18/12/09 Kho Tao to Ko Phangan

We woke up to pack and check out of our room. We popped into reception to collect the DVD we'd bought of Lizzies dives and then walked down to the ferry port. Phil left Liz with the bags and went to call the hotel in Koh Phangan so they could pick us up at the port when we arrived. When he came back we confirmed our ferry tickets and boarded the boat. The ferry should have taken about an hour but it took two hours. The driver was waiting to take us to Phrueska resort which was very near to the port so it only took about five minutes to drive us. We had booked the room in Bangkok and were shown to the room we had booked. It was really pokey and had a leaking roof which was falling down, a cold shower and a smell of damp....we weren't too happy with that especially as there was heavy rain most afternoons!! We went to reception and asked to change to a better room. We were shown the next best room which was better with hot water and a dry room at least but it was overpriced. We realised we should have waited until we got there to find a room as this was not the best place to stay. We did move into the room and decided not to prebook again. The Thais keep telling us to book ahead as it is very busy for Xmas and New Year but it seems really quiet to us. Whenever we arrive at a resort there are loads of touts selling hotel rooms. Anyway we moved our bags and went for lunch. The staff were very nice and Oui the waitress had very good English so was a great help. We put some laundry in to be washed and then sat inside the bar area as it had gone very dark. The heavens opened and we sat in the bar for a few hours, Liz writing the diary and Phil on the blog, until the rain eventually stopped. We had watched City of Angels film on the hotel TV too. It cleared up and was sunny again and we went to sit on the loungers overlooking the sea by the hotel pool. We stayed and watched the sunset then got showered and changed. We walked into Thongsala, the town in which were staying. It is the main town of Kho Phangan but not a tourist area. Kho Phangan is famous for huge parties each Full Moon in the resort of Haad Rin which was about 20 kms away. This years full moon falls on New Years Eve and so it will be a huge celebration. When there is a party about thirty thousand tourists arrive then leave about four days later !!! The rest of the time Koh Phangan is pretty quiet. We walked round the town in about twenty minutes but didn't find any night life but we did stumble across a big Tescos!!!!. We went in and the inside was set out exactly the same as at home. We went to The Harp irish bar for some dinner and a drink then went back to the room to watch TV as there wasn't anything else going on. We'd made a mistake staying in Thongsala but nevermind.

19/12/09 Thongsala

We had a bit of a lie in and woke up to see that it was raining again. We went on the internet while it was raining . It sounds like we are constantly on the internet but we are trying to catch up with a very behind blog!! We had decided to get out of Thongsala and visit the famous Haad Rin. We packed an overnight bag with our clean laundry already back and thought we might stay the night if it was good then strolled along in the right direction towards Baan Tai the next town. Eventually we were picked up by a tuk tuk taxi and started the drive. It went really dark then the monsoon downpour began. We were drenched in the back of the open truck and were whizzing up and down some pretty hilly roads into Haad Rin. Evidently every year a few people die or are injured along the road as they drive back from the parties on mopeds!!!!!! Eventually the rain stopped and we arrived in Haad Rin at about 2pm and walked to the main party beach Haad Rin Nok or sunrise beach. The water was really choppy with a huge swell onto a lovely crescent shaped bay. We walked along the beach for a little while and passed the bars being set up for the party at New Years and another on Xmas Day. There were many little stalls selling buckets of cocktails and huge sound and light systems. In the daylight it all looked really shabby and not too appealing but we decided to wait until dark to see it in full flow. We walked along the beach and stopped at Tommys resort for a drink and some food. There was a good atmosphere there and we watched all the people along the beach. The beach didn't look big enough to fit 30000 people on it but it does apparently. Haad Rin is on a small penisula with a beach on either side so we walked through to look at the other one, Haad Rin Nai or sunset beach. It wan't too special and quite narrow as the tide was in so we returned to the Haad Rin Nok side. We had enquired about a room and could have had a room on the beach for less than in Thongsala which was a bit irritating. Ryan, the young lad on Lizzies dive course had recommended a chicken sandwich from a place in Haad Rin. We had a look for it with no luck then went into a chcken shop anyway to have a quick snack. After we had ordered we looked across the street and saw the Mr chicken shop he'd told us about. Our food wasn't great so we'd cocked up there but that would teach us for eating Western food!! It started raining again so we ducked into the internet cafe for a while till it stopped. After it had stopped we went to the beach and watched the locals playing a 15 a side game of football. We walked down the beach in the opposite direction to all the beach bars towards Mellow Mountain, a group of bars perched on the hill overlooking the beach. We passed by some very exclusive resorts along the beach front with prices to match (up to $120 a night) Ten years ago the beaches were lined with wooden beach huts for a few dollars a night..how things have changed. We sat in the bar in mushroom mountain and lazed on the floor cushions there watching the beach below. All the bars were lit up and we could make out fires and fire performers in the distance. It looked really great lit up with the big waves still rolling in. The entire length of the beach was lit with large lights too. We drank a few cocktails and Phil had a "vegetable" shake which left him staring at the clouds for a while !!! It started raining and we moved to another bar a bit further up the hill .There were a group of Danish guys laying on the floor completely stoned from recreational smoking...very funny. We had a drink there then decided to go along the beach to see the action close up. There were two main bars open, Cactus and Drop Inn Bar both selling bargain buckets of drinks and both had fire performers. In one was a giant burning skipping rope which people were jumping through. We saw a couple we had met on a bus in Vietnam. She was really drunk and dancing around the bar on her own. They were spending 15 days there and going to both big parties for Xmas and New Year !!! We stayed to take some photos and had a beer but then the music was really cranked up loudly so it was time to go. We had been out in the bars for 6 hours already and had had enough so got a taxi back to Thongsala. When we got back we were both wide awake and spent the next few hours watching TV wondering why we'd not stayed a bit longer!! Getting old!!!

20/12/09 Thongsala

We woke up about ten, had breakfast and dropped off some laundry then decided to wander around the town. We bought a couple of Santa hats to make a Christmas photo with and then wandered around the main street and market areas. There were many stalls selling fruits and fresh produce as well as souvenirs. We ate lunch in a Thai restaurant in the town which was really delicious and there we spotted a flyer for The Masons Arms, English pub which was owned by the same man as the restaurant. There was a live band on later in the evening so we decided to go along to watch as Thongsala really didn't have many nightly options !! We went to the internet for a while then took a walk to see if we could find the Masons Arms. When we found it we could hardly believe our eyes. It was as if an old tudor pub had been teleported and dropped into the middle of Thongsala. It felt really weird to walk up the path towards a very familiar building after such a long time away. Inside was just as English too with a pool table and traditional furniture from England. We sat up to the bar with couple of pints and got chatting to a couple of ex pats who had lived on Kho Phangan for about 7 years. Diane and Noel were out to celebrate Noels birthday and we joined them and their two Thai friends for the evening. We sat outside listening to the band play and had some good British food to eat, Phil had gammon egg and chips and Liz had scampi !! The two Thai friends were both Thai boxers and one owned a training school nearby. They were both really fit and lean and one even showed Phil a few moves and then sparred with him in the beer garden...very funny !!!! The pub was advertising Xmas dinner and by the looks of their roasts it would be fantastic but we wouldn't be there for Xmas day. At about ten we decided to make a move and the Thai guys gave us a lift into town and dropped us by a bar they said was good. We went into Jumanji bar which was designed like a jungle with tree houses and lots of decking levels to it. There wasn't any people there though so it had no atmosphere so we gave it a miss and went back to the room to bed.

21/12/09 Thongsala-Scooter tour of Koh Phangan

We got up early and decided to rent a scoooter and explore the West and North coast of the island as we had heard it had some lovely bays and quiet resorts. We filled in the appropriate paperwork and Phil left his passport as a deposit and off we went with Liz pilion. The bikes are rented empty so we had to go and get some fuel. We filled the tank for a couple of pounds and then set off to where we thought the coast road was. After a few minutes we ended up doing a u-turn as we had ridden into the fishing harbour by mistake. Not a great start !! Once we were on the right road it was all pretty straight forward. Koh Phangan has only recently had sealed roads so they are in pretty good condition but are really quite hilly The poor bike nearly ground to a halt a few times with our two bums on it up some of the steeper slopes. We passed by lots of bays, palm trees, bungalows and resorts and it was really a pleasant ride, then we pulled into a steep lane to look at the beach called Haad Plailaem. The beach was palm fringed and there was nonone else there but us so we stayed there a few minutes just admiring the views. We drove along the shoreline along the two areas called AoWok Tum and Ao Hin Kong but the tide was right in so there wasn't much of a beach to enjoy there. We carried on further until we reached the road down to the beach at Ao Haad Son where we drove down, parked the bike and walked a little way to the beach. It was a really quiet bay with a lovely blue sea and really white sand with palm trees all the way along to complete the tropical feel. As we walked along and took photos it began to cloud over and was going to rain so we got off the beach and went to sit in the restaurant just as the heavens opened. We ate a snack and a drink there waiting for the rain to pass which it did after a short time. It was a very nice resort overlooking the lovely bay but it was deserted. There is a fifty percent drop in tourism this year in Thailand apparently. We went back down to the beach which had cleared of people due to the rain so we got some nice pictures then went back to the bike. Next we stopped at Ao Haad Yao where we walked onto the beach through a very nice resort where we had a drink beofre walking along the whole length of the beach to the end and back. The sand was white and soft and the sea warm and blue and we spotted a middle aged bearded western guy on the sand. He was sat carving some wood sat next to a tarpaulin covered hammock, with five coconuts painted with the letters of HAPPY at the 'doorway" Geoff had been travelling for about twenty years and lived a hermits life round the world, he was celebate, vegetarian and had no money or so he claimed but siad he was happier than he ever was before. We chatted to him for a while and realised he was an eccentric who'd given up a once hedonistic lifestyle for a life of a hermit on the beach obviously suffering from brain mash. He was really nice but completely bonkers!!! We went back to the bike and travelled to see Ao Mae Haad which is a beach connected to a small island called Koh Ma by a sand spit. We were not able to cross the spit to the island as the tide was too high so decided to get a drink there. When we got to the restaurant we bumped into the Alex's again who were having a drink with a guy called Mick (from Liverpool) they'd met at their hotel. We stayed there for about an hour eating some lunch and chatting with the guys until it was nearing sunset. We all decided to ride back towards Thongsala and call in at a bar called Amsterdam which had great views of the sunset. Our little scooter convoy set off but we were all pulled over at a police checkpoint and searched. The police weren't too thorough so it didn't take very long thankfully and we made it to the bar just before sunset. It was really chilled there and we sat on the cushions having a few beers as the sun set over the ocean in front of us...loverly !! Once it was dark we headed back to Thongsala stopping at The Masons Arms to show the lads the funny pub. Mick was especially pleased as his local at home is also The Masons Arms so we took pictures of him outside. They were all in Koh Phangan for Christmas so decided to have their Christmas dinner there just to remind them of home. We went back to the hotel to change and then go and meet the lads at their hotel just along the beach from us.We droppped off the bike which unfortunatel had nearly three quarters of a tank of fuel still in it. We decided to pack our bags as we had a 6am departure the next morning but there was noone at the hotel at all. Not a soul could be seen anywhere and it was only 8pm. We had laundry there and Phils passport too and we had no idea if they would be there early the next day either!!! We hatched a plan to break into the reception the next day if nonone was there as we would have to have our passports !!!! We looked round for a while yelling hello in Thai at the top of our voices but noone was there...pretty poor if we had any problem with the room. Anyway there wasn't much we could do so wew alked along to find the boys hotel. It had sounded pretty straight forward but we walked along in the dark, not knowing where were heading, but eventually saw some lights towards the beach and thankfully it was their hotel. We joined them in the bar next dooor for some food then went to their beach bar where we all lay on cushions really relaxed for a few hours. They had met a great bunch there and we all chatted and had a laugh for a while before we left as we had to be up the next day. The two Alex's were going to Koh Phi Phi on boxing day so we said we would see them there.