Ko Phangan, Thailand

Ko Phangan is divided roughly into two parts: Hat Rin and everywhere else. Most of the island has idyllic beaches and more palm trees than people. But we went to Hat Rin, a little peninsula at the southern tip of the island renown for its Full Moon Parties. Hat Rin is a little backpacker haven, full of foreigners and not much else, and you don't feel as though you've really gone very far from home. The Simpsons play on TVs in restuarants, the internet places have widescreen LCDs and fast connection, and the most common type of restaurant is a sandwich place (but they serve damn good sandwiches). However, like most places in Thailand, there is great Thai food to be found and awesome Thai pancakes for breakfast, a thin crunchy crepe-like thing that is served with bananas or whatever you'd like inside. Even with all the foreign influence, it's a fun place to spend a few days. Unfortunately, we were two weeks away from a full moon in either direction but luckily for us, the enterprising people on the island have created a great excuse for such times, the Black Moon Party. This happened to be held on the day we arrived and, like every other backpacker in the area, we took the taxi out to the Black Moon Party area. Although apparently not nearly as big as the Full Moon Parties (which fill up Hat Rin with tens of thousands of people), it was quite a unique and fun party, with black lights, body paint, and the trashiest euro-techno everywhere. Since Vodka Redbulls are the most prevalent drink, nobody has a problem staying up until the early hours of the morning. We ended up leaving relatively early, meaning we walked home just as the sun was rising, about an hour's walk on the beach back to Hat Rin and quite a nice walk it was, since the whole coastline is beach on the southwestern coast. We had another two nights there, though we made it to bed quite a bit earlier, thankfully. On the second night, I got to jumprope a giant flaming rope on the beach and got a few singed arm hairs for the effort. The picture, unfortunately is not me, but it is the same activity on a larger rope. From there, we had two straight days of travelling ahead of us to get to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. The bottom two pictures are the infamous Hat Rin beach.



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Details:
From Khao Sok, it was a $18/650B ticket for bus to Surat Thani (departing at 9:00), bus to Don Sak pier, and the ferry to Ko Phangan. It is probably about the same price for Railay to Ko Phangan because Khao Sok is a little out of the way. At the pier in Ko Phangan, Thong Sala, you must take a taxi-truck to whichever beach you are staying in ($3/100B). They will drop you off just outside Hat Rin if that is where you are headed. To your left coming in will be Sunrise Beach and to your right will be Sunset Beach. This seems to be a good rule of thumb: sleep at Sunrise, party at Sunset, though there are some good bars in the Sunset area. We stayed at a place called Blue Marine, which was a nice room, but HOT if you don't get the AC ($15/500B for a fan room). It is found on a street dedicated to bargain bungalows, some of which have ocean views for good prices, on the Northern end of Sunset Beach.