It Was Bound to Happen

I had my first bad day of my vacation. I'm in my 3rd week of traveling and everything was going smoothly until today. I decided to leave beautiful Ko Tao (pics will be up soon) and head to Ko Phangan, a few miles away. It has a reputation as the party capital of SE Asia and its famous for it's Full Moon parties and beach raves. It's not full moon so my Rough Guides book said it would be more laid back and relaxing so I though I'd give it a shot. I called ahead for a dorm bed at a yoga retreat and was all set.

I left Ko Tao by catameran in the morning and that was fine. Once I landed I ended up walking in the wrong direction for 20 minutes and had to walk back to the start because I didn't want to go with a shady taxi driver. What a dump - Ko Phangan is not what I expected at all. I should note that I need to get a cab to another part of the island and then take a longboat to the yoga retreat - keep that in mind. Anyhoo, after finally returning, I ate something and got into a cab with some Eglish girls and we were on our way. I was dropped at the other pier and was waiting with a nice Norwegian couple for more people to show or we could pay more so we could leave with a half empty boat. Urgggggg, I'm getting annoyed now. I'm hot, I'm sweaty, and I don't feel like lugging my pack all over the island anymore and I really want people to stop trying to scam me. The boy from Norway tried to talk them down, but it was a no go and it didn't seem like anyone esle was going to show. He then got a taxi to drive us there in a 4 wheel drive truck for a good price and then the boat driver was trying to tell us that we wouldn't make it, I would have to walk a bit (which I knew, but was better than hanging around a smelly pier all day), blah, blah, blah, just being a jerk because we weren't taking the boat anymore. We left to go on our 4 wheel drive adventure and it was a white knuckled trip up and down this 'road' and I though we were going to fall off the road and die at any minute. The road had grades as steep as 25% and I was a bit worried about my stuff falling off the back, down a revine never to be seen again. Shit, what did I get myself into exactly?

Finally I made it to the yoga retreat after getting dropped off and hiking for about 10 minutes - this nice secluded beach and little huts and open air yoga platforms. It was over 2.5 hours since I landed and I was tired. I get to the check in desk and ask for the dorm bed and guess what? THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY AVAILABLE. I was like, um excuse me? I just called and you said you had rooms! What I think happened was this - I asked for a dorm bed and then she asked me if I was doing this colonic cleansing ritual or something and as soon as I said no, she said they didn't have any available. Fuckin great. I'm really pissed right now because I spent a bit of cash and effort to get there and now had to go all the way back and start over. I took the last truck back to the pier, got on a motorbike taxi and was dropped at my second choice, Leela Beachhuts. Rough Guide again gave this a good review, but the room is on the hillside away from the beach, parts of the walls are rotting away, bathroom is cement and has holes, kinda scary. It will suffice for the night, but I expected more. It's got me thinking also that I may need to upgrade my sleeping arrangements from here on out and spend a bit more for something I will enjoy. I'm past the point in Thailand where things will be dirt cheap so I may more to be more realistic about how much I'm going to be paying for stuff. It was good while it lasted! It's not like I'm a starving college student so I guess I can loosen the pursestrings a bit and live a little.

So, all in all, my moral is a bit low right now. Boo. There is nothing to do except drink and I was looking for a bit more. I feel like I'm trapped in Tijuina. I may go for a drink tonight, but I'm not really interested in raving with Euro trash on the beach at all. Looking to book that ticket to Ko Lanta right now...