Location: Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand

I went for breakfast at a little outdoor Thai place called Tom’s Kitchen with Sean and Orlagh, and we all sat trying to come up with a plan while we waited for Moss to pick us up at ‘1, 2, or 3PM’. Since we had an unknown amount of hours to kill we decided to rent motorbikes and explore a bit. Can’t go wrong with that! Just as we were being handed the keys and readying up to leave guess who shows up?!

Moss. Two and a half hours early! He saw us renting the bikes and he goes! ‘Oh good we can go now! Beach time, follow me!’

The scooter I rented was a lot more sporty and generally more responsive, which also means less stable, and it took me a hot second to get used to how tippy it felt. I do have to say I felt a little less nerdy on it as Moss led us down street after street to eventually arrive at Ao Chaloklum Bay. I forgot to mention that the speedometer didn’t work on the bike I had in Koh Tao so I had this hilarious image of myself feeling like I was going a million km an hour down the highway but in reality it was probably like 10. Well the speedometer was working just fine in this bike and I was surprised to see I was going 50! (I know that’s not impressively fast but I felt like a badass ok let me have this).

We waded in and out of the warm water in the shallow bay, in between bouts of Moss pulling out his bag of magic tricks and teaching us the basics of his performances. He had batons, glass balls, juggling balls and practice fire performance balls, all of which he happily taught us under the shade of a grove of palm trees. Jacob from Denmark and Laya from Spain joined us from the hostel and jumped right in on learning all the tricks. We eventually asked to join a volleyball game and ended up playing five full length games with two whole teams!

I haven’t played volleyball in ages so I was extremely happy that this came about and probably could have spent a few more hours playing if I didn’t have somewhere to be…

Guess who’s baaaaack!?

Annie from a couple of weeks ago!! We met in Phuket for about 30 seconds before she cancelled all her plans and followed me to Ao Nang, where we spent the next few days happily exploring and making friends. I knew she was waiting for me at Secret Mountain, a hilltop bar where we could watch the sunset. Moss, Orlagh, Sean, Jacob, Laya and I jumped on our bikes and rode up a steep hill to the mountain and I was barely off my bike before I heard the excited ‘eeeee!’ coming from up the hill. We literally ran and immediately fell in to step talking over each other in a rush to catch up on everything that’s happened since we parted ways. As if not a moment had passed we ordered a beer to share and hopped in the rooftop pool to really catch up. Eventually we joined the others up a story on a balcony and watched the sun go down, all of us getting to know each other.

I was so glad to have Annie back for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was that she makes socializing effortless in a group. Within the hour she had everyone laughing and making fun of each other as the sun went down and the sky turned red.

Now a group of seven, we returned to the hostel and had a couple beers, adding Connor and Justine from England, Vincent from a Germany, and Damien from France to the group. And then there were 11. We played games and chatted around the table, eventually all caving around 10:30 to the invites to a jungle party. I was the very last to agree because two days in a row sounds like so much effort but I did show up to a party island. What did I expect?!

I’ve been to a few bush parties at home back in my youth where we have a bonfire and drink in the woods. Is a jungle party like that??

Um no. No it is not.

We exited the cab and I was almost immediately bombarded with offers for every kind of drug I could think of as we walked towards the venue. I’ve been here 4 seconds no I don’t want MDMA holy shit. Thankfully inside the venue was alcohol and weed only.

As we approached we entered through an alley of people getting body painted in bright neon colours. Fire dancers greeted us through the door as we looked down into the venue from atop the hill. A mass of people danced in a colourful smoke filled area in front of a stage, where a DJ played from inside a giant white dragons head. Costumed and winged women danced on either side of the dragons head in crazy colours. Lights flashed, beach balls bounced in the crowd and more than a dozen bar counters flooded with people stood all around the venue. We danced until 2:30 AM, which I felt was a respectable time for my inner 21 year old to return home and still get a reasonable sleep. I stayed pretty sober because despite my attempt to appease my younger self I also do not actually have it in me to party fully two days in a row anymore.

I can absolutely see why this island is known for its parties if that was basically just a warm up for tomorrow!! Good god what have I gotten myself into?!

At least I have Annie!

Sav