Kho Phangan, Thailand (19 April)

We decided to hike to a waterfall that was in the area so we got up early, had breakfast and set off just after 8am. It was already boiling and really humid. The walk to the waterfall was beautiful, the path wasn’t very clear and we literally had to walk through the jungle, jumping over streams and climbing over huge tree roots. We made it to the waterfall in 30 minutes – we didn’t realise it was so close. As it is dry season now the waterfall wasn’t very impressive and was quite small. We decided to try climb the rocks on the side of the waterfall and managed to make it all the way to the top. As the surrounding vegetation was quite dense we didn’t really get any views from the top but it was fun climbing up. Coming down was a bit tricky but we made it unscathed!

We got back to our beach and went for a swim. It started raining but we swam in the rain for a while, it was so nice being in the warm sea water whilst it was raining, before getting out to have lunch. The rain stopped about an hour later so we went for another swim. Later when the sun was starting to go down we went for run along the beach. It was so beautiful. Then for dinner we went back to our favourite restaurant, Central Cottages, for a big plate of fried rice.

Kho Phangan, Thailand (18 April)

We were both quite stiff from the kayaking the day before so we had a very lazy day – splitting our time between the beach and the pool 🙂

Kho Phangan, Thailand (17 April)

We wanted to hire a double kayak for the morning so we woke up early, had breakfast and found somewhere open at 8:30am to hire a kayak. We had heard there was an island not too far around the rocks at the Southern point of our beach so we headed for that. After 40 minutes of paddling against the tide we made it to the island nicknamed “flipflop island”. It was tiny but beautiful. We didn’t take the camera so unfortunately we don’t have any photo’s to share. There were no beaches so we found a gap in the rocks where we could get the kayak through, then pulled it onto the rocks and went to explore 🙂

The island was very rocky which was a bit tricky in our flip flops but we managed to climb our way around the island and sea some fantastic views. We made it around the whole island in 30 minutes! It was such a cool feeling to be the only people there. We swam in the sea and lay suntanning on the rocks for a bit before heading back. It only took us 30 minutes to get back as we were paddling with the tide this time. We saw a massive pink jelly fish float past the kayak when we were quite far out but it is never a comforting sight.

When we got back we were quite tired so we had a swim then found some sunbeds in the shade around the hotel pool. We found a little raised decked area with another little pool so we lazed around in that for a while.

We went for a walk a built later and walked past a local guy having a bbq on the side of the road, we landed up having a huge lunch at his make-shift road side cafe (which was delicious and we didn’t get sick).

We could hardly move so we went straight back to the sun loungers and vegged there for the rest of the day.

Kho Phangan, Thailand (16 April)

We woke up early so went for run along the beach before having breakfast at a restaurant on the beach. The German girls we met at Longtail gave us their lilos when they left so we took those down to the beach. We looked so funny with one bright pink and one bright yellow lilo tucked under our arms like surfboards! They were such fun and we paddled them out to the rocks so we could see what was around the bay. We floated around on them for about an hour and then headed back to the pool area to find some shade. The pool area is stunning, it is so peaceful just lying on the sunbeds looking over the pool and onto the beach and ocean – its a hard life 😉

We went for lunch to one of our favourite restaurants where you can sit on the beach which I love. After lunch we went back to the pool for a while and then took the lilos out again. The sun was starting to go down so it was such a beautiful time of day to just float around in the ocean an watch the colour of the sky change.

Later we decided to go back to the restaurant we ate lunch at for dinner. It is so romantic when the candles are all lit and you can sit on the beach. They also hang lantern from a big tree that branches out over the beach which is just stunning

Kho Phangan, Thailand (15 April)

It was our last day at Longtail resort. We had such a great stay there but unfortunately they only had 3 night available when we booked so we had to move. We found a great online deal at one of the bigger resorts on the beach called Dreamland so we booked into there for a week. The resort is very nice with a stunning swimming pool area and it is on the better swimming side of the beach.

We had an early start as we wanted to get over to Dreamland, drop out kit off and do a trek over the surrounding hills to a beach called Than Sadet. We managed to head off on the walk at 9:40 am. It was already incredibly hot. The walk only took an hour and twenty minutes but that was enough in the heat. We were soaked through, like we had just walked out of the sea. Parts of the walk were very steep and it was hard to get a footing at times (especially in our flip flops) but it was also fantastic walking through the jungle. Hiking up the hills gave us some picture postcard views over the Thong Nai Pan cove. Towards the end of the walk we visited a small waterfall area which was a favourite area of the king of Thailand back in the 1880’s. The area “Than Sadet” means “almost a waterfall”, it’s not that impressive but still quite beautiful.

After the long walk to Than Sadet, we were dying to get to the beach to have a nice swim and cool off. The beach is lovely – a true slice of paradise. Palm trees on the edge of the beach which was dotted with rustic huts and closed in by high, lush mountainside. We sat under the palms after a nice swim and enjoyed the beach for a couple hours which was total bliss. We spotted a pub called Plaas up on the hill which looked like it had amazing views so we decided to climb up the very steep hill and go for a drink there. The views were spectacular of the beach below and surrounding coastline. We sat drinking ice cold strawberry lassie’s (fresh fruit and yoghurt drink) and taking in the view before the big hike back to our beach.

On the way back we saw some people struggling to get their 4×4 and scooters up a really steep part of the road we were walking down. As we passed them i recognised the one guy, he was an old South African friend, Howard, who i hadn’t seen since my first year in London in 1999 – how strange is that! I never expected to see anyone I knew in Thailand, let alone on a tiny dirt road to a secluded beach on Kho Phangan Island – what a small world hey!

We made the mistake of not taking enough water with us on the way back. It was hotter at this time of day too. I think we got a bit dehydrated but pulled through okay. We decided we definitely want to spend a few days at that beach over the next couple weeks.

When we got back we had a swim in the pool, went to the shops to buy some beers and headed of to meet Belinda and Brian (the american couple that we did Sangkran with). They have built their own house here which is stunning. We ended up having a couple beers and a nice chat and watched an amazing sunset from their balcony. They had to head off to meet some friends so we took a stroll on the beach and had a very nice dinner right on the beach before heading back to ours for a well deserved nights sleep.

Kho Phangan, Pan Yai Beach, Thailand (14 April)

Pete got up and went for a run whilst I slept in. It was a slow start to the morning. We had breakfast at the restaurant and just spent the day on the beach. This place is so relaxing and you don’t get hassled at all. Very different to the beaches in Indo. This place is definitely one of the nicest beaches to come to if you just want to relax, eat amazing food and float around in the warm blue ocean 🙂

Kho Phangan, Songkran – Thailand (13 April)

It was the start of the Thai New Years, Songkran today so “O” who runs the Longtail bungalows we are staying in asked if we wanted to go into town with him to take part in their New Years Festival which runs from 13 – 15 April. On Thailand New Year’s Day, Thais pray to the Buddha, clean temples and houses, give offerings to the monks and sprinkle scented water on elders as a mark of respect. The pouring of water is symbolic of the cleansing of the spirit, mind and body. The water is also supposed to wash away bad luck.

This has evolved over the years and the younger generation now have full on water fights. People stand on the side of roads with huge water drums or hose pipes and spray passers by. People also drive around on the back of trucks throwing water on people they pass. This is what we did. We took a massive dustbin and filled it with water, strapped it to the back of “O’s” pickup and headed off with our buckets in hand. We were joined by an American couple in their 40’s, Belinda and Brian and a German girl in her 20’s, Julie. It was so much fun! We sprayed loads of people on the way and got sprayed loads so by the time we got to Thongsala, the main town in Kho Phangan we were drenched. The town was heaving with people all armed with water guns, buckets, hose pipes and coloured talcum powder! People were blasting music out of their shops and the square in the middle of town had sprinklers on and a stage where people could dance if they felt the need.

We ditched the car after driving through town and quickly bought some water guns. I can’t remember when I last played with a water gun but we all felt like kids again and had such a fantastic day. We were all soaked and full of talcum powder. Some people put ice in their water which was awful when it was poured on you. Other people mix food colouring in their water so we were pink and yellow a some stage of the day. In the afternoon a fire truck drove through town and the firemen put he hide on to spray people. It was quite funny cause they put it on full blast and nearly took a few people out!

We ran around and danced in the square, had a few beers in between water gun fights with locals and other travellers. There was a parade that came through the main street, behind the parade were trucks that had been decorated. One of the trucks had an elderly monk who was gently flicking water over people as a blessing as he drove past. Behind him were a couple of trucks of beautiful girls in traditional dress and of course no parade would be complete without the ladyboys!

We started heading back to our beach at 5pm. O invited us to join a traditional Thai New Years meal that he was cooking for some family and friends that evening. We showered and got cleaned up and joined him and the others at 7:30pm. I have never seen so much food. He just kept brining out dish after dish and it was all fish and seafood – I was in heaven. The food was amazing. He cooked barracuda, red snapper, white snapper, grouper, calamari, squid, prawns and all in different ways. He also made a veggie dish of ferns. I have never eaten ferns before but it was really good. Desert was little fried banana fritters with honey or condensed milk – yum!

After dinner we went to one of his friends bar for a few drinks and met up with 3 other German girls. Pete and I haven’t had any alcohol since we left Oz, so almost a month. We weren’t really in the mood to have a big one as we were exhausted from the days activities so we stayed out until just before midnight, watched an impressive fire show by one of the locals and then left them all to it. It was such a fantastic day and we met some great people. It was so nice of O to include us in their tradition and help us learn more about their culture. I really love Thailand and the people here 🙂

Kho Phangan, Thailand (12 April)

Wee had a lovely day and night at Phuwadee Resort on Noi but we were excited to get across to the other beach. We had breakfast, packed our stuff and checked out at 10 am. We decided to just walk the 30 min trip to the other beach to get some exercise for the day. It is really hot by 10am and there is a really steep road you have to walk up when you leave Noi beach which wasn’t that pleasant in the heat. We arrived at Longtail Resort looking like we had just climbed out the sauna and checked into our very cute bungalow – equipped with hammock on the porch – bliss 🙂

We spent the day just enjoying the new beach. The sea is so hot it is like a bath in the shallow water so you have to swim out a bit to cool down. It was such a hot day we actually lay in the shade reading our books for most of the afternoon.

That evening we decided to try out the restaurant at Longtail. They make the best Mango Shake I have ever tasted! (fresh mango with crushed ice so it is like a frappe). The food was delicious and we had a stunning view over the sea from our table – I think I have found my paradise!

Kho Phangan, Thailand (11 April)

We checked out of Lime an Soda on Kho Phangan’s main beach and town – Thongsala which lies to the South and caught a taxi to Thong Nai Pan Noi beach which is North East. It was an hour ride away across the islands along a dirt road so thank goodness we were in the back of a pickup truck (bakkie for everyone is SA).

It was a very bumpy but beautiful drive through lush jungle and we even saw some tame elephants. We had booked 1 night in a nice Resort called Phuwadee so we headed straight there. It was a lovely resorts right on the beach. There are two beaches that make up the Thong Nai Pan area – one called Noi which is smaller and has more honeymoon style resorts and Yai which is bigger and has more of a casual style about it.

Once we had checked in it only too, us about 10 minutes to walk to the other end of Noi beach so we decided to do the 30 min walk over to Yai beach to check it out. We instantly liked the atmosphere on this beach more so we went into every single place along the beach to have a look at their rooms. As is usually the way the last one we looked at we loved. It was called Longtail and it had basic wooden bungalows on the beach with a hammock hanging on the balcony so we booked into that for the following night. Unfortunately they only had a room for 3 days but we didn’t know our plan so that was fine.

It was so hot so the 30 min walk back to Noi beach was quite tiring. We jumped into the sea as soon as we got back and then lay on the beach for a bit. The sand on the two beaches is lovely and soft and white. Later we found a cute little restaurant called Bamboo where we ate dinner – the food was delicious. We are loving all the nice fresh and health stir fry’s you can eat over here – not to mention the chilli! It was such a lovely evening so after dinner we went for a stroll along the beach – the sky was full of stars so it was perfect!

Phuket to Kho Phangan, Thailand (10 April)

We were fetched at 7:30am in a minibus. Both of us were still feeling bruised from our massages the night before!

We were the first people to get picked up so we drove around Phuket for 40 mins collecting everyone else. It was quite a tight squeeze in the minibus with 12 people and all the luggage so we thought we were going to be taken to a bigger bus but we weren’t, we had a very long and very bumpy 5 hour drive in the minibus. The ride was so bumpy that the guy in front of us got car sick, luckily he had a plastic bag but it was still very unpleasant.

The driver stopped for lunch after about 4 hours a this tin shack so we waited for him to finish. We carried on for another hour and got dropped off at a road side cafe where we had to wait for the big bus to take us to the ferry port, they told us we had to wait 1.5 hours for the bus. There was nothing around this tiny cafe so we all just sat around reading our books. The bus arrived at 14:00 and it was only an hour bus ride to the ferry port – why we couldn’t just get a big bus from Patong all the way or why the minibus couldn’t take us the rest of the way is beyond me.

We only had to wait 20 minutes before we could board the the small ferry boat. We sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful scenery as we left the mainland and headed out to the islands. We had to make a stop at Ko Samui island to drop some passengers off and pick up others. It took 1.5 hours to get to Ko Samui and the stop only took about 20 minutes and we them had a further one hour boat ride to get to Kho Phangan. We finally arrived at 18:30 after being picked up at 7:30 that morning. What a long day!

We didn’t have accommodation booked and it was starting to get dark so we quickly walked along the beach and found a really cute place called Lime and Soda so we booked into one of their bungalows for the night. The setting was great and they had tables just off the beach so you could have dinner on what felt like the beach, under the palm trees looking up at the stars. It was idyllic 🙂