The Thai Islands

This really felt like a new chapter to our travels, it was time to hit the beaches and relax.

Koh Samnui

We landed on Koh Samui ready to unwind; we unpacked quickly and headed to the main strip. We were met with countless restaurants and bars, they were far more expensive than the rest of Thailand, but we kind of expected this. It is an island after all and anyway we were ready to treat ourselves. After a few cocktails we were offered a flyer for a ladyboys show. We had had enough liquid courage at this point so decided to give it ago. Oh my goodness these guys were so beautiful, it was just incredible. I had to keep asking Jonny, "Are you sure, they are all men?". One of them took a shine to Jonny and caught him itching so she came over to help scratch his back. Jonny looked rather petrified much to my amusement. We had a real giggle and loved the night. The next day suffering from a slight hangover we decided to lay on the beach with a good book. After a few days and nights of doing much the same thing, we decided that we would move on and we booked the boat to Koh Tao.

Koh Tao

Koh Tao is the island we had been told everyone learns to dive. Our boat journey to the island was just under 2 hours and unfortunately it was not the smoothest journey. It got so bumpy the crew resorted to handing out sick bags on a regular occasion and by the end of the journey at least 50% of people on the boat were using them. I am proud to say Jonny and I were one of the privileged few not needing them, you may say we have stomachs made of steel. When we finally arrived on Koh Tao, needless to say there were a few pale faces. We found the dive company we had researched and they took us to their resort. Unfortunately it was from this point that things started to go downhill. Apparently having asthma and diving is not the best combination of sports and illnesses. If it is not known what triggers the Asthma (as in Jonny’s case) then it can be particularly dangerous. They explained that if you’re under the water and have an attack the consequences can be fatal. If you go to the service to quick the lungs are often under too much pressure and burst. If you were lucky enough to get to the surface without bursting a lung then you would still need to be flown to Bangkok to be put in a decompression chamber to avoid further damage and what’s commonly known as ‘The Bends’. There were also risks relating to the medication Jonny has. They say if he took the inhaler before diving it will increase the chance of decompression sickness. Therefore he was advised not to take his medication yet that increased the chance of an attack which is fatal under water. It was all sounding extremely gloomy. The staff at the resort did say "Our medical expert says you are fine to dive as long as you’re aware of the consequences". . . . . . It really didn’t take much thinking to decide diving just isn’t for us. It’s a real shame but I guess the underwater world just wont be explored by us with a scuba diving kit. I’m pleased to say however that snorkeling is still good.

Feeling rather down, but still being on this sensational island we decided to bite the bullet and check ourselves into a nice 4* resort with beach and swimming pool. A luxury none of our previous hotel have had. We spent the day around the pool and returned to the room. The hotel was fantastic, made up of lots of individual tree houses. It really was very pretty. While I was in the shower Jonny was out on the balcony having a beer. As soon as I came out he told me that he had seen a rat climb a tree and jump into our roof. No sooner had he finished his sentence we could hear squeaking and rustling in the roof above us. Needless to say this is not what we expected at a 4 star hotel considering we hadn’t had any animal issues in any of the hostels we have previously stayed in. Long and the short of it….we checked out.

Ko Phangan

It was time for some serious cheering up after the diving and rat disasters so we decided to visit another gorgeous island called Ko Phangan. Obviously from our experiences 4 star just was not good enough (haha) so using the money we saved from not diving we checked into a 5 star resort. We arrived and we were not for one second disappointed. Maybe it was a good thing that we couldn’t dive as we were now in paradise. After months of traveling and staying in hostels the king size bed with comfy pillows was almost overwhelming. We had a bathroom which was bigger than most rooms we have stayed in, with its massive rain shower and double bath. We also had a balcony that looked over a lagoon swimming pool and the private bay. The breakfast at the hotel was the best we had both ever had and it was served looking over the beautiful blue sea. The service was just incredible; the staff were so happy and polite and they made us feel like royalty. It was a short walk along the beach to a cute little village which had some amazing restaurants and some seriously good ‘happy hour’ cocktails. We became a particular fan of the Mai Tai cocktail in a restaurant called Luna, if anyone finds themselves in Ko Phangan we can recommend it. Although one night while dinning there we were happily ordering the Mai Tai’s one after another, only to find out this was the one night ‘Happy Hour’ did not exist.

We did not want to leave and we did extend our stay by one night and seriously contemplated staying longer. But our adventure had to continue.

Krabi

Krabi is on the mainland and is part of the Andaman coast, it is known as the gateway to what have been described as the most beautiful bays in the world. We found the town very cute, unfortunately we weren’t blessed with sunshine so it was a little hard to enjoy. They had a crazy busy night market which was full to the brim with locals which actually felt refreshing as we had spent a while in such tourist places. We did travel to the beach and treated ourselves to well needed foot treatments. After a couple of months in flip-flops its fair to say our feet had been neglected, we showed the lady our feet and she seemed a little shocked. She said she could improve Jonnys feet but it will take longer than normal and therefore cost a bit more, we could appreciate this. After a couple of hours Jonny noticed a sting on his big toe (but just thought he had a small cut), he told the lady and she looked slightly panicked but she carried on. When we left our feet were nice and pampered. Well mine were. Sadly the same could not be said for Jonny and his big toe. There was a massive burn that must have been caused by the acid she had been using. It had eaten away a lot of the skin and it was not looking good at all. Jonny seems to think it had eaten down to the bone and at one point I’m sure I heard him say that he thinks it will need to be amputated. Seriously though we wont put a photo on the blog as it really is not a very pretty sight at all. A little too yuck but we can email pics on request =). I am pleased to say he was a very brave boy and after bathing it in hot salt water and using lots of antiseptic cream its beginning to heal nicely.

Phuket

Phuket was our final stop in Thailand, we had to choose between the lively beach area or the traditional town. We decided as were becoming cultured adults were opt for the quieter town, it turns out this was a bad choice. We soon realised were still very much students at heart and the night life was missed. Phuket town is beautiful; it has some gorgeous Portuguese architecture and quirky little shops in the old part of town. All attractions seemed very spread out and there was a lack of transport as not many people opt for the town. As we only had a couple of nights here we found it hard to see anything we wanted to see. Jonny says the best thing about Phuket was . . . . . leaving.

We were extremely sad about leaving Thailand, we really had fallen in love with the people, food, culture and we really can’t find fault with any place we stayed (minus Phuket). Anyone thinking about taking a holiday need to consider Thailand, it honestly has something for everyone and we can’t wait to go back.