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Published: December 8th 2005
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Ko Pha Ngan - 4 Nights
Our third week in and we were off to the east coast of the south of Thailand. After a boat, truck, minibus, truck and coach we arrived at the ferry terminal. The weather was fierce and it was raining very hard and the gulf of Thailand did not look like what you see in the photos. After 3 hours on the ferry we arrived in Ko Pha Ngan and decided to use the when in rome policy and head straight to the party town of Hat Rin.
After befriending an englishmen Joey and his lovely canadian girl Laura we were given the lowdown on the place and kicked back on some soft cushions in a lovely bar called the outback bar. We found a room and headed out with our new friends to an r'n'b club called cactus. Its an ironic name cactus, because that is what i proceeded to do to myself for 3 nights running after discovering buckets, which contain a bottle of Thai whisky, redbull (6 x stronger than oz redbull) and coke. Now these buckets are highly addictive as they taste so good and you can dance for hours,
but unfortunately you feel like you are going to die the whole of the next day. I really did love them until I had to sober up. Lucky it was for only 3 days and I don't plan to do it again any time soon.
Meanwhile a monster monsoon was raging through the area and there were mudslides and landslips all over the island and we were stuck without electricity and flooding up to the knees, plus we couldn't really get out, hence why the drinking went on.
I don't have fond memories of this place, except for the people and the laughs we had, but it seemed like paradise lost or gone wrong (they have fullmoon parties with up to 30,000 people here every month, everyone off there head on a cocktail of drugs), and if Ko Pha Ngan is a Ying then Ko Tao our next destination is definately the Yang!
Ko Tao - 3 Nights
Finally the monsoon looked like holding out and luckily it did until the day we departed Ko Tao.
We ferried our way to Ko Tao, the island name in english is "turtle island" as it was once
home to many turtles and it kinda resembles a big turtle too. I knew I would love this place as soon as I heard its name! The island is famous as a diving and snorkelling mecca thanks to the waters high visibility, abundant coral and diverse marine life. There is really no package tourists here, so you can definately find your own slice of paradise without sharing it with a fat people who complain about everything (I have experienced this already).
Rane and I hired motorbikes and began exploring the island for somewhere to stay. At $5 a day for a brand new automatic 125cc you can't go wrong, plus they are not nearly as dangerous as a big dirtbike or 4 wheeler (I would have been dangerous on one of these!)
We heard 'Freedom Beach' was secluded and very beautiful, so we head that way and the first place we found was 'OK2 Bungalows'. These bungalows are built on the side of a mountain and sit among big granite-like boulders that come right into your bathroom. The host of OK2 Bungalows name is 'Porn' (it really is) and he was a likeable guy who's whole family quickly
Buckets at 11am
Kiddies you have been warned they will kill you, sorry about my farmer brown shirt, it often happens when you only have 2 sets of clothes! warmed to us. We were sold and I got my own bungalow 2 metres from the water (a coral reef at my front door) for 300 baht ($10 aussie) a night. He kept offering us dope, mushrooms and 16 year old girls but I told him my wife would stab me in the heart if I did any of them, funnily he actually left me alone which is rare when you are being heckled in Thailand.
With Rane, Mel and I were kiwi Tim and French Canadian David and we became a bikie gang and explored the island together, going through water obstacles on roads and climbing tracks that a dirt bike would have trouble on. If someone said a track was impossible I was happy to be the test dummy and take it on. People tell horror stories about return bikes and being hit with all sorts of bills for damage, luckily I didn't drop mine (lucky coz all I wore were boardies and pluggers). We mostly went snorkelling, swimming and layed in our bungalow hammocks during our 3 days in Ko Tao. This is a superb place to stay if you want some real paradise. It was
Joey on Guitar
Around 3pm after many buckets Joey can still carry a tune! sad to say goodbye to Porn after our many funny, happy and twisted conversations, he was a very welcoming host.
Now we head back to Bangkok (10 hours) for a couple of days and then onto Chaing Mai in the north.
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Evan!
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Dazza rocks!
As I say, Dazza rocks!