Maya jungle party & The Hard Road Hostel

I head out to 7/11 to replenish stocks of some essentials, but it is a fruitless exercise: the toothpaste here contains tons of salt and tastes vile, and the suncream has whitening ingredients.. erm, what's the point in that?! The Asian population believe the whiter the skin the better, so whilst us Westerners are seeking out that particular shade of "mahogany table" skin tone, they are covered from head to foot in clothing, whitening creams, plus a huge umbrella just to be sure. I spend a few hours in the searing heat of the sun on Sunrise Beach with minimal amounts of my stupid new 'whitening' suncream on before spotting Steve from The View Resort and we agree to hang out back at his bar in the shade and have a beer. A beer turns into several beers, turns into evening, which turns into "let's go to Maya!"

Steve drops me off at my roach motel to get ready whilst he catches up with a mate, returning an hour later to take me to the jungle party. Maya is in a different clearing in the jungle and has a more glamorous feel than the Jungle Experience party from the week before, with white gauzy awnings and colourful draped decor. There are nowhere near as many people at this party since everyone leaves the island in their droves following the FMP, which makes for a friendlier atmosphere and plenty of room to dance. Steve is soon looking decidedly worse for wear with a particularly special gurn on, and we wander off separately and I seem to chat to every person in the entire place, twirling and belly-laughing with my new-found bezzies for hours. I hardly notice a photographer snapping away throughout the night, but notice his flyer in my bag a few days later and log on to view the photos....hmmm, perhaps I was a little too well-oiled....cracking night though!

Towards the end of the night I get chatting at the bar to two mates both called Tom, and they invite me back to their hostel for a few drinks. Obviously I look like I need more (not!) so oblige and the three of us cram onto their motorbike at sunrise and head off to Hard Road Seaview, which turns out to be a cool hilltop backpackers hostel with amazing views over Samui. They drag me up the side of the dusty hills to show me the the most stunning viewpoint and we hang out here for a while with our drinks before elegantly (not!) sliding back down to the bar. One Tom on the decks, one pouring drinks, and me dancing on the tables as usual.

It turns out that one of the Toms (I just end up calling them Tom and Tommer for simplicity) who is 24, fit as and a genuinely good guy, has bought the Hard Road Hostel along with his equally cute identical twin brother, who wakes up to see what all the noise is about at around lunchtime.
It's now obvious that I've missed my pre-booked ferry crossing to Samui and will not be checking into my hotel there anytime soon, so I shrug and we party on. Eventually, I have to give in and return to my hotel for a (very late) check-out, so put on my best poorly face complete with pouty bottom lip and manage to evade the late check-out fine by rustling up a half-convincing tale of woe.

Then it's a taxi with all my bags back to the twins' hostel for another night of partying with them and various other travellers who are living in Phangan. They charge a mere 150baht (£3) for a room for the night, and I finally collapse into bed after our mammoth bender, asleep before my head hits the pillow, to the sound of the whirring fan and the chatter of the geckos, vowing to finally get my ass to Samui tomorrow...