the menu in makes me hate myself. To me thats a direct indicator of someone from England travelling to visit another culture and then demanding familiar food because they can't cope with any alternative - it's completely contradictory to the point of travelling in the first place and to have is so directly linked to my home country is fucking embarrassing. Some people are miserable closed-minded bastards and its never more apparent than when travelling. 
     
    Though on the flip side, travel broadens the mind and everyone should do it. Or rather, everyone should do it and not be a cunt about it. 
     
    Perhaps i'm a little naive. Maybe thai people really like eating beans on toast and would continue to cook them even if there were no tourists? I really hope not...
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    #13  Edited By Oni

    Sounds like an awesome time! Glad you enjoyed yourself and welcome back to our half of the world. Never been to Thailand personally but everyone in my family has and it's apparently pretty great. My dad even owned one of those beach hut hotel thingies and I'm pretty sure it was on Koh Chang, too, so you might've been there. But that was a while ago. I do love traveling though.

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    Video_Game_King

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    #14  Edited By Video_Game_King
    @Sweep: 
     
    I think that's a translation error; the original phrase had to be "Do what the Romans do." After all, these were the guys who spent what little non-conquering time they had fucking everything in sight.
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    #15  Edited By Claude

    I always enjoy returning to my habitual life after a travel. But again, I don't travel as much as I used to. Welcome back Sweep, safe and sound.

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    jim_dandy

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    #16  Edited By jim_dandy

    Thailand sounds awesome Sweep. 
     
    Also you suck.

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    JJOR64

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    #17  Edited By JJOR64

    Did you say hi to Sagat?

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    #18  Edited By sweep  Moderator
    @jim_dandy: no u 
     
    @JJOR64: No. In real life I am a pussy :(
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    Daveyo520

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    #19  Edited By Daveyo520

    Where are the little boys?

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    #20  Edited By BraveToaster

    Sounds fun (minus the sleeping on concrete). I plan to start traveling next year, I want to check out Brazil.

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    #21  Edited By fwylo

    I didn't see any hamburgers in those pictures...

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    #22  Edited By Joshakazam

    It's awesome that you're back Sweep and that you enjoyed Thailand.

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    #23  Edited By mexicanhatboy

      @Sweep said:

    " @Video_Game_King said:

    " A bit of that read like JD Salinger, you know. On that line of thought, it does propose a decent solution to all our cultural problems: send all the phonies to a mosquito-infested island and hope they can't swim :P. "
    Most tourists really fuck me off. The number one rule of travelling is "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" and most people simply can't appreciate that simple rule. English tourists especially annoy me. Every time I travel to a foreign country and see full English Breakfast on the menu in makes me hate myself. To me thats a direct indicator of someone from England travelling to visit another culture and then demanding familiar food because they can't cope with any alternative - it's completely contradictory to the point of travelling in the first place and to have is so directly linked to my home country is fucking embarrassing. Some people are miserable closed-minded bastards and its never more apparent than when travelling. 
     
    Though on the flip side, travel broadens the mind and everyone should do it. Or rather, everyone should do it and not be a cunt about it. 
     
    Perhaps i'm a little naive. Maybe thai people really like eating beans on toast and would continue to cook them even if there were no tourists? I really hope not...
    "
    Me and a friend were discussing this the other day. English people are awful for doing this sort of thing. I suppose you've noticed the trend of British late-teens all going to the same place over summer? (Malia etc.) A holiday in a foreign country, where you're surrounded by other British people, you buy British food and drink and everyone speaks English. I don't get why you'd bother, might as well just stay at home. Seems like some of the nicest potential destinations in some of these countries have been ruined by this mindset. If I go on holiday somewhere, it's because I don't want to be surrounded by everything-that-is-British for a fortnight, I want to experience another country. it's refreshing to hear of someone with an attitude like yours Sweep, glad you enjoyed your holiday :)
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    #24  Edited By thaijedi

    Bit late but next time you are in Thailand Sweep, hit me up! Giantbomb get together Southeast Asia edition. There are about 10 of us that I know of. Also I can give you the scoop on more places to go to avoid tourists. As a resident, it's pretty much my number one priority when travelling around Thailand

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