31st January
Hey there Thailand! Safe to say our tans are firmly back on from the last two weeks of resting by the beach on the islands. We arrived nice and early in Thailand after our night in the airport to a very VERY efficient bus and 4 hour ferry journey to Koh Tao where we were staying for 6 nights. Unfortunately we arrived to it pissing it down and very expensive taxis that put us in the back of the truck with our bags with no cover from the heavens!
Thanks to Gee we stayed in a room of 3 in a very well positioned “hostel” which felt more like someone’s house with kids toys everywhere and no one to help you anywhere. We also got access to our own bit of beach which we used daily.
The highlights of our stay was definitely the pub crawl (said to be the best in Asia and 5th best in the world) which we did twice and paid for once ?- we also say a Caberet show by the lady boys! – the best veggie burger ever, and our sunrise trek up to Mango viewpoint. We decided we would wake up at 5am to beat the heat of the day to start our hike at 5.30am. Safe to say we would not have done it if it was in daylight, Pips would collapse at the sight of the incline on the road! We got to the top in about 45 mins, 300m high, and thought we would actually catch the sun rising which we weren’t planning on but then stopped suddenly to the silhouette of a very large dog who started barking at us. We scurried back down the road and waited for civilisation to rescue us, we did some meditation to cool down and pass time. We then got escorted passed the dog and got to the top to see Sairee Beach and Koh Tao. We also took some cheesy photos ?
After 6 nights we got a ferry to Koh Phangan which was choppy to say the least ? and arrived to our 16 dorm at Slumber Party Hostel. The island was not what we were expecting at all – no particularly nice cafes or restaurants, very western and no real centre. Other than that we got to the beach during the day and pretended to be at a different hostel so we could use their beach and have cheap breakfast – Cici and Gee are obsessed with hash browns for some reason ?.
The HIGHLIGHT was the Jungle Experience party which was insanely fun – we had a slight dilemma though as there was Buddha Day where no one could sell or drink alcohol for 24 hours so the party didn’t start until 1am but we had so much fun in a really cool setting of a dance floor surrounded by a river and the jungle. This was the night before the famous Full Moon Party which was a let down. We were told by a lovely couple we met in Koh Rong Samloem that the Jungle Party is better than the Full Moon Party and they were so right. The high of the night was spending an hour with ex-Love Islander Josh Denzel and his friend’s stag do – Ceec got a free bucket and Gee was offered free trainers – Ceec and I were in the background of his Instagram story! The low of the night was Cici got pick-pocketed and lost her cards and money from her bum bag ? we went back after that. What came about from our two heavy night outs was “giggles with the gallies” where once we are ready we all pile into one of our small bunk beds and gossip, and then “morning snuggles” where we do the same but slightly less revved up and reminisce of our previous night.
We then decided we would stay a night in Haad Rin – where we thought it was happening – but found it as dead as where we were previously and had a very sweaty night’s sleep with no air con ?
12th February
We had another very efficient journey to Krabi. The Thais seem to be a lot more organised and on time compared to the Cambodians! We stay in what was described by Gee as black coffins in another Slumber Party Hostel for £2.50 a night. I had a real blonde moment and thought that the light was too bright in my coffin for me to read my book so I put my t shirt on it to darken bright light but after 10 mins the smell of burning filled our tiny dorm and I realised that it might be me! I quickly took it off which blew the lamp and made a bang ?and then I poured my water bottle on it to put out the burning embers… ?
We were 100 yards from Ao Nang Beach which was ideal! This place was very western and developed – a Burger King and McDonalds next door – but what came with that was a lot of families and older couples that were holidaying and not much of a younger vibe. Still, to balance it out there was much more to do! On our second day we rented kayaks in the morning to kayak 6km to Railay Beach – which is only accessible by boat – and we got smoothies for our breakfast and chilled under the rocks and in the water?. We then kayaked back in the midday sun which has left us a bit rouge and got some lunch and chilled by the beach. Then we went for a highly recommended cheap Thai restaurant for a Galentine’s meal!
The next day we went to see the hot springs and Emerald Pool up in the Klong Thom National Park for half the day. The springs were BOILING – our first “bath” of the trip – so much so that Gee and Ceec couldn’t stay in it and went down the drop into the cooler river while I stayed and bubbled away.
This is the Blue Pool which is around 50 degrees so no one can swim in it but was stunning to see after a 40 minute walk. We then cooled off in the Emerald Pool for a little bit and then headed back to the bus back to Ao Nang for the rest of the day.
We decided to change hostel because the prices went up to £9 a night and we were not spending that on our coffins so moved 100m down the road to Balcony Party Hostel. We were slightly apprehensive as it was on the 3rd floor – ground floor were bars, 1st floor was a strip club and the 2nd was the lady boy cabaret and another bar! But we were so SO happy to find a spacious, clean, modern hostel with friendly staff that didn’t ram down our throats the fact that they were a party hostel and you should be up for the PARTYYYYY!!! No, we had a big 10 dorm with nice normal people in it. We found this out after (for some reason..) I thought our room was no. 14 and proceeded to walk into a full dorm of boys our age who found it funny we were trying to find an empty bed but to no avail…. oops ?! The sunsets from our balcony were beautiful and featured heavily on my FaceTimes to the family.
On our last full day we got a long boat taxi to Railay Beach where we stayed for the day. It was beautiful and a nice change of scenery and restaurants to choose from. After a few hours we decided to get some lunch where we almost lost Cici who very almost fainted due to the heat and low blood sugar levels but after a couple hours in the shade and a falafel wrap down her she was back to her tanned self!
Our time in Krabi went quickly but we were ready for Phi Phi! Wow, such an amazing place. We got to the Krabi port to Cici pulling something in her neck and crying in pain carrying her 20kg bag on her shoulders, and having our temperatures checked in an attempt to contain Coronavirus. A very choppy ride there we arrived to Phi Phi and our £8 each triple superior room at Coco’s guesthouse (this was actually our cheapest option as we were a bit late booking..)
Phi Phi itself doesn’t have any cars or motorbikes as you don’t need them, everything is walking distance and the roads aren’t wide enough for anything other than people and carts. We had a good feeling about the place!
We had a night in on our first night to get our energy up but then had some very fun nights out after meeting a group of boys from Southampton and their friends from Australia who enjoyed our company. Unfortunately after one night and drinking the vodka from one bar all three of us felt awful and spent the whole day in bed feeling ill.
So much so, Gee didn’t come out and was being sick all night ? Despite this, Cici and I kept going strong but didn’t make it out on our last night and went to bed at a very reasonable time. To be fair, we splashed the cash (which is diminishing substantially day by day) on our last day on a day boat trip to visit all the beautiful sights that the Phi Phi islands can offer. This included a visit to the famous Maya Beach where the Leonardo DiCaprio film, The Beach, was filmed, 2 hours on Bamboo island which we ended up being the only ones on for the half hour, and a quick dip in the night sea to see the plankton. Snorkelling, napping and lots of fruit we had an epic last day that was worth every penny.
After 6 days on Phi Phi, we are now in Phuket for 2 nights. It is my least favourite place by a mile – very expensive and sleazy feeling so very excited to meet Mummy in Bangkok for the next leg of our adventures, this time a bit more luxurious!