THAILAND
A dreamy island-hopping trip to Thailand encouraged me to finally purchase a film camera and here are the results!
I flew out to Bangkok on a group trip, to begin my travels around south east Asia but ended up just doing a 14 day island hopping tour around the south of Thailand. Do I regret it? Not one bit as I cannot wait to go back for longer next time.
My trip started in Bangkok where we spent the first day exploring temples as well as exploring the city by river boat. We stopped off and fed some massive catfish before visiting our first temple Wat Arun which housed beautiful mosaics all over the exterior. We also visited Wat Pho which is home to one of the giant golden Buddha. I never imagined it to be as big as it was! After our temple visits, we headed back to our hostel via TukTuk and although it was rather terrifying, it was so much fun!
The next day, I had a full body Thai massage…as someone who has only ever had one massage in their entire life, I was slightly scared but it ended up being super relaxing, even when my masseuse slapped me on the forehead and clapped my stomach fat together! The massages were to relax and prepare us for our overnight train to the south of Thailand. I didn’t know what to expect from an overnight train as I had only seen videos of super overcrowded ones in other Asian countries however, this one was actually very nice! Each bed came with a curtain for privacy as well as a blanket, pillow and best of all…aircon! I expected to get super travel sick so I took a travel sickness tablet in preparation, but I would’ve been fine without it as the ride was mostly smooth, not to mention the fact the train went at about 2mph the whole way…no wonder it took all night!
We arrived at our station at around 5am, ready to take a bus to the beautiful Kao Sok National Park where we stayed the night in floating bungalows. This was definitely my favourite part of the trip as the scenery was just breathtaking! We got to spend the afternoon in the perfect waters, swimming and kayaking around the area. This place was completely disconnected from the outside world as there was no signal or WiFi as well as no electricity between 6am and 6pm. I don’t think the pictures I took do this place justice. It will always have a special place in my heart, and I would do anything to go back there.
The next day, we took a boat, a bus and another boat to take us to the first island of Koh Pha Ngan. Oh boy was this boat ride rough or was it ROUGH! I get extremely boat sick and so I decided I would sit upstairs in the outdoor deck to get that nice refreshing sea breeze…well…just take a look at that picture of me…I didn’t realise sea breeze meant getting soaked through! I ended up going back inside. I watched as our boat got tossed side to side and up and down. I was clinging onto my chair for dear life, I really thought we were going to capsize!
After we arrived, we hopped in the back of some pick up trucks and headed to the other side of the island to a beautiful beach called Bottle Beach. We got to stay in beach huts right on the beach, and again, we got to spend the day relaxing, swimming and taking in the beautiful scenery. In the evening, they put on a fire show where we also got to spin some fire. Did I accidentally burn myself and nearly melt my crocs? Yes but we aren’t going to talk about it.
On the other side of the island lay Tiki Beach, a place with perfect sunsets and super comfy beds! We had a boat trip planned for this day, where we got to go snorkelling as well as soak up the sun on some beautiful beaches. The only other time I have been snorkelling was in Florida when the visibility was extremely poor and you swallowed a gallon of sea water every minute so this…this was perfection! I saw so many colourful fish, of all different shapes and sizes!
We were lucky enough to be visiting the island when there was a local temple festival on which only happens around seven times a year. It was the first time I had culture shock since arriving in Bangkok as it was filled with locals selling all sorts of delicious food, performances of various dances and shows. It was truly spectacular! We all had a go on a shoot the can game, and as someone who is very much into video games…I can confirm those skills do not transfer to real life! This was my favourite evening by far as I love getting to experience local traditions and cultures.
Next stop on our tour was Koh Tao. This time, the boat ride was much smoother, I didn’t fear for my life as much as I did before. We arrived in time for a late lunch, where I had the most delicious vegan nachos! This day was very much a day for relaxing and exploring so I did a little bit of shopping and seeing what the town had to offer. For dinner, a few of us went to a famous noodle place called 995 Roasted Duck and had incredible noodles!
The next day was a full day of snorkelling. Our first stop was a beautiful island with a viewpoint I could talk about for days! I also achieved a childhood dream of mine and saw some sea cucumbers while snorkelling around this island!
On this tour, we got to see some turtles which was another highlight! Although the sea was awfully similar to how it was in Florida by the time we got to see them. I did get back on the boat and feel violently sick which was not ideal as we had an overnight boat that same day.
Where do I begin with the overnight boat? Well, for a start, this was the nicest overnight boat they have so I hate to think what the others are like. All we got told is that one literally just crumbled and fell to pieces half way through its trip…do with that information what you will. It was quite the downgrade from the overnight train we had as there were no curtains, just a thin pillow and a blanket that I don’t think had been washed for a while. It was also quite unsettling having life jackets just hanging from your bed. It was a rough start but after a few hours the sea calmed down and I got a bit of rest. We docked up around 4am and took a bus to the other side of the country in order to catch our boat to the Phi Phi islands.
The Phi Phi islands felt like a much more touristy destination than anywhere else we had been which was actually quite nice. I spent most of the day catching up on sleep before I headed out to the viewpoint at the top of the island. It was a long climb of a lot of stairs but it was totally worth it! I would say it was the second best view, after the National Park. As I watched the sun set, I reflected on my time in Thailand and how I wish I could have spent more time on these wonderful islands.
The following day, we went on a long tail boat to explore the islands. Our first stop was Monkey Beach which was home to…you guessed it…monkeys! They were a lot more tame than they were made out to be and we even got to see some little babies which were adorable! The sand on this beach was like flour, I have never seen a beach with sand so white, it was incredible! We also visited the famous Maya Bay which had super clear blue water. I’ve always seen this spot on social media and it was just as beautiful in real life. What I love about all of these smaller islands is that they don’t allow any plastic onto them, so every beach and surrounding reef is spotless!
We had our final snorkelling spot which was my favourite spot. There was so much colourful coral as well as hundreds of fish that swam around you. This spot has also claimed the top spot as it was where I spotted 3 black tip reef sharks…terrifying and amazing at the same time! They are harmless sharks that just mind their own business, but being so close to a shark for the first time was quite scary.
To finish our time in Phi Phi, we watched another incredible sunset from the long tail boat and got ready to leave early the next morning where we would head to Phuket, our final destination. We stepped into the most luxurious hotel I have ever seen. With a bar in the pool, super comfy beds and incredible views, it was time to say goodbye to the group and our guides. We had one final goodbye meal before heading back for an early nights sleep.
I was meant to continue onto Cambodia the following morning, however, I decided that travelling this way was not how I wanted to see the world as it was very fast paced and I felt like I couldn’t appreciate each place we went to. Not to mention I had a violent case of tonsilitis in Ko Tao that I had for about 20 days…so I couldn’t really eat anything! I made the decision to travel back home 3 weeks earlier than planned however, I do plan on going back out to see the beautiful countries of Cambodia and Vietnam. I am also planning a trip to Japan with my boyfriend for 2025 and I am beyond excited!