Day 38 - Travel to Phuket

Eager to move on, we woke up early (for us) at 8:30am and checked out of the Zoe Crap French Resort.  Ty helped me drag the bags to the main road and I hopped onto a tuk tuk to Cyana Beach Resort while Ty scooted over with our rented motorbike.   We met up with L & L, had some lovely tasting omelets and then I got some pool time with Lora, which was great because our shower didn't exactly work at the Zoe French resort.

View of the beach close to the Thongsala pier

Together we caught the noon ferry boat - they got off on Koh Samui and we continued onto Surat Thani.  At Surat Thani we caught a 6 hour bus to Phuket and after two minibus transfers and a lot of waiting, snoozing and watching the Sopranos we arrived into Phuket at 9:30pm.

We were hopeful when we checked into the Patong Voyage and were surprised to find it was clean, had AC, a shower that worked wonderfully and even a patio!  After cleaning up a bit we hit the town for some dinner and then walked over to Bangla Road, the Phuket version of Khao San Road.  We listened to a local band play some great Adele covers, saw a street magician and were in bed by 1:30am.

So many motorbikes...for rent??

Crazy Bangla Road

Adele cover band

Biggest gal-bar I have ever been to

Sex-pat 

Day 37 - Recovery Day

Recovery DAY!
We did last the entire night at the Full Moon Party so this morning we came to at about 11:00am and grabbed a bite to eat at the 7-11 (ham & cheese toasty).

Early morning view of our beach

Storm clouds brewing!

Zoe French "Resort"

a real Lawnmower

We caught a tuk-tuk over to L & L's resort, the Cyana Beach Resort, and relaxed with them pool-side for awhile. They had heard there was a great beach at the north end of the island so we rented scooters and took off - we didn't quite make it to the beach but instead pulled over at an amazing 5 star resort to catch the sunset and get some dinner.

Amazing view from the infinity pool

Once the sun went down the mosquitos really came out to play and it started to rain but we thought that maybe it would stop so we watched a movie back at the L's resort.  The rain didn't stop so we decided to brave it and went about 10km/h on the deserted roads all the way home!  Back at the Zoe French resort we heard the loudest thunder and lightening I have EVER heard - unlike any storm in GP, Portland or even Costa Rica!

Tomorrow...we head to beach-town of Phuket!

Day 36 - Tasteful Full Moon Party on Koh Phagnan

After waking up at our rustic resort I took my first shower there (no pressure and no hot water) and scared Ty to death when I looked up and screamed at a huge gecko on the wall that was watching me take my shower.  He didn't move during my scream so I got over myself and left him there and finished as fast as I could, mosquitos lurking in the open air.

We each had a tasty Croque Monsieur for breakfast at noon and then tried to connect with our friends on Koh Samui, who were coming over to get a place to stay and then we would meet up and get ready for the FMP together.

We found some glow in the dark face/body paint ($1USD) and unfortunately had to get ready in the dark as our resort all of a sudden lost all power.  L & L had found a great but spendy place further up the island so we hopped on a tuk tuk with our drinks/paints/brushes and got to the lovely but mosquito ridden Cyana Beach Resort.

We had a filling dinner (macaroni and cheese for this tourista) with our new friends Lora, Leon, Michael and Clem and then back to the room for some pre-drinking and primping!

A blessing we were given to send off (in the mud) for Loy Krathong, a festival that takes place all over Thailand on Nov 28th, same day as our FMP.

We took a bit of a harrowing Tuk Tuk ride with the others from the resort to Hadrin Beach, where the FMP takes place and bought our 100 baht ($3USD) entrance.

FMP Finery

Glow in the dark glasses!

Full Moon makes a brief appearance

Thousands of tourists, undercover police and ladyboys

We did see some crazy party-ing behavior including people climbing a scaffolding that was on fire, then leaping off, people going into the ocean (strictly warned against), people passed out on the beach, a local selling gently-used flip-flops (likely stolen from the people who were passed out) but luckily didn't see any violence or serious injuries.  However our friends ended up paying for passage on a hospital boat back to Koh Samui at about 4am so there were definitely people there who had had too much fun.

I do now believe the rumours that the Asian red-bull energy drink is a lot more powerful than the USA brand as I was definitely ready to dance until the sun came up...which I would have done if the blinding rain hadn't forced us into a bar off the beach, where we people-watched until the sun started coming up.    

We made it back to the Zoe French no worse for wear and immediately went to bed!

Day 35 - Koh Phagnan

Excited but a little unnerved by the rainy weather we checked out of Deva Samui in the pouring rain and took a quick cab ride to the pier.  There were about 200 or so other tourists waiting at the pier - I guess they were also hoping to get over to Phagnan the day before the Full Moon Party to check things out.
The boat ride was actually really scary.  We had decided to stay on the deck of the boat as they were cramming it to the gills full of people and luggage but about five minutes into the journey were starting to wish we had waited a few hours - some people were so sea-sick they were gagging over the edge of the boat and at times the huge pile of luggage they had stacked in the middle of the deck tilted precariously.

But thankfully we got there and found a mini-bus to take us to the Zoe French resort. Resort was a bit of an exaggeration; we pulled up to a driveway of mud and deep ruts so deep that our driver took out our luggage and drove off.  Once we got through the mud and ruts there were small cabins around the property and the main building had a nice view of the beach and the ocean.  We checked in and were told in Franglish that they currently serve two things; a croque monsieur (cheese, ham toasty) and a cheeseburger.  We ordered one of each and dropped our bags off in our cabin, which was named Rain and inside was almost bare and had an actual hole in the floor.  They had provided us with a small rug so we quickly covered up the hole as mosquitos were pouring in (I am shuddering as I type because they were so bad).  The toilet and the shower were on either side of the two sleeping areas and we were given two pillows, two pink towels and one thin blanket.  The room did have AC and plug-ins but no WIFI which was definitely a pain while trying to coordinate with our friends back on Samui.

Happy to have made it to Koh Phagnan

View of our "resort" down the beach

And Rain it did!

Just waiting for a hungry customer

The weather improved a bit so we walked into the small village of Thongsala and had dinner at a cheap local place, and watched some Premier League soccer for awhile.  On our way back we heard what sounded like a fun karaoke bar but when we wandered in there was only a local guy screeching lyrics in broken English and a hostess beckoning us inside - we left.

We found some fun at the Western Saloon, where I was offered a home-made rootbeer float which was delicious and I lost twice to the pool master Tyler.

Day 33 and 34 - Koh Samui

During these days it was still raining...so we didn't do the Football/Soccer Mini-golf we were so eager to do...instead we waited until nightfall and ventured into Chaweng or down the road to a local place for drinks and pool with L & L and another couple we met through them

Day 32 - Travel to Koh Samui

Recovering from a bad bit of food poisoning we took the ferry back to Koh Samui and cabbed it to the lovely Deva Samui Resort, which has multiple pools, a wonderful beach with sun beds, kayaks, a fitness center and a great movie/book lend-out!  Unfortunately there was no sun for us to enjoy but we did meet up with our friends L & L!

Our lovely spot on Koh Samui

Walkway to the rooms from the lobby

One of the three pools with sunbeds...still raining!

We walked Chaweng Beach, the main strip of restaurants and bars and ate a great dinner, then convinced ourselves we should take in a Cabaret Show!  Free entrance but with a 1 drink minimum (drinks were a little pricey, approx $5 USD each) we took in the 9:30pm show!

Scary shark ready to be eaten

Barracuda

Fruits de Mer

Diana Ross Tribute

Maroon Five

Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera (?)

Lady Gaga

Mariah Carey?

Gangnam Style Finale

After our cabaret experience we grabbed a drink at the same place as last time - this time we even got chalk from the bartender and decorated the wall!