Koh Phangan

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I've feared for my life three times. Once as a teenager on a fair ground ride, when I wasn't strapped in properly and the chap next to me held me in. The other time I was alone and lost in France and being followed.

The most recent was on our way to Koh Phangnan. We'd heard there was a cheaper option to get there rather than the big ferry from the main port. The option was a small fishing boat leaving from Ban Maneam, it would take us an hour and a half, a bit longer but significantly cheaper.
That's because we nearly capsized. There were eight of us on this shipping vessel plus the 'captain'(Seaman Staines) and his side kick(Roger the Cabin Boy). The ride didn't start well, two of us had to help the captain get us off the beach and into the sea. The waves were big, the boat was rocking side to side and flinging us and our bags about. Water was pouring in and out of the boat from the side holes. I was scared, but thought I was being a bit of a girl, then I looked at Paul who had his concerned face on. Roger handed us all life jackets, the others on the boat looked just as worried as us. I looked for some reassurance from the Roger but didn't get it, instead saw him reach for a life jacket for himself (unseen and unheard of). Ah shit, I thought.
We all sat there quiet, I held on to mums St Christopher around my neck and said a prayer, and Paul asked his Mum to protect us. This took place over an hour, a really scary hour. Koh Phangan drew closer and we were soon protected by the island, we all blew an exaggerated but warranted sigh of relief and we were soon dropped off at our stop, ours being the last one - Thong Nai Pan Noi. Thong Nai Pan is split in two bays, Noi where we stayed and Yai slightly bigger and busier. It is heaven here, the couple of posh looking resorts are obviously relatively new, the other handful of accommodation are budget beach huts. I imagine a few years ago this beach would have been a real backpacker gem, but it's still fantastic.

It's about 20 minutes north of Hat Rin, where the famous full moon party takes place. We didn't intend on going, but as it turned out we were here for it, we were secretly pleased! It was a bit of a let down, it rained all night and it was more like international freshers week than a rave! We ended up in a bar watching the film 8 Mile then after a very bumpy taxi ride on roads which had turned into muddy rivers, we eventually crawled into bed at 3.30.

We stayed 6 nights and had one day of sun!:( We did some exploring by foot to a dried up waterfall and saw Thong Nai Pan Yai which didn't impress us as much as our beach but did look more backpackery. The ferry’s to Koh Tao were all full due to the full moon so we had to stay longer than planned and we had decided no more fishing boat taxis!

When we got to Koh Tao the sun was shining again, hooray!

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