Koh Phangan

We were absolutely gutted to leave Koh Chang; it had everything we needed, sunshine, beautiful beaches, superb seafood and cheap accommodation but it was time for a change. Another reason for our disgruntled departure was the 26 hour journey that lay ahead. Unthinkingly we had assumed it would be easy to reach Koh Phangan from Koh Chang but, due to travel routes, we had to go all the way back to Bangkok as part  of the trip. We were disappointed further when we saw the bus we would be travelling on- cramped even for my short legs. Nevermind. We finally made it to Koh Phangan and the contrast between this more well travelled island and the places we had already been was made immediately apparent by a girl in our taxi complaining that her vodka may be smashed by the local person moving her bag for her and the loud, offensive Geordies bragging the entire way to our accommodation. Looking forward to a nice shower on arrival we were ready to throw enormous strops upon being told that the electric wasn’t working in our room. Undeterred we walked to the beach.
Sunrise beach in Koh Phangan, despite its tacky reputation, is one of my favourite beaches in Thailand. Looking past the hordes of people on the beach you can see the beautiful colour of the water and the white sand. Soon, we were happily playing bat and ball, our 26 hour journey completely forgotten.
That night, finally showered and fresh we went to the beach for some drinks ending up at the infamous Coral Bungalows Pool Party. Given that there are only two of us travelling we should have spent the night making friends but instead I spent the night being piggy backed through the pool by Dibbs , me tapping people on the shoulder while he threw buckets of water in their faces. We haven’t met many people.

Similarly to last time I went it’s difficult to say too much about Koh Phangan because it’s easy to fall into the trap of partying, sleeping late and sunbathing. We had a good time though, the highlights included meeting up with Dibbs’ friends who were also working in Alpe d’Huez last season, Dibbs jumping through a ring of fire on the night of the full moon and visiting sunset beach, at sunset.
Koh Phangan is said to be a beautiful island, which it is, but this is apparently true particularly about the parts further away from the party areas. With this in mind I had vowed to visit more places this time around. This did not happen, therefore, I have still seen only the Haad Rin area. The Thai food is ok- the locals aim their food towards Western tastes more here so Mama Schnitzel is certainly very good, sunrise beach is stunning. One thing about sunrise beach which isn’t advertised on the full moon posters is that when you enter the sea you are surprised by a stinging sensation on your body. This is caused by jelly tentacles that are washed ashore with the full moon tide. Strange but true.