Ko Pha-Ngan Island

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The ferry from Koh Phi Phi to the mainland was a bit shaky. We sat in the "Air Conditioned" area downstairs, which was still pretty warm! Our bags were piled high on the deck. The journey seemed to last forever, so we played a fair few games of cards.

We arrived on the mainland in a town called Krabi and were approached by what seemed a thousand bus drivers and taxi drivers telling us they could take us to whereever we needed to go; but we had already booked a bus to take us across the penninsula where we would get another ferry to Koh Phangan. The bus was warm and sticky with flowery curtains that looked at least 50 years old. The "air conditioning" units were holes in the ceiling. The bus was packed out; full of tourists like ourselves on their way to Koh Phangan for the Half Moon Party.

4 hours later we got off the bus and got on another ferry to take us to Koh Phangan. It was a long day. We had set off at 8:30am and didn't arrive in Koh Phangan till 7:30pm. We got off the ferry in Thong Sala, Koh Phangan feeling very very hungry. We decided that before we even began to look for our hostel, food was in order. We found a little pizzeria on the main street where we stuffed ourselves. Our first impression of Thong Sala was not a good one, and we were expecting our lodgings to run with the general theme of dinginess and "air conditioned" rooms.

We went wandering to find our hostel "Lime n Soda". We weren't walking for long when we were approached by an English girl who as it turns out lives on the island. She directed us to Lime n Soda. As we were walking, I pointed out a beautiful resort to Dave. It had little huts nestled in trees, there was lounge music coming from a little beach bar and it just looked so nice. We looked longingly at the picturesque resort; knowing that ours was not going to be like this. At 20 euro a night though, we couldn't expect any more! Next of all, we came across a massive boulder, and in it was carved the words "Lime n Soda Beachside Resort". RESULT! The beautiful holiday place that we had been eyeballing was actually the place we booked. Boom!

We traipsed up the sandy path with more enthusiasm than we'd had all day. We found reception and they checked us in. There had been a problem with the room we were renting; so we would have to change rooms for one night. We were shown to our cabin (on the way to it we were eaten alive) and it was actually air conditioned. The cabin was right beside the bar (the receptionist apologised refusely that we had to stay by the bar because of the "loud music"). We could walk out our cabin and be in the bar. Beside the bar was a swimming pool and beside the swimming pool was..the beach.

We chilled out for a while, freshened up and then had a drink at the bar before bed. The first few days in Thong Sala were very similar; we'd sunbathe on the beach, have banana smoothies and pancakes for breakfast, stroll down the town to the markets and grab some street food, do some shopping...it was a great few days to chill out. As far as dinner goes, we ate in the resort every night. It was such a nice restaurant. One night we ordered the BBQ special; a Red Snapper fish barbequed whole with potatoes and veg and a tomato sauce. It only cost about a fiver! Every evening we played table tennis, which always resulted in Dave winning and me becoming very frustrated.

The night we moved out of our room was the worst. There was no air conditioning and the toilet had no flusher; they had left a bucket of water and a scoop to flush it. It was one of the less expensive cabins and a lot less fancy. However, we had a fan on which rattled all night. So the heat didn't keep us awake; the rattley fan did.

The next day, we decided to hire mopeds and go across the island. I was not really keen on the idea, since I'd never been on a motorbike, so we just hired one and Dave drove it. I still wasn't keen on the idea. We set off early to the other side of the island where we found a lovely beach cafe. We ate banana splits and sipped some drinks enjoying the sunshine. We had a walk along the beach with snow white sand. We strolled into a little village where Dave came across a suit shop. Before we knew it there were four men surrounding us, practially holding the measuring tapes up to us, draping material over their arms and so on. One guy tried to show me a catalogue with women's power suits; I just looked at him. Dave tried to negotiate a price but they were asking way over the odds. We politely thanked them and left the shop, feeling unnerved, but they were actually quite pleasant and not too pushy.

Back on the bike and we headed back down the coast where we drove past someones house in the middle of nowhere. Whoever lived there must have had a range of exotic animals and were charging people to see them. That's what we interpreted from the sign outside that said "ElephantMonkeyCrocodile". Reminded us of the ManBearPig that Al Gore was so scared of in South Park. I'm super duper cereal!

We arrived at another beach resort where we found a little spot in the shade, sat in the sand and read our books for an hour or so, watching the world go by. After a quick swim, we headed up steps to a little cafe with a thatched roof. All around the cafe were little holiday huts with the same thatched rooves on stilts by the beach. There were a huge amount of tourists floating about. We ordered some lunch and waited. And waited and waited. Eventually our food came, but while we were waiting we were watching a very dark bunch of clouds move towards us from out at sea. A storm was on it's way. We ate, paid the bill and got back on the moped. By then it had started to rain, but this was Mickey Mouse rain compared to what was to come.

A few minutes into the moped ride, we couldn't see the road ahead of us. We were the only vehicle on the road for miles; everyone else was sensible and stayed indoors! Water was rushing down the road like a river, our clothes were so soaked through that it felt like we had dipped ourselves in a pool never mind stood under a shower. We came across a shop that sold everything, so we parked the moped in their garage and sat under their shelter outside. So as not to seem rude, we bought a couple of cans of coke and played cards for about half an hour or more. The rain still hadn't let up. We decided to bite the bullet and get back on the bike.

We finally got back to Lime n Soda completely soaked, and very tired. We weren't used to doing so much stuff in one day after our few days off! But after a banana smoothie in the bar and some traditional Thai Chicken and Cashew Nuts in the restaurant, we felt a lot better.

The next night was the Half Moon Party, which is basically a rave in the jungle where everything is neon colours and you can paint yourself neon too. We decided to buy tickets to check it out. That evening, we emptied our cabin of all our valuables and put them in a locker in reception. Aparently Full and Half Moon Party nights are the best nights for robbers; everyone's at the parties and no where near their cabins. Also people don't tend to bring valuables to the parties so they get left behind. When we knew our valuables were safely locked away, we waited in reception for our bus to pick us up. Everyone was in rain ponchos; the rain hadn't stopped since the previous afternoon. We bundled into a taxi truck with a few people and headed off to the Jungle Rave. We arrived and the rain had stopped. THere were crowds of people queuing up to get in, and there was a great atmosphere about the place.

We we handed in our tickets and got stamps, we made our way uphill into the jungle. The pathway was lined with stalls of all kinds, that sold energy drinks, buckets, booze, neon body paint, neon beads and bracelets, thai food and lots more. We could hear the rave music pumping up ahead. We headed into the party itself, in a clearing the the forest. It was pretty dark except for the neon painted people and the fire eaters. There are so many fire shows in Thailand and any one can give it a try; looks like Health and Safety hasn't quite caught up with Thailand yet. We went to the bar and got buckets, and I couldn't finish mine so gave it to Dave. I had beer instead. We spent the whole night people watching (some of the outfits were...interesting!). I went to the bathroom, and started talking to a Dutch girl in the queue. She was worried that the door of her cubicle had no lock on it so I offered to stand outside and hold the door shut for her. She was so grateful, you'd swear I'd given her a piece of gold or something. We hung out with her and her friends for a bit and then became separated from them. When we were ready to go home, we headed back down the windy path lined with stalls and bought some momentos of our visit. Dave bought a bracelet and we bought necklaces made out of neon shoelaces. The stuff was so crap and completely over priced!

We got into a taxi truck and the driver asked us could we wait for a while to see if he could get more passengers. The trucks hold about 8 people. He found some passengers and 4 french people piled in. Dave was none-too impressed and made that clear, making reference to a controversial handball by Thierri Henry, much to the disgust of the french people. We got out of the taxi, leaving the "handballing bastards" and made our way back to our cabin (we were back in the airconditioned one). We had to be up pretty early for the ferry the next day.

We got up early, checked out and headed for the ferry to take us to Koh Samui. We were planning on spending the day there before getting a flight to Hong Kong. The ferry journey was a dodgy one after the night before, and Dave even took a little nap in the "departure lounge" which was basically the side of a street.

We arrived in Koh Samui feeling very tired after our travelling so we grabbed a quick bite to eat before finding a little beach attached to a hotel and lay under a tree to sleep for the day. We headed for a lovely restaurant for our last meal in Thailand and ordered our favourites; Dave got Pad Thai and I got Chicken and Cashew Nuts.

When it was time to get to the airport, we hailed a taxi to bring us there. It was dark at this stage, and the taxi took us through well-lit streets and we quietly wished we could have stayed in Koh Samui a bit longer. At the airport, we checked our bags and went through security. It was the nicest airport we had ever been in. The shops and restaurants were out doors along a walkway, where piped music played dodgy versions of the cranberries "Zombie" and other famous classics. We called into an icecream parlour and tucked into some Gelato before heading to the departure lounge which was a little hut. It was so nice to sit there and read while waiting on our plane, but we did make sure we had plenty of bug spray on us! We boarded the plane which was bound for Bangkok (again- if I ever see that place again it'll be too soon!) and then we got a connecting flight to Hong Kong. We felt a mixture of excitement and sadness; as we were due to stay with my cousin Fiona in Hong Kong, but it was to be the last stop of our world trip.

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Photos

At Lime n Soda
This beach was part of our resort.

Lime n Soda Beach
The pool and bar were just to my left!

Red Snapper
One of the best meals we had on our travels!

Motorbikin'
We biked all the way across the Island only to get caught in a torrential storm

The Torrential Storm
By the time we saw this, it was too late!

Post half-moon party snooze
Waiting on the ferry to Koh Samui, Dave had a little nap. He was a bit worse for wear after the Half-Moon Party! (Check out his naff bracelet)