Beaches and Full Moons

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Day 9 - Surat Thani to Ko Pha-Ngan

We got rudely awoken at 5.00am by the train guard screaming at us to get off the train, as it was our stop. We did not even have a few minutes warning, it was a case of "quickly, quickly, get off, get off" and I (Sarah) had a major panick when I could not get my padlock off my bag that was attached to my bed. Luckily we all got off fine and typically the train sat there for a further 10 minutes.
We were met by the people we booked our transfer with and boarded the first coach to Surat Thani from the train station we arrived at. We had a short coach journey to a random tourist office in the middle of no where with loads of other back-packers looking equally as tired as us. We had to wait there for a couple of hours which was a serious low point in the journey and I did not enjoy the rooming dogs around my feet! After the wait was up we got another coach to the main pier and again we had a long wait for the boat. I was slightly worried by the luggage situation on the boat, with there being no other option than to add your bag to the masive pile of bags.
After stopping to drop people off in Koh samui we arrived in Koh Pha-Ngan after our 2 hour boat journey. Finally we had reached the island after our mamouth 48 journey from the north! It was really nice to know that we would be staying in the same place for the next 3 nights. After the best shower of my life we spent the rest of the afternoon chilling by the pool. Our accomodation here is really nice and there are amazing views. The only downside is that it is on the other side of the island from all the action but the owners are extremely helpful and provide free taxis to the beach, supermarket etc.

Day 10 - Ko Pha-Ngan

After a leisurely wake up (I think it was our first lie-in) we headed to the nearest beach for the day. For an "average" Thai beach it was very pretty and there is an island just off the beach that you can easily swim to. Rob and I bought a snorkel and swam over to the island and towards the snorkelling area. It was not the most amazing snorkelling but we saw some really coulourful fish and some gross sea cucumbers.
After a good 5 hour stint on the beach we headed back to our bungalows to start getting ready for the Full Moon party.
We had some pre-drinks at the resort before getting the minibus at 10 o'clock to Hat Rin beach. There was definitely no camera, passport or bank cards going with us so my bag was very empty! The first thing we did was buy some luminous body paint to decorate ourselves and then we continued to the beach. Luckily we bumped into Katie's cousin on the way (I do not know how we were so lucky with there being 18.000 other people at the party). The atmosphere was incredible, with all the bars along the beach pumping out music onto the beach. We all tucked into our buckets of alcohol and danced until we could not move anymore. For most of the time I enjoyed the trance but by 4 o'clock my head was saying no more!

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Photos

Waiting
A 2 hour wait at 6 in the morning - I think you can see how everyone was feeling.

Beer O'clock
A couple of brewskis in the pool at Utopia - bliss.

Drinks
A few drinks and more "Who's in the Bag" on our balcony.

Mae Hat
A nice day spent swimming and snorkelling on Mae Hat beach.

The Full Moon
The full moon before the party.

Full Moon Party
Everyone painted up for some Full Moon action.

Comments

[Lorna]

For some reason I am sat here laughing a lot at the thought of Sarah covered in fluro body paint ;-) miss you chuck