Koh Phayam

Koh Phayam

15.03-19.03

'Relax and unwind...' 'white secluded beaches' 'hippie island' 'relaxing' are probably the most common comments you can find on the internet about Koh Phayam. Additionally, there is only electricity from 6pm to 7am and only cold water.

But let's start from the beginning... the flight to Bangkok was already funny: my flight ticket was just a simple receipt and the flight itself was quite bumpy...

Arriving in Bangkok, I took a 2-hour taxi ride through the rush hour traffic to the bus station. Interestingly, this station is located inside a shopping mall.

I had to walk past several stores until I found the counters where I could pick up my ticket. I treated myself to some fries at KFC and got 2 donuts to go before heading to the bus terminals.

The bus ride was terrible and not recommended!! It was freezing cold, the seats couldn't recline, and every half an hour we stopped to pick up and drop off new people, with the lights in the whole bus turning on each time. Truly annoying.

We arrived in Ranong at 7 in the morning, and I was immediately bombarded by tuk-tuk drivers shouting 'Koh Phayam' or 'Koh Chang' - I was so tired that I was about to get into a tuk-tuk when I remembered that I hadn't picked up my backpack yet!! So I quickly went back, got my backpack, and went back to the tuk-tuk.

At the pier, I had to wait for another 2 hours, and the next ATM was a 20-minute walk away (mind you, on foot) which I had to visit since there is no ATM on Koh Phayam anymore!

I got a juice and at 9 o'clock, we finally got on the speedboat!

We passed Koh Chang, and the journey took about an hour.

Arriving at the pier in Koh Phayam, I took a motorcycle taxi to the accommodation (no cars on the island - the roads are too narrow).

My accommodation (Rabbit Bungalows) run by Lek was pretty cool, I had a small bungalow with a hammock, private bathroom, and a double bed with a mosquito net all to myself. The bungalows are located in a small forest near Buffalo Bay (which is easily reachable by foot).

I read everywhere that Buffalo Bay should be lonelier than Long Beach (and I thought 'yes, Koh Phayam is probably lonely for Thai standards, so I'd better stay at the even lonelier beach'. In the end, both beaches are beautiful. At Buffalo Bay (the southern part), there was a small reggae bar where I went in the afternoon. I talked to a New Yorker who was on vacation there for the 4th time and loved it.

There were 2 Thai guys working at the bar, one of whom looked like the Thai version of Captain Jack Sparrow, and both of them kept disappearing every 20 minutes behind the bar, and all you could see was the white smoke rising.

I had two banana smoothies, talked for about 2 hours with the New Yorker before heading back.

I had dinner at the in-house restaurant (= a corner with a couch and a mini kitchen where Lek's colleague cooks something on request) before heading back to my bungalow.

It was already dark by then, and I just wanted to take a shower and go to bed.

So there I was, naked in the bathroom, about to turn on the water (there is only cold water on the island), when suddenly a frog (or maybe a toad?) hopped onto my feet. I was so scared that I just stood there rooted and watched as the frog continued hopping.

So I grabbed my towel, wrapped it around myself, and went to find Lek. He sent one of his employees to my bungalow, who caught the frog and took it outside. Since then, I never entered any room on the island without checking three times beforehand that there is no hand-sized creature waiting for me (I then read on the internet about giant spiders, cobras, forearm-sized geckos, and similar creatures roaming Thailand's islands).

After finally showering, I curled up in my bed, secured the mosquito net as best as I could under my mattress, and tried to sleep.

Thursday: Buffalo Bay was too lonely for me after all, probably perfect for couples, but as a solo traveler, I wouldn't meet anyone there.

I was advised against renting a scooter as an inexperienced person, so on Thursday after breakfast, I took the scooter taxi to Long Beach instead. The beach was just as white as the one at Buffalo Bay, only bigger and with more bars and facilities along the beach/near the beach. I had a smoothie in one of the bars and watched some surfers. When one of them came out of the water, I asked where they got the surfboards and decided to rent one too.

Unfortunately, the resort didn't have any more boards but recommended another bar.

So, I rented one of their boards, but I was skeptical, it seemed too small and too light for the small waves here. So, I emphasized once again that I was a beginner, but the owner just grinned at me - he had once again not understood me.

In the water, I paddled to the other surfers: a French guy and two Swiss guys (from the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland). They immediately told me that I couldn't achieve anything with that board here and that I had been tricked - great.

I tried a few times, but it didn't help, the board was completely unsuitable.

The French guy lent me his board and helped me a few times (with the small waves, you have to paddle MUCH harder than when surfing in Raglan)

I even managed to stand up briefly twice. Then I gave him his board back and went to the bar. I wouldn't pay for such crap: and indeed, the owner also didn't want any money for it, he knew that his boards were useless.

I sat down in the 'Relax' bar with the others who were starting to get hungry too, and I had a homemade sandwich (made by the French guy himself). It was heavenly and really crunchy - finally, real bread again! I was on cloud 9.

I talked to the Swiss couple for a while before heading back to the bungalow.

Walking was a bit more cumbersome (especially at almost 35 degrees), so at some point, I started hitchhiking. A German guy (34) picked me up, and we chatted for a while (funnily enough, he was staying in the same accommodation as me).

At the destination, we said goodbye, and I went to the 'restaurant' after a quick shower.

While eating, I talked to Sinan (German-Turkish), his girlfriend Tamara, a French couple, an English couple (all in their early 30s), and eventually, an older couple joined us (two Canadians).

I especially talked to the grandma. They were from the French part of Canada and loved to travel and party.

She told me about how a few days ago in the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan, her husband danced with two Thai girls on a pole and how they were constantly dancing on tables, etc.

That they had always loved to party and that now, in their old age, no one would stop them.

At around 11:30 pm, the group slowly dispersed, and I went to bed (of course, not without checking everywhere for creatures 😂)

Friday: In the morning, I checked out - I had already booked another accommodation in advance (Flower Power Village), and the scooter taxi driver took me there. The owners hardly spoke English but showed me my tent bungalow and where my bathroom was (which I shared with the residents of another tent).

When booking, I thought 'a tent is good, at least the creepy crawlies won't get in' - but it's stupid when they're already inside...

So I went back to the reception and informed them that there was a big grasshopper-like insect causing trouble in my tent.

They told me they would take care of it, so I set off for the northern part of Buffalo Bay: to the Hippie Bar, a bar that looks like a big pirate ship. It is spread over several levels and was built entirely from driftwood (which apparently took years).

I treated myself to a smoothie, took some photos, enjoyed the view (and the shade) before walking for half an hour to Monkey Beach. The bar owner warned me with a 'be careful with the animals,' but unfortunately, I didn't encounter any monkeys (or other animals except for stray dogs).

Shortly before reaching the beach, a Thai girl asked me if her brother should drive me to the monkey bar, I said yes, and within 5 minutes, I was sitting at the monkey beach and ordering a watermelon smoothie.

A dog family with 5 puppies roamed the beach, and one of them kept lying under my table, very cute! 🐶

I spent the rest of the day in one of the hammocks on the beach, listening to my audiobook.

As it started to get dark, the owner of the Monkey Bar called a taxi for me, and I was taken back to my accommodation. 🛵

The insect was unfortunately still in my tent, so I had to go to the reception again. This time, the owner came personally and chased the insect out (after being startled himself by how quickly it was hopping around) 😂

In the evening, I had dinner at the in-house (Italian) restaurant, and I was excited to have some Western food again (aka pasta with tomato sauce), but unfortunately, it didn't taste particularly good 😩

Saturday:

At noon, I got up and went to Long Beach. I sat down in the Relax Bar again, enjoyed another one of the great baguettes, drank some smoothies, lay in the sun, swam in the sea, finished listening to my audio play, and enjoyed doing nothing.

On the way back, I went through various small shops and stopped at a vegan restaurant (the cake was unfortunately sold out, but the pancakes were delicious!)

Halfway there, I met the Thai Jack Sparrow on the way and he gave me a ride on his scooter to my accommodation! Super nice!

I took a quick shower and decided to treat myself to a massage, a proper Thai massage with coconut oil.

The woman massaged me from head to toe and cracked each of my toes (whether that was good or not is another question 😂)

All in all, it was very relaxing.

In the evening, it started to rain and thunder, so I ran to the restaurant with a towel over my head. I gave them another chance, and this time, the food tasted quite good.

Sunday: the morning started absolutely strange and disturbing.

The waiter (maybe 16 years old?!) approached me and after I ordered, he said 'I Love you' I laughed, thinking it was a joke, but he just looked totally hurt and waited.

I was confused and found it all just creepy, so I just said 'no' and watched as he retreated to the kitchen.

When he brought me my smoothie, he said it again and looked at me expectantly, as if I would reciprocate or something, I looked at him with a furrowed brow and said no again, telling him to leave me alone.

I downed the smoothie and made sure to get out of there.

I packed my backpack, called a taxi, and made my way to the pier.

They told me that the next available spot on the ferry would be in 2 hours (at 12 o'clock) and that they didn't think there would be any more buses to Krabi today.

OH NO, I had already booked the hostel in Krabi, which messed up all my plans!

When I sat on the ferry 2 hours later, I decided to go to the bus station anyway and ask. I was lucky! The next (and last) bus would leave half an hour later and arrive in Krabi in 7.5 hours. I was happy and sat next to two German women (in their mid-40s) from Bergisch Gladbach. We chatted for a while until the bus arrived.

I slept through most of the journey and arrived in Krabi around 8:30 pm.

The two women, their backpacks, an Asian lady with her suitcase, and my backpack all squeezed onto the sidecar of a scooter and drove towards Krabi town.

In every turn, we were afraid that the already wobbly contraption would tip over. But we all arrived safely at our different accommodations.

The people in my dorm room (all British) were also super friendly, and we talked for a while before falling asleep in our beds.