Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Ten days in Thailand; Ko Phangan

So we were having a grand ol' time in Bangkok, but the car exhaust and busy city life were far more tiring than we could stand for long. So we decided to head to south to the islands, for the Full Moon Party (a 24 hour beach rave) and some quiet time on a tropical beach.

It was considerably more difficult getting there than we anticipated. From Bangkok, we took a 12 hour train to a little southern town called Surathani, and from there a 2 hour bus ride and yet another 2 hour boat ride. The boat was absolutely crammed beyond capacity with 20-something backpackers all headed to the same island for the party. But the ocean was a welcome sight and just a gorgeous as the postcards;



There were multiple boats all overflowing with European hippies and other extensions of misguided adolescence, all headed to Ko Phangan to destroy its nature with our extravagant western ways. I actually welcomed the opportunity to speak English and French to everyone I met. I didn't really realize how much I missed it. Also, the boats all had hilariously awkward names like "chumpporn" and "poon pol."

Out of sheer ignorance and stupidity, I forgot to bring sunscreen with me. So after 2 hours on a boat in the noon-day sun a couple miles from the equator, I was rather toasted. This set the base for the permanent bright red sunburn I would wear for the rest of my vacation. After that initial boat ride, there was no amount of sunscreen that could shield me from increasing my "Tan." Aloe and moisturizer became very close friends of mine.

When we got there, we had no idea what our hotel would look like or where it was. We just knew it was called "Beer Bungalo" so I just assumed it would resemble a college frat house close to the ocean. It turned out that I have horse-shoes falling out of my ass, because that depiction couldn't have been further from the truth. It was a beautiful little bungalo right on the edge of a private beach with complimentary room service and all the white sand you could stuff into your bikini.















We went to sleep and woke up to the sound of the ocean. We lay on the beach and ate way too much Thai food during the day, and danced and partied the nights away. Freaking paradise.

Eventually we had to return to the real world, but we had the same schlep back. 30 hours of Boats, Buses, Trains, Taxis, Subways later, we finally made it to the airport. But not without a 10 hour stop over in Bangkok again;





Great times.

Goodnight!


3 comments:

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