island hopping

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After a much needed breakfast we grabbed a taxi to the port, Big Buddha, in order to catch a ferry. The boat ride itself was stinking hot, lying round on the top deck in the blistering sunshine. Probably the hottest weather we had experience thus far. The ride was calm and enjoyable, but again on our arrival at a new island we were met with a load of rain clouds! After some quick negotiating we in the back of a taxi-ute heading up some random 4WD road that cut across the island to a distant isolated beach. After having experienced Ko Samui, in its all too touristy splendour, we had all opted for somewhere far more chilled out and off the beaten track. The beach we chose, on the basis of my uncle's recommendation, was Thong Nai Pan Yai. It is located in the northeastern part of Ko Phan Ngan and well away from the famous Full Moon party beach of Had Rin.

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The ride there was great. Bumping along the road with the Thai jungle around us, the dirt, muddy track being eaten up at a hefty pace gave us all the feeling of freedom. It was as though with every kilometre we drove the distance between us and the regular tourists increased ten fold. Our faces changed accordingly too, with gigantic smiles emerging on all of us. Well, on all except for Sly that is, he was just head down trying desperately not to throw up again like the night before! I tell you the dirt track was not his friend. Some of the clearings in the mountains we drove past looked like something out of Jurassic park and I was perched on the edge of my seat waiting for a brachiosaurus to appear any second.

It's about an 800m long strip of sand dotted along with different guesthouses and bungalows to stay at and restaurants to eat in

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Once we arrived, at what was to become our home for six days, we were well pleased with our choice. Thong Nai Pan Yai is located a headland around from Thong Nai Pan Noi. It's about an 800m long strip of sand dotted along with different guesthouses and bungalows to stay at and restaurants to eat in. However, it's all pretty low key and not touristy. The beach is set with a load of limestone cliffs and hills behind it all of which are full of coconut trees and other exotic vegetation. Once we had been dropped of the five of us headed along the beach, backpacks on, in our attempt to find some accommodation, having made no reservations. Some people may disagree with this method but it worked wonders for us I tell you. We got a big cabin to fit the 5 of us at a cost of a ridiculous $5 each a night! It was very clean and great to all be in the one room. The owners were also, as seems typical of Thai's, super friendly and nice.

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Little time was wasted before we were wadding into the warm water with caution. However, we need not have exercised such restraint because unlike the last beach this one had a sandy bottom and was therefore excellent for swimming! That first night after a communal 2hr nap we went round to the Thong Nai Pan Noi Township to watch some Thai boxing. It was sick how ghetto and local it all was. There weren't many tourists there and the locals were all just mongrel guys drinking it up. Was very cool to be at, even got to stand so close to the ring I was resting my elbows on it, while looking up taking photos and avoiding the sweat being hit onto me!!

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Thursday was the first real day we had just spent the day relaxing on a beach literally outside our door from when we got up till the sun went down. The day consisted of having a snack, following it up with a swim, then a bit of lying in the sun, a paddle in the sea kayaks round the headland, a bit more food, a bit more lazing around, a quick check of the emails, some more lying down... well you get the idea. Chilled out to the days! The night we went along the beach to a bar/restaurant and saw some fire dancers and had some nice drinks.

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For our third glorious day on Ko Phan Ngan we went on a snorkelling trip. It was supposed to go to about three or four different spots but only ended up going to one. This was because as soon we were all aboard and heading out to sea we realized just how rough the waves actually were! The sea was giving us quite a beating and once we had finally made it to our snorkel site, Karen and I, who had been on one side of the boat, were completely soaked. No harm done though as we quickly stripped off and jumped in for a swim. It was pretty good visibility and there was a good amount of sea life to look at but I found it a little too shallow because if didn't really offer a good opportunity to dive down to anything. After stopping off at a random beach for lunch all of us were rather relieved to be told it was too rough to continue and we would regrettable be returning to our guest house beach.... "yes!" was the call from us all. Once we had safely negotiated our way back to shore in one-piece Sly and I wasted no time in hiring the sea kayaks again for a good paddle around in the surf while the others had a nap.

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New years eve arrived with out much build up and with it brought clear blue skies. For some morning fun the boys and I hired some motorbikes to ride on the 4WD tracks and take exploring. I was slightly hesitant as I had never ridden a bike with gears before and the smarter half of my brain was telling me this, plus the fact I would be learning on a dirt road, was not going to equal a nice result. I'm happy to report though, that on this occasion my dumber half took over and pretty soon I was flying along the roads in convoy with the boys. It was soooo much fun. We went down random roads till we got to a waterfall and then I cruised back to catch up with Karen while they all went off exploring some more.

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Once everyone was safely back and with only slight burns from the exhausts on our legs, we had what was quickly becoming a tradition, the afternoon nap! Once I could sleep no more I decided to hit up the hairdresser Magoo had been to. Bad move. After waiting for what must have been an hour the lady finally put me in the chair to begin. Five minutes later, and with only one half of my head shaved at the side a tropical thunder storm began and with it came a power cut!!! I tried to wait for a while for the power to return so she could finish the cut, or at least even up the other side, but alas I caved and could wait no more. Everyone found it hilarious when I returned shortly after with the greatest haircut ever given on a new years eve!

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Being New Years Eve, and the fact it was now heavily raining and windy like Wellington, our spirits were a little low to say the least. We had previously decided to hit up Had Rin for the famous NYE party on the full moon beach. However, due to the weather we actually made the decision to flag it and stay local. The problem with Had Rin was that we had to pay a bit of money on a taxi there, which would take about an hour, and then we would be stuck there till our taxi home at 6am. If it was raining it was widely accepted that we would all have a crap night, pretty understandable for a beach party.

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Nevertheless, at 9.30 we made the call to go to Had Rin as the rain had stopped about 2 hours before and the clouds had since left to reveal a beautiful starry night. The ride to the beach was loads of fun being on the back of a nice 4WD Ute and cruising along at a good pace, beer in one hand, railing being gripped for dear life with the other.

Arriving at Had Rin beach was a mixed affair. On one had there was, what seemed to be, a massive party going on all along the beach that everyone was invited to, but on the other hand the party was full of drunk Euro's! Eeek. Although initially the beach party was lots of fun as we instantly went for a bucket to share and hit the "dance floor" (read as 'sand') in front of the Hard Dance speakers, after three hours there, having moved up and down the beach a couple of times, we found ourselves burnt out and pretty much over the whole thing. The beach was being disgustingly abused and trashed, there were passed out girls getting hit on at a terrifying rate, and the number of bodies out to it dotted around the sand around was freaky. It was turning into one of those nights that never seemed to end! At about 4am we moved our way off the beach and headed inland to try and escape the carnage for a while. We found a deserted bar and crashed out there for the next two hours until our taxi back to our beach was due to pick us up. The taxi that never came I should add. Waiting two hours for a reserved taxi only to find that we could have grabbed a random one at 4 is not a funny story I can tell you.

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On new years day, once we were up, we spent our time mainly indoors as it was raining all day. I attempted to get my hair finished and fixed but again couldn't wait for long enough so just got up and left (really need to work on my patience). The boys played poker for hours with some random German guy and Karen and I spent our time reading. That night we had our usual BBQ food before all getting a much needed early sleep.

After a very refreshing sleep and feeling full of energy we were up and ready the following morning for our departure. We had, by this stage, made friends with a couple of Aussie girls who were staying at the same place as us. We made arrangements with them to meet up again on the island of Ko Tao, our next destination and then took the long Ute ride back to the ferry to begin the next leg of our trip.