Ko Phangan to Andaman Coast

Ad and I really enjoyed the 12 days we spent on Koh Phangan; it was great to give ourselves some time to rest and relax while enjoying delicious fresh food, fruit shakes and of course the island’s beautiful sandy beaches, endless ocean and amazing sunsets.

As our time on Koh Phangan was coming to an end, the last couple of days were fantastic. We (Adam, myself, Lucia and Eddie) rented scooters and headed out for a day of snorkeling. We ventured around the point and over to the beach next to ours called Haad Salad; this was a small and more beautiful bay than ours (even though ours was amazing!) in ‘Reggae Village’ that had a good vibe, fun snorkeling, and the best beach rope swing ever! Adam and I sat on the swing together swinging over the water while spinning round and round, it was great! We would lean back and the dizzying effect made us laugh out loud, it was so much fun!

We rented our snorkeling gear from a shop up the street and headed out to find a spot to chill for the day. We came upon the property Green Papaya which is probably the most beautiful resort we have seen on our travels thus far. Even though we couldn’t afford to stay there, we were still able to walk around and check the place out. Teak wood bungalows, huge endless pool, beautiful foliage and flowers, fresh water showers, and only steps from the beach, it was amazing. We ended the day in the water enjoying the beautiful sunset and then capped it off with a wonderful dinner on the beach at the resort; it was a very memorable and wonderful day, one of the highlights of our trip.

Our final night in Koh Phangan, we all decided to take in some of the local music and headed to Zion Bar. The bamboo bar was filled with people chillin out, enjoying a drink, and listening to live reggae/ska music. It was nice to see both locals and foreigners hanging out and enjoying the music together. After a few hours, we decided to head home. On our way, Ad and I laughed at the frogs hopping around in the dark, the fun winding roads, and how we almost ran over a HUGE, goldish-green snake with black markings as it was slithering across the road. Eeeewwwwhhhh!!

Krabi to Railay

We left Ko Phangan at 7am and arrived at the pier on the mainland at 10am, we hopped on a bus for the 1+ hour ride to Surat Thani, and then into a shuttle van for a 2 hour jaunt over to the town of Krabi (this was all done in the POURING DOWN RAIN, which was a little sketchy). Once we arrived in Krabi (a town used mainly for shuttling people by boat to its nearby islands) we had to hire a long-tail to take us over to Railay beach (you cannot access Railay by auto, in fact, there are no cars on the island at all). Railay is a climbing mecca and very famous for its beautiful limestone cliffs and turquoise water; we were excited to go!

We waited about an hour because the drivers of the boats won’t go until there is a minimum of 6 people (unless you are willing to pay more). There were four of us, but it didn’t look like anyone else was coming, so we all decided to throw in a little extra cash in order to get over to Railay sooner than later.

We left the dock in our long tail for the 25 minute trip, but shortly into the ride the sea started to get pretty rough and our tiny ship was tossed, if it wasn’t for the fearless crew, our long tail might’ve been lost, our long tail might’ve been lost. Ok, couldn’t resist the Gilligan’s Island reference, but really though the sea was getting pretty gnarly and a bit scary. In fact, when we were about 10 minutes from Railay the driver of the long tail said, “Um, I think we need a big boat, I think this dangerous for you and me.” We thought that if the driver was nervous enough to say something then conditions must be pretty bad, so he turned the boat around and we went all the way back to the dock (where we started). The boat driver got a taxi to take us to a different pier where we would have a short 10 minute boat trip to Railay without the rough water; another 60 baht later we were on our way and made it safely to our destination- Railay East.

It’s October 29th and we have been here for two days enjoying the small island and all its beauty. We will continue to explore for the next couple of days before we make our way to Ko Phi Phi (where they filmed the movie ‘The Beach’) and possibly Ko Jum. High season is just around the corner and prices are going to sore; when this happens we will head up to northern Thailand to the towns of Chiang Mai and Pai where the prices will be more reasonable. We are looking forward to indulging in Thai cooking classes, zip line adventures, trekking, and a family home stay in a hillside village.

More to come, hope you are all well!!

Love,

Ad and Cath

P.s. Everything is cool and we are safe. We didn’t get caught in any of the floods, typhoons, earthquakes, or volcano eruptions. KAW!!