A few days with the 'rents: Ao Nang, Phan-Nga, Ko Phi Phi

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After our epic few days exploring the depths of Ko Tao, we all headed to Ko phan gnan. We wanted a relaxed beach, away from all the crowds heading to the full moon party, so we decided to head to the North of the island. Here we met Lucy's mum and dad. They had found a lovely beach and hotel and had booked us in for a night..... When we arrived we couldn't believe what we were seeing! The most amazing hotel situated on quite possibly  one of the nicest beaches we had ever seen! Absolute paradise. The beach was set in a little bay, surrounded by lush green forest that sat perfectly against the stunning bright blue waters. Long boats sat swaying on the waves creating the most idyllic picture perfect setting! And to make it even better the hotel bar was situated on decking looking right at it, the perfect setting to watch the sun set with a beer. It was truly gorgeous, and the hotel was something else too; The best we've stayed in so far! The guys also managed to find great bungalows right next door which we also moved into after our night of luxury so it worked out perfectly. It also meant that we could sneak in and still use the amazing hotel facilities such as the pool and the sun loungers- we had the best of both worlds! 
We hired out a long tail boat for just the 7 of us and had a day exploring the surrounding coastline and marine life below! The snorkeling was great and we managed to find some great porcupine puffer fish which were awesome! The rest of our days were spent relaxing and soaking up the scenery. 

Jayne and Andy left us on the day of the full moon and headed to krabi (where we met them the next day). The full moon party was good fun, a few of bens friends came and joined us so we had a good crowd with the 8 of us. The beach was rammed with people and good fun was had by all until Rikki and Ben had a rather dodgy bucket of drink.... resulting in Ben passing out on the beach and Rikki having his head down the toilet for the rest of the evening! We both left a little earlier than everyone else as we had booked a bus for 6am going to Krabi to meet Jayne and Andy. God knows how we ever thought we would make a 6am bus..... we missed our bus and had to catch the afternoon one instead! We therefore had to say our goodbyes to the guys all over again, this time in a more sober fashion! 

After a long and painful day on the boat and bus, we finally arrived in Ao Nang, Krabi, early evening. Andy and Jayne had booked us in to another amazing hotel, we didn't feel worthy walking in with our rucksacks!

Ao Nang is a busy little touristy town and although the beaches were lovely, it didn't really compare to the one on phan-gnan. The surrounding areas however were incredible and Ao Nang served as the perfect base from which to visit them. 

We decided to take 2 day trips, one to the Phang-nga area and one to Ko phi phi national park. The first trip took us to the famous 'James bond island' (very popular with tourists) and we then went canoeing around the surrounding karsts and mangrove forests which was awesome. We also visited a floating village (where we had an amazing lunch), a cave temple, and then finished the day cooling off at a waterfall park. 
Trip 2 to Ko phi phi was also great; we went by speed boat around the national park, stopping off to snorkel and visit pretty beaches. We of course visited Ko phi phi leh to see maya bay, the setting of the film 'the beach'- a gorgeous place but full of tourists. We had lunch on phi phi don and had a couple of hours exploring the area. It's a gorgeous place but very busy. We were thinking of staying there but are glad we didn't as we were able to easily visit these places from Ao Nang but were also able to explore an incredible nearby beach called Railay...

The Andaman coastline is stunning, known for it's rocky and craggy beaches with karsts jotting up everywhere and Railay beach is no exception. It was just a short boat ride away and it was incredible. Definitely makes it into our top 3 beaches! Not only was it nice and quiet, but it had lovely white sand and a jaw-dropping background, which made it a perfect setting to spend our last day "on holiday" in Thailand!

We had a lovely evening meal at a local Thai restaurant, and we set off to Penang, Malaysia the following morning after a sad goodbye with Jayne and Andy, who were heading back to Bangkok to fly home. Overall, a brilliant couple of weeks! 

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