Our next journey took us from one shore to the other. We took 2 buses to get to Surat Thani to take a ferry to Ko Phangan. The ferry took around 3 hours to cross the water. But it was very calm. Steve and I were able to get a spot on the front of the boat. No, we couldn’t do the Titanic. They had the very front barred off with signs saying “Do not cross”. We ended our ferry ride with about four beer and a picturesque sunset. Hopping off the ferry the first thing you notice is about 10 tuk tuks. They all have set prices that are truly non-negotiable. So 200 baht later we were heading towards Hat Rin. We got off at some sketchy guesthouses three blocks away from the ocean.

So we went for a walk to get closer to the ocean for a good price. Bongo Bungalows is where we ended up at. With a good restaurant playing all the new movies and rentable bungalows we were half a block from the water in a sandy, palm tree laden garden. Inside the bungalow we had 3 beds and one fan. At 400 baht a night you can’t beat that.

Upon waking the next day we decided to scout this place out. There are many bars playing Family Guy, new movies and Friends. Lots of small grocery stores, and a few dive shops. Once down on the beach you can see about 9 big bars that set up and play music and serve drinks. But it’s at the night time when you see the fire shows and the huge amount of alcohol venders that set up in-between the real bars.

We booked our open water PADI dive certification that at Crystal Dive in Hat Rin before going on a snorkeling adventure.

Bored after booking our scuba stuff, we still had the better part of the day left to kill. So Steve and I purchased some snorkeling sets which were pretty cheap and proceeded to charter a long boat to a secluded beach. Little did we know the water had zero visibility. So after about 5 mins I was playing the Jaws theme over and over in my head. I was out of the water faster than Uncle Kev runs after his tip-ups while ice fishing.

Well after getting back to our bungalows and drying off we went and had some food and watched some movies while drinking Chang beer and Vodka Shark Bites. We sat in the restaurant until they closed at 11 and moved down to the beach to sell alcohol. So we followed and were truly surprised. Now keep in mind that this is the night before the Full Moon Party. The fire shows which are really just a side note to the whole party, are hilarious. People jumping over a flaming skipping rope. Guys with flaming balls on chains, and ones with flaming sticks like light sabers. Once you get past the fire shows you notice, hundreds of other party goers on the beach, some on drugs, but most drunk stumbling around. So Steve and I did what we do best, we found a stage and pushed our way to the front. We did Canada well that night.

Waking the next day to a blur we laughed for about an hour about the craziness that we experienced. And soon I realized that Chang beer gives one heck of a hang over. A Chang over is actually what you call it over here. So for most of that day I stayed motionless in a very sweaty bungalow.

Night time hit and Steve was right as rain. Pushing me to party I joined him for food and watched him order s Vodka Shark Bite as I got water. Well soon enough Steve had a French guy telling me to drink. So I had 1 drink and one bite of a burger. Much later that night Steve had me experiencing the Full Moon Party. The number of drunk people and ones high on something had grown quite a bit from the night before. Not to mention the chain of Thai people trying to give free pills to people by the ocean. From what I could tell they stand there and attempt to give free Date Rape to people saying it is something else, then they mug you once it takes hold. So some advice is to stay closer in by the stages as much as you can. Steve can vouch for this, he ended up getting pick pocketed at some point during the night. It’s actually pretty fun watching people rave dance like they are on Mars. You know are high on something. There is also a spot on the beach set up as a Free Nap Zone, Steve liked to wake them up and high five them. Also there are countless Tarot Reading stands set up. I hope Steve comes into that money like the ladies cards had said.

The Full Moon Party and Ko Phangan took their tolls on the two Canadian lads, that brief time we were there. So we boarded a ferry one day after all the partying and were off to Ko Tao for scuba diving.

Have a look on the left hand side of this website, you will see a new widget I added. It’s titled ” Where are we?”. It will be updated every time we have internet. Hopefully it helps keep track of us. Cheers!

Our journey down to Phuket was THE worst 24 hours of travel we have encountered yet. We booked a train to Surat Thani from Bangkok, then had a transfer of 2 minivans and 2 buses. One of the buses had a small boy as the ticket keeper. He also ran the television. So for 4 hours we went through 3 different karaoke DVDs, but they were all in Thai. With the luck that Steve and I have, our seats had the only working speaker on the entire bus. So the kid cranked the music out of our one speaker so every one else on the bus could hear it. Asking him to turn it down didn’t work, even after the third time. He claimed that no body could hear it if he turned it down, to which we replied “nobody is even listening now…”. After the karaoke bus we got one with no A.C. It was like riding in a sauna for 3 hours.

Finally getting dropped off out side of Phuket Town, because for some reason our minivan driver was not allowed to drive in to town, we walked for about three blocks. Getting fed up with walking we asked a small mechanics shop to call a taxi for us, which ended in them giving us a ride in the back of a small pick up for about 200 Baht.

We arrived in Phuket Town, which is basically in the center of Phuket, not knowing where our Canadian friends had their bar or bungee jump. We stayed at the Thalang Guest House which is right on the main street only a few blocks away from the Chinese Shrines or the shopping mall. We settled in to a room that was very large, with a roof about 12 feet up, and very open breezy windows.

We woke the next day to some very loud sounds, that could only be made out as gun shots or car accidents. We walked out onto the balcony and were surprised that we had arrived in Phuket Town during their Vegetarian Festival. It comes once a year on the first day of the 9th lunar month. During this time you see dragon dances, acts of decapitation, people walking up ladders of swords, fire walking, and lots of fire works. (Check this post out for more on the festival.)

We saw pretty much everything this festival had to offer withing the three days of staying in Phuket Town. So we made our way on towards Patong Beach, where Gunners Bar is located, and where Jeff has his bungee jump set up.

Our first night in Patong, we settled in to a guest house called Simon’s Laundry, which was hilarious to try to explain to people where we were staying. After setting in we made our way down to a bowling alley which was right beside Jeff’s bungee jump. After looking around for a bit we got a motorbike taxi to take us to Gunners Bar. Here we met Gunners wife, she said Gunner was out of the country but she called Jeff for us. Well Jeff came down tot he bar within twenty minutes of that call, and the Chang’s really started flowing. This night ended with all of us going to karaoke, including some of the waitresses.

The next few days we relaxed and had beers enjoying the beaches and the climate down in southern Thailand. We also booked some deep sea fishing and a visa run to Burma.

The Deep Sea Fishing would have been a blast, but let me tell you something, the seas were angry that day friends. Even on two anti-seasickness pills I was puking over the edge of that boat within the first hour of the trip. So that led to me getting skunked, simply because I didn’t pick up a fishing rod. But for those of you that know me, I would have slayed mighty Poseidon himself had I been able to sit up! As for Steve he got skunked. I am fairly certain he did not even have bait on his line.

Now the visa run was a much needed chore to be done, how ever it was horrible. Imagine a minivan crammed full with the maximum amount of people you can fit. Now imagine that you have to sit like that for 4.5 hours one way, then back. Well that’s exactly what we endured that day, but if we didn’t do that we couldn’t have stayed in Thailand that extra 15 days, so it was well worth it.

Our final day in Patong we did possibly the stupidest thing on the trip thus far. We rode go-karts that go 125 km/h, that have no safety harness, and no roll bar. You just suit up in coveralls, a helmet, some funky gloves, and away you go. The only advice we got was do not put your foot on the brake and gas at the same time. Oh I almost forgot, Steve and I did this in our flip-flops. Some people thought the Tiger Kingdom in Chang Mia was a stupid thing to do, well I can tell you that this was far crazier.

We had originally planned to return to Patong to bungee jump at Jeff’s, after the Full Moon Party, but we were un-able to head back down that way. So sorry about that Jeff.

Our next leg of the journey starts at the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan, I’ll write that one and catch you all up once we land in Laos and get settled. Until next post; if the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.