The boat to Koh Phangan was about 4 hours through at least half of it we managed to get some sleep on some of the big reclining chairs inside. Unsurprisingly we seemed to be one of many backpacking people most on there way to the "must do" full moon party and so arriving there was the usual scene, lots of people with backpacks and a lot of taxi drivers trying to herd as many backpacks as possible into there truck. It was a nice drive along the coast and arriving in the town i was once again suprised by the development, the atms and the 7/11s, stupidly imagining that as an small island it would be less like bangkok and more like relaxing islands are meant to be. This was something that i should have seen coming after seeing bangkok and knowing about the reputation of Koh Phangan especially the party town of Haad Rin. First impressions on my part were not favourable, but then i thought that maybe that the atmosphere was different maybe more intense then usual with the full moon party being just around the corner and all the people. It was not the number of people more of the type of people who made the place feel, a little intense, though i am sure there is a better for a better way of describing it.
We got a bungalow on the quiet beach on the other side of town called Haad Leela. It was nice because it was right on the beach and surrounded by forest. However the bungalow was not very good especially for the price 800 Baht, inflated due to the party. There were too many bugs for my liking, every night it sounded like something was trying to get in through the wall scratching and scraping and there were screetchy noises too leading my imagination to run wild with thoughts of what could appear through a hole in the wall at any moment, it was definately not conducive to a good nights sleep. With the massive influx of people accomodation was pretty thin on the ground and we did not have the luxury of being able to move {at least to somewhere affordable}. At least it was on a nice beach were you could hear the sea from the room when the thing was not scratching to get in, and you could see the sea out of the bathroom window when you had a shower! We did end up moving after nearly a week to just down the beach{unfortunately still in haad rin} and to a cheaper and nicer room, still no hammock though!
The full moon party happened to be on Sam's birthday which was a pretty good coincidence. We headed down there around 10 or 11pm , the beach was just rammed with thousands and thousands of people {at least 20,000}. Around the bars there was hardly room to stand. All around people covered in fluorescent paint drinking buckets, dancing around alone, in big groups but everyone was wasted. It reminded me of really bad clubs i went to when i was underage and everyone was just excited because they could get away with drinking the end result being messy. I know this makes me sound like an old woman at 23 but it just really was not my scene, i like places where you can relax and the majority of people are not obnoixious drunks who obviously can't handle their booze especially drinking those buckets. I am sure i can't be the only one who did not enjoy it. I think that to have a good time you really would have to be incredibly wasted, which i guess everyone was, except me! started drinking too late! I left everyone to there crazy night early about 2am but there were people still going the next morning 11am!!
After the full moon party everthing quietened down, a lot. Places started to shut early, there were a lot less people and the place felt a lot more relaxed. A much better place to be but still we ended up staying nearly 2 weeks! when i think a couple of days may have been enough, but i suppose that is what happens when you are not the only one travelling! After everything had calmed down we rented a scooter to have a look around the rest of the island which was definately worth it. The road out of haad rin is a bit of a rollercoaster ride with very steep hills which made for some fantastic views but i am thankfull that it is now tarmac. We drove around the west coast up past some really nice beaches and finished in chaloklum where we found a dive school that we decided to go to for our PADI course. On the way back from here we saw the elephant treking place where you can feed the elephants some bananas and go for a ride. They did not look very happy though especially the young one who appeared to be chained up constantly and looked very distresed always pulling on the chain in an effort to move, they also hit him and the other elephants fairly often. I do not think that this place is very elephant friendly.
Before we moved up north to do our diving we did not really do a lot, mainly swiming in the sea, walking around the town, sitting on the beach, a lot of lazing about. Sam and Niall went on a boat trip around the island which i decided against as i was not feeling well {again!}. Sam also had his wallet and phone stolen which was pretty annoying but not as annoying as trying to get an acknowledgement from the police. They obviously don't like to concern themselves with trivial matters like crimes as this means reports to fill in and this could result in hard work as well as unfavourable statistics for tourism. I don't know why we bothered trying as we were told they would not do anything but we thought that as all was needed was a number for claiming on the insurance it would not be such a big deal, but we were wrong!
After celebrating Nialls birthday in Haad rin we finally left and headed up to the north to Chaloklum to do our diving. But unfortunately i got sick after the first day and so did not finish it. We got a nice bungalow {fanta bungalows} and i finally got my hammock on the veranda! i am easily pleased. It was a nicer beach than the one at haad rin, no stingy things in the water, it was really clear and calm and quiet. The town itself does not have a lot to offer, it is pretty quiet and everything tends to shut early. There are a few restaurants but not really any bars. We did find the shisha bar though which looked very out of place with its big glass windows and clean white interior and modern design, it was a nice place to sit just a little expensive and when we were there very quiet.
There were a lot less people staying up in the north but some of them staying at our hotel seemed to be pretty strange, from a group of singing girls from norway to the strangest of all a group of russians the man who always wore the same lime green shorts and t-shirt and the women who were always posing in model type poses to take each others photos all over the place.
After a long time i think nearly 3 weeks but maybe i am wrong it is hard to keep track of time on holiday it was definatley time to leave koh phangan. We decided to head over to the west coast, which involves a bus trip, definatley not something i was happy about, i think i am allergic! they always seem to make me sick and i was still really sick anyway in need of antibiotics! So next stop was going to be East.
