Before we got to Koh Pha Ngan, I did not have very high expectations for it. All you ever really hear about the island is the Full Moon Party every month. It sounds like quite the party, but it is something that I feel neither here nor there about, as most know, I do not drink very much anyways; though I do like to dance and socialize. Does not really matter anyways, as we did not end up on the island during the full moon (though they also have half moon and black moon parties as well). When we got to the island I almost immediately changed my mind.
First off, the resort we stayed in was incredible looking. The detail that went into the buildings there was remarkable. It was a very Thai style resort. We stayed in the cheapest part of it, the poolside guesthouse, but we still had use of the two lovely pools, one being beach front. Not bad for only $26 CAD a night, split between the two of us.
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| Resort |
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| Resort |
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| Resort |
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| Resort beachfront pool |
The beach in front of our resort was mediocre. Had lovely scenery but the sand needed to be groomed and it wasn't all that big. But looking out from in was quite a lovely sight anyways. But when we took a songthaew into Haad Rin Beach, it definitely made up for it. There we found a beautiful white sand beach, surrounded by mountains on either side. Apparently this is where they have the Full Moon Party, but you would never know by looking at it. It was wonderful. We had lunch at a beach front restaurant and then soaked up some rays in the water and on the beach. At one point I looked around and about 75% of the women n the beach were topless, though it wasn't busy. I was starting to think we found the only topless beach in Thailand. To each his own. Personally going topless in a Buddhist country would just make me uncomfortable. But that is me. Best part of the day: one of the bars on the beach was blasting Jack Johnson almost the entire time we were there. Obviously I was in heaven.
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| Sitting in the water |
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| Floating along |
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| dancing to Jack Johnson |
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| View from restaurant we had lunch at |
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| Sunset from the beach our resort was on |
Another amazing thing we found, thanks to Ryan, was the Amsterdam Bar. Whatever you might be thinking from that name, you are probably right. But the best part about it, is the view. You have to walk up a path and some stairs to get to it, but once you are up there, it's worth it. From the bar, you have a 180 degree view of the Gulf of Thailand. You can see Koh Samui and Koh Tao. And the sunset was indescribable. So colourful and you could see it all. One thing I never got sick of during this trip were the unreal sunsets we would see every night. We had dinner up there, and met a couple from Argentina (who we bumped into on the beach the next day and they lent us their floatie lounge; we made good use of it). It was a great time. I would recommend anyone going to Koh Pha Ngan to check out this bar.
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| Sunset from Amsterdam Bar |
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| Sitting on top of the world |
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| Amsterdam Bar |
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| Sunset |
Other than that, the trip was filled with relaxation, food and sleep. Left on Saturday morning at 6:15am from our hotel. After a transfer to the ferry in the hotel truck, we hopped on a ferry to Surat Thani. Once we got off the ferry, we were put in a pretty sweet bus. But that didn't take us far. We got out at some back street shop and switched to a mini bus depending where each passenger was headed. Then we were dropped at a cafe/bus pick-up to get an airport shuttle bus. Once on that, after the driver seemed lost for awhile, we arrived at the airport somewhere between 12 and 1pm. Our flight was not until 3:55pm so we relaxed. Just before our flight home, a storm hit. Rain was pouring down. We got to walk from the airport to our plane in the rain. Once on the plane, I took advantage of nobody sitting in the last row and laid out across the 3 seats. We got to Bangkok airport, and had to hustle to go out to get our boarding pass and back through security. Then get food and get to our gate. All within an hour. We made it with time to spare to eat our fast food (yuck!) before boarding the place.
Now I am back in Chiang Mai, and counting down the days until a certain boy gets over here!
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