Today is the Full Moon Party on Ko Phangan. Afterwards, I intend to leave this island as quickly as possible, because I am fed up of being surrounded by pretentious Disco Biscuit munching freaks. A section of society, as much as I understand them, have no intention of joining.

The accommodation we managed to find will stick in my mind forever. This guy picks us up from the pier, off the boat, with a promise of cheap accommodation near Hat Rin. His place is called Leela Beach Resort. Cool. We jump into the back of his minivan, and drive up and down some of the toughest terrain I have ever seen. At least twice, I was extremely concerned that the van would turtle. It didn't - we lived. Then we were taken to see the rooms. A trek up a steep hill, with no walkway, whilst we practically jumped from tree to tree up the hill. The stilt supported bungalows on the hill didn't ooze German build quality, and I jested that it could collapse at any moment. As I was walking up the stairs, it did, with perfect comical timing. Despite this, we decided it wasn't really worth looking about for any better, since we could be circling for hours, getting nowhere. The primary concern was getting up the hill, in the dark, drunk. Challenge accepted, and we moved in. In my room was the largest arachnid I have ever seen, except perhaps on TV. Much to my ire, I didn't manage to kill it, and it is now wandering the island seeking vengeance.

Speaking of fights, Tim and Troy have so far only manged to get into 2 incidents here. One with a ladyboy, a broken bottle, a brick and a big stick. The other involving an intoxicated tourist.

We then rented scooters and sped off around the island. Hmm. The dangers of not wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, and doing 110pkh - no helmets on this island. Ko Phangan is much better than Ko Samui i feel. It is more deserted and has more character. Lots of cool hills and roads. A lower intensity of the tourist shops that plagued Ko Samui.
- posted by Daniel @ Monday, May 03, 2004