01.03.-02.03. Short stop in Krabi / Bus ride to Suratthani & arrival on Koh Phangan

We arrived in Krabi by bus around 2:00 PM. It was just a 2 hour ride from Koh Lanta.

Once we arrived at our accommodation, we didn't do much. We bought supplies for the next day, as we would be travelling for about 4 hours by bus to Suratthani.

In the evening, I treated myself to a Thai massage. Unfortunately, it was not nearly as good as the one I had in Phuket. The masseuse only stretched me and pressed on me a little bit.😀

Then everyone went to bed, as our taxi was picking us up early the next day at 5:45 AM and we all wanted to be fit for the infamous Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan, which was our next destination.😎

02.03.18 A bus ride that is funny, a bus ride that is nice.😅😂😂😂

Picked up by the taxi driver, he brought us to the bus station. We then found out that the bus was not leaving until 7:00 AM instead of 6:30 AM. The ticket counter was also not yet open. We had booked our bus tickets online in advance, but they still needed to be issued to us on-site.

The bus arrived and we went to the counter again.

And here comes the funny part😅😅😅

They told us that they didn't receive the online ticket and they also didn't receive any money from the company. We had to pay for the bus again. However, the bus only cost us 150 Baht instead of 250 Baht per person.

While she was telling us this, the bus suddenly started driving and Gary ran after it to stop it for us.😂🤣 Luckily, he managed to stop it.😅

We quickly bought the tickets and got on the bus. But here's the kicker😂:

We then realized on the bus that it was not a coach bus, but a local bus that does not take the direct route on the highway to Suratthani. Instead, it takes an inland route and stops at every bus stop.😂😂😂

And now you know why the bus is cheaper.😂😂😂

The guys were pretty annoyed because it took longer now.😂😂😂 We still had to take the ferry to Koh Phangan.🙊

I laughed so hard and couldn't stop😂🙊. In that moment, I thought of the song by Bob Marley and then sang to the guys, 'Don't worry about a Thing'. Eventually, they all laughed too and took it with humor. We finally arrived in Suratthani, just a little later than planned.😅🙊

In hindsight, I suspect that we were probably dropped off at the wrong bus station in Krabi.🙈🙊🙉

Then we had to wait another 2 hours for the ferry to depart. The day became more exhausting and tedious. In the end, we only arrived at the pier around 6:00 PM.🙈

Arrival on Koh Phangan

On Koh Phangan, Gerry and Julien stayed with friends in a hostel/hotel for one night. Then it was just Tom and me. I quickly booked an accommodation the day before, which was not easy to find as almost everything was fully booked or overpriced.

And now for the surprise😱:

When we arrived at the accommodation around 6:30 PM, we were told that everything was fully booked and they couldn't offer us any rooms.


And there we stood. Loaded with our backpacks, 1.5 km away from the main road with no accommodation.😱😱😱

But suddenly, they offered us an 'alternative'. Sleeping together with numerous people in a dome for 1000 Baht per night per person. He could organize it for us as everything else was fully booked.

We thought it was a scam to quickly get a lot of money from tourists. We said, not with us.☝️

Nevertheless, we were really in a tough situation, being on our feet for 12 hours and no accommodation. Everything was crowded with people, prices inflated, and only accommodations starting from 150 euros were available.

Then a couple from India, who had the same problem and couldn't get a room, came along. We talked to them and tried to find a new accommodation together.

I then found Airbnb and we actually found an accommodation for the four of us, which only cost us 8 euros per person instead of 25 euros. We even found a resort, but unfortunately it was on the other side of the island.

For those who don't know Airbnb yet:
Airbnb is a website where private individuals offer accommodations. This is a great way to get to know locals, as many of them also share their own accommodation with you. However, you can also book your own apartments there. I find the prices quite reasonable. So if you don't want to be in a hotel with a hundred/thousand other tourists and maybe even travel in a group, I recommend this website.👍

In the end, we managed to find our way and arrived at the resort around 8:30 PM. It was absolutely beautiful there.👌 In the middle of nowhere, but right on the beach with many tree houses/bungalows that you had to climb up to.😀
It felt like being in the jungle. PURE NATURE.👌👍😍

We decided that we didn't want to go to the party anymore. We were just too exhausted from the long journey (14 hours) and just glad to have found something.

It didn't take long and Tom was already asleep, it was 9:30 PM.

I climbed down from our tree house to have something to eat at the resort's restaurant and to relax from the exhausting trip.

Then around 11:00 PM, I went to bed and skipped the party that I had already experienced before.👍💤

Our journey continued the next day. 😁