We spent three days in Bangkok from the 7th – 9th January and enjoyed a small variety of what the city had to offer. In the daytime we took boat rides down the river and wandered around the quieter shadier streets to escape the tourists and the heat of the daytime sun. We went to the overflowing Chatuchak Market where I bought silver stone-studded jewellery and Neil got shorts for bargain prices. We also visited Wat Pho, which has the largest collection of Buddha’s in the world, including the world-famous 15m high and 46 metre long gold-leaf ‘Reclining Buddha’, complete with mother-of-pearl inlay in its feet, displaying 108 characteristics of Buddha. We indulged in well-earnt foot and back massages and colourful cocktails in the evenings after trudging around the city in 30 degree plus heat. It goes without saying that we walked down the infamous ‘Koh San Road’ - the hotspot destination where backpackers have been heading to for more than 20 years for its purely hedonistic atmosphere. Amongst bright lights and deafening music you will find gaudy bars selling overpriced drinks, bamboo tattoo parlour’s, stalls selling Thai fisherman pants, slogan string vests for the men and tiny bikini’s for the ladies. There are hotels and restaurants and Ladyboys a-plenty. You can buy pirate copies of practically any music or film of your choice; as well as a multitude of smoking paraphernalia and fake ID cards for anything! We refreshed ourselves with fresh coconuts and smoothies and some excellent red Thai curries, but gave the dried grasshoppers and live maggot entree on offer a miss. Buskers, street performers and young kids break-dancing kept us well entertained until the late evening hours.
On the 10th January we took the night bus and boat ride out to the first of our Thai islands, Koh Phi-Phi, which is located on the South West coast of the Thai peninsula in the Andaman Sea. On first glimpses from the boat the island looked beautiful with rising green mountains, ringed with beaches and turquoise waters, spilling out into the deep blue ocean depths. However on arrival it was much more touristified than we had realised it would be, and we paid sky-high prices for a very budget room a few minutes’ walk from an over-crowded beach littered with well, litter, and young, over-enthusiastic teenagers out to impress. We were struggling to conceal our disappointment, especially when I discovered 10,000 Thai Baht (roughly equivalent to £250) had been stolen from my bag on the night bus. At night time the beach transformed into party central, with fire poi and fire staff performers on stages, clubbing music cranked up to the max, buckets of alcohol for sale and giant glowing skipping ropes outside bars that had seemingly popped out from nowhere. Reluctantly we decided to give the party scene a try and after a few go’s on the giant skipping rope we ended up having a great time and dancing the night away until the early hours.
The next day we did a snorkeling and island-hopping boat tour and went to the truly most stunning beaches and islands – in the world. Turquoise waters, shimmering crystal clear on powder soft white sands fringed with palm trees and tropical fish galore, all under a the beating sun – we were in heaven. We went to the famous Maya bay where ‘The Beach’ was filmed, and monkey island, where I was robbed of my hot, buttered corn-on-the-cob by an apparently fearless monkey. On the boat we met a young, friendly Ozzie couple from Melbourne who invited us onto their private resort’s beach and so spent the next day on a much nicer beach with barely a dozen people on it, and managed to swim and snorkel with a load of fish and wildlife including starfish, moray eels, a sea snake and oh, did I not mention it already..? Black-tipped reef sharks!! What an experience! These inquisitive and people-friendly sharks ranging in size of up to a meter and a half swam right by us, several of them, as they tend to swim up near the reefs for their prey. They are not dangerous and stay close to the bottom of the sea bed so you cannot sight them from above, only below the water’s surface.
On the 13th of January we caught a boat onto our next island, Koh Lanta. With a 27km coast on the West lined with beaches and chilled out resorts this island had a much quieter vibe, perfectly located to enjoy the sunsets over the sea. We stayed in three different places on the north, middle and south part of the coast. On our first night in a palm fringed beach hut at Blue Andaman Lanta Resort bungalows, Neil swam far out in the sea and caught a small lobster with his bare hands! Nonetheless, after a few chuckles the restaurant staff cooked it up for us and we ate it with our supper after a beautiful sunset over the rocks. During the day we swam and snorkeled, and explored the island by moped, discovering empty beaches, past mountains and through leafy rainforest. One day Neil spent an afternoon on a fishing boat – deep-sea fishing, and I went out on another snorkeling boat trip where I swam through caves into Emerald Cave and lagoon – an enclosed beach with towering high rocks that apparently were once used by pirates for hiding their loot! It was on this boat trip that I discovered our third and final island we were to stay on– the beautiful, barely touched beach of Mai Pai Bay had just one resort named Paradise Resort on Koh Nghai island (pronounced as Ko-Hi).
We got to Koh Nghai on the 18th January and completely relaxed for two days. Paradise by name and Paradise by nature it was in a remote location with no other resorts or bars or resturaunts. There was no blaring music, no shops, and barely any other guests. The accommodation was very simple, individual bamboo woven huts with wooden balconies on a nice grassy area facing out to the sea. The dozen or so bungalows were nicely spaced out and just set 20m back from the deserted beach. It was exactly what we were looking for; it was perfect. We put up the hammock and drank from fresh coconuts, whilst watching the sea gently lapping the shoreline. We swam far out past the reef out to the drop-out and snorkeled with hundreds of colourful fish surrounding us. I had an unforgettable experience practically engulfed in a cloud of tiny clownfish who were following me wherever I swam brushing close to my skin and almost blocking my vision with their volume. This was probably one of the very best snorkeling experiences I have yet to have, it was absolutely magical. I described this beach in diary in the following words:
‘It is green, grassy and relaxing. The sun is shining hot, the sea is a shimmering blue and the palm-fringed sands are deserted. A peaceful, undisturbed tranquility….it is everything we wanted! It is silent here apart from the sound of birds, cicadas, the sea and the occasional motor of a passing fishing boat.’
Sadly we had to leave our paradise on the 20th, vowing we would return again and stay for more than just 2 days. We had a full day of travel by boat to take us to another bigger boat, then bus, to take us to another town to end up taking a further three buses, until we finally got our night bus (2 hours late no suprises there) that would arrive at Kuala Lumpa, Malaysia at 4.30am. I am sure you can imagine how well that journey went, and yes we did have to get out of the bus twice for the border crossing (for exiting Thailand and then entering Malaysia). And no we did not get any sleep. And yes I managed to leave something behind on the bus this time – my book.
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