Day 2 of my scooter adventures. Today I planned to check out the northwest
corner of Ko Phangan, and wouldn’t be logging as many miles as yesterday. I headed south along the coastline before
cutting inland and then heading back north.
The start of my ride:
I pulled into this empty lot that had some interesting grafitti.
Can you figure this one out? I couldn't. Don't know what the first guy is, then there's joint, a slice of pizza that looked like it had teeth, a happy martini, a green moon smoking a joint and then some sloppy pieces of pizza...hmm...
This one was even more bizarre, the only thing that made sense was the bum farting in the middle.
A few kilometres down the road was this defunct water park. The two slides down the middle had a ramp at the end and looked like they would have been exciting.
By chance, I passed by a Chinese Temple called Kuan Yin, that I had seen on some YouTuber’s video of things to check out on the island. I did a quick U-turn and came back to the entrance and parked the bike. The entrance fee was only 40 baht (less than $2) and it was worth the short visit.
The entrance to the temple.
I wandered around the small, vibrantly coloured temple
buildings and enjoyed the views.
Oh, and some of the statues were good too.
Buddha's hiding in there.
So was Vishnu from Hinduism:
You have to like Buddha's always happy demeanor.
The temple was set in a lovely location.
Hard to see, but above the building is the ocean.
Some kind of dragon totem pole:
One of the main buildings:
Probably the highlight was a big metallic bell-shaped gong with
a wooden dragon sculpture that was hanging from a few lines which was to be
used to swing into the gong. The gong was
perfectly sized and hung at the right height that allowed me to stick my head
under it in order to hear the fantastic resonating sound.
A gong with some kind of wooden dragon "knocker":
Do you like my hat?!?
Time to bang a gong...
A big drum:
"Don't quit your day job Dave."
This was a cool bridge:
Scootering towards Chaloklum Beach:
After my twenty-minute visit, I hopped back on the bike to
make my way towards Chaloklum Beach. Out
the corner of my eye, I got a glimpse of sign for the “First Bow & Arrow
Club”. I pulled over and did a quick
search on my phone and it looked like a family run business that accepted
drop-ins. I backtracked to check it out.
The place was empty, and I was greeted by a woman named Jan
who showed me a price list on the wall.
You could rent a bow and five arrows for a specific amount of time. Having never done archery before, I opted for
the ½ hour deal for 300 baht ($12-13) as I figured that my fingers and/or arms
might be tired by then. She gave me some
instructions and did a demo and then outfitted me with a forearm protector on
my left forearm and a piece of leather with a small hole that went over my right-hand
middle finger for pulling on the string.
My instructor Jan:
Jan gives me some instructions.
Trying as best as I could to follow her example and her
pointers, the first few rounds I had moderate success. Half of the arrows missed the board
completely. She recalibrated by
targeting scope (just a little metal circle really) and slowly I started to get
the hang of it…and it was quite fun.
Need to get that elbow higher...
The targets were 18 meters away.
Check it out...
Ya Baby!!! I almost wanted to quit my short archery career right then and there!
A German couple showed up and the guy shot some arrows for
about 15 minutes with me…not sure why he didn’t continue as he was doing quite
well. In the end, I stayed for an hour
but then I was starting to feel it in my fingers and it was starting to show in
my shots. Apart from my bullseye, my
highest scoring rounds were 26, 24 and 24 (the max is 50 – 5 x 10 bullseyes). It was a lot of fun and I’ll try it again sometime.
I loved these mini-gas stations, although I didn't end up using one.
A beautiful view from the north end of the island.
I briefly checked out Chakloklum Beach before moving on to a
restaurant that I also saw from that YouTubers video which was called “360
Restaurant”, due to its views but has recently been rebranded to the “420 Club”,
I gather since marijuana has been legalized in this country. It did have fantastic views, the food was
decent and the service was excellent.
The view from the 420 Club. The little strip of sand is Koh Ma beach (Koh means island so that tiny island is Koh Ma).
Awesome storm brewing over the ocean.
In the middle of the picture you can see a waterspout trying to form. It extended a bit closer to the water but then retracted back into the cloud.
Looking towards the mainland.
This was not planned...but my bill at the 420 Club was 420 bahts!
The parking lot below the restaurant. That's my bike on the right.
My last stop of the day was to visit Koh Ma Beach before
returning the scooter and walk along the 100-meter-long stretch of sand towards
the little island.
Koh Ma beach:
Walking out on the strip of sand.
Rock towers at the end of the strip:
A scooter with training wheels, saw a number of tourists riding these.
That evening I enjoyed dinner at the Salad Hut restaurant,
near my resort.
In the morning, I was headed to the even smaller island to the north, Ko Tao.
From Lamai Beach where I was staying, I ordered a Grab (the
Uber of Southeast Asia) and on the ride I clued in that probably every Thai
person, whether they speak English or not, know how to say two English numbers: 7 and 11.
I had heard that there were a lot of 7-11 convenience stores in Thailand,
but this was taken to the next level. In
my 11-kilometre ride to the ferry terminal, I saw at least twelve 7-11s! There was one instance that I think there was
only 500 meters between two of the stores…crazy!
I hopped on the 30 minute, midday ferry from Ko Samui over to the slightly
smaller island, Ko Phangan,
which is about 15 kilometres to the north. The resort (yes, resort!) that I was staying
at called Salad Buri had sent a driver to pick me up. Salad is the name of the beach where it is
located. I had decided to splurge a
little bit for this four night stay…and when I say a little bit, it was only
$45/night, but that it higher than my average nightly expense for
accommodations as that will add up quickly when you are travelling for 4
months.
The pier on Ko Samu. That's the ferry boat which could seat at least 100 people.
Arriving at Ko Tao...some kind of military ship. It was hard to tell if it was still operational.
Wow! Was I surprised
by my room. Located on a steep hillside,
it had a fabulous view of the small, sandy Salad Beach! That sealed the deal on my plan to have a
chill day tomorrow, relaxing and catching up on my blogging and some travel
planning.
My room for the next 4 nights...pretty sweet.
And look at the view from my room!!!
The restaurant at the resort. The food was okay but they closed early in the evenings. I ate a lot of my meals at another restaurant about 100 metres down the beach called the Salad Hut (no, they didn't specialize in salads...that's the name of the beach).
I felt like I was at an all-inclusive resort.
After a day of rest, it was time to rent a scooter to cruise
around the island. I hired a 125cc
scooter for 500 baht for two days ($20).
It was a pretty new bike and it served me well. It had enough power to climb some of the super
steep roads.
Good to go...
I loved these scooters that I saw on my ride...but maybe not secure enough in my masculinity to rent one!
My first plan was to head to the other side of the island, to Haad Rin Beach, which is where the infamous Full Moon Parties are held. There are parties not just for full moons, but half moons and new moons…but I’m sure almost any day of the week some kind of party can be found here. The “moon parties” tend to be all-night trance and techno music raves…not my cup of tea (never understood the monotonous thumping of techno) but it attracts a lot of young partiers, especially Israelis.
Arriving at Haad Rin.
Unfortunately this pick didn't come out, but it was "I ♥ Koh Phangan".
I walked up and down the beach, along some of the small side
streets, had a beer and then decided to try and find a nearby lookout point at the
head of the peninsula before heading to another section of the island.
One end of the beach:
Looking towards the other end.
A narrow, colourful street by the beach. Most businesses were closed as they cater to the evening and all-night partiers.
Some words of wisdom from a place where you can get buckets of beer and free body paint!
I liked these seats made from an oil drum.
Some Japanese restaurant:
Okay, time to relax. Even though the sun wasn't out, it was hot and humid.
Love the name!
Looking back towards Ko Samui from a viewpoint on the peninsula by Haad Rin.
The beach I was on is on the right.
Just a random pic on my ride out of Haad Rin:
This place was interesting...it's not a temple, it was a hotel that closed down in 2020. I guess the owners got in trouble for "cultural appropriation" of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
But to add to the intrigue..this sign was on the locked door, and it states "Do not enter, authorized personnel only. Photography or filming of pornographic videos is prohibited. If found guilty, will notify the police immediately." Huh...somebody did something they shouldn't have...
Hard to tell, but this is a pretty steep road.
Looking on a map, I noticed that there was a single road
that accessed a few beaches on the northeast side of the island. I was staying on the northwest side, but
could not drive directly from there so I figured since I was already a bit more
than halfway there…today would be my big scootering day and tomorrow I would
explore closer to my neck of the woods, or jungle, I guess.
A roundabout...the first one I've seen in Thailand.
It was nice to get on a quieter road and enjoy the hilly,
jungle scenery. There was a pretty
significant climb up a small mountain, and I was starting to get a little
concerned as to how much gas was left in my tank. The rental place gives you the bike with next
to no fuel in it, but I had purchased a couple of litres from them, which they
keep in glass bottles. I asked the guy how
many kilometres I could expect from a litre, and he stated about 40.
Heading towards Thong Nai Pan Yai Beach on the northeast side of the island.
I hadn’t done 80 clicks yet, but at least 60-70 and when I
had checked the tank before heading up this big hill, it didn’t look like I had
a whole lot left so I wasn’t racing up the steep incline, trying to be economical
with the gas. I was thinking to myself “Why
didn’t I just buy a couple more litres at the rental place, which would have
cost another $4, and I wouldn’t have had any worries?!?”. I stopped at a house by the road that had 4-5
ATVs for rent and a little stand with a sign saying “Gazoline” but all the bottles
were empty and tipped over and no one was around. I continued on, and a few kilometres later I
found a lady sitting at her little stand with a collection of gas filled
bottles and purchased a few litres from her…stress over.
This colourful dragon statue was outside of the entrance of some yoga retreat...not sure what the connection is...
I found my way down to Thong Nai Pan Yai Beach which was in
a nice little cove. It was time for a
mid to late afternoon snack as I hadn’t had lunch yet.
Thong Nai Pan Yai Beach:
I liked someone's Egyptian Giza Pyramid sand sculpture, including the Sphinx.
Interesting bathroom sign, the pee stream was animated.
Even more interesting urinal...I felt like I was peeing into some African clay oven.
My late lunch snack...gambling a bit here as it's usually wise to stick to cooked food to avoid "Thai Tummy", but this was yummy and I was no worse for wear.
Recharged, I decided that it was time to work my way back to
my beach as it was a bit of a circuitous route to get there.
There must be alot of accidents around this corner.
A strange looking entrance for a now abandoned park. The eyes had red light bulbs and it must have been pretty spooky at night.
I saw a few of these signs but I'm not sure what it was about. Looks like a young Colin Powell, the former US Secretary of State.
On my way back to Salad Beach.
Some kind of quirky art display made from garbage like old plastic bottles.
This was right beside the photo above...cool dragon. Its skin was made of seashells.
I liked the freaked out mushroom. In the little cartoon bubble he is saying "Color Fighter". And above the green guy, it looks like the chemical symbol for LSD. Yup, I think a lot of this type of activity goes on on this island.
It was a great day of exploring the island on a scooter.
