Koh Phangan

After our amazing time at the floating bungalows we headed to our last Thai Intro destination, Koh Phangan. This is a fairly small island in the Gulf of Thailand. To get to the island we had to take our first ferry ride of the trip (more on that later). I don't usually get sea sick but I have one time before so I was a little nervous when I saw that the ocean had some pretty large waves going on.  We played cards most of the time to keep our mind off it, but I was definitely not feeling 100% during the ride. I was very happy to arrive at that little island. When we got there we checked into our seaside bungalows, which were part of a resort that the tour group that we were on owned. So you didn't have to be on the tour to stay there but everyone on the tour stayed there. It was called Sarana and I would highly recommend it for anyone going to Thailand. It's pretty basic (no hot water) but that's all you want/need in Thailand and was absolutely beautiful. We also really liked the restaurant/ bar they had open most of the time. Some of our favorite Pad Thai came from that place... I'm pretty sure a few people ended up eating it for breakfast and just for a snack because we loved it that much.

After we settled into our bungalows we had some time to explore the beach and just kind of hang out around the resort which was really nice. Our group all went out that night and we got to experience our first "full moon party". It wasn't technically a full moon so it wasn't the full on full moon party but it was still pretty awesome. A dance club right on the beach, actually in the sand and water, complete with glow paint and swinging fire ropes is pretty great regardless of the moon's status. Although apparently it is much much more crowded and crazy during an actual full moon.  We got painted up for the night while we were at dinner and definitely had some fun with that. I had some videos of the fire rope but can't figure out how to get them online.  Picture a jumprope completely in flames with drunk people jumping into it. It made me nervous because obviously a few people got burned but it was also super exhilarating to watch. I did not partake but I loved it!

We stayed up pretty late that night and enjoyed some fabulous late night 7-11 toasties. I guess now would be a good time to introduce the concept of toasties as they were a staple in our Thai diet. First, there are 7-11s EVERYWHERE, and I mean EVERYWHERE. At one point, we were standing on a street and there were 3 7-11s in a row. Literally in a row. I don't quite understand the point of that. However, that made it very easy to find toasties, which are basically just a grilled cheese pocket with ham inside. But I promise you they taste way better than they sound.