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Our journey to Koh Phangan involved a very uncomfortable night ferry crossing. After nearly missing the ferry Nikk wasnt given a bed and was instructed to sleep underneath between the engine and the loo! Not too keen on this idea we decided to squeeze 4 of us (we'd met a dutch guy robert who had taken a shine to Leanna) into a 2 person space. A very hot and smelly 8 hours later we arrived and went in search ofour accomodation.
We arrived to find the best quality accomodation we've had so far compete with hot water, air con, mini bar and a pool on the beach. We were looking forward to the next 10 days of relaxing by the pool during the day and partying at night. Our first afternoon was spent meeting up with James (Nikkis friend from home) and a visit to the Masons arms, the most English pub in Thailand serving HP sauce and branston pickle.
Our first experience of Koh phangan night life was the infamous full moon party on Christmas eve. We'd decided to dress up for the occasion, Leanna and Nikki as sexy santas and zak as their trusty steed the reindeer. After contempating where to hide their money for the night Nikki and Leanna put their arts and craft skills to the test and created some festive money bracelets out of hairbands and tinsel. These worked out well after we'd eventually unstuck ourselves from the sunloungers after a fight with the superglue.
We caught a tuktuk to Haad rin beach with 14 others, including some northern lads from our hotel who we would come to share many other drunken moments with. Due to an overloaded tuk tuk zak had to cling to the back holding on for dear life as we went up the steep hills around the island. At one point we all had to get out as our tuk tuk failed to make it up one of these hills and all the lads lent a helping hand to push start us again.
We arrived at the beach to find 30000 other partygoers and a string of bars selling buckets. For those who dont know a bucket consists of 1/2 litre of spirits one can of mixer and their equivalent to red bull, a lethal combination! Armed with a bucket each we headed along the beach gave an interview for the full moon dvd and bumped into others we had met previously on our travels. Finding it hard to stick together in such a huge crowd we all ended up enjoying our nights in different company. One of us ended up back at the hotel being thrown in the pool fully clothed, one befriended a cute american and came in at 2pm the next day and the other cant comment as has no recollection of the evenings events!
Christmas day was spent recovering and filling each other in on last nights action. Nikki treated herself to a thai massage for xmas, not as relaxing as it sounds as they pull your limbs in directions you wouldnt think they could go! In the evening we headed back to the Masons arms for a traditional christmas dinner although we were disappointed to find no crackers or xmas pud. After no sleep that day Nikki went straight to bed while Leanna and Zak braved another night down at the beach with more buckets.
Boxing day was spent much like it is at home, watching movies and football in the hotel.
Next day and next night out! Nikki and Leanna decided to start early after a game of pit pat with some aussies led to 2 free Mai Tais. They drank cocktails while watching the sunset and then joined zak who had been playing poker in the bar all afternoon. We headed back to haad rin in the comfort of an air conditioned mini bus this time and with Chris and Sam from our hotel. Less busy than christmas eve meant they had more activities going on including skipping over a rope and limboing over poles on fire. Zak unsuccessfully tried the limbo but Leanna and Nikki decided they probably couldnt do it sober let alone after all those cocktails!
Next day Leanna and Nikki went shopping for their next lot of fancy dress outfits, a hula girl theme for new years eve, and zak hired himself a moped to tour the island. Not learning from previous experiences in Vang Vieng he ended up with some nasty scrapes after skidding in the rain. That evening we decided to head to the other end of town and sample some of the lady boy bars where a very friendly barmaid/man was over generous with Leannas malibu measures. We were thankful to see some other westerners from Leeds and spent the rest of the evening chatting with them.
Our final night out in Koh Phangan and the best yet, New Years eve! Nikki and Leanna put their creative heads back on and made some flowery belts to match their risky bikini tops and then decorated zak (and the floor) in flourescent paints. A bottle of wine later and we felt brave enough to go out in public with our tummies on display so we shared a taxi with 3 aussies down to the beach. It seemed busier than xmas eve with a better atmosphere despite the bad weather. Armed with our buckets we bought the new year in together watching the fireworks before going our separate ways and meeting up with other people. Leanna got thrown in the sea and spent the evening soaking wet and losing bits of her outfit, Nikki spent the night with some others from our hotel and zak tried his best to stay out of trouble after a Guarana shake recommended by the fit girls at the gym turned out to have some dodgy side effects. Another very late night (early morning) with us all eventually falling into bed at 1130am and spending the day sleeping, watching films and generally feeling rough.
Our last day in Koh Phangan was fairly subdued as we all had such a good time and were sad to be going. We are all now dreading the next 8 hours spent on another night ferry as we start our journey into malaysia.
Happy new year everyone!
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