Southern Thailand: Lazing on Koh Phangann

We spent the final week of our Thailand/SE Asia leg of this journey on the island of Koh Phangan, close to Koh Samui, in the Southern Gulf of Thailand. This proved to be an excellent decision, and we based ourselves at the beachside village of Haad Yao, a beautiful little cove with a soft, white sand beach, surounded by jungled hillside. There we found a groovy, hip vibe, and a fun and funky social scene. We scored a wonderful beachfront bungalow that was not overly modern, but more "Thai-style," and featured a gorgeous sea view from the large, private balcony. We proceeded to spend lots of time on our deck, reading, playing games, drinking cocktails, and watching the world go by and the sun set into the sea.

Most of our days were spent doing very little other than sunning and reading on the comfy lounge chairs on the sand, just steps from our bungalow's front door. There were occasional beach walks, raft floating, and snorkeling just offshore, and of course a few magical, seaside beach massages for ridiculously reasonable rates! In the evening, the sunsets were fantastic, and the best restaurant on the beach (The Eagle Bar) was a short stroll. The cook at the Eagle's restaurant was famous for his "off-menu" dishes and his Thai-style curry was simply amazing. The other nearby eateries all had casual, beach decor - with plastic chairs, paper tissue for napkins, colorful, twinkling lights - and menus with some rather comical English translations.

Almost immediately after checking in to our Sunny Bay Bungalow, we were surprised and delighted to recognize a friend from home, Ruby, who was sitting at the hotel beachbar, and was also staying at these same bungalow's. We spent many "happy-go-lucky" moments together in our little piece of paradise, lounging, drinking cold beers, and enjoying the high-life. We made heaps of other friends in the area - Kim from NZ; Simon, Julian, and Suzanne from the UK; Mona and Ahne from Denmark; Amy, Amy and Steve from the USA; and fun groups from Germany and Cyprus. This spot was very conducive to meeting like-minded fellow travelers.

One fine day, Ruby joined us on a day of island exploration via jeep, to see some other beaches and snorkel in the warm, sparkling, ocean. In the later afternoon we had a lovely lunch at a picturesque fishing village, then visited a colorful Chinese temple with ornate Buddha images and fantastic temple architecture. That evening the 3 of us went out to a fancy dinner at a fantastic spot called Fusion, where an actual chef prepared beautiful, Asian-fusion plates for us - yum yum!

A high note of the stay was watching the Obama inauguration (in real time), late that night at a beach party hosted by some fellow Americans (one from SF). We celebrated and were joyous with hope for our new president and how the world will now view us. There were many other "high" notes as well, and Stevo now has a new nickname - "Stoney" - which he happily lived up to.

Deb's maternal grandmother passed away while we were here (a short time ago), and we honored her life and spirit by sending a handmade, "flower boat" offering out to sea with a special blessing.

Thailand has been very, very good to us this time around, and we hope to come back again really soon. Today we'll leave SE Asia behind and move into the next leg of our journey - Western Australia here we come!