Koh Phangan Island – Expelled from a lost paradise?
Hello there and welcome back to the Island of Madness, formerly also known as Koh Phangan Paradise Island … a lost paradise?
Well … sa-lowly but surely the hardened & original Koh Phangan skin on my feet keeps dissolving layer by layer and my gun shot wound is very well healed by now.
It’s been months and months since I have left the original Island of Madness and Koh Phangan – the lost paradise? – seems to be just a very distant memory in my disillusioned mind 😉
But Becki is in great spirit and doing pretty well here on the other site of the planet called earth. And to be quite honest it simply just feels amazing to be far away from those little & friendly smiling but also snaky Koh Phangan Thai Monkeys.
Oh my god … I just called them little Thai Monkeys 😉 Well … keep on posting your comments and call me a racist … a dick … whatever you like 😉
But … it simply feels awesome being able to sleep every single night without any close or even distant deranged techno rave party bum bum bum around your home. It simply feels inspiring not to be bombarded with any demented ‘Come and Satisfy Your Soul’ style stupid techno party signs along the streets.
It actually feels more than terrific to no longer be part of the “original” Koh Phangan community which I really used to love many, many years ago when things were quite different.
But as Buddha once said … nothing is more permanent than change … also our little and beloved paradise island of Koh Phangan was meant to change at one point. And indeed … it actually did change … did change quite a lot in the recent years if you ask me!
Koh Phangan is still a fantastic island with a great climate and stunning magnificent nature around. Of course, you still can have a good time on the Island of Madness but if you have a closer look, probably live there for a while and get accustomed to local traditions, things might appear differently!
If you ask me personally I would say that Koh Phangan has definitely lost its charm & magic it once was so famous for! Finally a pristine, untouched & more than lovely paradise island has been transformed into something we could easily call a massive shithole?
Pardon my french 😉
But shit like this happens everywhere where the money driven virus of capitalism starts moving in and a few years later most people are infected & corrupted with this more than deadly disease created by some wicked masterminds.
Magic Koh Phangan Island … another lost paradise? You better decide!
So you left this nice place? The question of the questions is… where are you now?
And sure… there are many things to criticise on this Island… every time I go there, there are more things which are dissapointing me… but there are still these secret, hidden spots… there is still this special atmosphere…. and it is still a tropical Island for people who are kind of “different”… still loving it…
And by the way… the way Koh Phangan goes… the whole country goes… Thailand isnt on a good way… money money money is the root of all evil… and the buddhism doesnt play a big role anymore…;-(
To becki, as the last poster said,in a way, all good things come to an end.
To see the website die in front of my eyes makes me sad but to see the truth
In action that the only permanent thing is impermanace resonates through
My life aswell as this website…. We all had such a good time that we can’t complain.
Love and peace to you all, we’ve been lucky to get what we’ve got from this island, so again
We can’t complain. Can we….. We’re the lucky ones to experience the ‘good’ phangan, be thankful for that.
It’s time to move on to other things, I can’t say I won’t go to phangan again, I will, to see friends etc but
The ‘experience’ has gone. Again, love and peace to you all, PATIHAN
The beauty of Koh Phangan has been built buy the power of pure heart.
The beauty is still there.
And you will recognize it with the power of pure heart.
But when your power has been shaded by fear, distrust, allegation, conspiracy theories,… you change what you see – what you experience. And – unfortunaltly, this has an impact on reality, the whole system.
Ralf, you KNOW that – but you did not suceed in FEELING it.
This is, what I wish for you: Tramsfor, your fear and find back to your beautyful heart.
bla bla bla 😉
did you spent all of your money and get back to Germoney? or?
thats it 🙂
sad but true!
also back after a few years living on this beautiful island, i totally agree with you: the charm & magic is gone…
think it is still possible to have a great holiday there, especially if you come first time…
but if you can get some look behind the curtain you realize the ugly truth, that chai yien got hotter and the formerly heartful smiling people are greedy, lazy, violent and dont give a shit of all those walking atms called farangs. that piece of paradise is exploited and ruined for “easy” money without any care of the future.
still hoping that changes can also turn to good again, but that will take a long time…
keeping my memories of some of the best years in my life….
chokdee khap, koh phangan!
Well Becki WTF did you expect? Isnt it a bit selfish, greedy and misguided of you to want to keep the locals from progress? Why is it that you think they dont have the right to make money, to suceed, to develop their island? Pretty bloody silly of you to want to keep them poor so you could lord it over them as a so called “rich” farang, screw em down to the last baht on every single purchse. Well guess what mate, its theri turn now. What gives YOU (or any other farang) the right to dictate to the Thais how they run and develop their own goddamn Island/Country? The place isnt much different to how it was 15 years ago, its YOUR attitude that has taken the nosedive mate, not so much the Thais. I still get along well with all the locals, big happy smiles, warm welcomes and NEVER any trouble. The way you have been shooting your mouth off the last 12-18 months BEcki, your damn lucky you only got shot in the arse.
You want to find a poor beautifull backwoods ISland to play and lord it over, try the Phillipines, but be warned, you carry on there like you did on KPG, it’ll probably be a bullet in the head and a shallow grave, stead of a warning shot in the arse.
well spoken!
i think becksman now knows by his self that he brought himself in trouble.but he can’t say it in public.
that’s what i think by reading his”blabla…”comment to reply to the very good comment before.
also i wonder about beckis fear of change.
he was living long time in asia but maybe don’t know about the bigbellied,smiling guy who said that the only constance is change.
so,chai yen yen.
bla bla bla 😉
You have the right to voice your beleaves and your opinions as anyone has but for me Becki is more of a man by voicing his opinion on his web site. Now for you my opinion is that you are a very little person with balls to match and I only say that because you do not have the balls to sign your comments.
Fred
How come it is always the OTHER tourists, not me, who ruin a place?? I frankly think that these places would still be wonderful if less Farangs had decided to try to live there, and had just gone there on vacation like good tourists. Tourism feeds the economy. Foreigners owning businesses or trying to live in a place on a shoestring budget sucks the economy dry. Becky, Thais don’t hate farangs, they love tourists and students and teachers. They are just learning to hate people like you, the expats who want to keep the paradise they found all to themselves.
Becki is a PUSSY
yes he(seem2be) is!
cheers to glyn.i`ve loved your comments.maybe we’ll meet in febr.2010 on the eyeland.cheers,boom,chris
As much as i agree with the comments about beki’s shooting due to his comments and efforts etc, i also agree that phangan has completley lost its charm, i stopped going there in 2004 as could see it all changing, its turned into a shit pit! theres lots better islands in thailand than phangan and its mini tel aviv town !
I see both sides of Phangan and have for some time. I’m currently in Hua Hin a resort town that I never have enjoyed on past visits, which now looks pretty good! I’ll return to Phangan for Christmas and likely stay until the end of February. Then return to Hua Hin…
It’s interesting to hear the views that people here have of the islands and it’s not very flattering to say the least. The taxis are famous for the outrageous charges and many Thai’s consider the islands to be mafia run havens. Hua Hin I have to say it is way cheaper than Phangan. I mean way cheaper for many things and can’t say I can think of one thing that costs less in Phangan!
However, Phangan has better beaches and is a nicer place to take a holiday. The Jam on Phangan is a fantastic live music venue and it would be hard find a better format for live music, add the beach front location and it would be hard to top anywhere in the world!
I return to Phangan to see the many friends I have made over the years. Koh Phangan is not Thailand and doesn’t even resemble Thailand, it just happens to be located there. The island has become a Farang island with mostly Farang owned businesses. Sure Thai’s own a lot of businesses, but most well operated businesses are run by Farang!
Crime, corruption and greed are destroying the island and it has almost certainly lost a lot of its charm. It’s sad, to see it go the way it has. As for the Thai’s on the island, there are some very nice Thai’s and some very nasty ones too. Ask Beckman!
Cheers Glyn
🙁 I thinking the same on Koh Phangan: is a natural paradise. But as every Place that is something different and better to the real world in not so many year will change…..when arrive money, turist and….bo bom bom party…that are different from small party in the nature only with friends and only to enjoy in community with good music and experience…..I hope you will find a new paradise to live in togeter…..let me now…where is …because Magic Koh Phangan is dead .
It’s called the ugly side of tourism.
The Thais have seen the $.
I have been coming to Thailand since ’87.
Each time I come here I have to spend more time finding somewhere new that hasn’t been fucked by bad development.
EG- Had Rin you could once call beautiful & magic. The same could be said (believe it or not) for Samui. At least I have the photos as reminders (both good & sad)
Yeah, Magic has changed in to Manic.
Let’s get together and buy an isolated, uninhabited, magical island somewhere in the tropics. According to: http://www.privateislandsonline.com/ plenty of beautifull places on this globe under 100’000$, just not in Thailand.
Just how long would it last till it becomes an other “Koh Fucktup” ? 🙁 🙁
Koh Phangan is a great place to visit! I think that most newbie visitors have a fantastic holiday on Phangan. However, once you have spent a lot of time here some of the magic disappears. I would personally find it difficult to live there for number reasons that I’ll list.
• The humidity kills me in the hot season, which seems to more often than not!
• Price of everything is getting over the top, business owners need to realise that westerners are getting crappy exchange rates these days.
• The farang to Thai ratio makes it so unlike Thailand.
• Corruption isn’t a huge problem for me personally but it’s an irritant.
• Watching friends in business getting fucked every which way is very upsetting.
• The taxi rip offs!
• Thai’s have been spoiled by their success and have developed bad attitudes.
• Police road checks piss me off, helmet checks are justified.
• The lack of beatification with development.
• Maniacs on the roads generally and worse around Full Moon Parties.
• To many farangs trying to live in there perceived paradise on a shoe string.
• Lack of affordable, good quality, safe accommodations.
Those are most of the negatives, I feel it necessary to offset those with a list of positives and there are many for me!
• Friends that I have grown to know and respect over a lot of years.
• Characters and we all know who they are.
• A’s coffee shop has great food and a nice atmosphere, a bit over priced.
• The Jam is an outstanding venue for live music. Musicians play for free, so again a bit over priced.
• The island is wonderful to tour around and still has some natural beauty.
• Fantastic little beaches that are not commercialised.
• Many places to visit during the day and a few night spots too.
• I enjoy the anything goes attitude of the expats.
• Getting around is fun when the island is between parties.
• Coconut trees provide an exotic feel every where you look you can find spectacular views.
By no means are these lists complete and I could add to both if I took some time to think about it. I would recommend and do recommend Koh Phangan to anyone coming to Thailand. I highly recommend the pricey places named too! So if you’re reading this and have never been to the island of madness don’t let the negative comments stop you. If techno raves are your thing you’ll love the parties. Just be careful and enjoy your stay! I will continue make my annual pilgrimage to the Paradise Island called Koh Phangan.
Cheers Glyn
i just dont understand why u didnt go earlier when it was sooo horroble for u to stay there?? and when its mostly the thais u are not happy with, why u had to pull people in ur story which have nothing to do with it?? maybe its not an island of madness, maybe its just u who is mad and full of anger… i feel sorry for u…