Beach Badger (Thailand)

Early March, 2006

The sleeper train from Bangkok to Surat Thani was quite impressive, even allowing for the fact that everything in Thailand was impressing me in my starry-eyed, post-India mindset! Nice white cotton bedding is provided, a man comes and makes up your bed for you...... you don't get that in Indian sleeper second class!

The ferry to Ko Phangan was also quite pleasant. I sat on the deck in the sun, chatting with some Swedish and Danish girls, and some Canadian guys. By the time we got to the island, I had been persuaded by the Scandinavians that their destination of Hat Rin, the biggest town on the island, would be a fun thing. Now I knew from what I had read that Hat Rin would probably not be for me, (for those looking for a cultural reference point, Hat Rin would be Ko Phangan's answer to Ibiza's San Antonio). However, I decided to give it one night to see if the town could prove me wrong.....

It failed. The beachfront was packed with bar sound systems all fighting to be heard above each other, with the result being that you couldn't hear any of them; the town was just endless tacky tourist businesses, and the vibe was just plain wrong. So I made my polite excuses to the Scandies and left the next morning for my original destination, the more remote beach at Tong Nai Pan Noi on the northeast corner of the island.

Because of the varied terrain and road quality on most Thai islands, the taxis tend to be sawngthaew, which are basically pick-up trucks with two benches running lengthways in the back. On the sawngthaew I took to escape Hat Rin I met Silva, a German nurse who had come to Tong Nai Pan Noi on holiday with her boyfriend. She had split up with said boyfriend whilst at the beach, then promptly got sick with something quite nasty that laid her low for several weeks and caused her to become unreasonably thin. So Silva had really been through the wringer recently, and had some interesting things to say for herself despite feeling ill as the vehicle negotiated some of the island's more rudimentary "roads". We arranged to meet up later on, and ended up spending quite a bit of time hanging out together over the next few days.

Tong Nai Pan Noi was far more what I was looking for. Like Arambol, my favourite beach in Goa, it was a beautiful long crescent of white sand which was developed enough to be convenient to stay at, but not developed too much. I spent the next few days staying in a bamboo hut by the beach, lying in the sun, swimming in some beautifully warm, clear water, eating lovely Thai meals and relaxing in the chilled-out bars! Mmmmmm....... !!

Silva and I went several times to a restaurant called The Bamboo Hut, which was owned by a lovely Thai lady called Ken. I'm not sure about the spelling, but she was definitely called Ken, (and no she wasn't a ladyboy, I checked her Adam's apple). Ken's cooking was just wonderful, and she would come out of the kitchen after she had finished for the night and sit and chat, maybe coming on to a bar with us.

On one day I took a trip out in a longtail boat around the island with Monika and Danni from Germany. We went to Ko Ma, where we snorkeled, Bottle Beach, (only accessible by boat), where we had lunch, and Tarnsadet waterfall, where we swam. Visibility for the snorkeling wasn't good, but it was still fun and Monika demonstrated her irrational fear of sea cucumbers, (yes I suppose they do look like giant slugs). The waterfall was just wonderful! You could get right underneath the main part of the fall and it was like getting pummelled by a dozen masseurs simultaneously! Ahhhhh.....!

As easy as it would have been to stay there, I felt the need to move on after a week. I think that no matter how much you love a place when you are traveling, there's always the enticement of the unknown next place just drawing you on! It's a good thing I suppose, otherwise I'd find the first nice place and just stay there for a year. The next destination was the island of Ko Tao; I was being drawn there partly because if its reputation as a beautiful place, but also partly by my growing attraction to the idea of diving...