Koh Pha Ngan - the island of parties

Trip Start Apr 25, 2008
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Trip End Jun 07, 2008


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Thursday, May 29, 2008

We arrived in Koh Samui - back in touristy civilisation.  Deb found out a decent apartment on the beach quite cheaply in Chewang (sp?) Beach - with pool although the beach here was pretty nice as well.  Koh Samui is definitely geared for the tourists - and every where you walk you get hounded by the shop and restaurants.  They always try to start a conversation as you walk by:  What is your name?  Where are you from?  Where are you staying?  Of course, you are rude if you don't answer.  But if you DO answer, you get roped into having a look at their shop, which, of course, you have no interest in.  After walking 20m and getting this every 2 seconds, you get tired of it very quickly!

Deb and I decided to split up for 2-3 days - she wanted to stay near the shops and hustle & bustle of Koh Samui, while I was preferring something a bit more low key.  She wasn't overly interested in the next island, Koh Pha Ngan, so I decided to leave her to her shopping (some people will be lucky when she returns!), while I looked for the peace and quite.

Well!  Peace and quiet was what I got.  Koh Pha Ngan is known as the party island.  They celebrate the Full Moon, Half Moon, Black Moon - and everything in between.  I wanted to avoid the party area so I headed north to a tiny place called Haat Khom.  Getting around to the remote areas is a bit difficult, so I hired a jeep.  Wahoo! 

I threw my bags in the back, and headed north.  This island is definitely a bit more rustic with very narrow roads, and very steep - a bit like riding a roller coaster!  Some parts are dirt road, which are fairly rough in places, so I was glad to had the 4WD in case I needed.  (It turns out I did at one stage - fortunately I knew what to do!)

I stayed in a little cheap bungalow for 350 baht ($13) which had fan only, no aircon.  This was a very isolated place on the side of a steep hill running down to the beach.  Unfortunately my car had to be parked on a steep hill, and the hand brake didn't work well.  I had to leave it in reverse, and stick rocks under the wheels.  I had terrible visions of waking up to the car down the hill and in the ocean!  Not having a reliable handbrake also made it interesting to start - it started rolling as soon as I took it out of gear - and I had to reverse up the steep drive.  Oh well - no disasters here in the end.

This area of the island only has power between 6pm and midnight - which means that the fan I had wouldn't be working for half the night.  Furthermore, for some reason the power didn't get turned on til 8 tonight, either.  So.. there is was, no one to talk to (other than a couple of german-speaking backpackers), no power therefore no reading or anything.  It gets dark at 6.00, so I just laid in the hammock listening to my MP3 player and watching rain and lightening for 2 hours until the power came on.  I felt like I was in some meditation retreat!  I was definitely missing Debbie by this stage.  When the power came on, I could see my way down the steep steps and boulders to the little restaurant and had a curry and watched part of a movie DVD that they were playing.

Today, I checked out and decided to head to the busier side of the island - just so I wasn't feeling too lonely! Found a nice place, a bit more upmarket this time - but it has a pool!  But again, I needed 4WD just to get here - some of these roads are fairly rough!

Tomorrow - Deb and I are planning on catching up on Koh Tao - the next, and final island before we have to return home.  I have no idea how we are going to meet up as she hasn't been able to top up her mobile phone anywhere in Koh Samui.  SO for now, we are relying on email.  We figure worst case, we will meet up back in Koh Samui, where we will stay for our last night.
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