World Thailand Koh Phangan Island

Ray and Angela Couch around the world

Koh Phangan with ang May 8, 2012

The boat or catamaran from Koh Samui was great and as the hotel had arranged our taxi and boat tickets we didn’t even have to think, we just woke up had our brekkie and fell into the cab. The pier was packed full of Da Youtt as there was the full moon party on Koh Phangan that weekend and there were up to 30,000 people expected. Anyway we had arranged our accommodation so the hoards of people trying to get you to stay at their place didn’t have to worry about us and the hotel sent a cab for us so that was a bonus..until we got in the back and he sped off like a bat out of hell. We both left our fingerprints in the metal cage around the back of that ride. Anyway we arrived at the place, utopia bungalows but I expect that Thomas Moore’s was a bit more flash although saying that it was nice really and we thought it got nicer as the days went by, we always think that. Our bungalow was the first one closest to the bar area but 40 steps from the pool which was a bark when you consider we fell out of our room into the pool and bar in the last place. We unpacked then went up to the bar area for a drink and then down to the pool for a relax. We decided to stay in on the first night but we did meet this guy called James who was an older pot head but a nice guy. He had spent 15 years in Amsterdam and it showed, he told us the same story about 3 times but he was cool. Also Liverpool were in the FA cup final the next day so he said he knew a place were the match was guaranteed to be on, famous last words. Next day we jumped the resort taxi into Chaluklum which is the nearest village, we wanted to buy some decent gear for snorkelling and have a look around. We got dropped off at the 7/11 and we knew that he would be there at 2 to drop off and pick up so at least if it was rubbish we only had to suffer it for a couple of hours. It was a bit rubbish. Anyway we found a dive shop and the guy, an ex pat, was helpful and we bought a mask and a snorkel each. We then took a walk down the road towards the end of the beach and had to negotiate a really dodgy path down to the beach which turned out not to be the beach but the back of the fishermen’s houses so it stunk and there was just loads of squid drying off on these racks along the sand. We struggled through that and made our way to another dodgy exit off that beach and onto the supposed village beach. As far as the Thai beaches go it was the usual story, looks nice till you get up close, loads of bits of rubbish and empty bottles, again not just the tourists but the fact that the country just can’t cope with rubbish produced from their own bars and restaurants. Anyway we went to this small bar on the beach and had a drink from the only miserable Thai in Thailand and then we made the mistake of eating lunch there. I had Pad Thai, the national dish but I swear it was a pot noodle tipped onto my plate. Ang had a toasted cheese sandwich which was only just hot enough to melt some of the cheese slice, not a good day so far, it gets worse before it gets better. We headed back to the 7/11 to get our lift back and at about 2.10 the van came and in spite of our waving’s sped right past us heading for the port. We thought oh he must be picking people up, we will wait till he comes back. 40 minutes later the van comes back and again sweeps past us in spite of us shouting and waving, the people in the van saw us but the driver didn’t. As this was now about 1 ½ hours waiting we thought bugger it we will walk, it’s not that far. It was a nice walk to be fair, you saw a lot more of the place and as we approached the resort after about 30 minutes, the van came and picked us up. It’s a good job as the gradient to the resort is about 1 in 2 so we would have collapsed if we tried that. We met up with James in the bar, he was already cabbaged by then so we proceeded to join him and booked a taxi for about 2 hours time. By the time we got into the back of the cab we were all happy chappies and the van sped off according to James’s instructions. After about 20 minutes he shouts stop and we are on a dark road at the end of a path we can just about make out. Its down here about 100 yards he said, well we didn’t fancy walking down there but the cab driver drove down it, it was like Jurassic park with all these big leaves twatting the van but we were just laughing. Anyway about 500 yards later there is a dim light and James says right this is it lets get out. I told him to go and check it was on before we got out and let the driver go, he did, the match wasn’t on and we got back in the taxi and continued back to the main village and he dropped us outside a bar with a plasma screen saying the match is on here. We got out and the taxi shot off, We walked into the bar and the lady said, we are closing in 30 minutes…Ang and I said bugger this we are off for some food and asked James but he said he was off to the full moon party and he left us. That was the last we saw of him, he never turned up at the hotel even though he worked there and when we left the day after he still hadn’t turned up but the staff didn’t seem concerned, we think he might have done something similar before, we hope he was ok, a nice guy. We wandered into this restaurant which looked like somebody’s front room from the front but inside it had an amazing garden area and we had some lovely food although Ang’s was a bit spicy for her and we had to put the toilet roll in the fridge that night  When we had finished we thought we could jump a cab back and Ang was going to try to stream the match on our laptop. Anyway the place was dead as all the taxis had headed to the other side of the island to the full moon party, we looked up the road we had walked up earlier that day and thought of the distance in the pitch black and the slope up to the resort. As we picked our chins up off the floor a motorbike appeared and the girl on the back was from one of the bars we had tried to watch the football in. She said if you get stuck I will give you a lift one at a time back home. Then another bike came and she shouted to him, it was her nephew and the next thing we are bombing along on the back of these strangers bikes all the way home. They would not take anything for fuel and just said goodnight, how amazing. Then Ang managed to find the match and as it was after 11 in the evening the bar staff left us to it and asked us to switch off the lights. We watched the match, my beer ran out and I had to squeeze my hand into the locked fridge to get another one, Ang was not pleased buy needs must and we are paying a decent sized bill. (Scousers eh!) Match over, Liverpool lost, we went to bed. Next day we missed breakfast, can’t think why  and we got up later had some food then went down to the pool feeling a little fragile. We just sat around and decided we would go back to the village that night and have some food and then watch the city united match. We went to this small place on the corner and had some nice Thai food and Ang had a half decent tuna pasta. We got chatting to the owner who was a young woman and she asked where we were going and how are we getting back. Next thing she had arranged a taxi for us after the football and had arranged for me to swap one of my old Liverpool shirts for the Thai football shirt that the chef was wearing. We went down the football bar and there was the girl who gave us a lift home the night before and we were so pleased to see her and vice versa. She would still not hear of taking anything for the trip and so we had a beer and watched the match. After the match we had a chat then left and got the taxi home, we swapped the shirt and I put the Thai one on, not as big as mine but not too tight and went into our bar for a nightcap. Ang went back to sort stuff out and start packing. I ended up on the internet playing blackjack on paddy power and then had a great chat on Skype with Robin and Paul in the states so that was a hoot. Next thing it is after 2 in the morning and the current Mrs Couch came into the bar looking for me, I had lost all track of time so we went back and tried to get some sleep. 6.30 in the morning there is a knock on our door and it’s the taxi driver for the hotel knocking on the wrong door to give someone a lift to the quay Doh! Anyway we saw the funny side later on in the bar when we saw him, he was giving us a lift at 12 noon so we said our goodbyes with the bar maid shouting bye Liverpool at us down the road on the way to the pier. At the pier it was rammed with loads of Da same Youtt now heading to our destination of Koh Tao. The boats were all full so it looked at that time that we might not get on a boat. Loads of people were on standby for the boats and shortly after we got our standby number, one of the workers came to us and said come on I can get you on the 12:30 so we ran after her with all these other people wondering why they couldn’t go. We jumped across the gap onto the boat and just as we got on this young bloke said ‘you just made that mate’ which we did. The boat then set off and man that was a rough ride, it was really choppy but not sea sick choppy, it was too rough for that. An hour and a half later we were at the jetty in Koh Tao and that is where we are now.

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