We immediately contacted via SMS a fellow Pinoy Couchsurfer Poch who was already in Haad Rin looking for accommodation. To secure a room, Shervin and I agreed to pay 100 THB each (fixed taxi price to any point around the island) to a resort in Ban Tai, located halfway Thong Sala (main ferry port) and Haad Rin to reserve one until Poch gives us the news that they have found a place to sleep.
After lunch at the resort, Poch called and informed us that they indeed found vacancy. Since it's just a ten-minute stroll away from the Full Moon Party venue, we cancelled the room we reserved. We left the resort and instead of paying another 100 THB each for a songthaew ride, we started walking to Haad Rin.
We thought it would just be a five kilometer walk. Turned out to be double that and the road winds up and down. The shared taxi/songthaew fare is expensive for a reason, the island's got a rugged terrain.
We hiked for three hours (we thought it would just take one). Half of it on the main road and half by the beach. Luckily, the tide was low that afternoon and made the latter possible.
When we found Friendly Bungalows (1,500 THB shared by five people), we asked for the key from the reception. Poch and another Couchsurfer, Mac, were out. It's been a while since we last slept in an air-conditioned room. And that time we badly needed it after the death march.
We were in bed waiting for our gadgets to recharge when we heard a knock on the door. It was another Couchsurfer, Amaan from India. We exchanged brief introductions and minutes later Poch and Mac arrived as well. The Full Moon Party crew was formed.
Not only did we party for two nights together, we also did a day trip around Koh Phangan (rented a 4x4). We searched for beautiful falls in vain, were interrogated by Koh Phangan police at a checkpoint,
played with an illegally kept gibbon at a cheap eatery where we had lunch, were ripped off by locals selling petrol (60 THB for a liter!), and ended the day at an uncrowded beach north of the island.
I missed the bunch as I posted this photo (I also noticed I've lost so much weight since the beginning of our 6-week SE Asia trip). We come from different walks of life... And that made our conversations all the more interesting.
[This blog is part of the South East Asia in Six Weeks series which took place May-June 2009. Price of goods, transportation and so forth may already be different.]
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2 comments:
September 3, 2010 at 6:35 PM
biggest party ive ever attended...
September 3, 2010 at 9:33 PM
Same here Flip. Full Moon Party is da bomb!
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