Back to nature on Ko Pha Ngan
Hat Yuan, Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand
Ko Pha Ngan is where all the backpackers end up these days now that nearby Samui has been colonised by package tourists. Jo and I are staying here for a week or so and for us it’s a holiday from rushing around trying to do everything. There’s nothing much to do here except sit on the beach and that’s exactly what we have been up to for six days. There are people who have been here a month or more, including our friend Martin who we met in India. It’s a relaxing beach paradise, there’s no email, the outside world can’t reach us and I am losing track of time.
A long tailed boat on the choppy waters of Hat YuanWe are staying at a place called Hat Yuan, just around the corner from the party mecca of Hat Rin where the younger crowd congregates. The only way to reach it is by a long tailed boat, a wooden boat onto which anything up to about twenty people can be squashed. On the back is a huge diesel engine, attached to a pole running into the water with a propeller on the end. The boatman stands at the back, steering by swivelling the pole and raising and lowering it to control the speed. It looks like hard work.
The beach is fantastic. We are in a bay surrounded by steeply rising palm covered hillside. The sand is soft and golden and the water is warm and clear. I have been running in and out of the sea all day, jumping over the waves in the shallows and trying to surf back to shore. The hillsides are lined with individual wooden bungalows, connected to the beach by wooden stairs and walkways. The beach is lined with cafes. There are plenty of people around but it’s not crowded. It’s relaxed and friendly and everything we could want.
The only drawback to this otherwise perfect world of laziness is proving to be natural. The longer I stay here, the more squeamish I am getting about the local wildlife. Everyday I seem to find a new creature to be in dread of.
It started in the bungalow. This is a wooden construction with a trellis built into the walls for ventilation. The floorboards have gaps between them and it’s not surprising that insects find their way in. We found a column of tiny ants investigating the bin, and of course there are cockroaches. These are especially horrible, with shiny dark carapaces that gleam like rubies.
That’s enough for me to be feeling a bit queasy, but then we found a whole plague of little gold jellyfish washed up on the beach. Their bodies were like the tops of beer bottles and each had hundreds of inch long blue tentacles as fine as thread. By all accounts their stings don’t hurt much but that many jellyfish doesn’t make you feel safe in the water. And then I saw another type when I was out swimming, this one tiny and clear.
Yesterday there was a strange occurrence out to sea. A huge brown stain appeared from outside the bay and spread on the surface of the water like an oil slick. At first we thought it was a chemical spill or a sewage leak, but we have been told it is coral sperm. There’s just too much biology going on here!
Otherwise, this quiet beach is still a perfect backpacker world. Although I know we need to press on soon or we’ll miss out on things we want to do, I am tempted to remain here in this beautiful bay where we don’t have to worry about anything going on anywhere else. I can see why people stay.
