You only turn 30 once and I never quite went to Thailand as a budding 21 year old, therefore it felt like the right, or final chance to be pinched by monkeys, see the Beach from the movies and, of course, get slightly tipsy on Koh Sam Road.
I had seen it in endless movies and countless numbers of friends told me stories, both good and bad, about the madness of this drunken strip. I’ve (unfortunately) been to Benidorm, so I know how embarrassing Brits can be abroad, so already I was expecting the worst.
From the moment we arrived, we jumped into the first bar and ordered a zombie cocktail bucket. Well, we had to set the tone for the rest of the night!
After a couple of drinks, we began walking down the road, but found a local scorpion seller shouting at a Thai woman, who was in tears. We approached and asked if she was OK, while she began to explain how she was a local but had a number of friends from Scotland who had come to visit and were with her for the night. The guy had tried to sell scorpions to the group, but she explained they weren’t something locals actually ate, at which point the seller completely lost control and starting calling her a hooker and threatening to kill her.
We weren’t sure what to do, on the other side of the world, but we walked up to the guy and told him to leave it and go home. We walked another metre, when I turned around and saw one of the Scottish friends throw a drink at the seller, hitting him square on the head.
Unaware to the seller, he instantly thought Lee had thrown it, being closest to the scene, so he then smashed the tray of scorpions into his face. As soon as I saw this I came running over and grabbed the guy into a headlock.
My mates came running over telling me to calm down and let him go, however as soon as my arm loosened, he reached an arm around and smacked me right in the nose.
While this might sound like a bad experience, within 3 minutes we were back in a bar, drinking and laughing over what had just happened. It’s all part of turning 30 I guess, that happens to everyone right?
The night became a blur of zombie buckets and long island iced tea’s, however I will always have that crazy Thai man and the tray of scorpions to look back on.
Well I hope you have a better experience than me and don’t forget to read my list of things to do in Thailand if you’re visiting. If you’re heading up to the North part of the country then you might want to check out the elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai.
If you’re heading further to the south of the country then you might want to have a read about the party town, things to do in Phuket. If you end up in Koh Samui, then I can recommend the best resort in the world, the Ammatara Pura Pool Villas.