Koh Phangan

I spent about a week on this little island in the Gulf of Thailand. It’s part of an island chain off the east coast of southern Thailand. The other more well known islands in the chain are the scuba diving Koh Tao and resort island of Koh Samui with Koh Phangan located between them.

My bungalow at the Laidback Resort

Life is easy on the island. It's great spot for backpackers. You can stay just about anywhere but I stuck to the south. Haad Rin is the town at the southern tip of the island (where the Full Moon Party takes place) and it has two beaches. One beach is on the east called Sunrise Beach and Sunset Beach which faces west (this is where I stayed). The west side is much quieter and only a 10 minute walk away from all the partying that takes place on Sunrise Beach at Cactus Bar, The Drop In and many other beach bars.

I arrived on the island the afternoon of the Full Moon Party and the place was full of people from all over the world. Thousands of people were wearing outrageously bright colored clothing so it would glow under the black lights that were scattered throughout the beach bars and town for the night. I already went on and on about the party in another blog, but it was definitely a fun night…and morning.

When I came over to Thailand I wasn’t planning on traveling for 3 weeks before school so I have been on a tight budget. I decided to just lay low on the island. I found an amazing bungalow right on the water for only 150 baht per night! That’s about $6 US dollars. It was very simple and most people I know would never set foot in there even if it was free, but I loved it! There was even a hammock on the front porch. There was a squat toilet and cold shower around the corner, but it did come with a fan, mosquito net and if I wanted to I could spit in the ocean out the window while lying in my bed. The view was amazing and I fell asleep to the sound of the ocean.

It’s been the tail end of the rainy season down in the south. There was a shower almost every day but when the air temp is somewhere in the 80s (30s in °C) it just feels good. I spent a few days motor biking around the island, exploring waterfalls and beaches. There was a bit of snorkeling up off the nw coast. It felt so good to put my mask on and get my head back under the water. I have really missed the ocean. One afternoon I had to race back in to the beach once bc of a sudden downpour which still managed to soak most everything. The camera survived but the book swelled up quite a bit.

The beaches on the island were amazing! And there were so many. I didn’t even make it to half of them. There were a few beach swings scattered around the island and I totally fell in love with one of them. I went back a few times and hope to see it again.

If you ever want to go to a place that has some fun night life than I would highly recommend this island. Even on the nights when there is no full moon party there is always a party happening and that means free drinks (which happen to be my favorite kind). I have a weakness for free drinks especially when you have to play drinking games to win them. Over the course of the week I experienced  fire jumprope, kicking a soccer ball into different holes for free drinks, netball for free drinks, fire breathing after you put some clear flammable liquid in your mouth and spit fire to try and light a post….yeah I blew fire! There was a fun balloon popping game that I won with another dude, jumping thru a hoop on fire, connect four and the highlight of partying…a foam party on the beach at 3 or 4 am! I made a bubble igloo. After burying myself in bubbles I had to rinse off in the ocean and then dance myself dry till the sun came up. I missed my taxi/boat/bus that morning.

I didn’t mean to pull 3 all-nighters in a row, but when you only spend maybe $5 dollars a night on drinks there is no reason to go to bed before sunup (when they put the alcohol away). I’m really getting too old for this stuff, but I have been making up for all the wasted time I’ve spent tied up in relationships recently.

Since I missed my ride off the island I was around that night for the Half Moon Party too…. All I wanted was sleep (this was night three)….but at 28 I still give in to peer pressure….I ran into Richard and Chris and next thing I know we are going to go paint ourselves for the party. That was a party all in itself and all three of us will have paint on our clothing and shoes forever just to remind us! But the night was awesome!

The Half Moon Party takes place somewhere out in the jungle on the island. Chris had a motor bike so all three of us piled on. The funniest parts were when the bike couldn’t make it up a couple of the hilsl with all three of us on it so Richard and I had to walk! The Half Moon is basically a rave at a sweet venue with techno music playing aaaaaall night long. The next day my legs were sore from dancing and I woke up still covered in neon paint!

After sleeping for a full day I booked another ticket and actually left this time. I was off to Krabi and the Andaman Sea on the west coast of Thailand.