Today is our last full day in Ko Pha Ngan. In the morning we ride the scooter to the jetty. We inquire at the Songserm office, one of the biggest ferry operators, which I read travels to the ferry terminal closer to Surat Thani town, rather than the one further out. They provide a bus from the ferry terminal on the mainland to Hat Yai, which is good for us. We’d rather take the train, but they only operator in the morning, and are often full.

We ride back to Sun View, drop the scooter off and head down to Long Beach for our final day in Ko Pha Ngan. We do our normal routine of sun, drinks, lunch and swimming. Earlier in the day I traded a book for a Thailand Lonely Planet, and although I have the Lonely Planet Guide to Southeast Asia, it’s nice to have more details about Thailand. We read bits of the new guidebook on the beach.

After breakfast we rent a scooter and head towards Hat Thong Nai Pan Yai in the north east corner of the island. I have read that the beaches in this area are perhaps the best for swimming and snorkelling, and we only have a few days left on Ko Pha Ngan before taking the overnight train south, back to Malaysia for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

After riding south we find the turning and head north into the heart of the island. After a few kilometres the concrete road turns to dirt. Soon after we come across a road team who are using a swing shovel to further flatten the road, preparing it for concreting in the future. The road deteriorates until we find ourselves ascending and descending very steep slopes covered in loose gravel, definitely not the ideal terrain for a little (worn out) scooter with two people on. We think about turning back, but persevere, and after 30 minutes, and with 2 sore bottoms, we finally see the turquoise water of the bay appear.

We park up and find a paradise of a beach. Because this area is difficult to get to the atmosphere and people are laid back. After sipping an ice cold drink and taking a swim we rent a double kayak and paddle over the sister beach of Thang Nai Pan Noi. The waves are bigger there, so we beach the kayak and take a little swim. We paddle back across the bay and take a close look at the rocks and boats before returning the kayak.

After lunch and relaxing on the beach we head back along the treacherous road, and although we left it a little late in the day, we get back without and troubles.

We talk the walk towards Sandy Bay, and Long Beach, the nicest and deepest section of beach on this side of Ko Pha Ngan. We thought we’d try a short cut and find a tiny private beach, but the rocks are too deep to get to Long Beach. We turn back and take our normal route.

We spend the whole day on the beach, not something we normally do, but it’s a great day, and we plan to do the same tomorrow.

We rent a scooter and head out around the island. The roads are reasonable, with only a few dangers. We ride on just about every road we can, stopping at a waterfall, which is barely a trickle at this time of year, and a marble Buddha.

We take a look around Hat Rin, the site of the full moon parties, but its just really the high density backpacking scene we avoid.

We ride back to our beach, stopping to watch a local festival on the way.