My first trip in Thailand on an actual bus, and Wes' first trip in Thailand period, we went east coast island-hopping for a week over New Years. Much more spacious and comfortable than the minivans I've frequently been taking, we made it to Ko Samui in around six hours. With only 1.5 hours of that spent on the ferry, we pulled into the bay smelling the fresh island air. Hanging on to the very back of a taxi-truck, we made it to Chewang Beach, the most popular location on Samui. After roaming around the town for a little while, we met up with my brother's buddy from back home and his girlfriend who recently got a job as a yoga instructor on the island for the next few months. We lapped up a much needed dinner and headed back to their funky bungalow just off the main strip. Enjoying freshly cracked coconuts with rum and some chill tunes, the evening was just what we needed after an early and long day of traveling. The next day was spent on the gorgeous Chewang Beach, in and out of the Gulf of Thailand.
In the evening we took a ferry over to Ko Phangan to experience the full moon party, even though there wasn't an actual one that night. The island hosts a huge party every month on the full moon, but since New Years is a special occasion they make a special exception. We jumped off the boat into a crowd of fourty to fifty thousand partiers...
It was absolutely insane, mind-blowing, and completely unexpected. Luckily we eventually found my friends and had an awesome night, partying on the beach with epic fireworks going off for a solid hour after midnight.
After spending the night on one of the only empty couches on the island in the lobby of a hostel, we staggered back to the beach to find hundreds of partiers still at it. Catching the ferry back to Ko Samui that afternoon, we headed over to Lamai Beach. Not as big and crowded as Chewang, we relaxed and took it easy for a few days to get our heads back on straight. With really rough waters surrounding the chain of islands as well as minor flooding back in Hat Yai, ferries/busses weren't running to get me back home for the last three days of the week of teaching. Considering that Wes and I most likely won't get back to that part of the world, we hopped on a ferry over to Ko Tao to make the most of our vacation. As it was a last minute decision, we had to look for accommodation right away and found a great bungalow right on Sairee Beach. After spending the first evening exploring the walking streets, we lazed on the beautiful beach and swam in the aquamarine sea for the majority of the next day.
We'd spotted an all-you-can-eat pizza place in town, which was without question a must do! After gorging until it hurt on a wide variety of thin-crust pies that evening, our stomachs wouldn't allow us to stay awake so we hit the hay very early. Still full the next day, all we could do was dawdle down the coastline to another scenic spot, parking it for the afternoon. It's so nice to just simply be beach bums for a few days every once in a while. Scoping out the most happening bar on the island, we were entertained by drunkards attempting giant jenga and of course, fire poi. The buckets of sang-som were flowing, 2 for the price of 1, so our vows to never drink them again were broken haha. However, the next day was much more productive than expected, renting a motorbike to tour Ko Tao. We struggled to make it up to the viewpoint, but it was definitely worth it overlooking Taatoh Bay.
Our next destination was Tanote Bay, a secluded beach down the other side of a cliff. We wouldn't dare take the motorbike down there, so a steep trek brought us into the retreat. Swimming out to the limestone formation in the center of the bay, we cooled off multiple times from under the sweltering sun. Hiking back up to the cliff-side restaurant, a delicious lunch was had over a breath-taking view. Being our last day in paradise, we dreaded taking the night boat back to the mainland. But it wasn't as bad as expected, arriving in Surattani before we knew it. After we boarded our connecting minibus at 6:30am back to Hat Yai, we reminisced about our past week in paradise. I hope that all of your New Years' were as memorable as mine!
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