Wanderlust Wednesday: Kho Phangan, Thailand

Around this time last year we found ourselves in Kho Phangan. After a long bus ride from Bangkok and a ferry, we reached this tropical island located in the Gulf of Thailand. 

Kho Phangan is the infamous host of Thailand's full-moon parties, but if you stay far away  from Haad Rin Beach, then you can avoid thumping techno and really start to relax into the island life.

Our guesthouse was serenely located amidst palm trees and only a little ways up from the beach, and we fully utilized those hammocks!

Our room...

Typical shower in Thailand (energy efficient because that box heats up water as it goes to the faucet)

I've got to be honest...Kho Phangan was not my favorite island, let alone place, in Thailand. The beaches/water just are not as nice as the islands on the Andaman Sea.

 But, if you are dying to see the gulf of Thailand, maybe do a bit of yoga or hiking, then this could be your place. 

We rented a car and drove the island, which was fun and definitely gives you a better sense of what the island has to offer. 

Although beware, because this island is so lush and dense with rainforest, there are a lot of creepy crawly things going on. We saw a cobra (slithering our guesthouse path),  and a cane spider! 

I am deathly afraid of spiders and as we were driving our little vehicle, one of these puppies (seriously it is the size of a small dog) came out of nowhere and started crawling our dash! Here is a photo of one. Not to scare you off or anything...

 

Needless to say, Kho Phangan was an adventure, maybe not the relaxing beach adventure we were looking for, but an adventure nonetheless!

To hear about our first impressions of Kho Phangan and to see a cobra, follow the link! 

A visitor in Kho Phangan

So we decided to leave our blog post up to our traveling visitor, Lisa, Ashley's mom. Here is her debut:

"Hello Everyone,

Well yes I am alive and kicking after a nasty sinus infection.  After being threatened by Ashley and Brian that they were taking me to a thai doctor I broke down and started taking Ashley's antibiotics that she brought.  By the next morning I was feeling like I would survive another day, if all the crazy insects and spiders did not eat us first.  Ashley opened the door to her bungalow and her and Brian saw a snake that they both swear was a cobra after googling what they had seen, funny thing was Brian was standing on the bed rocking worse than Ashley.  Well not for long though, a couple of days later Brian went on a snorkeling trip so me and Ashley decided to risk our lives again and drive our toy car. Over in Thailand you drive on the wrong side of the road, and it was a stick, which is also backwards, so needless to say that was interesting, but it got better.  After we got into the town I see a spider (bigger than a tarantula) walk right in front of my face on the inside windshield, now I am trying to drive in traffic on the wrong side of the street and I just freak, but I knew if ashley saw it we were for sure going to the mental ward (she has arachnaphobia) so I am yelling at her to just get out of the car, she keeps asking why, and somehow does not see what I am screaming about.  I jump out in the middle of the street screaming, she is out of the car by this time and sees it, starts screaming, while all the thai people just stare at us.  I knew I had to get that thing out or we were abandoning this piece there and then so I hit it with a water bottle and it flew out the window.  After googling this spider we think it was a cane spider, they are huge and harmless (we are told) google it for funsies.

So after five nights on this island jungle we caught the ferry out today and I have never been so happy, even ok with the fact that due to high airline ticket prices off the island (everyone must want off) that we were facing a 3 hour ferry, onto a 4 hour bus ride, onto a 30 minute van ride, and then onto a longtail boat for 20 minutes to our next destination, Railay Beach in Krabi.  Krabi area is known for it's rock climbing, Brian actually has a friend living here to climb so he is trying to meet up with him. This island is down towards Phuket in the southern part of Thailand  and is on the Andamann Sea.  Me and Ashley have decided that we feel it here more, not so jungley.  Very small little island, very green and tropical, no cars or scooters or roads for that matter, only way on or off is by boat.  Our hotel is very nice here and right on the beach, we are here for 3 nights, tomorrow I will put some pictures of this island up, huge green limestone cliffs jetting up out of the water, very beautiful.  Hope everyone back home is staying warm, it is hotter than hell here! Well I must go throw Brian's clothes out of our room, they smell like well..... let's just leave that to your imagination.

 

Lisa"