jarno’s / trul’s page

Ko Pha Ngan is an island off the Central Gulf Coast of Southern Thailand, halfway between the islands of Ko Samui and Ko Tao. It is known as a land of coconut trees and, above all, for its full moon party: a monthly drug and booze party on the south east of the island, with people trying mushrooms or or just getting shitfaced and peeing in the sea, leaving their glass in there. There was no full moon during my stay and I did not bother to go to the black moon party, for which you need to pay entrance fee unlike the full moon party. The rest of the island is a quiet paradise with lots of people staying here for a long time to do a yoga course.

My second class air-conditioned sleeper train left Bangkok at 7.30pm. Most people in my train car were tourists or travelers heading to Koh Tao, which means they were leaving the train one station earlier than me. Francesco called me in the evening that he was not on Koh Samui but on Koh Phangan where he found a nice and cheap bungalow on the beach.

I arrived at 7.30am at Surat Thani, having a 1 hour delay. Here I changed my combined ferry ticket from Koh Samui to Koh Phangan, they ripped me off a bit, charging me 250 baht for it, but I could no bother heading to Samui first, then buying a new ferry ticket there to Phangan.

The bus from the train station to the ferry took loon: 2 hours. We waited at a stop in the middle of nowhere for some more people to hop on, which took about 30-40minutes, arriving at the ferry at 9.30am. My ferry departed at 9.55am, arriving at Koh Phangan at 12.30pm, after making a stop at Koh Samui to drop some people.

Francesco picked me up from the ferry with a motorbike (thanks!) and we went to the place he found: Laem Son beach, on the west side of the island. I booked a bungalow here for 5 nights. Paying in advance gave me an extra 50 baht discount per night, ending up at: 200 baht (5 euro) per night. Francesco moved to the neighbors (Laem Son 2) – 30 meter away – the next day, because a girl told us that those bungalows were only 150 baht per night, and on the beach front.

This was the first time that I was on an island in Thailand, and in general, it was a while ago that I saw beach. So.. I checked in and changed to my swimsuit and went into the sea, concluding that the water was so much more hot than in Vietnam.

Francesco had a motorbike so we went exploring the west and north side of the island, stopping at random beaches to take a dip in the water. At Haad Yao beach Francesco asked some information about doing a dive. Here I rented snorkel equipment to explore the reef, though the visibility was horrible. We asked a girl who we were overtaking with the bike where to go for nice and cheap Thai food. She escorted us to a little place on the north side of the island, not far from where we were. Surrounded by coconut trees, there was a shelter who looked more like protection from the sun than from the rain, with an old Thai couple. I ordered Thai omelet with steam rice, getting a free soup too. The omelet was nice, big, and tasty.. and the people were nice.

In the evening we went to the Three monkeys bar: a bar on the beach no far from our bungalows. Francesco told me that they serve free Thai food if you get a drink there: so we did. The food was nice, two kinds of fish (one was barracuda, the other one I don’t know), a vegetable mix and steam rice. After a few beers they announced a chair dance game: the winner would get a free bucket of choice. Most of the guys were out quite soon, leaving me with another guy against 5 girls. He got kicked out the next round. I stayed in all rounds and ended up on the chair in the last round, although my opponent having boobs, got the bucket.

The tank of the motorbike was far from empty so the next day we went exploring the south and east of the island. First we went to the beach at Haad Rin, where the Full Moon Party is organized normally, to take a dip in the sea. The road to there is fun to drive, though dangerous by night: there is a lot of little mountains to conquer. Breathtaking views there are guaranteed.

Two girls staying at the same bungalow place as us told us about a must see beach, called Haad Yuan, located next to Haad Rin. We checked the map and it was connected to civilization by a dirt road. On our first try, not checking the map any more, we ended up in the mountains at an elephant camp. The road here was flushed away in some parts, being much worse than on the rest of the island. We went into a random place to ask for the way to Haad Yuan. The lady, a French lady living permanently on Koh Phangan, told us that it is a dangerous road and not really doable with two people on one automatic scooter. She advised us to first go to a waterfall a bit up that road and check the quality of the path.

Arriving at the waterfall, there was no water at all. The area consisted of a few small waterfalls which ended up in three pools. The area was owned by Germans who were cleaning the pools now: welcome to low season. The path to the waterfalls already was bad, winding up and down around trees. You could see that a little stream would form on the path when it was raining. The path reminded me of the cycle track in the forest behind my house I made when I was young. The Germans told us the same: do not go there, take a boat to there from Haad Rin. It was almost getting dark and we were lazy so we did not bother. We went home, grabbed a big Chang from 7/11 and went to our own beach.

The next day was a big day: the world cup final! We met a Spanish and French guy at the restaurant where we were eating. We talked to them before and now they invited us to a yoga (read: non-alcohol) party at the beach not far from there. Here we played some silly games on the beach with the rest. The water at this beach, a bit north from Laem Son, I do not know exactly where it was, was more dirty than at our place.

In the evening we watched the game at the only place broadcasting it. They had a nice projector and several LCD televisions. Here we met some people from Australia, supporting Netherlands. At half time I went to see if there were more Dutchies, finding only one. He told me that there were a lot of Dutch people watching the game a bit more north, but they were arrogant and drunk so he came here. The guy was living permanently on Koh Phangan on a working visa: he was planning to open a resort. He gave me a orange hat, saying that it would suit me better because he did not have a hat-head. :p For the extra time I joined the Spanish guy, which I should not have done, losing the game 0-1. :( The Australian people invited us over to their bungalow, together with two Scottish, to drink the sadness away with a few vodkas. I was returned home somewhere between 6 and 7am, after watching the sunrise on the beach.

The rest of my days on Koh Phangan were practically lazy, and lazy… In total I stayed 6 nights. Francesco took off to Penang (Malaysia) one day before me: I needed one more lazy day. I booked a combined ferry and bus ticket to Penang for 1100baht, including taxi to the ferry. While typing this, I am in a minibus to the Thai–Malaysian border.

Do:
Stay at Laem Son beach (for quiet- and laziness)
Rent a motorbike and explore the island

Don’t:
Drive when drunk?