DAY 21 - KO PHI PHI TO KO PHAN NGAN

The boys on the ferry to Ko Phangan

Nothing seems to go according to plan in Thailand and our trip from Phi Phi to Ko Phangan was no exception. Ko Phangan is situated East of the Thai Mainland so we had a long trek ahead of us. We were up early to catch the 9am ferry from Ko Phi Phi to Krabi which took 2 ½ hours. At Krabi we were crammed into a minibus and brought without choice to a local restaurant/ internet café/travel agent/newsagent. We spent 45 minutes here waiting for our main coach to take us to Surat Thani. Obviously these places are in collaboration to control your spending. Finally the coach arrived and the next section of the trip took another 3 hours. We were all glad to see the bus turn off at Surat Thani however to our misery, we were dropped off again at another local restaurant/internet café/travel agent/newsagent and made wait for another 1 ½ hours for yet another bus.

Spirits were dampened even further by the arrival of a ‘chicken bus’. This bus was probably 30 years old, was kitted out with wooden floorboards with holes and non-operating electric fans pinned to the ceiling and a maximum speed of 50kph. We were all looking forward to escaping from this wreck and on to our promised ‘fast-ferry’ to Ko Phangan. Upon arrival at the ferry port we weren’t even surprised to be greeted by a rusty old car ferry that was anything but fast. The only positive thing to come out of this trip was the sunset at the end of the day (see photo below). The whole journey had taken us over 13 hours when we were promised by a travel operator/ restaurant/internet café /newsagent that it would only take 7. We’re all pining for the Hummer and are really missing him at this stage. Hopefully he’s safe and sound on the boat somewhere between Darwin and Singapore.

Sunset on Boat to Ko Phangan

Ko Phangan is really a party island and hedonist paradise. The main town, Haad Rin and it’s beach is the location for the infamous Full Moon Parties. We will be lucky enough to have 2 during our stay here, one on Christmas Eve and another on New Years Eve. These parties have anywhere between 6 and 15 thousand partiers. Every night in between these parties is also crazy on Haad Rin and needless to say, upon arrival and check-in to our beach hut, we headed straight out to polish off a few buckets and party with people from all over the world. Finto was the second victim of the runs on the trip and was bed-ridden for the night which was probably for the best since tomorrow is Christmas Eve and nobody wants to miss the full moon party.