WEEK 2: THAILAND

KOH SAMUI

Week two crept upon us quickly and so did our next destination. After a long mornings travelling from Krabi to Koh Samui, including a bumpy coach journey and even bumpier ferry journey arrived - with nowhere to stay and no clue where to even go. 

After settling into our hotel we proceeded to explore the town and of course the beach. Koh Samui seemed different to Phuket and Phi Phi - Romantic and more relaxing - if that was even possible! However the sea here was a lot rougher than previous, but no way less beautiful; with white sandy beaches and palm trees as tall as the sky cast shadow patterns across the sand, big enough to hide you from the sun if only for a short while. Our first day we didn't do much except exploring the beach and town, as it took so long to find a hotel. I recommend if you are travelling to Thailand in high season you book up places to stay on the islands first as they are all popular tourist destinations and we did end up struggling. 

The second day after getting up early to find another hotel we went and found breakfast in an Australian bar just off the beach strip, which had a warm friendly welcome as you went to sit down. As we only had a day in Koh Samui and we were worn out from searching for guesthouses we settled back to the beach, after sitting down with coconut shakes for no more than ten minutes (we all get itchy feet!) Blane and Aaron went and found body boards and we played in the sea for a couple of hours, without a care in the world.

The shopping in Koh Samui was incredible, better than Bangkok, with shops full of the best dupes I have ever seen and after a little bartering (I think myself of a bit of an expert now!) got prices down to approximately £40, I would have stocked up however only having my rucksack and limited funds I decided against it. However we did come across a beautiful silver shop with pieces carved with such indicate details and finished with stones and shells, all made on this island. There was so many lovely pieces I felt it rude to just buy one piece so purchased  a belly bar, earrings, and a ring, the stone that is placed between leaves is Citrine - the health stone. Isn't it beautiful?

We had had quite a few sore heads on this holiday so far, and because New year was coming upon us, we took Koh Samui as a chance to catch up on some sleep and not party. However after having some more delicious Thai food we wandered through the town for a few quiet drinks and got pulled into a Lady boy cabaret - something I had be told we had to do while over here, this was probably one of the best and weirdest performances I had ever seen, the show included a Britney, Nicole Scherzinger and a comedy act, and while watching couldn't help but have some serious stomach envy!!

(Dress: Topshop (old))

KOH PHANGAN

A little warning to start of this section. We found a hostel to stay in five months previous but because the owner realised they could of got more money out of other people gave our room away.. This wasn't the best start to our New years eve but eventually got it sorted after paying another 1000 Thai baht (£20) on top of the 500 baht (£10) that we had already paid the hostel worker let us stay in her flat above her husbands tattoo shop. While meeting other travellers throughout the evening we came to realise this wasn't a one of thing and had happened to others. 

Now onto the positives of the island - what it was known for and the reason everyone was there, the party itself. You walked through the little streets of the island and everywhere you looked was neon in the form of face paints, head bands, bangles and full moon logo t shirts. Quickly us girls bought a pack of 6 paints and floral headbands to decorate ourselves later and we headed to the beach. The beach here was harder to relax on than the other islands as everywhere was starting to set up ready for the night ahead so we took it as a chance to explore, including walking over a very dodgy bridge to get over the rocks!  

The party was AMAZING, the whole island was part of it so where ever you walked you were always involved, a mini festival if you like. The whole evening the island waited on us, never being too far away from alcohol with cocktail buckets being sold everywhere you looked (and for so cheap!) or food stalls if you needed help sobering up at any point. DJ's swapped throughout the night so you could dance to every type of music and if it wasn't too your taste you only had to walk 100m to find something else. The island had exploded with so many different colours, people, dancing, fire eaters and jugglers, you name it they had it, and to top it off the most beautiful fireworks at 12:00 that burst over the sea.

       If you ever get a chance to experience a full moon party I highly recommend it. We had been warned before we left to be careful and watch out for each other but none of us met any trouble, just lovely people from all over the world including two Canadians and a south African that we spent most of our night with! 

(Body: Misguided (Similar here), Shorts: Misguided and Sliders: Topshop (Similar here))

KOH TAO

Koh Tao was hands down my favourite island, I don't know if its partly because we picked a beautiful hotel (The Pinnacle) so had  luxury and a decent bed to sleep in, or for the stunning views you had every way you looked. First we took a taxi - a truck with two benches screwed into the back up to our hotel, as we went further and further out of town and over hills that seemed like roller-coasters we wandered where we were being taken and from our hostel situation the night before started to get a little worried!! but we shouldn't have been! We had everything we needed - a king size bed, a separate shower, a pool on a peer that looked over the never ending sea and a three minute walk to the beach, it was bliss!!

Still recovering from New Year we decided the first afternoon was to be spent by the pool of the hotel - and who can blame us with this view!! 

Day two (my birthday!) after breakfast we took a taxi down into the town and after meeting Becca and Blane headed to the beach to get a long boat taxi (only costing us 700 baht (£6) for six hours) to spend the day snorkelling and a visit to Nang Yuan, another two islands of the coast of Koh Tao where when the tide is out has a beautiful white sand beach joining the two islands together, it's one of those places you dream about going to when you imagine paradise. While snorkelling we got taken to two destinations and the sea was full of fish who weren't frightened to come near you, I could of stayed here for ages as it was so peaceful.