Full Moon Part Deux
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2008
1
18
27
Trip End
??? ??, 2009
Ko Phangan,
Thailand
Sunday, November 16, 2008
First I must mention our lovely little boat ride from Ko Tao to Ko Phangan.... ewww. Remember how I mentioned the weather was gross, while apparently the Gulf of Thailand does not respond well to crappy weather, and neither did our 2 hour catamaran ride. I never get sea sick, and accordingly to Nadia, since she lives in Bamfield, she never gets sea sick either. Well that was before we were squished on a boat with a hundred or so other people bouncing off major waves. All was good until the domino effect started. Someone in the front lurched and then it continued all the way back. We had all been given sea sick bags, and I was confident I was not going to have to use them.... that was until a crew member stopped by my seat asking if I had any used bags to dispose of and I took one look at his giant collection of "used" bags and well there you go mister one more for you! It was a horrendous trip and we all came off the boat looking nasty. Probably scarred the crap out of all the people waiting to get on... oh well.
So after that little fun adventure we hoped on a taxi and headed back to our old stopping grounds...Haad Rin. It was like deja vu, only this time the beaches were empty and the waves were crashing. Pretty sad at first, but we were hooked up with some sweet bungalows and decided to make the best of it. Nadz and I played tour guides and showed the boys around (now joined by two of Smallz friends from Vancouver). The next few nights were what you would have expected from another Full Moon (you can look back on my previous entry). Buckets, dancing, eating schnitzel, 7-11, fire shows (including Daryl's successful fire jump rope, and not so successful fire limbo), sleeping and watching TV. Pretty much just being lazy wastes of skin for 4 days. No beach or pool this time around. We were kind of discouraged that the Full Moon may not be as busy, but we were proven wrong and 20,000 hard cores were out and about as per usual. Some differences this time around, besides the weather...
-Morris. Our adopted kitten that Nadz found under our Bungalow half dead the first night. We created a nice little home for him on our deck and nursed him back as much as we could. His mom finally came and snatched him back on our last day.
-Bamboo tattoos. Nadia and I checked a "To Do" off our list and both suffered through a traditional bamboo tattoo. She got 3 stars on her ankle and I got a Koi fish on my side. Very painful but the artist was so talented and I now have a one of a kind tribal tattoo to always remind me of my amazing time in Asia.
-Actually making it to sunrise on the night of Full Moon. Very cool experience to be dancing on a beach and suddenly the sun is up...except for everyone isn't looking quite as good as they once did...
-Making local friends. Made some really good friends with owners of our favorite clothing store (from France) and the owner of our favorite sushi place (from Victoria). Of course our old friends were back. Jay at our hotel and Long...my good old bar dancing/light incident bartender at Cactus.
We we quite sad to leave this time around. Nadz and I were definitely tired of the party scene there, but the town itself became another second home and I will always have fond memories of it. Should be interesting to return one day...
After we sad goodbye to the island we made the long haul back to Bangkok. We checked out the new bond film in one of Bangkok's famous fancy pansy theaters and cruised good ol Khoa San. This time we said goodbye to Smallz and he headed back home and the rest of us (Chris, Nadia, Daryl, Mike and I) borded yet another night bus up north to the Jungles of Chaing Mai and Pai.... time for a change....
