Koh Party Island

Koh Phangnan- I'm pretty sure that anyone who raves about this island was completely inebriated the whole time they were there or stayed in the north on the pristine picture postcard beaches where no drinking takes place at all.

We arrived to the usual hordes of locals pulling you this way and that all trying to get you to stay at their hotel or to take there taxi, which can be a bit overwhelming when you've literally just stepped foot off the boat and are finally back on dry land after your latest bout of sea sickness.
After working out what we were going to (and chatting to an austria women whom met in Vang Vieng that I bumped into) we got a jumbo to Hat Rin the most popular place on the island known for its parties and young backpacker population. Everyone else in the jumbo was heading to a place named Coral Bungalows which seemed decent and affordable so we decided to go there too.

At first glance it seemed nice enough. Clean and lively but after a while the tackiness and cheap holiday resort feel began to shine through a little. I honestly felt that I had been transported back in time and was in the set of Dirty Dancing. The music didn't help that feeling either with classics such as 'the cactus is our friend', which to this day I cannot work out what cheesy teen movie I heard it on.

After wonderful peaceful Koh Tao, this island definitely felt like it was built for tourists and centred around drinking.

That evening Coral was hosting a pool party- what it was famous for across the island and so that evening we went along. There was a pool and there was a party, but although not as crazy as I'd imagined we had a pretty good night. We got chatting to a few spanish people who were woking in dubai and spent the night with them and unfortunately a weird Italian guy called Mimo.

Mimo had seemed innocent enough when he had first introduced himself to me and my friend but when he tried to make advances and was turned down by Andrea, he just became irritating and wouldn't drop the subject.
He proceeded whining "Why Andrea, why?!" when she finally just gave up explaining that she had a boyfriend and wasn't interested and started ignoring him instead. (That phase however became rather infamous!)

There's always one that has to spoil it! After a while we managed to loose him and we could relax that we were no longer plagued by this crazy Italian man!

The next day was largely uneventful as we just spent the day relaxing at the hotel and beach reading and chilling out.

Feeling ready to actually do something and a bit bored of the tackiness of Hat Rin we had booked a boat trip for the friday to get out and see a bit of the island and hopefully have our minds changed about this popular destination.

What that trip did was to open our eyes up to the fact that our hotel wasn't in the middle of nowhere but 10mins walk to the town and where the popular beach of Hat Rin was- right under our noses the whole time!

The day as a whole was a well spent day. We got to see the other more secluded beaches on the north of the island as well as the vast amount of fish that occupied the waters. And as it turns out a girl that I'd met back in BK was on the same boat trip!

When we arrived back at Hat Rin, six of us decided to meet back up and have dinner together- which was actually ignited by the only man on the boat, a lone 40-something man who in coincidentally was Italian and looked like Mimo! (If mimo had grown a bit of hair and put on a hat it really wasn't working very well!)

After dinner we moved to watch the local fire dancers do their stuff, getting the spectators involved by with fire blowing and games such as the balloon game, transforming in to a beach party that went on until the early hours.

The saturday was our final on Koh Phagnan before heading to Krabi province on the east coast on over night via ferry and bus.

As a traveller it serves you well not always to put total trust in the information people give you. Although they are probably misguided and not meaning to do you wrong its always best to get a second opinion on most things. For example, having decided we wanted to get the night ferry we asked one women about booking and she told us it does not run over the weekend- which would have put a spanner in the works! However it turns out it was running! We also asked a women at our hotel and she rang the boat company up and they were running as usual. Case proven!
For the rest of the day we went to Hat Rin Noi beach and chilled out at our hostel until the time came for us to be taken to the harbour for our boat to the mainland.

The boat itself wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. It actually had mattresses laid out on the upper deck of the boat all with pillows. The only worrying thing was the amount the boat rocked side to side which was rather unsettling until it slowly rocked me to sleep.

We arrived at the mainland at around half five in the morning and were taken to a cafe where we waited till seven for the minibus to take us to Krabi.

If you take Koh Phangnan for exactly what it is its amazing. Ok so the town itself is a little touristy and the beach parties are what you expect- full of westerners yes but also a lot of fun. As for full moon parties I can't comment but from what I've heard the general consensus is "I'm glad I did it, but I would never do it again!"