Looking out towards Koh Samui
Trip Start
Oct 11, 2002
1
9
20
Trip End
Nov 04, 2002
Koh Pha-Ngan,
Thailand
Sunday, October 20, 2002
The bus stopped in Surat Thani for an hour and we met Shay from Israel who showed us a few card tricks. The bus then took us to the dock at Nam Tok where we collected our packs in the rain. We were all wearing blue stickers indicating that we were headed for Koh Pha-Ngan. The stickers were swapped for ferry tickets by the conductor and we boarded the ferry. It was a vehicle ferry bound for Thong Sala and we sat up front. I was totally unaware when we left as it was so smooth and quiet.
On the ferry we were approached by numerous touts with photo albums of their bungalows. We ended up deciding to stay at Sunsea Resort and when we arrived at the dock, Eddie, the owner, herded us towards the songthaew that was to take us there. Shay had also elected to stay at the same place and in the darkness in the back of the songthaew we met two Canadians, Matt and Alan, and Noel an Irish bloke who were also staying at Sunsea. The ride to our accommodation was very interesting and jerky, up, down and around the hills and bends. It instilled a little fear in me.
When we got to the bungalows they were large, right on the beach and were very clean. The bathroom was the cleanest we'd seen so far, although it doesn't take long to get a bathroom full of sand. It is so fine and sticky that after scrubbing myself under the shower for an hour, I was still caked in sand. We had dinner and watched some of Urban Legends which was on the TV. After tea all six of us took a ride into Hat Rin to check out the nightlife. We took a terrorising 30B songthaew driven by the crazy driver at Sunsea. The road, although paved with concrete, was a bit potholey in places. It was very hilly, winding and it felt as though we were being driven by the devil himself. We clung to the rails for dear life and I started to feel quite queasy, even though I usually have a strong stomach that handles show rides with ease.
We finally got to Hat Rin alive although quite shaken. We weren't quite sure which way the beach was so Alan asked this old hippie with purple happy pants and long curly blonde hair with pink streaks in it which way the beach was and he pointed down the trail.
Noel then committed a great crime and asked him which was a good spot to go. The hippie proceeded to look down at his feet and said with a strange paranoid drawl and a wave of his arm towards the beach "You've got a bit of soul, a bit of pop, some other bullshit man, then there's some trance further down," shrugged his shoulders and continued to muse about the music. I have subsequently seen the hippie twice wandering along the beach and down the street carrying a wooden electric shaped guitar that looked very battered and was minus strings. The third time I saw him he was being followed by another hippie we had seen at the ferry terminus wearing a dress and with neon bobbles holding two pigtails. This time he was sans dress but still wearing neon yellow hair ties.
On the beach we found some chairs around a table in front of Mahoney Mart's. The music was a mixture of pop and pop rock. We heard both the Land Down Under and Holly Valance in the one sitting. Neon lights flashed all around the beach and different types of music played from along the beach. It wasn't very crowded yet - there were still plenty of chairs unoccupied. Numerous bars fronted along the beach selling all types of drinks and cocktails.
We watched as the beach began to fill with party goers ready to drink long and hard in the lead up to the Full Moon Party. Watching other people was very interesting. There was a girl in her togs dancing very sexily to her group of friends. She was probably a belly dancer. She had such rhythm and movement about her that it was fascinating to watch her because she had the whole dance down to a smooth roll.
We stayed on the beach talking and watching the crowd until 12:30am when we walked through the streets of Hat Rin, past massage parlours and shops that were still open, to a taxi for which we were charged 50B each for another hair raising ride back to the bungalow.
We hung around the little beach by our bungalow for a bit, soaking up the atmosphere and serenity of our little beach hideaway. The Canadians loved our accents and Matt was even bold enough to ask on the beach at Hat Rin which of us cute Aussies was single so he knew who he could hit on, although this was just a joke as they both had girlfriends back home.
Nicole and I woke up around 7ish and I washed my clothes which dried properly for the first time in the warm breeze and not so humid temperature. We then decided to walk to Hat Rin and check out the road first hand before attempting another taxi ride. The walk up and down the hilly, windy road was very exhausting. The road was quite narrow and we played chicken with the locals on motorbikes as they refused to move over to pass us. Due to the tough hike up, down and around, we stopped halfway and at the top of each hill and saw some spectacular views of the bay and beaches.
We finally arrived in Hat Rin covered in sunscreeny sweat. Nicole went and paddled in the sea while I headed straight for an airconditioned internet cafe to check my emails and send out another update. Mum had sent me an email saying I should check in with the Australian Embassy so Nicole and I both filled in a form on dfat.gov.au to make the parents happy. We then wandered around the shops and I bought a few things including a top that is a bit see through and you can see my nipples through it! - although I didn't realise it at the time.
Nicole wanted to get her hair braided so I went and did some sunbathing on the beach which was more like I would imagine a beach in Rio. Brown people were lying all over the beach and it was quite crowded. I couldn't believe the number of women sunbaking topless, I saw at least five around me. People were parasailing further down the beach, water taxis departed from in front of us and beach sellers plied their wares along the strip. The beach vendors were fully protected from the sun with long sleeves, pants, broad brimmed straw hats and scarves wrapped around their necks and faces. They sold all sorts of things from sarongs to jewellery and fruit and were quite bold in coming up to people even though they were feigning sleep, so I put my hat over my face to discourage them from approaching me.
After two hours I was quite sandy and in need of a drink and swim. I couldn't go for a swim and leave my stuff on the beach as I just cashed a travellers cheque that morning and so I started to get very restless and agitated. I had agreed to meet Nicole on the beach and thought she wouldn't be far away so I continued to wait, the sun moving the shadows closer to me, until a small shower came out. I went to the nearby cafe for a drink and watched the beach clear of people.
A Brazilian guy, Carlos, came and talked to me about his travels, Brazil and Goa where he lives. I got sick of Carlos' monologue and giggle quite quickly. He had been in Koh Pha-Ngan for two months and seemed to know stacks of people there, he would call out to someone he knew and hold out his fleshy hand in greeting, his pockmarked face lighting up. By this stage I was past ready to go back to the bungalow and making my excuses to Carlos I went in search of Nicole.
After a circuit of the main street and beach I went down another street and saw her in the window of a hairdresser with her hair in braids. She was 15 minutes away from being ready so I had a look in some more shops and found a Collingwood Football Club cap for sale. Earlier in the day I had seen another one. I couldn't believe that I saw two Collingwood hats in two different shops, especially since there were no other football team hats of any sort.
It took Nicole four hours to get her hair braided and grumpy Camille finally got back to the bungalow for a bit of cool down time. Noel asked us if we wanted to go into Hat Rin where he was meeting an old travel buddy he had run into. We went with him and met Paul from South Africa and Arne from Germany. I spoke to Arne for quite awhile and he is going to be in Australia for four months so we swapped email addresses in case we don't see each other again - although I'm sure that despite the five-plus thousand people we will cross paths again.
Noel had been in town during the day and had found out that the Full Moon Party wasn't going to be on Monday night during full moon as Buddhists can't drink on Monday's so it was to be postponed till Tuesday 11am. Nicole and I decided to change our flight to Bangkok for Wednesday. We couldn't come to Koh Pha-Ngan for the Full Moon Party and miss it.
The ride home from Hat Rin that night was the worst. We were piled into the back of a songthaew which didn't have any awning so there was nothing to hang onto and we were all quite scared. We got talking to a English couple who are on their way to Australia. They will be spending a lot of time in Melbourne staying with a cousin who said they lived in Little Hollywood, which I figure is probably St Kilda.
I got woken up at 6am by some drunk people getting home and slamming doors but went back to sleep until 9 when we got up for a lazy day hanging around the bungalow.
Nicole called and changed our flights to Bangkok for Wednesday 12:40 which was much easier than I thought it would be. I'm glad to be staying in one spot for awhile - it is so much more relaxing. I'm planning on getting a massage and go to a Muay Thai lesson at Jungle Gym tomorrow, but today will be spent relaxing in the sun and reading.
