Koh Koh Koh Merry Christmas!
Koh Phangan – Day 6 (23/12/11)
We arrived to Koh Phangan today after a quick one hour ferry ride from Samui. The weather has been gorgeous today and our skin is leathery proof of that!
We had a Survivor episode worthy experience getting to our resort when the taxi boat driver decided to speed boat us through 2 meter waves straight past our vila at Centara and on to a desolate beach further down in order to earn a couple hundred more Baht. His ‘big’ taxi boat couldn’t pull up to the shore so he shouted “out out” and we were forced to vault over the side into waist deep water trying our darndest to keep the luggage dry. That was only the beginning. We were legit dropped off in the middle of the jungle with one obscure path along which we figured was our best option to wander down. A couple locals in the area assured us that our resort was only 5 minutes down the path...it wasn’t long before we made the connection that everything on island time is 5 minutes! So we trudged along with our gigantic packs, weighing a grand total of 75 kgs in the 30 dergree blasting heat wave, along sandy beaches, up over rocky outcrops and through jungle forests in search of Centara. We stumble on a happy little hippy colony called The Sanctuary, which seemed like a totally self sufficient community in the middle of nowheresville, not much unlike a scene from The Beach (Update: We found out today from a couple we met at dinner that the guy who wrote the script of the movie (The Beach) did in fact base his writing on his time in this exact village, when he first came upon it!! No wonder all three of us recognized the parallels between the scene we just saw here and the ones we remembered from the big screen). We kept moving on, so as not to be those innocent travelers who spoil the tranquility of the beach. A half an hour later we crossed a rickety wood planked pathway over the ocean to reach Centara, a precious gem of a resort and the slog was indeed worth it! (Well a cheaper water taxi straight to our beach might have topped the cake but we were just happy to finally reach our very own brilliant villa).
After cooling off with a lemonade and a cool rose scented towelette, Jenny, yet to be determined if this is he or she, helped us to settle in to our spacious home on the hill overlooking the sea. We spent the rest of the day unwinding poolside with the waves crashing against the shore just a few meters away. We filled up on dinner at Bamboo Hut which was set way up on the rocks overlooking the beautiful beach below. We are all settled in and waiting for Christmas to come!
Koh Phangan – Day 7 (24/12/11)
Today has been a relaxingly slow kind of day as the sky has been mostly overcast with a few little sprinkles of showers. Still warm enough to lay under our cabana by the pool and sip on bevys all day long as we read some pages. Sabi’s drink was so strong just the fumes burnt her nose hairs #delightful.
We wandered through the jungle trail this morning back to Bamboo Hut on the rocks for a most delectable outdoor brekkie overlooking the ocean and then continued along a winding path into the jungle.
What do you suppose we would find but a muay thai boxing ring high atop a cliff with ocean views and a faint sound of techno beats carried in the breeze. We wandered even further following the sound until we reached The Sanctuary. There were much less people around the commune this morning and some locals had mentioned that there was a big dance party still heating up from the night before. So our curiosity kept us following the music further back into the village until we reached Guy’s Bar where everyone was tranced out and dancing, or rather shaking a hip and waving a rubber arm in the air. I guess you loss a bit of umph after 24hrs straight (it was coming on noon!). We decided that although it would have been entertaining to sit and stare, it wasn’t really our scene and hiked back towards the resort. We were almost completely dried off, only a short distance from our destination when a gigantic tidal wave washed up the rickety wooden plank we were on and almost swept us right out to sea. Sopping wet, we said a little prayer for our cameras and then trodded back to the resort where we are now lounged out watching the waves crash against the beach (much preferred to crashing against us).
The fresh fruit smoothies are so yum and just seem to be the perfect accessory to a bikini and tan. Today is Christmas Eve and we are going to get all dressed up this evening for festive feast on the rocks...again! Can you tell it’s our fav foodie spot here?! We wish we had our matching family jams to cozy up in tonight and will be thinking of everyone back home getting festive tonight. Hope you are all enjoying the company of great friends and family on this merry merry Christmas Eve.
Koh Phangan – Day 8 (25/12/11)
Today is Christmas!! It`s not quite the same without our wonderful family surrounding us, but at least we have Briners! The waves are HUGE today and have swallowed the beach whole. All the locals have sand bagged up the shops in prep for a very windy day. The taxi boat isn`t running anymore because of the swell, so Dave spent the morning organizing new arrangements for our exit strategy tomorrow. We will be taking a 4x4 out of here, over the mountain back to the ferry pier. We were told that the only way to the resort is by boat so I`m interested to see how this exit strategy will turn out. But I think it`s more hopeful than by longboat...seeing as the people we watched leave yesterday we bouncing around in the current like a beach ball...with all their luggage in tow and no life jacket!! `We decided to skip out on the full moon party tonight as we would have to face the treacherous sea to get there and decided that worshiping the moon wasn`t worth risking a life. The ocean is angry...maybe it made Santa`s naughty list this year and only received a lump of coal this morning...I bet that`s it. As a result, we can`t get to our fav restaurant because we would have to walk across some rocky outcrops that are now well and truly submerged...but we did luck out on this merry holiday because the restaurant beside us is hosting a free festive buffet, so we are going to hitch our cart to their wagon tonight.
Until then I am heading out for a massage by the sea. What better way to unwind on Christmas then to bliss out at the spa.
Merry Christmas to you all from our villa to yours!
Xo Tegs
 We arrived to Koh Phangan today after a quick one hour ferry ride from Samui. The weather has...){kind=link}
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