11th – 21st October 2014

On arrival in Koh Samui I wandered to the beach which was only about 50 metres from where I stayed.   The beautiful clear waters gently lapped at the shore as the sun was nearly setting.  The island was fairly quiet due to it being rainy season, but it had been rainy season for most of my travels throughout South East Asia, and although you get a big downpour every other day or so, the only time it has really been annoying was the washout at Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam!

I spent the first evening at a market,  where food stalls and cocktails were in full flow.  I wandered around drinking Mojitos and Mai Tai’s whilst picking up lots of freshly cooked food, chicken skewers, little pots of corn, green curry in pots or deep fried potatoes.  I love sampling all the different street foods, it’s like a walk around outdoors buffet!

On my second day an Austrian girl arrived in my hostel and introduced herself, Martina.  We went out that evening and sat at a table at a pink camper van that had been converted into a bar!  More cocktails!  It was half price happy hour and too good to miss!

We had both decided to leave on the Wednesday, and both headed to Koh Phangan,  the party island home to the infamous monthly full moon party.  We stayed at a lovely beachside hostel, where hammocks hung from trees on the sandy beach. 

Dogs on the beach by the hostel

I think we made some friends as we woke up to these outside our room every day!

The day we arrived was the Half Moon Party, this one taking place in the jungle, whereas the full moon party takes place on Haad Rin beach.  We decided we’d go to this and so come 10pm it was necessary for us to adorn ourselves in neon glow paints in various designs! 

We sat at the beachside bar drinking cocktails until about 11.30pm when we decided to get going.  We got a lift with the owner for a couple of hundred baht each (about £4), and headed to the jungle.   When we arrived we saw a lot of people heading away from the party which we thought was strange, and then we found out that the Thai military police had just turned up and closed the party down.  For what reason we were unsure, but when the Thai army are telling you to go – you go!  Thousands of party goers were now left with nowhere to go, but not for long……lots of red songthaews (a red pickup truck that buses people around) cashed in and started taking people elsewhere, we grouped up with a bunch of girls and got in our own songthaew, asking the driver to take us to where the party would go!  Haad Rin beach it was then, and as we descended on the beach as thousands of others did the same, we were in for a great night of partying!  We started off the night with one of Thailand’s famous ‘buckets’.  Literally a bucket of super strong alcohol, mixed with a powerful Thai version of red bull (the ‘wings’ given by something more illegal than caffeine I have heard!  Each bucket has 3 or 4 straws in, presumably to share, but none of us were silly enough to do that!

Ok so one bucket gets you going, you’re in the party spirit, having a laugh and a dance, and then you have another one……

After that you’re not sure if you had any more, or exactly what happened from thereon in for that matter!
I know lots of good fun was had with some pretty cool moves being thrown about on the dance floor (aka the beach!) and we probably rolled back in to our dorm about 7am, ready to lay dying for the next 12 hours or so!

Our German friends Anna and Christoph

Every night there were some awesome fire shows, sometimes done by boys as young as ten!

Our trip to Bottle Beach

Pics from around the island

Beautiful  tall palms, and cows!

Gorgeous bays

Local petrol stations!

Good job I wasn’t drunk and wanting one for the road…..might have got a nasty surprise!

Health and safety at it’s finest!

Probably the cutest puppy I’ve ever cuddled!

We also visited some local gardens where there was a waterfall which I was determined to climb to the top of!  It was raining, but hot and sweaty too, and the rocks were pretty slippy and steep underfoot.  They had well placed ropes to hang on to or I don’t think I’d have made it, or may have taken an unwanted ride down the falls themselves!

You can never have too many boobs!

A pretty steep and slippery route

Made it to the top!

A rather ropey looking bridge

I guess we ought to be thankful we had a new one to walk across!

Night out to dinner on the bikes!

The Hin Ta and Hin Yai rocks on Koh Samui

My kind of bar!

A local festival eatery where the veggies are on the tables and you just dig in!

The sandbank between Koh Phangan and Koh Ma, a tiny island

Martina and I spent a great week together, partying a few times, sharing hideous hangovers, hiring mopeds and scooting about the island, snorkeling and generally havig a good time.  She was great company and I hope to visit her back in Vienna where she lives one day.