The beaches of Thailand

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Leaving Bangkok

After having spent our final day in Bangkok, myself, Lucy and Dave headed in a taxi towards the outskirts of Bangkok and to the Southern Bus terminal, where upon arrival we were told our bus was leaving in 20 minutes. So we headed down to the departure area and had just enough time to use the toilet before we set off on our 14 hour journey to Phuket. Having made the decision to go it alone rather than to go with a tour agency from the Kho San road, we happened to be the only westerners on the bus. But luckily for us girls anyways we both got two seats to ourselves and I pretty much fell asleep straight away! Although I did wake up every two hours for the toilet stops!!!

Phuket: Kata beach and Patong

So come 8am the next day, we arrived in Phuket town and had the fun task of trying to get a tuk-tuk to Kata beach where two of our friends were staying. Seeming we only paid 500Baht to get to Phuket from Bangkok, the tuk-tuk drivers were trying to charge us 400Baht just to get 20 minutes across the island!! Rip-off. However, the mixture of being incredibly tired and incredibly hot, we agreed to 300B (so only 100B each) and set of across the island to find some accommodation! Once in Kata beach, the accommodation our friends were staying at was fully booked, but just two doors down was a massive apartment with three beds, air-con and a t.v for a much cheaper price. Our time in Kata beach was very lazy with us mainly spending time of the beach and in our beautiful room. We met up with our friends Ellie and Allison for a night out and then when they left the following day, the three of us decided to head to Patong which was a much busier area.

So we arrive in Patong and bang, the tourist world hits us. Kata beach was a beautiful, serene beach and village but slightly boring whereas Patong did not know the meaning of the words beautiful and serene. It was filled with tourist shops, fast food places and ladyboy bars and nightclubs and is possibly one of the seediest places I have ever been in my life!! So we set out looking for accommodation and again no problems, i'm starting to think this is getting too easy! The rest of the day is spent with Lucy and I being in the Irish pub called Scruffy Murphy's, eating and watching live music whilst Dave went to a Muay Thai boxing match. The rest of our time in Patong was spent shopping and lazying around in the room watching films as the beach wasn't much to be desired. However, the last day we were to be in Phuket, I got the chance to meet up with Tim, one of my friends from my South America travels and the four of us had a great night out together in Patong. Though I have to say, I have never seen so many drunken westerners with Thai girls and ladyboys in my whole time in Thailand. The following, feeling slightly worse for wear, Dave, Lucy and I had the joy of travelling on a ferry to the tiny island of Koh Phi Phi Don; an island that was completely devastated by the Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami.

Koh Phi Phi Don

After spending the two hour ferry journey sleeping, we arrived at the beautiful little island of Koh Phi Phi Don. On arrival, you can still see the damage that was done by the tsunami, however the beauty still remained and you could easily see the potential. We left the pier and encountered the hoards of people trying to find us transport, accommodation, suits etc but we just waled straight past and went off to find our own. However, Lucy and I were not feeling the walking and carrying backpacks in the sun and so we all sat down to have dinner in this Italian restaurant and then made Dave go off to find us somewhere to stay. Once he (eventually) returned we then had the fun task of trying to re-find the place Dave had found because, being a typical boy, he hadn't thought to get the name of the place and couldn't remember the street name. After wandering down every alley off the main path, we eventually found it and settled in for the night with a rented DVD player and "Finding Nemo", "The Borne Identity" and "Stardust." We wanted to watch "The Beach" seeming we were in Thailand as, for some obscure reason, Timmy and Dave till had not seen it but alas we could not find it anywhere! Lucy and I also had a wander around the town and went and saw the most amazing sunset on the northern beach but left very soon afterwards having been eaten to death by mossies!

The following day was spent relaxing, having a massage and discovering the joys of the Little Britain Cafe with real English sausages and Family Guy being played. That evening we had a night out in the town which was a lot of fun as most of it was spent at the Reggae Bar which had an outside boxing ring in which anyone regular Joe could fight. Do not quite think it will catch on in England, what with the lack of health and safety involved, but it was a lot of fun to watch! We also met up with Patrick, a guy that Dave and I had met in our hostel in our hostel in Bangkok, and Lucia, another girl from our RealGap tour. The place was full of Westerners as well so we had fun talking to a lot of other travellers!

The following day, Tim arrived on Koh Phi Phi Don and that evening, we all decided to do the overnight excursion to Koh Phi Phi Ley and Maya Bay, an island next to Koh Phi Phi Don which was used in the filming of "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio in it. So at 4pm we head down to the pier and get on the boat to the beach.

"The Beach"

The boat journey across took about 45 minutes and it was such a beautiful journey as the sun was starting to set and we could sit and dangle our legs over the edge of the boat. On the outskirts of the island, some people had the chance to go snorkelling in the sea, but unfortunately did not see anything. We then headed towards the entrance to Maya Bay, where we had to wait for a longtail boat to come pick us up and take us into the bay due to shallow waters. We soon arrived on the beach and it was just breathtaking. It is slightly different to the film as the bay is not completely enclosed and has the entrance to the sea. Also, in the film they must have digitally enhanced the water as although it was as clear, it was no where near as deep and during low tide, it was so shallow you could walk all the way out into it. We then headed a bit further back into the trees and forest to set up our tents, another interesting tent experience seeming due to the lack of tents, all four of us had to sleep in one! It was time then to sit down with a beer and chill out before dinner, which almost killed me due to its spicy-ness. Afterwards, we had the whole evening to ourselves, so whilst everyone sat around camp drinking, Lucy and I headed back down to the beach to see the night sky. Although it had been a slightly disappointing sunset due to clouds coming over, the night sky was perfectly clear and we saw the most beautiful array of stars across the entire sky. We ended up sitting there watching it for a good hour, seeing shooting stars and all before the boys came looking for us along with some other people and disturbed the peace and tranquility! As it is a national park, the island is completely deserted of buildings so we were really going back to nature. After a good 3/4 hours or so of lying of the beach (covering ourselves in sand in the process) we headed off to bed which was indeed an uncomfortable affair (no mats).

The following morning most people woke up around 7/8am due to the unbearable heat and we packed everything up and waited around for brekkie. I, however, woke up feeling horribly ill and spent the whole morning walking back and forth from the woods feeling like I was about to throw up. I never did but I still maintain it was the spicy food the night before that did it! Whilst everyone waited for about 2 hours for breakfast (the company we went with had cooked eggs for breakfast and then dropped them, so the had to walk across the island to the storage place to pick up some more) I wandered back to the beach as the sun was just coming over the cliffs and took about 3 videos of the beach whilst using songs from my "The Beach" soundtrack on my MP3, something I'd been desperate to do every since I started my travels! Eventually, we packed up back onto the boat and headed back to Koh Phi Phi Don. The trip was in my opinion worth every penny and it was the best thing I have done since I have been in Thailand. It was definitely one of the prettiest beaches I have seen in my life.

The rest of our time in Koh Phi Phi Don was spent chilling out and exploring the island. After another two days, despite how much we loved it, we decide it was time to leave and thus we headed back down to the pier and onto another ferry, this time heading to Ao Nang where we then caught a longtail boat to a little, blocked-off pennisula in Krabi province called Railay which, according to the Lonely Planet, is supposed to have the prettiest and most unspoilt beaches in Thailand.

Railay

We arrived at Railay on this gorgeous beach with a beautiful sunset starting behind us. However, we had accommodation to find first so we headed off to the opposite side of the peninsula which had an almost non-existent beach but the accommodation was far cheaper (backpackers area). We found a nice room at a hotel with a pool so we were happy enough. Unfortunately though, our three days in Railay were not amazing as they seem to co-incide with three days of really bad weather for Thailand. Every morning we would have a lie in due to the weather and would go for a swim for about an hour when it cleared up in the day before heading back to the room when the rains came. Luckily, on our last afternoon/evening, the weather cleared up a bit and so we headed out and went to look around the cave at Tham Pranangnai and then back to the beach we had arrived on and watched the sunset/had dinner before sorting out ourselves for leaving the next day and journeying across the country to the east coast and Koh Samui.

Koh Samui

As we were to be travelling across the country, we had quite the journey ahead of us! Walking from the beach to the longtail boat in itself was a mission as we had all our bags on and had to wade in water with harsh rocks in it. Once on the boat, we were taken to Krabi where we were put into a Thai-style tuk-tuk bus and taken to a bus station to board our coach to the port of Donak where we piled onto a ferry to Koh Samui. As you can imagine, we were extremely tired by the time we arrived but we still had another bus ride ahead of us for 45 minutes across the island to Hat Chaweng, the main area of the island. Once we arrived, we set out walking through town to try and get a room at a hostel that Tim was staying in. However, after a brief McDonalds break, we arrived to find there were no rooms left at the inn. After trying a further four more places, we started to get worried we would have nowhere to live, especially as it was now dark. Luckily, we found a random Thai guy who led us to the Kings Garden Resort, where we got a lovely fan bungalow right near the beach.

The following day we met up with Tim again and had a wander around town and to the beach before heading out for the evening to yet another Irish Bar (they love them here) to play some pool and then experiencing some of the beach bars which had some Sheesha and turned out to be another good night. We did not get to see as much of Koh Samui as we would have liked but we had to leave early to head to Koh Phagnan because, due to the Full Moon Party the following week we thought we would not be able to get accommodation. As usual we were wrong!!!

Full Moon Party

It was only a short 45 minute ferry ride from Samui to Phagnan, however I had again woken up feeling dizzy and nauseous and with the impeding storm that hit just as we were out a sea, I felt very seasick. Luckily, I was alright by the time we got off the boat in Haad Rin Nai and although we had worried for days about accommodation issues like I said, we found a room as soon as we got off the boat for our cheapest price yet: only 500B between the three of us. Though it was very basic: four walls, a bathroom and a fan. We then set out to explore the island. Where we were staying was on the Haad Rin pennisula of the island. On our side, Haad Rin Nai (or sunset beach) was where the ferry port was. But a brief 10/15 minute walk through town and we were at Haad Rin Nok (or Sunrise beach) which is the Full Moon Party beach. So it was just close enough for us to be near all the action, but far enough away from the noise. Or so we thought before we were rudely awoken the following morning at about 9am by building work!! Oh well, its the price you pay for backpacking and wanting cheap accommodation! During the five days we were in Haad Rin, I made good use out of my ear plugs!!

The following two days were spent wandering the town and sunbathing and we spent the evenings either down on the beach or watching films. Every restaurant in Haad Rin plays films all day for some reason and even though the restaurant we chose one particular evening did not do particularly nice food, we got to watch the Sex in the City movie, Kung Fu Panda and Blades of Glory all in one evening!

It was then the pre-full moon party night. We headed out for a meal at a cool hostel called "Same Same" (but different) which seems to be some joke in the region of the world that we have missed out on so if anyone knows what it is please feel free to inform!!! After a few drinks, we headed down to the beach but I decided to call it an early night as I was going to get up fairly early the next morning to meet up with Holly and Becca, my two university friends. So I set off back to the room with a cornetto in hand, when I suddenly here someone calling my name. I turn around and it just so happens to be James, a boy that was on my South America trip. Very random! He informs me that there is no way I am allowed to go to bed, so I agree to go for a drink with him when we meet back up with my friends. Although I did not drink much the night rapidly deteriorated for everyone around me and at 2am I finally decided to call it a night (when James was no longer around to stop me!)

The following morning I wake up feeling incredibly tired but I wait for Becca and Holly none the less who soon pull up in their jeep that they have hired for the day!! We then ride the 45 minute journey across the island back to their place whilst we gossip in the back and then spend the rest of the day sunbathing and chatting. At around 6pm, we drove back across the island to drop the jeep off and then headed back to mine so that I could get ready for the big night ahead. Once ready, Tim, Lucy, Dave and I set out to join the girls for dinner and some party time on the beach. It was a good night, though I have never seen so many people on one small beach in my entire life! Lucy and Dave had an early night having gotten too drunk the night before but Tim and I stayed up with Becca and Holly until about 3/4am which was early for full moon party (apparently there were still people around at 11am the following day) but I couldn't dance anymore!! We were also covered in Rave paint which for some reason was burning my arm!!! And to top it all off, the following morning Dave and I had to be up at 11am to catch our 18 hour trip back to Bangkok!!!

And so the next morning we packed up, said goodbye to Lucy and Tim and headed off to the port where we caught a ferry back to the mainland. We then had the joys of getting a coach from Donak to Surit Thani, where we were picked up by a pick up truck and taken to a restaurant (commission) to wait for the two hours before being taken by the same pick up truck to a random shop where we had to catch a tuk-tuk bus thing to yet another restaurant!! By this point, none of the group were very happy but luckily five minutes later the VIP bus turned up, otherwise they would have had a small riot on their hands!!

And so onwards and upwards we travelled back to Bangkok once again, but with our VIP comforts of watching James Bond (on a beautiful plasma screen) and having the whole backseat to myself to sprawl out on and 11 hours later we were dropped off at the Kho San road! Dave and I quickly checked into a room and after a healthy McDonalds brekkie, went straight off to bed! We woke up a few hours later only to discovered that at some point between Koh Phagnan and getting back to Bangkok I had been robbed! So the rest of the day was a bit of a downer needless to say.

The floating Markets and Kanachaburi

The following morning it was an early start as we were to be picked up for our day of being tourists at 7am from the Kho San road. We were eventually picked up about 30mins later in a minibus and we headed out for about 1 hour, out of the city to the floating markets of Damnoen Saduak where we were piled into what our tour guide called a "James Bond boat" which was basically just a ordinary long-tail boat that was to take us to the beginning of the market. It was slightly different from how I expected, for starters it was horrendously overcrowded and full of tourists, but I also assumed it was just a market on the water but actually the biggest part of the market is on the land on either side. We walked around for a bit and then decided to get into a boat being at a floating market and all. When we first got on all was well but if you even looked at a stall you were harassed by both the lady on the boat and the stall owner!! And then after about 5 minutes, we got stuck in traffic with all the other boats in the blistering midday sun. And there we stayed slowly pushing forward for about 25 minutes. Suffice to say I felt very ill by the time we got off and had to sit in a cafe for 10 minutes with about 3 bottles of water!!!

It was then back into the minibus and away on another 1 hour journey towards Kanachaburi where we had a brief stop for lunch along the way. We eventually arrived in Kanachaburi and our first stop was a cemetary dedicated to those who died during the building of the Death Railway. After looking around the cemetary and experiencing a brief but heavy downpour, we headed off to the main attraction of the day: the bridge over the River Kwai (pr the death railway as they love to call it here!) Luckily, the sun had come back out again by this point and so I got some great photos including some of a train actually going over the bridge. And just for dad and Grandad, I hummed Colonel Bogey whilst walking over! After a good 30 minutes walking back and forth over the bridge, we then had a quick look around the museum before it was time to head off again to our final attraction of the day, a huge Pagoda. Most people who do this tour do the Tiger Temple instead but having already stroked baby tigers and hearing rumours that the tigers were drugged for the attraction of tourists we decided against it. The journey to the Pagoda was interesting purely because we had picked up a new family into our minibus from the Czech Republic who had a little girl who kept chatting to me. Within the space of 2 hours she said numerous times to me in her little singsong voice: "What is your name? My name is Zoe. I am three years old. And this is my vater and my muder and my buder (in her accent) he is 8 (he was actually only a baby and i found out from the mum later he was actually 8 months old). He is so funny. You are so funny. Boing boing boing, that is my song." Almost in that exact order every time and every time she could not remember my name but still liked to walk around holding my hand. After a brief walk around the pagoda, it was time to head back home to Bangkok, where I said a fond farewell to Zoe and met up with Lucy who had come back to the city a day after us.

And so the following day it was time to leave Thailand for good for me and temporarily for Lucy and Dave. I have enjoyed my time in Thailand despite some of the experiences of the first few weeks but the people I have met have been amazing and we have seen some great things. The islands in the south, though expensive really were worth it and Koh Phi Phi don/ley will always be my favourite though Koh Samet in the north through RealGap was pretty special too. Now though, I am really looking forward to heading to other countries though which are hopefully slightly less cliche and touristy than Thailand and hopefully a lot cheaper too, well at least until I head to Australia! And so, Cambodia here I come!

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Photos

Just the four of us
Myself, Timmy, Lucy and Dave on our night out in Patong

Sunset
Sunset in Kho Phi Phi Don

Lucy and I
Lucy and I on the boat to Maya Bay

In the cave
Inside Tham Pranangnai

Our bungalow
In Kho Samui

Haad Rin Nok
One of the bars on the party beach

The Bucket Stalls
Stalls along the party beach selling buckets