We had booked our Bangkok accommodation before we left and were pleased when we got to Rambuttri Village Plaza as it was in a great location, close enough to Koh San Road but with a rooftop pool to get away from the chaos below. Rambuttri road which runs parallel to Koh San Road was cool too, it had decent bars, street food stalls and other market stalls but less crowded that Koh San. After checking into the hotel we took a walk down the strip and had a Chang and street food for dinner. I had a Pad Thai for 40 Bhat (80p) which was incredible! Cherie had a spicy green curry which tasted pretty good too.
Our beach hut
New Hut Beach Huts
Egg Fried Rice at New Hut
Birthday breakfast at New Hut
Thai Chefs in the making
Looking forward to tucking into our own cooked Thai food!
Serving up the Banana in Coconut Cream
Cherie being presented with her certificate
Birthday drinks on the beach
Cherie on the top bunk
View down the carriage
Street food in Bangkok
We got up early the next morning and had a nice breakfast and walked around the city looking at temples. We had a wander down Koh San Road and bought a few essentials for the beaches - a pair of fake Ray Bans and a Chang vest for me to fit in perfectly with the rest of the foreigners in Thailand. We booked the overnight bus to take us down to Koh Phangan, made use of the rooftop pool and then headed out for dinner and a few more Changs in the bars next to the strip.
The Reclining Budda
Our morning before the night bus started with a nice little run around a park, what better way to see some more sights and burn off a few Changs. With the heat and humid conditions, even at 7am we both we drenched through but felt pretty good having a swim afterwards. We then headed out to China Town. There were some interesting areas - you walk through sections that all sell the same thing but hundreds of little stalls. We first went through the flower market, then tools, Hello Kitty memorabilia and then the food stalls and time to eat!
China Town, Bangkok
After spending a few hours in China town, we walked back to our hotel to get our bags and get the night bus to the beaches. Walking in Bangkok is fine but you are constantly asked by people on the side of the road "where you going", "you want see temple", "you want tuk tuk".
We boarded the night bus in the evening after stocking up on a few supplies of food, water and head pillows for the journey. The bus was mainly full of other foreigners and we sat near a Canadian guy and his Austrialian girlfriend who were travelling for a year and in their final few months so they had some interesting stories and some good tips for some of the countries we will be going to. There were also another 2 girls who were travelling and shared some stories and the horrors of bed bugs...she had a bad experience and after seeing pictures of welts on her back and neck from them we were all starting to feel itchy! We will be checking our beds for any signs of bed bugs now though.
The long bus ride actually felt quite quick as we spent most of the night chatting before sleeping a bit. The seats on the bus reclined pretty far back so it was still comfortable enough to sleep.
We arrived in Surit Thani in the early hours and then waited for another bus to take us to the pier for the boat to Koh Phangan.
Koh Phangan (20th - 24th Aug)
Waiting for the boat took ages as there was alot of sitting around with not very much happening, everyone was given a coloured sticker which helped determine if you had paid for the boat and bus and which island you were going to. Once we got onto the boat, we sat on the front deck outside which was nice to see the views of the other islands along the way.
Arriving on Koh Phangan island was another experience, as the workers on the boat chuck your rucksack on the side of the pier for you to find and then you walk the guantlet through people selling rooms in guesthouses and taxi rides. We decided to grab some breakfast first in the main town and catch a taxi later to our beach.
Our beach hut we had booked was on a beach called Thong Nai Pan Yai, in the north of the island and about 30 minutes away from the pier where the boat had dropped us off in the south. The taxi was fairly expensive but we managed to get the chef's husband where we had breakfast to drive us for cheaper than what the guys were charging if we'd have taken one straight off the boat. The beach itself was awesome, nice white silky sand and blue sea water. It was also a lot quieter than the beaches in the south, where the Full Moon parties happen.
Thong Nai Pan Yai Beach, Koh Phangan
We checked into our beach hut which was wooden with a double bed, fan and an outside bathroom. Not too bad for £10 a night!
Although the bay we stayed in wasn't massive, there were still more than enough other guesthouses and hotels to have a bit of variety of places to eat. There were also a few cool bars with cushions outside on the beach to chill out and watch the sun setting with Chang in hand.
Chang's on the beach
The first night we had dinner on the beach at another guesthouse, both of us having different curries which tasted so good, lots of spice but our tolerance seems to be increasing. We had a beach BBQ outside our place which was nice and they beef steaks were big enough too. Cherie went for the king prawns which tasted good but could have done with a few more.
Tasty food on the beach
We spent 2 nights in our beach hut and then checked into another guesthouse with a bigger room and a swimming pool overlooking the beach. We ended up staying there for 3 nights as it was so good.
Our pool over looking the beach
Getting bored of sunbathing (mainly me), we (I) decided it would be good to hire a kayak for a couple of hours and paddled across to the next bay. We also rented scooter to go and explore the island. Koh Phangan is fairly small and took a few hours to drive around it. We stopped on the way at a side street food stall for some lunch as it had just started raining and we were starting to get hungry...so time for another Pad Thai which was so fresh and tasted so good! The palm leaved huts also helped us take cover from the rain.
Stopping on the side of the road for lunch
Exploring Koh Phangan by scooter
We met another couple, Dave and Amy from UK who were travelling around Thailand for a few week and went out for drinks with them to a bar on the beach. Also met a French couple later and got chatting to them - more beers on the beach and a Changover day the next day was the unfortunate result! Not the best in a hot beach hut but hey we can't complain...we were soon in the sea getting over it.
I'd heard a few people mention it's worth visiting Bottle Beach which was a couple of coves away and although there was a road there it was pretty much inaccessible on a scooter. I got up one morning with nothing planned so decided to go for a run and find it. The beach wasn't very well sign posted so instead of a 5km run there I ended up doing about 2km down the wrong road before realising I had done a big loop through the jungle and was heading back to our beach from a different side. Going back up the massive hill and finding the right road, a 30 min run ended up nearer to an hour and I was drenched but glad to have found Bottle Beach...a smaller cover than the one we were staying on and some cool places to stay. I sat for 30mins on the beach and took on some much needed water before running back, exercise done for the day and all by 10am!
Bottle Beach, Koh Phangan
On the morning of our last day on the island before leaving for Koh Samui, I got up early to see the sunrise over the hills. Was worth the early start to see it as the pictures show - the beach was pretty empty apart from a couple of monks walking down and the boats anchored up on the shore.
Sunrise over the hills from our beach
Monks on the beach at sunrise
More sunrise!
All in all, our experience of Koh Phangan was a good one, our beach at Thong Nai Pan Yai was awesome, as it was so nice and chilled there. The beach was stunning, our hotel / guesthouse with the pool overlooking the sea was immense and far enough away from the south of the island to avoid the hangover of the Full Moon parties.
Now for a boat across to the bigger island - Koh Samui!
Koh Samui (24th - 29th Aug)
The boat to Koh Samui was a similar experience to the one to Koh Phangan although we had booked a taxi to our guesthouse with the boat company so it wasn't too hectic when we got off the boat and straight onto a minibus to Rose Garden guesthouse.
On the boat to Koh Samui
Koh Samui is a much bigger island that Koh Phangan, we experienced traffic for the first time on the islands with lots of 4x4s, cars and motorbikes. Our guesthouse was on Lamai beach on the east of the island. Lamai beach was much busier that what we'd experienced in Koh Phangan and nice for a bit of a change. It is much more commercialised with lots of bars and restaurants and prices seem fairly high.
We spend 3 nights at Rose Garden which was a nice little beach hut 20 meters away from the beach. With aircon, a fridge, kettle and a TV it was much more comfortable than the first one (and cheaper!). Being able to make coffees and keep things in the fridge for breakfast was a bit of a treat too. Although the name and pictures on Booking.com may suggest a lush garden, the place was a little run down but inside the hut it was nice so we had no complaints. The beach at the front of the guesthouse has soft white sand as it is on the top end of Lamai beach. The sand on Lamai beach is more coarse as you get closer to the middle and other end of it.
Our hut, Rose Garden, Koh Samui
We hired a bike and did a bit of exploring, although the roads were much busier and the storm drains every few meters along the road added to the excitement. Cherie also had her first lesson on the bike and drove us around for a bit...no dramas to report which was good :-) and she was actually pretty good by the end. Who knows maybe we each buy a bike in Vietnam and travel down the coast...
We found a few good places to eat near Lamai beach, sticking to local dishes most of the time we found a nice street stall a tried their spicy noodles dishes. I would say my spice torelance has improved drastically - I am now asking for "little spicy" rather than "no spice" now!
Walking down the beach to the busier part of Lamai beach, there is a cool place called "New Hut" with lots of different coloured beach huts right on the beach. We looked at staying there but there is next to no space in the small huts and the bigger ones are a bit more pricey than good old Rose Garden. The bar / restaurant at New Hut was pretty decent too and we ended up eating there quite a bit too and with happy hour before 9pm Changs were also unavoidable too.
On the day we hired the scooter we ventured north to Mae Nam beach for the majority of the day as although I didn't know exactly where we were going to be staying for my birthday Cherie had told me the beach as we needed to sort out our next long trip to Chiang Mai there as we would leave the day after my birthday. After comparing the prices of flying, travelling by train or travelling by bus we decided to go for the option involving a Taxi to the pier, boat to the mainland, bus to the train station, night train to Bangkok and 12 hour day train to Chiang Mai...in other words 1 and a half days of travelling. The bus option was slightly cheaper but with the sleeper train we would each have a bed to sleep on during the night and then a short wait in Bangkok before catching the next train the following morning to Chiang Mai.
On the morning of my birthday, it was nice to have a few presents and cards to open and afterwards Cherie took me back to New Hut for a nice big breakfast! A cooked breakfast is a bit of a treat now as we have been making our own breakfasts so far mainly museli and yogurt and bananas - saves a bit of money (thumbs up from me) and also a bit healthier than a fried breakfast everyday.
After breakfast we got a taxi with all our rucksacks to Mae Nam beach where Cherie's parents had booked us a night at a lovely hotel called The Florist (thanks again Phil and Christine!). Fittingly a bouquet of flowers with 'Happy Birthday' was waiting for me on the bed. Cherie also organised a half day Thai cooking course at the Paradise Beach Resort.
The cooking course was such a good present, something we both wanted to do and as we were the only ones on the course we had the staff at Paradise Beach to ourselves helping us learn to cook the different Thai dishes. Appropriately dressed in our new aprons and cooking hats we given the recipes and ingredients for the 4 main dishes and a dessert that we'd each be cooking during the day. Each of us being shown what to do and then we were able to make the dishes ourselves.
The staff at the Paradise Beach Resort were extremely welcoming and made the whole experience even better than we could have hoped. Initially greeted at reception by JJ, the resort manager we were then introduced to Joe who looked after us for the day and took lots of pictures of us in action. The main chef Sakol was great and helped explain why different ingredients were used and flavours they would add.
Once we had finished cooking the 4 main meals each, we then sat down to eat all of them -
Spicy Beef Salad
Tom Yam Prawn Soup
Roasted Duck Curry
Stir Fried Chicken and Cashew Nuts
Suitably stuffed, we then cooked the final course - a Banana and Coconut Cream dessert which tasted incredible.
At the end of the course we we presented with a certificate and a CD of all the pictures taken during the day.
After the cooking course we went back to our hotel and chilled out around the pool and on the beach. We had a few drinks at the hotel in the evening and went to a nice restaurant for a light meal after our massive lunch a couple more drinks. All in all, I felt pretty spoilt and thanks to everyone for the messages throughout the day!
Final Sunset on Mae Nam Beach, Koh Samui
On the 29th August we began our mammoth 36 hour journey up to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand - it started with a taxi to the pier where we waited about an hour for a boat to the mainland. Once the boat eventually arrived (late as usual) it took about an hour to cross to the mainland, from there we then took a bus for an hour to the train station. We had some time once we got to the station before the train set off, so sat down and had a curry for dinner before getting the overnight train to Bangkok.
We ended up sitting across from 2 guys, Joe and Martin from Leighton Buzzard and a girl, Charlie from Germany. Small world hey - who would have thought we'd be sitting next to a girl from Germany!
The guys had brought 3 bottles of rum and coke so we were all set for an enjoyable journey...unfortunately the party was soon put to a stop when the train staff quickly informed us it was illegal to drink on the train and then a policeman turned up to reinforce the message. It was still good to chat to the guys who are doing a similar route around Asia as us. I managed to get some sleep as I was sleeping on the bottom bunk, Cherie had a light above her in the top bunk so didn't sleep as well.
We pulled into Bangkok station and had about 45 mins until our next train to Chiang Mai - this one was called a Sprinter train, so no beds to sleep on during the 12 hour journey to Chiang Mai, although served food and drink every few hours so with the help of a film and a book on my iPad the trip actually went reasonably quickly and we arrived at Chiang Mai train station at 20:30 and on time surprisingly!!
Chiang Mai (30th Aug - 3rd Sept)
Tired from the long train journey and after checking into our guesthouse in Chiang Mai called 'S.K.House 2' we wandered into town and had a Pad Thai for dinner and sat in a little bar for the night.
The next day we went around Chiang Mai to see the many temples and sorted out a 2 day trek and the journey to Laos which will take 3 days (we thought the journey from Koh Samui to Chiang Mai was long enough!).
Chiang Mai is a nice town in the north of the country. The accommodation, drink and food are also a bit cheaper too. There are many café's and staying in the centre 'square' most things seemed to be happening here. It is also a bit cooler here in the day than Bangkok and the beaches with rain each night so it's a bit easier to sleep in a room with just a fan and no air con.
On the Sunday there was a night market that went through the middle of the square. With plenty of food and other items on sale it was nice to walk down and look at all the little bits and bobs with a fruit shake in hand.
Later in the evening we met up with Joe and Martin, the two guys from Leighton and went to a pub to watch the Arsenal vs. Leicester game (or 'Arsenal vs. Lister' as the sign outside the pub indicated).
We set off for our 2 day trek, getting into the back of a truck with 9 others who were also in our group for the two days. It took about an hour to get to the market outside of Chiang Mai, where we stopped to pickup some water and ingredients for our dinner that night which would be prepared for us by our guide once we got to the village where we would stay for the night.
Our group turned out to be a really great bunch, the majority being Dutch and German, us and two Korean's who were pretty quiet for most of the trip but still joined in.
We drove into the jungle and stopped at a small roadside cafe where we had a fried rice lunch. We set off after lunch, walking around 30 minutes and then stopping at a waterfall. We were told that you could slide down the rocks at the top of the waterfall. Me and 2 of the other guys ventured up to the top and looking down it didn't seem as easy as the guide had made out. With everyone pointing at different sides of the rocks to try and slide down and not wanting to climb back down without having done the slide (and a lot of peer pressure), I sat on the rock at the top for a while looking down at what seemed much steeper once up there and then pushed myself off kaking myself a bit...luckily the pool at the bottom was pretty deep and all was good. Everyone else followed suite and slid down the waterfall.
Our guide Chai was a decent guy who showed us a few interesting plants and sights along the way. We stopped for a water break halfway up the mountain and he pulled out his catapult. With a bottle of water placed in the bushes he challenged us to hit it and if we did he'd carry the person the rest of the way. A few people tried and missed, taking aim I shot the bottle and knocking it off the stick! Unfortunately Chai didn't meet his end of the bargain and I still had to trek up to the top of the mountain.
Taking aim
Chiang Mai Trekking Group
Once we eventually reached the top and the village we were staying in for the night, it turned out to be a pretty cool place. We would all be staying on a mattress in a little hut. There was a big table and seats for all of us to sit around. Chai, with the help of some of the girls cooked us a nice Masaman curry. We were also rewarded with an ice box full of cold beers and drinks. We got a great view of the sunsetting on from the top of the mountain. After dinner the drinking games were introduced and lasted fairly late into the night. We learned a few new games and introduced everyone to 'The Witch'.
Our beds for the night in the village
Watching the sunset at the top of the mountain
"The Viking" drinking game in action
I woke up feeling slightly ropey and at about 4am and could hear the rain thrashing it down outside. When I rewoke again at 8:30 it was still chucking it down and you could feel a few drops inside the hut where we were staying. We had a breakfast (scrabbled egg, toast and jam) and coffee cooked by Chai and then got ready for the wet hike back down the bottom.
Fortunately as we set off, the rain cleared up so we wouldn't get drenched, although the ground was pretty slippery and muddy from all the rain. Wouter - one of the guys in our group struggled as his trainers had next to no grip and took about 6 / 7 falls on the way down and ended up being caked in mud.
We stopped at a massive water fall on the way down although no one was in the mood for swimming as it was still drizzling a bit. We continued down where we then went on a trek with the elephants and white water rafting. The elephant riding was nothing spectacular and you felt a bit sorry for the elephants although there were no signs of being mistreated. The rafting was also nothing special, I was put on a boat with 3 Spanish guys from another group who weren't too interested in paddling! One of them fell out of of the raft going down a rapid which was amusing.
Elephant trekking
When we arrived back in Chiang Mai that evening and had showered and freshened up we met up with the rest of the group from the trek which was good fun. We all headed out for dinner and some drinks afterwards. With another big journey coming up the next day to Laos, Cherie and I said our goodbyes and left them in the bar.
Dinner with the trekking group back in Chiang Mai
The next morning we set off in a minibus heading towards Chiang Khong, a border town to neighbouring Laos. We stopped for some lunch along the way and then with the clouds drawing in, we stopped at the White Temple. After seeing lots of similar gold and red temples, this one was actually pretty cool. The unfortunate thing was that within 5 mins of getting out the bus and wandering around, it started to pour down with rain. We tried waiting it out under shelter near the temple. With time running out before our bus would leave, we had to leg it back in the rain and completely drenching ourselves.
When we arrived in Chiang Khong, we were dropped off at the guesthouse which was part of the package trip to Laos. The guesthouse was a one stop for most people passing by on their way out of Thailand and although we had paid for our accomodation for the night, they had a few other charged if you wanted to do anything else, like swim in the guesthouse pool and a hard sell of pre-arranging the visa for Laos before we got there. They did provide our meal for the night, breakfast and a packed lunch for the boat the next day so I can't complain too much.
We set off at 8am for the Laos border. After reading a few things online, I was expecting the whole thing to be a bit more stressful than it turned out. Maybe as it's now low season and less tourists in the are there were no issues crossing the border - our minibus driver dropped us outside the border post and we had our passports stamped and then jumped onto another bus on the other side which would take us to the Laos entry point about 10 mins away. Strangely around halfway through no-mans land the bus crossed onto the other side of the road as you drive on the right side in Laos and left in Thailand.
Cherie at the Thailand - Laos border crossing
At the Laos border post we had to fill out a few forms and pay the $35 visa fee. The process only took about 10 minutes and we had a nice visa sticker in our passports and ready to enter Laos, where we jumped into a tuk tuk to take us to the boat pier where we would catch a 2 day 'slow boat' to Luang Prabang. Apart from some drunk old French tourist woman smelling like vodka and pushing in front of us all went smoothly.
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