Like in Phuket

After the 12 hours in Bangkok, we caught the 12 hour bus to the island of Kho Pangnan. This is where the full moon party is. Its a massive party with about 8000 people, on the beach, all night long. We booked a bungalow resort for 4 nights. Everyone on the ferry was going for the party, so it was packed with young backpackers.

We got to our bungalow, which was a dive. It had cold showers and a non-flushing toilet, which we quickly clogged. Normally I don't mind cold showers, but on the ferry ride over, it rained and I was sitting on the deck. Then it proceeded to rain for the first 2 days we were there. The beach was very murky and the prices were way too high for what we were getting. But whatever, we were there for the full moon party.

The party was amazing. There were so many people, drinking and dancing. There were fire-throwing-twirling dancer people which were awesome to watch. I lost all my friends within the first 5 minutes, but found others shortly. I wandered all the way down the beach and back. Then I found my friends and we danced for several hours. Then I lost them again. I needed a nap, but lord knows why I didn't just go back to the hotel. I wanted to make it to sunrise. After my nap, I wandered down the beach a little longer. It was morning now so I got in a tuk-tuk and went back to the hotel. I went to sleep for the whole day. I didn't drink very much, but every drink has Red Bull in it and it has so much sugar, which made me feel gross. So the day was wasted by sleeping. I found Leesa, Denise and Romi at the hotel and we spent a few hours later that night recounting our stories.

On the last day on the island, we rented scooters and went exploring on the island. Romi doesn't like riding a scooter so she rented an ATV and looked really cute on it. She is shorter than me, so picture her driving a giant machine like that.

The island was beautiful. We found some nice beaches and a beautiful bar that overlooks the entire side of the island, and watched the sunset. We hung out with 2 guys we met, Ryan from the UK and Matt from the US. We had a great day, but were ready to leave the island and all its touristy things.

We left the island early in the morning, on Saturday, on a ferry. It took us to the mainland, where we caught a bus to Phuket. The bus was supposed to be 5 hours, but it broke down three times. The last time it broke down, the driver told us to get off, and onto another bus that was heading to Phuket. However this bus was already full. I had to stand in the aisle of the bus for 2.5 hours. It sounds bad, but I practiced my yoga stances and it made the time more pleasant. The whole experience was a complete shit show which got us in Phuket about 4 hours late.

We stayed on Patong Beach for 3 nights. Our room had no windows, so we called it the Bomb Shelter. But it had air conditioning and a hot shower, so we were happy. I didn't care for Patong too much, with the lady boys everywhere and party girls looking for a rich white man to "hang out" with for a week or so. I think its gross. Every older man was with a very yound Thai woman/girl. And if there were any solo men, those men were learing at all the young Thai women in the bars and restaurants. It is what it is. Patong was also hot very hard by the Tsunami in 2004. While walking around the town, I couldn't imagine how scary that would have been to be there for it. There were lots of vendors selling cds of photos of the tsunami and its destruction.

We spent two days laying on the beach and swimming. When it was too hot, I went swimming. When I got too chilly in the water, I went back to lie in the sun. And on and on for 2 days.

Today, we got in a cab for 15 minutes to head to the next beach down the coast, Karon Beach. I also spent today alternating between lying in the sun reading and swimming in the ocean. The water is the clearest I have ever seen in my entire life. Bright turquoise and the whitest sand.

But the sad thing is that Leesa left us today. She bought a plane ticket to Singapore, to see visit her sister who lives there. She's sick of beaches and that's what we're going to be doing for the bext 2 weeks. I miss her tons already, although we only had another 2 weeks with her anyway. Leesa lives in Tsawassen so I will see her when I get home. Now it is Romi, Denise and I, then Ryan and Matt, whom we met in Kho Pangnan. Its a good crew, but not the same without Leesa Leroy.