Koh Phangan, the Party Island?
When most people think of Koh Phangan, Thailand they might think of the raging Full Moon parties and the techno beats that play 24 hours 7 days a week. Since we have been here that hasn’t exactly been the case (no pun intended). Living on this island was one of the luckiest decisions that we never planned for.
Corona Virus on Koh Phangan
We first got to the island before the Corona Virus had shown any big threat to Thailand. That being said we were super excited to experience the party island and call Koh Phangan our home for our last two months in Thailand.
Little did we know that after a couple of weeks of just getting settled in the government would put a lockdown on the entire country of Thailand and close all non-essential businesses, restaurants, and pubs. The lockdown also included a curfew of 10 pm to 5 am and an alcohol ban that would last for 3 weeks.
Being on Koh Phangan may seem like sunshine and beaches… which it is. But being trapped on an island in a foreign country during a pandemic can be very intimidating. Would the island become a safe haven or would the cases explode and we be left with an overrun hospital and nowhere to escape? After Koh Phangan had its first case you could feel the energy change on the island. With the harsh restrictions on domestic travel in place we were stuck!
Even with the strict new precautions, we felt very lucky to have chosen Koh Phangan. After all, living in a bungalow directly on the beach wasn’t the worst place to be stuck in quarantine. Getting our temperature checked, mandating face masks, and having hand sanitizer at every establishment gave us a sense of safety. After weeks went by without a second case and no new arrivals coming to the island a lot of our worries eased. It felt like we were in our own protective bubble away from the chaos of the rest of the world. As we saw numbers spike in other countries Koh Phangan remained at just one single case.
Koh Phangan: the Safe Zone
With no new cases, Koh Phangan had become our safe haven. At this time, we knew that we didn’t want to leave but our visa was coming to an end and we needed to apply for an extension. Due to Koh Phangan not having an immigration office we would have to leave our safe zone and travel to Ko Samui (a neighboring island) and stand among the large crowds at their immigration office.
Thankfully!!! The Thai government realized that letting hundreds of people pack into immigration offices was super unsafe. In an effort to avoid this they gave all foreigners an automatic amnesty extension visa for 90 days, allowing everyone to stay until the 31st of July. Given that there were no domestic flights, trains, or buses at the time this decision gave us a sense of relief knowing that we would have more time to plan out our departure from Thailand.
Beach Life on Koh Phangan
Even though we would have liked to have had the option of going to a Full Moon Party, we have had an amazing four months on sunny Koh Phangan. Living here has been a super chill experience giving us a chance to step back from the “always on the go” lifestyle and be able to focus our energy more on being present in the moment.
Twenty steps was all it took to get us from our bungalow to the ocean. Although we could have visited other beaches on the island, during lock down we instead decided to only go on our own. We took the lock down very seriously. As guests in this country we did not want to make any irresponsible decisions that would end with us exhausting Thailand’s resources. Although we could get take out from restaurants, we rarely did. We instead cooked food in our little, quasi outdoor kitchen.
There were many modern, luxurious villas we could have been quarantined in (we now live in one), but during the lockdown we were living in a very basic, Thai style bungalow. The first floor was made of concrete, with tile floors, and had a table with chairs. Up the stairs, or more accurately the ladder, was our second floor. This was half outside with a large balcony that had a hammock and ocean views. The other part was our bedroom which was made with weaved coconut leaf walls. Despite the several holes, this space housed our only AC unit.
Surrounding, and often infiltrating, our bungalow were loads of geckos, lizards, frogs, and iguanas. There were tons of birds, butterflies, and at night even bats that would swoop through our balcony. With ocean views and nestled amongst coconut, banana, and mango trees, this is the balcony that stole our hearts and led us to choose this space as our home. There were a few times when we spotted spiders as big as our fist and snakes that could stretch out across the road in all the glory of jungle life.
Then the day came. The day we were all waiting for. The day western countries could still only dream of….. The day we could eat inside a restaurant. It was a beautiful day, sunny and full of life with more motorbikes zipping by then usual. We will never forget that sound we had once taken for granted of drink glasses clinking together… even amongst tables spread 6 feet apart. We got the fanciest drinks we could find for that moment when we could take off our masks. Still no alcohol was allowed but fruit shakes and french pressed coffees filled the room.
As of right now, there have been zero new cases of Covid-19 in all of Thailand for 31 consecutive days. Resulting from this Thailand has been gradually reopening to the public. You can now sit down at restaurants and have an alcoholic drink, go to national parks and temples, take domestic flights, and ride public transit.
As the lock down eases, we are finally able to appreciate Koh Phangan for what its worth. We moved out of our bungalow to the modern villa we now call home. It has been quite a whirlwind few months going from a house with holes in our walls to a house with a pool in our living room. We are now spending the remainder of our time on the island exploring all that we were missing out on.
Epic waterfalls, beautiful beaches, delicious restaurants, temples, jungle treks, yoga classes and other workshops fill our days. Even though big parties like the Full Moon Party and other large jungle parties are still not in sight Koh Phangan is known for having a ton of interesting mindfulness centered workshops to choose from. With a taste of normal life we are once again feeling our adventurous mindset. If you would like to see more pics of Koh Phangan check out our Photo Gallery
While we love living the beach life we do not know how much longer we will be allowed to stay or what country will come next. Our time spent here has been very magical and we definitely recommend visiting Koh Phangan when it is safe to do so.
We will have a follow up to this article about how our travels went and also some information on how to bring your dog back to the United States in Odie Adventures.
How we can afford to be here
How can we afford to be stuck in Thailand for so long? We teach English online to children in China. It is the easiest and funnest $20 an hour we have ever made and we can do it from anywhere! If you are interested in teaching English online hit us up in our inbox at tpoetravel@gmail.com and we will be happy to send you more info.
