Made it to Koh Phangan.... and survived the intense partying! =)

It's been a few days since my last blog entry... It has been a long few days though! 

I woke up that morning in Bangkok around 4:30am and checked out of the D&D Inn and caught a cab to the airport for my flight to Ko Samui.  Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare and got checked in with Bangkok Airways and got my boarding pass.  Enjoyed a little breakfast bar and free internet in the Bangkok airways lounge before boarding the plane.  We had to take a bus down to the prop plane on the runway..  on the bus I met Mac from New York and we were both headed to the same spot.  After a 45 minute flight to Ko Samui (which appealled to me much more than a 14 hours train ride after such a long travel time to Bangkok!) we bought a ticket for a cab and boat over to Ko Phangan.

  It was a beautiful airport there in Ko Samui...  Landing on a small runway, surrounded by palm trees and lush green mountains, and the actual airport, including the luggage area, was all outdoors with beautiful flowers and folliage on every side.  Wish all airports were that pleasant!!  ;)

So after about a 30 minute boat ride over to Ko phangan Mac and I decided to catch a cab over to Had Rin and grab some breakfast (it was about 9am).  I told Matt I was going to  meet him at his bungalows around noon so I had a little time time to kill.  We jumped in the cab and started our way to Had Rin.... within the first 15 minutes of being on the island we witnessed an accident involving a little motorcycle.  One of the thai locals got hit, or fell over.

. and we saw him being put on a stretcher.  It ends up he died from the accident!  =(  The roads are dangerous, and most of the drivers are careless, so there ends up being a lot of accidents here.

After a little shock from the accident, we got out of our cab at Had Rin Nok (Sunrise beach), home of the Full Moon Party.  We decided to grab breakfast at a little restaurant in town.  Afterwards, while I was waiting to meet up with Matt, and Mac waiting to hear from his brother who was already out here, we decided to head down to the beach and lay out.  While there I realized that even though my bungalows were not far away, maybe 4-5km, that I wanted to be right on the main beach.  I check availability at one of the places and found a bungalow one spot up from the beach, and right on the swimming pool! =) 

So even after seeing the accident, I decided to rent a motorcycle.

  I know it is dangerous, but I drive a motorcycle back in the states and figure I have a little more experience than most of the people who get one for the first time.  I drove my little scooter over to the bungalows where Matt was staying and met up with him.  He had rented a jeep to explore the island so we both had transportation.  We ended up going to the town where the main pier is, Thong Sala, to grab some food and shop later on that afternoon.  There were some really cool shops and a food market where I ate a little of everything!  It was all SO good i couldn't resist!  (I have a crazy appetite)

We met up with Mac and his brother, and their friends, and all went to a Muay Thai Boxing match in Had Rin around 9:30 pm.

  There were 7 fights, and they were pretty intense.  We had ringside seats, so we were right in the action!!  After that we headed back to the beach and there was a big party on the beach... a little warm up for the next nights "Full Moon Party!"  It lasted all night I think, but I went to sleep around 4:00am.  What a day!  =)

(I will upload pictures soon..  Need to get somewhere with a decent internet connection speed!! )