Full Moon Party in Ko Phangan

So, you heard from the last post that we found paradise. It was a crazy journey, but the rewards were well worth the hassle. Our pre-booked (no need...unless we were booking right on the beach of the full moon party) bungalow rocked. The ride over the mountain may have been hairy, but the beach was out of the way and our little hut was right next to the beach. We made friends with our neighbors, Mike and Sheila (from UK, but Mike is originally from Australia). It was great to chill for a bit. We spent just as much money on our motorbike rental for four days as it would have cost us for a taxi ride in the back of a pick-up, there and back. Our first full day, we took a tour of the island and came to the conclusion (after much research) that our beach was the best. We therefore spent the next two days there and no where else. It was so relaxing. Ethan even enjoyed staying put for a bit. We were invited to a great little spot in the jungle by Mike and Sheila. It was not a tourist spot and the traffic they did see from farang was the type of people that found the out of the way spots. The guys that ran it are really cool hippie-Thai-rasta that are into art of all forms and life out in their little jungle getaway.
We ate great seafood, we sunbathed, we drank, and we rested up for our long night at the fullmoon party.

Pre-party with Mike, note the bucket of RedBull, Thai Whiskey, and Coke

The night of the fullmoon party, we loaded up in a longtail boat and got super salty wet on our 1 hour trip to the other side of the island (Hat Rin). Even over the deafening engine of the boat, we could hear the base from the beach as we rounded the bay towards the cove. The lights were crazy wild at all these beach bars and everyone on the boat agreed that we were happy to be staying NOT on this beach but of course excited about the party.


Crazy beach picture...

Hat Rin was about 1/2 mile long with continuous music blaring from each bar onto the beach. There were vendors selling body art, food, buckets of drink, clothes, and of course great music. We wished the DJs were a bit more visible, but besides that we loved the music and the vibe and the whole thing. We danced like rock-stars (I think the redbull helped)...and by 4AM were ready to go back to rest. By then, the beach was full of peope passed out, people pissing in the bay, and boats starting to take people home.


Hat Rin Beach, later that night...

About 5AM, we waded through that cove to our boat and headed back. Just out of the cove, the engine died. Ethan put on his lifejacket and we all sat there bobbing in the open ocean (about 10 minutes) and watched the sun rise over the horizon. What a great way to end a night, start a day.

On shore, Ethan praised me not for missing my bedtime, but also my wakeup time and we went to sleep. It was about 10AM when I woke up covered in bites of some sort, probably from Hat Rin and spent the rest of the day swimming, sleeping, a bit more sunbathing, and relaxing. This was something Ethan had planned over 6 months ago and I was soooo worried that I wouldn't be able to stay up all night, but I am so glad we did it. And once again, the redbull helped.


From Ko Phangan (Nai Pan Yai), we loaded up the motorbike....
and headed back to the wharf. We took a boat to Ko Samui, where we took a flight back to Bangkok. We arrived into BKK after 10PM and our morning flight was at 7AM to Cambodia, so we found a quiet spot (well, it is an airport) and tried to get a few Zzzzz before heading out in the morning.

Paradise Found

We finally got over to Ko Phangan after some changes to our travel plans due to bad weather. We were planning to take a overnight ferry from Surat Thani to Ko Phangan, to save on the logging for the night. We arrived in Surat Thani in the evening where the minivan dropped us off at a little restaurant, we have no idea where in the city we were. It was 8:00pm and the boat was scheduled to leave at 11:00 so we had a little time. There was a lot of confusion when we got off the moonbeam and no one spoke English so we couldn't get any of our questions answered. After a lot of hand gestures a man finally showed up that spoke English. He told us that the waves were to big and the night boat was not running and we were going to leave on the first boat the following day and he knew of a guesthouse that we could stay at for the night. This situation sounded like quite a scam and we were a little frustrated, cranky and tired.
We ended up going along with the few other people that were in the same boat, or lack there of, and going to the guesthouse. The guesthouse was sufficient and not very expensive. We walked to the market had some dinner before walking back to our room for the night.

The Next Day:
We got up the next morning and Ethan was on a mission to find some coffee . We were still not sure where we were in the city, it was a little after 6:30, and there were not a lot of places open yet. Ethan returned in ten minutes with two bags of coffee, that is how they do takeaway in Thailand, and we drank our coffee and watched the city wake up and get ready for business.
The travel company told us that they would pick us up at our hotel at 7:00am and take us to the wharf. We had been sitting in the lobby talking with some of the other people that were also forced to spend the night in Surat Thani. By 7:30 no bus had shown up and we all started to get nervous. The boat was scheduled to leave at 8:00 so a group of people jumped in a taxi not waiting for "the bus". We talked to several employees at the hotel and after many phone calls we were made a bus showed up and we were whisked in to it.
The boat did not leave until almost 9:00 and it was packed people were sitting all over the place where ever they could find room to squeeze in.
We arrived on Ko Phangan in the afternoon and rented a motorbike. We were headed to the other side of the island and we had to get us and the bags out there. We tried to get someone to take our bags out there for us or have Sara take a taxi with the bags but in the end we saved the money and piled us on the bike with my backpack between my legs and Sara's on her back. The road was very steep and unpaved for most of it. It was a scary adventure for the forty five minute ride and then we found it!


A jam-packed ferry of farang headed to Ko Phangan for the Full Moon



Nai Pan Yai Beach, early morning...

The cove is called Nai Pan Yai and it was exactly what we were looking for. It had a good beach, clear water, quiet and comfortable bungalow. It was the perfect ending to two full days of traveling so we stayed there for four nights.


Our bungalow....

Ko Lanta.
Well after two nights on trains and (one from Nong Khai to Bangkok and then another overnight down to Trang), we picked a western island (Ko Lanta) where we got in a minivan, took two car ferries, and wound up on this beautiful island. It is slow season, so we had a great bungalow with a great view and we even got sunshine!

View from our bungalow....

Our beach at Ko Lanta...


Sunset...


Now, we are headed across south Thailand to Ko Phangan (in transit) and are going to celebrate the full moon there. We promise to keep you updated soon, especially on Nong Khai (one of our favorite cities thus far). Ciao, Sara and Ethan

PS - The link to our pictures on snapfish and the old one on shutterfly are both working now...

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