Day 16 -17: Koh Phangan

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We had arranged transport to Koh Phangan....we were getting a bus to Chumphon and then another bus north to eventually get a car ferry to Koh Phangan. It was going to be a long day of traveling the best part of 8-9 hours! We got up early and packed and made sure we had plenty of time for breakfast before we were picked up. However disaster struck....I (Bon....yes I'm writing this one) had ordered my banana pancakes with 20 minutes to spare but the hadn't come when the transport arrived. The receptionist hurried us on to the bus and I was left regretting the bad start to a long day. We started off and had another pick-up right round the corner, two German guys who we were due to spend pretty much the whole day with. They were a little late so we sat there for a few minutes, then out of the blue we saw our trek guide from the previous two days Tuk driving towards us. He gave a little tute of acknowledgment wound down his window and shouted "two banana pancakes!!!" Got to love the thai peple.....so it wasn't such a bad start after all.

I'd been looking forward to Koh Phangan, lots of recommendations and of course the great moon parties they throw every day regardless of if the moon is out or not. We'd been told to stay on Haad Rin by a couple of people and a nice couple we met recommended a resort called Harmony. Sounded good and was in the right area so we booked 3 nights online, quite pricey but with air-con and hot water, not to mention a hut on the beach we thought why not.

So after a long day of traveling we got a taxi with the German guys to their delight and headed to Haad Rin. We were dropped off on quite a steep hill in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, wished the guys all the best and started walking. First impressions went from bad to worse....it looked like a building site, was completely isolated, the swimming pool was being repaired. Anyway we thought get checked in see the room, might not be so bad. It was......it was the nastiest room we had stayed in.....and it was one of the most expensive. It was dirty....it stank.....and we could hear every word our American neighbour and his rented Thai girlfriend were saying. We must have looked so gutted and upset at this point. I decided to take a short walk and see just how isolated we were.....went down to the sea and even that looked nasty. The sand was like a slush....the sea was so shallow and had foam and bits of rubbish floating in it. After the long day we had and the high hopes I had for this place I was feeling pretty miserable. We chatted for a while about what to do......and decided to sleep on it and see how we felt in the morning. We eventually decided that we would eat at the resort and see who was around, see if they were enjoying it etc. One thing it did have going for it were the views of the sunset and the funky bar/cave. So we sat down ordered and got chatting to an English mum and daughter and a hippy from the Netherlands. Some very strange conversations later and the dutch girl eventually left, we spent the rest of the night talking to the mum and daughter from England. They'd also just arrived and weren't that blown away by the digs either. They convinced us to stay the night and maybe join them tomorrow when they went to the beach. A good night was had and we trotted off to bed a little happier.

Soon as I got back to he room I remembered why I had wanted to leave. The neighbours came back about 4am and talked about an expensive pot of Guacamole for 40 minutes, think it was about then I decided enough was enough. The next morning we checked out 2 nights early, minus 20% we got a refund.

We headed North-West to a resort that we'd been handed a flyer to on the ferry. A couple we were sat next to had agreed to go and I don't blame them it looked nice. So anyway we thought we'd give it a try. First impressions were much better, more people about, nicer room and a swimming pool. We settled in and had some breakfast, met the couple we'd seen on the ferry. Turns out they weren't that impressed and said it was quite isolated etc. It was.....they were no restaurants to walk to.....no bars to go to. You ate at the resort or faced a long walk uphill to hopefully flag a taxi. At some point in the day we decided to cut our losses and leave Koh Phangan a night early.

No moon parties.....didn't even see Haad Rin beach or bars!! (sorry bro)
I was so disappointed that our experience there had been such a bad one.
Anyway we had Koh Tao to look forward to and that sounded like it would be more our scene.
So onwards and upwards.....and maybe some down.

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