Koh Phangan

In June of 2012, my brother moved to Thailand to do some of his own traveling and live somewhere exotic for a few months. Although he didn’t have much budget for accommodation, he told me he wanted to live in a house on an island with an internet connection. I wished him luck, but had no idea what he would find. During the year I saved up to go visit him during my summer holiday in December/January and in September I managed to persuade my friend Dirk to join. We opted for the cheapest flights we could find which meant we spent Christmas Eve on the airplane, with each of us having a row to ourselves! We stopped over in Kuala Lumpur for 2 days before flying over to Surat Thani, where we took a bus to the ferry which took 3 hours to get to Koh Phangan.

We arrived on Koh Phangan in Tong Sala, took a taxi truck to Haad Rin, the Full Moon Party beach, and then waited for a water taxi while admiring the long line of restaurants on this beach full of tourists and party-goers. This excited us to come back for the Full Moon Party the following night. We climbed on the next water taxi and asked to go to the Sanctuary on Haad Tien beach. Not too sure where my brother stayed, we made our mission to find him, sitting, waiting on a rock for us down the hill from his place. He lived in a glorified treehouse built off a boulder looking out on the bay. It was a long day of traveling so we spent the night chatting, finding out about the island and making plans for our next three weeks.

We stayed with my brother till the 16th of January, which gave us three weeks to really embrace the island and what it has to offer. We spent most of our time eating and drinking shakes at Beam Bungalows Restaurant, where Bau, the friendliest manager ever made us the best shakes ranging from Oreo, Lemon Mint, Banana Coffee and a whole lot of other combinations. Other than the beautiful beaches and amazing weather, one of Haad Tien's biggest attractions is The Sanctuary, a beach resort that offers yoga, meditation, detox, tantra festivals and some of the best food and accommodation on the island. This laid the platform for the type of people you meet, as everyone is in touch with a deeper spirit of some sort. I was really grateful to become part of an awesome family and look forward to going back one day. I hope you enjoyed these videos that Dirk and I made to reminisce on our time in paradise.

#KohPhangan #Thailand #HadTien #HadWaiNam #HadYuan