Ko Phangan

 

On to the party island of Ko Phangan, situated in the Thailand Gulf.  I took the slow boat (ferry) to the island, which takes about 2 1/2 hours, but we were on Thai time, so obviously longer.  It was a full day of traveling all the way from Chiang Mai, so I ended up arriving around 9pm.  I met some brothers on the ferry who had started their trip further south (Malaysia), each bought a motorcycle and were driving them all the way to northern Thailand and onwards.  They said the people at the Thai border gave them funny looks and brought them aside for questioning because it’s quite rare they see tourists crossing the border using their own form of transportation, let alone a motorbike.

I rented a scooter for the 5 days I was on the island and had some really great excursions – I think I went on just about every main road on the island, as well as some “not-so-main” ones…  more on that in a bit.  I chose to stay on the southern tip of the island, which is near Had Rin beach, which is where the full moon party is located.  I realized in the end that this wasn’t a necessity, but it was convenient for the party night to be able to walk back home.  First day I checked out the beach I was staying on, which was a bit dirty, but a beach nonetheless.  The seas have been so calm here, with little to no surf.  Most of the beaches here are very shallow and you have to wade out for ages for it to be deep enough to not touch the bottom.  As a result, the water is piss warm.  So you can literally just have a seat in the water and chill out with a beer or whatever, not being tossed around too much by the waves.  It’s it’s own kind of relaxing.

I drove around most of the west side of the island, stopping at view points and beaches as they interested me.  One of the restaurants/resorts was built out onto a rocky spit, with hammocks at the waters edge, and stairs down to go snorkeling.  I stayed here for a bit while a storm came through.

The next day I went to the north eastern most part of the island to check out a beach Daria recommended to me – Bottle Beach.  She said she took a taxi there, so I figured I’d just take my scooter.  It wasn’t until I was making my way down the washed out dirt road, hugging my brakes for life that I realized she probably meant she took a WATER taxi. I was committed though, so I kept on keeping on.  I was glad to have some previous dirt bike/motorcycle experience, but had to do my best with the 115cc scooter and the limited shocks it had.  Eventually I made it down the hill only to find a stream/river crossing the road which was about 4 feet deep… probably wasn’t going to be crossing it in this 115cc bike.  Luckily I was almost there, so I took another side route and found another stream that was walkable, but not scooter passable.  I parked my bike there and walked 10 minutes to bottle beach!

It was everything you’d expect out of an isolated beach: white sand, calm waters lapping the shore, beachfront bungalows with only a few people in them and a beachside restaurant or two.  I stayed here for most the day reading & swimming.  I also went exploring up on the giant rocks alongside the beach that you could hop/climb from one to the other, which was my kind of adventure.  On the way up the trail, it became apparent the name “Bottle Beach” was quite possibly just named that so the locals could have a clever way of disposing of all the beer they drank:

Once I got to where I couldn’t go anymore, I looked inland and saw a storm approaching:

So I decided it was time to head back.  Made it most of the way there before it started to pour, and I waited out the storm under a palm tree and headed home.  Going up these hills was easier than I expected.  I didn’t get a picture of the worst of it (mostly because I was trying to make it up the hill) but here’s an idea of what the roads looked like (in general):

Along the way back I spotted a tree that caught my eye, poking out over the top of the foliage:

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Day three, October 8th – full moon day.  I decided to go check out a road I missed before sundown on the east side of the island.  Quick stop at a “waterfall” (I swear they’ll call any sort of flow of water a waterfall here in Thailand), then on down another questionable road down to the national park beach.  Apparently all along this road are inscriptions of kings who loved to visit this beach during their reign.  I skipped looking at these and went straight for the beach.  This beach  seemed more tranquil than the last – a bit smaller, but less people still, and those that were there were there to relax.  The bungalows were situated in the hills which reminded me of Cinque Terre, Italy:

I climbed on some rocks here too, and found a great spot where the waves ebbed and flowed into a crevice, which was nice to sit and think to.  Once again, the daily storm came, and it rained buckets this time.  So I ate lunch at the restaurant and chatted with some Germans for a bit.  It’s amazing how different people are on the other side of the island.  Where I am staying it seems like a trashy Ibiza (from what I’d imagine Ibiza is like), but across the island, people are strumming guitar and watching the boats go by.  It’s good to have a bit of both I guess.

After the storm passed I headed back to get a nap before the party.  But not before I stopped to get one more shot of my favorite tree!

I also stopped at another random beach on the west side of the island to see what it was like.  This beach was extra shallow, and there was a sand bar way out there that a guy had brought a beer out to.  You can see him just to the left of my head:

Nap time.  Watch sunset.  Go try to see moonrise and/or the lunar eclipse.  Too cloudy.  Back to get ready and grab some dinner before checking out the beach.

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The restaurants in touristy parts of Thailand amuse me.  Lots of times they advertise American/European food more than they do the Thai food.  Most of the places cook Thai food too, but it’s really quite hit-or-miss when you go to these “we serve everything” type restaurants.  There was one restaurant in Had Rin which served only Thai food, and it seemed to be the most popular one, because it was always busy.  So that’s where I went.  Since they were packed, and I already had a seat, I waved some people waiting over to ask if they wanted to join me at my 4 top.  The German couple accepted and we chatted for a while, the usual chit-chat, decided we were still hungry and ordered another round.  This time I got banana pancakes.  When it arrived, we all couldn’t stop chuckling over what they served.  It was a pancake, folded in half, with a full banana inside.  (Still chuckling now)  I never got a picture, but I did get a similar one on my way off the island, which was 10% better because they actually chopped the banana for me:

Anyways, I guess you get what you ask for.

Party time.  It’s basically a stretch of beach with a bunch of restaurants, each one having their own dance party.  Lots of people paint their bodies in glow-in-the-dark paint, get neon clothes etc.  There were people spinning fire poi, fire staffs, as well as doing fire limbo and fire jump-rope:

 

Everyone pees in the ocean (to avoid the 20 Baht charge to use a toilet) and it’s a bit sad how much trash ends up in the ocean.  They sell “buckets” of alcohol everywhere.  I danced, I spun poi, and I walked the beach many times.  I ended up dropping one of my poi in the ocean once, and it died, and also had ended the night somehow with two different flip-flops.  Success?

I managed to look up how to reset my podpoi the next morning, which ended up fixing it, to much relief.

Hangover day I mostly sat around and figured out where I was going next.  Watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen in a while, and chatted with the ‘rents for a bit on Skype.

Island life aint so bad.

All pictures can be viewed here