Our first day in Ko Phangan, it poured. It didn’t just rain for a few hours in the afternoon and then stop, like it had a few times in Bangkok. It came down, and besides some short breaks, it did so all day. But it was our first day, so we couldn’t let that stop us. However, the place seemed pretty deserted and we soon found out that it had been beautiful weather up until we arrived, hence everyone staying indoors. But one advantage of being there for the first rain was the Water Buffalo. Or at least that was our best guess as to the “mooing” noises coming from up the road that night. Curious and adventurous as ever, we set out to find the illusive water buffalo, flashlight in tow. We didn’t get far. Literally at the end of the driveway to our guesthouse, we realized we were already past the sound and were now surrounded by it. What was it?

We zoned in on the one area and were more than surprised by what we found. Giant round frogs, floating in the gutter, their throats expanding and contracting to make the sounds we envisioned coming out of a some form of cow. We suddenly felt like we were in Planet Earth. Next we saw giant prehistoric snails (I seriously had no idea they got that big), and a feeding frenzy of frogs, geckos and ants (ants!) chowing down on some dumb flying insects with a suicidal love of anything emitting light, which in turn, put them at the top of the menu for the night. I’ll take the rain if it comes with a side of water buffalo any day.