We'd stayed an extra night on Ko Tao just to make well and truly sure that the Full Moon revellers would be starting to leave some accommodation on Ko Pa Ngan for the rest of us. And getting off the boat we were greeted by literally hundreds if not thousands of groups of girlies and lads - some even still covered in fluorescent paint, all leaving in a mass exodus.
We made our way to Haad Khom beach which James, a friend of Angel's who lives on the island, suggested. He said it was quieter than other places and with a really nice beach - but still accessible by bike. Unfortunately though, we asked in every single place and they were all full. Next we tried Chaloklum, but same story so we came to Haad Salat and three hours later, we finally got a woman whose huts were full till the next day but she sorted us out with an old toothless guy whose one room was half way up a mountain -typical!
Angel spent the next couple of days working while I moved our stuff over to the new place and got comfy for some serious Angel-less peace and quiet in my hammock with my book. Actually having said that, we've spent 24 hours a day together for about the last 5 months and not killed each other yet- nor, more importantly wanted to, so it's not too bad! Ha ha.
We went round to see James when we arrived. Angel first met him when they worked together ten years ago here at the animal hospital. We met his five dogs, all of which he'd rescued from death. One was blind, one had three legs and there were a couple which Angel recognised from the animal hospital when he was here four years ago - just after he met me.
We went out the next night with James and his 'hot date', a British Chinese girl he'd met doing his scuba diving instruction. James, took us to his favourite karaoke restaurant, and then afterwards to an anniversary party at another restaurant owned by western women. The bonus was that the food was free and it was all stuff like baguettes and pate, which we hadn't had for aaaages. So we met some of the ex pats on the island. It wasn't a really late night though as the next morning Angel had to do an amputation and a spay on a golden retriever which was heavily pregnant with 7 puppies. Poor dog! All the dogs there seem to be missing something - even skin! Gross! And three of the girls who volunteer there have caught ring worm. Georgina, the admin girl even has it on her mouth from kissing the puppies! It could be worse though, apparently this morning a king cobra came out of the long grass to try and get a bite of the action!;)
The next night we went out with all the people from the hospital - PAC (Pangan Animal Clinic), which is a charity run mostly by volunteers. It ended up being Angel and one more bloke and then about ten hot chicks - which I'm sure the boys didn't mind too much about! Actually the girls really welcomed us - especially Por the Thai nurse and Stacey, an American vet, who both came to see us off at the pier when we left - very sweet!
After dinner, they took us to a bar called Bangers and Mash where we all proceeded to get a bit mashed!
The next day Angel wasn't working - and he was all happy about that even after not working for months(!) so we went for lunch - Somtam and Kaow meow - spicy papaya salad and sticky rice ..mmmm sooooo good!
That night James invited us go with him to a friend's leaving do in another bar with free food! James works freelance for different dive schools and I told him that he fits the stereotype of the buff muscley slightly older guy who charms all the young girls in his dive groups!;)
We met lots of ex pat divers, and as the Irish say, had a bit of craic. There was an slightly geeky looking American air force pilot I was talking to who really cracked me up - telling me about how he innocently sent a parcel of alcohol (with return address) to a mate in Afganistan..he didn't realise that it was illegal till he got arrested and chucked in 'jail'. He got to know his tough fellow inmates pretty well though (all of whom started calling him whitey as he was the only White guy). Hilarious.
Actually one of the ex pats we met was a Japanese woman with hair down to her knees called Mina. Later on, Angel was telling James how she seemed familiar and that he'd once met a Japanese girl in Sri Lanka called Mina about 10 years ago, who was travelling with her little baby. It took Angel 4 beers and about 2 hours for the penny to drop that it was the same girl! Small world!
We're now on the ferry heading to Surat Thani and then we'll get the night train to Bangkok, so we'll have two days before flying to Hong Kong. Definitely time for a bit of shopping and more delicious street food!
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