Chillaxin' in Ko Pha Ngan

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We were sad to leave Laos, but we were excited to move on to Thailand, mainly because it meant meeting up with our friends Sarah and Bob. We found them in Bangkok - in particularly excellent spirits given that they had just begun a deservedly long trip to celebrate their completion of the California Bar Exam. We caught up over a relaxed evening out in Bangkok, and dinner made us very excited about our next couple weeks of Thai cuisine.

The next day we headed back to the airport for a short flight south to Surat Thani, from which we headed out for Ko Pha Ngan. Ko Pha Ngan is a well-known island in the Gulf of Thailand, part of a cluster of other islands that includes Ko Samui and Ko Tao. It is undeniably beautiful - the kind of islands other islands wish they were, with beaches of aqua water and white sand.

Our trip from Surat Thani involved a very slow bus, a long delay at a somewhat dismal ferry station (which did sell some strangely addictive crunchy chicken balls), and then a very pleasant ferry ride. On board, we watched Thai Olympics coverage (weightlifting, weightlifting, weightlifting), strolled the deck, compared notes on our travels, and took in the views of the Gulf.

We have spent the last few days here doing very little, rotating from the pool to the beach and then back again, sometimes heading to a different beach for lunch and always ending each day watching the sunset and grabbing beers and dinner in the hotel restaurant. It is the kind of existence that is incredibly enjoyable, and yet incredibly uninteresting for anyone to read about. So we won't make you.

All in all, our time in Ko Pha Ngan has been an excellent opportunity to spend time with good friends and recharge the travel batteries before heading up north.

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