It is well known that the coastline along the Andaman Sea in Thailand has incredible scenery with lots of beautiful islands just waiting to be explored. Most travelers use Phuket as a base to island hop and we were no exception.
Phuket is a large mountainous island on the West coast and has some of Thailand’s most popular beaches. On Saturday, February 4th, we flew Thai Airways from Seoul to Phuket and made our way to Patong Beach which is the main resort town in Phuket.
The evening we arrived it was raining almost as hard as it had been three weeks earlier when we left Koh Samui on the Gulf of Thailand. Except for the long wait for a taxi, the rain didn't bother us too much and it would be our last rain for quite awhile.
We didn't plan to stay in Phuket long; however, we were eager to see how much we recognized from our last visit years ago. As it turned out the answer was very little.
It was good to be back in warm weather again; however, Phuket felt a little too city like for our taste. We spent three nights at the very comfortable Boomerang Inn in Patong before we were ready to move on.
On Tuesday, February 7th, we made our way to Koh Phi Phi. We arranged for a ride to pick us up at 9:15 am. The driver took us to the pier where we caught a boat that left at 11am. We arrived at Phi Phi Island at 1:30 pm.
Phi Phi Island is another place we had been to years ago and was now totally different from what we remembered. We were amazed and a little disappointed at how built up it had become.
We managed to walk through the maze of busy foot paths to our guest house. Although there are no motorized vehicles on the island, the walking paths resembled that of busy city sidewalks. After a short walk through the maze of shops and restaurants we found the Harmony Guest house which was part way up a small hill.
We both remembered Phi Phi's long, wide sand bar gracefully arching between two magnificent islands, creating two placid bays surrounded by cliffs.
Unfortunately the days of a few scattered bungslows, dotting the island, and being able to see across the island from one beach to the other are long gone. Thanks to Leonardo DiCaprio and his "Beach" the only way to see from beach to beach these days is to climb the hill and join the crowds who gather at the look out especially around sunset time.
Modern Phi Phi can be summed up as a busy little place with a wild nightlife; however, it still retains its natural beauty. Although, the crowds were a little much and the prices more than a little much, I would have to say overall Phi Phi still remains a must-see Thai Island destination.
We spent two nights there before moving on again. On Thursday, February 9th, we walked back to the pier just after breakfast at 8 am and took a boat south to Krabi at 9 am.
From Krabi we took another boat to Railay Beach. After Phuket and Phi Phi we were ready for something a little more quiet and we most certainly found that at Railay Beach.
This area of Thailand is really a tropical paradise. Towering limestone cliffs shelter incredible beaches and many would argue the most beautiful beach of all is Railay.
We stayed on East Railay Beach at the Rapala Rockwood Bungalows. These ramshackle wooden bungalows perched on a hill in the jungle are up some very steep steps. We liked the look of this place and it was typical of our favorite kind of places to stay.
At 600 Baht ($22 Cdn) a night, we enjoyed the simple luxuries of a cold-water shower, a mosquito net and a fan. With its relaxed friendly atmosphere how could we ask for anything more? The quiet hillside location with a hammock on the veranda gave us a great place to hang out and watch the monkeys in the trees. It was hot during the day but there was a nice cool breeze at night.
We stayed at Railay Beach for two nights before we moved on to Koh Lanta.
On Saturday, February 11th, we took a boat from Railay Beach on to Koh Lanta and from there we took a Tuk Tuk (a three wheeled motorcycle taxi) to Long Beach where we stayed at the Funky Fish Bungalows.
It was okay but with its rickety old bed, see through plywood floor, brown water and moldy washroom it quickly gained recognition as one of the scummiest bungalows we had stayed in so far.
The other thing we will remember about this place is the very bright colorful toad or maybe frog that seemed to live half way up the wall in the corner of the washroom. Considering his bright colour, we gave him some space and kept a close eye on him as we showered.
The beach was nice and we found a cool tree house bar to hang out where they played a nice mixture of country music and southern rock. From here we made plans for our next move. Although Mr. fancy pants frog didn't bother us that much, after one night there we decided to leave the Funky Fish all to him.
From Long Beach we moved on down the coast to the Khlong Khong Beach where we stayed at the Blue Andaman. It was a little more our vibe. This cleaner yet still casual spot was just what we needed.
That's the way it goes when travelling. Some places you like better than others. When we aren't fussy about somewhere we move on and when we do find a place we like we usually stick around for awhile. We ended up staying at this place for three nights.
This very Muslim area on the south west coast didn't really feel like the Thailand we knew; however, it offered some great beaches and amazing snorkeling. It was here we decided to buy our own masks and snorkels so we could go whenever we wanted.
This area of sea, sand and palm trees seemed to go on forever. It was easy to walk and or swim from one quiet beach to the next. One day we went north from beach to beach stopping along the way for a swim or to go snorkeling. There was one beach we had all to ourselves.
In the evening we hung out in our area at the Sound Shack Bar at the Blue Andaman. This bamboo hut bar hung out over the beach and was a great place to stretch out on mats and watch the sunset over the ocean. It was also here where we met a very nice couple from British Columbia. Being teachers with a love for travel made for some great evening conversation.
We stayed in Koh Lanta until Wednesday, the 15th, when we took a bus and boat back to Koh Samui on the East coast again.
It took most of the day to get to Koh Samui and as we started passing Wats (Buddhist Temples) on the highway it felt like we were back in Thailand again and it felt almost like coming home as the staff welcomed us back to the Sea Breeze Bungalows on Lamai Beach. Although we were a couple of bungalows down from where we stayed about a month earlier, it still felt like home with much better weather now.
During this time in Koh Samui we hung out with friends at our favorite Canadian owned Jamaican bar, rocked out to the music of Ovada at the Shamrock and went scuba diving at Sail Rock.
Except for the fact the boat broke down half way to the dive site and we had to go back on half an engine and get another boat, this dive day turned out to be much better than the day we went out back in December. Even though the water was still a little choppy, the visibility was good and the marine life was plentiful. That evening Jueun went over the events of the day with our British friend and dive shop manager Clive.
We flew from Koh Samui to Bangkok on Tuesday, February 21st. We spent one night in Bangkok at the Phoenix Airport Hotel. This airport hotel offeres free shuttle service and storage. Since we knew we'd be back in about three weeks we were glad to be able to leave some of our stuff there.
The next morning we were up early to catch our Malaysia Airlines flight. We flew from Bangkok to Denpasar, Bali with a short stop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We arrived in Bali at about 6:30 pm.
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