12th to 29th September - Phuket, Koh Phi Phi & Koh Phangan
As we flew into Phuket i was gob smacked at the beauty of the green islands scattered through the light blue sea, it looked absolutely amazing, that was me itching to get exploring! After a short taxi ride we arrived at the best accommodation we had yet, big rooms, comfy beds and a damn good pool, best thing was it was all below budget. With me being far from healthy and the guys just wanted to relax thats exactly what we did for several days, hanging out by the pool and eating at the hotel. Our second night however, we decided to go to a quiet bar and have a few drinks which i was just about feeling up for. After a cheap sweat and sour chicken we were directed to a place called Bangla Road, even though i'd researched Phuket i'd never heard of it and wow we were in for a surprise. The place was more hectic than Bangkok! Instantly we had 20+ vendors offering us ping pong shows, night clubs, you name it. We settled down in a bar on the far side where you get offered matches of connect 4 and jenga for free tequila shots from the staff which in turn made our 'quiet night' into a much bigger event. We spent hours going from bar to bar laughing with people and getting the main part of our drinks for free, i'd admit this was the best night we had in Thailand so far, much better than what Bangkok had to offer. For the next two days of our stay in Phuket i stayed in, trying to eat plain food and try to get back on track. Several of the guys headed out for yet another round of bars and told me of their crazy antics the morning after, at times i was glad i stayed in, not to mention how bad the weather turned, a tropical storm had come down from Vietnam and began battering the surrounding islands of Phuket.
We set sail once more to Koh Phi Phi via a quick taxi followed by two hours on a ferry. If you've ever watched the film 'The Perfect Storm' you'll understand around how choppy and dodgy the ferry was. Waves were bouncing off both sides to the point where the window next to me began leaking! Ingham hates the sea and generally anything to do with it, he slept for the first half of the ferry thank god but woke up half way through and quickly went pail! I don't blame him, even i was a little on edge! We jumped off the boat into the relentless rain and quickly found our new home for 7 nights, it looks absolutely nothing like what we booked but it was a bed and air conditioning, got the basics at least. The first two days it rained again none stop and we struggled to do anything apart from eat and sleep but finally the clouds began to clear and we had the choice of two very different beaches within a 5 minute walk from us. Firstly an incredibly shallow and slightly murky water bay which was good to just lay in, where as the other side was deeper and very clear. I didn't drink a drop during my stay at Koh Phi Phi as i began to get even worse, one night whilst the guys went out to the parties on the beach i was getting stomach cramps and started to actually pass blood... Sorry for the information! But this obviously got me incredibly worried and the next morning i went straight to hospital, they took a blood sample and asked a million questions, thankfully i was told my chances of survival are very high and with some antibiotics for a stomach infection i was on my way and within a few days i was beginning to feel my real self again.
Nearly two weeks of feeling horrible got me quite down in the dumps as i'd done next to nothing but we finally headed out and began sea kayaking which was awesome, i bought myself a snorkel kit and parked up our kayaks at a place called Monkey Beach which, you guessed it, had loads of monkeys on it, that was fairly cool but the actual snorkelling here was much better! I'd never done it before and to be swimming with these fairly large, colourful fish cheered me up no end, only panicked once about sharks as well! We did the same on another day because we enjoyed it that much and later on hiked up to Koh Phi Phi viewpoint, nice and easy hike with a cool view of where both bays almost meet in the centre of the island. We bought most of our food from this restaurant called Cosmic which did surprisingly, really great Italian food for damn cheap, it sorted me out in terms of staying away from spice and grease whilst recovering. It was a good place for a none alcoholic drink and a few card games. Our time, even with a week there passed very quickly and before long we had planned our trip over to Koh Phangan for the biggest party of the month, the full moon party!
Koh Phangan mainly consisted of sitting around the pool and drinking beer, that was our aim for the island and it was definitely achieved, its not something i’d do again on this trip but with five of your best friends you’ll struggled to have a bad time! It was nice to chat to other people as well, they had mainly arrived just for the Full Moon Party but because of that they brought a different, fun vibe with them. The beach was littered with bars and loud music every night we went down but the best place by far was Mellow Mountain, a really relaxed place where everyone sat with cushions on the floor. After one of the nights we jumped into a pick-up truck for our lift home, about a 30 minute drive with crazy roads and fast speeds... It was once way to get an adrenaline rush! All six of us were bouncing around in the back whilst the driver couldn’t care less, great fun though, it was like being on a rickety roller coaster. The Full Moon Party itself was like any other night on the beach but with 10 times more people, getting anywhere became a struggle but the atmosphere was brilliant, everyone was in high spirits and there to generally have a good time. We sat on the beach and watched the sunrise in the traditional manner of the party, it was a good ending to a great night.
As we flew into Phuket i was gob smacked at the beauty of the green islands scattered through the light blue sea, it looked absolutely amazing, that was me itching to get exploring! After a short taxi ride we arrived at the best accommodation we had yet, big rooms, comfy beds and a damn good pool, best thing was it was all below budget. With me being far from healthy and the guys just wanted to relax thats exactly what we did for several days, hanging out by the pool and eating at the hotel. Our second night however, we decided to go to a quiet bar and have a few drinks which i was just about feeling up for. After a cheap sweat and sour chicken we were directed to a place called Bangla Road, even though i'd researched Phuket i'd never heard of it and wow we were in for a surprise. The place was more hectic than Bangkok! Instantly we had 20+ vendors offering us ping pong shows, night clubs, you name it. We settled down in a bar on the far side where you get offered matches of connect 4 and jenga for free tequila shots from the staff which in turn made our 'quiet night' into a much bigger event. We spent hours going from bar to bar laughing with people and getting the main part of our drinks for free, i'd admit this was the best night we had in Thailand so far, much better than what Bangkok had to offer. For the next two days of our stay in Phuket i stayed in, trying to eat plain food and try to get back on track. Several of the guys headed out for yet another round of bars and told me of their crazy antics the morning after, at times i was glad i stayed in, not to mention how bad the weather turned, a tropical storm had come down from Vietnam and began battering the surrounding islands of Phuket.
We set sail once more to Koh Phi Phi via a quick taxi followed by two hours on a ferry. If you've ever watched the film 'The Perfect Storm' you'll understand around how choppy and dodgy the ferry was. Waves were bouncing off both sides to the point where the window next to me began leaking! Ingham hates the sea and generally anything to do with it, he slept for the first half of the ferry thank god but woke up half way through and quickly went pail! I don't blame him, even i was a little on edge! We jumped off the boat into the relentless rain and quickly found our new home for 7 nights, it looks absolutely nothing like what we booked but it was a bed and air conditioning, got the basics at least. The first two days it rained again none stop and we struggled to do anything apart from eat and sleep but finally the clouds began to clear and we had the choice of two very different beaches within a 5 minute walk from us. Firstly an incredibly shallow and slightly murky water bay which was good to just lay in, where as the other side was deeper and very clear. I didn't drink a drop during my stay at Koh Phi Phi as i began to get even worse, one night whilst the guys went out to the parties on the beach i was getting stomach cramps and started to actually pass blood... Sorry for the information! But this obviously got me incredibly worried and the next morning i went straight to hospital, they took a blood sample and asked a million questions, thankfully i was told my chances of survival are very high and with some antibiotics for a stomach infection i was on my way and within a few days i was beginning to feel my real self again.
Nearly two weeks of feeling horrible got me quite down in the dumps as i'd done next to nothing but we finally headed out and began sea kayaking which was awesome, i bought myself a snorkel kit and parked up our kayaks at a place called Monkey Beach which, you guessed it, had loads of monkeys on it, that was fairly cool but the actual snorkelling here was much better! I'd never done it before and to be swimming with these fairly large, colourful fish cheered me up no end, only panicked once about sharks as well! We did the same on another day because we enjoyed it that much and later on hiked up to Koh Phi Phi viewpoint, nice and easy hike with a cool view of where both bays almost meet in the centre of the island. We bought most of our food from this restaurant called Cosmic which did surprisingly, really great Italian food for damn cheap, it sorted me out in terms of staying away from spice and grease whilst recovering. It was a good place for a none alcoholic drink and a few card games. Our time, even with a week there passed very quickly and before long we had planned our trip over to Koh Phangan for the biggest party of the month, the full moon party!
Koh Phangan mainly consisted of sitting around the pool and drinking beer, that was our aim for the island and it was definitely achieved, its not something i’d do again on this trip but with five of your best friends you’ll struggled to have a bad time! It was nice to chat to other people as well, they had mainly arrived just for the Full Moon Party but because of that they brought a different, fun vibe with them. The beach was littered with bars and loud music every night we went down but the best place by far was Mellow Mountain, a really relaxed place where everyone sat with cushions on the floor. After one of the nights we jumped into a pick-up truck for our lift home, about a 30 minute drive with crazy roads and fast speeds... It was once way to get an adrenaline rush! All six of us were bouncing around in the back whilst the driver couldn’t care less, great fun though, it was like being on a rickety roller coaster. The Full Moon Party itself was like any other night on the beach but with 10 times more people, getting anywhere became a struggle but the atmosphere was brilliant, everyone was in high spirits and there to generally have a good time. We sat on the beach and watched the sunrise in the traditional manner of the party, it was a good ending to a great night.
Sunset at Koh Phi Phi Viewpoint
Enjoying the beaches for the day
Monkey Beach which was only a short 15min kayak away
Leaving the islands and heading off to Malaysia
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