Koh Phangan

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Our day started early ready for our boat trip to Koh Phangan, we had breakfast of tea and toast before we got picked up and dropped at Nathon pier. When we arrived we found a seat and took in the people around us. One thing that we had observed more and more were the amount of families that travelled, with young children. We don’t understand how a 5 year old can understand the beauty of Thailand and for a young child to have to go through the travelling is surely unfair.
Once we got on the boat we headed downstairs and as we sat down noticed a group of boys, and amongst them was our friend from Bangkok, Lewis! The best thing about travelling is you will just bump into the same people again without even trying too…sometimes not a good thing though! Anyway we caught up and Lewis filled us in on his travels up to Lao and Chiang Mai with some northern boys and us about the islands. We planned to catch up that night for dinner and meet the northern boys from the boat in Haad Rin.
We got to Koh Phangan after another hot and sweaty journey to be picked up by the central cottage van. Once inside we thought it wouldn’t be long until we got back so we could chill and EAT! But nooo we are still on Thailand time, so we were driven around the shops and food stalls while the big boss lady of central cottage did her weekly shop! Over an hour later we made it back and went for food and had a power nap ready to head to Haad rin. Firstly stepping out onto the beach to take in the view again, it seemed different but the same. There were more people around, but the sun shined around the bay and it still looked impressive with the long tail boats moored up.
We found a taxi company that would drive us there; we got in the back of the trunk and headed down the bumpy roads to Haad rin. When we arrived it looked like we had both had a dodgy spray tan where all the dust from the road and got us!
We met up with Lewis and sat down for some dinner on the beach of carbonara which as more like pad Thai and garlic bread with massive lumps of garlic still on top. Then after a catch up we got ourselves a bucket and sat on the beach at Cactus bar watching the fire dancers. It wasn’t long until we bumped into the northern guys and got chatting again. There were a few flashes of thunder and lightning and then a sudden downpour of rain forcing everyone on the beach to pile into cactus bar where the party continued. The rain didn’t last long and we were soon back outside. Lewis being a dare devil and bit of a show off decided to participate in the fire breathing on the beach. The revellers at the beach started to drift off so at around 3am we decided against getting the truck all the way back to the other side of the island so Lewis kindly let us crash in his room. In the morning we rang Tong our favourite taxi driver and he came to pick us up at 11am.
Shattered we headed back to our beach hut for a few hours kip, when we finally awoke we were starving so went for a wander along the street behind the beach and settled on a little place called Chilli’s, which for the rest of our time in Tong Nai Pan became our favourite place to eat. After a good feed we headed back to the beach and had a dip in the sea and swim in the pool. The sea didn’t seem the same as our last visit to the island, there was lots of coral and boats bringing people over for the day that smelt a bit fishy. It was not just the sea that seemed different to before but infact the whole beach was a lot busier, as we recalled the first day Danni and I arrived 2 years ago we were the only people on the beach.
Still suffering slightly from the night before and the long journey the day before we decided to have a chilled night and watched a few episodes of our favourite programme Gavin and Stacey before getting an early night.
We woke the next day late and had some brunch and went and sat on the beach. When we were in the pool we were doing some eavesdropping and overheard 2 girls talking about Torquay, so we went and said hi saying that we were both from Torquay too. We got chatting and they filled us in about their travels one of the girls lived in Vietnam as a teacher and they had travelled down Vietnam then into Thailand. After chatting to the girls we went for some food at a place on the beach called Flip-flop pharmacy, a noisy bar at the back of our hut and had a yummy pizza and chips.
We were heading to Haad rin again to meet the boys so got ready and headed over on the same trunk again, with company called Honey travel, with the same driver, Tong. We went to Drop in bar first which was up one end of the beach and watched some fire dancers, when they were throwing fire batons at each other. It seems mental how they can do it when they touch there feet and spin them around at such speed! We had a bucket to share and sat listening to the good old school music they were playing, our favourite ‘Tupac- changes’! We then moved down to cactus bar and started talking to 3 girls; we counted down at midnight with them until one of the girls turned 21. We danced around with them and got some uv face paint down, then bumped into the 3 lads from Koh Samui and introduced them to the girls. The night was getting late when we saw Lewis when we danced a bit more before heading back on the truck for half hour to our beds.
The next day we were feeling a little bit delicate and got up late before heading to the pool. Where the Torquay girls were again, we chatted some more and talked about our plans for full moon party. We then headed back to chilli’s our new favourite place for food, when we had a massive feast of cheese salad baguettes, chips, nachos and shakes. The owner was there again and she smiled at us as we got our food, although we had already made the observation that she was a lady boy with slim hips and big hands (and an Adams apple!)it was easy to spot. Our day ended early in bed by half 9 and watching some more Gavin and Stacey.
We woke early the next day excited that Nathan was arriving with his friends. We ate breakfast of tea and toast at our hotel and had a young thai boy serve us who found our accents funny. He repeated after Zoe when she said ‘little’, ‘water’ and ‘alrite’in his best cockney accent. We headed straight to the beach and chilled waiting for the boys to arrive.
We headed to chillis for lunch again and the owner smiled at us once more. The boys arrived at 3pm and they headed straight on the beach. Not quite being able to appreciate the beach as the boys were tired after their 21 hour journey, they headed straight into the sea. We then all went to have showers and wandered down the beach to find a place for for dinner. As we wandered down the beach you could see all the lights from the lanterns hanging in the trees and fire dancers further down the beach. We decided on a nice restaurant Zoe and I had been to 2 years ago and the food was just as good as we remembered. We had an Indian feast of Dahl, paneer tikka, samosas, naan bread and rice! After dinner we headed back along the beach as people were letting off Chinese lanterns up and down the beach. We took the boys to Yai bar, which was a place we went to a lot before to chill; it was no longer chilled with load music and lots of drunken people.
We got up at 10am to watch the boys go running; which they had planned to get up and go for a run along the beach, we wanted to have a good laugh at them. But none of them were to be seen until the afternoon. So we headed for our breakfast at chillis again and then spent the day on the beach and in the pool. When the boys got up we talked about our plans for full moon then all got ready with Zoe and I turning into Super girl and Wonder woman for the night!
Once we were all ready we headed to chillis for food to introduce the boys to all the yummy food and lady boy owner. We had the best carbonara and garlic bread yet and a watermelon shake with vodka; reminding us of our time in Koh Samui with our Australian friends! We then all headed to 7/11 to make up our own buckets with hong thong (thai whiskey or rum we aren’t quite sure..) and then sat on the beach whilst we waited to get our taxi to the FULLMOON PARTY!
The truck ride was as bumpy as ever, not good for bucket spillage! After about half an hour the truck stopped randomly at a clearing at the side of the road, the driver told us to get out and another truck would be on its way in 5 minutes. Being Thailand time this ended up being twenty minutes later when another truck finally came to pick us up. Ten minutes later we had arrived. The boys were excited as they didn’t know what to expect and Danni and I were excited as it would be our 2nd full moon party, although this was an altogether different experience……
After paying 100 baht each and putting on our cool full moon wristbands we bought some uv paint and paint brushes and attempted to barter for some sweat bands. On route to the beach we stopped off at 7/11 to make our own cheap buckets and told the boys we would go and chill on the beach and paint each other. As we approached the beach you couldn’t see beyond the massive crowd of people covered in paint, dancing and drinking. The last full moon we went to there were seating areas on the beach where we all sat, chilled, painted one another and got chatting to random people. We were shocked at just how busy it was and so stopped just before cactus bar on the street and painted each other.
We painted the boys faces neatly and our own ended up covered in yellow splodges! The first friends we spotted were the Torquay girls so we went inside cactus bar for a boogie with them. Deciding they were boring Danni and I decided to brave it onto the busy beach and spotted some guys we had chatted to on Thursday night, one of whom was the spitting image of Amir Kahn. Our Thailand tune came on (Black eyed peas ‘I’ve gotta feelin’) so we headed for the stage to show off our dance moves and got chatting to some New Zealand guys who added to our painted faces, drawing Danni some delightful Harry Potter glasses and me smudged Dame Edna glasses.
After paying 10 baht each to use some very unclean toilets we got chatting to an Irish couple who were on their honeymoon. It was about 3am and we decided to take a walk up the beach to see what was going on and search for Lewis and the boys. Looking amazing in our super girl and wonder woman costumes people kept stopping us to admire our outfits and take pictures of us. We walked nearly the length of the beach up to Drop In bar and couldn’t spot anyone we knew through the crowds. Somehow we must have turned our backs on each other, and when we turned back neither of us could find the other. Panic stricken we both spent the next 2 hours walking up and down the beach trying to find our fellow super heroes. Luckily we were not alone Danni had bumped into Lewis when she was sat on the pavement with a mysterious cut on her leg, he kindly helped her stop the bleeding and gave her some plasters, and Dale a guy we had met in Chaweng spotted me and helped me look for Danni, which at 5am we eventually bumped into one another, the 2 super heroes reunited.
The sun soon came up and we wondered along the beach taking in all the people that were slowly dispersing; some still cutting some shapes on the podiums, others swimming in the sea and some still with buckets in their hands! We wandered further up the beach and stopped for some pizza slices which were just the ticket and headed to the meeting spot we had to the boys to meet at half 6. We found only one of the boys; Ben, Nathans friend, we all wandered back down along the beach to find Nathan heading towards us in his bright pink shorts. Then further along the beach we found the rest of the crew dancing away still outside drop in bar. The time was now 7.30am and we decided it was time to head back but the boys and a different idea. We left them to it and went in search of a taxi to take us home…once in a taxi after waiting Thailand time we had some incredibly annoying French people in the trunk shouting and being rude.
We made it back and headed straight to bed. Once we woke in the afternoon and took off the plasters and had a look at my wound it was a lot worse than it seemed before. I quickly redressed it and we headed for the nurses unit down the road. When we got there what we would describe as a HCA took me into examination room and had a look at the cut, we both decided that it would probably need stitches. She went off and got the staff nurse who returned 10 minutes later which had given me time to freak myself out! She came in and laughed at the fact I was freaking out as she knew I was a nurse. She kept pointing and saying ‘Thailand Tattoo, Thailand tattoo’, after having a giggle at me she got all the equipment ready. All the packs were sterile, but not disposable as they were metal dishes. She cleaned the wound, and then injected local anaesthetic; by this point I had stopped watching and Zoe held my hand. Although at this point I was more concerned for Zoe as her grip got looser I thought she may pass out as her hand got more clammy! Zoe assured me she was ok and just felt slightly faint. The stitching felt like it went on forever, but when she finished I had a look and approved of her good stitches. I said a big thank you and she gave us another giggle saying ‘Thailand Tattoo’ again… We came out and she gave my antibiotics and pain killers, filling out paper work for me to apply for travel insurance. In total it cost £70, which would be no point in applying through insurance when excess is £75 
We then headed to our favourite place for food, Chilli’s, after we went back to our room to start packing ready for our next journey to Krabi. We met up with the boys who were still feeling very delicate and headed for food our last meal with them before we went our separate ways. We had an early night watching Gavin and Stacey first, sadly nearly finishing all 3 series!
The next day we had an early start at 8.30am as check out was 9.30am, went for a big breakfast to fill us up for our journey before saying goodbye to the boys and setting off on our journey to Beautiful Phi Phi. Only a truck, 2 boats and a bus stood in our way……………

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