Off to Phuket

Leaving Koh Phangan today and headed over to Phuket on the West coast.  Phuket is also known for it's beaches but is a much larger island and has an airport, so I figure I can spend a few days there before heading to my next destination.  Malaysia perhaps?

I'm pretty glad I'm headed out.  The full moon party was interesting but the island is far too touristy for my taste and water is still on and off.  I thought it was coming back on Wednesday night, and I started a shower but after I soaped up I tried to turn the water on to rinse off and nothing came out.  Fortunately I hadn't risked washing my hair, but I was covered in soap all night.  And then we didn't have any water when I got home Thursday either, which was a bit of an issue because I was covered in paint from the party.  I ended up rinsing off in the parking lot / garden with water from the rain barrels and was able to take a short shower later in the day, but when I tried to rinse off after going to the beach there was no water again, so I had to go to bed covered in sand.  I'm glad that it came back on again this morning since I won't have a chance to shower until tomorrow.

I had a last lunch with one of my friends and then took a songthaew to Haad Rin to work on booking the trip to Phuket.  The boats all leave from Thong Sala where I was before but I talked to a woman yesterday who gave me a decent price and I figured it would be more fun to hang out in Haad Rin while I wait for the boat.

Enjoying my last few hours on the beach at Haad Rin

I shopped around a little in Haad Rin, just to be sure, but ended up with the same agency I had planned on.  She gave me a (very small) discount, and was a lot more helpful than the other places I talked to.  Plus, they're going to give me a ride to the pier a few hours early so that, hopefully, I can secure a bunk on the night boat, instead of having to sleep on the pad that they throw out on the floor, next to a bunch of other backpackers.  I'm a little bit wary of this leg of my trip because I haven't read many positive reviews about the night boat experience, and I keep hearing that it has bed bugs which doesn't sound very appealing to me... but I also didn't want to arrive in Phuket late at night and then have trouble finding accommodations.

Anyway, I'm happy because I found the perfect place to sit and write!  I have a couple hours before I have to be back at the travel agency so I headed to the beach where I found an empty bar. Its shady, relatively quiet, and has wifi! It's a wonderful sunny day, I can see the fishermen out by the rocks, the colorful taxi boats in the water, and workers who are still cleaning up from the party.