Thailand

We have had a few longish flights recently so we have been able to work on the blogs a bit more. Our next stop after Cambodia was Thailand. Originally we were not going to go to Thailand. Ross had been a few times and didn’t enjoy it and there were so many other places we could go instead so we were going to give it a miss. I was bummed because I had always wanted to visit…somehow, in the end, we wound up going for 9 days! Here is our itinerary:

Koh Phi Phi – 3 days

Koh Lanta – 4 days

Krabi – 3 days

We talked a little about going up to Chang Mai/Chang Rai region, but since we didn’t have a ton of time, we decided to just go to the islands instead. Getting down there was a bit more challenging than we thought it would be. We had been looking at flights from Siem Reap to a few different spots and it was tough to find a direct flight that got us in at a reasonable hour. We needed to land early in the day so we could catch a ferry to the islands. Otherwise, we would be stuck in either Krabi or Phuket for a night. We wound up finding an early morning flight from Siem Reap to Phuket that gave us time to catch a boat to Koh Phi Phi. I was worried about Ross getting sea sick on the ferry over, but he did great!

We had heard and read mixed reviews about Koh Phi Phi. Most people who stayed near the main part of the city/Tonsai Pier didn’t have great experiences. They said it was crowded and loud and just a bunch of young backpackers wanting to get drunk and party. We were looking for a quieter, more relaxed vibe where we could lie on the beautiful beaches and have a few cocktails. We decided to stay down on Long Beach which is a small, secluded area south of Tonsai Pier. It cannot be accessed by car and you must take a long tail boat to get there. Pretty much, once you are there, you don’t leave the area. We wound up making the best call ever on this! We arrived at Tonsai Pier and could immediately see how hectic the area was. So many young 20 somethings passed out or hungover waiting for ferries. Bars playing super loud music and just way too many people. Long Beach, on the other hand, was the exact opposite! Our long tail boat pulled up to the beach where we jumped off into the water and carried our bags up to our hotel. It was paradise! There were only maybe 5 or 6 sets of hotels on this part of the island and they all consist of little private bungalows either on the beach, or one walkway in. Ours was pretty simple, but it had everything we needed and was steps away from the sand! Ross decided to take a nap for a bit so I grabbed my towel and book and headed down to the beach. For those of you who don’t know, I am absolutely water obsessed! If there is an ocean or lake near me I could spend the whole day in it, so this was my kind of paradise! I could not get over how beautiful the area was. The water was the brightest blue and the sand was so soft and white. Our little beach was secluded and quite…it was heaven! Ross came down to join me for sunset and beers and then we grabbed an early dinner at our hotel. I guess the only downside to being in a more secluded area is that there weren’t many bar or restaurant choices. The food at our hotel was ok, but it was a worth while sacrifice for beautiful, serene setting.

Lovely sunset at Long Beach

View from Long Beach

Long Tail Boats tied up at Long Beach

Side Note: Long Beach was full of cats! I know this is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love cats so I was pumped when I saw them all over the place. I guess technically they were stray cats but the hotels definitely fed them because I saw bowls of food lying around. They were also super friendly and would come up to you for pets and chin scratches. There was even one cat that kept coming and sitting on the porch of our bungalow everyday. It would meow at me until I would sit down on the chair and let it sit on my lap and be pet.

My kitty friend who greeted me everyday

We decided to make our first full day on Koh Phi Phi a beach day! We took our books down, read, listened to music, and just chilled. I, of course, spent ¾ of the time in the water just floating around. Because there are so many small islands around the area the water is super calm. The funniest part of the day was that there was a couple sitting near us that we couldn’t stop watching. They were both very very “extra” and were down at the beach for ages taking pictures doing different poses. The guy was super buff and doing all these douchie poses. The girl actually did 3 wardrobe changes and took pictures in 3 different swimsuits…it was ridiculous but very entertaining. That evening we went down for sunset again. After spending a full day at Long Beach we still could not get over how beautiful it was! The sunset was absolutely incredible and was the perfect end to a perfect day on the beach!

Enjoying the water on Koh Phi Phi

One of many beautiful sunsets

We decided to get up early our last full day on Koh Phi Phi and do a hike to a lookout point over the island. It took us about an hour to get to the top and I am glad we left early because it was hot! The views looking down on Tonsai Pier were incredible! We wound up talking to a German couple who brought a drone up with them. We watched them fly it around the island, which was pretty cool. It made me wish we had a drone sometimes. We had looked into it a bit for our travels but there were so many places that had restrictions on flying them that we decided it wasn’t worth it to drag it along everywhere. On the walk back down to Long Beach we heard this really loud raucous that sounded like a bunch of screaming. We got closer and saw it was a group of geese! There was one male and a bunch of females. The male was very obviously getting jiggly with one of the females and the rest of the females had sort of circled around them and were honking super loud, like they were cheering them on! It was really odd but we had a good laugh over it. We spent the rest of the day down on the beach. I had found a pool floaty that someone had left behind near the front desk of the hotel so I grabbed it to float around the water in. It was this giant rainbow colored unicorn full of glitter hahaha! I named the floaty “Rainbow Sparkles” and we spent the whole day floating around in her…it was the dream! Of course we watched sunset that night down at the beach with a couple of beers. After months of constant exploring we were fully embracing the beach life! I know people have said they didn’t enjoy Koh Phi Phi but we absolutely loved it! Long Beach was our own little secluded peace of paradise!

Viewpoint on our hike

View of Tonsai Pier

Ross floating around in Rainbow Sparkles

That night we had the oddest experience. We had to catch the long tail boat the next morning to the pier to head to Koh Lanta so we got to bed early. We were fast asleep when all of a sudden we were woken up by the loudest screams coming from outside our bungalow! After listening for a minute we realized it was all the cats screaming and meowing at the top of their lungs…I have never heard anything like this before! They meowed and screamed for ages! We were looking out the window to see if we could see them but they were no where to be found. We eventually put in noise canceling headphones to drown out the noise.

The next morning we took the long tail boat back to the pier and then hopped on our ferry to Koh Lanta. Again, Ross did amazing on the boat and didn’t get sea sick at all! (I am starting to believe this whole “sea sickness” thing is a lie). Anyway, my birthday was in 2 days and I was super excited to be on the islands to celebrate! Our hotel had a pickup arranged for us at the pier. I think we both assumed it would be a car picking us up. Instead, it was a truck with a sort of covered truck bed and make shift seats for us…definitely no seat belts! The ride was very bumpy but also kind of fun. Koh Lanta was a lot bigger than I expected. The pier is up on the north part of the island and it took about 30 minutes to make the drive south to where we were staying. Our hotel was on Khlong Khong Beach, just south of the main part of the city, sitting up on this hillside. It was so pretty! The rooms were all private bungalows set up on the hills with wonderful views overlooking the ocean. We got checked in and went to lay by the pool for a while. There was hardly anyone staying at the hotel, it seemed so quiet and empty! 

View from our room on Koh Lanta!

Grounds from beautiful hotel!

The next day was my birthday!!! We had decided to spend the day by the pool, drinking cocktails and just relaxing. We had the whole pool to ourselves the entire day…it was perfect! The only downfall to our hotel was that the beach was very difficult to access and it was really rocky. The pool, overlooking the ocean, made up for it though. After a day in the sun we headed back up to the room to get ready for dinner. I took a shower and when I came out Ross was sitting on the bed with a bouquet of flowers! It was such a sweet and unexpected surprise! We had agreed on no birthday presents this year since our year of travel was our gift to each other. Of course Ross found a way to do something or me anyway. We had bought a bottle of wine at the duty free in the airport (the only thing I wanted for my birthday. The wine in Asia is terrible haha!) There were a couple of tables and chairs set up on the hill side around our hotel grounds where we decided to have a glass of wine and watch the sunset. The sunset was incredible that night! It was every shade of pink, red and deep purple! I was feeling so blessed and was having the best birthday in Thailand! Of course, Ross had another surprise up his sleeve…he had arranged for the hotel to bring us dinner to our room. Not only did they show up with dinner for us, but they also had a cake! Ross had arranged for someone to go into to town and get the flowers and cake. It was an absolutely perfect birthday!

Celebrating my birthday with drinks at the pool

Birthday sunset

The sunset was epic!

Surprise birthday cake!

Day 3 on Koh Lanta we decided to get out and explore the island! We rented motor bikes from our hotel and drove them south to Mu Koh Lanta National Park. The ride was really fun and there were a lot of other people out doing the exact same thing. The road runs along the coast and goes up and down through the hills. There were parts where the road was pretty steep and if you didn’t get a running start you would just chug slowly up the hill. The downhill parts were super fun though and you could really fly! There were a bunch of stops you could make at small, secluded beaches or little cliff side bars with beautiful views. It took us about 2 hours to get to the entrance to the park. We were going to hike while we were there but we were having so much fun on the bikes we decided to skip the park and keep riding around. We stopped at one of the cliff side bars for a beer. We could see down to one of the hidden beaches from where we sat. It was a bit cloudy that day and had rained off and on so we decided to skip the beaches along our drive. This was only my third time on a motor bike and I was really starting to feel comfortable and really starting to love them! We had the bikes for the day so that night we drove them into town for dinner. There are a bunch of beachfront bars and restaurants along the main strand of Khlong Khong Beach. It was pretty quite the night we were there but most of the bars were advertising full moon, and half moon parties on various days of the week. We could tell that area probably got pretty crazy later in the evening. We had a nice dinner at the beach and, even though we loved our hotel, it was nice getting out and doing something different. The ride back to the hotel was rough! Along the main drag, where we had dinner, the road was well lit. Once we got out of that area though there were no street lights and the headlights on our bikes weren’t great. We were driving so slow because the road was really dark and we knew there were pot holes everywhere! Luckily, we made it back unscathed.

Secluded beach on our motorbike ride

Our last day on Koh Lanta I went for a dive while Ross spent the day relaxing by the pool. I was picked up by another one of the trucks with the covered truck bed and we drove back north to the pier. There are so many good dives around this area but I decided to dive at Koh Haa (Five Islands). It took us about an hour to get to the dive site. As you can guess by the name, the site consists of 5 different, small islands you can dive around. Both dives we did were around these 5 islands and they were both beautiful! The water was relatively calm and so clear and I saw tons and tons of sea life! Also, the coral in the area was very colorful, which I have not seen much of. On the boat ride back I wound up talking a long time with my dive buddy who was from France. He was a lot of fun and was very well traveled. He had been in Thailand for a month just diving! He had also been to quite a few places in South America and was able to give me some great tips for the area. The boat trip out and back from Koh Haa made for a very long day but I am still happy I went! I love being  under the water. It is pure magic being able to swim with sea life and see what there world is like. I arrived back to the hotel around 4pm. Ross had spent the day at the pool and, just like my birthday, he said he basically had the place to himself! Little did I know, but Ross had actually used the day to himself to call my dad and ask for permission to marry me (more on this story later)!

Koh Ha Islands

The next morning we were on our last ferry to Railay Beach in Krabi. Originally we were not going to Krabi but I found out that 2 of my friends, Kristen and Kirstin, were randomly going to be in Thailand during the same time as us and the only place we would be able to meet up was Krabi, so decided to go for it! The ferry ride was pretty long, but again, Ross did great! Evidently, the water around Railay Beach is vey shallow and there isn’t an actual pier so the ferry has to stop about a half mile out and long tail boats had to come pick us all up. The long tail boats drove us most of the way in but they also had to stop before hitting the beach. We all had to jump out of the boats, grab our bags, and wade through the water until we reached the beach. Luckily Ross and I have backpacks so it wasn’t too bad. I felt bad for the people with roller bags because they had to try and awkwardly carry them above their heads so they didn’t end up in the water. This was one of many times we have been so happy to have backpacks! Railay Beach was an unexpected delight! There are two sections that make up the area…the west beach and the east beach. Both areas are pretty small and there is a street called Walking Street that connects the two areas. It is also a car free area so if you want to get anywhere, you are walking. We were dropped off at the west beach and had to walk up to the east beach via Walking Street. The area was so cool! There were tons of funky bars and restaurants that had a total hippie vibe to them. Some of the bars were two stories and looked like tree houses. A lot of them had people playing live music as well. We were already really excited about Railay Beach! 

Wading through the water with my pack

Funky bars on Walking Street

More funky bars

Our hotel on the east beach was really nice. It had a big garden in the front entrance and towards the back was a pool that was surrounded by the hotel rooms on either side. Our room on the top floor had a huge balcony over looking the pool with a big, comfy couch to lounge on. The only problem with the area was that there were monkeys everywhere! I know, I know…some people really like monkeys. These monkeys were aggressive though! The hotel even warned us not to leave our balcony door open because they would come in and steal your stuff! I decided to head down to the pool for a dip. There were a few other people down there as well. A couple had ordered a snack poolside…bad idea! Two girls working at the hotel came out with the snack, a plate of french fries. One was holding the plate of fries and the other had an umbrella as some sort of “weapon” to use against all the monkeys. Let’s just say this did not work at all! The monkeys were immediately eyeballing the fries and as soon as the girls set them down the monkeys started closing in! The girl with the umbrella tried very half heartedly to scare them away with her “weapon” but quickly retreated screaming. Within seconds the monkeys closed in on the snack. The couple also darted off screaming as one of the monkeys leapt onto the plate, grabbed a handful of fries, dipped them in the ketchup, and took off! The couple was so defeated…I could not stop laughing! The monkey actually dipped the fries in ketchup before eating them…it was hilarious! At this point, I gave up on the pool and headed pack to the room. Kristen and Kirstin arrived about this time and came by our room to say hi. It was so good to see them and for them to meet Ross! That night we went down to the garden at our hotel where they had a guy playing live music. He was really good and we stayed there for a while, listening to the music and having a few drinks. The four of us went to dinner afterwards and just caught up. It was a nice, relaxing night and it was so nice having friends around!

The scene of the monkey crime!

Evil beasts!

The next day Kristen and Kirstin went on an island tour while Ross and I decided to have a lazy day at the beach. It was weird for me because it was actually Thanksgiving. I am so used to spending that whole cooking with friends and family and this was the first time in my whole life not celebrating. The beach on the east side of the island is not very nice so we made the short walk over to the west beach, which is beautiful! It is a bay surrounded by very tall, green cliffs on both sides. The cliffs create a very dramatic look that is really unique. The first hour we were down at the beach was very nice. The sun was shinning and it was very hot. Slowly, you could see the clouds rolling in though. They continued to get darker and more ominous until the skies finally opened up and it started pouring down rain! We decided, since we were getting soaked, to go ahead and just jump in the ocean! We had a great time swimming around in the rain. It finally stopped for a while and then started again, and then stopped again. The last time it started raining we could tell there was no hope of it letting up. We were in the water with a few other people when we saw a bolt of lightning and then heard the crack of thunder. Everyone took off running out of the water as fast as possible! At this point we decided to give up on the beach and just head to Walking Street for some drinks and food. We wound up spending the rest of the day drinking beers at a funky little restaurant and having pizza. Yes, pizza, in Thailand, for Thanksgiving…oh well haha! 

Beautiful Railay Beach!

The calm before the storm on Railay Beach

Thanksgiving beers & pizza

The next day I decided to go on a tour of the Hong Islands with the girls. We left pretty early on a private long tail boat. The boat took us out about 45 minutes out to a bunch of different Islands included Hong Island and Hong Island Lagoon. All the islands are uninhabited, except for monitor lizards and gibbons and have beautiful white sand beaches and crystal blue water. You can only visit the lagoon during certain times of the day because the tides fluctuate and make it unaccessible during low tide. At high tide we took our long tail boat through the narrow cliff passage to get there, which was a spectacular site. We then got to swim around in the lagoon for a while and just relax. The best part about having the private long tail boat was that we could visit the islands in whatever order we wanted. The Hong Island tour is pretty popular so there were lots of boats out giving the same tour. Our guide would skip islands and take us back later if they were crowded. We wound up getting a lot of time on each island with hardly any other people around, which was so nice. We basically spent the whole day just swimming around in the calm, blue water and lying on the beaches…it was perfect! Ross spent the day at Railay beach and when we got back, I met him for a few beers on Walking Street. We had planned to go back, shower, and get ready for dinner but one beer turned into three and the the girls wound up just meeting us at the bar we were at for dinner. After dinner we said our goodbyes to the girls because we had an early flight the next morning. It was so good getting to spend time with them and I am so happy it worked out for us to meet up. Railay Beach was also an unexpected treat! We absolutely loved the area and wish we had a few more days there to do some of the hikes around the area or even just spent more time at the beach. It was an absolutely stunning area! Next stop, Malaysia!

Koh Hong Beach

Taking the long tail boat to the Lagoon

Narrow passage to the Lagoon

Loving our tour of Koh Hong Islands

Overall Thoughts: We loved Thailand! Ross had a few bad experiences with past visits but this trip changed his feelings towards the country. We loved all the islands, especially Koh Phi Phi and Railay Beach. The beaches and water were unreal and we loved the relaxed island vibes. We did agree though that where you stay on each island makes a huge difference. If we had stayed in the loud, party areas we don’t think we would have enjoyed ourselves as much. We are glad we did some research ahead of time and found a little slices of heaven on each island!

Negative: The service at the hotels and restaurants was just ok. After spending the last 4 weeks in Vietnam and Cambodia we really thought the service in Thailand was below average. Simple things like clean towels and toilet paper for our room were a struggle at times and the staff at the restaurants could be pretty rude. I guess Thailand has just become more accustomed to tourists and don’t have to work for the tourism as much.