Koh Pha Ngan

We got a catamaran (450 baht each) at the recommendation of the travel agent from the hotel. She said that this boat is mainly for tourists and there is a limit on how many people can board as opposed to the local boats where they put as many people as possible on. 

It’s only half an hour on the boats between the two islands. Once you get off the boat in Pha Ngan there are plenty of options for transportation from motorbike taxis to songthaews. Our hostel was about ten minutes from the port and we got in a songthaew going to Baan Tai. It was 100baht per person and that seemed about the rate for songthaews wherever we were going around Baan Thai. 

The hostel, Magic Wave, is off the main road and right down a road that is meant to be a private road for a neighboring beach resort. Some songthaews we got while there would drive down the road to our hostel and others dropped us off at the top-it’s only a minute walk and there are lights on it at night. The hostel is really good for location only—five minute walk to the beach, a minute from the main road with bars & restaurants and 15 minutes from Haadrin Beach where the full moon party is. The hostel itself needs a lot of work and the owners told us that they’re only opening during the full moon parties in the low season. 

The closest beach was very quiet and lined with resorts and hostels that had bars or restaurants on the beach that we could go into. 

There was a rental place for paddle boarding (250 baht for an hour) and they also had kite boarding and wind surfing lessons and rentals. 

We got a taxi to Chaloklum beach on the north side of the island. The beach was beautiful of course and not too busy with tourists. There is a small town with a few restaurants to pick from and little shops. 

When we got off the ferry on the first day we were given leaflets for different parties around and decided to check out Oxo beach. It was advertised as a free party on the beach with a free bbq. It wasn’t really either of those things. You have to walk down a really steep hill to get to it to start with-not the kind of climb you would want to do drunk. The bbq was on a tiny grill with some chicken skewers that wasn’t enough for even the five of us to eat. The drinks weren’t too expensive and there was swings and hammocks to sit on on the sand. There was a handful of other people there so really not the kind of party we were expecting. We had to climb back up to the road and wait for a truck to pass us to get a lift back to Baan Tai.