Adventures in the South of Thailand
We are posting this from lockdown in the UK due to the global Coronavirus pandemic which, as we all know, has meant disruption, death and difficulties all across the world. We are so very thankful to be safe at home with our families despite feeling sad that our plans and way of living has changed significantly. Here is a story of our four week adventure visiting places in the south of Thailand that we missed on our previous trip to this beautiful country. Thinking back this was a time of freedom, happiness and relaxation which is slightly different to our current situation in the UK where we have been apart from each other for six weeks and can only leave the house once a day. If this pandemic leads to anything I hope it is more compassion towards each other, support for healthcare services across the world and a change in the current system of living that fails the majority of people. Also if this post brings anyone anything I hope it is some joy and a reminder that things will get better.
Lets go back to the beginning of February when we had just arrived in Phuket after our last few days in Australia. It was a long eight hour flight and the time difference hit us hard, but boy was it good to be back in the hot, humid world of Thailand again! We stayed near the airport so we could have a quick sleep and jump on a boat the next morning to the secluded island of Koh Yao Noi that is nestled in Phang Nga Bay. It was like being thrown into backpacking around Asia again and we very quickly got used to hopping from place to place. Koh Yao Noi is paradise with lots of wildlife and only the bare minimum in terms of tourism, despite being only just outside of Phuket. We were staying in a quaint beach side bungalow tucked into the south, east of the island which was complete with resident kittens and squawking Hornbills in the fruit trees above us. Our first few days involved us riding around the island exploring the mangroves, small villages and very secluded beaches that we had all to ourselves. The rain descended one day when we trekked through the jungle in the north to a beautiful beach tucked between huge limestone cliffs. The journey back was a wild ride on a very steep dirt path that was becoming more like a river every second, but we slowly crawled along making jokes about how horrible it would be to get stranded in the forest. The rain got worse and so did our luck as we realised our tyre was flat after a particularly horrendous drop down a muddy hole. I did the worrying whilst Josh, like a true legend, pushed the bike for 3kms to the nearest village where everyone laughed at us covered in mud, but also directed us to the local mechanic who sorted it out and sent us on our way.
Koh Yao Noi was definitely a place for us to unwind and we revelled in the laidback nature of the island. On our last day we decided to rent a kayak from a tiny little shack on the beach and head out to the island of Koh Nok in the distance. The ocean is deceiving and what we thought would be a short paddle was around 30 minutes of fighting the waves at high tide which was exhausting. It was certainly worth it when we finally arrived as we found ourselves with our very own private island, gorgeous beaches and a viewpoint tucked in the forest covered cliffs. Sadly this didn't last long as 20 minutes later the boat tours started to arrive from neighbouring islands and before we knew it there were 50 people crammed onto the sand. Fortunately we were in a kayak and could go wherever we liked, so after a quick visit to the rock caves we paddled to a quiet beach in the distance to laze on through the afternoon. We had many lovely days enjoying the chilled atmosphere on this little island but eventually it was time to head to the more popular destination of Koh Lanta.
In true Thai style we started our boat journey with no clue how long it might take or how many stops there might be, but we did eventually arrive in the port of Koh Lanta where we made our way south towards Long Beach. We put ourselves in a central position on the island to make sure we were out of the main town, but still close enough to reach all the sights. This meant we were conveniently staying right next to the Koh Lanta Animal Welfare Centre which we visited right away. It is a wonderful organisation working hard to rescue, care for and rehome the stray animals on the island. Visitors are directed to Kitty City, an expertly designed playground for the cats, where you can have some amazing vegan wraps with the company of lots of playful kittens pouncing around the courtyard. They do regular tours which gives you a chance to take a look at their work and if you're lucky, which we were, you can spend some time with the doggies. It was difficult to tear ourselves away from the beautiful puppies being cared for here which meant we did come back for a few more visits during our stay. Another bonus of our position on Koh Lanta was our convenient distance from a few veggie restaurants on the island. Our favourite ones were Happy Veggie, Loro Loco Vegan Pizza and Yawee, although I will say that Thai food is so fantastic that we could visit almost any restaurant and they would suit it to our needs.
We were very excited to be in Koh Lanta not just for the amazing food, but also for the fantastic diving. We visited a few shops but when we walked into Lanta Diver we knew this was who we were going to book with, and not just because Charlie the dog gave us cuddles on the sofa. We sat and discussed our dive site options and decided to choose Koh Haa and Koh Rok, the main reason being to spot a visitor often seen this time of the year the Whale Shark. The day of our dives at Koh Haa finally arrived so we jumped onto the very big, comfortable boat which had lots of space to relax as well as snacks to enjoy. We were all as excited as each other to see a Whale Shark, something Josh has been fortunate to see before with his family in Mexico. It was finally time to descend into the beautiful underwater world which was full of Eels, Batfish and Anemone Fish, but it was as we had our head in the coral watching a huge Stone Fish on the rocks that Josh caught a glimpse of a large shape to the side of us. We all turned around to see a beautiful Whale Shark gliding by, too fast for us to keep up with so she was instantly lost in the blue. Our second dive was just as lovely with healthy coral all around us which we saw in between the huge schools of fish and tiny shrimps dancing on the rocks. To end the day we snorkelled at a specific area in Koh Haa and very quickly found out why it was so special as shouts from above told us to look down. We stuck our heads in the water to see a huge 10m Whale Shark swimming towards us only a few metres away. We were lucky to spend a while with her as she circled around us with a smaller Whale Shark friend coming to investigate too. It was such a beautiful experience and we definitely felt like we were incredibly fortunate to have such an exciting day, especially as on the way back we saw a Minke Whale breach in the distance and another Whale Shark resting near the surface.
In between our diving days we enjoyed exploring all the stunning beaches around the island, particularly the white sand in the south which was deserted. One of these trips involved a stop at the hippy bar Drunken Sailor where we got to try some delicious deep fried banana blossom whilst hanging in a hammock. We loved the chilled out attitude in the south and really enjoyed visiting here as often as we could, except one particular time when a Macaque jumped out of the trees as we rode by on our bike and nearly bit us! Lanta Old Town was also a nice place to visit on a cloudy day as we got to see a more traditional way of living close to the ocean. We also had another diving trip to look forward to at the infamous Koh Rok which we went to on a gloriously sunny day. It was pretty clear why it is such a popular dive site as we descended and looked down to see huge clouds of fish darting around amongst the beautiful coral. There were schools of Glass Fish glinting in the sun, Lionfish lazing around and lots of beautiful Nudibranches swaying in the waves. One of the nicest parts was the white sand beach we got to have lunch on during our surface interval as we soaked up the sunshine. It was a lovely way to end our time on Koh Lanta which we thoroughly enjoyed and definitely added it to the ever-growing list of places we'd love to visit again.
In true Thai style we started our boat journey with no clue how long it might take or how many stops there might be, but we did eventually arrive in the port of Koh Lanta where we made our way south towards Long Beach. We put ourselves in a central position on the island to make sure we were out of the main town, but still close enough to reach all the sights. This meant we were conveniently staying right next to the Koh Lanta Animal Welfare Centre which we visited right away. It is a wonderful organisation working hard to rescue, care for and rehome the stray animals on the island. Visitors are directed to Kitty City, an expertly designed playground for the cats, where you can have some amazing vegan wraps with the company of lots of playful kittens pouncing around the courtyard. They do regular tours which gives you a chance to take a look at their work and if you're lucky, which we were, you can spend some time with the doggies. It was difficult to tear ourselves away from the beautiful puppies being cared for here which meant we did come back for a few more visits during our stay. Another bonus of our position on Koh Lanta was our convenient distance from a few veggie restaurants on the island. Our favourite ones were Happy Veggie, Loro Loco Vegan Pizza and Yawee, although I will say that Thai food is so fantastic that we could visit almost any restaurant and they would suit it to our needs.
In between our diving days we enjoyed exploring all the stunning beaches around the island, particularly the white sand in the south which was deserted. One of these trips involved a stop at the hippy bar Drunken Sailor where we got to try some delicious deep fried banana blossom whilst hanging in a hammock. We loved the chilled out attitude in the south and really enjoyed visiting here as often as we could, except one particular time when a Macaque jumped out of the trees as we rode by on our bike and nearly bit us! Lanta Old Town was also a nice place to visit on a cloudy day as we got to see a more traditional way of living close to the ocean. We also had another diving trip to look forward to at the infamous Koh Rok which we went to on a gloriously sunny day. It was pretty clear why it is such a popular dive site as we descended and looked down to see huge clouds of fish darting around amongst the beautiful coral. There were schools of Glass Fish glinting in the sun, Lionfish lazing around and lots of beautiful Nudibranches swaying in the waves. One of the nicest parts was the white sand beach we got to have lunch on during our surface interval as we soaked up the sunshine. It was a lovely way to end our time on Koh Lanta which we thoroughly enjoyed and definitely added it to the ever-growing list of places we'd love to visit again.
Our trip to Thailand this time involved less moving around than we had previously been used to whilst backpacking, but it still felt like the days were slipping away as it was already time to head to our next destination. We jumped into another little boat and had a rocky longtail ride to the shore of Railay Beach West. The stunning limestone cliffs towered over us as we wandered around an incredibly packed beach with people literally everywhere. Railay is really just a beach with restaurants and resorts built in the limited space between the cliffs which are slowly spilling further out to the east. It felt a lot like Phi Phi except with more families and less partying, but still with lots of cats scurrying around everywhere. We trudged over to the East through the towering cliffs and met some reasonably friendly monkeys that were jumping through the trees. In all honesty Railay was not what we expected, it was built-up, full of tourists and not as close to nature as we had assumed. It made us wish that we had visited Railay ten years ago when it was still a rock climbers paradise without a resort in sight, but the wild jungle was still close enough for us to enjoy. Railay Beach East is much quieter which is where we were staying in a wooden shack in the cliffs with Dusky Leaf Monkeys swinging in the trees around us. One morning we hiked through the forest over to neighbouring Tonsai beach which was a welcome escape from the crowds and we very quickly fell in love with the chill vibes and relaxed atmosphere. The people here just wanted to explore, rock climb and enjoy the peace and quiet of the jungle which we could relate to. Tonsai has had problems with development too as there is a huge abandoned resort blocking access to the beach from the town which takes some of the simple beauty away, but hopefully this will change in the future.
We couldn't visit Railay without a few exciting adventures so we climbed the steep red clay to visit the viewpoint on Railay East. This was on our way to the Princess Lagoon which we had heard horror stories about, including people dying whilst trying to climb down. It was an exciting experience climbing down the vertical rock wall which actually had very big hand and foot holds as well as staggered ledges allowing you to rest in between. If you're not keen on heights or climbing this isn't for you and if there is even a hint of rain it would become very dangerous, but with the right conditions we got to the bottom to see the gorgeous green lake glistening in the sunlight. We were tired so clambered back up the cliff and went to the beach to have some lunch from the longtail boats and got to meet a Golden Tree Snake on the rocks and a huge Monitor Lizard pacing along the sand. There was another unofficial viewpoint that we wanted to visit before we left Railay which involved a long hike through overgrown jungle paths. We were then hit with a wall of rock which we didn't think twice about climbing until we were perched on the cliff with a glorious view of the beach stretching out below us. It was when we started the climb down and the wind picked up that we realised it might be a bit of a struggle to get down on this smooth, steep cliff but we made it with a lot of help from Josh and a lot of "I'm not sure how I got up here" from me. The next day we were due to leave which involved another unknown journey by boat, taxi and bus which led to us sitting under a gazebo in the middle of nowhere hoping a coach would eventually come to take us to our next destination.
We couldn't visit Railay without a few exciting adventures so we climbed the steep red clay to visit the viewpoint on Railay East. This was on our way to the Princess Lagoon which we had heard horror stories about, including people dying whilst trying to climb down. It was an exciting experience climbing down the vertical rock wall which actually had very big hand and foot holds as well as staggered ledges allowing you to rest in between. If you're not keen on heights or climbing this isn't for you and if there is even a hint of rain it would become very dangerous, but with the right conditions we got to the bottom to see the gorgeous green lake glistening in the sunlight. We were tired so clambered back up the cliff and went to the beach to have some lunch from the longtail boats and got to meet a Golden Tree Snake on the rocks and a huge Monitor Lizard pacing along the sand. There was another unofficial viewpoint that we wanted to visit before we left Railay which involved a long hike through overgrown jungle paths. We were then hit with a wall of rock which we didn't think twice about climbing until we were perched on the cliff with a glorious view of the beach stretching out below us. It was when we started the climb down and the wind picked up that we realised it might be a bit of a struggle to get down on this smooth, steep cliff but we made it with a lot of help from Josh and a lot of "I'm not sure how I got up here" from me. The next day we were due to leave which involved another unknown journey by boat, taxi and bus which led to us sitting under a gazebo in the middle of nowhere hoping a coach would eventually come to take us to our next destination.
We eventually made it to Khao Sok National Park which contains one of the worlds oldest rainforests, spectacular limestone cliffs and the artificial Cheow Lan Lake created to provide electricity via the dam. There is a lot to see here and we were excited to have a few days to explore as we settled into the rustic little village nestled into the forest. Our first day was spent visiting the lake which meant a long hour ride on a bike with very busy roads. This did mean we were able to make lots of stops to see some lovely views but it was uncomfortable sitting on an old scooter for that long. When we arrived we hired a boat with another couple to cut costs and took off on a tour of the amazing cliffs and caves within the lake. We did have a short stop over at a floating hotel which was pretty boring, but it did mean we got to have a nice cooling swim in the lake during the middle of the day. Khao Sok Village is full of really wonderful places to eat and we definitely dined well during our stay here between our hikes. We chose to dedicate one day to a long walk through the jungle to spot some wildlife and enjoy the surroundings. It was an early start to make the most of the day and we spotted Dusky Leaf Monkeys jumping high in the trees, Macaques scurrying along in front of us and Greater Spiny Lizards perched against the bamboo. The walk was beautiful and we welcomed the refreshing swim in the waterfall at the end of the trail, until it was time to trudge all the way back again with a quick stop to pet some friendly pigs.
Before we knew it we only had a few days left in tropical paradise, although things were getting a little tense due to fears about Coronavirus which was predominantly in Asia at this point. Phuket was our final stop and we were incredibly happy to be welcomed here by lots of waggy-tailed dogs. We were staying in Nai Yang Beach which is a quiet area in the north of the island that is far enough away from trashy Patong to not have been spoilt. On our first day we went to have a paddle in the ocean at the local beach and were greeted by a wonderful surprise, a group of gorgeous puppies. They were only a few months old but incredibly friendly which meant they let us pick them up for a cuddle and give them snacks. A lady informed us that the local Soi Dog Foundation were giving them food, water and medication so they were being closely monitored on their safe beach home. We actually visited Soi Dog and were blown away by how amazing the organisation is and how hard they are working to help animals in Phuket through neutering programmes, local education and changing legislation. It is a difficult situation as they are overwhelmed by rescue requests which means their kennels and cattery are very full, but they still work tirelessly to help every animal they can. We had a wonderful visit cuddling some puppies and cats whilst knowing that there are some wonderful, selfless and kind-hearted humans in the world. Phuket wasn't all about dogs and cats, even though we would have loved that, and we had lots of beaches up and down the coast to explore on our scooter. Surin beach reminded us of a busy European town filled with sunbeds and loud music, rather than the tropical paradise we were expecting. The beaches further south were more our style where we snorkelled at Kamala and Ya Nui and got to see some impressive coral right by the shore with Scorpion Fish, Parrot Fish, Boxfish and Trigger Fish. After a day in the sun we enjoyed the long winding ride back to the north and ended the day as we usually did to watch the sunset with a margarita in hand. Phuket surprised us with how much we enjoyed it here and it was a perfect place to end our current adventure in this part of the world.
It is strange to think back to this time where Josh and I spent every second together and relished the time exploring, relaxing and simply enjoying the moment, whereas we are now in limbo with our travel plans halted, unable to live together and struggling to know what the future holds. I really hope that there is another reason to post on here soon, but I hope more than anything that things improve for everyone and we can start to rebuild a fairer, kinder and cleaner world.
It is strange to think back to this time where Josh and I spent every second together and relished the time exploring, relaxing and simply enjoying the moment, whereas we are now in limbo with our travel plans halted, unable to live together and struggling to know what the future holds. I really hope that there is another reason to post on here soon, but I hope more than anything that things improve for everyone and we can start to rebuild a fairer, kinder and cleaner world.
There isn't a better time to mention the wonderful organisations we got to visit, especially as they'll be struggling during the crisis, and if you want to take a look or donate, the links to them are below:
Comments
Post a Comment