Ko Phangan: Hangover-Free Island Tour

After about five hours of sleep, we woke up sweating profusely in our sunny little bungalow but miraculously hangover free. We must have danced it all out last night or sweat it all out during sleep… Either way, considering we were feeling so good, we rented a motorbike and decided to drive around the island and see where the day took us.

We drove north through the center of the island and followed signs to a waterfall and viewpoint. Once again, the waterfalls were disappointing: bone dry, not even a trickle of water. However, the viewpoint was definitely worth the short hike. We had a 180 degree view of the west coast of Ko Phangan, and it was breath taking. There were palm trees and coconut farms as far as the eye could see, abruptly giving way to turquoise waters and farther out beautiful blue skies speckled with white clouds. We later found out that all of the Gulf of Thailand Islands (Ko Samui, Ko Phangan, and Ko Tao) were entirely coconut farms with only small villages for the farmers until fairly recently. This must have been before the Full Moon parties got out of control… But the viewpoint was gorgeous and the hike to it killed whatever hangover remnants we might have had but wouldn’t have admitted. We sat on the granite rocks for about 45 minutes in the shade, enjoying the breeze and life in general.

Our next stop was the fishing village on the north end of the island, Chaloklam. We walked on the sleepy white beaches and took in the longtail fishing boats anchored in the bay. This beach had a different kind of quiet than the hangover quiet of the southern beaches. We stopped for iced tea at a café and met the “bird whisperer” – a man crazy good at bird calls. The birds actually responded to him!

We continued our drive west along the beach road and came across another secluded beach lined with pines instead of palms with swings hanging from every other tree. The picturesque beach extended east to connect to Ko Ma, a small, steep island with a few scattered bamboo bungalows, via a narrow strip of sand. We were dying to swim at this beach, but the glassy waters of the bay were hotter than the air and were quite unpleasant. On the bright side, we found fossilized coral and brought home our favorite piece.

We headed south on the beach road in search of the Amsterdam Bar, recommended by our Dutch friend Anna, to meet Adam and Laura for sunset cocktails. After a steep drive up from the beach road, we came across a huge outdoor deck filled with pillows and low tables with a perfect, unblemished view of the sun setting behind the islands of Ang Thong Marine National Park. We watched the sun play peekaboo with the clouds and the sky turn from blue to pink to orange to black speckled with twinkling stars. It was one of the best sunsets we’ve seen, and we can’t think of a better place to have seen it from! While we watched the stars emerge from their nighttime, we couldn’t help but think about how different tonight had been than the previous night.

Our Canadian friends, Adam and Laura :)