I was traveling alone again, and somehow this trip felt more like a backpacking trip to me than my previous trip due to the open-endedness of my plans. I had only booked my flights and accommodation in Koh Phangan, the rest was up in the air.
Time starts now
I had spent the whole afternoon of April 1 with my weekend buddies - Joepi, Joyce, and Jun. Had our usual coffee fixes before getting dinner at Capriciosa in Greenbelt 3. Really good Italian food there! :) Then we all set for the airport where they left me with wishes for a great vacation.
I was at the NAIA Terminal 1 by 8pm. I thought I was early enough for my 10:45pm flight, and the line at my counter wasn't so bad. Alas, the service has once again proved to be a huge disappointment... The "roving departure tax podiums" that were abound the airport in my last trip were no longer existent. And so locals had to check in at the counters, go all the way to the other side of the airport to pay for the departure tax, and then go all the way back to the check in counters to show their receipts before claiming their boarding passes. It took me an entire hour before I had my boarding pass in hand. Of course, both the terminal fee and immigration lines were also added frustrations. I got to my boarding gate just in time for boarding - 10pm. What the heck...
Anyhoo, we finally got onboard, flew out to Bangkok, and landed at the Suvarnabhumi Airport by 1am Thailand time (2am Philippine time).
"Soo-wana-poohm"
The airport was all lit up and pretty that time we landed, and it was quite a walk from our exit gate to the immigration and baggage claim areas. I didn't mind much, though, as I soaked up the enormity of the place. Got through the immigration, got my bag, found the exit and headed towards the departure area to catch my connecting flight to Koh Samui.
Found my check in row and saw some other backpackers sprawled on the seats, seeming to be waiting for the same counters to open. My flight, the first flight to Koh Samui, wasn't leaving till 6am. Had a 5-hour layover, and the counters wouldn't open till 430am. Thought I'd try getting a shut-eye, too, so I took out my shawl-slash-blanket and set myself on the unoccupied half of the row of seats by the counter using my backpack as pillow. I swear, I was smiling to myself as I closed my eyes thinking that was seriously another mark of a true backpacker. Haha...
First set of buddies
Couldn't get much sleep, though, so I ended up just taking pics. Started chatting up the girl seated in front of me - Rachel. She's from Alberta, Canada and would be meeting up with her sister and her sister's friends at the Koh Samui airport before heading out to Koh Phangan. At that time, she was already traveling for about FORTY (40) hours! Alberta, Canada - Seattle, USA - Seoul, S. Korea - Bangkok, Thailand. Egad... I would think there'd have been a better route she could've taken.
Counters finally opened. Got our bags checked in. She had a bit of delay for reasons I dunno, so I went ahead and walked the loooooong walk to the boarding gate. Wonder of wonders, there was a LOUNGE right across the assigned gate... FOR ECONOMY PASSENGERS! EGAD!!! Now I was impressed! Comfortable seats, free reading materials, free internet terminals, free drinks and foodies! Omg... I seriously sat for a minute thinking how BEHIND we are in the airline industry! I just had to take pictures! Haha! ;P
Met Ed, an English guy who was on his way to Koh Phangan, too. We discussed the ferry schedules and options in Koh Phangan a bit. He'd flown in straight from the UK, traveling for about 24hrs already. When I moved to the boarding gate, he came over to go through my list of ferry rides again. See, I always have my own version of a guidebook printed out for my trips with info I get from the internet. After a few minutes, the other guy who was initially sleeping on the seats across us got up and started stretching. When Ed left to go to the loo, he'd started chatting me up asking about the ferries. Apparently, he was also off to Koh Phangan, and we were all planning on going to the Full Moon Party. He was Dan, also from England. Been traveling for around 9 months already, having gone to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Now he's on his Southeast Asia leg. Invited me to travel with him to Cambodia, actually, but I'd told him I didn't have enough time. He'd alternated attending university with working as an electrician and had saved enough money for his long-haul trip. (Imagine that? It's unfathomable for Filipinos to save that much money by being an electrician in the Philippines. Heck, even I could only afford short trips in SOUTHEAST ASIA! Bleagh...) We had agreed to travel together with Ed all the way to our resorts in Koh Phangan. Since we were all seated separately in the plane, we decided to just meet up by the carousels at the Koh Samui airport. Got to sneak some photos of the sunrise as we took off from the airport. Quite a sight.
Got to Koh Samui by 7am. While waiting for our bags, Dan and Ed realized that they were batchmates from the same university in London. HAHA! I told them they'd traveled halfway around the world only to see each other again, and then eventually meeting up with common friends who are already in Haad Rin, Koh Pangan. Hehe... Amazing. :)
At the airport we learned that there were counters that sold ferry tickets that had a shuttle service from the airport to the pier bundled with them. All three of us got on the same ride - shuttle to the Bo Phut/Big Buddha pier in Koh Samui and then the Seatran ferry to the Thong Sala pier in Koh Phangan. We stayed at the deck for the fresh breeze and had a fun chat about our own travel stories for the entire hour's travel to the island.
At Thong Sala, we thought we could all hop in a taxi and share the cost as the boys would drop me off at my resort first before heading off to theirs. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way in Koh Phangan. Their taxis are either airconditioned vans or redesigned pick-up trucks called "songthaews" to accommodate passengers on benches welded on each side of the cab. The boys had to get on the white vans as they were headed straight to Haad Rin while I had to hop on a songthaew for the Ban Kai/Ban Tai area. I said goodbye to the boys as we looked forward to seeing each other at the party that evening.
Touchdown
I arrived at MY PHANGAN RESORT at 10am, Thailand time. Got myself a Singha (Thai lager beer) and ordered pad thai (Thai noodles) for brunch while waiting for my bungalow to be cleaned up. A bungalow of my own with an ensuite toilet and bath plus my very own hammock at a beachfront resort. Roughly 12hrs after I left Philippine soil, I was finally in my happy place. Oh yes...
Got my bungalow a bit before noon. Settled in, showered, and stretched out on the bed before falling asleep. Needed to make sure I had enough energy for the unknown adventure for that evening's Full Moon Party.
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