Koh Pha Ngan: The Last Island of Our Island Tour

Before we got to Koh Pha Ngan, I did not have very high expectations for it. All you ever really hear about the island is the Full Moon Party every month. It sounds like quite the party, but it is something that I feel neither here nor there about, as most know, I do not drink very much anyways; though I do like to dance and socialize. Does not really matter anyways, as we did not end up on the island during the full moon (though they also have half moon and black moon parties as well). When we got to the island I almost immediately changed my mind.

First off, the resort we stayed in was incredible looking. The detail that went into the buildings there was remarkable. It was a very Thai style resort. We stayed in the cheapest part of it, the poolside guesthouse, but we still had use of the two lovely pools, one being beach front. Not bad for only $26 CAD a night, split between the two of us.

Resort

Resort

Resort

Resort beachfront pool

The beach in front of our resort was mediocre. Had lovely scenery but the sand needed to be groomed and it wasn't all that big. But looking out from in was quite a lovely sight anyways. But when we took a songthaew into Haad Rin Beach, it definitely made up for it. There we found a beautiful white sand beach, surrounded by mountains on either side. Apparently this is where they have the Full Moon Party, but you would never know by looking at it. It was wonderful. We had lunch at a beach front restaurant and then soaked up some rays in the water and on the beach. At one point I looked around and about 75% of the women n the beach were topless, though it wasn't busy. I was starting to think we found the only topless beach in Thailand. To each his own. Personally going topless in a Buddhist country would just make me uncomfortable. But that is me. Best part of the day: one of the bars on the beach was blasting Jack Johnson almost the entire time we were there. Obviously I was in heaven.

Sitting in the water

Floating along

dancing to Jack Johnson

View from restaurant we had lunch at

Sunset from the beach our resort was on

Another amazing thing we found, thanks to Ryan, was the Amsterdam Bar. Whatever you might be thinking from that name, you are probably right. But the best part about it, is the view. You have to walk up a path and some stairs to get to it, but once you are up there, it's worth it. From the bar, you have a 180 degree view of the Gulf of Thailand. You can see Koh Samui and Koh Tao. And the sunset was indescribable. So colourful and you could see it all. One thing I never got sick of during this trip were the unreal sunsets we would see every night. We had dinner up there, and met a couple from Argentina (who we bumped into on the beach the next day and they lent us their floatie lounge; we made good use of it). It was a great time. I would recommend anyone going to Koh Pha Ngan to check out this bar.

Sunset from Amsterdam Bar

Sitting on top of the world

Amsterdam Bar

Sunset

Other than that, the trip was filled with relaxation, food and sleep. Left on Saturday morning at 6:15am from our hotel. After a transfer to the ferry in the hotel truck, we hopped on a ferry to Surat Thani. Once we got off the ferry, we were put in a pretty sweet bus. But that didn't take us far. We got out at some back street shop and switched to a mini bus depending where each passenger was headed. Then we were dropped at a cafe/bus pick-up to get an airport shuttle bus. Once on that, after the driver seemed lost for awhile, we arrived at the airport somewhere between 12 and 1pm. Our flight was not until 3:55pm so we relaxed. Just before our flight home, a storm hit. Rain was pouring down. We got to walk from the airport to our plane in the rain. Once on the plane, I took advantage of nobody sitting in the last row and laid out across the 3 seats. We got to Bangkok airport, and had to hustle to go out to get our boarding pass and back through security. Then get food and get to our gate. All within an hour. We made it with time to spare to eat our fast food (yuck!) before boarding the place.

Now I am back in Chiang Mai, and counting down the days until a certain boy gets over here!

Koh Tao: Snorkelling, Sunsets and Infinity Pool

Fourth island on our island hopping tour was Koh Tao. And it was beautiful. We decided to stay in a resort that was little more expensive than the rest, but we got a deal so it still didn't cost as much as it normally does, and was still super cheap compared to anything outside of Thailand. And it was well worth it as well.

The resort itself was situated at the top of a hill, just a short walk outside of the main village. We stayed in a sea view studio bungalow that had a balcony overlooking the water. The room was quite lovely, even if we had to walk down stairs down the hill to get to it, and walk back up them to get to the pool. restaurant or outside of the resort. The exercise was lovely, I have missed walking places. The resort was also covered in beautiful greenery and the animals living in and around the resort could be heard quite frequently. But it was rather nice. Well aside from the massive spider that we found in our room. Then there was the infinity pool overlooking the Gulf of Thailand and other neighbouring islands. It was unreal and just wonderful. Around the pool were lounge chairs and great big hammocks. There was quite a bit of time spent in both the pool and hammocks. 

Endless stairs to our bungalow

Me in the Infinity Pool

View

Laying in the Hammock

View from Hotel Lounge

The views from the resort were amazing. The sunsets we saw were unreal. Whether we stood on our balcony from our room, or at the pool, the sunsets were beautiful. I never planned to book our accommodations on the west coasts to see the sunsets, but we sure have been lucky to see some really nice ones in our travels. Even when we walked down all the stairs to get to the bottom of the hill, there was a beautiful little secluded beach. But because it was in a little cove, there was no breeze and deathly hot. Needless to stay, we didn't last long down there.

Sunset from pool

Sunset from the balcony of our room

Our own private (hot as) beach

We also decided to rent a motorbike one day to get to the bottom of the island to snorkel. It was cheaper to rent a motorbike then take a taxi to get there. So we went to the nearest rental place to our resort. They wouldn't let us rent without a passport, so we journeyed back to the resort to get my passport. The lady came out in a towel and was quite rude to us the entire transaction. The motorbike had no gas in it, so we had to not only pay to rent it but then pay 50 baht to put some gas in it to get anywhere. Ridiculous. Anyways, we took the motorbike to the south side of the island, to see Shark Bay and Freedom Beach. We had borrowed masks and snorkels to go snorkelling to find whale sharks. First we wandered into Shark Bay, after climbing over and around rocks we got in and started snorkelling around. We saw some beautiful fish, but no sharks of any kind. Scraped up the top of my foot a little bit though. So we decided to head to Freedom Beach. We tried a bit of snorkelling there, but aside from some coral and fish, no luck. So we laid on the beach for a bit and headed back.

Shark Bay

Freedom Beach

All in all, Koh Tao was quite a lovely island. One of my favourites for sure.

Koh Samui: Private Beach House & Relaxation

I went to Koh Samui in January when I first came to Thailand. I stayed in the Chaweng Beach area the first time. Very touristy. But nice nonetheless. This time Megan and I stayed in Bangpor Beach. It was much smaller, remote and quite a bit less touristy. I found a place to stay on an iPhone app called Airbnb. It was a private beach house, owned by an Brit who lived in the house next door. It was one big property, with the main house and a smaller beach house. It was perfect. We were in the mood for more relaxation than anything this island.

View of beach house from the road

Empty Beach

Our bed

Beachouse from the Beach

Most of the 3 days/nights spent in Koh Samui, were spent lying on the beach, swimming in the water, and eating from the local restaurants. Did I mention I have eaten a lot of pad thai during this whole trip? More so than I do in Chiang Mai, which is a lot. The owner of the beach house told us all the best places to eat nearby. All right on the beach, you can't go wrong with thai food, beachside.

Laying out front of the beachouse

One of the mornings we decided to go on a walk to find a pharmacy that wasn't a rip-off for Megan, and try to find touristy type shops for me to get another bikini. We left at 9am and walked for awhile along the beach, then headed up to the road. We eventually found a pharmacy, but no shops. So we headed back. On our way back we walked down to the pier to find ferry prices. Once down there, Megan and I had different ideas of what we felt like doing. So she went for a swim and headed back, and I went for a walk to check out the rocky edge. It was pretty sweet. Then I started to head back. On my way, I got a little dehydrated and passed out briefly in front of a little shake stand. They helped me up and gave me a lemon shake for free. I was rehydrated once again and kept on my journey home. I got home around 1pm, and Megan had not arrived yet. I waited in the shade and then drank as much water as possible when we got in. We decided to stay out of the sun the rest of the day.

Rocks near the pier

Pier

My new friend that followed us on our walk

The beach

Koh Samui was lovely. Not my favourite island, but it was nice to have an empty beach every day, a private beach house and actually still feel like we were in Thailand. Also we saw a beautiful sunset each night, on a near empty beach. Sunday morning we headed to the ferry, and got there just in time to catch the next ferry to Koh Tao. 

Sunset one night

Silhouette in the sunset

Walking into the sunset

Koh Lanta: Quiet Beach, Friendly Resort & Aussies Last Few Days

I didn't think I would have much to post about Koh Lanta, as it was more relax and chill then seeing a bunch of things. But after leaving there, I think it warrants it's own post. 

Koh Lanta from the ferry

Hammock on the porch of the hut we stayed in;
 how I spent my mornings

First of all, the resort we stayed at was great; Lanta Pearl Beach Resort. The staff were so friendly. They learned our names, got us whatever we wanted, they even took Megan to the pharmacy on their motorbike so she wouldn't have to get a songthaew or tuktuk and figure out where one was. Though when we got there, and our 3 person room we booked for 4 people (which I swear I emailed about before booking to make sure that was okay), was not acceptable, they helped us out with a cheap extra room for Nicole and Nick, and Megan and I stayed in the air-conditioned family room with two beds. They made excellent fruit shakes; switched between mango and lemon throughout the day. Their food was cheap for a resort; about 80-110 baht ($2.50-$3.50) a meal. And not just cheap, it was delicious. I mean I have had pad thai in just about every place I have been, and theirs was delicious compared to most restaurants/resorts. Still not as good as the super cheap street food, but nothing can compare really.

Little hut on the resort grounds

The hut we ate dinner and spent our nights in

Lanta Pearl Beach Resort

The resort was just a minutes walk from Long Beach. This beach was so quiet and peaceful, not to mention beautiful as well. Very few people out in the water or on the beach, or even at the scattered restaurants and bars lining the sand. It was a lovely change from the crowded beach of Phi Phi. Both beautiful in their own rights. We spent some time sunning on the beach, playing in the water and relaxing. It was quite lovely. After everyone left and it was down to Megan and I, I went for a nice stroll down to the end of the beach and sat on the rocks listening to Jack Johnson and taking it all in. It was lovely.

Long Beach in Koh Lanta, see all the people?

The end of Long Beach 

Listening to Jack Johnson

Walking in the water

Storm clouds a-brewin'

Koh Lanta was filled with much socializing, even if it was just Nicole, Nick, Sam, Becky, Megan and I, sitting in a hut at our resort talking, reading, drinking and eating. For two nights before Nicole and Nick had to head back to Australia, we spent our nights in the hut enjoying each others company. With our favourite resort dude, Ton aka Fat Boy Slim, making sure we had what we needed, due to his crush on Nicole, we had a great time. Sam is Nicole's friend from the UK, and Becky is her friend, who happened to be in Thailand at the same time, so decided to meet up with us in Koh Lanta. It was great to have a good group of people to hang out with, when there wasn't a ton of people around to really meet. Unfortunately, after 2 nights in Lanta, they all left us and it was down to just me and Megan.

Nick reading in the hut after coming in from storm clouds

Nicole and her flowers from Ton

I enjoyed a couple beers one night for once

Then came the fun. After my stroll down to the end of Long Beach, I walked back to the resort. Megan was napping in the room, so I went to the resort restaurant area and sat in a hut to finish my blog post about Phi Phi. Then I felt like watching New Girl. As I lay in the hut, with my headphones on, a random lady came up and told me that there was a tsunami warning and that there is talk of evacuating. So I decided I should probably go wake up Megan and we should figure out what is going on. After some deliberation, we threw our stuff together and headed to the front of the resort. We hopping in Ton's 'tuktuk' aka motorbike with a side cart type thing, and headed up to higher ground. The resort brought all the guests to the same place, a resort called Lanta Loft, to wait for word on whether or not there is going to be a tsunami or not. For a few hours we sat and waited, reading news articles that all said the same thing "8.7 earthquake in Indonesia, tsunami warnings for coasts on the Indian Ocean". Eventually they told us we could go back down at 8pm. It was 7:30pm when Ton came around rounding us all up. We hopped into the back of the pick-up truck and headed back down, straight to our rooms to drop off our stuff and to the restaurant to get food. It was an interesting last night in Koh Lanta, to say the least.

Ton driving us to higher ground

Little boy waiting for the tsunami

The next morning we woke up early to head here to Koh Samui, which was an 8 hour day of mini bus and ferry but worth every second.