on the island, we stayed at this place called the "J. Seaview Resort" - and they use the term "resort" lightly... imagine the swiss family robinson in Thailand and that's how we were living for a week. it was great. it was on the side of a mountain on the island. there were about 15 to 20 bungalows - and we probably rented out 13 of those. i think at the peak there were well over 20 of us from Thammasat at J Seaview. Each bungalow had a double bed and plenty of cold water to shower with. in the middle of the bungalows was a big bungalow with a TV, dvd player, and a large collection of pirated dvd's. this place was great - they cooked us dinner every night. but it was quite the trek to get to the "resort." the roads on this island are notorious for being at a 90 degree angle and, how can i put this, a "work in progress." the combination of these two made for quite the adventure to get home at night. but we made it. the bungalows cost us 300 baht a night (around 9 dollars - split by three people). the most expensive part of the island was transportation - it would cost us about 100 baht per person to take a taxi into town and back. so that was about 6 dollars round trip. but we've been in thailand long enough to where that is EXPENSIVE!!
HOME SWEET HOME - SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON STYLE
HOME SWEET HOME - SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON STYLE
THE VIEW FROM MY BUNGALOW
A LITTLE TASTE OF THE DEATH ROADS OF KO PHANGAN
BY FAR MY FAVORITE PART OF J. SEAVIEW - THE HAMMOCK
on Friday, I got to go diving with Mat. he'd been getting certified for PADI Open Water on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday was his open water dives, So i decided to tag along. It was technically my "refresher course" - but that didn't entail much more than actually diving. It was great to be back in the water after well over two years. Phangan Divers picked us up from J Seaview around 8 in the AM and we didn't get back home until 7 PM i think. It was about a 2 hour boat ride to the dive sites - we did two dive sites in Ko Tao (the island just north of Ko Phangan - there basically three islands in the gulf of Thailand: Ko samui, Ko Phangan, and Ko Tao). Ko Tao is supposed to be known for the diving - but from what I saw, it's nothing to shake a stick at. There was some really cool stuff to see - but it was mostly just fish and marine life. no sharks or turtles or mantas and no whale shark. The christmas trees here are so vividly colored and the clams are huge - probably 3 feet big. We did see a blue spotted stingray which was cool. The visibility was only about 20 feet - and the worst part of the day.... there are two dive sites in the gulf: Ko Tao and Sail Rock. Our dive operation, Phangan Divers took us to Ko Tao on Friday... the other dive operation on Ko Phangan went to sail rock. and what creature of the sea did they see at Sail Rock - a WHALE SHARK. yes, a whale shark - the largest fish in the ocean and one of the most reclusive. These creatures are known to inhabit the waters around thailand but only come out every three to four months. and i was in the water with one. but not close enough to see it. I can't tell you how mad I was when the captain told us that....
Anyways - the full moon party was supposed to be that Friday night. But there was some Thai election - or at least that's what we were told. And because of this, Thailand couldn't sell alcohol for 24 hours before and after the election, meaning the full moon party was rescheduled until Sunday night. But nobody seemed to know what was going on - even the three thai girls that came with us from Thammasat didn't even know you couldn't sell alcohol on election days. But whatever. Fortunately, I was planning on staying until Tuesday night so this didn't affect my plans. But it sucked because some people were planning on leaving on Saturday or Sunday because we had midterms at Thammasat that following week. So they made the whole trek down to the island for some beaches - oh well, there's always march. Oh...and the best part about the island (and any island in thailand for that matter) is that they serve their drinks in buckets. yes, BUCKETS. for about 120 baht (4 dollars) you can get a bucket. they make the partying in thailand.
OUR BUCKET DAMAGE THE FIRST NIGHT
OUR BUCKET DAMAGE THE FIRST NIGHTThe rest of the time on the island was spent on the beach. On Ko Phangan, there's beach for everything: if you want to relax, they've got it. if you want to party, they've got it. if you want it, they've got it on the beach.
LONELY BEACH
SUNSET AT THE BEACH
Sunday was the day of the full moon party. The weather was a bit crappy all day - it rained on and off. but we were getting pretty excited once the sun went down. of the 20 + people that made the trek to Ko Phangan, there were six of us left for the full moon party - Bruno, Natalia, Jon, Meris, Marney and myself. and we made up for the lack of others... haha. we stocked up on neon glow paint, painted ourselves up and headed down to Haad Rin Beach - home of the world famous full moon party. This party occurs every month and attracts anywhere from 10 to 15,000 partiers from around the world. The party goes literally from sun up to sun down and from then on. We stayed until about 9 am and I would say there were still thousands
ME, MARNEY, MERIS AND JON AT THE FULL MOON PARTY - PLENTY OF PAINT
THE PARTY WAS STILL GOING AT 9 AM
After Ko Phangan, I caught a return flight on Bangkok Airways and headed back for Midterms. I only had two midterms out of my five classes. They went well.
Well, I think my blog is pretty much caught up now. The next thing on the agenda is leaving the country. With our visas, we HAVE to leave the country every five months, it's mandatory. Honestly, if we didn't have to leave the country, I don't think I would. Thailand is truly the gem of southeast asia. It has the largest collection and array of things to do of anywhere. I don't think there's any other country where you can see and do the things you can in thailand. But since we have to leave the country, I think I'm going to go to Laos to the Gibbons Experience (check out the link). It's a pretty cool thing where you go up into a Rainforest near the Laos border and spend three days, two nights in tree houses that are connected by ziplines. Food comes when you're hungry. Tour guides are around 24/7 to take you on adventures. And it gives you an upclose experience with the animals of the rainforest. Since I have to leave the country, this should be well worth the time spent traveling.
later guys
andy
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