Our Last Stop: We relax and reflect on Koh Phangan

Trip Start Jan 30, 2010
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Trip End Sep 12, 2010


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Where I stayed
green papaya

Flag of Thailand  , Ko Phangan,
Tuesday, September 7, 2010

All good things come to an end and so it was that we flew from Bangkok to Koh Samui, an island in the Gulf of Thailand, to begin our last week of the trip. We had hoped to find an idyllic spot for our last week of freedom: crystalline waters lapping the white sand beach of a serene tropical island. We knew that islands on the Andamon Sea were not a good choice during August, the height of monsoon season. So, staying east, we tried Koh Samui (Koh = island), the largest island in the Gulf of Thailand. Though lovely, Koh Samui was disappointing in the scale of development that has occurred. This is a place that we perhaps should have visited 20 or 30 years ago, each beach is fronted by side by side 'boutique' hotels and there is little of the real Thailand left here (for example the curries and 'thai' dishes at the beach restaurants were very mild and tame, even when we asked for 'hot & spicy'). No doubt many people will consider this island their paradise, but for us, we wanted to find a quieter less developed version, so we took the daily ferry out to Koh Phangan, the next island (we actually were heading to Koh Tao, the smallest of the three main islands here, but just as we left the harbour, a fierce storm blew up and I (Michael) got pretty seasick once more; so we got off at the first stop, the island of Koh Phangan)
Koh Samui Hotel
Koh Samui Hotel
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As soon as we set foot on the island, we sensed a different vibe here, more relaxed and less pretentious (just the short ferry ride makes it less accessible and hence less of a target for the real estate brokers, time-share developments and the like). 
We headed to the north of the island - as far as possible from the southern Haad Rin beaches (site of the infamous 'full moon parties' where the young backpackers go to drink the night away) and chose our room from several small resorts at Haad Salad (Haad = beach), ending up in a beautiful bungalow at the Green Papaya. For the next few days we ventured no further than 'our' beach, walking the full 300 yard length a few times a day, eating in the small restaurants, swimming and snorkeling in the calm, shallow waters inside the reef, and enduring more Thai massages on the beachfront (lying next to the beach with the sounds of the ocean and light breezes blowing whilst getting such a massage must be one of the most relaxing experiences imaginable!).
On our last day, we finally made the effort to explore further afield, taking a small water taxi to the next bay (almost 500 yards away!), where we found an even quieter beach (beachfront bungalows $30/night), better snorkeling and more Thai massages (though we had been so spoilt by the ladies at Tuk Massage that we left here complaining about the lack of experience of the masseusses - all for 250THB ($8) an hour...(back at our beach I went for a second massage to rectify this situation...)).
Our few days in this island paradise flew by and soon we were on our way back to the mainland and on our final flights of the trip, headed back to San Francisco. What a fantastic experience indeed!   
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Comments

elmiradordevalparaiso@yahoo.com on

Dear Annet, Michael and Oliver. Beautifull pictures.Thanks for share your trip with us.Best Regards. Marisol.

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