I landed in Bangkok around midday July 30. It cost around $2 on 2 trains to get from the airport to Bangkok’s main train station. This took over an hour. By the time I arrived to the station, all the night train seats heading south were taken and the only option left was a night bus. The bus cost around $50AUD and the train would have cost $12. Because there was 2 Thai holidays in 2 days time, all the locals were travelling around as well. Bad luck.
The night bus wasn’t too bad considering we were in Thailand. The busses were new (lots of busses were running back and forth down south) and comfortable enough, although a little squashy. They had aircon and plenty of storage for our bigger bags. It was just uncomfy travelling for 10 hours sitting down. I didn’t have a window seat which sucked.
We waited over 3 hours once we arrived at Surat Thani. They dropped us at a place with tables and chairs and overpriced packaged food. These guys love pringles! It cost 10 baht to use the excuse of a bathroom. The concrete structure they called a bathroom was flooded with piss, stunk like Bangkok and wasn’t worth using. It’s good to see the 10 baht goes to good use!!
We then jumped on a bus to a port (30 mins) and took an hour-long boat ride to Koh Samui.
On the boat to Koh Samui, which had around 200 ppl, there was a lady selling rooms to her bungalows on Lamai beach. You could overhear her speak with each person and each time she would say, “This is the last bungalow available”… It was pretty funny. I ended up getting a bungalow on the beach with a fan for 350 Baht or $10 for the night… Awesome!
I stayed one night and spent the time hanging out with 2 french girls from Paris. I met them on the boat over and we ended up staying at the same place. Amelie didn’t speak very good English but said it was the first time she has had conversations in English. She felt comfortable enough to make mistakes… haha. I’m visiting them when in France.
11am the next day I had a mad taxi ride to another harbor where we hopped on a boat to Koh Phangan (45 mins). I met 5 Irish from Cork who were really cool. The next time I saw them was in Bangkok 6 days later, even though we were at the same parties over the next 5 days. Ha!
I walked from the pier to The Hostel. https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-hostel-koh-phangan-thailand/140686059304035 It was awesome!! Our 10 bed “air-conditioned” dorm had 5 sets of bunk beds, plenty of space and a bathroom/toilet. The “common area” was a tattoo shop/bar. It was pretty cheap and cooked great food. We were as close as could be to the beach and had a supermarket 10 steps from the bar!! Awesome location. I paid 3335 Thai Baht, or around $100 for 5 nights… not bad!! I would stay here again!
All up our 10-bed dorm had 8 solo travellers and 2 Pommy chicks that were travelling together. A Swedish chick; Felicia, a Dutch bloke Victor, Sophie from the Netherlands, an English personal trainer, Mikael the French Canadian (who speaks perfect English), a Canadian merchant banker, Poppy & Amy; the 2 bar chicks from Newcastle England, a person who we never saw and me.
Victor, Soph, Mick, Felicia and I hung out together the whole week. Mick and I really hit it off. I’m free to go and stay with any of them on my trip, which I will be doing! We also had a few other travellers hang out with our group. Rosa and Sabina from Amsterdam were also really cool chicks that were around each night too, they will also be getting a visit!
Life at the full moon party pretty much consisted of waking around 10, eating breaky at the bar (toast & coffee was free from 11-12), swimming and layzing around the pool or beach or bar until we were hungry again, around 3-4 we would eat “lunch” and go for a nap or walk or swim, and when it was getting dark around 7 we would shower up and get dressed up in a singlet thongs and shorts for dinner and pre drinks. Between 11 & 12 we headed to a party, whether it was the pool party or a beach party. We got to bed usually around 3 – 4. On the last night I had a massage. Poppy and Amy were next to me and could hear me snoring the whole time… said it was hilarious.
The night of the full moon party we all had an arvo nap around 6. The whole dorm was sleeping by 7pm Lol. Then at 8 we all showered up, did our hair and put on our makeup! It took me a whole 20 mins… including 10 mins of waiting for the shower. We went for dinner and watched the craziness begin on the street. There were people cross dressing (dares or lost bets??) and we saw a bloke with a gopro on he’s head?? I didn’t think they worked in the dark. Everybody was pretty pumped up… I helped 4 french travellers at around 9pm find accommodation as they just hopped off the boat??? How nuts is that. They found me on the beach later and thanked me in Pidgin English. We started painting up each other in neon body paint around 10. Pretty fun really. Pre drinks and drawing all over each other… This was probably the best part of the night. The bar had a DJ spinning some cool trance style tunes and out the front were some people selling and painting designs for people. I had a local bloke paint a tribal sleeve on my arm… I think it cost 300 baht.
We headed to the beach between 12 & 1. It was pumping!! We ended up dancing around the same spot all night, but Mick and I went exploring and found the Limbo under a stick on fire (Mick did this), a skipping rope on fire, a “free” sleeping area, people climbing random structures, a ladyboy making the most of he’s manhood by pissing in the sea, a Spanish chick doing the hoolahoop and lots of cool people. When the sun was coming up we all met up again and enjoyed the serenity with loud pop music!! At around 6:30 we made our way back for breaky.
It’s definitely a great party to go to!! I wish I knew about it when I was 20…
The transport from Bangkok to the main tourist attractions (Koh Samui/Koh Phangan/Phukett/Chang Mai) is surprisingly well organized. I never heard a story of somebody getting stuck somewhere. If the trains and busses are full they just contract out more busses and it costs a bit more… the ferries run frequently from port to port and there is always enough time for busses/trains/boats to be late. If I was to do it again I’d have it all booked before hand… you would save a lot of money!!
The tuk tuk / boat / bus / train trip from Koh Phangan to Bangkok took around 24 hrs. On the train a local lady gave me some fruit called aroylonggong. It was yum. She was visiting her son and was bringing him fruit off her tree.
Bangkok was fun. I don’t think I spent enough time there to really enjoy what it has to offer. 2 rushed nights weren’t enough. We stayed in a 2-bed fan room with a bathroom for 200 Baht or $6.60 per night each. Not bad considering it was close to Khao san road. We ate out, saw a ping pong show which was shit, drank in pubs & bars, ate street food, refused to buy shit we didn’t need and met lots of cool people. Maybe I should have spent more time here to appreciate it.
On the last night I didn’t pay for accommodation and left my bags in Mick’s room. We went out all night with the 5 Irish and I headed to the airport around 5.
09.08.12: Wearing the customary Thai tourist uniform of Thongs, shorts and singlet I checked in at 6. As always I asked for a complimentary upgrade. The young Thai lady looked a little hesitant, and after a quick conversation with her supervisor, asked me if I could make myself look a little more “handsome”. She suggested shoes, pants and a shirt. I smiled, nodded and went to change. I came back and she upgraded me. Lesson learned for next time. Being upgraded includes express customs. The business lounge was amazing, serving alcohol & fantastic breaky & juice. I would definitely fly with Finn Air again!!
The flatbed made such a difference to the 10-hour flight from Bangkok to Helsinki. I think I slept around 5 hours and the other 5 I was eating and drinking and watching movies. They served (a still drunk) me champagne at 8:27am before we were even airborne (No RSA in Thailand).
For the 1.5 hours I was in Helsinki, I liked it. The Finn Air lounge was funky and had wireless mobile charging. The food and drinks weren’t as good as a domestic Qantas lounge though. Then I took off to Budapest.
100B = $3.00 THAI BAHT
1 NIGHT ON BUS
1 NIGHT ON KOH SAMUI
5 NIGHTS ON KOH PHANGAN
1 NIGHT ON TRAIN
2 NIGHTS BANGKOK