10 days on Koh Phangan
It feels that Phangan was ages ago especially since our perfect tans are almost gone. But let me catch up on our adventures.
We arrived to Phangan on 10/14 via a quick ferry ride from Samui. Since we didn't have a place booked, we took a local taxi to a Northern beach and checked out a few bungalows. We chose Fanta bungalows because they were in the end of a beautiful beach, were cheap, clean and had an amazing patio with free WiFi and food.
So we settled there along with our new friend, Johann (a great French guy who we met on the ride over).
Later on we found out that Fanta is a sort of haven for Russians with the highest concentration of them on New Years. And in general the Chaloklum village has a healthy Russian community some of which we got to meet on our very first day and whose company we enjoyed immensely.
Since I'm writing this post almost a month later, let me give you the highlights:
1. Originally we planned to spend 3-4 days on the island. And 9 days later we looked at the calendar to count how much time had passed. The island has some magical quality where the days flow smoothly, calmly and wonderfully. One day rolls into another. And it feels like you can be happy there forever. Maybe that's why there is a disproportionately high number of foreigners who have moved there or are staying there for an extended amount of time.
2. Speaking of foreigners, from them we learned a new word. 'Fa rang' - a foreigner of a European descent. That's how we are known in most of Asia.
3. The people: As I mentioned before, we met the local Russians. In the very first day we stumbled upon Zhaba Jazz Bar owned by Masha and Sasha. Two wonderfully hospitable people with whom we spent every evening. Shortly after we met Lesha, their classmate from Moscow and a regular at Zhaba. These people were invaluable in feeding us, and giving all the advice on transport, tours, where to get our laptop fixed, etc. And they introduced us to all the local Europeans. Masha and Lesha even came to Fanta on our last day there to say goodbye and to help carry our bags to the pick up spot. Thank you, guys! We miss you terribly.
4. Transportation: By day 2 we realized that taxi is too expensive and impractical and the only way to really get around the island is with a scooter. This is essentially a fully automatic glorified bicycle and the best $5 a day that we ever spent. It gave us the opportunity to explore the island at our own pace. We went to the waterfalls (that ended up having no water), to other beaches, to the big city of Thong Sala and everything in between. Here is a pic of Lesha leading Johann, Vadim and us on a ride to the other side of the island.
5. The food: We found a ton of great food on Phangan. For a taste of Russian, we ate at Zhaba. (On some days pelmeni, olev'e and blinchiki can not be substituted by anything else). Otherwise we tried a ton of places around the island and found that even plain rice tastes better on Phangan. And I continued to indulge in my mango addiction with a minimum of 2.5 mangos to pass the day.
Overall, a fantastic stay!
Special thanks to Masha, Sasha, Lesha and Johann :)
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| 2011.10.14 Koh Phangan |
