Hello Wonderful People!
I’ve just got back from the most amazing holiday in Thailand with 7 of my awesome friends, and the holiday blues are really kicking in. I last went to Thailand 2 and a half years ago, at the start of my 4 month travelling trip, so this holiday was going to be extremely different. We had a whistle stop tour of the West Coast planned as we wanted to squeeze in as much as possible and visit part of Thailand that we hadn’t seen before. As we were going in the last week of October, the weather was still looking pretty miserable and rainy; there was a storm forecast every single day. So our hopes for good weather were not high. However, the weather Gods shone down on us and we had glorious hot and sunny weather, bar one afternoon when a monsoon struck.
Bangkok
Accommodation: Nap Park Hostel
Highlight: River tour in a Long Tail Boat
Favourite Food: Street food spring rolls & sweet chilli sauce
After over 24 hours of travelling, we arrived in our hostel, showered and got ready for our first night out of the holiday. As we were only in Thailand for a short amount of time, there was little time for sleep or relaxing. We wanted to fit in as much as we could and a bit of jet lag wasn’t going to put us off our first night on Khoa San Road. After a very wild night (including an incident with the Thai police) we allowed ourselves a bit of a lie in before jumping in a tuk tuk to do a temple tour of the city, followed by a boat tour of the river canals. I’d done both of these sightseeing trips when I was last in Bangkok, but it was nice to check out the city again a few years later. Again, the same annoying little tuk tuk scam got us. You jump in a tuk tuk at a really cheap price and they take you to 134 million shops in an attempt to persuade you to buy something, so the driver gets free gas tokens. So our day was punctuated with several detours. Our final evening in Bangkok was again spent on the wonderful Khoa San Road, before heading to bed in the early hours ready to get an early flight to Phuket.
Kata Beach – Phuket
Accommodation: Chanalai Garden Resort
Highlight: Kata Beach
Favourite Food: Masaman curry
After the madness of Bangkok, we needed a few days to chill out and Kata Beach was the perfect place to do so. We treated ourselves to 2 nights in a 5 star hotel, for the bargain price of £15 a night. After a mid morning flight from Bangkok, we had 2 nights and one full day in Kata Beach. The beach was only a few minutes walk from our hotel and was a great way to spend a lazy day, soaking up the rays and cooling off in the sea. Kata beach isn’t exactly famous for its nightlife, so after a nice meal in the evening we headed to a bar for a few drinks before ending the night sat on the beach with a few Chang’s. We had a reasonably early night and woke up nice and fresh in the morning, ready to take a boat to Koh Phi Phi.
Accommodation: Chanalai Garden Resort
Highlight: Kata Beach
Favourite Food: Masaman curry
After the madness of Bangkok, we needed a few days to chill out and Kata Beach was the perfect place to do so. We treated ourselves to 2 nights in a 5 star hotel, for the bargain price of £15 a night. After a mid morning flight from Bangkok, we had 2 nights and one full day in Kata Beach. The beach was only a few minutes walk from our hotel and was a great way to spend a lazy day, soaking up the rays and cooling off in the sea. Kata beach isn’t exactly famous for its nightlife, so after a nice meal in the evening we headed to a bar for a few drinks before ending the night sat on the beach with a few Chang’s. We had a reasonably early night and woke up nice and fresh in the morning, ready to take a boat to Koh Phi Phi.
Koh Phi Phi
Accommodation: Blanco Beach Hostel
Highlight: Maya Bay Sunset Trip
Favourite Food: Pad Thai
I loved my time on Phi Phi! The island is beautiful and we stayed in the best hostel, with awesome staff and it was right on the beach. We got a morning ferry from Phuket to Phi Phi and spent the rest of the day on the beach and exploring the tiny island. Phi Phi is know for its party atmosphere, so our first night was spent pre drinking at the hostel before heading to some of the islands bars and clubs. This night is slightly hazy, and I woke up in the morning with a tattoo on my ankle. I wish I was joking, but that’s a story for another time. Our first full day on the island was very lazy. We chilled in the morning, some of us sleeping off our hangovers and others lying on the beach. The weather quickly turned pretty grey, and a huge monsoon hit. It was pretty cool to watch the storm from the safety of the hostel, but it meant we couldn’t really do much during the downpour. Once the rain had calmed down slightly, we decided to make the most of a rainy day and went to get a Thai massage, which was amazing!! As it was also Buddha day, we went out for a meal in the evening then spent the rest of the night in the hostel, due to the no-drinking rules on the day of respect.
Accommodation: Blanco Beach Hostel
Highlight: Maya Bay Sunset Trip
Favourite Food: Pad Thai
I loved my time on Phi Phi! The island is beautiful and we stayed in the best hostel, with awesome staff and it was right on the beach. We got a morning ferry from Phuket to Phi Phi and spent the rest of the day on the beach and exploring the tiny island. Phi Phi is know for its party atmosphere, so our first night was spent pre drinking at the hostel before heading to some of the islands bars and clubs. This night is slightly hazy, and I woke up in the morning with a tattoo on my ankle. I wish I was joking, but that’s a story for another time. Our first full day on the island was very lazy. We chilled in the morning, some of us sleeping off our hangovers and others lying on the beach. The weather quickly turned pretty grey, and a huge monsoon hit. It was pretty cool to watch the storm from the safety of the hostel, but it meant we couldn’t really do much during the downpour. Once the rain had calmed down slightly, we decided to make the most of a rainy day and went to get a Thai massage, which was amazing!! As it was also Buddha day, we went out for a meal in the evening then spent the rest of the night in the hostel, due to the no-drinking rules on the day of respect.
On our second full day on Phi Phi we decided to take one of the many tours to Maya Bay, the famous setting for the film The Beach. We opted for a 7 hour tour, that left at midday and included a few other activities as well. This was probably my favourite part of the whole holiday! We saw monkeys, went snorkelling, swam in a beautiful lagoon, spent a few hours in Maya Bay, watched the sunset and saw glowing plankton. All in all, an absolutely amazing day for the bargain price of £12! Our last night in Phi Phi was obviously spent drinking copious amounts of buckets and dancing on the beach! We decided to book an afternoon ferry to take us back to the mainland, so had a bit more time than expected on Phi Phi! In our slightly hung-over states, we decided to make the most of our final few hours on the island so we went for a walk to the lookout point. I’m not the fittest person in the world, and really struggled climbing the steps and hills in the mid day heat with a blaring hangover, but the view was definitely worth it! Phi Phi, it was an absolute pleasure!!
Ao Nang – Krabi
Accommodation: Ao Nang 88 Hostel
Highlight: Railay Beach
Favourite Food: Thai Green Curry
Ao Nang was the last stop on our mini tour of Thailand, before we flew back to Bangkok to catch our flight home. We arrived quite late on the Thursday, as we’d got a late boat over to the main land from Phi Phi. We were all pretty shattered from our partying on Phi Phi, so we went out for a meal and had an early night, like the sensible people we are. The next day we woke early and headed straight to Railay Beach via a long tail boat. Railay beach was stunning; we spent the whole day there and left just as the sun was setting. Our last night was spent having a nice meal followed by drinks and dancing. Our final few hours in Ao Nang were spent having a nice lie in, followed by some lunch before we hopped on our flight back to Bangkok, ready for the epic 20 hour journey home.
Despite only being in Thailand for 10 full days, it felt like I was away for so much longer. I think this was thanks to the fact we did so much travelling around; which in my opinion is the best way to spend a short holiday as you get to see so much! I’m now seriously contemplating another travel trip, if only I had the dollar…
Katie Nelson 
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