Southern Thailand 06

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Beautiful islands & most relaxed people, finally I found my paradise & ultimate relaxation

ton sai beach: small beach next to famous railay, 30min boat ride from krabi, tonsai is now what railay used to be years ago when it was still unspoiled, whereas railay is covered with big luxurious concrete buildings attracting hords of package deal tourists from krabi, ton sai is the affordable alternative for climbersand travellers: small beach huts, reggae bars with open mic nights, extremely friendly and relaxed locals, climbers and travellers, very small place with just a few bars, but after 1-2 days you seem to know everyone already, very laid back, me likey a lot and stay there for 4 days: chilling, boat trip to amazing islands close by, snorkeling, doing a climbing course, despite of me being afraid of heights, taking a cooking class on krabi and making a touristy elephant ride trip and visit the 'james bond island' where they shot the man with the golden gun,
koh lanta : on tonsai I already heard great stories of koh lanta which should have a similar vibe like ton sai, much better: I fall in love with this island and stay over a week there doing nothing but purely enjoying life: beach almost to yourself at long beach, enjoying great food, relaxed parties, the best people (both locals & toursits), countless massages at the beach and watching the most amazing sunsets, same here after 2 days you get to know all the long term stayers and it feels almost like family,
koh phi phi : after 5 days on koh lanta, the best island in thailand for me so far, I take a 1hr ferry to koh phi phi to check out how mass toursim and the tsunami have changed this place: this aint no island paradise no more, where in 2001 small beach huts were standing and locals playing soccer on the beach, now hoards of package deal toursits rolling their big fat suitcases into big ugly concrete buildings, prices there are 5x higher then on koh lanta, for an incredible amount of 1000bth I get a room that looks like a prison cell with now windows and has no bath, whereas I paid 300bth for a lovely beach hut directly on the beach on lanta, this place is now owned by sweeds at least it seems so, I try to get drunk as quickly as possible and check out a party night, I can't believe to see an organized fire show with a guy with a mic cheering up the young party crowd asking them to pay after the show....I leave the once beautiful island with the first ferry the very next morning with a very bad hangover to spend some more days at koh lanta where everything is perfect once again,
phuket as I decided to fly back to bangkok I need to go to phuket airport, as I ve never been there, I decide to spend a night there to check out this toursit mekka: I got to see the expected sex tourists, lady boys, strippers, overpriced menu prices and people selling 'I survived the tsunami' t-shirts, thais know how to make money out of everything, fair enough, now I can say I also ve been in Phuket. Next morning I fly back to Bangkok to wait for my good old friends from berlin & vienna.

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