Koh Phan Gan - In Review

You may have noticed that the number of posts in the past 10 days has dropped off like snow from the roof in April. But then again, so did myself and Vinney - in to a huge vat of pure hedonism...

Let me set the scene for the unitiated: Hat Rin is the where most people stay on KPG, it has one beach to the east (Sunrise beach) and one to the west (Sunset beach, easy huh?). Between the two beaches is the rest of Hat Rin - 90% of which can be classified as follows:
Travel Agents
Internet shops
Bungalow complexes
First Aid stations

The cunning thing is that some of the shops do a mixture of the above. So you can surf the web as your ticket to Krabi is being prepared and while a Thai nurse is bandaging your big toe.

The amount of First Aid stations also really has to be commented upon, there are at least 10 and they are not short on business. If you ever saw Hat Rin at night you would know why too - Fire Juggling, jumping through fire hoops, walking on fire, dancing barefoot on the beach (with Bottles, rocks, cigarettes, dogs, killer starfish) and lots of boozed up men with too much testosterone etc. So every night at least somebody will drop fire on their toes, land on their head after jumping thru the hoop, stop whilst walking on the fire because they forget what they are doing, kick a rock/bottle/coconut/basketball or if all else fails, get in a fight. The nurses are so used to it they don't even ask what happened.

While passing on the fire & fighting activities I did end up with 3 foot injuries, two huge leg bruises, two pairs of lost shoes, a lost iPod and a head that only stopped buzzing 24 hours after leaving Hat Rin. Bloody Magic.

My highlights:

• My cousin Vinney - mad as a bottle of crisps


• Waking up in the empty bungalow next to mine (too drunk to find my own)


• Dancing with a sea eagle on my head


• Playing long range catch the coconut with a Spaniard @ 6am


• Finally finding a Scotsman to complete the fellowship of the Chang (Post full moon party beers with an Englishman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Northern Irishman and a Scotsman)


• Too many sunrises and early morning swims to count


• Staying sober enough to scuba dive


• Meeting that bloody Dutchman again (7th time lucky)


• Generally, just meeting a lot of cool people just wanting to have a brilliant time (Including the staff (Yao, Sol & Ong) at the Paradise Bungalows (their website says it all - Under construction since 1999))

I still have sand in places that it doesn't belong though.