Past Thailand Trip

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THAILAND

So my Thailand trip started with 4 girls, finishing uni exams, hopping onto a plane to Thailand. Our trip was to consist of Phuket, Phi Phi Island and then I would separate from my friends and travel to Chiang Mai where I would be working with the tribes up there.

Phuket was great - partied, lay on the beach, drank, shopped. The weather wasn't to our advantage. Most days were warm but cloudy. We also went on a few tours riding elephants and four wheel driving through the rainforests.

A week in Phuket and I saw a few people I knew from Australia. We bumped into a workmate of ours one early morning. The world is gettin too small!!

We rode a big cruise to Phi Phi island where we lay on the beach, went scuba diving and relaxed. Phi Phi is very different to Phuket. It is more like a small village filled with tourists from all over the world. The night is filled with beach parties and bars, people drinking buckets of vodka and whiskey mixed with red bull and coke.

The food in Phi Phi is very westernized. You will not have any trouble finding tuna or ham sandwich, pizzas or pastas. Surprisingly the western food is great. However, it is pricy compared to thai food. The fruit juices there were refreshing and we found a great restaurant just below our hotel room that sold fantastic fresh watermelon, kiwi, apple orange and many more fresh juices.

Our room wasn't too fancy. It was quite small but us girls didn't mind....as long as we had the beach near us, clean beds and running water we were fine.

Many businness' on Phi Phi Island are run by europeans and they are very friendly and will offer help if needed. I find that many people in Phuket were friendly, however, we were surprised to find that many lady boy's were nasty to us if you invaded the spaces where they were trying to 'pick up' some desparate western men!!

Unfortunately we were there when the political riots happened and we were stuck in Ton Sai - an island off Krabi where we spent our last few nights. We were at Krabi for 4 days and when the riots hit, we couldn't really afford to stay at the hotel we were staying at and we also needed a change of scenery. We found Krabi much quieter than Phi Phi and Phuket. It is more a family scene.

So the riots happened and we were pretty much stranded in Thailand on a beach! wat a nightmare! haha It was great being stranded on an island, however, we had to stay in bungalows which had no air conditioning and electricity from 6pm-1am only. There was running water but the toilet didn't have a flusher.

I enjoyed myself, however, my friends who took much care in their appearance didn't appreciate the face that they couldn't dry their hair of straighten it! It was an experience and I would do it all over again.

Unfortunately the riots also ruled out my trip to Chiang Mai to do the volunteer work because the airports were not flying out or taking planes from other countries. Instead, when the airports finally opened, we flew from Krabi to MAlaysia. We stayed in Malaysia for a few days, shopping and eating their great food, then flew home back to Melbourne.

It was an eventful trip, however, the travel insurance that we purchased didn't cover anything if events occurred due to political rebellion. I am disappointed in the insurance that I bought. I recommend Air Asia flights. They're cheap, efficient and they will return your money if things like riots or cancellation of flights occur. I am still to hear from Thai airways about my return trip which I didn't use due to the riots. They keep assuring me it will be a few months but we have been waiting for 5 months now and still nothing.

Overall this trip was a great adventure.

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