Hat Salad

No, that's not what I had for dinner last night, that's the name of the area I'm staying in western Koh Phangan. Before I left the last place I booked a room for three nights up here. Good thing too as the resorts are quite spread out.

Again I'm on another idyllic crescent shaped beach strewn with resorts ranging from five star to almost no star. It's a mix of young couples and families with a few of the usually elderly chain smoking Germans. Hey, weren't you at my last place? I came to Thailand to explore and see some beautiful places and I didn't think about how damn romantic it might be here. I thought there would be more solo travellers out here. Every time I see one I think they are weird. If being a little bit lonely at times is my biggest problem then I'm a lucky man. It's not a hard problem to solve. I've realized on this trip that I'm a big planner. Now that I have my next few days booked I can get onto business. Doing nothing!

Yesterday I rented a scooter and drove around the northern tip of the island. So much fun, the thing goes 80km/hr no problem. I was checking out various bungalows and randomly found a waterfall to climb. There was a place offering jungle tours where you could ride an elephant. I thought about it but decided I had no interest paying $20 to ride a stinky elephant. Later on I rode my scooter to the quaint fishing village of Chaloklum for a romantic dusk dinner for one by the sea.

Earlier that day I saw the strangest creature. I was riding over a small bridge and from the corner of my eye saw an alligator swimming through the creek. But it wasn't an alligator. It had the head of a snake and was flicking its tongue. It didn't have feet, they were more like flippers. After pausing it glided gracefully through the water.

Thailand is a lot more developed, and expensive, compared to Indonesian and Vietnam for tourism. It's strange but I've actually had better food in those two countries as well. If you really want to get off the beaten path I think you need to go to Myamar or Cambodia but for me that's not what this trip is about. The style of travelling is different than when I was in Bali. In Bali I would base myself in Kuta Beach for a few weeks and do day trips surfing. In Thailand I'm moving from place to place every few days. I'm really enjoying the swimming. 

My favourite unexpected thing has been being in the jungle at night. It's amazing to lie in bed and hear all the thousands of creatures making a symphonic racket as you fall asleep.