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Published: January 6th 2010
We were sad to leave lovely Koh Tao but were excited to get the ferry to Koh Pha Ngan to meet our friends, Chris and Zoe, who'd flown out to celebrate New Years with us! We had treated ourselves to a nice resort rather than the usual beach bungalow (a.k.a. shed with a bed!) in the north of the island in Chaloklum Bay, which Zoe had booked months before on the internet! The ferry was busy and the pier at KPN was heaving with taxi touts.......everyone was coming to KPN for NYE!
We were thrilled to see our friends. They'd kindly bought Christmas gifts from family back home AND some Marmite and Vanish stain remover. Essentials. Zoe had had to visit KPN hospital because some mosquito bites had got infected and her ankles had swollen so we took it easy that day. We spent the remaining days of 2009 exploring the island on scooters, snorkling on the nice beach and cuddling puppies at Haad Salad, climbing Khao Raa the highest point on the island (a grueling 5km jungle hike) and generally having a jolly nice time.
One of the main reasons for coming here was to go to the
KPN
New Years Eve dinnerNYE Full Moon Party at Haad Rin beach, which is exactly what we did along with pretty much the whole island. The beach was lined with fire signs, loud sound systems, lights and bucket bars. The area was packed with happy people, but not too busy for it to be uncomfortable or annoying. We drank some vodka redbull buckets, painted ourselves with UV body paint, chatted to loads of fellow travellers, had a dance and watched the amazing fireworks at midnight. We all had such a good time and started the New Year in unforgettable style. Our hangovers weren't even that bad the next day (makes a change for New Years Day!) and we spent a lazy day at the local beach and playing frisbee. That night we went to Tonsala (in the back of a truck) and had Thai massages and went in search of a bar called The Masons Arms (Zoe's surname s Mason so we just had to). It was a proper English country pub and we relaxed in the beer garden listening to live music and we all ate handsome plates of good old British grub! The best hangover cure ever.
We said a sad
KPN
Haad Rin goodbye to Chris and Zoe and went back to Bangkok via uncomfortable and long winded Thai transportation. We stayed near Khao San Road again (Sawadee House) despite this aeaa being very busy. We went to Sukhumvit on the metro and skytrain to find an outdoor skate park for Dee. We bumped into Ben and Dino & Miguel (who we'd hung out with in Goa) plus their friends Reto and Anya. It was great to be reunited with those guys again and we went out that night to celebrate. We had a few cocktails, a few too many buckets, we went to Patpong red light district to see a ping pong show (the things you do when you're drunk, eh!), we squeezed 7 of us in a taxi (safety first) and danced the night away in a Khao San club. Good times. We also got chatting to an English couple in a cafe the next day who turned out to be from Northampton........small world!
We spent our last day in BKK nursing hangovers and stocking up on Imodium for our next adventure in Cambodia.........
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Debs
non-member comment
Jealous
How jealous am I as I sitting in my freezing cold house looking out at my snow covered garden. A day at home with kids for me because school transport has been cancelled. You don't need a sherpa to carry your bags do you? It looks like you are having a great time. Happy new year to you both. Can't wait to see you when you finally return to hear all your stories. lots of luv deb and Jamie xxx