Day 75-79 Koh Phangan

Most people we spoke to said this island isn't too great, it's only really known for the full moon parties.

We didn't fancy the full moon party and the timing didn't really work with our schedule anyway, so we decided to go for the Black Moon Party instead (they also have half moon parties too).

We stayed at a place called Echo Beach,  mostly because it was the cheapest we found, for around £2.70 a night including a buffet breakfast. 

The hostel was a cool place,  with a bar, cinema room and hammocks on the beach.

Our room was a dorm with eight beds in but there was only three of us in the room, which meant we picked the beds that got the most fan breeze...yay!

On our first day, we just chilled out on the hammocks.

And watched a beautiful sunset just outside our hostel..

The second day was our moon party day. 

We got scooters out. I've managed to object to them for this long so I suppose I had to give in at some point. 

We got two between us and all had a go at driving. 

It's pretty simple to control but I still nearly managed to crash into a car and swerved into the opposite side of the road, burning my skin in the process.

It was free to get into the party before 6pm, or £10 after. So we drove up the mountain to it before 6pm and stayed for the sunset. 

The lady said she weren't really supposed to do it but she gave us a wristband so we could go in again later without paying. 

We found a good food market..

Explored and found where Ben and Elena were staying..

Skyped Dad..

Then got ready for the party.    

We started in a bar called Fubar, on Hadrin beach (the party area). 

We came to the island with Sam and Eve, whom we met in Ko Tao. They decided to opt out of the party but came to Fubar with us.

Then we headed to the party.

We were a bit sceptical about the party because the music was 'space trance' which we weren't sure if we'd like..but given the surroundings and great venue, it was still enjoyable.

We had a brilliant night! 

We tried to find Ben and Elena but couldn't...but we did come with a lovely Canadian girl we met at the hostel, called Cameel.

We got home around 5am.

The next day, we felt pretty grim! 

We spent a considerable amount of it in bed and the rest of it in the cinema room.

In the evening we had a bbq..

I Skyped one of my best friends (always the best hangover cure)..

And watched another beautiful sunset. We'd go as far as saying the sunsets we've seen on this island are the best yet.

For our last day, we got scooters out again (to my delight) and drove to 'Mushroom Mountain' on Hadrin Beach.

The journey there is all steep hills and bends, so I feared for our lives most of the way, whilst Marie loved it.

Mushroom Mountain is actually called 'Mellow Mountain' but nicknamed for its infamous mushroom shakes.

We didn't have long before our journey that evening and weren't sure how much they'd affect us, so we just shared one shake between three.

*we do not condone drug taking of course but natural ingredients is possibly acceptible in very small doses?* 

Anyways, it turned out that it wasn't strong at all and we didn't feel a thing.

Some people we were with had one each and still didn't feel it. We had heard that sometimes they're more watered down up there and there are better places to go, so maybe elsewhere they'd have been good.

Before we left, we had a little time to send out some birthday wishes to our Grandma in England and our sister-in-law in New Zealand..

Next stop...Koh Phi Phi!