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Ko Phangan and Ko Samui
Hello guys, just an update of my trip..
After having a very hectic time in Chiang Mai and Bangkok we decided to venture down to the South of Thailand to experience the paradise islands and the well-known Full Moon Party! We had to take another killer 12 hour bus journey from Chiang Mai to Bangkok then a further 16 hour journey to Ko Phangan, - i must say this hasnt been one of the funnest days of my travelling!! ha. But well worth it and very cheap. (we did it the proper travellers way - no planes!) Mind you, we do wish we had flown, the bus journey was hurrendous, no way you can get sleep on those things with the maniac bus drivers (you literally fly out your chair!) and they take to you stupid stop offs for hours.. basically you get messed about.
We didnt really know what to expect of Ko Phangan, and i was pleasantly suprised! There was very very nice areas of Ko Phangan which would make amazing holidays because of the beaches and clear green waters. We however chose to stay at Hadrin Beach which is the main nightlife area - this is where the Full Moon Parties take place. We got off on a bit of a bad start with our accomodation which we booked with a travel agencies in Bangkok. It was way too far out, and for us to walk to the main town would mean walking through a forest for ages, and walking back in the dark. The bungalows were situated in the forest too - little cabins with hardly any flooring. (something you can imagine to be in a scary movie!!) I think we wouldnt of come out of alive of that place!! Soo even though we had already forked out 5 nights there, we decided to do a runner and find a better spot and certainly more safe.
We infact had a bit of luck and fell across some accomodation in the centre of town which was pretty lucky to say the Full Moon Party was taking place in the next couple of nights. We had to fork out quite abit for it, but it was a huge spacious room with nice bathroom and telly! Soo we were not complaining for a bit of luxury. Our first few days in Ko Phangan we spent in the bars watching films (each bar had different pirate films showing- which was quite good), and if your wondering why not on the beach or doing some crazy activity, it was bloody chucking it down. Like i have never seen before.. not quite as bad as oz! We met up with some friends we made in fiji which was nice for one night and raved with them, and then met up with a couple of mates from australia which was pretty cool too. Its crazy how many people you bump into.
The day the weather got slightly better was the day of the Full Moon Party which was quite lucky. For those who dont know reading this blog... the Full Moon is basically one massive festival where backpackers from all over the world join together for a big rave on Haadrin Beach until sun rises. It was pretty mental ..and one of the best nights dancing of my life! All of the stalls throughout the day of the Full Moon Party was selling rave geer to dress up for the festival. Some of the body/face paint on the night was hilirious! Everyone made such an effort - it was awesome. Me and Sophie gave it a go and covered our face, legs and arms in illuminous stars.. so much fun!
The night itself was bloody mad, i cant describe it any more words - everyone just let go and raved there socks off. Including me and Sophie - bouncing round on our tip toes like flaming loonitics! Was great. We met up with these guys from oz and fiji and spent the night with them raving. The music was insane - different stalls blasting out dance/house/rnb/pop.. and im not exaggerating the music was LOUD!! - thai do not have laws i have decided. Also one thing everyone experiences in thailand is the BUCKETS - leathal buckets. Buckets range from 300-500 baht which isnt much and you get redbull, coke and a bottle of whiskey/vodka/samsung in the bucket with lots of straws. Me and Sophie would have one or two buckets and would definately be on our way. Another thing you wouldnt probably get away with in England. Oh and i forgot to mention the redbull. haha.
Plus the maniac fire shows which you go to everynight on Haadrin Beach. The night after the full moon party me and sophie had a chilled out night and watched the performances along the beach. As much as they were very impressive - i was pretty worried my hair was going to be set on fire!! ha. They set up these skipping ropes that are lit on fire and ask anyone from the public to have a go..... well lets say the following day you would see people walking along the beach with bandages on their arms and legs. Me and Sophie definately didnt give this a go! As much as Ko Phangan was a pretty awesome place to be, it wouldnt be everyones cup of tea as the beach is very mucky due to the parties.. it definately is just for young people - well Haadrin anyway. The other side of the island i would recommend for holidays.
It was quite entertaining sunbathing on Haadrin Beach, you would lie there and be surrounded by fag ends, bottles, drugs and dead bodies lying alongside of the sea (those that clearly couldnt make it back from the party!) and... lots of stray animals. Im giving you quite a pleasant image of this place. We didnt really go much in Ko Phangan but party on the beach, go to pool parties at Coral Bungalows and go out for cheap meals. You would of been very jealous of the fish i treated myself to on the last night of Ko Phangan- it was amazing and the meal only cost me 6 squid.
Before we left Ko Phangan for Ko Samui we decided to do a day trip as the day was gorgeous. We went Elephant Treking! Something both me and Sophie wanted to achieve in Thailand. Oh my lord was this an experience - i have never experienced anything like it in all my life. It was hurrendous!! ha. As much as im glad i did it, i would rather chuck myself off another bridge in New zealand than do it ever again. Basically me and Sophie were hitched on to the back of an elephant in a VERY unsafe cage with a piece of rope along it so we couldn't fall out. Well first impressions, we both thought - We are High!! Second impressions, why is the elephant allowed to get things of the trees and making hurrendous scary sounds, (slowly falling out). Final Impressions, why the hell are we go up that mountain - coming down it was horrific- my hands were sweating and i was gripping on for dear life!! I didnt dare try get down.... we were clearly on daddy elephant! ha.
Once we got back to the Elephant sanctuary, it was much better and we got to feed the elephants and play with them. They are pretty amazing animals! and... they had the most gorgeous monkey there which i think must of been their pet. I fell in love with this animal, it was like massal Ross's monkey out of Friends. He was sooo friendly and hilirious, so hyper and would sit on your head and cuddle you etc. I have some cute pictures of him. The trip was really worthwhile but im not sure i would sit on any animals back again. haha.
After having an eventful time in Ko Phangan we headed to Ko Samui where we knew the madness was about to begin again. Thai New Year had just begun! It was very entertaining to watch out of a car the Thai go bloody crazy in big jeeps and waggons chucking buckets of water over each other and shooting each other with super soakers. When we first arrived in Ko Samui i went on a mission looking for some accomodation whilst Sophie sat with the bags - I literally came back soaked head to toe and my face covered in shaving foam!! ha. They are madd. Real good event to participate in!
Having only a day and two nights here, the first night we just chilled out in our room (which may i add was pretty posh!). We didnt pay much for it either and we got telly, balcony, minibar etc. We were impressed by this! We were a bit far out but was nice to get good accomodation. Our day at Ko Samui we had a look about and did some sunbathing on the beach. We clearly stayed at the posh end of Ko Samui with many posh hotels dotted along the beach and familys scattered everywhere. Definately a good holiday spot for couples! The beach was pretty nice (little of it!) and lots of sea, very shallow water which is red hot. Great if you are in one of the posh hotels alongside it so you could quickly nip into the cool swimming pool when too hot. We literally baked!
Throughout the day we got invited to a pre-party at the Salinas Beach Club, as on the evening a festival called 'Songkran Music Festival' was taking place in Ko Samui and Judge Jules was to be djying. Me and Sophie decided to sack off the sunbathing and went to the pre-party. This was really cool! A bar on the beach front with the djs playing who were going to be at the big event - playing chilled out tunes. It was happy hour so you could get two cocktails for 100baht and lie on the sunbeds watching the sun set. This was a cool experience and we felt so chilled out. They even put on a free barby which me and Sophie stocked up on! (I am positive the chicken was not cooked!)
After the pre-party we headed to the Big Festival which was pretty cool apart from we were so tired as we had started too early. Judge Jules wasnt playing until 2am too and we had to get a 6am bus to Phi Phi the followind day. We manned it though and waited until he did his set. It was well worth it, and we danced on the stage with some guys we had met on the boat over to Ko Samui, (you bump into so many people) and we sat and had a few drinks with some girls who we also met on the bus from Bangkok to Ko Phangan. We had an awesome night at the festival, it was very surreal!
The next and final stop..... Ko Phi Phi. To be continued...
(Nearly hometime.. I cannot believe it!!)
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