Ko Phangan

On Rob's advice we hit the shores of Had Rin on Ko Phangan but jumped straight on a long tail boat and headed to Had Yuan. It is great! Had Yuan is a small beach with a few cheap bungalow operations (one deluxe resort smackbang in the middle but we didn't see a single person emerge or go into it) and it is surrounded by huge boulders, on which are built some more bungalows overlooking the sea, and a couple of bars and restaurants. It's all wood and bamboo which gives the place so much character! And the beach is lined with palm trees, on which are strung the occasional hammock :-)

Surprisingly there were more people on the beach of Had Yuan at about 3pm when we arrived than there were on Had Rin (the full moon party beach) but that was as busy as it got - it was very laid back all evening, and a lot of people didn't surface until the early afternoon. Big Blue bungalows were right on the beach and had lots to keep their guests entertained - pool table, table tennis, mini basketball court and nightly movies in the restaurant, where there were lots of cushions and come 7pm was full of people lounging around watching the movie while eating their dinner.

The bungalows were nice and cheap (almost 6 squids a night) so we stayed 3 nights enjoying the relaxation. There was a great restaurant up on the rocks called Bamboo hut which had a great view of the beach and out to sea so we spent a couple of late afternoons up there with a beer. Some of the bars sell 'special cocktails' although we haven't indulged... one big bummer is that I've had a 5 day migraine since being on ko phangan - not sure what it is, possibly the rocks they substituted for pillows at Big Blue! (although the beds were very comfy).

So we went to Had Rin on Thursday to arrange our travel up north, we were going to get the train to Bangkok but they were full until Sunday, so we decided to skip Bangkok and fly straight from Samui to Chiang Mai, since we have to go back to Bangkok to go to Laos anyway.

We spent 2 nights in some cute bungalows up on the hill above Had Rin, that had good views of the bays and the sunset. We spent half a day sorting out our flights which proved more difficult since HSBC decided to stop my credit card as well as my debit card (Grrrhhhhh!!) but managed to catch some last minute rays yesterday on Had Rin beach which is beautiful.

Today (Saturday) we arrived in Chiang Mai and have only been here a couple of hours but are just chilling for a bit and taking advantage of the free wireless internet before heading out to the Night Bazaar!! Can't wait! Photos will come over the next day or two.

Full photo album here...

Jess and Gav xox

xox