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Published: August 18th 2014
Ko Pha Ngan
We hopped on the ferry at Koh Tao, just a reminder that Hannah was feeling sicky bad by this stage (the words 'I can't do this anymore' and 'I think this is the end' were uttered). Han was hoping a sleep on the ferry would help cure her, however once on the boat we had to endure the roughest 2 hour crossing!! We also got split up and I got stuck beside the bin (this would have been fine had about a quarter of the boat not been suffering from seasickness and putting their used sick bags in the bin!). So in true Lauren form I napped and poor Hannah had to try and keep herself in one piece.
We stumbled off the ferry in Ko Pha Ngan, Hannah trying not to pass out and me bleary eyed from all the sleep, and were bombarded by people shouting and asking us if we needed accommodation. It was the most intense welcome we had in any place we've arrived so far. After quite a few no thank you's we got into a taxi and headed to our guesthouse, Cosy Bungalows. There was very little cosy
about it but by Thai standards it was a decent enough room. It was a little wooden hut with holes in the floor, another ant infestation (same same), had a cold shower and a little porch with a very questionable hammock but it was clean and the beds were comfy which was all we could ask for 300 baht a night (around £6).
After settling in on our porch we were greeted by an interesting American guy called Stan - very nice but a bit much for our current state and British character. We headed to dinner with him then went to explore Haad Rin beach (where full moon is held). It was the opposite of full moon as it was so quiet! Hannah was still feeling grim so we headed home and had an early night.
The next few days were spent exploring beaches and topping up our tans during the day and allowing Han to recover from her mystery illness. Nothing too exciting so here's the highlights of Ko Pha Ngan.
On the second night it was the Dark Moon party. After 7 hours of rain and questioning our
sense to go to the middle of nowhere we jumped on the bandwagon and shared a taxi with 17 other people (these taxis hold on average 9 people comfortably). Here we met some fabulous Scottish girls, Vicci, Becky & Julie (sorry Vicci but you're an honorary scot now), who we spent the night with. Dark moon consisted of the classic UV paint on our faces (stars for me, lizard for Hannah), horrific psychedelic trance music, a very drunk boy taking selfies, Becky (one of the Scottish girls) being harassed for drugs by multiple people, the girls drinking pretty much straight Thai whiskey and convincing Stan it was a magic mushroom shake and a random girl who took at least 50 of the same photo with Julie. After around 4 hours of what felt like the same song we called it quits. In our taxi home we met the most negative nancy ever. While discussing our time diving he said 'oh I heard of someone who went scuba diving and their whole face broke' among other things.
The next day we chilled out on the beach with the girls and were introduced to Steve the lilo (who we
kindly inherited along with a snorkel both of which are now scattered around the Thai island - sorry Vicci Steve's best days were with you). We also met some very cute puppies this day. Then we got caught in a big old thunderstorm and ordered ice cream (because that's the best thing to do when you're drenched and cold obviously). An hour long taxi ride, 5 soaked girls, 2 cold showers and a huge spider and Hannah coming to the rescue later it was dinner time.
Day 4 in Ko Pha Ngan was leaving day. The girls and Hannah and I were all getting the same ferry so we trooped off together and said our goodbyes when Hannah and I had to get off in Koh Samui.
Ko Pha Ngan did not really make a lasting impression on us as a place. The people were fun but due to the time we went it was dead and probably like a different place compared to during full and half moon. The beaches were beautiful and nice a clean which was a bonus. It was also pretty expensive there even though we were the furthest from
peak time. Also dark moon was not the place to be unless you loved trance music (once again that night was made by the people there). It may. Have been a combination of the timing, illness and weather but we wouldn't hurry back there.
KOH SAMUI
Koh Samui was our first experience of rocking up somewhere without accommodation booked. We had read about a good backpacker hostel in the Chaweng area so we got in a taxi and headed there. We got lucky in that we got 2 beds in the first hostel we tried. We were placed in a 12 person dorm and were very fortunate that everyone in the dorm and the other rooms were really friendly. Here we met Anton, Iggy, Kristine, Aoife, Louise, Laura, Alex, Katie, Carolin, Luke and a few others. We got invited out with everyone for dinner and a trip to the local ladyboy show that night.
Around 18 of us headed out that evening and after the ladyboy show (once again very eye opening and left us stunned) we went to a bar called Arc bar. We've just spent the last 5 minutes trying to decide which
ladyboy show we liked better out of the 2 we've seen and we can't decide so you'll just have to go see one for yourself!
Arc bar was a really cool place right on the beach and it had a fire show (they are all over the islands). After arc bar we went to Green Mango (the super club which was just an outdoor club with 2 rooms) and danced the night away. On our way home we were introduced to 7 Eleven cheese and ham toasties which cost 25 Baht and they heated them up for us (absolute BARGAIN).
The next day we woke up late and we were going to go to the waterfall but after we found out that it was better value to do a tour we had to hold off until the next day so we just headed to the beach with everyone and spent the day here chilling. This day we lost some people (Anton and Laura) but gained some newbie (fellow Northern Irish girls called Anna and Helen). Greg (our dive instructor) was coming to Koh Samui to renew his visa so we arranged to go for dinner with
him and meet up with everyone else afterwards.
Once we met with the lovely Greg we went to an Aussie bar for some steak and ribs (sticking to the Thai you see haha). It was a fabulous meal and then we chilled there listening to the lovely Thai lady cover western songs while making up her own words which was fun. Also Greg gave us the most fabulous bracelets with turtles on them as we had forgotten to get bracelets while in Koh Tao (handmade by a one eyed midget apparently haha).
We headed to Arc bar and met everyone and then repeated the night before except before Green Mango we went to a bar called Hush that played some ghetto RnB music (Hannah was in her element!). Cheese and ham toasties were consumed on the way home and I somehow managed to agree to get up at 8am to book us on the same tour as Katy and Louise to see the waterfall the next day.
I arose at 8am and booked us on the afternoon tour leaving at 11:30 to see the waterfall and the other beauties that Koh Samui had to offer.
While we were on the same tour as Katy and Louise we were on a different bus so we trotted off to ours while they got picked up at the hostel (I feel like we got the short straw there). Anyway, the tour consisted of a viewpoint (very nice things to look at); some rocks shaped like female and male genitals (named grandmother and grandfather rock - apparently there was some love story about a an and woman getting lost a see together but I think the Thais were just cashing in on the shapes of the rocks); an unexpected stop at a monkey show (which was horrific and we didn't actually go near it - interestingly there were about 5 of us who stayed on the bus and one girl got particularly upset about it, it certainly was a sight for sore eyes); a mummified monk who had died 40 years before in the meditating position (he was repping some very interesting sunglasses). After all of this we finally got to the waterfall. Once we trekked up to it we felt like waterfall was a slight over exaggeration. Never the less we paddled our feet at the top but
jumping in to the ankle deep water was not high on the agenda even though it was suggested on the advert half way up (that picture was most definitely photoshopped)! After the waterfall we ended up on Katy and Louise's bus (even though the tour guide kept trying to convince us to do a 6 hour tour rather than 4 hours) and headed to see 2 more temples then it was home time.
We arrived at the hostel to find Aoife and Alex settling down to watch a movie so we all jumped on the bandwagon and watched We Are The Millars. The hostel owner was a really cool guy called Ricky who made us some cheese and butter popcorn (amazing!).
A friend from school, Curtis, had just arrived in Samui so we arranged to meet him and his pals for a drink which escalated into another arc bar, hush, green mango and ham and cheese toastie night.
On our last full day in Samui pretty much everyone of the original lot left. Alex and Katy headed to Phi Phi (we arranged to meet them there the next day), Louise headed to Koh Tao and
Iggy and Kristine headed off too. So it was just Helen, Anna Aoife and Hannah and I left. We had asked the lady who worked in the hostel could we have one more night that morning and she had agreed, so we paid and headed to the beach with Anna and Helen. After about an hour there Aoife arrived and told us they had been packing up our things in the hostel and moving us out so we scurried back to find out what was going on. When we got back Ricky explained that there wasn't any beds left as people had booked before we had but luckily they had sorted us out a room in a guesthouse a few doors up. It was such a nice room that we definitely weren't complaining in the end 😊.
We also booked our transfer to phi phi for the next day (leaving at 6:30am!) and went to the massage parlour and got pedicures (Hannah's first and only one thus far).
That night we met Hannah's friends from home, George and Jon, who had just arrived in Samui (the place to be apparently) and Anna and Helen. It was supposed to
be a casual early one as we were leaving early and Anna and Helen were leaving for Koh Tao at 9am but instead the night ended at 3am!! It was a funny night that consisted of George and Jon getting Chang-ed, Jon deciding to go swimming in his underwear in the very shallow sea (fail) and some terrible Louis impressions - 'you made it your own' was the catchphrase of the evening. At 3am we headed off and said a big goodbye to the girls and tried to get what little sleepwear could.
Koh Samui was definitely made by the people we met there! It is a very touristy island (kind of like going to Spain) and the beach we were at wasn't that good but I think there is a nicer one further north which we didn't see. There were a lot of really young children selling flower necklaces around the bars until very late and also a lot of young gibbons and iguanas being exploited for tourist entertainment which both Hannah and I struggled to witness. All in all it was another island that we are glad we experienced but wouldn't go rushing back to.
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