The ferry to Koh Phangan leaves from the town of Don Sak, approximately 35 miles east of Surat Thani. The ferries leave at 8:00 am, 10:00 am, and then there isn't another departure until 2:00 pm. Our plan today was to catch the 10:00 ferry, which meant we needed to leave by 8:30 to safely make it. Re was feeling better this morning, but the rash that began on her palms and soles now seemed to have spread everywhere. She insisted that she was good to go after eating some more crackers and drinking another electrolyte drink. However, we did not make it onto the road until 8:40, so it was now a race to catch the boat. The weather cooperated, but my clutch did not.

The road between Surat Thani and Don Sak passed through some gently rolling terrain, but each incline required that I slow to keep my clutch from slipping. After we'd covered about 20 miles, Re signaled for me to slow down so she could say something. She said she was feeling a little queasy and wanted to know how much farther to the ferry. I told her we had about 15 miles, and reminded her to flip up the front of her helmet if she had to barf (since I have actually seen the aftermath of somebody barfing inside a full-face helmet, with the shield down ). We followed the GPS directions to the Raja Ferry pier and made it with ten minutes to spare. I paid for the tickets (280 baht or just over 9 USD each) and then we rode down to the dock.



Since we had a few minutes, Re decided to run into the bathroom and barf. On her way back, she picked up some water and potato chips for the trip.



While she was gone, they tooted the horn to signal the imminent departure of the ferry, so I rode over to let them know that we were coming. As soon as we rode down the ramp onto the boat, they raised the ramp and got underway. Fortunately for Re, the ferry was huge, so the ride was smooth. Re was able to eat some food on board and generally felt better before we arrived at Koh Phangan.

The ferry docked at around noon, and we rode off into a scorching hot day. We didn't know where we were going to stay but had written down the names of some promising beaches to scout. The beaches we were interested in were on the northwestern coast, so we headed in that direction, through the center of the island. Once we reached the north shore, we turned left onto a smaller road that was extremely hilly. As we made our way south down the west coast, my hill climbing ability continued to diminish. Just before we got to Had Yao (Long Beach) I found myself in first gear, only at about a quarter throttle, and actually duck-walking my bike over the top of a hill. Afraid to go any further, we decided to stay in Had Yao. Re started scouting bungalows, and soon returned with great news. We had expected to pay somewhere between 400 and 600 baht (13 to 20 USD) for a fan bungalow on the beach. Instead, Re found us a beachfront bungalow, with A/C, a fridge, and a hot shower for only 600 baht. The beach here is beautiful, Re is feeling better, so maybe things are looking up.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and walking on the beach before turning our attention to dinner. In one of the little tourist guides in our bungalow, there was a review of a restaurant here in Had Yao called, Crave. The reviewer said they serve excellent burgers, and since the owner/chef is French Canadian, they also make some great poutine. Both of us have been craving a really good burger for a long time, so we decided to try it for dinner. Today actually is our 23rd wedding anniversary, which gave us all the more reason to skip a cheap Thai meal and splurge on something different. Crave lived up to the review, with great food and friendly owners. I had a thick, juicy, most excellent burger with real blue cheese, sauteed mushrooms, and onions, while Re had the “Monster Meatloaf,” which was a one-inch thick slab of meatloaf on a bun, with bbq sauce and homemade dill pickle rings. Their fries were excellent as well, and we really enjoyed our meal. On the way back to the room, we picked up and ice cream before heading back to the room for the inevitable.


75 miles in about 4.5 hours, but 25 miles of it was by boat. My clutch is in even worse shape than I feared, so we may not be doing too much riding on the island.