Koh Phangan - the Party Island

After finishing the Advanced Course, I needed a change of islands. So I said goodbye to Jo, who was only 6 months into a 3 year around the world trip. This is us saying goodbye at the Koh Tao pier:

With the winds still raging the sea into huge waves, I boarded a boat for Koh Phangan, home of the world famous Full Moon parties...all night music raves on the beach that attract thousands of tourists. Not really my kind of scene, but my plan was to go to the party town of Haad Rin and then take a small boat to the isolated beaches of either Haad Thian or Haad Yuan where some friends had found a few nice isolated bungalows.

The one hour boat ride was basically a Vomit Comet. The boat was rocked by 10-12 foot waves, and staffers were walking around with sickness bags. I didn't look carefully to see who if anyone used them.

I made it to Koh Phangan, got a taxi to Haad Rin, and then things got ugly. The taxi dropped me off at the pier in Haad Rin, but it turned out the high waves had canced that boat to the little beaches. I had to walk across Haad Rin to the other beach, and wait for the small 10 foot boat to come back and take me.

As I waited, it began to get dark, the wind picked up, and things looked ominous indeed. After a few minutes waiting for a boat that never appeared, and watching the waves crash violently into shore, I opted to stay in Haad Rin. A solo traveling German pointed me toward the south end of the beach, where there were some more isolated resorts. The first one I called, Hua Laem, turned out to be a godsend. Its a little spot run by a Norwegian named Tom, who moved here and married a Thai woman, and bought the place.

He came and picked me up and took me. It turned out to be exactly what I wanted. A solo cabin, nice and simple, with a hammock and a view. Near enough Haad Rin to get food, internet, and whatever, but an easy walk away...more or less cut off from the noise. Here's the view from the cabin:

I fell asleep to the sound of winds howling. A very pleasant sound, all in all.

Today, I slept in and then have spent most of the day wandering around Haad Rin. This is a serious party town. Its wall to wall Internet shops, travel shops, tshirts and sandals, restaurants showing movies and serving beer... You can get Falafel as easily as you can get Pad Thai (lots of Israelis here). The place is a mess of blond haired bikini wearing women, shirtless Brits riding mopeds, reggae blasting from every bar.

The unfortunate thing about the islands is that they've been so exploited and developed and Westernized, that all the aspects that are/were uniquely Thai, have been largely bled out of the place. Thais have a reputation for friendliness, but the locals in the islands are just jaded. They've seen so many drunk asshole Westerners come through and treat them like shit, that they don't really have much to give anymore. They often seem like they're just going through the motions.Not everyone, but that's the overall vibe here in Haad Rin. Its too bad.

I didn't expect to spend 2 days here, but its fine really. When I used to travel alot, I learned that you have to accept that plans almost never turn out the way you expect. The best thing to do is adapt and find a way to enjoy yourself. So I am. Reading, taking long lunches, wandering about. Here's the beach in Haad Rin:

And here's the rinky dink little boat that I was going to take over the huge waves to Haad Thian, til I thought better of it:

I got another Thai massage today at this swanky spa - one of the nicest buildings I've been in in Thailand. The masseuse wasn't nearly as good as the Hammer. They also gave me an "herbal steam sauna", which consisted of sticking me in a little round room with a cloth drape over the top that was festooned with mold. Under the wooden bench, two rice cookers boiled water with some aromatic oil in it. That was the herbal steam. Nice. Here's the spa and the moldy cloth drape in the sauna (photo is kinda dark):