One week on a deserted island – a special trip in Ko Phayam

After our hitch hike ride to Bangkok and the night at Carol’s and Alan’s place we arrived early in the morning in Bangkok. Jack left back to Oz and I spent the time in the city before heading to the southern bus terminal. I grabbed a couple of snacks on the road and spent the day at the MBK shopping centre, mainly in electronic heaven on the fourth floor trying to fix my broken IPhone screen (yep, it happened once again)…Well for me it was rather electronic hell…

In the evening I made my way to the bus terminal by local bus which took well over an hour – you got to love Bangkok’s traffic- to catch the night bus to Ranong. Well, at that point I wasn’t even sure which southern Island I’d prefer to pay a visit.
The departure time helped me decide to actually head to Ko Phayam as it was the earliest bus to leave. The ride was easy and comfortable,I was the only Farrang (generic word for Westeners in Thai) on the bus, and even locals weren’t interested in heading the same direction as me.

Arriving at 5am seeing the dark clouds over this sleepy town I knew why… Low season really means low season and for reason. Damn I’m smashing them rhymes… 😂

After having walked a couple of minutes away from the station onto the main road, I got a free lift on a scooter to the boat terminal. Absolutely drenched I enjoyed a couple of good coffees before boarding the slow boat to Ko Phayam.

Ko Phayam is one of the more laid back islands in the South West of Thailand and considered one of the most unspoiled and beautiful ones. It seemed pretty deserted to me, but that’s what I was after: Me-time.

I stayed at Gold Key resort on Bufallo beach at the beginning but then moved to Sabai Sabai bungalows close to the pier afterwards, as the bungalows were a lot nicer. I spent my days reading in my hammock, swimming if the weather permitted, writing my blog, practicing yoga and hanging out with the locals at the Hippie Bar, which like many other places was actually closed.

The very few people I met had the same idea of their stay as me, just enjoying a very peaceful island away from all the crowds.

I did have a fun evening with a German couple and a few great chats with a lovely Spanish girl who was writing a book during her stay. I even got to eat a delicious “Rinder Gulasch” (beef stew) cooked by a local German.

After a relaxing but rainy week I took off by boat back to Ranong and finally back to Bangkok by overnight bus. I slept in the lobby of the Chill- out hostel close to Khao San road, had a shower there and even got a neck massage by the Australian owner who I chat to the whole day – and this all for free. Lucky me.

A local bus got me to Don Mueang airport where I slept in the waiting hall on a couple of seats… 😬 It wasn’t too uncomfortable actually… And I was certainly not the only one who had the same idea to camp at the airport rather than taking a way too expensive taxi in the middle of the night in order to catch my 6am morning flight to BALI….. 😬