Koh phangan

Paul and I have found our own little piece of peace and paradise. We may be on the party capital of Thailand, but our villa is overlooking a calm, tranquil bay, surrounded only by a few other bungalows and gardens. The village is ten minutes walk away, a small collection of shacks, great local cafes.

There is a restaurant attached here, where we enjoy our free breakfast overlooking the water, but tis pricey for dinner-we’ve already found our favourite. Mama Pooh’s thai café, and a pic shows Paul tucking in to lunch!

The Blue Ocean Gardens provides us with a kayak, which we’ve had great fun with (see pic of Paul-guess what, he’s now got sunburnt legs), comfy sun beds under coconut palms, and a hammock, which I appreciate! (pic)

The sands are empty, bar the odd ‘Zen’ house; we are the other side of the island to the full moon parties/nightclubs, and in the middle of nowhere. The sunsets are beautiful (see pic) and we’ve just relaxed, swam in the warm millpond like sea, snorkelled to see multi-coloured fish, and sat on our veranda watching the fishing boats in the night sky.

It’s a wonderful contrast to the buzz of Bangkok, and just what we needed, to spend time together catching up after 3 months apart, and just ‘chilling’ , a holiday time.

Bangkok was brilliant; we caught the famous Emerald Buddha between costume changes, the jade gleaming in the sunlight, and had enough time to explore in depth.

We found a good deal via a local to cruise the narrow canals and see the waterside villages/floating markets, and got another good deal to explore the city by tuck tuk (we negotiated, very very cheap in exchange for visiting a few shops, a two hour city tour/temple stops for about £1-I can haggle with the best of them now!).

But leaving the noise and crowds behind and arriving here is heavenly. The journey was easy, we treated ourselves to a flight to Koh Samui , travelling out on the skyline over the clogged traffic, hopping onto the short flight watching the skyscrapers and temples of Bangkok fade below us as the staff served a full meal in 50 minutes; Asian Airlines seem amazingly efficient!- and then descending onto the tiny little airport at Koh Samui.

As the fast ferry sped us over to Koh Phangan, I balanced on the upper deck gazing at the islands and the glorious sunset. ….apart from maybe hiring a motorbike to explore, methinks there will not be too much report for the next few days……….I’m getting the hang of relaxing at last!!