Koh Phangan

Back on the bus to head south, once again. Being the first overnight bus Brent had taken, he was convinced we were going to die. I think he's watched too many traveler horror movies. However, I do remember not too long ago Ian and I thinking the same thing. Its amazing how we've grown so used to potentially deadly situations. I would rather not be aware though.

What seemed like the longest trip ever, by bus, then ferry, we finally arrived on Koh Phangan. We settled on beautiful Ban Khai beach in a little hut by the water. Brent stayed in the more expensive one next door. We soon discovered that while the beach was beautiful, the water was so shallow, we had to walk about a km out from the shore, just to have the water past our knees. We basically resorted to lying down flat on our backs, and hoping a trickle of water MIGHT lap over our stomachs. The sunsets were by far the best I have ever seen. I'm pretty sure that's the general consensus as well. I think three nights in a row, Ian, Brent and I just sat there with our cameras, uncontrollably snapping away. While Ian and I enjoyed our hammocks, Brent was on the jungle party scene, so basically we met up for dinner. One night, however, Ian and I did decide to go to a party. After unsuccessfully trying to find it, then ending up in the bar we began in two hours earlier, we decided to call it a night and head back to our hut. Brent was still keen to go out and Ian decided to do the drive with him, as it was chocolate-milk o'clock and 7 Eleven was calling his name. Brent went onto the party, and after getting his milk, Ian decided to follow him to make sure he got in okay. Unfortunately, we forgot to take the "Attack Me" sign off of Ian's forehead, from Hanoi when he was held up by knife point. Take Two: 5 Thai guys surrounded Ian and demanded 10,000 baht (about $350.00), when he refused, they accused him of denting their car, which Ian parked no where near. When he still refused, they started throwing punches (Ian made me promise not to say they beat him up), but then, like a ninja, Ian started fighting back, taking on two, three, no, four guys at a time, and they all ran squealing away like pigs! (There Ian. Happy?) The truth is, Ian did fight back, but more and more Thai men kept getting involved, so what does Ian do? He decides to barter with them! He bartered his attackers down from 10,000 baht to 4,000 baht. Turns out everything really IS negotiable. They gave him the black eye for free. Ian was quite proud of this afterward, so make sure you Ooooo and Awww when you comment on the photos. Seriously though, it was actually very scary. We had heard a couple guys had faced similar situations, while we were there, only their attackers had knives and both men died. Ian was very lucky to get out of that situation as he did. Moral of the story, do not let Ian go out alone at night!

After that scare, it was a bit difficult gearing ourselves up for the famous Full Moon Party Koh Phangan is famous for. As the night approached, our anticipation grew. The night finally came................and it was no big deal at all. Hundreds of reeeeeeeeaaaallly drunk people vomiting and urinating on the beach and in the water. Yay. There were a couple cool performers, but before we knew it the sun was coming up and we were making the two hour trek back to our beach.

We had a nice time on the island, uh, minus the mugging. I would definitely warn people to be careful on this Island though. A day of recovery and we were off to the pier to catch our boat to Koh Tao. Woo hoo! Scuba Diving, here we come!