Southern Hemsiphere...LET'S SEE YA!: 9 - Khop khun kha Thailand, I had a blast!

April 2012

And so it was time to live New Zealand ... only temporarily of course! My destination? THAILAND.

I met up with Claire in Auckland, and stayed with her for a night. For a huge portion of her time here in New Zealand she lived with 2 lovely women called Helen and Lucy, who knew her mum from England. They are very hospitable and had me to stay a couple of times.

Claire and I had no real plan for Thailand, we booked a couple nights accommodation in Bangkok for the first 2 days, but beyond that we were just going to see what happened ...

We flew to Thailand with a brief airport stop in Kuala Lumpur.

On arrival to Bangkok, we managed to hail down a Tuk Tuk (typical transport, in Bangkok anyway) and after having a chat with a dude, we headed to the International Booking Office to see about what we fancied doing.

We decided on Southern Thailand, to an Island called Koh Phangan in the Gulf of Thailand. The overnight coach, return ferry rides, hotel transfer and 7 nights accommodation cost us the equivalent of 97 GBP. Honest.

We made the most of our time in Bangkok, although I quickly decided it wasn't my kind of place. We visited the Palace and a lot of temples, ate some wonderful food and were regular visitors to Khao San Road - the main 'backpacker' street.

Bangkok was busy, dirty and a bit overwhelming. Our lack of Thai knowledge probably made it harder too, and as much as I am very glad I visited, I'm in no rush to get back.

Southern Thailand on the other hand ... Wow.

After one heck of a wait for our overnight bus (which arrived 3 hours late to pick us up ... I genuinely though we had been scammed!) a ferry ride and a hotel transfer, we arrived at our accommodation in Koh Phangan: A resort named Hacienda, run and owned by an English guy called Dave.

When we booked, we asked for basic accommodation. Basic is not the word!! It was a shed on stilts. With a bed, a mosquito net and a toilet and cold shower out the back. Claire was not impressed in the slightest, but after a couple of days we both actually really enjoyed it :)

Koh Phangan is one of 3 main Islands in the Gulf and it is just so beautiful.

There was a night time food market on every night and MAN WAS IT INCREDIBLE. I think it was my favourite place.

Claire and I grew fond of a place called Blue Vanilla which served delicious fresh fruit smoothies for less than 1GBP...

I could actually write a whole blog on my food experience alone, but I wont. What I will say is that I had a wish granted when I was able to eat an authentic Thai green curry. And it was all I ever dreamed of! :)

We lay by the beach, swam, read books and explored. We spent 3 days doing something unbelievable but I'll save that for another post.

We did a days tour with an awesome guy called Hans, where we did a jungle trek, played in a waterfall, visited some very special temples, had a fabulous lunch and went for a snorkel at Koh Mah beach.

The 2 weeks were up far too quickly, and I was very disappointed to be leaving after having such a great time.

Over the holiday, obviously I spent a lot of time with Claire. She is such a funny person, and I hope to see her when we have both finished our current adventures.

Thailand was such a cool place to go to, and I cannot wait to go back!