28/12/2004
What a contrast to the first 3 months of out trip. We've spent the last month in Bangkok and Southern Thailand - shopping, taking in the sun, sea and sand and generally being lazy beach bums.

We've been taking it so easy that we're beginning to feel guilty for our lack of cultural activities so we are now heading for Malysia and Singapore. Then we'll head back up to Northern Thailand. You may have noticed that we have made a slight departure form our scheduled itenerary. We loved the beaches so much (plus we needed it after India) that we decided to extend our stay in Southern Thailand so we could spend Christmas on the beach. Southern Thailand and the beaches (bar Phuket see below) have lived up to their picturesque reputation even in the crowded peak Christmas season.

Bangkok
If you've seen the mediocre film 'The beach' and the depiction of Khao San Road as narrow, seedy with neon lights - so this was what we were expecting. Fresh off the flight and into Khao San we were pleasantly suprised by this open, safe and bargains galore backpacker mecca. It was heaven after China, Nepal and India. It was strange to see so many caucasian faces, hear western music, buy cheap fake designer clothing. We felt pretty hardened travellers after the last 3 months and after seeing Khao San we could see it was going to be a comparative breeze. It was party central, so we hit the Singha and Chang beer, drank $2 cocktails from converted campervans and ate 20 baht pad thai from street vendors. Zoe spent a small fortune on clothing, chucking out old stinky gear and replacing with new. Only problem was that the t-shirts were thai girls size, so she had to cut off the sleeves and cut out under the arms so they could fit - you could say a real designer t-shirt!

After getting over our shopping frenzy we hit the tourist trail and went to Wat Pho - which was very colourful and was a very big complex. Very neat and well landscaped and the reclining golden buddha was well... a HUGE golden reclining buddha. We went to the grand Palace and got in for free as it was the King's birthday but it was very crowded so we will go back on our return visit in mid January. It all looked quite impressive though and Bangkok is a very clean and cosmopolitan city. We took a boat up the canal and visited some really interesting food markets selling dried fish, insects, eye popping hot curries and lots of tea flavoured drinks - yuck!

Koh Phan Ngan
We took the cosy and expensive option to get to the beach - we were desperate. All the backpackers were so tanned in Bangkok and we had tan envy. We took a VIP air con coach to Chumpon, then a catamaran to the island. Supposedly catamarans ride above the waves but the sea was so choppy this boat felt every movement and we were flung up and down in the air for 2.5 hours. We should have known better as when we first left the port we were given plastic sick bags. Zoe felt sick within 10 minutes but managed to hold out for 2 hours until she was finally sick. Fortunately we had only eaten fruit and crisps that day.

We spent 6 days in total on this island and only one day was sunny - the other 5 were cloudy but still hot. Every time the sun popped out from behind a cloud we hit the beach within seconds. The first resort we stayed in was in Thong Nai Pan. A very quiet place with only a handful of bungalows and it was dead - say no more than 50 tourists, everywhere was empty.

After 2 days of no sun we moved around to the other side of the island Haad Yao. We had sun for the first day but the next 3 were cloudy. But to compensate, we stayed in a lovely well priced bungalow on the beach, all the restuarants had seafood BBQs right on the beach and we made some good friends in the form of Lloyd and Jennifer from Edinburgh. We spent Andrew's birthday eating a wonderful seafood BBQ on the beach, downing beers and chatting the night away. Lloyd and Jennifer came with us to our next destination, Koh Samui...

Koh Samui
We were in search of the sun and we found it on Chaweng Beach. This has been our favourite beach destination so far on the trip. We stayed in Marine Bungalows recommended by Lloyd and Jennifer (thanks!) and they were gorgeous - right on the beach at the north end. The beach is 7 km long, has brilliant shops, restautants and nightlife. The perfect beach holiday destination. It was classy without being tacky (see Phuket below). There were great bars to chill out on at sunset on the beach and everything was available on your doorstep. Admittedly not as cheap as Bangkok but still some bargains to be had and plenty of ladyboys to stare at in the evening and thai girls trying to lure older western men into bars. We liked Samui so much that we want to go back on our way up to Bangkok if time and money allows. We recommend it to everyone!

Khao Sok National Park
We reluctantly left Samui for the jungle. It was hot, sticky and hard work in comparison to the beach, but it brought us back to life from our beach comotise state. We stayed in a hut on stilts by the river in the national park. We were accommpanied by lots of mosquitoes, a bat which had a food and poo party on our balcony and small rats shuffling along our floor with a used crisp packet from the bin. It was quiet in the day but at night the animal party began! So not much sleep but we got off our arses and took an organised trip of the lakes an hour away. It was an excellent move. We took a longtail boat for 1.5 hours through the karst mountains with stunning scenery. We then stopped at river huts for lunch and a swim in the lake. Then we went on a 3 hour jungle walk to a cave - the highlight of this outing. The cave was very large with a river running through it at various levels of water. It had stalactites and stalacmites, rats and hordes of bats hanging from the ceiling. At one stage we had to swim fully clothed through the cave with head torches. Andrew was in his element!! It was a fantastic day.

Phuket
What a disappointment! We were looking forward to seeing the beaches on this side of the peninsular and doing lots of snorkelling and kayaking. But we had no idea that the beaches in Phuket would be filled with sunbeds and umbrellas plus overweight, topless, leathery Scandinavians. We've never seen so many natural blondes in one place. The water was very nice, still and clear but littered with jetskis and longtails making it dangerous. After travelling from 9am to 4pm to get there we were very deflated. We took the decision to leave the next day and take an expensive 2 day trip to Koh Phi Phi - it was another good move. We do not recommend Phuket, go to Samui instead.

Koh Phi Phi
An absolute delight. No wonder it's expensive to stay here, it really is a paradise. No sunbeds and umbrellas to be seen. Long, golden beaches and clear, turqoise waters filled with fish and coral surrounded by karst mountains - it was a feast for the eyes. We were also staying in a very nice hotel with air-con and TV, a real luxury. We spent the first day exploring and walked over the rocks to Long Beach for a good sunbathe. We spent the evening drinking Chang beer, watching and singing to VH1, we don't get many opportunities to listen to music so we have to make the most of it! The next day we went back to Long Beach, this time equipped with snorkels and fins. From 2 metres out the water was full of fish of all colours and sizes - it was wonderful.

We definately recommend this place alongside Samui - just make sure you have plenty of money for accommodation though, because it was peak season and our room cost over 2000 baht and we've normaly been paying 500!!

Krabi
Guess you should never judge a book by it's cover. Krabi was not how we'd pictured it. We stayed in Railay, still on the mainland but only to be reached by boat as no roads. Think we'd been spoiled by Phi Phi. Railay was the most expensive place we have visited so far in Thailand, for food and all goods and services. The beaches are small and covered by resorts. We had to stay in East Railay which had no beach, but it was the cheaper side. But the West side is very stunning and only a five minute walk. We stayed in Ya Ya Rasort, our room was small, dark and we had to flush the toilet with a bucket, but it was clean, so not a perfect room for Christmas. We knew it was going to be hard to secure decent accommodation at this time. After our initial disappointment we remembered why we came here - to snorkel and kayak.

We hired a kayak for a half day and paddled around the peninsular around the karst mountains and we snorkelled off the shores. Then on Christmas day we spent the day sea kayaking through 4 sea caves at Bor Thor, 2 hours drive from where we were. The limestone cave formations are amazing, so it was an adventurous Christmas Day for us, and well Boxing day was something else...(see We Survived Christmas - literally! article).

Toilets
Until Krabi they had all been equipped with a flush, although we did manage to block the one on Phi Phi!

Food
Wonderful! A nice change from veggie Indian - we are back on the meat! Breakfast - We love muesli with fruit and yoghurt. The pineapples, watermelon and banana here are so cheap, so we are having a fruit feast.

Streetfood - Bangkok wins this one hands down, Pad Thai for 20 baht.

Best restaurant - Sojong Kitchen in Chaweng Beach, Ko Samui. We love the chicken and cashew nuts, pad thai, satay and fish cakes. We had 3 dishes and drinks for under $7.

Landscape
Before the Tsunami, we loved the beaches. Chaweng is the best but the scenery is best on Phi Phi.

Health
Zoe being sick on the ferry and Andrew was sick from Alcohol and then sick again on Christmas night from a dodgy icecream. So no real health disasters. We are at full capacity with good food and beer! Need to exercise but we can't be arsed!