Its an early start, pickup at 7.30am. Its a drive over to Surathani on the East Coast then a ferry across from there to Koh Phangan. As expected its a fantastic day weather wise and its typical we are stuck in a Hi-Ace Commuter! We arrive at Surathani about 12.30pm, little did we know we have to catch another Bus over to Don Sak before we pick up the ferry. When we arrive at the Pier the water looks very choppy, Jane isn't the best of travellers so its time for the travel sickness pills! She's not the only one, plenty of others are feeling the same effect, many of them getting sick a few minutes into the journey. Its funny but the guys who organise the trip are well prepared, they are handing out plastic bags for people to be sick in left right and centre. First stop on the ferry is Koh Samui, the bigger of the three islands on the East Coast and from here it will be another hour before we reach our destination.On arrival at Thong Sala port its dark and we've not eaten anything other than a bowl of fried rice between us. Now its time to barter for a taxi...they all come pounding for you at the pier..."taxi for you sir!" "taxi for you sir!" We are in a bit of a pickle as where we are staying is North of the Island in a place called Thong Nai Pan and unless we get someone to join us we will end up having to pay what the guide suggest a 1000 Baht. Our luck isn't in and we have to get a taxi on our own. They won't budge from 1200baht so we start to walk away from the pier in the hope they will reduce their cost...it drops to 1000 but we reckon we can probably get it for 800 so keep walking. We approach a couple of other taxi drivers and its all much of a much'ness. Eventually the lady who first offered us the price accepts 800 and we are now on our way. The journey is eventful, we climb some serious hills on route, the 4x4 even struggling to climb them and eventually we reach our destination for 8pm. We are shattered at this stage so we can do no other but check into our hut and grab a bite to eat. The hut is pretty spectacular, about a 5second walk from the beach, all you can hear in the hut is the sound of the waves crashing...not a bad sound to fall asleep to!
The next morning we do a recky on the place, its a very small bay so it takes no longer than 20mins...its probably one of the nicest places I've ever stayed, white sand beach, palms trees every where and most of all the place is free from all the hustle & bustle of Patong! When we get back its time for breakfast, there are only a handful of places to eat, they are not restaurants but little huts, all as good as each other but in time we realise their is one that stands out among the rest, Again & Again Restaurant! When we arrived at Thong Nai Pan we only booked for 2-nights just in case it wasn't the best place to say...but we made the right choice, we ended up extending our stay until the 23rd of December it was such a nice place. A good few of our days in Thong Nai Pan were spent relaxing on the beach, unfortunately the weather was a little cloudy but that kind of suited my pasty Irish skin so I wasn't complaining...as for Jane well I think she would have preferred a little more sun!A couple of days into our trip we meet a lovely lady known by the name of Miss Handsome...probably one of the nicest ladies in Thailand! She runs a place called Handsome Sandwiches, originally opened by Mr Handsome, her son (This place supposedly does the meanest Sandwiches in town, that's probably because no one else does!) She wants to take us to a Thai Boxing night in the Thong Sala on the 19th, 200baht each...it sounds like fun and we've not yet had the chance to see any Thai boxing. So on the 19th we depart for Thong Sala with Miss Handsome, we meet another couple Darren & Dani from Leicester who join us. The night of fighting includes two Title Fights (normal boxing) and 7 Maui Thai fights. The Title fights are rapid, no messing here, they all end in less than 5 rounds with either the man getting knocked out or the ref calling it a day. Then its on to the Maui Thai, first up is an Aussie Lady, really tall, her poor Thai opponent is about half her size so the inevitable happens...the Aussie kicks her ass! After this Miss Handsome takes us back to her Truck where she has brought us some food, chicken with rice! Not alone that she also provides us with ice cold water & coke cola...she a crazy lady, she never seems to stop laughing. After this its back to see the rest of the fights. At the end of the night Miss Handsome drops us back to her place where we request one of those so called famous sandwiches...its certainly worth talking about...you couldn't make one like it if you tried!
December 20th 2008...Well this is it...I've reached the big 30!!! We decide to get up early to try and catch the sun rise along the beach but unfortunately there is too much cloud. We venture back to the Hut and Jane some how disappears...she arrives back with a Mango Lassie in hand...that's the type of service you get when you reach 30! Along with this I get a wine & cheese tasting voucher for when I reach Aus. We haven't a whole lot planned for the day other than visit Miss Handsome who is going teach us how to make Mango & Sticky rice...you have to try it! Then later in the evening we have booked up to go to the half moon party, taxi provided by Miss Handsome!
Towards the final few days of our stay we hired a mo-ped to check out the island. The north side seems to be really laid back, east & west. We come across some really nice secluded beaches and those with a few more tourists but all in all its a really quiet place. At the end of the day we head for Had Rin where all the Full Moon Parties take place, its the main town on the island and mainly draws people there for the party seen. The place itself seems quite nice but certainly has its fair share of tourists. We only stay for the evening to get a feel for the place then its back to the Hut where we pack our bags for Koh Tao!!!
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