South Thailand

South Thailand

Fresh food, beach bliss and outdoor adventure awaited us in Southern Thailand! 

Quite a contrast to India, we let loose in modern Bangkok eating fresh street food and sucking up heavenly icy mango smoothies. It's not that I didn't enjoy food in India, but I really missed fresh fruit and veg. After a few introductory days in Bangkok we ventured down south to check out Thailand's famed beach scene.

Stop 1...Koh Tao, the divers island. Apparently they churn out more Open Water Dive Certs here than anywhere else in the world. So, we joined the masses at Big Blue, diving by day and enjoying dinner and drinks out with other divers by night.

Stop 2... Krabi Town, more of a transit town with a very good local food market for evening dinners. Here we hired a scooter each and headed out into the country side with another couple, Mark and Rachael, for a day trip to a National Park. The star of the park was a 7 tier waterfall, although the epic hike up to it was more memorable. We had to resort to some Scout/ Duke of Ed style decision making when deciding if we should retrace back down the dangerously vertical track during pending monsoon type rain, or continue on a loop track with an uncertain ending.

Stop 3...Railey, the climbers island. I was really excited about coming here and got straight into a satisfying half day of climbing with the guy who sold us our bungalow accom, a seasoned local. I loved the rock climbing and am already thinking about how I can incorporate it into Melbourne life.

The next day we explored the beautiful island and found ourselves climbing, this time without ropes, up and down a steep  mountain to reach a secluded lagoon. It was a health and safely nightmare, that Hamish did with just jandals on, but it felt very adventurous. Luckily I'd had a bit of pre-conditioning with the previous days climbing, otherwise I might have chickened out.

The beaches on Railey, surrounded by huge cliffs (often with rock climbers scaling them), where absolutely stunning, and it was quiet enough that we could relax into the hippy island vibe. I could have stayed much longer, but we wanted to sneek in a look at famous Koh Phi Phi, so we island hopped our way over on a ferry.

Stop 4... Koh Phi Phi is popular..it turns out very, very popular. Perhaps because it is close to 'The' Beach. And defiantly for its party scene (sadly cheap and seedy). Consequently, we choose to spent more time off shore than on. We did a half day, island hopping boat trip to get a good look around, which included snorkeling, cliff jumping and a private beach party at night in a cave. Some young thai guys organised cold beers, a sound system and some epic fire dancing showing us how to party Thai style.

We had to get up earlier than we wanted the next day for another diving trip. Hamish was keen to dive a sunken car ferry, and I joined in on two very beautiful reef dives. 

Next we fly up north to Chang Mai, to see a different side of Thailand.