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Ive been on Koh Phagnan for about 6 or 7 days, bearing in mind I didnt plan on coming here AT ALL thats quite a while. I planned to go staight from Koh Tao to another island further south, possibly Phi Phi or Koh Lanta, however Phangan is only 2 hours from Tao and although it is renowned for being a 'party' island id heard that there are some beautiful quiet beaches further north, so I decided to investigate! Koh Phangan is known by packpackers and peple around the world for its Full Moon Parties, a party that takes place once a month on the night of a full moon..surprise surprise, and up to 30,000 people have been known to crowd onto the infamous beach in Haad Rin in the south of Phangan for these parties. My stay didn't line up with one, however the day I arrived there was a Black Moon Party happening that night which is held in the jungle. Phangan is pretty much a large island with busy backpacker hostels and bars in the south, quiter beaches and bungalows along the west (sunset) set, even more secluded resorts in the north and east (as they are harder to get to due to rocky terrain). The centre of the island is pretty much just jungle and so to get around you have to follow roads along the coast. When I arrived I was flagged down by a little old lady at the pier who waved numerous leaflets in my face advertising accomodation from budget beach bungalows all the way to exclusive resorts costing hundreds+ a night. I ended up on the back of a motorbike with my small rusksack on and my large backpack wedged between the driver and the handlebars, whizzing up the coastal road headed to a resort on the west coast called Laem Som. I couldn't be bothered searching around in this heat for better accommodation, besides, this place had bungalows right on the beach and the most amazing view. The water was clear, the beach empty, and across the water I could see fishing boats and Koh Samui. I ended up paying 50 baht (£1) more so I could have a bungalow right on the front rather than a cheaper one behind the others so that I could sit in the hammock on the veranda bit and see the sea.
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- The rest of the day I just sunbathed and swam in front of the bungalow and enjoyed being on my own for the first time in a month. I had decided that I literally wanted to do nothing for a few days, not even necessarily speak to anyone! I'd loved travelling with Becca but I was super excited to be on my own again. I love having time to myself and I'm fine with my own company and so was looking forward to a couple days of 'sarah time'. Not long after I'd been sunbathing, an American girl and Thai guy came and sat under a coconut tree in the shade and started talking to me. The girl was called Jenny and from New Jersey in the US and the Thai guy was Chad who lived on the Island and owned bungalows in Haad Rin. Turns out Jenny was staying with Chad and he'd been showing her around the island and apparently this was one of the best beaches! Good choice Sarah ;)
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- The next day I was determined to hire a scooter or bike as it was by FAR the easiest, cheapest most convenient way of getting around the island. Dan had almost persuaded me to hire one on Ko Tao but the roads were pretty dodgy there and it seemed a bit pointless as I was diving most of the day so would only make use of it in the night, and so didn't bother. But almost everyone here hired them, and every other shop pretty much rented them out and so today was the day I'd decided id give it a try. I ended up renting one from Laem Som as it seemed the best thing to do, but I ended up with a bit of an old bike with a wonky mirror. Regardless, I set off down the bumpy lane towards a main road (helmet securely in place may I add!!) and set off for the day. I was a bit wobbly at first and had random bursts of acceleration so it was pretty obvious to passers by I was a novice , but soon got the hang of it and it was so much fun!! It really cooled you down as well and so the sun was almost bearable for once. I decided to head down to Haad Rin first as I wanted to see what the Full Moon beach looked like. The roads were really hilly and some were extreeeeeemely steep, and had I brace myself going down and pray that the battered bike would actually make it up some of them. When I got there I was quite surprised as the beach seemed fairly small for one that held 30,000 people.. but I suppose half of them are in the sea as well? By the time I got back it was around 7 and the sun had set so it was pretty dark. I planned on filling in my diary sat on the sand with a torch so I dumped my stuff and headed to the shore. Suddenly I heard someone shout my name and it was Jenny and Chad sat in the pitch black under the same tree waiting for me.. I went over to say hi and sat with them for a bit. After a while they wanted to sit on my veranda and so we headed back up and both of them sat drinking Sake while Chad asked me question after question about my family! Turns out he is mad keen on England and the questions soon turned from my family to the Royal Family as I tried to answer as much as I could about the Queen Mother and William & Kate haha. After a while I just wanted to go to bed but felt rude asking them to go, I think they got the hint from my yawning and eventually they left at about 1.30 am.
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- The next day i just relaxed but the day after I took out a bike again (150 baht = £3) but this time from a place further down the road. Id gotten speaking to a British woman who now lived on Phangan the day before and she warned me from renting from Laem Som as she'd heard stories of people returning bikes and the owners claiming that person had scratched the bike and demanding ridiculous amounts of money from them. Seeing as pretty much every place requires you hand your passport in as a deposit you don't have much choice but to then pay the fine. The new bike I got was amazing compared to the one yesterday! It was brand new and red and had a big compartment I could store all my stuff in underneath. The previous one just had a pathetic basket in the front that I was too scared to put stuff in anyways in case it blew out or a bag snatcher (common in Thailand) came past and grabbed my belongings. I set off to the North West of the island this time to ******NAME***** beach which has a small island next to it - apparently good for snorkelling and in low tide you can walk acros the sand to it. However there was a slight flaw to my plan as when I'd got there, the only place I could find that hired snorkels and masks didn't have any left and so I made do with some goggles that I had with me! (Bought them in china when I went to the swimming pool in Shanghai with Nina). Although my camera is waterproof and I was dying to take it in the water with me but I refrained as it had been playing up the last couple of weeks ever since I took it in the sea on Koh Rong (maybe salt somehow got inside??). It started to switch itself off at crucial moments eg: when trying to take photographs of the sunrise at Angkor Wat(!!!) and then not turn on again for a few hours :( :( Luckily however it has been behaving the past couple of days and so didn't want to jeopardise this so had to leave it on the beach. After a while I went for a wander down the beach in search of somewhere to get water and came across an expensive resort. They had a private part of the beach and an infinity pool, so decided to buy the cheapest drink there (coke and a water) and then used their facilities for the rest of the day! I was told that I could stay but just that I couldn't use the pool... although I may have slipped in later on when no one was looking... ;)
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- I headed back when the sun started to set as I didn't want to try to make my way back in the dark, as judging by my navigational skills I would have definitely got lost. When I was back I went to a veggie restaurant which I'd been recommended and halfway through the meal I heard someone shout my name. Turns out it was Chad (the thai guy) who'd come back AGAIN to find me and had somehow seeked me out at this restaurant. I'd like to point out at this point that although it was lovely that he was friendly and trying to get to know me, I reeeally wanted to be on my own for a few days and just have some evenings to myself as id planned to go out during the day and catch up on this blog and write my diary/sort my photos online during the evenings. He'd returned with Jenny the day before and each time I'd tried to go somewhere locally like even just walking to the shop they both insisted on coming with me. Chad was also getting a bit sleazy and I couldn't be bothered having to deal with all that - and even though I'd hinted politely but heavily that I wanted to be alone he definitely hadn't picked up on this. Anyway, this evening he came and sat next to me and waited til I'd finished eating and then walked back with me to the beach where I was staying. He'd brought some beers so I said I'd have one with him and then was going to bed cos it had been a long day. About 3 hours later (!) it was 11.30 and I eventually got it through to him that I was going to go inside now but then he piped up that he'd come to pick me up to take me to some club in Haad Rin and that Jenny was waiting alone for us to return. Talk about guilt trip! I just said sorry and that i wasn't up for it and said something about being tired and no money, but all of a sudden a random storm appeared and threw it down with rain. I ran inside an Chad insisted on coming in too. I figured it would just be a random downpour and would stop in 20 minutes like others had and then Chad could ride home. He'd acted like he was allergic to rain and told me that if it touches Thai people's heads then they get ill instantly :/ and so wanted to stay until it had stopped. Bearing in mind inside my bungalow is literally just a bed, we were both sat on there and it was pretty awkward as I didn't really say much. I was getting annoyed cos he knew I was tired and kept telling me to go to sleep but there was no way that I was sleeping while he was sat there with all my belongings. Although I judged he seemed pretty harmless, I'd still only met him a couple days earlier and didn't trust him entirely. After about an hour I went to brush my teeth and came back and he was asleep on the bed - I just bluntly said to him that I was going to sleep and that there was a hammock outside he could stay on and would he please leave! This worked and I just felt stupid I hadn't been more forward earlier.
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- By the morning he had gone! I spent the rest of the day on the beach outside the hut praying he didn't return - which he didn't. Felt a little bit bad but I was finally completely alone.
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- The next couple of days I either lounged around or took the bike to explore the island. Because id come into Thailand overland I only had a 15 day visa and although I had planned on going down to Koh Phi Phi and skipping Phangan altogether, I'd ended up loving Phangan and so decided to just stay there. I figured that I'd rather spend longer on the 2 islands that I'd been on, rather than spending more time in transit than actually staying in a place of I was to visit more islands in the short amount of time I had. Either way, my visa was soon to expire and as my flight to South Korea from Kuala Lumpur was next week I figured sooner rather than later would be a good time to make a move down the Malaysia. I went in the morning to a travel company and booked a ticket to Penang, an island off the North West of Malaysia - not too far from the border. I decided to visit here as id heard lots of lovely things about it and it meant I could break up my trip to KL. The journey to Penang would consist of an overnight ferry and 2 bus journeys and would take the good part of a night and a day. I booked the ticket for that evening and spent the day locally on the west coast before catching a taxi to the boat.
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- So what do you do when you've got 3 hours to kill before catching a night boat? Read your book on the beach, followed by a Thai massage, write this post and maybe throw a nose piercing into the mix... of course!!
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- At the ferry terminal I saw huge boats docked up and I presumed I'd be on one of these sturdy liners... but no, of course not. As I turned the corner I spotted a small rusty looking boat which I knew instantly was most likely what I was to be sleeping on. I sat on the edge of the jetty and proceeded to attempt to brush my teeth with one of the many travel toothbrush sets that I've saved off flights so far, only when I went to spit my toothpaste over the edge, it was so windy that it just splatted straight back over my top and in my face. Brilliant. It was amazing to notice in the near distance tgat amongst the darkness blurring any distinction between sky and sea was the occasional bright flash of forked lightening that lit up the port and smaller islands further out at sea.
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- I climbed aboard, found an unoccupied mattress on the floor, laid down a beach towel that I'd acquired at some point on my stay at the island and fell asleep
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- comments
Alma Unbelievable! Such excitement! I was getting a bit worried about Chad but glad you managed to see him off! Fancy you hiring a motor bike, I would love to have seen you on it! Glad you're having a wonderful time. Much love xx.
hilbre Stafford I love this installment. CREEPY Chad! He is definitely waiting for you in New Brighton....xxx