I know I know, i’ve been rubbish at keep this blog updated. I need to spend more time on it to get it to where it needs to be. I will never understand how people who are travelling manage to have time to update all their social media. There is just so much going on all the time that there is no time to show off what we have been up to. Luckily, I have a few weeks in a camper which should give me some free time to get the blog up to date. Pictues may be a bit slower but they will follow.

So where were we…

BANGKOK

Our first stop in Bangkok was for two nights. We arrived by a sleeper bus from Cambodia and got dropped off somewhere near Kohsan Road. Our little hostel for the next couple of nights was just a short walk away. It was the early hours of the morning so you still had a few straglers out from the night before.

We stayed at BB House (9/10 rating). The owner was so lovely and welcoming, it was just what we needed after a 9 hour bus ride.

We planned Bangkok mainly as a stop over. We heard mixed things about the city on our travels and we knew that we would be back to Bangkok in a couple of weeks. Wrongly or rightly we didn’t go see any temples but we did however spend a night out on Kohsan Road. its just like the holidays you go on when you are younger to Aiya Napa or Kavos but just way more crazy things are happening. Needless to say we both fully enjoyed our time on Kohsan Road and pretty much wrote off the next day.

We did manage to squeeze in a trip to the largest market ever where we spent a few hours wandering around and checking out all the stalls. Most markets in Asia are all selling similar stuff but it doesn’t stop you from wanting to look at ever single stall there is and truly believing you need some of that crap. It also poured with rain when we visited so luckily most of the market is indoors.

We had then booked a sleeper train from Bangkok to Chaing Mai. It was a total of 13 hours on the train which was somewhere between the luxary of our Vietnam sleeper train and our Indian experience.

 

CHAING MAI

Once we arrived in Chaing Mai we hopped in a tuk tuk to our hostel, Junior House (8/10 rating) where we settled in for the next 5 nights. Chaing Mai is full of things to do so we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to do everything, Bearing that in mind we planned out our week of activies.

We arrived on a Sunday which was so good for us as Chaing Mai have a weekly walking market on a Sunday. The streets were filled with the usual market stalls but had plenty of food stalls for us to graze through and pick up what looked good. So. much. pad thai.

Keeping with our love of food, we booked onto a cooking class which a friend we met in Inida recommended. We had started to really enjoy cooking classes and there is loads in Chaing Mai. This was definitley the best one yet. We were picked up by the quooky owner, Sami and brought to the local market to pick up some ingrediants. Sami was very proud that we didn’t need to get much as the cooking class is based on a farm which grows a lot of the ingredients needed. The farm was a short drive out of Chaing Mai in a rural area, it was such a pretty drive to the class. We had a short lesson about all the ingredients we were using and had a chance to pick out a few dishes we wanted to cook. It was nice to have a choice on what you cooked and as there was two of us we pretty much had the whole menu covered.

We made all the Thai classics; pai thai, chicken cashew nut, green and yellow curry, deep fried spring rolls, papya salad and for dessert, mango sticky rice and banana coconut milk. Everything was so good and we ate like absolute kings. Mango sticky rice is a new fav.

Over the next couple of days we hired out a scooter to explore more of Chaing Mai. We took a trip to the Grand Caynon which was one of the funniest thigs to do in Thailand. It’s basically a giant inflatable obstacle course on a lake in the middle of a canyon. We literally spent the entire day running around and throwing ourselves of ledges. So much fun. It about £6 for entry so was well worth it. Be careful if you go, there are two right next to each other and you easily get led into the wrong one and only relise once you have paid and gone in (everyone makes the same mistake).

Another amazing day spent in Chaing Mai was when we visted an elephant santuary. I have an irrational love for elephants so it was a dream to spend a whole day hanging out with these beauties. When we arrived we got these snazzy jumper things to put on and we were introduced to the elephants. We fed them sugar cane which they managed to steal from everyones pockets. They are so well looked after at these santuries and there is NO riding. I know I don’t need to say why riding them is bad and I won’t go into it because everyone should be educated enough by now to know its wrong. Anywayssss, it was the best. We spent the morning cuddling them, having a mini photoshoot and feeding them a bunch of stuff. After lunch we then helped make some medicine balls to feed to the elephants. It was basically a mush of bananas, dried rice and some wheat squeeze into tennis ball sized balls. We then got to hand feed these into the elephants mouths which is so surreal. They have such big tounges! After they had munched down their food we took them to have a mud bath which got so messy we all jumped in to the near by river to wash off. Literally a highlight of my life.

To say goodbye to Chaing Mai (we knew we would be back in a couple of days but only for one night) we headed out for a night out. If you have ever been to Chaing Mai you know there is a famous club/bar called Zoe in Yellow. Actually nearly all the bars on the street were called something like ‘Zoe in Yellow Cocktail Bar’ or ‘Zoe in Yellow Bar’. Obvs that place is made for me so we stopped by to have a few drinks. They had the best music playing and we had to finish the night off with a Roti (basically a crepe) covered in nutella.

 

PAI

We left Chaing Main on a mini bus and headed north to Pai. The total journey was three hours and was far from relaxing. Asian dirvers are crazy and when you pair that with the roads on the way to Pai, you fear for your life. You basically are driving across a mountain right on the edge at 80 miles an hour. I heard loads of people throw up on the way there and I can see why.

When we arrived at Pai, I knew straight away that this was going to be one of my favourite places in Thailand. We arrived just as they were setting up the walking market which is everyday from 5pm. Forget about useless crap these stalls were filled with food; everything from pizza to pad thai and sooooooo cheap. My idea of heaven, they hardest part was deciding what to have.

We stayed in a water front bamboo bungalow which was at the end of the main street. It was £8 a night for th two of us and we had only booked 2 nights, we immediatly extended that to 4.

Pai had such a chilled vibe that after such a busy time in Chaing Mai it was so nice to relax. We hired out a scooter for the whole time we were there (also the cheapest place we hired one in Thailand) and just cruised around. There plenty of waterfalls to check out so we spent our days exploring the area. We visited the Pai Canyon which you basically rock climb your way around to wath the sunset and then fumble your way back in the dark. We visted a land split which is the weirdest tourist attraction ever. You stop by and walk up a hill to see where the land had completely spilt over the years with no explanation. The land used to belong to a farmer who now just opens the area up to tourists to have a look. His family offer you drinks and snacks for you to try. Its free, you just leave a donation in the box, whatever you want.

As the walking market was on everynight, that was dinner sorted most nights. We found a cute little french style cafe that did amazing mochas and hot chocolates which we visted a few times.

We took the dangerous road back to Chaing Mai where we stayed for a night (back to Junior House because it was so great) and then caught the train back to Bangkok.

 

BANGKOK take 2

For our second stay in Bangkok we headed back to BB House to stay. The owner welcomed us back for our two night stay.

We didn’t get up to too much on our second stop. We did visit a huge mall which had loads of cheap clothes and Ryan had a field day. To be fair I stocked up on some clothes too…

At night we made our way back to Khosan road and started drinking the devil buckets again. Three buckets each later we decided it was time to try a fried scorpian. We braved up the courage and bought one of a little asian man. They don’t really taste of anything in partiular, just really crunchy and salty. Typical backpacker thing ticked of the list.

The next thing we know we are accepeting some random mans deal to go watch a ping pong show. I wanted to go to one for ages and why they hell not. They are in dingy little clubs and basically a stream of women come up on stage to show of their talents. Everything from blowing out candles to shooting darts. So crazy. Another typical Thailand backpacker thing ticked off the list.

The next day was another recovery day. We sorted out our transport for our next destination and relaxed for the whole day. It was needed.

 

PHUCKET

Phucket was a flying visit. We booked into a fancy hotel for £14 a night and just had a traditional movie day. Its need when you are travelling to take a day out and spend it like you would at home. Snacks and everything. This did mean we didn’t get to see much of Phuket but it didn’t bother us too much as we had our Thailand island adventure planned.

The next day we headed to the port to catch a boat to Koh Phi Phi. You can buy tickets directly at the port a few minuets before the boat leaves. They offer a combo deal which has a return ticket included to either Krabi, another island or back to Phucket – DO NOT DO THIS. Our mistake, we did but realised once we arrived on Koh Phi Phi that we could of got an onward ticket for cheaper.

 

KOH PHI PHI

What can I say about our first impressions of Koh Phi Phi – its like everything you image a Thailand island to be. As we docked we got beautiful panormic views of the island. You do have to pay 20 baht when you leave the boat for ‘keeping the island clean’ so its worth having small notes on you.

Phi Phi was perfect. As we hoared our backpacks through the motor free streets we got to check out all the restaurants and shops, all aimed at tourist. This meant little stands selling giant slices of pizza and amazing deals in bars.

We stayed in a place called Uphill Cottage (rating 7.5/10) and the clues in the name. It was a hefty walk up a load of stairs to our room – this did mean that we had pretty cool views from our balcony.

Unfortunatly it started to rain on our first day in Phi Phi but we headed out anyway to a hostel that had a pool party going on. We jumped right in with our tiger beers and the rain didn’t matter any more. It was such a fun day having a dance in the pool with a crazy bunch of people – most of them half drunk.

We had three nights booked on Phi Phi so for our next full day we took a taxi boat over to the famous beach where ‘The Beach’ was filmed. As we took a private taxi boat over they couldn’t dock on the actual beach so we got dropped off on the other side where a rope latetr had been set up to climb through. It was hard work and with the tide slamming against the rocks it hurt a little! Still a cool way to get to a beach. The beach was amazing, crystal clear water and powder white beaches. We spent the afternoon relaxing on beach before we took our taxi boat back.

Our next day we explored the island a bit more – on foot of course. It’s a relaxed island in the day but at night time it comes alive pretty much every night. There was mai thai boxing ring on the island so we stopped in there for a few drinks. The bar also let amatures up to have a go againest each other so a few bloody noses later we were done.

For food on Phi Phi we just ate either at the little restaraunts that looked like they were family run or from the food vendors on the street, obvs the giant pizza slices were a fav. 7/11 toasties were also a must.

We had booked a combo ticket to get to Koh Phang-nan which meant a 3 hour boat ride, an over night bus and another 2 hour boat. For Thailand, it was a pretty smooth journey and we arrived late morning the next day.

 

KOH PHANG-NAN

Due to poor timing, wanting to spend longer in Chaing mai and having a deadline we needed to leave Thailand by we screwed up a bit and visited Koh Phang-nan when it wasn’t a full moon or half moon. This mean the island was dead. Like only a handfull of tourist were on the island. We did manage to get a good deal on a beach bungalow for the few nights we were there though which I guess is a plus.

As usual, we hired out a scooter to explore. Koh Phang-nan is a lot bigger then Koh Phi Phi and has actual roads. It didn’t take us long to go around the whole island though.

The highlight for Koh Phang-nan was the adventure we took to Bottle Beach. It’s kind of a backpacker secret to follow the marked trail through the jungle bush to arrive onto this beautiful beach. Its at least a 3 hour walk so take some water but the reward is worth it. You can take a taxi boat there but where is the fun in that? Because Koh Phang-nan was dead this meant Bottle beach was even quieter – perfect for us. We grabbed some lunch at one of the little shacks and agreed to take the boat back to where we left our scooter. Highly recommend doing the hike through the jungle, it was so much fun but wear bug spray!

Obvs you want to be getting to Koh Phang-nan when its in full moon party swing otherwise theres not too much else to do – our mistake. There is a nightly food market that serves up some great food, definietly my favourite way to eat – a bit of everything!

Like all the islands in Thailand it is super easy to organise transport to other islands, they run daily and can be booked only a day in advance. We took a boat to Koh Tao for our next Thai island adventure.

 

KOH TAO

Koh Tao turned out to be a mix of Koh Phang-nan and Koh Phi Phi. It had the small walking only streets but also had the main roads that were filled with scooters and pick up trucks.

Koh Toa is famous for its diving so if you want to get your PADI on the cheap, its the place to go. Diving was kind of out of our budget so we settled for a day snorkelling trip around the island.

Like most snorkelling trips you get taken to a few different spots to stop off and have a look around, have some lunch and then head to a few more spots. Its always a good day out and the best way to get a tan! The one thing about this trip thorugh was the crazy seas, it was so choppy so for me it was a relief to get into the water rather then being chucked around on the boat. The last stop of the day was to the mini island off the coast of Koh Tao, its the one thats in all the photos of Koh Tao and is beautiful. Whitest beaches and bluest seas and the shape of the island itself makes for a great picture when you reach the view point. We spent about an hour there having a drink before heading back to the main island. You can take a private taxi boat over to the island but was a great finish to our snorkelling trip.

Koh Tao was pretty chilled like most Thai islands and its meant for relaxing and enjoying the beaches, which we did. It was our last Thai island stop so we made the most of it.

We took our combo transport of a boat then a bus back to Bangkok (again, i know)

 

BANGKOK take 3

Our last stop in Bangkok was a quick one, we arrived early in the morning and left early in the morning the next day. It was a day to get our stuff orangised and ready to leave Thailand.

We caught an early flight to Bali to start the next part of our adventure. Our month long trip around Thailand was over.

Highlights: Chaing Mai and Pai – north Thailand is so beautiful and under rated.