Writing From: Bangkok, Thailand

Why I Chose Koh Phangan—and Why I Left

I had planned to stay for a week, but I left after three days. I was ready to leave after my first day. I’ll admit that I didn’t do enough research beforehand because, had I looked deeper, I probably never would have ended up on the island in the first place.

Koh Phangan is an island in the Gulf of Thailand, surrounded by other popular islands such as Koh Samui and Koh Tao. Each island has its own distinct reputation, and because I was looking for somewhere to slow down, I decided to visit the so-called “wellness” island.

What surprised me most was the hypocrisy. Some of the same people attending yoga and meditation retreats were also disappearing into 48-hour benders. The island felt less like a wellness destination and more like a gathering place for the spiritually lost, where self-destruction was repackaged as healing and reckless behavior was classified as “ego death.”

It was filled with backpackers binge drinking, using drugs, and attending wild parties in the jungle. I didn’t participate in any of it, but I met plenty of people who did—and many of them seemed convinced that adding yoga to the routine made the chaos profound.

Getting Around Koh Phangan Was a Nightmare

I expected to spend my mornings in yoga sessions followed by swims in the beautiful ocean. My mornings looked nothing like that because I could barely get around. I was limited to one or two destinations a day because I was unwilling to spend an unreasonable amount of money on transportation. I attempted to walk to certain places, but the scorching sun begged me to be realistic.

If you don’t know how to ride a motorbike, much of the island is inaccessible to you. I was repeatedly told by residents and travelers that the taxi system was controlled by a local cartel, which they claimed kept prices unusually high. As a tourist, I’m used to paying more, but I could barely afford to get around Koh Phangan. I was being charged around $10 for short, shared taxi rides and sometimes spent as much as $40 a day on transportation.

My Airbnb host told me that hitchhiking was normal on the island because there were so few ways to get around. I half-joked that if I hitchhiked, something strange would probably happen to me.

My Hitchhiking Experience Went Very Wrong

I suppose I’m just highly intuitive because I did end up hitchhiking for the first—and last—time, and I had the strangest experience.

I met a German man around my age and ended up spending much of my first day with him. I friend-zoned him pretty quickly, but he remained persistent in his advances and even tried to convince me to let him stay at my Airbnb for the night. Normally, I would have excused myself from a situation like this, but because finding a ride was so difficult on the island, I chuckled through his corny jokes.

After he dropped me off at the bottom of the hill near my accommodation, a beautiful treehouse across the street from a popular wellness spot, I walked toward the door and suddenly found him standing inside my Airbnb, holding the suitcase I had left in the yard.

“I thought you wanted me to come up,” he said.

Deeply frightened and confused about how we had gotten to this point, I pleaded with him to leave. He only respected my pleas after I called my Airbnb host and asked him to intervene.

The next day, I ran into him near a beach, and he followed me on his motorbike, insisting that he wanted to apologize. Thankfully, I was with my Airbnb host, who told him off.

Solo Female Travel and Harassment in Koh Phangan

This German man was not the only man on the island who could not take no for an answer. I was approached by several others who would not stop pestering me. I gave my contact information to a Russian man who later texted me 20 times in a row and demanded that I explicitly tell him I was not interested.

I understand that I am a woman traveling alone and that unwanted attention is not unique to Koh Phangan. Still, the men I encountered on this island were a different kind of annoying: persistent, invasive, and entitled.

The Culture of Entitlement on Koh Phangan

My discomfort was not limited to the men I encountered. The general culture of entitlement on the island became increasingly difficult to ignore.

“I’m here to get away from the ‘hardships’ back home,” one woman told me.

I didn’t ask her to elaborate. I was not in the mood to entertain delusions.

The irony of seeking refuge on a Thai island while contributing to the displacement of local people was not lost on me.

The island did not feel like just another vacation destination. It felt like a place where foreigners came, stayed too long, planted roots, and behaved as though the land existed solely for their escape.

Many of the businesses I encountered appeared to be owned or operated by foreigners. The island itself was beautiful, but the culture surrounding it ruined the experience for me.

I made a TikTok complaining about my time there, and many travelers and locals shared similar experiences. Locals expressed feeling as though the island had been completely overrun by tourists. A place that was home to others had become a playground for the privileged and detached.

Would I Ever Return to Koh Phangan?

I felt immense relief when I boarded the ferry back to the mainland. Even though the money was already spent, I was grateful to leave because my safety and peace of mind are priceless.

Three days in what was supposed to be paradise turned into three days of hell—a White Lotus-adjacent experience. If I felt that much annoyance, fear, and anger in such a short amount of time, I can only imagine what those actually living there feel.

I really hope the Thai people get their island back.

From Jahra,

With Love