Post by Tony:
We were able to catch a boat from Koh Tao to Koh Phangan... one more island and one more beach town. Ain't life tough? We left early in the morning and arrived mid-day, just in time to catch the hottest part of the day. To our surprise, Koh Phangan was expertly set up for tourism. There was a covered walkway from the boat all the way to the taxi stand. There was an actual taxi stand, not a place where taxi drivers lined up screaming at you "Where you go?" A small desk sat off to the side of the walkway and all fees were pre-determined (almost unheard of up to this point). After purchasing our tickets we were lead to a van and crammed in with other passengers. We thought we would be taken to the other port on the island and then have to catch another taxi from there to our resort, back-tracking a bit. Luckily, our taxi driver was able to make the quick stop it took in order to drop us off on the way. Score!

We decided early on that we would splurge while on this last island, so our accommodations were much nicer than what we had been accustomed to up to this point. It stood all alone, nestled into the steep hill side. We didn't have to lug our bags down said steep hill, mind you. This "resort" was that in every sense of the word. They had two young guys grab our packs right out of our hands before we made it to the front desk. After checking in, they ran off with our room key and bags in tow as we followed them down to our room. The room was swanky and had a great view of the Gulf of Thailand and Koh Samui (the next island over). The only complaint about the room was that there was a funny smell coming from a drain located next to the toilet. Dom (genius that she is) simply placed one of the trash bins over the drain and BAM, problem solved. We even ordered room service a few times while we stayed here. It was awesome! Though there was no champagne or anything, the spring rolls and freedom fries always hit the spot.

We are staying on the South side of the island, which is more like a point and shaped like a "V". Our resort is on the West side of the "V" and is very low key. There are a few bars down the beach from us but nothing too crazy ever happens over here. We get to enjoy the sunset from our balcony every night and aren't awakened by sun peering through our windows at the crack of dawn. On the East side of the "V" it's quite different. More of a back-packer party mecca than anything else, it's lined by budget lodging and bars. The beach on that side is filled to the brim with 20-somethings that look like they walked out of a 24hr Fitness onto a plane and were dumped by the truckload here. Every once in a while you can spot someone older with leathery skin and a few extra pounds (maybe from years of partying here). A few of the nights on the island were spent tooling through this side of the island, just to get our fill of drinking and people-watching in.

At the full moon party we ran into a couple that we met in Koh Tao, Ryan and Rita. They are from Calgary and were really fun to hang out with. Ryan works for an oil company (not sure which one) and Rita ... the two of them had been traveling for about as long as we had but were only going to be able to squeeze in 2 months away from home. They just so happened to be in the same place as us for these few weeks so we were able to connect on the same level about all of our recent experiences. They also mentioned that they would be going to Cambodia next as well. We're not sure if we'll be able to meet up in the next country but they are interested in seeing the same things we are and syncronicity is a funny thing. The full moon party was fun, but not what I expected. The beach was covered in people sitting on the sand. I thought there would be more people dancing to one of the several DJs positioned around the beach. But, most people just sat around all night in small groups. We found a couple pockets of dancing people & joined in. We got a couple of buckets for $4 each filled with a bottle of whiskey...can of sprite...and red bull. After our 2nd bucket it was clear we didn't need anymore and sought out
some food. We made it past 4am before hitting the sack.

We also met a few girls while getting some sun down by the pool. They were the first Aussie's we'd met since our adventure began. Kate and Lauren. They are cops of all things! We spent a few hours just hanging out in the cool water and talking about all the differences between USA and Australia. They seemed to get a kick out of how we pronounced things like "Adidas", "Nike" and "aluminum". They were also huge fans of the show Cops and Reno 911, which I thought was hilarious. Thanksgiving was another thing they were wildly fascinated with. We bragged about
the huge spreads we would have at each turkey dinner and how all our friends and family get together, just to give thanks. I almost went into a history lesson about the pilgrims taking advantage of the Native American people and so on and so forth... but talking about pumpkin pie with whipped creamed made for better small talk.

Before we pack up we'll definitely need to take one more look at the Gulf of Thailand from our balcony. Lord knows when we'll see that again. We both hope it's not too long but time will tell. After here we will need to high tail it out of Thailand. Our visas expire the day after we check out so we'll take one day to travel by boat and bus to Bangkok, stay there one night and fly out to Phnom Penh (the capital of Cambodia) the following morning. It'll be pretty hectic but we're getting used to the hustle and bustle and should be able to pull it off with little or no stress. I hope!
Koh Phangnan Pics