We apologize for the lack of updating and the posts will be a bit thinner from here on out. This is due to the recent break down of Nola's computer. It appears that from here on out we will have to use Hunters phone to blog, which severely limits our capabilities.
Day 1
Snagging a tuk tuk on the dock, we cruised to our home on the island: pinks bungalow. We were set up not 30 feet from the water and had a spectacular view of Koh Phangan's sister island Koh Samui. Even better than that we had our own private room with a hammock swing on the front porch.
Not letting a moment go to waste, we trekked up to the main road and rented some scooters. The first stop on our adventure list was to cruise up to the northwest part of the island near a beach called Haad Salad. Being more on the quieter side of the island, we will lazed on a not very crowded beach that straddles two coves.
A beach next door to Haad Salad. The water is 86 F and pretty clear and shallow for hundreds of feet out.
The big peak during a brief moment while it is not in the storm clouds.
Hunter and Paul took to the water and began snorkeling. Nola layer on the beach and soaked up some sun, which we had all been looking foreword to for a while. Although the visibility wasn't spectacular for Hunter and Paul, they saw that about a dozen different species of fish were hidden among the numerous types of coral and plant life. Some highlights of these were a large and multi colored parrot fish, humongous sea clams, and an unknown type of fish which had a peculiar spotted pattern which camouflaged it seemingly well with the sand colored coral. A video of this is somewhere on the post but we can not see or move it with a phone.
As the sun started to go down around 6 o'clock, we drove back along the shoreline into the main part of town. For dinner we caved and got burgers at the "best burger spot on the island".
Finally back at the bungalow after a great first day in paradise, we realized the first draw back to our accommodations: it was unbearably hot and we only had one fan. With no screens and a deck as a floor we were hit by a few mosquitos that night as well.
Day 2
Off to a great start we woke up early, kinda, and went out in search of breakfast. The first place we came across was closed and so we continue just five more places up the street before we found a hidden gem: Thai smile. More on that later but trust us it was good.
Realizing we need a little more umph in our transportation, Hunter and Paul stepped it up and traded in the scooters for some dirt bikes. It was Paul's first time riding a manual motorbike but the island has little traffic and some good roads to learn on.
As we ventured out further into the forest, it became apparent that the dirt bikes were a great idea considering that the barely paved roads turned into barely unimproved dirt roads. We were faced with 20% grade roads with huge 1 foot deep ruts lining the surfaceof it.
Hunter and Paul pause along a nice section of the trail.
Doesn't ever seem it from pictures but this road was STEEP!
Not being phased however, we pushed on in search of our mission for that day: waterfalls. After not finding the first one we continued on up the highway towords the more northeast part of the island where the map said to be three waterfalls in close proximity.
We arrived at the first waterfall in no time and set out on foot about 200 feet down a dirt trail from the road. Although it hadn't rained that morning, we were still expecting more than a slow trickle across a few rocks. Needless to say our waterfall expectations were of something a little bit more granduer. The journey is always more fun than the destination though.
Hunter laughing at the "waterfall".
Ironically enough as we left from the waterfall Hunter experience motorbike issues. He got a flat tire in his front wheel in the middle of the jungle with no repair shop in sight. Paul zoomed ahead to the next town to go look for one while he followed at a snails pace along the highway. Not a short 40 minutes later, Paul saw Hunter creep around the bend where he waited at the repair shop. We think it took the man a fraction of the time to fix the wheel then it took us to actually get there. So much for experience.
Hunter, super pumped about his trek to the repair shop behind him.
Although we went to the town for the wrong reasons, we stayed for the right ones. We cruised down to the beach, which turned out to be gorgeous, and also happen to have some teenage boys playing beach soccer. Opportunity struck us hard so we jumped in and ask them to play. We got our shorts handed to us in 3v2 but then played every man for himself and did alright.
Another great day down, we opted for pizza tonight and found a local italian place just down the street from the bungalow. The heat wasn't as bad this night so we slept a little better and prepared for our next day on the island.
The gang in hammocks.
Burgers and the pizzas were our first non-rice meals in weeks.
Two other things to note about the first two days are that Nola and Hunter had fallen into a routine of stomach problems that made the paradise island a bit less... optimal. Also, it rained 10-20 minutes very intensely about every hour. We started to think less about classic beach activities and more about what to do in the rain.
Day 3
The third day Nola stayed home sick for the majority of the day while Hunter braved out with Paul to see what the party beach looked like during the day. The morning looked like more rain and we before we left for the day we got a great shot of the storm coming in.
This may look like an evening thunderstorm but it's really that the cloud was so dark and dense that it blocked out most of the sun. When this storm hit, visibility dropped to less than 50 feet!
After waiting out the worst of the rain we continued on to the party beach area, Haad Rin. The road is super windy and curvy and we really fun to ride on.
Right around this turn there is a section of road that basically goes vertical. It was difficult to walk up.
Once we got to the beach and explored around we found out that there was a beach soccer tournament getting set up and if we wanted to play we had to sign up right then. Hunter and Paul signed up and were placed on a team with a bunch of Italians, three of which were named Stephano. The first game was against FC Myanmar who had proper kits and had obviously done this tournament a few times before. We lost 3-2 but we played extremely well for not knowing what we were doing. The next few games of group play were fun because we crushed the rest of the teams we played. We went home that night content with our success and found a small friend waiting for us on our porch. The sunset that night was, alright.
The beach soccer pitch, 5 a side including the goalie and three 5 minute periods of play. Still completely exhausting and tons of fun.
Big lizard, the size of a forearm.
Day 4
The next day it was very rainy as usual so Hunter and Nola, feeling a little better, went out and got Thai massages while Paul read his book.
Hard to tell but all the shrines here used Fanta in their offerings. We couldn't quite figure out what it meant.
After the painful and thurough massage for Hunter and relaxing massage for Nola (same massage) we all headed out to checkout a slip n slide complex that launched you into a big pool.
There is a video in here as well of Hunter charging in and trying it out. He survived well so Nola and Paul ended up giving it a go as well.
After the slip n fly adventure it was time to get back down to Haad Rin for the final stages of our beach soccer tournament. When we arrived we immediately got ready for our semi final game which we ended up playing a man down. We still won pretty handily and awaited the final. The other team that made the final was undefeated and the announcer was building them up as our rival as dozens and dozens of people surrounded the field. Little to our surprise FC Myanmar showed up as the other team. It was the perfect rematch story and when we were up 2-0 with just a few minutes left all was looking good but somehow they came back and won 3-2 again with two fluke goals. Hunter was upset about the loss, too upset if you ask me, and cooled off in the ocean during the medal ceremonies. The only picture, because of that, is of the medal later that night. Again there was a great sunset.
Pre game bow for the semifinals.
Second place whoop whoop!!
Day 5
The fifth day was finally a little bit sunny so we layed out on a beach and took in as much sun as we could. Just a few hours later the clouds blotted out most of the sunlight and on our way home it rained hard, as usual. While at home and mentally preparing for the big Half Moon Party, Hunter's hammock from Cambodia broke and he thought he cracked his tail bone he landed so hard.
Catching the small amount of sun on Haad Chaloklum.
Repaired hammock.
After dinner and returning our vehicles, we got ready for the full moon party. When we arrived we were blown away by the amount of neon paint and the amount of people packed into the beach. There were water slides and flaming limbo and jump ropes, perfect for drunk people. Hunter tried the flaming jump rope and only lasted two jumps before the swingers sped up the rope and got Hunter right in the leg. The drink of choice at the party is a bucket of liquer and soda so decided that we had to try them out, a couple of times.
Hunter and Paul trying out some buckets. Nola isn't 21 so she definitely didn't take advantage of the seemingly nonexistent drinking age here...
A group of wild yet responsible party goers.
A sea of people, guesstimates at 5000+.
Some guy could do every level of the burning limbo.
A side view of the party from up on the hillside bar.
Hunter and Nola went home late in the night and grabbed some toasties from 7-11 before catching a few hours of sleep before we left in the morning. Paul stayed out all night with our friend Ash from Chiang Mai and met up with us in the morning for breakfast.
The owner of Thai Smile put on the classic reggae soundtrack and opened an hour early for us. He was one of the nicest and happiest people we met on our trip so far and if anyone reading this ever goes to Koh Phangan they have to go there for breakfast and wifi.
Mr. Smile himself and his trusty cook and wife in the background.
After a quick breakfast we jumped in our taxi and said good by to the paradise island as head headed towards Phuket.
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