Koh Phangan, July 17-21, 2008
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2008
1
13
18
Trip End
Ongoing
Ko Phangan,
Thailand
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Dave and I rented a motorbike and cruised down the length of the island to Baan Tai, the area just before Hat Rin. There we walked the beach, inquiring about rooms at each of the guesthouses. Given our proximity to Hat Rin, almost all of them were completely full, but by pure luck we happened to stop at a lovely place called Liberty Bungalows just after one of the guests had told the owner he was leaving. She told us we could have the room, so the next morning we hopped into the back of a pick-up truck taxi and rode to our new place. Our bungalow at Liberty more like a treehouse--although made of concrete and wood, it was elevated to second-story level with a winding staircase leading up to the top. We settled in quickly.
The Baan Tai area was more developed than where we had been before, so Charlotte and I set off on an expedition to the small town near our resort. On the way we stumbled upon a tiny bar set back from the road, located in the three-foot space beneath a large bungalow-style house and furnished with pillows and tapestries. Immediately we got to know the owner, Chad, a Koh Phangan local who runs the small bar by himself on his family's land (its serves more as a hang-out place for him and his friends than a veritable business). He was extremely welcoming and we made fast friends, so we promised to return later with Dave. For the rest of the time we were in Koh Phangan the three of us visited Chad frequently, spending a few hours each day hanging out with him in what felt like a sort of secret hideout.
Throughout our time on Koh Phangan there was a building of excitement in anticipation of the Full Moon Party. We were hanging out with Chad on the night of the party, preparing to head off to Hat Rin, when it started pouring rain. Undeterred, we caught a taxi to the party, gritting our teeth as the car pummeled down the steep, wet, windy road that separates Baan Tai from Hat Rin. The rain was still going when we reached the beach, but the party was raging nonetheless, periodically illuminated by huge bolts of lightning that shone a beautiful light on the beach. We got there around 9:30 pm and the beach was starting to fill up with people, many of whom were covered from head to toe in Day-Glo body paint. Each bar along Hat Rin was lit up like Times Square, blaring music out onto the dancing masses covering the beach. With the energy there it was easy to forget entirely about the rain, which lasted another hour or two.
We spent the rest of the night meeting people from around the world, making tons of new friends. As the sun was rising over the ocean, someone we met invited us up to his hotel balcony overlooking Hat Rin. We had a great view of the crowds below and the gorgeous dawn. It wasn't until around 8 am that we actually caught a taxi back to Baan Tai to crash for the next few hours. We spent the next day recovering from lack of sleep in the restaurant at Liberty, watching movies and indulging in the amazing food cooked by the guesthouse manager.
We'd liked to have stayed longer in Koh Phagnan, but not long after the Full Moon Party it was time to move again. Many people continue on from Koh Tao and Koh Phangan to the next (and most popular) tourist spot in that small chain of islands, one called Koh Samui. We had heard that it was a bit untastefully built up and Charlotte had only a week left in Thailand with us, so decided to skip it (for now) and to head to the other side of the southern Thai peninsula. On the west coast--less than two hours away on the mainland isthmus--is the jumping-off point for Koh Phi Phi, in the Andaman Sea. The island is famed for its beauty, so we decided to head there next and see what we found.
