Woody Hayday

Slow to update, perhaps but here is the next leg of my Thailand trip! From our overnight stop in Krabi we got a 3 hour coach across the country to Surat Thani then pretty much jumped strait on the ferry to Koh Phangan. Sitting on the exact front end of the ferry seemed like a sensible idea at the time however what with the waves pretty much engulfing everyone who did sit there it turned out not to be so. 2 and a half hours later, wet but drying we got to Koh Phangan port. To an almost ridiculous level there was touts on the pier attempting to sell us accommodation and taxi services – imagine a tiny little pier and then fill it with about 80 touts and you can half imagine it. With no camera at this point you will have to imagine it.

Whats worse it was dark by this point. We got off and stood amongst the other bombarded people waiting to find our bag amongst 300 others in the dark as they were thrown off into a big pile. I’m amazed no one was knocked in. We had booked the ‘Buakoa Inn’ (Sp) for 3 nights starting the next day – so we tried there to get a room for tonight, to no avail. Mike – the owner, though was helpful enough to help us secure two other good rooms in separate parts of Thong Sala the port town.

That night after we got settled we had a meal at Becks Bar which was a huge hanger like building with an English themed style on someone’s advice. The food was pretty bad, one of us had a platter which featured barely cooked food and the other stuff was overpriced and average. The staff were interesting though and we had a waitress named ‘ICE’ who took a specific interest in me. Either way an ok bar probably but the food wasn’t amazing.

We went down to check out Haad-Rin – the beach where the infamous Full Moon Party takes place – taxi’s everywhere on Koh Phangan cost 100 baht (about £1.10) per person, regardless of where you are going. Its a strange system but it works I suppose. At Haad-Rin we bumped into my new American friend and went to check out the beach bars. As soon as we hit the beach we ended up at a bar named Cactus which was just starting a game of balloon popping, which a few of my friends joined in – you have a balloon attached around your ankle and your aim is to pop everyone else’s by stamping on them before yours get popped. Presumably a bucket of drink was the prize, although it ultimately got down to two blokes and the crowd forced a winner (none of my friends.) We got a drink and moved on.

There was uv paint-artists everywhere along the beach – painting dragons on legs and flowers up arms etc. They must make a fortune, charging £5-10 for a little paint! After a bit of average partying on the beach with a semi full moon aloft we ended up at the far bar which had a foam machine which produced a little area of foam that dissipated into the ocean – a bucket made one of my friends a little rough and I looked after him while chatting. He wouldn’t give me the room key either, which was annoying. After taking him home I went to the beach for a bit with my American friend.

The next day we moved out of our temporary room and into the Buakoa Inn which was much much better, probably the best room so far for about 1500 baht a night for a twin and featured foot deep mattresses. We chilled a lot this day, backed up photo’s and got ready to go to Haad-Rin again.

That night (pre full moon) we ate at Casablanca on the Haad-Rin strip. Food was better than previous night and we watched a badly subtitled rip off copy of avatar they were playing on the screen there. We walked along the beach but the party had not really started by that point (about 8 or 9pm) so we just ended up sitting at a table chatting. After a while at that the beach livened up and we went and partied a bit. An angered JM threw his bucket of drink over me and me mine over him at one point this night, but I don’t seem to remember caring all that much. This was another good night on Koh Phangan and I will remember it well. I got in at about 5.20, and unfortunately had to wake Mike because my 3 useless friends had gone home, passed out and were ignoring their phones.

The next day was Full Moon party day. I had booked into a cookery course along with two of my friends but in the end I bailed on this as needed more sleep. By the evening everyone was ready for full moon and we started the evening with food and a cocktail in the diner below our rooms – named ‘A’s Diner’ and run by mike, we got a free cocktail for booking the room online – Caipirinha’s which were very good.

Full moon itself on the beach was pretty much insane. A half mile stretch of 40 ft wide beach with every square meter packed with people, the air warm and the moon full, the water lapped at your feet if you were at the back of the dance floors. Numerous fire challenges from jump ropes to flaming rings. Slides with 6 ft drops at the bottom. I saw a fair few injuries, unscrupulousness and madness. Fairly reserved I went home at 6am but I had friends that did not get in until 10am JM! he even had curry for breakfast on the way home. The next day was mostly resting interspersed with market curry and spring rolls.

The 1st of April saw another move – we got up and jumped on a ferry to Surat Thani – 12.30 for 2 hours and I had stupidly only put on factor 10, despite sitting outside on the ship. Needless to say my arms are now tanned :/ From Surat Thani we got a coach transfer to the airport where I had some random spicy pork curry and then we flew into BKK.

After landing in Bangkok we jumped in a taxi and strait to Khao San road where we randomly again bumped into my American friend. We ended staying at a budget hotel named ‘at home’ which if you ask me was pretty awful. Loud, crappy air con and on the 4th floor or something. Not so nice. The next day though I moved to Khao San Park Resort – about halfway up KhaoSan and much better. The others then split to go to Chiang Mai (we had left Jon to do his Padi on Koh Tao) which left me in Bangkok for 4 days or so – staying in this better resort!

More soon 😀 – I am currently in Pai!