KO PHA-NGAN - THAILAND

The boat to Ko Pha-Ngan took about forty minutes, it was hot and sunny but the sea was a little rough, I am a little wary about boats and being the wuss that I am held on to the rail most of the way with Ruth laughing at me. We arrived and jumped straight into a mini van. Our first destination was Ao Thong Nai Pan Noi, a secluded little bay on the North East tip of the island. It was a fifteen kilometre drive over the top of a mountain to get there on a 'road' which looked more like a river bed. It was lovely there and we rented a bungalow at the top of some steep steps in a kind of jungle garden setting. We stayed for two nights and didn't do much other than soak up some rays and eat good food at the resort restaurants. On the second night there the electricity went off, as it occasionally does, and we took a very dark walk to the Jungle Bar for a couple of cocktails. Ruth had the frog paranoia and was convinced that she was going to step on a frog. We really loved it there as it had great views, was quiet with hardly anyone on the beach and a welcome contrast from Ko Samui

This week I are be mostly wearing a beard!

Ban Khai Beach

We left after two days for Ban Khai, another beach nearer the action as it was the full moon party in two nights time and we wanted to be within reasonable distance. We stayed at a cool little resort there, the name escapes me, and although the beach wasn't as nice it had a laid back atmosphere and the owners were friendly. The beach there stretched for several kilometres in both directions and on the second day we decided to talk a walk to the island capital, Thong Sala, which was about two kilometres, or so we thought. It seemed like four as we set off about 11am and the sun was baking. You could have fried an egg on my head. But it would have been a sweaty egg.

Fish drying on the side of the road on the way to Thong Sala

Thong Sala itself was fairly unremarkable but we did have a nice lunch there before getting a taxi back. The best thing about our bungalow was the hammock that was strung across the balcony, and I spent a lot of time swinging on the hammock and watching the resident ants build a nest, it was a busy time.

Ants! Making a house! From leaves! Surely Not!

We met a couple who were holidaying in Thailand called Nick and Danielle and went to the full moon party with them. We caught a Songthaew, a truck with seats in the back, from Ban Khai as it was about 5 kilometres to the beach at Had Rin. On the way Nick and I had an interesting ride hanging onto the back and standing on the tail gate as we drove up and down hills at about 50 mph. The party was in full swing when we arrived about 11pm. There are about 8 big bars along the beach playing all kinds of music: cheese, pop, hiphop, house, I seem to remember hearing YMCA at about 4 o'clock in the morning. We spent most of the night at the Paradise Bungalows party, the original spot and the progressive house was top class, in my humble opinion. The moon was huge all night and the sky was really clear and I liked that. At the end of the beach they were releasing huge lanterns into the sky and people were all over the beach, really, all over it. Nick and Danielle left about 3am but Ruth and I stretched it out til about 5.30am. We decided at that point that we had had enough of watching people piss in the sea, fall over and smear each other in luminous paint and dragged our weary old bones off to bed. It was truly a messy night especially some of the states that we saw but I would not have missed it and now I can say I have been there, done that and yes I did buy the T-shirt.

We were there......

For our last stint on Ko Pha-Ngan we styed in Had Rin so that we could do a tour to An Thong Marine Park. The trip only went every other day so we had to extend our stay by three days to do it but we thought it would be worth it as it is a National Park and supposed to be really beautiful. The morning of the trip we were supposed to be picked up at 7am so we clambered out of bed and to the travel office early. We waited until 7.45 but no-one came and nothing was open so we went back to bed. We were fairly fuming as you can imagine and went to complain. The lady told us the taxi company had already phoned her to say that they forgot. So we got our money back and walked out. Man that was annoying. We spent the rest of that day moaning to each other about it and waiting to leave.