10: Caught in the Koh Pha Ngan Triangle
5 May 2002
A short boat ride up-river took Ben and me to what must be the smelliest town I’ve ever put foot in. After a few hours hanging off the side of a packed speedboat, we found ourselves offloaded onto a stilted platform and from there transferred by smaller boats into the stink that is Siem Reap.
Back in Bangkok, it took a while to adjust to the hustle and bustle, the shops, the paved roads and all the Westerners we had become so used to not seeing around.
I had all good intentions of heading off on a cheap flight to Myanmar (Burma), but after a lot of research around the shop I found that a flight and visa could not be found for less than 200 pounds sterling, a little out of my price range. So instead, and with little persuasion, I headed down to the islands with Ben and Chris (a Canadian we met at the Cambodian border). Who knew, but Chris turned out to be good for a few laughs. Have you ever noticed that when Canadians say things like “out and about”, it sounds more like “oot and aboot”? Besides that – Chris provided us with more than a few comical moments in the weeks to come on the party island of Koh Pha Ngan.
Now you’re probably thinking – hasn’t Meg been there before? Well yes, I have, but I thought as the first party was so good I’ll go again and this time stay on the island itself. After a long bus and ferry ride we found ourselves a place a little more off the beaten track, but still close enough to the main party beach of Haad Rin Nok to be able to crawl home in the early hours of the morning. As it turns out, for a few days before and even a few days afterwards I got to see both sunrise and sunset on every day but one. Sunset on the west beach of Haad Rin, where we were, was spectacular, although it has to be said that there were a few days of pelting rain where it looked as if the island were about to wash away. But when you’re in no rush and going nowhere fast, watching the sky fall down from the hammock on the verandah of your bungalow is not so bad!
I whiled away my days on nice beaches, reading or sleeping and/or recovering from the night before. During the days, it was mostly too hot to be lying in the bungalow, and the nasty habit of power failures rendering the fan useless turned your hotbox into a pottery kiln.
There were a lot of young and fun people about, and before long we had gathered a crowd of Irish, Canadians, English, Americans and me, the token South African. As Hilary, the sassy Irish lass, was into fire dancing we did a lot of spectating and as a parting gift she gave me some practice chains. That means I’ve got to start hurling tennis balls on strings through the air in different directions in compromising positions and mostly at myself (so far) – hopefully I can get a picture of this and send it in at some point.
After all my good intentions of diving the last time on the islands and finding the visibility over full moon time to be horrific, I gave up on the idea and managed to find time and lots of it for the all-important loll before I head off to Australia and have to find a job to fund the above-mentioned activities. Parties leading up to the full moon party on the 26th April, were as good as or in some ways even better than the full moon party. But it has to be said that this was another good full moon party – not that I can vouch for seeing a full moon. It rained for most of the day, and into the night there was heavy cloud cover. Some people claim to have seen the moon but I missed it. I partied until about 5am but fell asleep next to some mates and stumbled home at sunrise, to my hammock which was calling me.
After the party, as all the sensible people made their way off the island, we ended up straggling way behind. I did manage an unplanned trip over to Koh Samui for one night, following some confusion with a passport. It was good to find a secluded beach and bungalow overlooking the sea – just a short hop to a quick dip.
A New Chapter
So yesterday morning (all choked up) I waved goodbye to sun, sea, sand and Ben the Brummie football thug. Ben has been really good to travel with, and I shall truly miss the insults. I now walk the streets of Bangkok alone (actually I’m just looking for sympathy because I have met a lovely English girl to dine and drink with), all rundown and fighting the flu – in my own world – mainly because my ears are so blocked that I cannot hear a thing. Tomorrow I wave goodbye to Indochina – all very sad but on to a new chapter – Australia.
I arrive in Sydney on 7 May 2002. I catch a train to a friend of mine who I am dying to see, whilst the other friend I was meant to be staying with lies in the hospital in labour – giving birth to what I am convinced to be twins. My timing is impeccable!
