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 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.