Life's a beach... well, at least for the 15 days we're allowed on our Thai visas!

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After popping into and out of Thailand a few times over the last couple of months, it was finally time to explore the beautiful islands and beaches of the southern gulf coast. We'd been looking forward to this since we arrived in Bangkok back in June, and Hazel could barely contain her excitement about the impending quota of sunbathing!

We began our beach tour by jumping on the morning train from Bangkok to Hua Hin. As we island-hopped down the Gulf of Thailand, there were fewer real 'sights' to visit and a very different sort of culture to sample - and, with only 15 days on our Thai visas (the land border limit), there was much less time to sample it - so you will be pleased to hear that we have kept the writing short for this leg!

Our train was running the usual hour late but we had an air-con carriage and meals provided, so it wasn't too bad. We are also still enjoying the niceties of Thai trains compared to those in Vietnam! As we pulled into Hua Hin we were relieved to be greeted by the sun, in welcome contrast with the rain of Laos. As soon as we had checked into our hotel, we headed for the beach to catch a few rays of afternoon sun. We found Hua Hin very tourist-centric, with lots of tailor shops, bars and even horse rides along the beach (unsurprisingly, all the beaches and islands are geared towards tourism) but the old town was not too busy during the evenings and had a nice buzzy atmosphere.

The fishing pier and night market were the main "sights" and we were tempted by the stalls selling fresh BBQ'd lobster. Unfortunately though we'd recently had a bit of a reassessment of the budget and realised that Asia is a bit like Ikea...everything's so cheap that you pick up loads of bits and pieces, and then you get to the till and realise that you've spent more on blankets, cushions and Dime bars than you have on your new bed! So no lobster for us sadly.

Fortunately, lounging on the beach in the sunshine doesn't cost a penny 😊 The long stretch of beach varied from being rocky in places to larger expanses of white sand which were empty and not yet dominated by hotels and beach huts. Nearer town, there were many resorts lining the beach with their sun loungers marking their empire right down to the waters edge, so we had to paddle through the water to get round. We walked further along to where it was quieter and set ourselves up under a couple of palm trees, after the customary coconut check - i.e. ensuring that if one fell that you wouldn't be directly underneath (after seeing one fall off a tree and hit the sand with a massive thump, this is now a necessary precaution!) The sea in Hua Hin was not the bluest we have seen but was very warm and great for swimming, and we had some really tasty meals in the cafes and restaurants nearby. After a couple of days it was time to get moving again though, so we ventured on south.

We had booked a Lomprayah coach to make the bus/ferry journey to Koh Tao easier. We had arranged to be in a newish hotel near the main town, so we could walk to different beaches and try out some of the central restaurants. We had a great balcony where we ate breakfast each morning which, in the interest of keeping our budget on track, consisted of currant-loaves purchased from the local 7-Eleven. (Sue & John - like the ones we had in WA, but stale!). Hazel also bought a bunch of tiny bananas from a roadside stall (they were about the size of your finger) for 8THB (about 20p) - Bargain!

Our weather on Koh Tao was great and we had a lovely sunset on our first night. We spent our first day walking down the coast and along to quieter bays away from the crowds, where you could snorkel right off the beach. Koh Tao is really well known for scuba diving, so on our second day we headed to the main beach to have a look at the hustle and bustle around the diving shops. The main beach is a gorgeous long stretch of white sand, dotted with bungalows and cafes, as well as all the diving centres. Here we also crossed over with the "Brits abroad" at lunch leading to Hazel's conversation of the day: after staring at her lunch for 5 minutes...

English chap - "Wat's that?"
Hazel - "Chicken and Cashew nut stir fry"
English chap - "Wat?"
Hazel - "Chicken and Cashew Nuts"
English chap - "Chicken and waaat?"
Hazel - "Cashew Nuts!"
English chap - "Does it have nuts in it?"

Time to get out of there and move on...

As we are now cheap-skates, we downgraded from the nice Lomprayah catamaran to take the Songserm Ferry service from Koh Tao to Koh Phangan. This basically means your bags are thrown, very literally, from the ferry onto the dock and then down the dock ensuring that anything remotely fragile will be in pieces by the time your bag makes it back to you. Fortunately for us, we have not had any casualties yet and were better packed when we opted for Songserm again a couple of days later. (A phrase about paying peanuts comes to mind though!)

While on Phangan we stayed in a very basic bungalow, but right on the beach. The water wasn't clear enough for snorkelling and not really deep enough to swim, but was great to bathe in when you needed to cool down. The place was run by a really friendly Thai family who swept their patch of beach each day so as to keep it clear for guests. The owner's wife cooked up a storm in the kitchen on each night of our stay and we had our best pad-thai and mussaman curry, at the lowest prices on our Thailand trip! We also witnessed the son knocking down coconuts from the nearby palm trees, presumably to use in that nights curry. You can't get fresher than that! (the family also had two lovely chocolate brown puppies, who frolicked on the beach and came to say hello when you were swinging lazily in a hammock, so cute!)

Mark took the opportunity of being right on the beach to take over the clumsy-baton from Hazel: as he waded straight out one morning and trod on something sharp in the sea. He now has a hole in the bottom of his foot which he keeps reminding Hazel of every half an hour!

We had great fun staying on the beach, but have both decided that these huts are best for only short stints. Three days is about our threshold until the sand and bugs get too much for us and we want somewhere clean again! We had a close encounter with a HUGE cockroach on our last night... We armed ourselves with a broom, a flip-flop, insect repellent and Mark's spray deodorant and, with the adrenaline pumping high, managed to coax it out of the door. So he did eventually come off second best... but is now the best smelling roach amongst his friends (if the deet hasn't killed him yet?!)

Soon it was time to move on to Koh Samui. After another Songserm episode, we arrived in the port and jumped into our taxi. The driver wanted to drop us off about 1km from where we were actually staying, as he didn't feel like turning off the main road, and it took us a good 5 minutes of "you walk; no, you drive" to get him to finish his job. At least when we finally arrived we could relax in the pool (what a treat!) and enjoy a room with free air-con, as being slightly off the beaten track got us a lot more for our money (another downside of the recent budget cuts means we now opt for fan-only rooms to save a couple of ££, so air-con has become a luxury item!)

We were staying about 10 minutes walk from Lamai beach, which is the second biggest resort area on Samui. We had a tour of the area given to us by our hotel owner as dusk was drawing in and we could see the night stalls firing up their BBQs. Apparently the "girly bars" didn't really get going for another few hours, so we took a walk along the beach while we waited (joke!)

During the daytime, Lamai beach was pretty full and there were plenty of families enjoying jet ski and banana boat rides whilst on their summer holiday...it was very attractive nonetheless and the sea was great for swimming. We spent our two days on Samui down at the beach, although the rain would roll in in the early evening which had us running for shelter along with the other tourists.

On the final day of our visas, we had arranged a ride to Malaysia which involved a van-ferry-coach-van-van combo. It took us 16 hours in total, as the traffic was terrible and we only made it across the border with 10 minutes to spare before it closed for the night! It is sad to have finished our main travel through Thailand and especially to bid farewell to all the green and mussaman curries and the daily pad-thais. Malaysia, you have a lot to live up to!

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