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Published: March 26th 2009
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We arrived on Koh Pha-Ngan at 9pm after yet another hideous journey, this one taking 12 hours and spanning 5 different modes of transport. On the ferry across from the mainland we had met a guy who was touting his hostel and had agreed to stay there for the first night, partly because he was offering a free transfer from the port and we were too knackered, hot and sticky to try and organise our own transport after a whole day on the road. It turned out that his place was actually really nice. Just a short cab journey away from Haad Rin, the party central area of Koh Pha-Ngan and with its own pool and the beach a stones throw away the place was a bargain at 400 baht (about 8 pounds) a night.
The first night we ate a quick meal and then went to bed exhausted. The next day we went shopping in Haad Rin because some of the tops we'd been lugging around with us since the beginning of the trip were starting to look a little worse for wear and needed binning. We stayed in town for the evening and had some tasty Thai curry
before heading back to our place for a lovely refreshing late night swim in the pool. The 17th March we spent the day just chilling out by the pool and drinking fantastic tropical fruit shakes before dolling up in our new clothes and catching a taxi (well, a pick-up truck with benches in the back) into Haad Rin with a really cool Australian couple we'd met called Emma and Ryan. As it was St. Particks' day we went to the local Irish bar where we bumped into a group of Irish girls we'd met on the way to the hostel from the ferry, and another couple called Keith and Anna, and settled down as a group for a few beers and buckets of the local (ultra sweet but very cheap) whisky and coke. It was fairly disgusting but at 250 baht (5 pounds) a bucket we weren't complaining.
Koh Pha-Ngan is famous for it's full moon parties where thousands upon thousands of people descend on the island around the 8th of each month and head for Haad Rin beach where there is an almighty party that goes on well into the next day. Due to other things we wanted
to do when the full moon was out (and the fact we're not big dance music fans) we'd planned to hit the island for one of the smaller half moon parties instead and on the 18th we met up with Emma and Ryan and the Irish girls (apologies for not naming you all but its partly because I don't dare try and spell your names!) and got a minibus to the party. The half moon parties are held in the centre of the island in the jungle instead of Haad Rin beach and when we got there we were a little disappointed to find out that there was a 300 baht (6 pounds) entrance fee each. It's not that much in the grand scale of things but as 600 baht is a sizeable portion of our daily budget we were a little annoyed. The party was a good laugh but not quite as mad, or indeed as good, as we'd been led to believe. There was around 1,000 people there and the atmosphere was similar to being at a small festival, with beer and merchandise stands and one main stage where the DJs played what seemed to my ears to
be fairly generic house music. We all found a table near the back and decided to have a couple of buckets and chill out instead of try and dance in the crowded main area. A few buckets and hours later the music unexpectedly cut off, just about the time we were starting to get warmed up for a dance and a little while later people started herding us out of the venue and towards the waiting taxis outside. We'd heard that these parties were meant to go on all night so were asking people why we were being turfed out at 2am and did hear other revellers saying something about it being because of trouble at the last party but we weren't sure if this was just rumours or not. Either way we got into a taxi and headed back feeling slightly let down.
The rest of the time in Koh Pha-Ngan was just spend relaxing by the pool and eating lots of tasty Thai food. Then on the morning of the 20th we packed our bags and headed off to Koh Tao, the island next door.
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mum
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New clothes
Hi kids, How smart you both look in your new clothes. how fantastic Koh Pha-ngn looks!.and do i detect the faintest signs of a suntan on Amy's lilley white skin?Lee has obviously not been washing his chin as much as the rest of his body though!!! miss you both loads. Carry on having the time of your lives. Carry on with the best blogg, doing a fab job!!! loads of lovexxxx mum/jayne