Island hopping in south Thailand

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After our tour of northern Thailand, we made our way back to Kao San Rd. in Bangkok. It was another over night bus ride, which we later found out officially broke our 'not being robbed yet' streak. We never usually leave anything valuable in the luggage we stow under the bus. This time, however, we had more to lose in the stowed luggage than we realized. We had been collecting a few dollars here and there from each, country as a keepsake in our red North Face wallet (thanks to Kenny and Mel). We had some valuable dollars from Fiji, NZ, Australia, British pounds, and Euros, along with money from all the other countries we had previously visited in Central and South America. Whoever robbed us was smart enough to only take the money that was worth something, along with our fairly expensive head lamp, a total of about $150 worth. Boo. We were hoping we'd be able to make it home without the notorious robbery story. So much for that.



We were going to take another at making it to the Grand Palace, but skipped out (and broke poor David's heart) as we hadn't gotten much sleep on the bus that night. So, we headed straight to the train station instead and hopped on the economy train to our next destination in Hua Hin. The train ride was almost 6 hours long, in a car with no air conditioning, hard wooden seats and filled with locals. It was a long, hot and sweaty ride, but we were at least able to enjoy the amazing lush scenery along the way.

Hua Hin is a beach town half way from central Thailand to the south and islands. We figured it would be a great way to break up another 12 hours of travelling and avoid 24 hours on the road. The beach was nothing to rave about, but we did get to benefit from some luxurious pool time at Esther and Oren's super swanky resort.

After 2 days in the small town, we hopped into Esther and Oren's rented car and made the 8 hour drive to a southern province called Krabi. It was late when we rolled in and we got lost trying to find the hotel in a place called Raylai. It wasn't until 10:30pm that we realized we had to take a boat over to get there, as it was on a remote peninsula. Thankfully, there happened to be a local man at the 7 -11 where we stopped for directions that was willing to take us over at an inflated price.

The next morning we woke up to the pouring rain in Raylai. We spent the morning relaxing under the shelter of our hotel restaurant, and by early afternoon, the sun began to peak through the clouds. Our side of the peninsula was a small strip of restaurants, hotels and bars. The beach, although beautiful, looked like it had been washed away by a tsunami. We walked up and down the strip and wondered what all the hype was about this 'super spectacular' place that everyone had recommended we check out. That was until we found the pathway to the "real" beach. The pathway went alongside a tall rock formation on the far end of the strip. There were long hanging rocks drooping down, hovering over the path and forming a cave-like ambiance that was truly beautiful. When we first reached the path we ran into a family of monkeys hanging out on a fence. They were really curious about us and hopped around as we walked beside them exposing two mommy monkeys cuddling their babies. We were in love.

The path seemed as if it went on and on, and just as we thought maybe we were going the wrong way, it opened up into the one of the most breathtaking site we'd ever seen. Crystal blue waters crashing up against the tall rock formation we had just walked around, white sandy beach and mind-bending rock islands shooting out from the middle of the sea in the distance. The only unfortunate part was that it must have been close to 40 degrees that day, and we couldn't stand the heat for very long.

 

We only had a couple of hours the next day to enjoy the magical (but ridiculously hot once again) beach, before we had to check out and take the boat ride back to Krabi as we were on a tight schedule if we wanted to see all the other beautiful islands. We sadly said goodbye and packed into the car again for another 6 hour drive to Phuket.

We weren't sure if it was the blazing sun and dehydration or not, but Alice was in really rough shape by the time we pulled into the busy island town of Phuket. We got Esther and Oren to drop us off at any random hotel and there we stayed, for the next 3 days. David ventured out for food runs and water, but all Alice could do was sleep and pop Tylenols to break her fever and relieve her aching muscles.

 

On our 4rth day in Phuket, Alice woke up feeling a little bit better so we decided to book the bus - boat trek out to Koh Phangan island, infamous for their "full moon parties" where tens of thousands of travellers come to get stupid. Esther and Oren had already headed out the day before and we were anxious to get reunited with them. The 4 hour bus ride was super bumpy and when we got the port we had to wait 2 hours in the scorching heat for our ferry, sending Alice 10 steps back to how she felt 4 days prior. It wasn't easy but we finally made it Koh Phangan before dark.

Esther and Oren were nice enough to take their motor bike that they rented 25 minutes down the island's mountain to come and check on us. Thankfully Esther with her one week shy of a Dr's diploma was able to roughly diagnose a simple virus and recommended lots of water and rest. We missed the beach, the jungle party, the full moon party, and the last 2 days with our very best friends, but we were happy to say that by the end of the next 3 days, Alice was back to life and in great health again.

We wrapped up Thailand with a 4 hour ferry back to the mainland, followed by an 8 hour bus back to Bangkok. We stayed in the busy city for 2 more night to give yet another shot at making it to the Grand Palace. It was a mission that was once again unsuccessful thanks to a scamming tuk-tuk driver that convinced us it only opened after 3:30pm. However. we went to see the reclining Buddha instead and ended up having a wonderful afternoon after all.




With love from Bangkok again,
D'Alice