Wednesday May 6, 2009 Ko Phangan

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Wednesday May 6, 2009 Ko Phangan
The ferry left Koh Tao at 10 am for the hour and a half trip to Koh Pha Ngnan so it was an earlier start than normal. Got the cheaper boat too so it was a standard ferry not a faster more comfortable catamaran. Docked in Thong Sala and got in the back of a taxi which brought us towards Haad Rin. We’d book accommodation in advance in Lighthouse Bungalows on Leela beach and had to pay the full 5 days in advance which was kind of annoying, but lots of places have minimum stays and advance payments for the full moon periods. Found Lighthouse Bungalows hugging the rock cliff face at the far end of the beach ages from anywhere. Checked out the room and immediately regretted paying up front, because I bet all the insects we were sharing with were paying nothing, definitely not the two huge dragon flies flying around. We decided refund or not we weren’t going to stay there so headed off down the beach to some of the other places we had seen. There were only 4 places to stay on the beach and the second one ·Coco hut had a grand room for only 500 baht with a shared bathroom but the bathrooms were almost the cleanest we’ve seen yet in Thailand. They also had a pool and was right on the most gorgeous beach we’ve seen yet on our travels, maybe ever.

So we headed back and asked for a refund which they said they could only give us if they rented out the room, and we trekked back up the beach with our back packs. It was only about 5 minutes walk into Haad rin where all the partying happens so good location, far enough away for the madness to arrive on your doorstep and you’d defo want to keep some of the weirdos in this place away from you. IN general it is fine though, a huge amount of English kids again. Haad Rin itself is quiet developed, full of crap restaurants, bars and internet and travel shops. Nothing appealing at all about it, especially having come from the bliss that was Koh Tao. We had some dinner and decided to walk up the Sunrise beach to see all the clubs and things. It was about 10pm but it was very quiet still. We weren’t much in the mood for staying out and waiting for something to kick off anyhow so headed home to save ourselves for another night

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