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On a quiet hillside above Ban Tai, 4km from Thong Sala, Wat Khao Tham holds ten-day meditation retreats most months of the year; the American and Australian teachers emphasize compassion and loving kindness as the basis of mental development. Only forty people can attend each retreat, so it’s best to pre-register; for further information, write to Wat Khao Tham, PO Box 18, Pha Ngan Island, Surat Thani 84280, where the schedule of retreats is posted.

If you need to stay around Thong Sala, walk 800m north out of town to Siriphun. The owner is helpful, the food very good and the bungalows are clean and well positioned along the beach; all have showers and mosquito screens on the windows, and an extra wad of baht buys air-con and one of the island’s few bathtubs. Alternatively, Charm Beach Resort, a friendly, sprawling place only 1500m southeast of Thong Sala, has a wide variety of decent bungalows and good Thai food. The incongruous white high-rise overshadowing Thong Sala’s pier is the Pha Ngan Chai Hotel, makes a fair stab at international standard features, with air-conditioning, warm water, TVs, mini-bars and, in some rooms, sea-view balconies.

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In the vicinity of Thong Sala, an easy excursion can be made to the grandiosely termed Than Sadet-Pha Ngan Island National Park, which contains Pang waterfall, Pha Ngan’s biggest drop, and a stunning viewpoint overlooking the south and west of the island. The park lies 4km northeast of Thong Sala off the road to Chaloaklam – if you don’t have a bike, take a Chaloaklam bound songthaew as far as Ban Madeuawaan, and then it’s a one-kilometer signposted walk east. A roughly circular trail has been laid out through the park, as mapped out by the signboard in the car park. The main fall – bouncing down in stages over the hard, grey stone – is a steep 250m walk up a forest path. The trail then continues for over 1km upriver beyond the falls, before skirting through thick rainforest to the viewpoint and back to the car park in a couple of hours.

The long, straight south coastis well served by songthaews and motorbike taxis from Thong Sala, and is lined with bungalows, especially around Ban Khai, to take the overspill from nearby Hat Rin. It’s hard to recommend staying here, however the beaches are mediocre by Thai standards, and the coral reef which hugs the length of the shoreline gets in the way of swimming.

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THONG SALA is a port of entrance and little more, where the incoming ferries are met by touts sent to escort travelers to bungalows elsewhere on the Pha Ngan Island. In front of the pier, transportation to the rest of the island (songthaews, jeeps and motorbike taxis) congregates by a dusty row of banks, travelers’ restaurants, supermarkets, scuba-diving outfits and motor bike and jeep rental places. If you go straight ahead from the pier, you can turn right onto the town’s high street, a leafy mix of shops and houses that’s ghostly and windswept at night. A short way down here you’ll find laundries and, set back on the west side of the street, the multitalented Phangan Batik, which, besides selling batiks, rents out good-quality nountain bikes and offers internet access. Further on are a couple of clinics and, about 500m from the pier, the post office. Thong Sala’s sprinkling of travel agents can organize train and plane tickets, and visa extensions, and they sometimes put together trips to Ang Thong National Marine Park. The island’s hospital lies 3km north of town, on the inland road towards Mae Hat, while the police station is nearly up the Ban Chaloaklam road.

Pha Ngan Map

PAH NGAN ISLAND

Pha Ngan Island, about half hour’s boat ride north of Samui Island, has become the island of choise for those who find Samui Island too crowded or too expensive. It started out as a sort of ‘back-door escape’ from Samui Island but is well established now, with a regular boat service and over 156 places to stay around the 190 sq km island. It’s definitely worth a visit for its remaining deserted beaches (they haven’t all been developed) and, if you like snorkeling, for its live-coral formations.

Although hordes of backpackers have discovered Pha Ngan Island, the lack of an airport and relative lack of paved roads has so far spared it from tourist – hotel and package-tour development. Compared with Samui Island, Pha Ngan Island has a lower concentration of bungalows, less crowded beaches and coves, and an overall less ‘modern’ atmosphere. Pha Ngan Island aficionados say the sea food is fresher and cheaper than on Samui’s beaches, but it really varies form place to place. As Samui Island becomes more expensive for both travelers and investors, more and more people will be drawn to Pha Ngan Island. But for the time being, overall living costs remain about half what you’d pay on Samui Island.

Except at the island’s party capital, Hat Rin beach, the island hasn’t yet been infested with blaring videos and stereos.