One Week in Ko Phangan

To get to our first island from Bangkok we had to take an overnight sleeper train, a bus and a ferry. The train left Bangkok at 7:30 pm on the 19th and we arrived in Ko Phangan at noon on the 20th. Although far from luxurious, the sleeper train was comfortable enough and allowed us to maximize our days.

Sleeper Train

Once we got to Ko Phangan were immediately approached by different representatives to stay at their hostels. Instead of giving in, we decided to check out a few places that we had researched prior and settled on a place called Sea Breeze Resort. I think that our hotel/ room was by far one of my favorite parts about our stay on Ko Phangan. The region of the island we stayed on is almost like a "Spring Break" destination for Europeans, Australians and especially Israelis and revolves around its' crazy parties. Our resort was central yet private; it had a beautiful view of the beaches and ocean, was walking distance from the party beach and was also minutes away from a more relaxing quiet beach.

The temple that was located next to our hotel room and overlooking the beach and ocean

Sea Breeze Resort Bungalows

Our first full day, we decide to take a day trip to Ang Thong Marine National Park which is made up of 42 islands featuring lime stone massifs, tropical rainforests and deserted beaches. The islands were breathtaking-- we felt as if we were in pirates of the Caribbean. Throughout the tour we went snorkeling, took a small hike to a lagoon in the middle of one of the islands, relaxed and swam on a perfect beach and took a pretty strenuous hike up to the most magnificent viewing point.

The boat to Ang Thong Marine National Park (it had a diving board and water slide)

Another boat tour that we did a few days later was a tour around Koh Phangan which has many beaches other than the few that we were staying near. This tour was fun but could not compare to our amazing tour of Ang Thong.

One thing we found strange/ interesting about our stay in Ko Phangan is how EVERYTHING revolves around the parties, specifically the full moon party. We arrived on the island 5 days before and it was pretty much deserted until about two days before the full moon party. Something else that came as a surprise was how many Israelis were there. There were as many signs in Hebrew as there was in Thai or English! We found out that it is an extremely popular destination for young Israelis who just finish their time in the military and are about to start university or a job.

We of course had to check out Ko Phangan's infamous parties. The first one we went to was a few days before the full moon called "The Jungle Experience." This was a very trippy environment filled with black lights, body paint, trance music, and drunk tourists who thought they could mimic the professional fire performers.

I have heard many things about the full moon party but it is something you can not really describe, only experience. I will do my best to describe: The beach was lined with bars that turned into dance clubs. There were dozens of stands selling "Thai Buckets" full of some mixture of liquor and red bull. The usually breezy beach was hot and smelly from who knows what and there were very inappropriate things going on in the ocean. There were people passed out on the beach everywhere we looked (with the cops walking right by them). We went with a large group of people (friend who has been teaching in Thailand happened to be there) but we lost all of them within seconds. Everyone was wearing neon colors, body paint and some variation of the same shirt and/or shorts. It was either Andrew's food poisoning he got earlier that day or something in the Thai buckets but we embarrassingly did not make it till sunrise. Thailand- 1/Andrew and Jess- 0.

We needed one last day in Ko Phangan to recuperate from the full moon party so spent it lounging on a quiet beach (although we heard music from the "full moon after party" all day).

Overall, Ko Phangan was a relaxing/crazy/bizarre experience. I am glad that it was our first stop because it is definitely very touristy and we would probably have liked it less later in our trip. We were once again ready to leave and go to the chill scuba diving haven of Thailand: Koh Tao.