Island fever...
Trip Start
Aug 14, 2003
1
20
22
Trip End
Jan 15, 2004
Koh Pha Ngan,
Thailand
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
We jumped on the back of a truck and headed off to Hadrin, to find Matt (the guy I met on a train in the beginning of my trip in Vietnam, whose birthday we were celebrating the next day!). After a reunion at Chicken Corner, and settling Anninka in Café Hiatus with Matt's friends Chris (Aussie) and Fredrik (Swede), Maya, Am and I set off in search of accomadation. We'd been a bit stupid, not booking and searching for a place a day before New Year's Eve, and after a couple of hours of hunting, we stopped at a bar for a quiet drink and a rethink. A woman sitting near us overheard our dilemma and said she was about to move out of her one-roomed hut by the beach and we gratefully said we'd take it.
Am on the deck!!!
However, we had to sneak around to get us all there, because it was meant for one or two people, not four! We somehow managed to get a good balance of a couple of people on the bed, one in the hammock and one elsewhere for most of the next three days and nights until we found a place with two big beds. Turns out we didn't need them either, because we didn't spend a lot of time sleeping...I'm afraid there aren't really any authentic Thai cultural experiences I can write about for my time in Kho Pan Ngan, unless you count complete and utter hedonism and indulgence in good food, parties, beaches, boys and well...more parties as authentically Thai. I was amased at how many people came to Asia for this kind of experience alone though. Thailand's islands and beaches and the type of holidays Westerners have there have certainly become a bit of a phenomenon. Though I loved every minute of it (apart from a bad case of food poisoning from mushrooms!) and it was clear the locals made a pretty good living from the party tourist trade, its negative repercussions could be seen each morning as the sun rose over a beach strewn with litter and the munted people that had too huge a night. That scene had a darker side than the frivolity and great times suggested, too: it wasn't always safe and it was fairly clear that we weren't at home. At times, it seemed pretty gross and embarrassing that way we were all behaving like big kids in someone else's backyard.
Nevertheless, at that point I didn't really care and completely indulged in letting go of any sense of responsibility I'd had before. And it was great fun! Definitely one of the best weeks of my life: Anninka and I reconnected again somehow amongst all the craziness, we met some special people (yep, you guys are very special!) and inevitably came away with some new and valuable experiences.
