3 more days! Time has flown by but these last few days have been so lovely! Having a local to help show me around and suggest the good spots has been a ton of fun and super helpful! Honestly making my Koh Phangan experience quite wonderful!

Day 27 started out with a nice morning walk to the beach! Even though I had gone to this beach already the night before, I wanted to see it during the day time! It’s also so close to my hostel that it just makes sense to go to (literally a 2 min walk).

On my way to the beach a nice Thai shop owner asked to chat and I had no where to be so I said I’d chat for a little! He was a very nice man and ended up giving me 2 mangosteen for completely free which was very sweet of him! He wanted me to get a tattoo in his shop but I told him I already got one but appreciated his kindness! (Keep note of this man because he comes back up in todays journey)

This beach is quite lovely and very quiet! I was one of the few people at it at this time and it’s always nice to be able to relax without worrying about the people around you! The tide was super far out so I didn’t end up doing any swimming at this beach.

On top of that, I was chatting with Aaron and he suggested I go check out the Phaeng Noi Waterfall which is actually very close to where he lives! So I ended my beach morning early and headed to the waterfall.

However, when I got there and was about to pay for my entrance ticket, the worker told me there was no water in the water fall… so I decided to not do the hike 😢 This is a double edged sword though because I’ve been so grateful there hasn’t been rain, but without rain there’s no waterfalls!

So I ended up stopping by Aaron’s bungalow and meeting his girlfriend!

We then all three made our way to lunch (breakfast for me) at one of their favorite spots to eat! It was a duck restaurant on the side of the road that I would have totally missed if I wasn’t with them!

We had a lovely time chatting and eating good food! It was also really fun watching Aaron and his girlfriend interact and getting all the inside scoop on the island! They also paid for my meal which was very sweet of them!

I decided that today was going to be an exploring day for me! So I ventured off on my bike to Haad Rin, the south of the island. Aaron suggested a route that lead me on a very windy and hilly road through the jungle of Koh Phangan! It was such a fun ride and I had to stop to take pictures of the views!

After a very fun 30 min bike ride I made it to Haad Rin! Now, Haad Rin is where the full moon party happens. But since we’re not at full moon time, this part of the island is very dead. I’m very happy Aaron suggested to stay where my hostel is in the north of the island because I think my time here would be totally different if I stayed in Haad Rin.

The beach honestly didn’t look that pleasant to relax on… so I ended up just wandering to both ends of the beach. You can tell that this area is mainly geared towards the full moon party since every building says full moon on it. And also there’s a graveyard of decorations waiting to be put up for the next full moon.

On top of that, there were a ton of signs saying to beware of jellyfish in the water… so I thought it was the right call to bot swim here and move on to my next location!

I’d love to check out Haad Rin again during a full moon party to give it a fair shot! I’m glad I came to check it out, but for now it’s probably my least favorite part of the island.

After chatting with Aaron he suggested that I take the drive to Thong Nai Pan which was about a 30 min drive up the east side of the island! It was such a fun and gorgeous drive with even more gorgeous views!

I saw some monkeys on the side of the road and even passed by a couple elephant sanctuaries and saw the elephants! Now… I can’t say I really was a fan of seeing these sanctuaries, I kind of doubt elephants are naturally on this island and I can’t say I support them being strictly a tourist attraction vs a true sanctuary for their safety and well-being.

Another crazy thing I saw was a monkey on the back of a pickup truck full of coconuts! At first I thought it was just enjoying the ride and trying to get a free snack… but I was later informed by Andrew that these monkeys are actually trained to pick the coconuts, crazy!

Eventually I made it to the beach and it was absolutely gorgeous! So I decided to kick back and relax and enjoy the ocean ❤️

Thong Nai Pan beach is in a very interesting spot relative to my hostel… there’s no road that cuts east to west through the middle of the island. So to get back to my hostel I had to go all around the south of the island and back up the west side of it.

This made for a very fun long ride back. I think I’ve said this and I’m sure you all can pick up on it, I’m such a fan of these moped rides! But before I got all the way back to my hostel I decided to stop for a cheap smoothie at a place nearby my hostel!

I then got back to my hostel and showered. And then chilled in my hostels lobby waiting for Aaron to arrive so we could explore a nearby night market that we were told was happening (spoiler alert, it wasn’t actually happening that night).

While I was sitting here, a nice German guy named Noah came over and was chatting with me! I invited him along to join Aaron and I to this “night market” and he said yes!

On our way to this “night market” we ran into the man that gave me the mangosteen this morning! He had connect four set up and wanted us to play with him so I decided to!

It started off as a fun game but it turned into us buying a drink and hanging for a while! I ended up losing to him but won against his wife! It was a very nice time and then he told me if we played again and I won he’d give us all free drinks, but if he won I’d have to buy him a drink. So with 100 Baht on the line… he beat me again and said “thanks for letting me win” 😂 it also turns out that he plays in connect four tournaments and wins, but I was happy to help him out and buy him a drink!

We then turned to playing a variation of a drinking game that I played back in college called stump! I didn’t realize this was a game outside of the US, but sure enough even Noah new it from Germany!

It was very goofy and honestly a lot of fun! It made up for the lack of night market near my hostel. I then happened to run into a friend from Phi Phi, her name is Maike (also from Germany)! It’s such a small world! She was with another person from our hostel, a French girl named Emma and we all decided to go get dinner together!

Luckily Aaron knew of another night market nearby and I finally got something I’ve been wanting to try all trip but have avoided since it’s usually on the pricier side of food options. But Aaron highly suggested this one, so I finally got a full grilled fish!

After a very nice dinner we went to a dessert place nearby. I was very full so I didn’t get anything, but it was nice to continue hanging with this new little crew!

After we were done eating we said goodbye to Aaron and made our way back to the hostel! Naming didn’t have a bike yet, so I decided to finally try to let someone ride on the back of my bike and we made it home safe and sound! It’s definitely good to get the practice in now since I’ll definitely have to do it at some point in the future!

We made plans for the 4 of us to go on a hike to a beach tomorrow morning. So we called it a night to get rested up for an earlier morning!

I wasn’t really expecting to make another crew before the end of my trip. But just like everything on this trip, anything can happen! I’m looking forward to this hike because it was already on my list of to dos! Now it will be even more fun since I’ll get to share the experience with new friends!

– Elie