Koh Phangan -- A Condensed Guide

[t.s]

Depending on your length of stay, the best plan of action may be to base yourself in a comfortable/quiet/central location, and explore Koh Pha-Ngan from there.

Drugs of any sort can turn a wonderful holiday into a nightmare.

jose '-)

Aint that just a matter of opinion. Some might argue that drugs can turn a nightmare into a wonderful holiday. Either way, why do you feel the need to preach?

The most important thing to remember about KPG is the the water is seasonal.

thong nai pan has great water all year, but is becoming somwhat haadrin. than sadet is nice year round, but big surf in nov, december jan etc. also power is intermitentent

Check out Dolphin bungalows (cheap, good booze chilled gret musicc, wonderful beach) or baan panburi. Panburi can be expensive, but the food is very good as is the service. it is always booked out.

On the road between thongsala and haadrin, i recommend milky bay -- again very good food.

Also try harmony, booms etc. all these only have water 1/2 the year

Also on that road sunbeach bungalows (near but well outside haadrin. - clean rooms good value good beach from sept - may, the rest of the yerar the water is sporadic and you have to walk over the reef.

If you want to shed money, try haad salad. snorkeling is excellent (though again, water is almost non existant during the april, may june etc.. months. 2 places have pools though. The papaya (stupidly expensive but nice) at the far end of the beach is a great mom and pop operation for about 300 baht/night.

mae haad on the northeast coast is also great as is haad yao. I would stay out of hin kong/sri thanu as the beach is crap.

Chaloklam is my favourite village on the island, and there are some great little resorts up that way. Again water permitting, malibu can be a piece of heaven, though chaloklam bay has far too much fishing boat traffic. (price you pay for living near a fishing village0. on the upside, fresh seafood falls from the heavens for free.

explore phan ngan, get a motorcycle and check out the jungle flat lands around thongsala baan madua wan, baan nai suan. there are many facets to phan ngan.

also, don't mess with people. it is true that the island has its own rules.

Edited July 19, 2006 by t.s

[t.s]

Actually SBK is right. Thaivisas rules 1 cover this quite clearly.

1) You will not use thaivisa.com to post any material which is knowingly or can be reasonably construed as false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, referencing suicide, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law.

Saying so & so road is bad is ok but slating a business or person because you have had a bad experiece is not. It's only one persons opinion & could cause thaivisa problems of a legal nature (which we don't want) so if you have had a bad expeience post it on the resorts own website but don't use thaivisa as a slagging off board.

then what the heck is the point of thai visa if not to diseminate information and opinions of its users? oh yes it is to sell advertising.

If i spent my holiday on KPG surrounded by junkies, i would certainly think that that information would be reasonable to pass on.

Thanks for killing the first wothwhile thread i have read here in months.

this is sad. ever read lonely planet? they offer reasonable opinions on places the world over. i wonder how they avoid the thought police

?

[Jose]

ts, you've missed my point about drugs in Thailand. I'm not condoning nor condemning the personal use of drugs, nor do I wish to comment on their effects.

A holiday in Thailand often brings about a sense of freedom which can sometimes result in careless behaviour, often resulting in grief. It's very easy to fall into a sense of "paradise complacency".

That carefree joint smoked in your hammock by your beach bungalow, can easily result in an arrest and consequent police nightmare. I've seen this many times, both the euphoria before and nightmare afterwards.

As for using the Lonely Planet for any sort of serious travel guide in Thailand, p-please...

jose '-)

Edited July 19, 2006 by Jose

[mckeni]

Hey Redrus.... you still out there?

I want to book the Seaview accom in Haadrin that you mention, but the only tel no I've found on the web is incorrect. Do you know where I can get a tel no or email address from to book this in advance?

Many thanks

[redrus]

Hey Redrus.... you still out there?

I want to book the Seaview accom in Haadrin that you mention, but the only tel no I've found on the web is incorrect. Do you know where I can get a tel no or email address from to book this in advance?

Many thanks

I'm always somewhere around....

I have never booked in advance, I just turn up to the smile.... They've never not had a room for me, although at Full Moon and prob 5 to 7 days before, this may not be the case.

Time your visit right and you wont have a problem.

I've sometimes had to wait a night or two to get the ones right on the beach but, who's counting.

One of the Mods, (Boo) lives on KPG, although I add, not on Haad Rin. If you PM her or just add a note here she may be able to get a number but, you should be ok.... She's runs a place further round the island to if you fancy moving after HR. I've never been but she's nice so I had to add it....

Good luck and enjoy....

redrus

[redrus]

Sorry Mckeni, make that SBK not Boo....!

redrus

[sbk]

Seaview Hadrin: 077-375-160

[Mark Wolfe]

Saying so & so road is bad is ok but slating a business or person because you have had a bad experiece is not. It's only one persons opinion & could cause thaivisa problems of a legal nature (which we don't want) so if you have had a bad expeience post it on the resorts own website but don't use thaivisa as a slagging off board.

then what the heck is the point of thai visa if not to diseminate information and opinions of its users? oh yes it is to sell advertising.

If i spent my holiday on KPG surrounded by junkies, i would certainly think that that information would be reasonable to pass on.

Thanks for killing the first wothwhile thread i have read here in months.

Odd, isn't it? And ironic given that if a Thai police officer gets a call about someone getting knifed or some real problem in the "real world," he will wait a sufficient amount of time (until any danger is passed or evidence recoverable) before mosing on over to have a squizzy. Yet we are led to believe that the thought police are monitoring every keystroke here at Thaivisa, ready to shut the whole thing down and throw every poster in to a maximum pain Thai prison.

The Internet. Free flow of information and all that. Er, yes? remember in the "rules" section about defamation and so on...true enough, but if you are relating a FACT, then you are clear of any violation.

"It's only one person's opinion"? Uh, yeah, like all the columinsts you read in the paper for example. Does Thaivisa think these are written by committee?

"Officer, I saw that this bungalow next door is frequented by people smoking dope on the balcony."

"That is just what you say. You are only one person. That wouldn't hold up in a court of law (at least here, hehe)."

Oh boy....

[jezchesters]

SEAVIEW HAD RIN NOK

Seaview is a lovely family run resort on the quiet end of Had Rin Nok beach where the famous full moon party kicks off. Room rates start at 300 Baht and up to 1000 Baht for one of the Air-Con rooms (prices are same all year round). There are beachfront bungalows to choose from, and it makes for a perfect place to stay away from the busy section of Had Rin Nok.

http://www.phangan.info/index.cfm?action=b...&idbeach=15

Stay here whenever I fancy going to Haad Rin, its right at the other end, the quiet end like the report says and, the bungalows on the beach although they don't have air con are right on the sand with great little balconies.

Staff are really helpfull and friendly and the food is good and cheap too.

I would not stay anywhere else on the beach.

redrus

That goes for me double, Redrus... First stayed there 7 years ago and have had a fantastic time there on every return visit

[taxexile]

re. the posting of travellers personal experiences on geust houses on phangan.

sbk , you say that negative and critical postings of a commercial entity based on a persons own experience are against thai visa policy.

i have just read a lengthy thread about peoples experiences in one of pattayas international hospitals and 80% of the postings paint a very bad picture of that hospital indeed. why are those postings allowed , (they are personal experiences of the hospital ) yet criticism of resorts and guest houses are not allowed?

why arent pattaya hospital lawyers sueing thai visa ? , someone even pointed out to the hospital the bad publicity it was attracting.

i'm genuinely puzzled by this. are there different moderation rules on the pattaya forum to the koh p. one?

Edited August 29, 2006 by taxexile

[sbk]

re. the posting of travellers personal experiences on geust houses on phangan.

sbk , you say that negative and critical postings of a commercial entity based on a persons own experience are against thai visa policy.

i have just read a lengthy thread about peoples experiences in one of pattayas international hospitals and 80% of the postings paint a very bad picture of that hospital indeed. why are those postings allowed , (they are personal experiences of the hospital ) yet criticism of resorts and guest houses are not allowed?

why arent pattaya hospital lawyers sueing thai visa ? , someone even pointed out to the hospital the bad publicity it was attracting.

i'm genuinely puzzled by this. are there different moderation rules on the pattaya forum to the koh p. one?

I believe I already addressed this issue in this thread tax. I already admitted error regarding mentioning a bad experience, however, it is against policy to discuss things like where to go for drugs, and frankly, mentioning a specific place as a place that sells drugs and is full of druggies could be construed as such.

Please lets not bring this up again as Mr Wolfe has already had his rant about it thanks.

My point in regarding purely negative complaints was ignored I might add. Too often people overlook the reason someone might have had a problem (ie too high of expectations, too picky, some people are just never happy) and assume that, based on one person's experience, that there is something wrong with a place. More often than not, the complainers I have seen are part of the problem. Remember the thread in the travel section regarding the hotel on Soi Nana that was recently resurrected. Turns out the guy was expecting 3 star service in a short time hotel. I think that thread hilighted my point quite clearly. I might also point out a rebuttal to some very vociferous complaints about Rocky resort in Samui from a member here. Some people have an axe to grind, maybe genuine, maybe not.

[taxexile]

thanks for the reply , sbk.

we could debate this , but perhaps another time , another thread !!

[SamuiJens]

re. the posting of travellers personal experiences on geust houses on phangan.

sbk , you say that negative and critical postings of a commercial entity based on a persons own experience are against thai visa policy.

i have just read a lengthy thread about peoples experiences in one of pattayas international hospitals and 80% of the postings paint a very bad picture of that hospital indeed. why are those postings allowed , (they are personal experiences of the hospital ) yet criticism of resorts and guest houses are not allowed?

why arent pattaya hospital lawyers sueing thai visa ? , someone even pointed out to the hospital the bad publicity it was attracting.

i'm genuinely puzzled by this. are there different moderation rules on the pattaya forum to the koh p. one?

I believe I already addressed this issue in this thread tax. I already admitted error regarding mentioning a bad experience, however, it is against policy to discuss things like where to go for drugs, and frankly, mentioning a specific place as a place that sells drugs and is full of druggies could be construed as such.

Please lets not bring this up again as Mr Wolfe has already had his rant about it thanks.

My point in regarding purely negative complaints was ignored I might add. Too often people overlook the reason someone might have had a problem (ie too high of expectations, too picky, some people are just never happy) and assume that, based on one person's experience, that there is something wrong with a place. More often than not, the complainers I have seen are part of the problem. Remember the thread in the travel section regarding the hotel on Soi Nana that was recently resurrected. Turns out the guy was expecting 3 star service in a short time hotel. I think that thread hilighted my point quite clearly. I might also point out a rebuttal to some very vociferous complaints about Rocky resort in Samui from a member here. Some people have an axe to grind, maybe genuine, maybe not.

sbk, just wondering, if it's ok to say so & so place was a disapointment IMO? Cause if not, then put the shoe on the other foot; so & so place was a great place and all was peachy clean (also can call this SPAM) IMHO.

[sbk]

This is not under discussion anymore so why are you stirring Samuijens?

[SamuiJens]

Well, I didn't know this. Im not stirring, just asking a simple answer, sorry if it was misunderstood.

[sbk]

Re read the previous postings, if you aren't stirring then how could you not know it if you had already read them? Also, if you went back a page you would find my post here as well:

Mark, to reiterate, posting a bad experience is acceptable but to post "such and such resort is full of drug users" is a very bad idea. Argue all you want but you are not a moderator on this forum.

So, if you want to post negative go for it, you want to post positive go for it, but keep the illegal activities out of the posts. Just not sure where your confusion comes from. End of this discussion. Back to the topic at hand. Thanks