Today, the six of us are reduced to three, and aside from a little incursion to Bangkok, so ends the Thailand leg of our reunion/journey. Michael and Chris return to Sydney to spend Christmas with their families, and Jakob returns to Melbourne. The saddening thing isn't so much that they've left, since it's only a matter of months before we'll be running into each other again. It's more so the fact that adventures can't be shared with them, and Felix and I will be treated to a concentrated dose of Lennart's craziness. Nevertheless, the three of them are now somewhere on a godawful journey to Phuket where they'll be catching their respective transfers, and I wish them well.

The last few days we've spent at Ko Phangan, the third and last stop in our island hopping escapade. Lenny, Felix and I will be staying a few more days on the island until the Full Moon Party, an event that I suspect I'll deplore, but with the other two by my side should be more agreeable. Christmas, I've just noticed, is only a few days away, although it's completely escaped my mind. Only now, as I sit by some bamboo chairs facing the sea with the hostel's plastic tree in the sand, do I feel a cloudy sense of yearning for my favourite holiday of the year. But for the first time in a couple of years I won't be spending it alone in some airport terminal, and so I have that going for me.

It's been a chill couple of days in Phangan, despite the fact that I was debilitated by illness the first two days we were here. I spent most of the time curled up in bed drifting in and out of fevered dreams, while the others hit up jungle parties and the sort. I didn't miss much during the day, since I think we've grown weary of the search for beaches and snorkelling, and we've taken the last few days to relax instead and enjoy each other's company. So in addition to my being out of action and the group's lack of activity, for better or worse there hasn't been much to report.

Our hostel sits right by the beach, and again we're living in bungalows, although these are larger and accommodate three in each room. While staying here has been quite nice, it seems like the island has been a bit of a letdown in comparison to Samui and Tao (or perhaps we've just chosen the wrong side of the island to stay). It's about as undeveloped as Tao, although instead of using that as an advantage, the island aspires to be like its bigger tourist-attractive cousin Samui and, falling short, has adopted defeat as its general mood. Perhaps it serves as a buffer between the rich tourists in Samui and the younger crowd in Tao, for it doesn't know quite whom to cater to. A thought should be allocated to the locals, who I imagine have spent all their life here. We did the maths on how much the restauranteurs and the masseuses would be making, and with the low season crowd it seems like only enough to get by day-to-day. It's mildly startling to think that they would probably never have saved for a backpacking trip to South America, or a holiday in Europe. Yet with their simple lives repeating the same drill day after day, they seem so content, and we only ever glimpse them lounging around like their lives are on permanent holiday when there are no customers around.

It perfectly reflects the attitude we've espoused the last few days. With no pressing itinerary, we've spent our days waking late, playing volleyball by the water, and finishing the day swimming and treating ourselves to Thai dinners. It's repetitive, but it's also a welcome rest from our days of roaming and the perfect way to wrap up this part of the journey. The weather and the water have been kind to us, and thinking about the last few weeks together brings about the same kind of bittersweet pensiveness when looking through a photo album from ten years ago. And rarely does it get better than being in the water with some of your best mates, enjoying the good life to be had, watching the sun set on the paradise we've created for ourselves.