More from this travel report from Ape:

The Thais on Koh Phangan are pretty obsessed with fire. Fire shows here, a hoop on fire there, put a sign on fire or fire up a skipping rope; it's all good. Especially the skipping rope is hilarious; it's alright as long as you're on your own or with just the two of you, but the better you do, the more confident the others get. They're timing their jump-in and drunk people are not good at timing. Many a drunken traveler pays for their bad timing with a lash of the rope on their bare ankles and the smell of burned hair is not uncommon, too. Make sure you know when to quit, because sooner or later some idiot is going to mess up.

I'm partying every night hardcore, so it's great to have a place to close to the beach; easy peasy to go up and down to drop your camera, change your shirt, get some money or my glasses or just rest for a moment. The Euro08 is great as well; party at 11 for three hours, watch the game for two and chill out for a bit, then hit the beach again for some more dancing barefoot on the cool beach.

The Drop In Bar and Zoom in Haad Rin at the
Drop In Resort and Spa in Haad Rin

If you're not in the party mindset Koh Pha-Ngan is relentless and won't work for you. It doesn't bother me that I'm not partying at the party, as I had four awesome nights already. But there is plenty to do on the beach other than dancing. Chairs allow you to relax for a bit, and there's plenty of Thai kids to play games with you, for a fee. It's great fun, but also a bit disturbing to see them walking on the beach at 2am still.

Anyway, Koh Phangan was made for me!

The Bungalows have been upgraded recently and feature these Disney like A frames that are the best in the bay with full modern amenities such as air con and satellite TV etc.

The restaurant is again on the beach, almost in the sea and serves some really tasty Thai and International food. The management are really nice and speak broken English which makes it more exciting for my liking. There is a dive center just 400 meters away and an elephant trekking camp on the outskirts of the village.

In the village seafront are lots of cafes and small bars that are very Thai although some more funky ones are just being built.

I'd recommend it to everyone.

Links of Interest:

• Half Moon Party information and party dates
  

Moving south from Thongsala are beaches such as Baan Kai and Baan Tai with amazing views of Koh Samui in the near distance. When the lightening storms highlight the bigger island it is amazing. The Eastern side of the island is more remote and the roads to reach it are hard but upon reaching your final destination there are beauties to behold. For example Thong Nai Pan Noi has been listed as one the most beautiful beaches in Asia. Than Sadet has an amazing waterfall that was visited by a past King of Thailand and has his initials burned into the rocks.Koh Phangan as a whole is being developed now with higher class hotels appearing every year, but it is still more relaxed than Koh Samui or Phuket. Best things to do include a diving or a snorkeling trip to Ang Thong National Marine Park, visit to Bottle Beach, a trip to one of the temple (early in the morning to witness the ceremonies), lay on the beach or hike to one of the waterfalls.So whether you are partying hard or just chilling out Koh Phangan has much to offer all.

Links of Interest:

• Beaches of Koh Phangan Image Gallery
• Ang Thong National Marine Park Image Gallery
  

More from Emma:

We originally wanted to stay in the north of the island on Thong Nai Pan Noi beach, so when the weather cleared up we headed up there away from Haad Rin (which was a bit more Magaluf than Thailand to be honest), and we found a really good cheap bungalow right on the beach which was much more picturesque!

Links of Interest:

• Ao Thong Nai Pan Noi
• Thong Nai Pan Beach Image Gallery