We only just about made it onto our bus from Pakse in the south of Laos to head to the Thai border. They had oversold the seats, typical transport in south east asia. I had to settle for a place on the coach floor in the middle of the isle and in between a load of bags as there was no room for them in the underneath compartment. After crossing the border into Thailand we had a VIP bus and got looked after with a little goody bag, great reclining seats with leg room and right in front of the tv which was showing I-Robot (in spanish!). We got to Bangkok on schedule then a quick tuk tuk ride took us to the airport with time to spare before our flight to Phuket. Now we knew that the Andaman Coast was in the rainy season and we got a taste of it on our 1 hour flight as we experienced some heavy turbulance. But the last 15 minutes of the flight the plane was all over the place with the wind! Just a little bit scary!! Only in the last 10 seconds of the flight did the wings seem to level out and stop dipping at a 45 degree angle! We stayed at Kool Backpackers bang right in the action in Patong. It was a great hostel and we made loads of new mates very quick. Only problem was the weather, it reminded me of England! Grey sky, blowy with light rain and it seemed to stay that way for both of our days. The rain stopped of an evening and we enjoyed some heavy nights out and got to meet several very friendly ladboys!
So our next stop was a short but rocky boat journey to Koh Phi Phi, famous for Maya Bay where "The Beach" was filmed. We spent 3 days on Phi Phi and the weather improved slightly but there were a lot of heavy sporadic downpours. But it didn't stop the party mood! We went on a snorkelling trip that also took us to Maya Bay and although you could still appreciate how beautiful it was the weather wasn't the best! I also took a walk up the view point where you can get a picture of how small the island is and how vulnerable it was to the tsunami in 2004 when thousands died.
Our next island was on the other side of Thailand ... Ko Tao. Again, the nightlife was great here but it was all about the scuba diving for me! We had a heavy one on our first night that ended with a pool party and the sun was up by the time we got home but after that I was in bed handy every night as I was always diving early in the morning. I completed my advanced course which means I can now dive to 30 metres and Pete completed his initial open water course. The weather improved as well, we hadn't saw the sun for far too long until we arrived here.
Then the grand finale of our Thailand trip was Ko Phangan and the full moon party. I had to leave our Pete in Ko Tao to finish his course but he followed the next day. Ko Phangan was packed with people ready to party. We checked into a hostel in Ban Tai called Mango's and it was a nice small well run hostel and easy to meet new people. Only problem was that our fan room was the same temperature as the sun! There were a couple of decent event's leading up to the full moon party, in particular the 'jungle experience'. Basically a massive party in the middle of the jungle. There was thousands of people there and we had a great night, we kept bumping into other backpackers that we had met on our first 3 islands. So the full moon party fell on the 23rd of june and you could feel the massive build up to it. We started the night with body paints whilst drinking buckets in our hostel then we all left and took a taxi to Haad Rin beach. The beach was absolutely packed and it brought back great memories of when I came here on the new years eve full moon party in 2009. Who ever created the idea of having a massive party on this beach under the full moon deserves a big pat on the back! The next day our Pete had to leave for Cambodia so after 3 months of being in eachothers company 24/7 he was off and we're both now travelling solo! On my last day I rented a scooter and drove up north to Haad Yao beach to visit our dutch mate Lisa who we met in Pai. It was a very chilled day on the sun loungers, perfect recovery after a full moon party!
Next stop for me ... Malaysia!
