From one tropical paradise to the next: Southern Thailand

It has been less than a day since I left southern Thailand and I am already looking back on my time there and how quickly it went by! After the intensity of Vietnam, it was so wonderful to

have a place to simply sit back, relax, and enjoy the gorgeous weather! Our journey through southern Thailand began in Phuket, which is where we flew into from Vietnam. We decided to stay in Phuket Town, both for its central location to all of the beaches and the cheaper accommodation! I found it to be a nice town, especially because it didn't feel too touristy. We went to Patong Beach the following day, which I heard was the main beach to go to in Phuket, and to be honest, I hated everything about it! The beach itself was ruined by the infinite amount of beach chairs that you had to pay for, along with the vendors who kept hassling me as I tried to relax.  The town itself is just lined with Western food and souvenir shops, and it looked as though any bit of Thai authenticity had diminished a long time ago. We were ready to escape the tourist trap within hours and felt immediately relieved upon returning to Phuket Town!

The next day we went to a beach in southern Phuket, meant to be less manic, and loved it! It completely redeemed Phuket's image in my mind...although it was still touristy, the beach felt more authentic and still preserved some Thai culture within it. We enjoyed sipping on coconuts all day and lounging around at the beautiful beach and lagoon-like area!

As we were trekking up a curved road in search of the next beach, I fell, and there was blood falling down my leg.  Luckily, some really nice guys came to the rescue and offered to give us a lift on their motorcycles, so we were fortunate enough to get a free tour of the beaches! By the end of the day, Phuket redeemed itself, but with that said, it is necessary to really search to find that tiny bit of authenticity left in the town!

                     

After two days in Phuket, we caught a ferry to Ko Phi Phi, known to be the most beautiful island in southern Thailand. Despite the mass tourism on the island, it is indeed so stunning, and there is definitely a reason why everyone flocks here. Once we maneuvered through the chaotic main street near the pier, we ended up finding a lovely room in a more remote area. Although Ko Phi Phi may have been just as touristy as Patong Beach, I was amazed at how much I loved it. First off, the views and scenery are so incredible that it makes up for the fact that you are sharing it with tens of thousands of others. The othermain difference was that the aesthetics of the resorts and bungalows blended well with the island. There were no tacky high rises or Holiday Inns to ruin the beauty of it all. Within two hours of arriving, we immediately knew that we would be extending our intended one night in Ko Phi Phi to two nights, as we fell so in love with its beauty!

    

During our stay in Ko Phi Phi we did a lot of sun bathing, hiking up to viewpoints, afternoon naps, cold showers, and some scuba diving! We hiked up to the viewpoint on our second night there to watch an amazing sunset:

Our day dive trip was a lot of fun and we managed to see tons of marine life, including a leopard shark, sting ray, as well as massive schools of fish.

By our third day in Ko Phi Phi, we were sad to say goodbye and headed to Krabi, which was the closest mainland point to the island.  Despite our efforts to go straight to Koh Phangan, it ended up being a blessing in disguise that we missed the last night bus there. Instead, we stayed in Krabi Town and did an awesome daytrip the following day to three islands and a cave at nearby Railey Beach. We took a longtail boat out and went to some beautiful spots and were able to do some snorkeling as well. It was simply the perfect way to spend our day! The 3 islands we went to were so pristine, clean, and laid back.

Additionally, we got an incredible deal for the trip because the hotel owner loved us and was trying to get us to come back to work for him so he made us a nice little package that included transportation to Koh Phangan, in the hopes that we would return in a couple weeks to come work for him! While it was a tempting offer, we politely told him that we probably couldn't!

So after the day trip, we quickly got ready and were Koh Phangan bound, via Surathani. Sincewe were taking a night ferry to Koh Phangan, we hung out in Surathani for dinner with some people we met, where I enjoyed a delicious papaya salad and coconut shake! Afterwards, we got on our night ferry, which was quite a sight! It was essentially a boat full of backpackers, lined up right next to each other on these tiny floor beds. The funniest sight were these tough looking Aussie boys who looked like they were all spooning each other! Definitely an experience! We arrived in Koh Phangan around 6am to a zoo of vendors attacking us with their taxi and hotel services! We decided to sit down and have a nice breakfast before facing the day! After breakfast, we wanted to head to the east coast of the island called Thong Nai Pan Yai, which I had heard was a beautiful isolated beach. Especially since the Full Moon Party was in four days, we both agreed that we didn't want to be anywhere near the madness, but rather have the option toget to the Full Moon Party town, Haad Rin, whenever we wanted to. Upon arriving, we were sad to see that the cheap accommodation was full, but were fine settling for a fancy resort with an infinity pool where we each were still only paying roughly $8/night!

It was a similar case as with Ko Phi Phi where we instantly knew that we would be staying here for longer than we intended to! We decided to enjoy our nice resort accomodation for two nights, then switch over to the cheaper place ($3 each/per night) for the following three nights so that we could stay for the famous Full Moon Party.

It is hard to sum up the island in words, as there are so many incredible qualities about wherewe stayed. I think that especially on the east coast, where it is much more inaccessible, it isn't as developed as the other parts ofthe island and it has more of a rustic feel to it. It seems as though the east coast of Koh Phangan is what most of southern Thailand was like 10-15 years ago: beautiful, preserved, uncrowded beaches with plenty of locals who haven't been scared away by tourism.

We did lots of exploring on the island, trekking through the jungle from one beach to another, and wandering through the local villages. But, to be honest, most of my time was spent lounging by the pool or the beach, enjoying the scenery.

 

Once we left our fancy resort, it was a nice change of pace going to this funky, backpacker hub, called White Winds, full of cliffside bungalows overlooking the ocean. Although the bungalow consisted of the bare minimum, a bed with a mosquito net in a tiny room, it was probably my favorite accommodation thus far. Nothing beats going to sleep and waking up to the sound of the ocean, and having a beautiful view of the beach (view from our bungalow to the right). Additionally, the people that we met there made the place that much more amazing. The owners and employees were awesome, as well as the people who were staying there. I had a great time hanging out with everyone and hearing their stories and travel experiences

We even managed to go diving with people that we became friends with from a new divecompany on the beach. It was another fun dive site that was a bit more challenging, but definitely helped to improve my diving skills!
       

On our last night, after going back and forth about it, we decided to go to the Full Moon Party, which is basically a massive beach party that tens of thousands of people flock to for every full moon. It was quite a sight to see and in the end I am glad that I went! We got all decked out in some neon paint and danced the night away.  There was endless music along the beach and tons of ridiculously out of control people to provide endless entertainment!

So, to sum up my five days in Koh Phangan is difficult to do but i loved it so much! If I didn't have somewhere to be, it definitely could have sucked me in for at least a couple more weeks! It is weird to think how different the island will be in five years, as I noticed a lot of development in the works. But for now, I will hold on to the memories of the awesome, rustic island that I saw it as! Next up: Cambodia so stay tuned....and I am taking advantage of my day in Bangkok by posting some photos of Laos and Vietnam on Facebook so check them out!