Day 125! After a very fun and long evening at the Chiang Mai Sunday night market, it was time to say goodbye to the north! I’ve spent over a month between Bangkok and Pai. Meeting wonderful people and hanging out with some for longer periods. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time up here… but it’s time for the beach!

The clock struck 5am and off went the alarm. I wasn’t the most happiest about this one. But I was super excited to have a travel day and move on from the north of this wonderful country!

I rolled out of bed, through on my clothes I laid out, brushed my teeth, and then it was time for us to call a grab to the Chiang Mai airport.

We were definitely way ahead of schedule, but we wanted to be safe than sorry! Especially with the two travel hiccups we’ve already had.

Getting a Grab was relatively easy and we arrived at the airport just before 6am. The Chiang Mai airport is very small and security was a breeze. And this time, we got our boarding passes before our flight, so I didn’t have to check my bag! This did cause me to lose my deodorant to TSA though…

We hung out in the airport for 2 hours waiting to board our flights. Unfortunately, due to Mina’s airplane predicament, she was on a slightly earlier flight. So she boarded and we wished her safe travels.

20 minutes later, it was our turn to board.

I actually ended up sliding to the middle seat when our seat buddy got on the flight. I’m not really sure what compelled me, but I ended up sleeping the whole flight anyways.

We landed in Bangkok for our layover at Don Mueang International Airport (DMK). I’ve never had the pleasure of flying here… but even with connecting flights of the same airline, you have to leave and check back in.

So we hopped on the tarmac bus (which Mina had been stuck on one for 30 minutes) and slowly figured out our way through the airport.

30 minutes later, we were through security round two (still no checked bags) and guess who we ran into!

Mina!!

Thankfully, we were all on the connecting flight to Surat Thani together.

We all grabbed some food, since we hadn’t ate much besides snacks this morning. I found a frozen meal at 7-Eleven for very cheap, which I was very happy about.

As we were chowing down, an announcement rang over the speakers saying we had a change of gate… andddd it was all the way on the opposite side of the airport. With 5 minutes before boarding time, we sped walked to the new gate and made it just as boarding was beginning.

I love that we got to board the plane from the tarmac. It makes flying feel that much more special.

Ben, Mina, Sam, and I were all in different parts of the plane. So I ended up relaxing and enjoyed listening to music and resting my eyes. I also had the window seat and had some great views of Thailand!

We landed in Surat Thani and made our way to the bus desk. Our trip to Koh Phangan still had a few legs of transportation left to it.

The check in desk told us that we’d be leaving in 15 minutes and potentially catch the 2:30pm ferry to Koh Phangan!

We spent around 1.5-2 hours in a cramped minivan. And arrived to the pier 10 minutes after the ferry had left. So we had to lounge around and wait 3 hours for our purchased 5:30pm ferry ticket.

I dozed off in a very comfy hammock facing the water. After a solid 30 minute nap, I went to check out the food court at the pier and it was pretty solid! For 65 Baht, I got a chicken gra pow with a fried egg. It was nice to finally have a real meal.

Mina, Ben, and Sam all got food as well. Sam and Ben both got soup and Mina got a chicken fried rice. After we were all sufficiently nourished, it was time for some card playing.

Over the next hour, we dove into some intense games of Shithead! After a while we switched to Egyptian rat slap and things heated up even more. But before any mayhem could ensue, it was time to finally board our ferry to Koh Phangan!

The ride was a toasty one. The AC wasn’t working well in the cabin, so we spent a lot of the time out on the back deck watching the sunset while playing some Pokémon.

Even with the heat and semi-uncomfortableness, the ride was still very enjoyable! Especially because I got to spend that time with my cousins.

The ride took around 2.5 hours. But we arrived safe and sound to the whimsical island of Koh Phangan.

We got off the ferry and were immediately met with taxis to choose from. From the port to where we were staying, Haad Rin beach, was around 30 minutes. My friend Aaron said we should expect to pay 100-150 Baht per person… but these taxi drivers wouldn’t budge from 200 Baht.

Two other travelers came up to us and said they were going where we were staying as well. But even those two being added on wouldn’t make the taxis budge on their price.

So we caved and all piled in for 200 Baht per person. The two travelers that tacked on were Shannon and Seb from England! They were super cool people, Shannon leads designing stages at music festivals and Seb is a director. I love the serendipity when meeting awesome people on the road (this time literally). Hopefully we’ll be seeing them again!

We arrived at our home for the next 3 days. We’re staying at a bungalow a minute off the beach, it’s really cute too!

Ben and I were hungry so we immediately went to find a cheap restaurant.

I finished off my night with a chicken pad see ew and Ben had a papaya salad (his first in Thailand).

We ended our night early… I think the next three nights might be pretty late nights, so expect maybe a couple late blog posts. Buttt we have some fun days ahead, specifically tomorrow!

Tomorrow is my birthday, my first one abroad! I’m so happy to have my cousins around to celebrate and be in such an amazing country (with them)!

Next time you hear from me I’ll be a year older 🙂

– Elie