Post 9: Full-Moon Party, Koh Phangan

A couple of decades ago, some tourists held a party at the beautiful beach of Haadrin on a night of full-moon. The tradition continued since then.

The journey to Island Phangan is a long one. We arrived in Chumphon at around 7 in the morning, hopped on an over-booked bus to the port, and from there, a 3-hour ferry to Koh Phangan - the home of the Full-Moon party. A minimum of 3-night stay is usually required from the hostels, especially the ones dotted along Haadrin beach - where the party takes place - and you might have to over-pay due to supply and demand.

The nightly waterfall/jungle/beach parties kept most of us up till sunrise. And during the hot and humid mornings, we retreat to our hostels while the beach undergoes a clean-up. Afternoons are ideal for beach activities or road trips around the island. Once the sun sets, you do it all over again...

Make some friends, and go grab a beer.
Oh the wild wild south, stories of which I will not share here.

The Three Musketeers and D'Artagnon Left-to-Right: Pete (me), Dan, Paul, Flo

Post 8: The Paradox of Giving Up

I thought when I open my eyes, I'd be in Chumphon. But the coldness of the train cabin and the frequent stops woke me up consistently throughout the night. Fortunately, the second-class seats were much more comfortable than the wooden seats we had earlier in the day. The over-night train was surprisingly full; walking to the train washroom, I did not find a single empty seat!

Now that's a pattern I've seen repeated in Thailand and other developing nations, a significant portion of the local population relies on public transportation to get from one place to another. To meet the high demand, the transportation authority increased the frequency of service - usually there is only a couple of hours between long-distance transportation services. And when this is not sufficient, we end up with overloaded trucks and crammed buses - they make Montreal metro during peak hours look very spacious.

But that's just it right? The solution would've been simple: increase the fare prices. Yet people chose to give up comfort and personal space so that more people could share the ride. Creating more from less? That's beautiful.

#HaveFaithInHumanity

Update: I'm Being Lazyyy and I Apologize

I must admit that I’ve been lazy with the blogging. I have some notes written on paper, but they remain unfinished bits and pieces.

The last week I’ve spent most of the time at Koh Phangan, the lovely island home to the original Full Moon party. The party itself was epic, on par with the days leading up to it. The people I met? Even better. Day times were occupied with my #MotorcycleDiary and evenings were...well, spent with my new friends and good laughs.

I’ve now reached Phuket, just spent a day on the sea fishing – my new summer hobby. The tuna I caught was quite nice, weighs just over 1kg. Tomorrow I’ll be off canoeing in and around James Bond Island and exploring a few caves. In the evening I’ll catch an over-night bus to Hat-Yai, and from there, a morning train into Malaysia and be one step closer to reaching Mount Kinabalu.

I apologize if I’ve disappointed you with this terribly quick post.

I’ll have my classic thematic writings coming up on during the longgggg hours on the ship/bus/train/truck en route to Singapore.

P.S. Follow me on Twitter for picture updates @Pieconomics

Post 7: South-bound and Pride

The rain delay in Ayutthaya forced us to change our plans a little. Instead of being back in Bangkok in the mid afternoon, we arrived when the sun was barely over the horizon. We took a sunset "cruise" to get to Khao San Road. The sky slowly faded black, and on came the urban lights of Bangkok that casted the shadows of the city's modernity. This was the peak traffic hour for local Thais, so the ferry was very crowded. Nevertheless the cool breeze over the river made the tight space unnoticeable.  river b with a day's stress and fatigue.

Khao San Road is what I refer to as the Backpackers' HQ. On this busy pedestrian street, you'll find many backpackers from everywhere in the world. Along the side of the road are restaurants, bars, and shops. And in the middle of the road, there are small street-food vendors. I've particular good and bad experiences with spicy mangoes and coconut-mango-rice puddings - I'll let you decide which is which.

The shops on Khao San Road are far from ordinary, here you'll find all sorts of things being bought or sold, including identities. I've seen driver licenses from a few dozen countries, FBI badges, journalist passes, McGill student ID and even university diplomas. Interestingly, the dealers do not sell any Chinese-issued identifications. I wonder why...

Without the "harassment" from tailors trying to sell you a set of suit, or a masseuse ready to please you in every way imaginable, you can walk Khao San Rd. in under 7 minutes from end to end. At both ends of the street are - you guessed it - tuk-tuks. Of course, getting picked up here by a tuk-tuk driver likely means that you've just overpaid twice the amount to get to your destination.

To save a night's accommodation cost, we decided to take whichever train that's available to head south, as this will give us an advantage over the masses of travelers converging at the Full-Moon party. But with a day's accumulation of rain and sweat, mixed with the night's humidity, I was not looking forward to the long train ride. Weighing all options, I got undressed and got under a "shower" at an extremely unclean public bathroom. I slipped on a set of clean white Tees and pulled up a pair of blue jeans. I felt I was ready to take on the world.

That moment, I realized I was not only surviving; I was living.

The train left at exactly 10:45. I reflected on the images of Ayutthaya and scribbled down some thoughts for this blog. But it wasn't long before fell asleep to the rhythmic chucka-chuckas of the train wheel.