When Andy and I first agreed to go to Koh Pha Ngan, it was meant to be a short visit with beer, beach and swimming. The first half of the week lived up to expectations. I could crawl out of bed and into a sun lounger in the middle of the afternoon, just before it was time for the first beer. Everything I needed was within a hundred metres’ walk. While the sun was up, I could move from the beanbag to the sea, to the pool, to the bar and back into the beanbag.
Thong Sala, the Coastal Town
After four days of more or less complete island meltdown, I headed into the town of Thong Sala. I’d already been there one of the first days to check out another hostel, but I hadn’t formed anything like the picture of the town that I usually build up in most other places I visit.
Thong Sala is a coastal town. It’s where the ferry dropped us off, and it’s a port town of a decent size. It isn’t so big, though, that you can’t comfortably walk around it without packing hiking gear and provisions.
Right by the ferry pier there’s a large open square used for various markets. Over the course of the week I’ve seen a spiritual eco-hippie market day with yoga and meditation stalls, home-grown vegetables and vegan food. Later in the week the square was turned into a pseudo-indoor marketplace, with tents and tarpaulins tied together into a roof. Tons of food stalls, clothes and souvenirs, plus a handful of tombolas, shooting galleries and rides for the kids.
There’s also a large warship sitting on dry land on the square, which you can walk into and see from the inside. When I visited, an art exhibition had been set up inside it, with a local photographer’s images of Koh Pha Ngan across the last fifty years. The exhibition doesn’t paint a particularly recognisable picture. A gravel road with a procession of people carrying a cart on their shoulders, a couple of empty chairs on top of it. An older woman talking to a young girl while they cook in large bowls. Not primitive or poor, just not Western, and not built around wealthy tourists.
The exhibition shows a completely different world from the one I stepped out into when I left the ship. Out onto a buzzing road with scooters, a taxi driver willing to take me anywhere on the island, and three 7-Elevens.
A Food Expedition
Throughout my trip I’ve been in something of a saving mode, but here on Koh Pha Ngan I’ve decided to loosen the purse strings a bit. To make sure the message had properly sunk in, I went to one of the most expensive restaurants I could find: The Catch.
I arrive right at opening time and get a table. I’m the only guest in a rather smart and nicely decorated restaurant. There are four waiters standing behind the till, watching, and another two wandering around making tiny adjustments to the table decorations.
I’m handed the menu and note that a restaurant called “The Catch” thankfully specialises in fish. I order a green salad, a salmon dish and a glass of white wine. It’s certainly not cheap, but we’re here now, and I think my combination is shaping up to be a good meal. On top of that, I ask for some extra water.
The food arrives fairly quickly. I sit and enjoy it in relative peace and quiet, apart from a bit of chatter from the staff and a sound system that could maybe be two decibels lower. It’s a pleasant atmosphere, and I’m glad that the dishes I picked are both well cooked and genuinely tasty. The salmon I allow myself to enjoy in small mouthfuls, in different combinations of the sweet potato purée, the grilled broccoli and the creamy potato gratin. The white should probably have been a Riesling rather than a Pinot.
After the meal I get the bill. I pay it, thinking “well, that was a bit pricey”. Around 300 kroner. It’s a bit more than I’d worked out from the menu, though. I look at the bill again and discover that I’ve paid 45 kroner for 750 millilitres of imported Italian water. And what can you do in that situation other than laugh.
A Break in the Trip
My stay on Koh Pha Ngan has been fairly unplanned. That goes for where I’m sleeping as well. I’ve more or less been extending day by day at the beach hostel that Andy and I originally found. The problem with extending day by day is that at some point there might not be a bed left.
That’s exactly what happened at the start of the week, which forced me to look around for alternatives. On the booking app I found a deal on a bungalow not far from the hostel. Two days in a private bungalow sounded unusually appealing.
When I arrived at the bungalow, I found out that it was part of a small resort with its own restaurant, pool and taxi, laundry and tour services. The complete package. The bungalow itself was also far better than expected. Soft bed, good air conditioning, a private bathroom in clean and decent condition, a fridge and a small desk.
It didn’t take long before I decided to see whether I could extend my stay. The receptionist, the manager and I looked into it. We could work out a reasonably cheap deal if I stayed for a fortnight. Not quite as cheap as my first two nights, since prices were set to go up later in the month. The prices follow the festival calendar, and one of the biggest festivals of the year starts in the latter part of August. Even so, the price was good enough that I said yes to a fortnight in the bungalow.
What to Do With the Time
I now have a fortnight in a bungalow on Koh Pha Ngan. The last day is the 30th of August. A fortnight sounds like a lot on a small island that I could explore in a couple of days if I put my mind to it. But I’m looking forward to a small break from travelling. A stretch of time where I can dig into some of my projects while slowly getting to know the locals.
My plans for a diving certificate haven’t disappeared. Just been pushed back to September.
There are nightclubs and festivals in constant rotation on the island, so if I need a bit of distraction, there’s no shortage of it. And now that I’m going to be here for one of the bigger festivals anyway, I might well end up going out for a night or two. After the past week of beers and beach, though, I haven’t had much appetite for the whole party thing. We’ll see if the urge comes back.
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