Nile Sprague Journal: Thailand 2003

Nile Sprague Online Journal: Thailand

Bangkok to Koh Pha Ngan (posted from Phnom Penh)
October 27, 2003
- click images to enlarge -

Kao Sarn Rd by Night Bangkok	I arrived in Bangkok in the evening. I had left London the night before at 9 PM with a stop-over in Doha, in the Middle East. I only lasted one night in Bangkok: the evening of my second day I took a bus headed South. My final destination was Koh Pha Ngan, beautiful tropical desert island in the Gulf of Thailand. After all the travel, the idea of the island promised all the peace and solace I needed after so much traveling and the crazyness of Bangkok.	Kao Sarn Rd, Bangkok
It took nearly twenty-four hours to get to Koh Pha Ngan. After an overnight bus ride I had a four hour ferry ride to Koh Pha Ngan. I sat on the front of the boat with my shirt off, soacking up the sun and being cooled by the breeze. I noticed a young man who looked very similar to a different man, an American doctor I met last winter in Goa, India. I started a conversation, and found that this man was from Kansas, and was a librarian. We talked for much of the boat ride, and by the time we arrived I had a new friend.		Boat in Koh Pha Ngan
Koh Pha Ngan	By 2:00 PM I was on the island and had found a bungalow on the beach. As soon as I walked in my neighbor handed me a spliff. I eased into a hammock and relaxed as I got to know my new friends and neighbors. That evening we went to Had Trin, the beach where the world famous full moon parties are held and 15,000 people collect on the beach every month. Despite teh fact that the full-moon was ten days away, there was still a large crowd on the beach. By 3 AM, several hundred people had collected on the beach and were dancing to a mixture of hip/hop and electronica. At one end of the beach there were two fire dancers spinning flaming objects and someone had setup a ring of fire. Anyone that wanted to could jump through the ring of fire, so my friends lined up. They both made it uninjured, but one singed his shirt, and the other twisted his ankle on the landing.
Koh Pha Ngan	We drank a mixture of Red Bull, Samsong Whiskey, and coke from a small bucket with about 10 straws in it. We passed the bucket around our circle of friends, each meber taking a sip and then passing it along. I arrived home the following morning at dawn and, utterly exhausted, went directly to bed. I slept until it was evening, finally emerging from my bungalow after dark. That evening I had one meal and went to bed fairly early.
On my third day I woke up at about 6 AM with strong pains in my stomach due to missing so many meals while I slept. The hotel restaurant was closed so I rode my rented motorbike north around the island, looking for an open restaurant. I had a wonderful ride in the clear, crisp air of the morning. The road was very nice, gradually curving and rising and descending to pass small hills. The road was lined in green jungle vegetation and palm trees and I would catch the occasional glimpse of the ocean as I passed a high point.		The bridge to get to the restaurant with the great chicken curry

Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand
October 2, 2003

Map - A not so detailed map of Thailand. Koh Pha Ngan is the northern island just below the word "Chumphon".

Map 2 - A more detailed map. However, Koh Pha Ngan still is not marked. In the middle of the map there are two islands. Koh Pha Ngan is the northern one.

Photos - A Google Images search for Koh Pha Ngan. These are not my photographs (and due to the nature of search engines, some of them might not even be from Koh Pha Ngan). I will post my own photos soon.

Koh Pha Ngan is a beautiful island covered in lush green jungle vegetation and palm trees. The beaches are white sand ground from the coral which skirt the island. The water surrounding the island is shallow for a great distance. I don't know how far, but I have walked several hundred feet out and the water was still only over my knees.

The weather has been pleasant so far. During the day it is sunny, with peak temperatures between 12 and 2 pm. It get's hot, but not severely - as long as your in the shade swinging in your hammock you will be okay. Towards the late afternoon the sky tends to cloud over with beautiful cumulus clouds, then darkens, and then starts to rain. The rain typically lasts an hour or two and then dissappears, leaving everything washed and clean with a beautiful silver light at dusk. Sometimes the sunset is hidden by clouds, but the few sunsets I have seen have been exquisite, the cumulus lit in shades of bright orange, pink, and yellow.

Today it has been raining all day, a sign of the approaching monsoon (it is meant to arrive in about a week). I had a nice motorbike ride around the island, but in the rain it is not so pleasant and now I am soaked.

Koh Pha Ngan is probably the most party oriented of all the islands in Thailand. It is famous for it's full moon parties where 15,000+ people congregate together on one short strip of beach to dance and party. I and some friends visited this beach a few days ago, and even on a Monday night it was still hopping, the dance floor crowded with people, even as we left at 5:00 AM.

The hotel where I am staying is a cluster of about 20 bungalows on the edge of the beach. There are several rows, of bungalows, and a small lake behind. In the middle of the bungalows is the restaurant, where everyone generally congregates (if they can get out of their hammock). I have a group of mellow friends from different parts of Europe and the US who spend their days laying in their hammocks rolling spliffs until the sun goes down. Then they generally move to somewhere with better music, and continue rolling spliffs until the "wee hours of the morning".

The food here is pretty good. Of course there is a full range of exquisite Thai cooking, with all sorts of meat and fresh fish available. The western food generally leaves something to be desired, but still fulfills the occasional cravings for melted cheese, or other western "delicacies". The servings are quite small (and Thai food is light) so I find myself eating about 5 meals a day. For lunch today I had grilled baracuda with roast garlic on top. It was very fresh, and had a lovely, flaky white meat.