Koh Phangan Part I
Hi everyone. Currently we are in Koh Samui (yeah, we weren’t planning on coming here until yesterday. And I am not ashamed to say we just ate at Burger King and IT WAS AWESOME.)
Anyway, I never told you about the Full Moon Party which was March 6. First of all, there is one every month (duh). It is known as an absolutely crazy, out of control party and is considered to be the biggest beach party in the world. I was a little concerned since I am NOT a big crazy party person, but it is one of those things you just gotta do once in your life, I guess.
So we went to Koh Phan-gan (I can’t pronounce it either) from a little town called Chumphon on the boat. Now, on the days before the Full Moon, the island is practically booked solid. We got there 2 days ahead and went towards the beach and EVERYTHING was full. There were backpackers everywhere.
So we hopped back onto a sawngtaew (don’t even care about spelling that right) which is, as you remember, like a pickup truck with two rows of seats on the sides and a metal top with some bars to hang on to. The drivers pack in as MANY people as they can, oftentimes to the passengers vocal dismay…
The main road on the island to the main beach (Hat Rin) has got to be the most narrow, rocky, HILLY piece of concrete in the world. Two cars can’t even hardly pass each other. So it is astop and go, STEEP up and down, holding onto the inside of the cab.
We tried one more bungalow and it was extremely expensive, but had an astonishing view and we were tired of looking, so we got it. We complained a lot that we were spendning $50 a night there, but for a room like that back home would have literally cost hundreds of dollars. There was a beautiful pool with a view of the sea/ocean/whatever. I can’t wait to put pictures up.
So the only problem then was that we were pretty isolated, since we were up the hill in our beautiful bungalow, and the bus-thingy was sort of expensive and super uncomfortable. We spent a lot of time lounging in the nice pool.
This is a view of the sun setting by the pool. Pretty nice picture, eh? If I do say so myself.
The room was nice although there was no TV, which you would expect for an expensive place. You are thinking, why in the hell do you care about TV? Well, like I said, we were isolated with NO where to walk to and basically just waiting for the party in two nights.
Then another problem became evident. The room was infested by tiny ants. I forgot exactly how I found out, but I think I left a food wrapper or an empty can of coke or something out and they were ALL over it. I don’t mean, a few ants. I mean, they were ABSOLUTELY INSANE and EVERYWHERE. For example, I pulled out my underwear bag, and they were crawling ALL over a pair of BRAND NEW underwear I’ve never even worn.
WHY??????????
Once I grabbed my purse and noticed they were all over my purse. I was so annoyed I shook the entire thing out and out fell a tiny crumb of chocolate or something that they had somehow found.
On our towel, they were bundled together on some microscopic spec of something, maybe a tiny piece of food or who knows??
They were EVERYWHERE. They covered my backpack. And they confusing part was that they were on stuff that MADE NO SENSE!! We started putting ALL food garbage outside but it didn’t matter.
Have I mentioned that I had DEET, which is a very powerful and unhealty bug spray. It smells and is sticky but it totally repels bugs. Well, I discovered that if you spray in on ants, they die INSTANTLY.
Score!
So I was DEETing those ants all over the place. There was scads of them on a crumb on the floor, so I got them and they were dead. I found the hole in the wall where they lived and BAM, dead. They were no the tabletop, **pssshhttt**!! (Sound of spraying). Then I had to wipe it off quickly because it was eating through the varnish, heh heh.
So anyway, it became a constant battle between me and the ants, me crouching in corners, spraying DEET, Jim off doing whatever and not caring about the ants at all. Seriously, though, they were WAY worse than was imaginable.
Ok, I didn’t get to the Full Moon Party yet. I will use the net later and put up some pics and tell you ’bout it and also Ko Tao.
Tags: Thailand
Kelly
gawd, there is nothing worse than having a total ant problem,
Today, it was 99 degrees at my house. NINETY NINE DEGREES! I thought I was going to fry in my jeans.
What I would do to be on a life adventure like you right now… post pictures soon so that I can live vicariously thru you!
I can totally visualize your assault on those poor defenseless creatures and your fervor to annihilate them.
Jenny, 99 degrees in your house?! I would kill myself. Lord knows how much we would save if we stayed in fan rooms instead of me insisting on A/C everywhere. I make no excuses.
Hi Mom!!
I bet you could not believe that I did not want to say hello to you last night when you called.
I have had a terrible cold/sorethroat since Sunday, and I had gone to bed early. When Mom walked in with the phone, I was in the middle of a multiple spasm attack….. actually, shivering from head to toe, coughing, sneezing – all at the same time – laying in bed with a heating pad even. I felt bad about a minute or two later, but of course, it was too late to talk. Gaaaaaa….
I tried to burn off the cold like I used to in the old days…. by seating if off with sports. Went out and played golf and it about killed me. I could only walk about 50 yds and I had to stop and catch my breath. Somehow I managed, came home and took a hot bath. Although I almost died, I think I turned the corner today and my chest congestion is somewhat better. I may live.
Thanks for calling and hope all keeps going well with you guys.
Love, Dad
HI Dad, its ok that you didn’t want to talk, I only had a second anyway.
Have you heard of these things called “doctors”??? Anyway, glad you are feeling better!!