Thailand – The Travelling Ginger

We knew we wanted to finish our trip off at the beach, and for weeks we couldn’t decide between Krabi or Koh Samui. As we know more people who’ve done Krabi who could therefore give recommendations, we chose there. Specifically Ao Nang beach. We enjoyed a McDonald’s breakfast at the airport (no change in the menu) and it was only when we boarded the plane, I realised I’d forgotten to request seats together. So poor Mark ended up next to a gentleman who had his shoes and socks off, and rested his actual bare foot on Mark’s leg. We got off the plane and onto the bus for the shortest journey from the plane to the terminal I’ve ever had in my life. After we got our bags, we hopped in a taxi and drove to our hotel for the next 4 nights. As it was still really early, our room wasn’t quite ready yet, so we set up camp next to the pool. A man came over to have a chat (who turned out to be a Newcastle fan) and offer some advice of the area. It was all going so well, until he started boasting about a trip he went on where he was told to wear a life jacket, to which he told the guide, I don’t need to wear a life jacket because I can swim better than you all put together. I totally lost interest at this point..

Luckily, the hotel was able to get a room ready for us quite quickly, so we chucked our bags in, suncreamed up, and headed out to the beach. White sand, blue sea, and rows of long-tail boats; it was perfect. We decided to grab some lunch, and whilst we were waiting for the food to come, we noticed the waiting staff running around and ushering people inside.. the heavens opened, and an incredibly heavy downpour came. Not again 😭 it eventually stopped raining, and we both decided that for food that evening, we really fancied an Indian. Luckily, there are Indian’s everywhere in Aonang, and we chose Tandori Nights, which was absolutely delicious. We finished off our first day with a few drinks in Boogie Bar and watched a live band. There were all nearly 100.. but they were great!

The following day, we decided to hire a private driver to take us to some of the main attractions. Often with the organised trips, you don’t have enough time at each place and you end up having lunch in a crappy buffet restaurant for way longer than needed, whilst making awkward small talk with people you’ve just met. So for an extra 15 quid, a private driver seemed the perfect option, and we’re so glad we did. Our first stop was Emerald Pools; a natural crystal lagoon. One slight annoying thing about this place is that Thai residents pay less than £1 to get in, and foreigners pay nearly £10!! We thought it was still worth the money, and due to no time contraints we were able to have a float around for as long as we wanted and just watch the world go by. The next stop was the hot springs, which wasn’t somewhere you could spend long in seeing as it was over 30 degrees outside, but it was still really cool to see and chill out in the pools surrounding the waterfall. Finally was Tiger cave temple, and the 1260 steps to the top.. It. Was. HELL. It was so hot, and the steps were uneaven. Everyone doing it looked the same – a big red sweaty mess. Luckily, the views at the top were worth it, and we were able to have enough time to sit down and wander about to take it all in. After a lovely day, we decided that tonight we would tackle the food in the night market. I was desperate to have a nice Pad Thai, and luckily, this one was really nice. We sat at plastic tables on plastic chairs and enjoyed our street food, and it was a great way to finish the day.

This trip has been so full on, so we decided to actually have a day doing not a fat lot, and took a long-tail to nearby Railay beach, famous for it’s long stretches of white sand surrounded by limestone cliffs. We found a spot to set up camp, and for the first time since our trip began, we lay down and did absolutely nothing. Obviously, I’m terrible for sitting still, and I’d heard about a cave full of penis’s, so after I’d allowed Mark a few hours rest 🤣 we were off to find the cave. It’s about 15 mins walk to the other side of Railay, and sure enough is not one, but two caves full of wooden phalluses! Locals come here with offerings in the hope to boost their fertility. After another chill on the beach, we got the long-tail back to Aonang in time to watch the sunset. We grabbed cocktails and joined the 100s of people to watch, and it was stunning.

We had always said that we would go to Phi Phi, however after much thought over the last few days and listening to feedback from others, we decided that it had probably become too busy and too touristy for a one day visit. So we decided to do Hong Islands instead! We hired a private long-tail (much more expensive option but again it gives you freedom to do what you want) and set out on our journey. We were picked up at the hotel (20 mins early!! They phoned our room to see where we were 🤣) and headed to the pier to get our boat. We arrived at the National Park and got a much needed iced drink (elbows out again to avoid the queue jumpers) and tackled the climb to the viewpoint. It was a challenge in the heat but the views were so worth it to see all the limestone cliffs emerging from the sea. We got back down and cooled off with a bit of snorkeling. Unfortunately the snorkel they had provided for me was full of holes, but the water was so clear I was able to see enough without going under anyway. Next we visited Koh Lao Lading, a small pretty cove with a little shop and pitch black toilets! There isn’t much here so this was a quick stop, before heading to our final place for sunset. Our guide prepared us some Pad Thai and a huge tray of fruit and we settled in for the next hour. It was such a beautifully peaceful place and was the perfect end to the day.

That evening we got back quite late and both us were feeling a bit unwell. We hadn’t actually eaten that much all day so thought maybe it was that, but unfortunately for Mark, a fever and vomiting set in.. We hoped after a good night’s sleep we would be feeling better, but the nausea was still there and we couldn’t face any breakfast either. This morning we had planned a Thai massage, but that was very quickly sacked off in case we vommed on the poor masseuse. The one thing that couldn’t be sacked off was the Elephants. We were keen to pick a sanctuary that cared for elephants well and luckily there was one very close to where we were staying. We arrived and met the Mahouts who care for them, we had a talk about the Elephants and the work they do, and then it was time to meet them 🥰 we fed them bananas and made them protein balls. We took them to the mud spa which is great for their skin it was incredible to get up so close to them. Despite us both feeling so sick throughout the whole thing, it was a fantastic experience and one we will both remember.

That evening, we were picked up for a late flight back to Bangkok for the last leg of the adventure. The whole trip has certainly been an experience! From the food, to the people, the scenery to the toilets. From chaos to calm and everything else in-between. We are beyond shattered.. but would we do it again?? Absolutely!!

The Thailand blogs are going to be a bit disjointed as we started in Bangkok, spent 5 days in Krabi, and back to Bangkok again. After finally crossing into Thailand with the group, we boarded the minibuses for the long drive to Bangkok. The first thing we noticed was that they drive on the same side as us! Due to the lengthy immigration queue, we got stuck in traffic and arrived at our hotel a lot later than anticipated. We stayed in Chinatown, and we thought Hanoi was busy… we chucked our bags in the room and met the group for our farewell dinner at a traditional Thai restaurant. I ordered Pad Thai and was so excited about trying it, but when it arrived, it was absolutely awful. I thought.. is this like when you go to Mexico and it doesn’t taste anything like Old el Paso 🤣 another person in our group had it and agreed. It had no flavour and a really slimy texture. We asked the waiting staff for some chili to give it a bit of oomph, but even that couldn’t save it. Mark had a prawn based dish, with only 3 prawns.. it was a massive shame that this was the chosen place for our last dinner together, but the night was still young, so we headed to the sky bar at our hotel. We all chatted and drank until they switched the lights off and kicked us out. It will be strange continuing the adventure without everyone!

The following morning, we decided to have a much needed lie in. We headed to breakfast, and it was one of the worst ones we’ve had on the trip so far. All I fancied was a bowl of Coco Pops, which I had to eat with a teaspoon. So, after a quick Google search for the best brunch, we headed to Wallflower cafe. It was very quirky inside, the cakes looked delicious and it all looked very promising! I ordered a hot latte and ended up with an iced matcha tea 🙄 We ordered a red velvet cake which was covered in flowers, and this gave it a strange taste. We had also ordered some chicken wings, which also came with flowers on! This cafe was obviously all about Instagram and not about the flavour.. or the service. We left feeling deflated as our Thai food experience so far had been beyond rubbish.

After food we took a very long and very sweaty walk to Wat Pho – the home of the reclining Buddha. We went via a local market street, where they were selling all sorts of weird and wonderful, from ducks to organs to penis.. The grounds at Wat Pho are beautiful and there are so many mosaic covered chedis, as well as the 100s of gold Buddha statues. The main attraction here though is the reclining Buddha. We had no idea how big she would be, but it’s definitely a big woahhh when you see her. There are no info boards anywhere, but thanks to Google I can tell you she’s 46 meters long and 15 meters high. We joined the queue to get a better photo, and yet again there are so many people that just try to push in. I wasn’t having any of it, and luckily nor was anyone else.. so multiple people got shouted it 😁 we could definitely have spent more time at Wat Pho, but there is a big lack of shade, and we were both starting to feel tired and dehydrated. I’d definitely recommend coming here early so you can get everything done before it gets super hot.

At the hotel, we’d been given a map with ‘IconSiam’ on – an enormous luxury shopping complex with a daily fountain show. We arrived and asked at the info desk where the fountain show was, and a very nice man pointed us in the right direction. We joined the large crowd of people who were already starting to gather; 45 minutes before it was due to start. 6:30pm came, and everyone was excited to see the show, but no fountains started. The sun hadn’t quite set yet, so we thought maybe they waited until its dark, and we all continued to wait. By the time it got to 7:20pm. and there was still no show, I was getting annoyed and went back to ask the man if the 8pm show was at least going to be on. His reply… there are no shows today…… as his English wasn’t the best, I decided against having a moan and politely suggesting that maybe he could have told us that well over an hour ago, or at least have a sign up somewhere. We were now absolutely starving, and as we were too poor to eat in the super posh shopping centre, we went to the next best thing – McDonald’s. Our first day in Bangkok hadn’t been the best, and we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the early start to get to Krabi.

Krabi blog to follow… but for now; back to Bangkok!

We arrived back into Bangkok airport late due to delay. The taxi I had booked was with a company that only wait 45 minutes after landing, and if you get to them after midnight you go down as a no show and they leave (always read the T&Cs folks!) It was now 22:45, giving us not a lot of time at all to get to the driver. Obviously the baggage carrousel was 800m away and obviously our bags were the 3rd lot to be released onto the belt. I tried to get in contact with the driver but it kept saying network error. We were both now getting twitchy arse, and once we saw our bags, we grabbed them and made a run to the meeting point. This was absolute chaos, and there must have been well over 100 names on the board of people waiting to be picked up. We eventually found ours, then had to wait for one of the co-ordinators to call our driver to tell him we were ready. At 23:40, we eventually got in the taxi. Our lovely driver Ponlawat Pusaart (🤣) had waited for us. We’d decided to book a 5* hotel for the last leg of our trip as a special treat. We arrived, our bags were taken and we went to check in. The lady at the desk began frowning, called another 2 staff members over, then asked if I’d actually had a booking confirmation, as she couldn’t find us on the system. At now 00:30 this is absolutely the last thing we wanted to hear 😫 after much head scratching, it turned out the booking was under Scott Wood (I have no idea who Scott is!) and the very nice lady at check in gave us an upgraded room for the inconvenience. We finally got to the room, and was treated to the poshest of pisses on our heated toilet seat with a jet wash and dryer.

After a sleep, we were both still feeling nauseas (more of that in the Krabi blog) and we really couldn’t be bothered to do much of what we had planned. We Googled the best brunch place, and again ended up at a super posh shopping mall. As we hadn’t eaten much for the past few days, we decided to try having a breakfast starter – a lemon meringue doughnut. It was delicious! And just what we absolutely didn’t need before sitting down for a big meal. Obviously neither of us could finish our food, and we didn’t even have room for a breakfast pudding 😭

Bangkok is home to the world’s largest weekend market, with over 15,000 stalls. We decided to tackle the underground and made the 45 minute journey to spend the last of our cash. It was fantastic to see all the hustle and bustle and the many interesting stalls, but we were both still feeling rubbish, and decided it was best to head back to the hotel. It has a roof top bar and we were keen to use this facility! After a little rest, we got ready and headed up for the fantastic views and a super expensive cocktail. This was our warm up because that night, Newcastle were taking on Man Utd. We got our shirts on and headed to a highly recommended sports bar. It was a great atmosphere with a healthy mix of both supporters. The lads we were sat with were verrrrry passionate, and we were convinced we would be covered in their beer as they repeatedly thumped the table in frustration. Unfortunately it wasn’t the result we wanted. And with that, our last night in Bangkok, and the gap month was over.

Bangkok is an absolutely enormous place and we both felt very overwhelmed by it. I’d definitely recommend having a bit of an itinerary when you’re there as there is so much to see and do, we but had no idea where to start. We stayed in Sukhumvit for the 2nd leg of Bangkok and this was definitely a much calmer place than staying around Chinatown. It’s definitely worth visiting, but unless you like constant people traffic and noise, Chinatown is NOT the place to stay!