Day 52 - Bangkok to Ko Pha Ngan

  Ko Phangan, Thailand
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

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 this time!

We had the usual wearing-our-heaviest-items-of-clothing/footwear-and-juggling-possessions-between-backpacks debacle, to beat the usual budget airline baggage restrictions (15kg limit on Air Asia, which is not much when you're travelling for 8 months, believe me!), until the lovely check-in lady allowed us to proceed with no extra baggage charges! You beauty!

The only problem now was a) looking like Bill Oddie, complete with jumper & hiking boots, and b) walking anywhere whilst carrying everything! After a bit of "buckaroo" style balancing, we headed through security to the domestic terminal departures area for the first time. 

Unlike the international terminal here in Bangkok, the domestic one was pants, but we managed to have a half decent breakfast and then board & leave on time, so we can't really complain...

We were really looking forward to flying to the beaches in the south west of Thailand, but unfortunately the weather sucked when we arrived; it was even raining in Surat Thani, which was not exactly what we were hoping for!

After collecting our luggage from the one lonely carousel in the small domestic airport, we followed the other backpackers onto the bus going to the local port, from which we would find a ferry headed to the two main islands on the east coast: Ko Samui and Ko Pha Ngan.

We'd already decided the skip Ko Samui as it's a bit of a tourist trap apparently, so we agreed to get on a ferry to Ko Pha Ngan, which is a bit less 'resorty', if that's a word ;)

After a bit of pigeon English haggling with the ticket inspector on the bus, 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!

The combined ticket wasn't cheap, about 420 bahts each ($40 together), but it took bloody AGES to get to the port because:

a) the bus had a top speed which would see it overtaken by one of those lawn mowers they use to cut the grass at Wembley stadium;

b) we sped off in totally the wrong direction (1 hr+ round trip!) so that Ray the Conductor could go back to his office and drop off the takings. I remember us getting to the end of the airport road and seeing one sign pointing left to "port", and one sign pointing right to "town". I expected a left turn, and so was rather bemused when we turned right, away from the coast;

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 some more money off?!?! Nice efficient system mate, well played.

The port was 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, a total waste of time and diabolical customer service because no-one told us what was happening at any point. The only good thing was that at least it was dull & rainy outside, so at least we weren't missing any sun time...

We grabbed some lunch at the rather beaten-down port area (using a very weird voucher system but the food was surprisingly ok) while we waited for the next ferry to the island.

The ferry itself took 2.5 hours and looked like it was recovered from the bottom of the sea with the Mary Rose! 

Recollections of news reports about the recent sinking of a ferry off the Indonesian coast flashed through my mind, 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 and the sun even came out right at the end, as we approached the main port on the island.

Unsurprisingly the ferry was full of young backpackers, most of who shunned the seats inside to sit outside. We were definitely at least a few years older than most of them, but I guess we looked like professional backpackers to them!



We walked off the ferry and were rather predictably besieged by local pick-up truck drivers with delusions of grandeur (calling themselves "taxis"!), and after the usual bargaining eventually agreed to pay 100 bahts ($5) to get to our hotel at the very south-east corner of the island.



As the ferry was very busy, Katie called ahead on the ferry to book some accomodation, which made life much easier when we arrived. She'd managed to find 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, without being TOO close hopefully! ;)

What I've neglected to mention thus far is that there was another very compelling reason for us choosing Ko Pha Ngan as our first island destination: The world famous "Full Moon" party!!!

We're very lucky (I think?!) that this world-renowned hedonistic event takes place on the night of the next full moon (Friday 26th Oct), so we figured that we couldn't be this close to the party without trying it out for size, right?! 

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, miserable indie band with guitars playing in a muddy field any day!), but Katie will absolutely 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. We were also being thrown around like dried beans in a pair of maracas! 

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, which didn't speed up our progress.

When we arrived we (Katie!) decided to upgrade to a bungalow with hot water (900 bahts = $30), and very nice it was too. The only downside is that we don't have a tv in the room, which means that I'll have to find a bar to watch the Liverpool CL game v Besiktas at 2am, but not a big deal...

We do have a nice hammock outside the room which we both tried out within minutes of completing the paperwork, and we also have 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. There are 3 mini 'hotel resorts' in this smallish bay which is ok, and the beach itself has amazing pure white sand, and nice warm sea water.

 

So 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. Haad Rin is where the full moon party all kicks off on Friday night...

Our place is only 5 minutes walk away from all the action, but it seems to be MUCH quiter than the accomodation closer to the main beach area, 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 on the main strip, another couple of cold beers, and after being starved of tv recently our eyes were even 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 quieter places with no tv. Everything was really fresh & tasty, and the price was ok considering that I'm sure they must whack the prices up before each full moon party.

We've just picked up email and one of the many internet cafes on the main beach road, 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 still 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