After the “exciting” events of the last few days, I was quite pleased to take things slowly for the next few days. Met up with Tobi and Anna for some kayaking, which was fun (although would have been more so if the kayak had some sort of motor attached to it). Kept getting the giggles after meeting the most ludicrous Thai business man, and swallowed about 2 pints of sea water. Had an uneventful evening, thank goodness.

Early next morning, BACK to Ko Phangan for the 3rd time! Very bad planning on my part, but at least I felt confident when walking off the pier: I knew the routine, I knew where I was going – outta my way! I rented a bike and zipped over to the north of the island, to Ao Chaloklum, found a nice little bungalow on the beach and did some exploring, which was much easier than on Ko Tao as the roads are tarred. Tourism in Ko Phngan seems limited to partying, so going to the main wat and the waterfalls was quite serene (bearing in mind that the waterfall had no water…). At the end of the day I found a trendy little bar on the beach playing bizarre music (drum and bass Vanilla Ice, sung by a Thai?). Had a few mojitos and wobbled back to the bungalow to collapse.

The next 2 days I lazed about the island, finding 3m-long lizards whizzing across the road, buying a cheap lunch in tesco (never did I think I would be so pleased!), and cool night market in Thong Sala (squid bbq). Took a day trip to An Thong Marine National Park which was pretty, but somehow didn’t hit the spot for me. Oh, and had a proper bike accident. Legs look terrible: covered in scratches, mosquito bites and scrapes from run-ins with coral and rocks.

Monk at Wat Khao Tham