We arrived in Koh Phangan the evening before New Year’s Eve. The calm before the storm. Storm of course meaning a sinking sun and blue washed skies. Our ferry pulled up at dusk and we made our bumpy way to our hotel in our first of many cosy Songthaews. The open frame share taxi offered the perfect tour of the island where we took in the views while we curled around winding roads with palm trees hanging over head, occasionally poking the unsuspecting gazer every now and again through the frames. We soaked up views of the sun setting over the beach that we could just make out through the endless green, while passing a few wooden built bars, restaurants and tiny homes along the way, inhabited by a handful of silhouettes making their peaceful way about their business.

As we pulled up at the dusty road to our three day home on our first Thailand Island, the sun had set and we blindly made our way to our room; a wooden shack with the most beautiful view of the sea (or so we discovered the following morning). There’s something magical about arriving at night with no real idea where you are until the sun peaks its way in in the morning, isn’t there? We spent the day walking along the small stretch of beach on our door step and dipping our toes in the endless blue of lapping water, sipping on coconuts and seeing out the year in paradise. It has to be said, there is a real ‘were not in Kansas’ anymore feel to Koh Phangan, when you’re soaking up the sun on a beach swing made from a wooden plank and rope knotted to a hanging tree that’s swinging you between white sand and the creeping tide. An island framed in jilting rocks and low bent palm trees, and sign posted with translations of ‘danger, falling coconuts.’ You really do have to pinch yourself.