Ko Pha-ngan

Hello, my sheep, 🐑

Our trip continued as a couple. It feels strange to suddenly be alone again. Well, to get away from that as quickly as possible, we drove back to Krabi to visit Henni (a friend of Julian). Henni has been in Australia for 1.5 years now, so we were very happy to see him again after such a long time. We took a van and the ferry back to the mainland. Our Airbnb in Krabi was very nice, and I was very happy to have a shower cubicle again and not have to clear everything out of the bathroom so it doesn't get wet. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but here in Southeast Asia most bathrooms don't have a shower cubicle, and the shower head just hangs around in the room, which is a bit annoying at times.

That same evening we met up with Henni. It was a nice reunion and I realized that I had completely forgotten how tall Henni was... almost a giant. Or I was just small. We hung out in a bar for a while and drank a lot of beer. Long story short... we booked a trip to the island of Ko Pha-ngan for the next day, even though we had booked two nights in Krabi, because Henni persuaded us to travel further with him and his girlfriend.

The next day we found ourselves on a bus to Ko Pangan, hungover. We regretted every second we spent on the bus, having booked the trip drunk. The island was different from all the islands we had visited before. There were so many people there, everything was geared towards tourists, and there was a party going on almost every day. We were a little overwhelmed, as we had always enjoyed the quiet islands with their deserted beaches. Our accommodation was small and simple, what you would expect from a bungalow as a traveler. Luckily, there was another hostel next to our accommodation, which was full of backpackers, so we quickly made friends. After the eventful last few weeks with Tobias and Julia, we now enjoyed just drifting for a few days.

We kept meeting up with Henni and his girlfriend, drinking a few beers, watching football games at the Food Factory or strolling through jewelry shops or small art markets. It was strange to be on such a busy island, but at the same time nice, because we made lots of new contacts.

My personal highlight was the Full Moon Party, which I went to with a few other girls. It was very spontaneous and I didn't really know the three girls very well, but I wanted to party. When I got to the party, I was overwhelmed by the size of it. I have no idea what I had imagined a Full Moon Party to be like, but what stretched out before me exceeded my expectations. I would estimate that the beach was filled with around 15,000 people and there was music from countless stages with DJs coming from all directions. It was crazy. Despite my firm intention not to lose the other girls, that's exactly what happened after about an hour at the party. Who would have thought? We were just on our way to the exit when I bent down to pick up a bottle from the ground, tripped over it barefoot and whoosh... I was alone. Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm predestined to get lost at parties, but I've probably never lost it so quickly. Unfortunately, we'd forgotten to agree on a meeting point just in case. And of course, I still didn't have a cell phone to reach anyone. So I sat at the entrance and waited. And waited... And waited. Spoiler... I didn't find the girls again the whole evening, but I did help the drunk Aurelius find his friends again by unlocking his phone with his Face ID, asking for WiFi at the nearest store, and writing to all of his contacts. Even his mom. Aurelius fell into a Sleeping Beauty-like sleep next to me, even if it didn't look quite as elegant sitting on the curb.

Fortunately, I managed to reach some of his friends and they lived happily ever after.

After waiting for ages, I eventually went back to the party, found a few familiar faces from the taxi, danced for a while, found new people and kept dancing. I probably spent most of my time there with Kathrin and had a really good time with her. We drove together in a taxi to our accommodation at 7 a.m. What a wonderful night.

As soon as I got out of the taxi, Julian came towards me on his scooter. He hadn't slept all night because he was so worried about me when the girls told him I had disappeared. I had tried to write to him on several other cell phones, but none of the messages seemed to reach him. I felt really sorry for him and I could feel his relief when he hugged me. So cute.

Well, our days on Ko Pha-ngan were otherwise rather unspectacular, but at least our time in Southeast Asia is coming to an end. It's crazy that we've been on the road for half a year already. We're slowly getting a little tired of traveling and are really looking forward to having a permanent place and a daily routine in Australia.

Next stop: Malaysia.

Ps.: I don't have many pictures of Ko Pha-ngan because I still didn't have a cell phone. There will be more next time.

Until then 🐑

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