The first Bangkok pitstop was for 2 nights, initially arriving at an ungodly hour to spend a casual day sightseeing and digging straight into the Thai cuisine. We learnt quickly that in order to get 'discounted' tuk tuk rides, the drivers would insist on taking you to different shops, and you would have to feign interest long enough for them to get fuel vouchers. If you're particularly frugal I would recommend this, but after a few stops we vowed not to bother again, especially if you shop around on the tuk tuk front.
Koh Phagnan was the next stop after Cambodia, the trip itself took an ungodly amount of time, but after 2 bus trips, a train ride, another bus trip and a two legged boat trip, and what was possibly the most terrifying minibus ride, we finally arrived at the island hotel that would be our home for just under a week. Our hotel was less than ideal, but it was exciting to have our own space (most importantly a bathroom shared only between three, and a fridge, oh the luxury!). A few hours later the third room mate arrived, Jesse, who was a good friend of Nevena's then-boyfriend. We started off the trip on the right foot, taking a walk along the beach, and discovering our new favourite treehouse bar along Sunset beach. The week itself was a blur of relaxing beach days, snorkeling, drinking and eating street food (lesson learnt: everything tastes better on a stick). An unexpected highlight was seeing a Muay Thai match, which Nevena & I got surprisingly enthusiastic about, which none of us saw coming! On an end note, I can't talk about Koh Phagnan without mentioning the infamous 'full moon party', which was a night of tacky clothes, fluorescent paint, drinking out of buckets and sand, sand everywhere. Although I didn't stick it out till morning, it was definitely an experience, and the next days hangover cure was a visit to the food markets followed by a casual beach party for a fitting end to the first segment of our island getaway.
Naturally we couldn't go to Thailand and only visit the 'party' island, so we said our goodbyes to Jesse and headed over to Koh Tao. With that being said, our first night was all about the partying (which proved interesting as I'd managed to get incredibly sunburnt on the boat ride over). The infamous Koh Tao pub crawl took us to numerous bars, gave us a lovely singlet (which is now my favourite pyjama top) and took us to a lady boy show where they encouraged the boys on the pub crawl to get into the drag queen spirit, to hilarious result! The following days were spent drinking cocktails on the beach, snorkeling off nearby islands, bike riding around the island, eating banana nutella crepes, all the while with myself suffering some serious heat stroke (don't forget your SPF guys!). We unfortunately missed the memo that Koh Tao was the destination for undertaking diving courses, and we unable to fit it into our budgets, but it's definitely on the list for future travel experiences.
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| Hiking to the top of the peak at Koh Tao |
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| Boat trip on Koh Phagnan |
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| Waterfall swimming on Koh Phagnan |
Take me back to the islands!
-Melissa
