She's a 'Full Moon Dahling' - Karen from Ban Tai Backpackers

Ban Tai Backpackers is owned and run by the lovely Karen and her partner Tristan. Situated in the heart of Ban Tai with its neon inscribed walls, you just have to read a couple of things that past guests have left to understand how much of a good time is had here!

Phanganist's friend Karen took time from her super busy schedule to tell us about her romance with Koh Phangan and the story of Ban Tai Backpackers...

Hi Karen so tell us your Koh Phangan story and how you came to be here...
At one point during my travels through Asia five years ago, I decided I wanted to find a reason to stay… anywhere!

I thought maybe I’d try my hand at teaching, but then in Pai, I picked up a copy of Southeast Asia Backpacker magazine; they were looking for contributors, so I contacted the editor with some article ideas. When she gave me the go-ahead I decided to find somewhere to live for a month or so to settle back and do the work.

I remember thinking to myself – hmm, maybe I’ll go live in Chiang Mai, or Phnom Penh, or Ho Chi Minh… maybe I’ll even stay here in Pai.

But staying anywhere has never appealed to me that much, so when a girl who’d been living on Koh Phangan for six months at a time started telling me about the island in depth, I decided to head straight down and make it my home for a whole month. Little did I know!

What's the concept of Baan Tai Backpackers?
Well, conceptually, we’re just very ‘Full Moon’, dahling - you know, loads of neon and fluorescent paint-spattered walls.

Aside from the black lights, which Tristan installed by himself, all the artwork you see in the bar has come about in a very organic manner, and courtesy of every single one of our past guests - all clearly artists in a past life. They go crazy with the body paint after a few buckets and of course we just want everyone to feel at home.

This is basically the kind of hostel Tristan and I would want to stay at if we came to Phangan to celebrate a Full or a Half Moon. We like to show everyone how great the island is, and make sure they’re all having a riot of a time.

What something special does it bring to Phangan..?
We bring Phangan to you.

After our guests are checked in and settled, we go through the the map of the island with them all in turn, and point out all our hot tips for everything from our favourite beaches and waterfalls, to viewpoints, restaurants, bars, and all kinds of other activities.  This island is so gorgeous, and there’s so much going on here aside from the parties!

On that note, we’ve also got our famous Beach ‘n Beer Hop Tour running now – an awesome day out that takes guests on a hop around our favourite spots, including some hard-to-get to places and finishing up at this incredible mountain sunset spot that very few tourists would otherwise know about.

What kind of experience do you want your guests to have?
The best!! We’re friendly, chilled and fun.

We think the people you meet are just as important as the place you’re in, so it’s important to us that everyone gets to know everyone else, but also that they feel comfortable hanging out in the bar and the common area doing whatever they feel like.

What this means is, yes, we’re a party hostel, but we certainly don’t force guests to drink themselves into oblivion every night. In fact, I actively encourage them to try and spend at least a couple of days hangover free because that way they’ll be more able to enjoy and take in more of this beautiful island during the day. I’ve been trying to explain this to Tristan since I met him.

And did you know you wanted this type of business?
Hell, no.  Three years ago, I was in Melbourne randomly after a visa run saw me go awol. I loved it so much I decided to make the move there, with a view to setting up the Australasia Backpacker magazine (by this point I’d taken on the role of Deputy Editor, and had spent the last two years living on Phangan on and off whilst travelling around Southeast Asia searching for stories).

I had my return flight booked to Melbourne as well as a place to stay sorted before I even left, and I literally only came back to Phangan for a couple of weeks to pack up my things and say goodbye to people. In the space of those two weeks, however, I found myself inadvertently adopting a puppy (this is not a euphemism for Tristan, although this is also the point where I met him, too – he’d just arrived here from New Zealand on his first stop on his ‘travel-around-Asia-by-motorbike’ odyssey).

Let’s just say that whenever you come back to Phangan after a spell away, then she just sucks you straight back in again. I was having so much fun I decided to put my flight back, and then once more….then again, and again… You know how it goes.

At one point, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw I was never going to move to Melbourne.  Tristan wanted to travel to the UK and maybe find work there, but then he looked at me and saw I was (still) never going back there either. We quickly realised we needed to get something going here so we could stay here permanently. I don’t have a single regret. I love how life turns out when you don’t plan it.

Any funny stories of the guests?
During one Full Moon last year, I was greeted at reception every single morning by one guest who’d beg me to let him watch the CCTV footage from the night before so he could find out how he got home.

I don’t know what was funnier, the sight of his worried little furrowed brow, or all the footage we trawled though: of him staggering around on the street at 4am trying to work out which side of the street he lived on, just centimetres away from getting completely mown down by taxis and mopeds; trying to walk through our glass door; staggering up the stairs and almost falling backwards from the weight of his backpack… After a couple of days it became standard practice for me to play the CTTV footage for his peace of mind, and also for the entertainment of all the other guests as they were ploughing through their breakfasts.

It became a bit of a ritual for us all. I can’t speak for everyone else, but it reminded me of being back home watching Saturday morning telly.

And what are your plans for the rest of the year?
I don’t really make plans too far in advance, because if I do, I usually get bored of them before I’ve even got there, and then wind up doing a complete 180 instead.

I do actually think that changing your mind last minute is 90 per cent of the fun of making advance plans. Some people might call that irresponsible. You have to be responsible if you’re going to look after people who come to party over Full Moon, though, so let’s just call it free-spirited instead.

When you get it, what do you do in your free time?
When I can, I love going to Roxy Sitikova’s Dancehall classes in Sri Thanu – they’re so much fun, and best of all, you don’t notice you’re working out because you’re too busy trying to remember the routine.

I also like going running through the jungle then going for a herbal steam at Wat Pho.

Recently, I bought an electronic drumkit and a piano with a mate who also lives here. She comes around my house to practice and to maybe try and write some music together, but we usually just end up gossiping and moaning about the humidity.

And leave us with the Baan Tai Backpackers philosophy...
Me, Tristan, and the team will do our utmost to make sure everyone who stays at BTB has the best time ever!

There’s a reason we’re number 1 on Tripadvisor!!