If you google this island, the majority of results you get are about the Full Moon Party. Oh not another party island, please! But if you search a little further you can also find a lot of yoga studios, at least 4 kitesurfing schools, boat tours, snorkeling, diving,...
The only reason I came to this island was to practice kitesurfing again. It has been 5 months since I was up and riding. I was not even sure I still knew how...
After an entire day of traveling from Koh Lanta, after taking 4 different buses, a tram on wheels and a - very comfortable - ferry, I arrived on Koh Phangan. My hostel arranged a very difficult transport with lots of transfers, probably to keep it cheap. But I had nothing better to do than to enjoy the scenery:
•••traveling by land - a palmtree forest•••
•••sunset close to Koh Phangan•••
For 2 nights I had booked a hotel/hostel with an amazing pool, just to spoil myself. Once in a while that is allowed you know...traveling can be very exhausting, I'm not kidding!
The next morning I woke up early, did a yoga session with a breathtaking view. Tough, I'm probably not using the right vocabulary here, 'cause during yoga you need all of your breath :)
After the sun rose completely, I was lucky enough to behold the following scene:
•••infinity pool at C Villas•••
I could not take my eyes off of it. This is something I normally only see on internet or in travel magazines. Well I can tell you that you can have this for only 9€ per night! You do have to sleep in a dorm, but it has a private bathroom, which is a plus! You also need to endure the manager who is so strict, he takes a little fun away of the entire experience.
I wanted to order coffee and take it out to the beach, which is just in front of the infinity pool, like 2m behind it. His answer was "No". Some guests asked for a bottle opener, they wanted to take a few beers that they had bought in the 7eleven to the beach. His answer was "No, I also sell beer"...
I switched hostels after 2 nights, because infinity pool or not, I wouldn't spend my time inside the hostel anyway and it was far away from everything, unless you were there dor the Full Moon Party, which was only 10min walk away.
The first day I rented a scooter to explore the island. I came to the conclusion that my favorite part is the west. It's full of yoga studios, slow food vegan restaurants, a very relaxed atmosphere, quiet beach,...
I also discovered the Amsterdam Bar, which has an amazing view! Usually people go up there to watch sunset.
It was so nice to sit there and read. All the flashy colors just made my day!
Hereafter it was time for lunch. If you are in the western part of Koh Phangan, I can really recommend Eat.Co. I had a delicious papaya couscous salad with pita and hummus. Actually I could eat the entire menu, everything looked good!
While cruisin' I look around. Suddenly a particular sight catches my attention. It looked like people were walking on water. Huh?! Stop the bike. Get off. Go see!
Logic explanation: a sandbank, that split the water in two...but still it was weird. I had never seen one before!
My scooter tour ended almost, but just before arriving back to the main road to Haad Rin, where I was staying, I came across a beautiful temple. You can't see enough of those here in Thailand!
The next day I had company during yoga. I was actually even leading the session, that's a first!
Next, it was time for my kitesurfing regresher lesson. You know...I looked forward to this moment, so hard, that it ruined it! I was going through everything I had learned from Adrian, Jos and Paulo - my Arubian instructors. - in my mind that it kept me from sleeping. Result: I was tired as hell! And I sucked! My body forgot the feeling of getting on the board. I don't know what happened...
For two hours I was messing around and because of the conditions - sideshore wind - I had to walk the walk of shame as they call it. So basically I was paying my instructor to kitesurf...I had to walk, he was kitesurfing back to the starting position. Uuggghhh!
I had foreseen two days for kitesurfing but after this experience, I was so demotivated that I didn't feel like losing more money just to mess around. So my last day I spent reading, drinking coffees and eating curry twice a day. Only here that is not a weird thing to do!
I did find another very nice coffee place on the island: 100 islands coffee bar in Baan Tai - the beach I moved to. Well...actually I didn't find it myself. A Dutch guy from the hostel recommened it to me. Such a lovely place! There were flowers in the floor. It's the little things that make you love a place!
This second hostel I was staying in, The Magic Wave, is owned by Belgians! I have met one of the owners, she was French speaking, but very nice! The place was a little bit in construction tough, so I can't show you any nice pictures. But, in 2 mins you are on the beach and...there's a kiting school just there. I didn't know... I went to KiteFlip, owned by Filip, a Belgian dude...who gave me a discount!
I totally messed up the kiting. I was overthinking all the different lessons I already had and all the things I needed to remember. This kept me from sleeping...
I was so tired the next day, that my mind-body-coordination didn't work properly. I basically paid my instructor to kite. The conditions were different than on Aruba. Here we had sideshore wind, which means you're being blown away sideways and have to walk back or kite upwind. I was walking the walk of shame. Shame on me! Better next time!
Things I love to remember about Koh Phangan:
- 2 people + 3 digs on 1 motorbike
- meeting Anna & Alivka, Russian mom and daughter with whom I discovered a locked-up monkey wearing a diaper
- meeting Saïda from Uzbekistan, who had just finished a 6 days silent meditation retreat. We had interesing conversations!
Next: Chiang Mai
Labels: Asia, Hotspots, Thailand, Travel
