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Day 52 - Bangkok to Ko Pha Ngan
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We were up at about 6am, packed and jumped in a taxi to the new airport. It was rush hour so we had to pay for the expressway, but it was still a fairly painless 300 bahts ($14), which is about what you pay for the "express bus" which we took last time we were here, but rather more than the 75 bahts for 2 people that we paid for the public bus last time.
We had the usual wearing-of-our-heaviest-items-of-clothing/footwear-and-juggling-of-possessions-between-backpacks-to-beat-the-budget-airline-baggage-restrictions, until the lovely check-in lady allowed us to proceed with no extra baggage charges (limit of only 15kg on Air Asia, not much when you're travelling for 8 months, believe me), and then went through to the domestic terminal departures area for the first time.
Unlike the international terminal here in Bangkok, the domestic one was crap, but we managed to have a half decent breakfast and then board/leave on time so no complaints...
We were really looking forward to getting to the beaches in the south west of Thailand, but unfortunately the weather was poor when we arrived, it was even raining in Surat Thani, not exactly what we were hoping for !
After collecting our luggage from the one lonely carousel, we followed the other backpackers onto the bus going to the local port, from which you get ferries headed to the 2 main islands on the east coast: Ko Samui and Ko Phangan.
We'd already decided the skip Ko Samui as it's a bit of a tourist trap, so we agreed to get on a ferry to Ko Phangan.
After a bit of haggling it became obvious that the only way we could get to our destination was to buy a combined bus/ferry ticket, but at least we could get on a bus at the airport, rather than having to go back into town... or so we thought.
It wasn't cheap, about 420 bahts each ($40 together), and it took bloody AGES to get to the port because:
a) we went 30 minutes both ways in the wrong direction so that Ray the conductor could go back to his office
b) the bus had a top speed bettered by one of those lawn mowers they use to cut the grass at Wembley, and
c) we also had a nice 10 minute stop for no apparent reason in the town itself, mainly it seemed because Raymondo had to go to another office to drop the money off ?!?! Nice efficient system mate, well played.
The port is only 60kms away from the airport, yet somehow it took us nearly 3 HOURS to get there !! Thankfully we were both able to catch a bit of sleep on the journey, but it really was a joke, so many people's precious time wasted... The only good thing was that at least it was dull/rainy outside, so we weren't missing any sun time.
We grabbed some lunch at the port (a very weird voucher system but food was surprisingly ok), while we waited for the next ferry.
The ferry itself took 2.5 hours and looked like it was recovered from the bottom of the sea about 80 years ago with the Mary Rose. Recollections of news reports about the recent sinking of a ferry off the Indonesian coast flashed in front of my eyes, but Katie bounded on board like they were giving out free chocolate, so I swallowed my nerves and climbed aboard the rusting tin can...
The journey was actually fine, the sun even came out right at the end, as we approached the main port on the island.
We walked off the ferry, were predictably besieged by local pick-up truck drivers with delusions of grandeur (calling themselves "taxis" !!), and eventually agreed to pay 100 bahts ($5) to get to our hotel at the very south-east corner of the island.
Katie had called ahead to book accomodation from the ferry, which made life easier, and she'd found a basic bungalow in a nice resort on a quiet bay which was allegedly "fringed with palm trees" and close to the main entertainment area.
What I have neglected to mention thus far is that there was another compelling reason for us choosing Ko Pha Ngan as our destination: The World Famous Full Moon Party !!
We are very lucky (I think ?!) that this world-renowned hedonistic event takes place on Friday 26th, so we figured that we couldn't be this close to it without trying it out for size.
As most of you will know, the idea of going to an extremely large and noisy dance festival on a beach is not exactly my cup of tea (give me some fey whining indie band with guitars playing in a muddy field any day !), but Katie will love it, so we'll give it a go. Not sure if my poor damaged ear will appreciate it mind you...
The "taxi" ride was uneventful, but the last few minutes were interesting, with the truck climbing a plethora of quite steep hills a bit like a slow roller coaster ! This provided some great views over the sea & bays, but it was quite slow going. Some of the roads close to our resort were one-car-only dirt track jobs, and the recent rains had brought lots of sand/dirt onto the roads, not helping our progress.
When we arrived we (Katie) decided to upgrade to a basic bungalow with hot water (900 bahts = $30), and very nice it was too. The downside of having no tv in the room means that I'll have to find a bar to watch the Liverpool game v Besiktas at 2am, but not a big deal.
We have a nice hammock outside the room which both of us tried out within minutes of completing the paperwork, and a nice strong fan to keep us cool at night. Hopefully !
We had a quick wander around the resort (nice pool, decent bar, mental note: need to keep Katie out of the Spa), and then walked up the beach - 3 resorts in this smallish bay which is ok - which has amazing pure white very soft sand, and nice warm sea water.
We're pleased with our location, and after some beers in the bar (and some warm fried cashews - yum), we walked into the main area of Haad Rin to grab some dinner.
Our place is only 5 minutes walk away from all the 'action', but it seems to be MUCH quiter than the accomodation next to the main town, so with a bit of luck we can enjoy the full moon party and then walk back to our resort without any grief/noise and maybe even get some sleep before the sun comes up, hardcore ravers that we are (not).
We had a really nice seafood platter for dinner, another couple of cold beers, and our eyes kept wandering to the multiple episodes of Friends playing (loudly) in the bar opposite us.
All the bars here seem to have either tv shows or DVD films BLARING out of them, which I guess is supposed to attract customers, but all it did was annoy the hell out of us, so we chose to eat in one of the few normal places with no tv.
We've just picked up email, so I'm about to walk Katie back to the resort, and then come back to watch the game at 2am-4am. God I hope we play better than we did against Marseille !!
Ok, hopefully you can see that we're alive and still having fun, so fingers crossed for some sun over the next few days (they've had non-stop rain the last 3 days - D'OH !), so that we can really enjoy these beautiful islands.
Lots of love,
Al & KT xx
Latest Comments (2)
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From TRH's Pat and Dave (reply)
Oct 24, 2007 16:28 EST by davidfey
You had us a bit worried when there were no journals for a few days. Thoughts of you being kidnapped and marching at gun point through impenetrable jungle to the guerillas' HQ etc etc. Nearly rang Ian and Pam in case Katie had phoned home. It was a case of 'Don't panic, Mr Mannering!' If there's going to be any more 3 or 4 day gaps in correspondence, give us a little warning please. Merci beau... show all
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From TRH's Pat and Dave (reply)
Oct 24, 2007 16:28 EST by davidfey
You had us a bit worried when there were no journals for a few days. Thoughts of you being kidnapped and marching at gun point through impenetrable jungle to the guerillas' HQ etc etc. Nearly rang Ian and Pam in case Katie had phoned home. It was a case of 'Don't panic, Mr Mannering!' If there's going to be any more 3 or 4 day gaps in correspondence, give us a little warning please. Merci beau... show all
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| 53. | Day 52 - Bangkok to Ko Pha Ngan - Ko Phangan, Thailand Oct 24, 2007 (  3 ) (  2 ) - recently updated |
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