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Published: December 7th 2009
Sunset at the superb Sarikantang
See just how much hard work and effort is put into writing these blogs - note laptop in one hand; Mai Tai in the other!!THURS 29 OCT 09
The Sarikantang Resort and Spa states on its brochure that it is like a 'home away from home' and 'a little slice of heaven' ... and my oh my - it was just that!!
Even though we arrived two days early and ten minutes before the girls at reception were due to leave for the night - they welcomed us with warm smiles and free drinks and tried their best to accommodate us and make us feel at ease. Unfortunately, they were fully booked out of the bungalows which we had booked to stay in but agreed to give us a deluxe double bungalow at half the advertised price, still a little more than what the original bungalow would have cost us but rather than being stuck on the beach for a night, we signed for the room.
The bungalow was adorable and quite unique, gorgeous wooden bungalow with a huge bedroom all decked in white and browns and greens, a balcony area complete with hammock and a shower which was actually outside, the windows just branches of wood - you were showering under the stars, it would have been just perfect if
there were no mosi's!
The following morning we explored the resort - our bungalow backed onto beautiful landscaped gardens, a short stroll down a gorgeous cobbled path led you to the restaurant; a gorgeous serene space with stylish little wooden tables and chairs in the centre, the ceiling was covered in fairy lights, palm trees lined the outside walls and comfy sofas the inside walls. The colours and styling were very contemporary. The food was out of this world and the smoothies so moreish we were having three or four a day. The best shakes were the frozen Lazzi's - I loved the pineapple - a mixture of ice, fresh pineapple and sugar - mmm, mmm, MMMMMM! SOOOO GOOOOOOD!
If you fancy a look at the website click on this link:
http://sarikantang.com/
We decided after all the mad dashing about and the non stop chaos of the past few weeks that a good plan of action would be just to have a few days simply chillin' on the beach. The resort provided towels and beach bags etc so we walked the massive 25m from our bungalow to the beach and the brilliant, clear blue, perfect sea. We
located two sun loungers under a cool palm tree and prepared to relax in the sun for the day ... ten minutes later ... I was bored!! I woke Paul up and suggested we hired a scooter for a day. He couldn't believe that I only lasted less than ten minutes just sitting doing nothing!!!
We inquired at reception about hiring a moped and within five minutes were the proud owners of a brand new Honda scooter (well for the next 24hrs anyway). Only problem was that much of Ko Pha Ngan is not tarmacked and is just very bumpy, dirt road. Paul was ok whilst riding on his own but as we only hired one bike, it took him a little bit of practice to get used to balancing with me on the back - very funny!!!
We rode over to the West side of the island and watched the sunset from the top of a huge hill (which we almost didn't make it up!! Don't have much power these scooter things)!
FRI 30 OCT 09
Yet another gorgeously glorious day, not a cloud in the beautiful blue sky. We grabbed a map and set
Our Scooter
Note the state of the art gas station behind out for the more remote North East side of the island. About half way there the road (well dirt track really) became quite treacherous. We decided it might be best to switch so I negotiated the remaining distance with Paul on the back. Even then, Paul had to jump off and walk at a few particularly dangerous sections where landslides and excessive rainfall had resulted in the road resembling something similar to the surface of the moon with huge craters, crevices, dramatic undulations, partially water filled potholes and a very, very slippery sand/gravel coating.
The reason we continued on, well two reasons really; firstly, we were riding out to see three waterfalls, each 1km apart and secondly, we got so far along the road we realised we didn't have enough petrol to turn back and would have to reach the waterfall as there was a place to get more petrol next to it!!! No magic petrol fairies here, dad!! We did make it to the first waterfall in one piece (both the bike and us - haha) but Paul's reaction to the trickle of water out of a rusty pipe and down a couple of rocks was SO extreme
- intense aggrevation - that I guessed he did not want to see the other two 'waterfalls' and so we filled the petrol tank and headed back towards Haad Rin, happy to be out in the sun with the wind buffeting us to an acceptable temperature!
We explored the town and shops for a few hours before returning to the gorgeous Sarikantang. We watched the sunset over the beach whilst playing cards and sipping cocktails - cant tell you all how peaceful and serene it is here, perfection.
31 OCT & 1 NOV
We had to book our stay in Ko Pha Ngan before we left the UK due to the fact that each month the island plays host to a huge beach party on the full moon and all the accommodation on Ko Pha Ngan and the neighbouring island Koh Samui books out over six months in advance. This is also the reason why we had stayed in the same place for longer than two nights as when you book over the full moon period, you have to stay a minimum of five nights. The full moon was on the 2 Nov so we headed out
to explore the pre-parties leading to the main event! A five minute walk over the mountain and down the other side led us to Haad Rin and Sunrise beach - it was pure hedonism!!!!
Hastily erected wooden stalls selling buckets lined one side of the beach, the ocean the other and the remainder of the beach was divided into small sections each hosting a different style of music. Huge speakers were piled one on top of the other providing deafening sound levels. People were dancing on huge wooden platforms or watching displays of jugglers and acrobats with fire. There were large makeshift notice boards made out of black sheets at the side of the beach near the ocean. These boards displayed images of the different fluorescent, glow in the dark paint temporary tattoos you could be emblazoned with! Lasers and light shows emanating from the majority of the bars and one bar even had a giant skipping rope which four or five people from the crowd could jump into and try to keep going - that looked quite amusing until midnight when hey set the rope ablaze and continued to allow very drunk people to skip the rope of
fire ... a few of them had to be dowsed in buckets of water if they didn't clear the rope!! No health and safety executive here then! The beach and partying were nothing at all like when I last came. Then there were only a few hundred people, no buckets, in fact only one main bar really and everyone there was just really lovely and spent much of the night talking about travelling and experiences. This was an entirely different kettle of fish! Thousands upon thousands of people, all staggering down the beach in various states of inebriation or just totally paralytic!!! The whole beach now turned into one big meat market - or one huge pick up place!! Not at all how it was in the old days, hey ... we must be getting old!!! Despite this it was still very funny and the people were much more friendly than on the opposite side of Thailand on the Andamen coast and more travellers than package holiday louts (even if when a lot of them were trying to talk to you the ulterior motive was really to chat you up)!
We actually managed to find a great little bar,
Zoom. It was the smallest and narrowest section of bar on the beach but it played the sort of music we love and had much less of the paralytic people who seemed to be more attracted to R & B or pop style music. So vodka and Sam Song (Thai whiskey) buckets in hand, we partied at Zoom for the following two evenings in preparation for the main night!
2 NOV 2009
The day of the night of the 'Full Moon Party' had arrived. The island was a hive of activity as all the shops and bars prepared for the huge influx of people from the neighbouring islands. From early that morning special speed boat services started transferring thirty to forty people a time onto Ko Pha Ngan and the ferry service was so full of people, some were virtually just clinging onto the side because there was no room in it (hence why we stayed on the island .... as I said before ... no health and safety over here you know!)
Despite the now mass popularity of the full moon party, the island still had a great atmosphere and buzz about it. You could feel the
excitement as everybody jostled around the streets to different bars and restaurants, buckets being sloshed everywhere, shops full of people buying full moon vest tops and applying face paints and the most amusing aspect ... the ever increasing mass of abandoned flip flops by the side of the road as they were kicked off as party goers ran down to the beach and waited for the sun to set.
Part of the package at Sarikantang included a large BBQ on the night of the full moon. The food was exquisite and it gave everyone who was gong from our resort chance to meet up and talk to the others going. A great idea, especially if you are a solo traveller. We had tended to spend most of our time at the resort with a lively crowd, four girls from Canada and a couple from Israel, three lads from Denmark and a few others so we all sat together and ate the best and most tasty food ever! Only problem was after eating all that good food, we were more ready for bed than to go out partying!! After the meal everyone, including all the staff and people staying at
the resort released lotus flower lanterns, they had made earlier in the day, into the ocean and huge fire lanterns were released into the sky - it was beautiful! Just before we headed down to the beach Stuart and Jamie (the two personal trainers from Glasgow who we met in Beijing and traveled round Xian, China with) turned up, so the now huge group of us, made our way up the hill and over to the party.
It was excellent!!! Still a fabulous night even though it would never beat the full moon party of ten years ago due to the now mass popularity, it was still well worth the trip and we had a fantastic night - I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking!!!
3 NOV 2009
Our final day of rest before our break neck speed travelling begins again. We calculated that the next time we would spend longer than two nights anywhere (so our next major sit down/rest) would be in 6wks time in Oz!!
That night, as though in preparation for our departure the heavens opened and the monsoon started!!! Ha ha we timed our visit perfectly - or so
we thought ... it was at that point we discovered a storm was moving in and if it took hold, all the ferries would be cancelled and we would be stuck on the island and would have to forfeit our cheap Air Asia flight we had booked to return back to Bangkok. OH!!!
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Kim
non-member comment
Hi guys
just wanted to let you know we are thinking of you both. B has been reading your blogs too and loves them. the sunset is picture perfect, i love it. That is me just back from NYC. lots of sight seeing and xmas shopping was done - my suitcase was that full i had to pay 50 dollars to get it home lol!!!! You will know be on your manic travels and trekking again. oh the fun. Enjoy and cant wait to see you..... xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx lots of love and hugs ... us xxxxxx