Island Hopping

The middle leg of my 3 week break between my TESOL training and teaching placement in Ayutthaya led me to three islands in the Bay of Thailand: Koh Samui, Koh Phagnan, and Koh Tao. All these islands are known for their beauty and individual personalities. We spent one night on Koh Samui, 3 nights on Koh Phagnan, and one night on Koh Tao. It's easiest for me to go through all of these islands one by one.
Koh Samui

The view after the "crawl" from our bungalow

We arrived on the famed paradisical island in the Bay of Thailand around 5:30 PM. The sun was beginning to set and it was completely dark at the end of our 45 minute tuk tuk ride to our beachside resort. I was aware that Koh Samui was the most built up out of all the islands in the Bay of Thailand, but I was shocked to see how much it resembled Phuket, a town I had visited earlier in my trip (recall the vegetarian festival), and was shocked that "island life" on Samui was more resort life. There is a road that goes around the entire circumference of the third largest island in Thailand that is lined with stores, markets, and travel agencies. The characteristic that made Samui much more islandy was the fact that motor bikes outnumbered cars by a long shot, and the markets on the side of teh road accommodated to this by sellingliters of gasoline in empbty Hong Thong bottles (a spirit that is quite popular and is described as "blended spirits) for 40 baht.

Our touristy tour around Phangnan

Upon arriving to our hotel, the hotel manager greeted us and informed us that we had "the shittiest room, but you can crawl to the beach." We were completely okay with this since it is what we were looking for, and settled into our completely fine bungalow. Our resort was on a beautiful stretch of beach bookended on either side by rounded rocks. Resorts line the entire beach, except where there is the occassional cluster of bars. My friend Alicia and I decided to venture around Samui on our one day there and went to a waterfall, pet some elephants, and went to a Buddhist temple overlooking the ocean. We ended our whirlwind day by napping on the beach before catching the last ferry to Koh Phangnan.
Koh Phangnan:

Neon art at the Half Moon party.

We sat outside and in the front of the ferry for the entirety of the 40 minute ride. Shortly after we began our journey, we were able to see the mountainous island known for it's wild full moon parties appear out of the haze. As soon as we got to the port of the island, it had an entirely different feel from the resort island of Samui. We decided to stay on Haad Rin Beach, the most built-up part of the island, and the area where the full moon party takes place. Though we were arriving to the island 6 days before the party (which we did not attend), flocks of young people were getting off the ferry and jumping into mini buses taking them to Haad Rin area. We handed our luggage to the minibus driver, who threw it on top of the van. When we got to our hotel, we were shocked that our luggage remained on top of the bus, which went up and down steep hills that were just barely drivable and impossibly sharp curves. Our stay on Phangnan consisted of a couple days of rain, snorkeling with luminescent and electric-looking fish, a half-moon party in the jungle, eating at a restaurant that always screened movies or the TV show friends, and a day at the beach. I'm glad I went to Koh Phagnan, but wish I had had the resources to go to the less popular beaches, though the infamous sunset beach is quite nice. I will admit: I have become a HUGE beach snob after this vacation. Sunset beach had a few pieces of trash on it (expectedly, since it is a party beach), and I could not believe how much it disgusted me. I was also a little disappointed at how rocky Samui was. SO OBNOXIOUS. I KNOW.
Koh Tao

Cloudy (but beautiful) Koh Tao

Though similar geographically to Phangnan and Samui, I found this diver-centric island oddly more beautiful. It rained the entire 24 hours while I was there, so I didn't even get to go snorkeling, but I loved the laid-back feel of this island that had the same feel as a ski resort, but instead of being filled with families and ski bums, it was filled with really attractive people, mostly under 30, and all obsessed with fish. I made my trip to Koh Tao during my stay on Phangnan (I went Samui--> Phangnan-->Tao-->Phangnan--> Bangkok), and on our way to Bangkok we stopped on Koh Tao to pick people up on the way to Chumphon. It was a perfect day (of course) and I could see the bottom of the ocean about 500 feet away from the dock. I am now determined to go back to Koh Tao and get my diving certification there (it has some of the best diving in the world, and almost all of the resorts on one of the beaches is owned by diving schools).

I've gotten behind in my blogging, but this entry concludes my 5 week run on beautiful beaches and idyllic scenery. As sad as I am to be leaving paradise, I am SO EXCITED to see Bangkok and my new home of Ayutthaya (spoiler alert: I love both). I will get my act together this week and write about my 4 days in Bangkok and my first week in Ayutthaya which includes teaching the "naughty" children and living in a city amongst monks, temples, and elephants.