Back to Krabi - Not so Crappy second time round!

Saturday 25th February
I decided to go and do Kuala Lumpur on the way to Singapore so me and Em have separated for a bit and she went back to Phi Phi! After a lovely minibus journey with the brattiest Swedish kid (who had an angry bird teddy - odd) sitting next to me, i arrived back in Krabi! It felt good arriving somewhere and actually knowing my way around. I walked up to Pak Up Hostel - the only hostel i would recommend in Krabi - where all the backpackers stay. When i got there and checked in to my dorm i was so suprised to see how nice it was. It was probably the nicest place i have stayed during my whole time in Thailand - so clean and amazing showers! They even have two bars!

Anyway i arrived, dumped my stuff in my dorm and went for a walk around and sat in the sun for abit. I then went to try and hassle my hostel into playing the Wales v England Rugby match and they said they would - 11pm Thailand time! I was excited even though i knew it could be abit brave of me considering i was the only Welsh in the hostel! Turns out English people really dont care that much about Rugby though!
After skyping my mum and dad i went back to my dorm and met the girls who i was staying with - Kate, Jo, Laura and Amy! They were all lovely and took me under their wing! We went to grap food from some of the stalls down by the pier but me Jo and Laura ended up having to wait 40 minutes for some measly Pad Thai (thai noodles which take about 5 minutes to make) - at least it was very cheap at around 80p!
We walked around and went to the night market and looked round the clothes - very depressing as we could not buy anything! Turns out its not just me who has majorly blown by travelling budget in the last few weeks!
We headed back to the hostel and i went to the bar to watch the match. I was not happy to find two guys had beaten me to it and put a stupid football match on so they wouldnt let me change it! So i went back to my room and read out highlights to the girls (all English) but they didnt mind!

Sunday 26th February
We all woke up around 10-11 after probably the best sleep i had in weeks! I couldnt be bothered to go to the beach so the girls showed me this really good breakfast place thats like home and we all had pots of tea with our breakfasts - it was AMAZING!!! 

We walked around for abit and found a temple! I wasnt that enthusiastic at first as i had already seen about 10,000 temples while in India but it was actually very pretty - one of the nicest i have seen! We took lots of photos of us there (possibly disrespectful but fun!) 

After pretending to be gods we carried on with our walk and we came across a shopping mall! It even had a Boots in it! It felt so nice! We looked round at all the clothes and got stalked by some crazy thai man with half a bald head - he was walking after us holding on to a wig and a dirty cap speaking Thai to us. We think he was being rude as the shop assistant moved us away from him. We thought we got away but on the next floor up he was there again, i thought Kate was going to punch him in the face haha! Eventually we got fed up of him and left and looked round more of the shops and picking up face masks before heading back to the hostel.

We chilled in the dorm for abit before going for some dinner - back to the street food! We ordered this pork morning glory rice dish and when it came it was literally just pork fat, not one bit of actual meat! So we left the meat and just ate the rice - it looked disgusting! 

After dinner we went back to the hostel and went to the bar for a few drinks - i had been craving wine so was happy to find cheap white wine there! It was nice too! 
We then went back to the room as i had to pack for my very early bus in the morning! I really enjoyed my time in Krabi the second time round and glad i came back for two nights and met the girls here! I wanted to pack them up too and take them to Malaysia with me! 



After packing and sorting my stuff so i could make as little noise as possible at 6am when i had to get up, i went to sleep. This was after Amy started having a conversation with herself in her sleep about plugs... Very funny. 

Koh Lanta!

Saturday 18th February
After a late night i still managed to get myself up, pack and on the 9 o clock ferry to Koh Lanta. When we got there me and Emma got in a funky bike taxi but had no idea where to go so just asked for Long Beach. He dropped us south as we could go and it just so happened that everything and where we wanted to go was in the north! After arriving at 10.30am we finally found somewhere to stay around 1pm, and Emily came and met us there! This was after a very very long walk across the beach in the sun with a massive backpack on - not the most enjoyable experience but good exercise!
We went for food and then it started to pour down! There were thunderstorms all night so we just went for dinner the three of us and went to sleep to try and recover from the past few days. I passed out soon after!

Sunday 19th February
After passing out in the night, i woke up and swear i could have slept another 12 hours i was still so tired! Emma was leaving today so me and Emily had to get a cheaper place to stay so we had to drag ourselves out of bed to start the hunt! 
We ended up had Funky Fish Resort and got a cool pink stripy bungalow right by the beach which even has its own fridge - this is luxury to us now! Our standards have definitely lowered significantly in the past month.
Emma left for Krabi to go to Malaysia, then me and Emily spent the day chilling out on the beach! We went to this recommended restaurant in the evening called Mr Wee - probably one of the best pizza's i have ever had! Mr Wee knows what hes doing! Plus the two waitresses are ladyboys - always makes the evening more eventful, especially when one starts demonstrating how she/he dances with men every thursday night at the beach party. 

Monday 20th February
Pretty much the same as yesterday - i woke up, could have slept another 12 hours! But instead i dragged myself to the beach to do some hardcore sunbathing all day - i need to get it now as not much sunbathing will be done in Malaysia next week!


Tuesday 21st February
Another beach day - actually feeling like im on a holiday not travelling on this island!

Wednesday 22nd February
The day was spent pretty much the same - on the beach.
But it did get abit more eventful in the evening. First of all the weird man in the bungalow opposite us walked out butt naked and flashed all his bits at me - disgusting. He took about 20 seconds to lunge forward and grab a towel whilst saying hello- i did not know where to look!
Me and Em decided to go to the pier in the evening to do abit of shopping. We went for dinner and burnt our lips on very spicy curry! We looked very odd holding bottles of water up to our lips! Emma if your reading this, i slightly know what you meant about pain now!

Thursday 23rd February
Today i went to the beach again and burnt my face badly! Lying on a lilo in the sea all day is not a good idea! I watched the sunset while on skype with Simon - he was on the bus and showed me people who were on there! It was very funny!
In the evening we went out for dinner, Emily had probably the biggest Banana split i have ever seen!

Then we went to the beach party with some of the waiters from the restaurant! They were very funny! And the ladyboy was there, dancing on a table, just as i thought she would be! It wasnt really much of a party though - the nightlife is very quiet on Koh Lanta but its very nice for a change especially after Phi Phi!

Friday 24th February
This was my final day on Koh Lanta and with a beach until i go to Bali so i made the most of the sun! (again) We went back to the pier in the evening and i actually bought myself a maxi dress (i splashed out 250 baht = around £5). For our final night we got kicked out of our air con bungalow and put into one with a rubbish fan attached to the wall, it made creepy noises all night! I loved staying on Long Beach but the staff at Funky Fish were awful, the woman who i guess ran the place was so rude and walks around like she has something stuck up her arse. I will also add that she once gave me boiled eggs that when you turned them upside down, everything flowed out - the white bit was all runny too! When i took it back she argued "You asked 4 minutes!"...What an idiot. 


Saturday 25th February
I woke up, had my last funky fish omelette before getting in a little minibus back to Krabi! I was not very excited to go back here as there is not really much to do but it will be a nice change from beaches and is a good stopping place between the very long journey i have ahead of me to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!


Summary on Koh Lanta
This island is beautiful and so calm and peaceful. It is very different to all the other islands i have been to in Thailand is definitely one that i would come back to if i was coming for a weeks holiday to relax! Compared to the other islands it is dead, and lacking in backpackers. But it was the perfect place to relax and spend my last week in Thailand. And the beach is lovely!

Koh Phi Phi!

Wednesday 15th February
We got the early boat over to Koh Phi Phi and arrived around 11am. We soon discovered that accomodation on this island is not easy to find and is expensive! It was packed but we eventually found a bungalow up loads of steps so theres a view over Phi Phi - its pretty cool!

We had a walk around and went to the beach - its not very pretty and apparently theres poo everywhere in the sea! Eww! This island is very different to what i thought it would be and is all about partying, so the island has kind of been ruined by it all. 
Something else about this island is the damage that was caused by the Tsunami in 2004. It was one of the worst affected areas and its horrible to see pictures of what it caused. There is still so much work being done here and parts of it are still ruined. There are also Tsunami evacuation routes etc around the island which is pretty scary! 

Anyway in the evening we went for dinner and Emily was happy to find a Banana split - her search has not been so successful recently! (see above)
 We went to Paddys Bar - a really nice Irish bar owned by a man - Paddy - who has lived on the island for 6 years! We met Julie here and her crazy Canadian friends. They are nuts but so funny! They played us some really random country songs about Chicken Fried and other things (which they know all the words to) and resembled a strange canadian boyband! We stayed at Paddys for a while with his legendary Strawberry Daquiri and Watermelon Daquiri Buckets (Amazing) and then went on to Slinkys!

Thursday 16th February
Today was pretty similar - went to Long Beach for the day and then went back to Paddys in the evening to listen to the canadians sing country songs haha! We went on to Slinkys but the police closed it down and shut off the music early - rubbish! We tried to get Jamie to get a tattoo with Emma's name on his left bum cheek and mine on his right but he didnt fall for it! 


Friday 17th February
Today was probably one of my favourite days while travelling as we did a boat trip around the islands and bays! It was definitely one of the funniest days we have had as so much happened!
First of all we went and waited to leave for our boat trip to find the boat had broken so we couldnt go. We were pretty pissed but it was very funny to listen to Emma argue about the need for compensation! I dont think they are aware about liability issues in Thailand haha!
We eventually booked ourselves onto another one leaving an hour later so went to get a drink while we waited. Emma got herself a mixed fruit shake and it actually smelt and tasted like vomit! I thought this was going to be the breaking point for her but she carried on with her day!
We got onto the boat which was lovely and boiling! First of all we went to Bamboo Island and did some snorkelling! The boat stayed out in the sea so we had to swim to shore which was fun, although a little freaky as i was constantly on the look out for sharks!
Next stop was Monkey Bay and we decided to get a Kayak from the boat to shore, although it seemed everyone else wanted to so we had to fight for one! This really rude old couple pushed their way in front but when getting on fell backwards slow motion into the sea - it was very funny and i nearly wet myself watching them - Thats what you get for being impatient and rude!
We finally got one and Emma did the same falling backwards which was also very funny! It really wasnt her day! It got worse when we made it to the Bay and i hit her in the face with an oar - everyone who knows me will know how clumsy i am so personally i think she should have been more careful! (Sorry Emma hope you haven't got a black eye) It was very funny though and i could not stop laughing for about 10 minutes. 
Eventually we got over the accident and looked for monkeys - no monkeys to be found! I was very dissapointed but thankfully a man who resembled a gorilla posed as a monkey for me :-) He was very hairy!

After looking around we got back onto the Kayak and made our way back to our boat. We sat in the sun and got caught perving on some hot guy. All three of us were blatantly looking as we were all staring while leaning far overboard while he was in a kayak so it was very embarassing! I think his head shrank abit after though as he was showing off on the top of the boat and while trying to come down fell on his back and made a massive shud. It was hilarious and i could not stop laughing at him, he laughed with me too but he went bright red! He wasnt so attractive after this moment. 
The next stop was Shark Bay and me and Emily skipped this one as we are terrified of sharks! Emma being the crazy person she is got her snorkels on and jumped into the shark infested water - what a nutter! 
Me and Emily stayed on the boat and saw the sunset (which was mostly hidden by cliffs). We were entertained though when a young chinese man came onto the boat and took his shorts off infront of us. Me and Em freaked out as we thought he would be butt naked but were even more suprised to see he was wearing something that resembled a nappy underneath. I had to turn around and face the sea as i couldnt breathe i was laughing so much and didnt want to upset him!
After this we finished our boat trip and headed back to the pier (after some of the guys decided to jump off a cliff). We got ready to go out for our last night, went for dinner with Julie, Chris and Chad and then did the usual Paddys and Slinkys Combo. It rained a lot so i was drenched but had a good night! 
Koh Phi Phi was very different to what i thought it would be, but was still good! I really cannot take any more drinking for a few days so me and Emma are getting the boat over to Koh Lanta to chill out before i have to leave Thailand for Malaysia!

Crappy Krabi!

Monday 13th February
So i woke up at 8 to begin our journey to Krabi - and we had a very very long day - 6 hours on a boat and then 3 hours on a bus! We eventually got to Krabi around 7-8pm and found a room to stay for the night - very cheap! We were pleased until we had sat in the room for 5 minutes and started to sweat...it was boiling!! We spent the whole night sweating, never wanted air con so bad!


Tuesday 14th February
This morning we realised there really isnt much to do in Krabi. I had heard alot about Railay Beach so we decided to get a taxi boat over for the day and arrived after a half an hour boat journey with some rude people from California - suprise suprise! It was very pretty with cliffs all around the beach and had lots of nice hotels with pools (damn backpacker budget). We spent the day there and headed back around 5pm to wait for Emma to arrive in Krabi!

Emma got to Krabi and we decided to go for a nice girly Valentines dinner. We ended up in some ugly place so the setting wasnt that romantic haha! Emily wanted spag bol but when it came out it resembled a tin of baby food/ketchup on some spaghetti in the middle of a plate. Anyone who knows Emily can imagine what her reaction was - she was not happy! 
We walked around the shops for abit and i finally had to take the plunge and spend money on a new camera as mine officially died - stupid coolpix! But the cheapest one was bright pink so this cheered me up abit! The man was so cute as well and opened up the shop for us to have a look even though it was nearly 10pm and he had 2 screaming kids running around! Emma got one too so it was probably worth it for him!
So we headed back to our room to get some sleep for our early morning ferry to Koh Phi Phi, i spent about half an hour trying to balance my phone to get it to charge then warned everyone not to make any sudden movements to make it fall. About 4 seconds after saying this i turned around and stubbed my toe in Emily suitcase. Emily and Emma found this hilarious.
We all got into bed and found out that some people here are just absolute freaks. The shower in the bathroom next door to us always leaks so emily went out to turn it off. But when she got there it was not the shower but a woman in the bathroom washing an egg in the sink - an actual egg. There are some very strange people in Thailand. 
Anyway the egg washing and toe stubbing was probably the most eventful things that happened all day and made us laugh alot - after laughing at the crazy egg woman for 5 minutes we went to sleep. 
This was our only full day in Krabi and although Railay Beach was very nice, Krabi is not great. This is why we call it 'Crappy Krabi'! Next Stop - KOH PHI PHI!

Back to Koh Tao!

On the thursday we got the ferry back over to Koh Tao, and it felt better just to be back on this island and away from the smell of sick and chavs at Koh Phangan. We met Emma on the ferry too - a fellow Welsh Girl!  I headed to the beach as soon as i got back and fell asleep pretty quickly! We went for dinner in the evening with Rahim and then i went back after a bit to get some sleep.


Friday 10th February
Today me and Emma went to Nanguan Island for the day. It was gorgeous and was like 3 small islands joined up with a beach in the middle. The sea was so clear and we sunbathed and swam all day! We all went for a family dinner in the evening - with Saba, Arman, Eman, our newest member another cousin Kaveh (they have the biggest family i have ever heard of), Emma, Jem, 2 lovely french girls and of course me and Emily.

Saturday 11th February
So i became an adopted cousin for the day and went snorkelling!
We first set off for Jansom Bay and after a long walk got there to find you were charged if you want to step on the beach! We thought we could overrule this so hid our stuff by a hut, got our snorkelling gear on ready and after 3 all got into the sea as quickly as possible hoping they would not realise. This did not run so smoothly and we had 3 thai men run to us shouting "HELLO HELLO"! I could not stop laughing so hid my head under the sea hoping they would not see me. After a few minutes of avoiding eye contact they threatened to call the police so we thought it would be best to get out! One man was very rude but the other apologised and showed us the way to another beach.
After an even longer trek we made it to another beach and went snorkelling! It was amazing and some of the fish were so pretty! Saba being an expert showed me all different things and me and Kaveh had handstand competitions! I won of course. Although i was constantly wary of being met by sharks, especially when Saba shouted "Carly, look theres a shark!". I freaked out and she laughed at me - not cool!
When we finally made our way back to shore we realised we had been out there over two hours, and had some lunch by the sea. This was easily my favourite day in Thailand so far as we did so much and it was so pretty!

Sunday 12th February
This was my last day back on Koh Tao, and i spent the day on the beach (again). In the evening though i went out and watched some of the Wales Rugby match - we won of course! Then i went out with the guys and ended up at some castle party. It wasnt really a castle, more like a heap of stone with a sign saying CASTLE PARTY on the front. It was still a good night and i eventually got in just before 7am. The next day i found out by Emma that when she got up and was walking to the beach to go diving she could see us walking back from the party haha! This was my last night and its safe to say i did not feel to great when i got up at 8am to get the ferry to leave!

Koh Phangan

Sunday 5th Feb - Scariest boat journey EVER
So we chilled for the morning and got the 3pm boat over to Koh Phangan ready for the Full Moon Party on the 7th! It had been quite stormy and rainy so the boat was so scary - Emily was freaking out big time but it was pretty scary we were looking for escape routes just incase we went under haha! We came with our adopted Canadian brother Justin who walked like a penguin all day as he was very sunburnt - Karma for laughing at my burns i think! 
Anyway me, em and Justin finally made it to Had Rin in Koh Phangan - the town where the full moon party is held! Luckily me and emily booked 2 days ago and found quite a cheap room to stay as there was NOTHING left here and whatever was left was ridiculously expensive. Justin was looking round for ages but eventually found somewhere! It is crazy here already with everyone warming up for Tuesday night! Its very different to Koh Tao and much more tackier! 
We bumped into our friends from Koh Tao, Saba and her 2 lovely cousins - Arman my future husband and also the Gecko Exterminator and i planned to go to the jungle party with them in the night! Off we went with our buckets and had an amazing night, we ended up back at the bars on the beach and partied until about 7am! Oops! Me and Saba were standing in the sea for sunrise - It was so pretty!

Monday 6th February
Today i woke up with a stinking hangover but decided to get up and not stay in bed all day - even though i only slept 2 hours! We spent the afternoon by the beach and then went to Thongsala to see the shops and markets! Theres no way i can drink tonight so having a night off to prepare myself for tomorrow night - THE FULL MOON PARTY WOOO!


Tuesday 7th February
Full Moon Party day - i have never been anywhere so crazy in my life! People everywhere! Unfortunately we could not find our thailand family so me Emily and Julie drank our buckets and got on with our night. Unfortunately for poor Julie, she ended up standing on a sea urchin and went for a swim with her bag on and broke her phone and camera - oops! She was not a fan of Full Moon haha! 

Wednesday 8th February
This was my final day in Koh Phangan, i was not really a fan. Its pretty much Thailands version of Magaluf and the chavs of every country of the world gather onto one beach for one night. I definitely did not have the best time here, and was feeling abit down especially with hearing  some bad news from home on my last night. 
I wanted to go somewhere nice so decided to head back to Koh Tao for a few days to chill out and relax!

I Love Koh Tao

My next few days at Koh Tao were pretty much spent doing the same things - sunbathing and drinking. On the Wednesday night we went out and ended up at the beach party where Jaguar Skills was at - on a set in the sea! It was amazing! On Thursday day me and em went to hire some bikes for the day - i lasted less than half an hour and fell into a ditch while on the bike and hurting my leg! Its safe to say i wasnt a natural! Glad i tried it though, even though the evil man charged me for scratching the bike and i have a lovely swollen and cut knee! From what ive heard its a regular thing for them to do this and after arguing with him twice over it i gave up! I was not happy at all but i suppose i probably would have ended up killing myself if i kept it the day haha! It was nice to spend the rest of the day relaxing by myself and sleep on the beach though :)

Friday pretty much went the the same way. There was abit of excitement though when a gecko was going wild in our room and me and emily were freaking out! They are so fast!!! Luckily one of the boys came and rescued us and the poor little guy! We went for dinner at Sairee Cottage - by far the best! And then went out for a night of drinking!

On saturday, our final day at Koh Tao i chilled out by the beach for abit then went out for a walk with our friend Julie! We then got ready for our last night in Koh Tao which was lovely and chilled drinking buckets sitting on the beach! I absolutely love this island and will be abit sad to leave tomorrow, but excited for a change and for the full moon party wooohooo! Although im hoping my leg calms down from the bike fall as at the moment im calling myself Club Leg!

To sum up Koh Tao - It is Amazing!!!! Everyone is really nice and life here is so chilled - met some lovely people (you know who you are!)