This is the part of our trip we wish we would have thought out a little bit better. In order to get to this island we had to use an entire day for traveling there, as well as an entire day for traveling back. We considered not going once we realized this, but we had already booked a place to stay for 3 nights on that island. Plus we had to see what the hype was all about.
Since we were going on the weekend of the full moon party, most places require a minimum of three nights paid in advance. Some places closer to the beach where the party was required 5 nights...craziness! We figured we'd pay for 3 since it was cheap, but we only stayed for two. So getting there turned out to not be so bad. We took one ferry for a couple hours, then boarded a bus for about 4 hours, and finally another short ferry ride to the actual island.
Since we were going on the weekend of the full moon party, most places require a minimum of three nights paid in advance. Some places closer to the beach where the party was required 5 nights...craziness! We figured we'd pay for 3 since it was cheap, but we only stayed for two. So getting there turned out to not be so bad. We took one ferry for a couple hours, then boarded a bus for about 4 hours, and finally another short ferry ride to the actual island.
Our first mistake was that we decided to "lay out" on top of the ferry to get some sun. The result of this was that we fell asleep and woke up to major sunburns! Ooops!! I mean, I did want a suntan, but not this bad! Luckily I brought aloe-vera with me, so it soothed the pain a bit. Here's some evidence of my mistake lol...
Once we arrived to the pier of the island it was already dark. We immediately got on a tuk-tuk (on this island the tuk-tuks were small trucks with covered truck beds on the back) that said they would take us to our resort we had booked.
Well, what seemed like an hour later (after they dropped off everyone else at their places) they finally go to our place and pointed at the sign that had the name of our resort on it. So without thinking we grab our luggage and jump out. We finally look up at the sign and notice it says 2km ------->. Having lived in Korea for a bit I'm getting used to using km instead of miles in reference to distance, so I knew that this was gonna be one hell of a walk for us with all our luggage. Not to mention my sunburn made it nearly impossible to carry my backpack on my back!
Finally a guy walks by and asks if we need help. We ask if he knows where our place is and he said that his friends went there to eat at the resorts restaurant the day before and they literally had to hike there. He said that trucks and motorcycles couldn't drive the path to the resort because it was too narrow. At this point we freak out and wonder what the hell we're gonna do.
Well, what seemed like an hour later (after they dropped off everyone else at their places) they finally go to our place and pointed at the sign that had the name of our resort on it. So without thinking we grab our luggage and jump out. We finally look up at the sign and notice it says 2km ------->. Having lived in Korea for a bit I'm getting used to using km instead of miles in reference to distance, so I knew that this was gonna be one hell of a walk for us with all our luggage. Not to mention my sunburn made it nearly impossible to carry my backpack on my back!
Finally a guy walks by and asks if we need help. We ask if he knows where our place is and he said that his friends went there to eat at the resorts restaurant the day before and they literally had to hike there. He said that trucks and motorcycles couldn't drive the path to the resort because it was too narrow. At this point we freak out and wonder what the hell we're gonna do.
We end up going to the resort next door to borrow a phone. We call them & finally a truck stops to pick us up. They then tell us that if we are here for the full moon party that we most likely don't want to stay at their resort up in the mountains (no shit! lol) but that they have another resort closer to the beach area that we could stay at. The lady said that the resort we signed up for is more for people who come to relax and "get away" for awhile. Not what we were looking for, lol!
So they take us to these cabins and we ended up getting our own little cabin in the woods. :) It was actually really nice! She asked for a bit more in regards to price, but we were just happy we weren't stuck in the mountains so we gladly paid. We swear their internet never said anything about how impossible it was to get there. After all, we found it on the full moon party website. But then again, that was probably why it was cheaper and only required a 3 night stay. Oh well! Here's a pic of our cabin. :)
We put away our things, grab another tuk-tuk, and head to the beach to check it out. The "real" full moon party was the next night, but we knew people would be out partying the night before. We stopped for some pad thai near the beach before venturing out for the night. We ended up having fun, but it started to rain around 1 or 2am so we headed back to beat the rush of people trying to get tuk-tuks.
We spent the next day shopping and found some great stuff. I bought 3 hand-crafted bracelets from this guy who carved your name in Thai on the bracelet for really cheap. Made for a great gift for myself, as well as souvenirs! Of course we bought some "full moon party" t-shirts, lol.
The night of the party I was lucky enough to meet up with some friends of mine from Korea! Kristin & Maggie! After Jenna and I met up with them, we all decided to get some glow in the dark body paint designs.
This was a "must do" for the themed party. I decided on stars on my arm and we all got a fun design on our faces. So with body paint & a full bucket drink in hand, we were ready for the party.
Of course the beach was even more packed with people than the previous night, so it was hard to move around. Overall, we weren't very impressed with the party. It was more of a hype than anything. An excuse for a massive beach party & for people to get drunk, take drugs, and act like complete idiots. While we did have fun, we could have done without the party.
The next morning we were boarding a ferry to Phuket. Our last stop down south before heading back to Bangkok to end our vacation. Now this was the part where we really became frustrated with our decision to come to this island. The travel agency we used to get from Ko Phangan to Phuket turned out to be a major bust!
First they didn't tell us where to check in our ferry tickets. So we went straight to the pier to discover that the ferry is about to leave & we haven't checked in our tickets (which was about a mile away from the pier). Luckily these guys told us to hop on their truck and they drove us over to the place and back in just enough time. Also, they put us on a car ferrry! All the ferries we had been on before were not like this one at all. We didn't even find the seats (if there were any) because they tossed us and our luggage on to where the cars were parked and we had to squeeze our way through to climb some stairs to the next level. Once we got up the stairs, we threw our stuff down and just sat there for the rest of the trip (on the side walk-way) lol.
Once our ferry docked they put us on a tuk-tuk. Then a van. Then a bus. But before the bus departed we waited over an hour for it to be full before we could begin traveling. Once it was full we were on there for 4 hours. Around hour 3 of the bus ride, some idiot thought it would be a good idea to piss in a bucket that was on the bus. We were wondering why he walked down the little steps towards the exit door, until we heard the sound of peeing. Made for a great smell...gross! The bus already smelled bad enough. Finally a girl got up and asked the driver to pull over for a bathroom break and informed him someone had already pissed in a bucket.
After the break and another hour on the bus, we arrive to Phuket. Where they put us in a van to finally go to our hotel for the night. We arrived in Patong (an area of Phuket) 3 hours later than scheduled. Since it was close to midnight we were so mad that we almost decided to stay in and sleep so that we could make it to the beach in the morning before our flight back to Bangkok that afternoon. But, we got over our bad moods & got dressed to explore the night life of Phuket. This turned out to be very interesting. We came across more lady boys than we did in Bangkok. And trust me, guys aren't their only target. They try to scam girls for money as well.
We also had to deal with children in the streets trying to sell things. It was actually pretty sad to see them on the streets at 3am begging. We literally had to peel them off of us! Overall, we had a fun night and found a couple fun bars to hang out at that wasn't overrun with prostitutes lol. Below is one of those bars...this guy convinced us to come in for free tequila shots! :)
First they didn't tell us where to check in our ferry tickets. So we went straight to the pier to discover that the ferry is about to leave & we haven't checked in our tickets (which was about a mile away from the pier). Luckily these guys told us to hop on their truck and they drove us over to the place and back in just enough time. Also, they put us on a car ferrry! All the ferries we had been on before were not like this one at all. We didn't even find the seats (if there were any) because they tossed us and our luggage on to where the cars were parked and we had to squeeze our way through to climb some stairs to the next level. Once we got up the stairs, we threw our stuff down and just sat there for the rest of the trip (on the side walk-way) lol.
Once our ferry docked they put us on a tuk-tuk. Then a van. Then a bus. But before the bus departed we waited over an hour for it to be full before we could begin traveling. Once it was full we were on there for 4 hours. Around hour 3 of the bus ride, some idiot thought it would be a good idea to piss in a bucket that was on the bus. We were wondering why he walked down the little steps towards the exit door, until we heard the sound of peeing. Made for a great smell...gross! The bus already smelled bad enough. Finally a girl got up and asked the driver to pull over for a bathroom break and informed him someone had already pissed in a bucket.
After the break and another hour on the bus, we arrive to Phuket. Where they put us in a van to finally go to our hotel for the night. We arrived in Patong (an area of Phuket) 3 hours later than scheduled. Since it was close to midnight we were so mad that we almost decided to stay in and sleep so that we could make it to the beach in the morning before our flight back to Bangkok that afternoon. But, we got over our bad moods & got dressed to explore the night life of Phuket. This turned out to be very interesting. We came across more lady boys than we did in Bangkok. And trust me, guys aren't their only target. They try to scam girls for money as well.
We also had to deal with children in the streets trying to sell things. It was actually pretty sad to see them on the streets at 3am begging. We literally had to peel them off of us! Overall, we had a fun night and found a couple fun bars to hang out at that wasn't overrun with prostitutes lol. Below is one of those bars...this guy convinced us to come in for free tequila shots! :)
The next morning, after a few hours of sleep, we woke up early to hit the beach for one last time! Luckily my sunburn had subsided so I was able to enjoy the beach. We basically took some pics, wandered around, got some smoothies, then went back to the hotel to get ready to head to the airport.
We had heard that Phuket was a bit overrated, which is why we only decided to spend one night there. Turned out perfect for us even though we were low on energy afterwards! Our final stop was Bangkok for round 2!
XOXO,
Amanda
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