Ahh! 4 more days 😢 where’d all the time go! Thailand has been so wonderful and the trip isn’t over yet, so I gotta enjoy the last few days!

Day 26 started of nice and early! I woke up at 8am and packed up my things to check out of my hostel. I also needed to return my bike and I got my whole deposit back (thank goodness)!

Restaurants don’t open this early in Thailand, so I hoped over to 7-11 for a nice breakfast of 2 bananas and a pineapple cupcake 🤪

I sat around in the lobby for about 45 min waiting for my taxi from the hostel to the pier! As I was waiting I was chatting with an older guy, Marc, from Belfast, Ireland! It was a very lovely conversation and at the end of it he offered a free place to stay in Belfast if I ever need it! So I’ll definitely be taking him up on that on the future! It’s amazing how easy it is to connect with people and how friendly and kind people are as well! The traveler culture is a really good one!

Eventually my taxi came and a few other people from the hostel got on too! It was a fun ride in an open backed truck.

We got to the dock and had to wander a bit to find where my check in was. But I ended up finding it and got all situated for my 2 hour ride to Koh Phangan!

I really am sad that I’m leaving Koh Tao. This island was easily my favorite place in the south and very comparable to my favorite place in the north, Pai! I cannot wait to come back in the future and spend more time here!

I got a nice seat on the ferry and used the time to update my blog, figure out where I was staying in Koh Phangan, and also start slowly planning my way off the island in the next few days to make it to Bangkok in time for my flight home!

It took the entire boat ride, but I finalized all my plans for hostels, flights, and transportation back to and in Bangkok! It’s crazy to think my trip is coming to an end and I’m fully planned out till I leave!

After a 2 hour journey our boat finally arrived to Koh Phangan!

I of course was instantly met with amazing views and also people trying to sell me taxis and motor bikes. Lucky for them I was in the market for a motor bike to rent and after haggling with one of them to get the few down and price right, I hopped on the back of their scooter and rode to what I believe was their home to rent the bike 😅

I then went on a long ride to find gasoline since my bike was almost out. Eventually I found a station and then started on the 20ish min drive to my hostel! After speaking with an acquaintance that lives on the island, I decided to go to a hostel near Lost Paradise Beach. This is actually the opposite side of the island to where the full moon party usually is. But I’ll make my way down there for a day trip at some point!

After a lovely moped ride, I arrived at my hostel!

I then got checked in and luckily my room was ready even though it wasn’t check in time yet! I got situated and ended up chilling in my room for a bit! I chatted with my hostel roommates for a bit and after they left, I hopped on a FaceTime with Lola for a bit to catch up and hear more about her time in Malaysia! It sounds like she’s having a great time and meeting some great people!

I also finally dove into the bag of popcorn that I bought a few days ago in Surat Thani! It was pretty solid and the ants were very excited too 🙃 so it’ll be a fun night of shooing them away haha!

After getting off the FaceTime with Lola I made my way to a nearby food stand that had very cheap meals! I ended up getting garlic squid with rice and it was very delicious!

I then made my way to meet a new friend, Aaron! Funnily enough, Aaron’s mother and I used to work together and when I posted on LinkedIn about going to Thailand, she reached out, told me her son lived in Koh Phangan, and gave me his number! So we’ve been texting this entire trip and it was finally time to meet in person!

We ended up meeting at a bar called Soho which had the England vs Spain World Cup finals on! We had a few beers and got to know each other more. He’s such a nice and fun guy to hang with and we had a lovely chat while watching the game. We left a bit before the end of the game and made our way to Aaron’s favorite spot to watch the sunset!

Andrew actually needed to run an errand so I ended ended up watching the sunset by myself while I waited for him to get back!

I totally get why this is his favorite spot! It was such a gorgeous sunset! Eventually he came back and we split a large Leo beer and continued our chat. We honestly chatted about everything from life to the political climate of Israel, we covered it all 😂 Also something really fun, I hadn’t seen stars my entire trip since it was so cloudy and I FINALLY saw the stars tonight! Not sure what constatations our our in Thailand but it’s cool to see ones I’ve never seen before and also finally see a night sky!

Andrew told me about a night market happening on the north of the island so we decided to go check it out! The Chaloklum night market happens every Sunday, so it was nice that I came in in time to see it!

It was a beautiful ride to the market and since I was following Aaron I got a nice video and screen grabs from my ride!

I honestly love riding these mopeds so much! Especially on the long winding and hilly roads with no one else on them! It’s a total blast!

We arrived at the night market and it was bustling with tourists and locals! This market was more on the food side but we wandered around and looked at all the stands and then dove into a nice feast!

It was such a lovely afternoon and evening and I’m so glad I finally got the chance to hang with Aaron! He’s been living on the island for quite some time now so he gave me suggestions on what to do and where to eat! We are going to meet up again tomorrow for lunch and he’s going to show me one of his favorite restaurants!

We then parted ways and I went on a lovely ride back to my hostel! Literally no one was on the streets so I had such a fun time on my drive home! I didn’t really know what to do with the rest of my night since my hostel is kind of away from everything. So I decided to go sit on the beach that’s 2 min away and enjoy the sounds of the ocean!

I’m honestly totally fine ending the trip on a slower note with less partying! This island is insanely beautiful and I look forward to exploring it more over the next few days before I leave!

– Elie