Koh Phangan - Thailand

There's a pretty efficient ferry system that runs between Koh Tao, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. Ferries leave 4/5 times a day, each varying in price and duration. We caught the seatran - a slower ferry after our bad experience with the high speed Catalan. The ticket cost 430TB and was one of the more expensive due to the departure time (10am) and duration of 1.30hrs. 

Once we'd docked in Koh Phangan, ice cream ladies stood on the side walk filling icecream into baskets attached to long sticks. They then leant over, passing the baskets to customers who were on upper deck and continuing to Koh Samui. As soon as we stepped off the ferry, we were bombarded by ventures and advertisers - the most hassled we've been while away. Flyers, leaflets and vouchers were thrown in our faces and it was all a bit over whelming. By this point, we still hadn't managed to book accomadation since everything online was ridiculously over priced; 4X more expensive than off peak. People approached us trying to sell us rooms available in Haad Rin, but don't bother booking with them; once you're in Haad Rin, there's loads of available places which don't advertise online and cost a quarter of the price. 

A shared taxi ride from the port to Sunset Beach cost us 100TB each. The full moon party is located on Sunrise Beach and accommodation here is the most expensive. I wouldn't reccomend it since a lot of the accommodation are hostels and you won't get once decent night sleep. Sunset beach is a 5 minute walk from Sunrise and offers a quieter and cleaner location. We stayed at Sunset Bungalows, the cheapest accommodation we could find as they don't raise their prices come peak season. If you arrive a few days before full moon, there should be some bungalows left since you can't book online or over the phone. The bungalows are located just before Sunset beach and just after Neptune Villas. We paid 500TB a night (£5) for a okayish bungalow with a cold shower but good wifi. It all really depends on how much money you want to spend and your expectations of accommodation since the average price per night in Haad Rin is £30 for a 10 bed dorm. If there's no space at Sunset, there are a few hotels just before which sell rooms for 1000TB a night (£10). You just need to bare in mind that rooms do sell out quickly a day or two before full moon so it's worth going over to Koh Phangan 3 days before. 

After we settled in, we went for a wander around Haad Rin. On the map, Haad Rin looks quite big but everything is in walkable distance. Food and drink was waaaaay more pricey than anywhere else we had visited (60TB for Pad Thai) and the food is pretty shit. Our local food place was on one of the main roads that head down to the beach (the road which has the 7/11 bridge on). It's called Ladinos and does the yummiest food at a decent price. We pretty much lived on their chicken shawarmas (the most amazing thing I have ever eaten) and toasties.