Having a Happy New Year in Koh Pha-Ngan

Happy New Year everybody!

I am currently living on Ryan and James' dog mat in their living room and don't have internet on my computer, so I apologize for not updating sooner! Hopefully... most likely... (cross your fingers), Tricia and I will be able to move in our new place (which is down the hall, haha) tomorrow! YaY!

New Year's a big deal here, a much bigger deal than Christmas. Everybody gets time off and goes on vacation. Bangkok is kindof quiet right now because most people don't go back to work until tomorrow. They actually call it the Happy New Year instead of just the new year. It's cute. haha

Neither Ryan or Tricia had to work, so the three of us decided to take a little vacation to Koh Tao. We took a night bus the night of the 29th to the pier down south. It was an incredibly long bus ride. We left around 6 that evening and got to the ferry around 7 the next morning. Then we had to take a two hour ferry ride. Actually the ferry ride was supposed to be about 4 hours, but we got impatient and re-routed our trip to Koh Pha-Ngan. hahaha It was a good decision. We'll just have to go to Koh Tao some other time.

Anyways, we finally got to the island around lunch and we called a bungalow place to stay for a couple nights. I was so excited to stay in a bungalow! haha It was great. It ended up being a much nicer bungalow than Tricia and I imagined it to be. We had two beds, a fan, and shower (with bathtub and shower curtain!). We were without hot water and air con, but you really don't need those things here. After we checked in, we went and rented a couple of motorbikes to get around with. Tricia and Ryan each drove one and I was very impressed with them, because the roads were really windy and steep. Points to them. haha

We decided to relax for the rest of the day. That night we went down to Haad Rin and watched them set up for the New Year's Eve party. The beach was beautiful and sky was totally clear. There were so many stars! I had never seen so many stars in the sky before. It was amazing. Plus the sand on the beach was so soft! It felt like we were walking on pillows.

It rained all day on New Year's Eve. haha It was still really nice though. We hung out a lot at the little restaurant where our bungalow was and played jenga and card games. We slept a lot to prepare for a long night ahead of us. We managed to take a long walk on the beach during a break in the storm. It was good.

That night was the New Year's Eve party at Haad Rin. This party was insane. There are about 20,000 people on the beach drinking and dancing and having a good time. People paint themselves with black light paint and drink buckets of whiskey and coke. It's crazy. I myself made sure I got some pink whiskers painted on my face. hahaha We danced and watched the fire show and had a great time bringing in the New Year.

Then we had to journey back the next day. It was not a fun journey. haha The ferry ride took 6 hours on a rocky sea. I was sea sick the whole time and had to sit outside while I got sprayed by the waves. The wave were so rocky that they had to cut the engine a few times so the ferry wouldn't flip. By the time we got off the boat, I was covered in salt. hahaha Then we got to the bus station only to find out that we were scammed and didn't have bus tickets even though we paid for them. Everything was fixed though when we found the government bus which turned out to be a much nicer bus ride than the one through the travel agent.

So anyways, now I'm just hanging out until we can move tomorrow and I start my job! Happy New Year!