I’m trying to keep to a fairly tight budget of £10 a day.  That’s not easy, and is generally not possible in Thailand anymore unless one stays in the cheapest places (grubby and poor security) and east the cheapest foods (not generally so nice).  So I stretch my budget to about £15 per day, but I don’t loose sleep if I hit £20 per day.

My bungalow is £7 per day.  Meals in touristy places are generally expensive and not the best quality.  I have tried a few places here in Thong Nai Pan, and they’re all average.  Today I noticed a very simple place that looked very Thai.  It’s the outside section of someone’s house.  It’s very common in Thailand to convert your front room into a restaurant/shop/laundry, and actually still live in it whilst running your business.

Tonight I tried this restaurant.  The prices were cheap, about half what I would pay by the beach, and the quality and portions are much better.  I love eating at places like this.  You get more for your money, proper Thai food (with maybe less chili) and you know the money goes straight to Thai people, running a good wholesome business.  Whilst I was there it got busy, full in fact.  I could see Mum doing all of the cooking, the daughter (I’m making assumptions about the family members, but no doubt it’s correct) was taking orders, helping mum and serving.  Dad was clearing tables where possible, I saw grandma re-fill the rice cooker, and cut vegetables, and I even saw grandpa take a sack of rice from the pickup. A proper family business.  I have no doubt that this family are making more from their restaurant than any business venture they have been involved with before.  The place was packed, with a range of customers (backpackers, tourists and a couple of families), at a time when Thailand has well below normal visitor numbers, and the beach restaurants are very quiet (some have even closed).

I will definitely be eating there again, probably every other day, or every day.  I noticed a similar restaurant just a few doors down from it as well, which I’ll try tomorrow.  I’m still not ready for a spicy breakfast yet though.

The funniest thing about the restaurant was that I could buy an ice cold Beer Chang for 30Baht there (60 pence) when it costs 45Baht in the shops.  I knew the extra 20Baht or so the shops charge here, due it the remoteness of the place, was a bit steep, but this restaurant proves its over the top.  Well I know where to get a cheap beer now!

I was famished as I had only eaten breakfast all day, so I had a banana pancake from the street vendor on the way home.  30Baht and a good chat thrown in for free.

Thanks Thailand, for still having the cheap stuff, although you make me look harder than every this time to find it!

After spending a few days here in Haad Rin, it’s time to move on.

2 nights ago I went down to the beach, where the full moon parties are held.  The bars overlooking the beach have parties there every night, so one doesn’t have to wait for the full moon to get a taste of what happens.  Whilst supping a beer and watching the fire dancers I bumped into the Dutch couple from the night before, and a group of friends they have made.  We moved between a few bars and watched the various games and fire juggling that goes on there.  It’s an interesting display, well rehearsed (every day of the year), and very loud.  I have never seen so many massive PA systems so close together.

Today though I want to go to Thong Nai Pan, a beautiful set of beaches in the north east corner of Ko Phangan.  The road is in poor condition, so it’s not a place lots of people go.  Yet it has perhaps the best swimming beaches on the island, and not the normal knee-high water you’ll find at Thailand’s beaches.

I leave the guesthouse fairly early and ask at some of the taxi touts.  There’s no vehicle leave right now, and I’m given the option of leaving now for 1,000Baht.  Um, no thanks.  The lady I spoke to said to wait in a cafe and she’ll get me when there are other people.

I have my breakfast, and wait.  Brian, who I met on the beach the other day joins me, and leaves before I find a taxi.  The taxi lady passes several times and looks in, but she doesn’t call me over.

I know the ferry arrives at 13:50, because I was on it a few days before.  At 13:15 I head over to the ferry terminal in the hope people from the ferry will want to go to Thong Nai Pan.

After the normal hustle and bustle from the ferry I find 2 guys who want to go, and eventually another couple.  So that’s 5 of us to split the 1,500Baht mini-bus.  Perfect.  And it’s a AC mini-bus and not a pickup.  I love the pickups, but I know this is a bumpy ride that takes 45 minutes.

We get to the beach and I find a nice place to stay……..

Up early again, I go down to Harry’s for breakfast.  I enjoy the best banana pancakes I have had in Thailand (I would think Thailand would have the best banana pancakes, but generally they are a bit lacking).  I say goodbye to the people there, who I have got to know a bit over the last few weeks.  Harry gives me my money back saying it’s his treat.  Nice people indeed.

I get the bus to the northern ferry terminal.  After a wait the ferry chugs us over to Phangnan.  The islands are amazing close at the closest point.  The boat docks at Haad Rin, and it’s nice to be able to walk off and not need a taxi/pickup.  I sidestep the touts and take a look around.  It’s fairly quiet, as if a lot of people are missing.  I head towards the beach to get some bearings.  As the lane ends and the beach begins I notice a stack of massive speakers.  This is the Full Moon part beach, and I notice I am right next to Paradise, the place where the parties started.  I think it’s a good idea to not stay this close to the music.  I require something much more chilled.  The beach is amazing though.

I head south from the town, and ask at a good looking place.  They only have expensive rooms left.  As I am walking a Swedish guy on a scooter asks I am looking for a room.  He says he runs a place at the top of the hill, and has a basic single room for 150 Baht.  This is much cheaper than most places.  I say thanks.  He offers me a lift, I say I make my own way up.

It’s a fair walk up steep hills, but I love to check things out as  I travel.  Many travelers are ushered from point to point, without seeing things like the spaghetti of wires that run up the lane, or the massive lizards that lurk in the vegetation.

The Chill House is the place.  The views are amazing, and the room basic.  But’s it’s very cheap, the cheapest place I have stayed in Thailand.  I chat with Michael for a while about the rising prices in Thailand, the lack of people this year, and his living here for the last 18 months.

I get my things are head down to the town.  I take a needed dip in the sea.  The water is calm, turquoise and teaming with small tropical fish.  I get a drink and something to eat.  I walk the length of the town looking for places to stay.  I find a few good options, and they are all in the 500 Baht range.  More than I want to pay, but I am after a little comfort at the moment.

I have an iced coffee on the beach and head back to the guesthouse, where I get attacked my mosquitoes in the shower.

My overnight train from Cornwall to London is 2 hours late arriving at Truro station.  I’m waiting at the platform with Abby, in the freezing cold, thinking that the train won’t arrive, and I won’t make my flight.  But, finally the train does arrive.  I have a good nights sleep in the train, and after breakfast catch the Heathrow Express to the airport.

I check-in and start a long series of flights.  I am flying with Jet Airways, an Indian company that I had read mixed reports about. However their planes and service are good.  The first leg is to Mumbai, one of my favourite cities, and one which has suffered terrible recently.

London is covered with snow as we take off.

Changing planes at Mumbai airport turns into a small adventure.  We all go through security again.  Some people get annoyed that it is taking so long.  Whilst we cue, airport staff members are walking through the metal detectors, coming the other way, and setting them off.  Having spent time in India, I understand this to be typically India.

Eventually we make it to our next plane.  The overnight leg to Bangkok.  All goes smoothly and I feel good, although tired, as we land at Bangkok’s distinctive airport at dawn.  I love being away at dawn (when it’s warm and sunny).  It’s funny to think that this airport saw so much grief recently.  I get my bags, pass through customs (getting my 2 month stamp) and wait outside to take in the air and enjoy a cigarette.

I re-enter the airport, making my way to departures upstairs.  I take off my shoes and leave them by a bin.  A Chinese man, who now lives in Malaysia, says “they are nice shoes, you should keep them.”  I explain I am hot and I will not need them.  I barely wore them at all during my last 7 month stay in Asia, and I don’t intend for them to take up space in my backpack this time.

I check in for my Air Asia flight to Surat Thani.  I kill time with a coffee and making use of the Edge network in the airport to check my emails.

The flight to Surat Thani offers some great views of the Gulf of Thailand.

Surat Thani airport is interesting.  A fairly large runway, with the surrounding area fairly overgrown, with a small terminal at one end.

Like all good tourist connections in Thailand there is a bus waiting to meet us from the plane, and takes us straight to the ferry terminals.  I elect for Ko Samui, rather than Ko Phangnan, as I have not been to Samui.

I chat to a guy from London called Ben.  He comes here a lot, and only managed to stay at home for a few months before wanting to leave to come back to Thailand..

The ferry makes it way out into the Gulf of Thailand.  It’s a beautiful part of the world.  The ferry docks and Ben and I jump in a pickup heading towards Lamai beach.  I check into the same place as Ben, where we has stayed before.  It’s a good place, run by nice people.

I’m exhausted and managed to sleep easily.