So here it is, the final part of our Thailand trip we made in november 2014. You can see all my previous Thailand posts here. We stayed a total of four days in the Escape Cabins, which was a good hotel for a good price. On one of our lasts days we decided to join a snorkling tour on a longtail boat, which would go to four different islands al located in the south of Lanta. We didn't went to see PhiPhi, reason for this was the negative stories we heard from fellow travelers mainly about the island being overcrowded. Too many tourists and longtail boats and an uncomfortable boatride with a speedboat. Anyway, the little island tour turned out to be very nice eventhough I got seasick (again!). Hope you enjoy the photos!
What, even more Koh Lanta? Yes, I'm not done! Not yet! We did spend a lot of time on this beautiful island. So after this post I have one more for you but for now, Koh Lanta part V. The weather can be quite crazy sometimes, heavy rainshowers can come up very easily but dissapear quickly as well. This day we had a very heavy rainshower, and it was all beautiful when you see a dark sky on one side and you see bright blue colors on the other. Oh well, hope you just enjoy the photos and the outfits! :)
After our three days on Koh Lanta in a very luxurious resort, it was time for a change. It was the start of the high season and not only the island became more busy, the prices went up as well. We had a lot of days left on Lanta and therefor we decided to change hotels. The island is so relaxed, we really enjoyed it! We rented a motorbike for most of the days which was really convenient, because we like to explore things. We drove mostly to the south of Koh Lanta where the beaches are the prettiest and the most relaxed. I hope you enjoy the photos, I have some outfit foto's too :)
Since we stayed for almost a week in Koh Lanta, I have to separate the posts because otherwise the photos will take forever to load. We spend three nights in Twin Lotus Resort, just before the high season kicked in (otherwise we couldn't afford it!). It were the most relaxed three days which I ever had. Since the swimmingpool was so relaxed and the beach was just a footstep away, there was no need to leave the hotel. The only time we did was to get some food. Eventhough the hotel has a really good restaurant, it was really expensive to eat there every night. So we took our motorbike and drove half an hour to the south of the island, where we found Beach House Restaurant. We found this restaurant on tripadvisor and almost drove past this restaurant. It's really simple but so cute and the food is delicious!
After two nights in Aonang it was time to continue traveling to a destination where we would stay for a longer period of time: Koh Lanta. This island, located close to Krabi on the westcoast of Thailand is just a 2 hour boatride away from Aonang, which was also one of the cheapest options. The boatride was pretty relaxed and we enjoyed the magnificent view of the Thai westcoast. Upon arrival, in the small harbor, we noticed the cute little restaurants located at the shore; we already found a place for lunch! We took a tuktuk (they look different in every place you are in Thailand, these we almost all driven by women!) to our hotel, the beautiful Twin Lotus Resort. Let me show you around during our first two days in Koh Lanta!
Since we had two days in Aonang, of which we spend the afternoon in Railay, I still have some photos from the evening back in Aonang for you guys. We drove with our motorbike to a deserted beach to watch the sunset, ofcourse with an icecold beer on our sides. I included some outfit photos, because eventhough I'm on holiday, I love fashion. Personally I really loved Aonang and would surely recommend it if you're in Thailand. But do rent a motorbike and go to other beaches than the usual big one.
I'm wearing
Shorts - Primark
Top - Primark
Flipflops - Havaianas
Boys and girls, I have seen the ultimate paradise! It's just a longtailboat ride away from Aonang. The longtail will take you in 15 minutes to the beautiful Railay beach, which is the only way to get there. Not only the beach is breathtaking beautiful, the boatride towards it is pretty amazing too. Railay has two beaches, the beautiful one is located on the west and the ugly one is located on the east. Why ugly? Well, it's not a beach at all, it's just a big mangrove. But the westcoast is definitely worth a visit! We spend a lovely afternoon at railay beach relaxing and sunbathing.
You maybe remember that we went to Thailand in november 2014. I already showed you Bangkok and I finally had some time to make my other posts about our holiday. After a short night in our hotel and just recovered from our jetlag, we departed in the late morning with AirAsia to Krabi. From Krabi we took the taxi to Aonang, where we booked a hotel for two nights. Upon arrival it rained cats and dogs. Anyway, after checking in and grabbing some thai lunch we hopped on our motorbike to discover Aonang.
Eind oktober vertrokken mijn vriend en ik op onze vierde grote vakantie (thailand, zuid afrika en zuid-oost azië gingen al voor) naar Thailand! Dit maal hadden we twee weken de tijd en besloten we, gezien ons hectische leven, iets relaxter te doen dan onze vorige vakanties. Meer tijd op een bestemming dus! Na een soepele vlucht van 10,5 uur kwamen we aan in Bangkok. We besloten opnieuw in te checken in Prom Ratchada hotel in Bangkok. Dit hotel kenden we al van vorig jaar en was ons opzich best prima bevallen; zeker gezien de prijs van slechts 27 euro per nacht inclusief ontbijt. Helaas konden we niet direct inchecken bij aankomst, onze kamer zou pas om 14 uur klaar zijn, wat betekende dat wij nog zo'n 3 uur lang onszelf moesten vermaken. En dat lieve mensen, is best lastig met een gigantische jetlag. Net als vorig jaar besloten we maar weer naar Bangkok te gaan met de metro en wat rond te wandelen. En net als vorig jaar was dit geen succes. Bangkok is zo gigantisch groot en de weg is behoorlijk lastig te vinden, zeker als je moe bent. Na een uur als kippen zonder kop te hebben rondgedwaald bij de rivier besloten we terug te keren naar het hotel en maar te lunchen bij een tentje in een dichtbij gelegen shoppingcenter. Alles wel, eindelijk konden we de kamer in en na 2 uurtjes slapen was het opnieuw tijd om de stad in te gaan. Dit keer met een doel; op naar khao san road, de ultieme toeristenplek. Dit keer namen we dan ook heel wijs de taxi wat eigenlijk best relaxed was. We aten wat simpels in een restaurantje en zo was onze dag in Bangkok ook weer om. We zijn beide niet een heel groot fan van Bangkok, dus mochten jullie nog tips hebben voor ons om het makkelijker te maken daar, kom maar door!
English translation
On the 25th of october my boyfriend and I went on our fourth big holiday (We've already been to Thailand, South Afrika en South East Asia) to Thailand! This time we had two weeks and since we have had a pretty hectic life the past couple of months, we decided to take things easy. More time at one destination! After a good flight of 10,5 hours we landed in Bangkok. We decided to spend the night in a hotel where we've been before, Prom Ratchada. This hotel is pretty good and only 27 euros a night, cheap! Unfortunately we couldn't check in apon arrival, we had to wait until 2PM since our room was not yet ready. This meant that we had to wait for 3 more hours, which is pretty long if you have a huge jetlag. So just like last year we decided to go into the citycenter of Bangkok, and just like last year this wasn't the best idea. When you have a jetlag and you're so tired, it's really difficult to find your way in such a gigantic city. So we strolled around for an hour, got grumpy and decided to go back to the hotel to have lunch in a simpel restaurant nearby the hotel. So at 2PM we could check into our hotel and finally went to sleep for about 2 hours. After that it was time to go back into the citycenter (this time by taxi, so much easier) to the famous and touristic Khao San Road. We went to a nice little restaurant and had some good food. We're both not the biggest fan of Bangkok, so if you have any tips to make life easier in Bangkok, please do share!
Hi allemaal,
Vandaag, over slechts een paar uur, pakken mijn vriend en ik het vliegtuig richting Bangkok of Kuala Lumpur, ligt eraan op welke vlucht we meekomen. We gaan drie weken rondreizen en op ons lijstje staan Laos, Cambodja en Thailand. Aangezien we vorig jaar al hebben rondgereist door Thailand zullen we dit jaar slechts alleen naar het strand gaan, omdat we het meest van het binnenland al hebben gezien.
Mijn vriend en ik hebben erg lang uitgekeken naar deze vakantie aangezien we al maanden achter elkaar hard hebben gewerkt. Daarom heb ik ook besloten om vanuit onze vakantie NIET te gaan bloggen. Maar ik laat jullie uiteraard niet helemaal alleen achter; ik heb flink wat posts gemaakt welke om de twee dagen online zullen komen, zodat jullie je niet hoeven te vervelen terwijl ik op vakantie ben. En uiteraard zal ik na mijn vakantie meer dan genoeg posts eraan wijden en wellicht ga ik zelfs vloggen.
English translation
Hi everyone!
Today, in just a few hours from now, the boy and I are taking the plane to Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur. We'll be traveling for three weeks and on our list will be Laos, Cambodja and Thailand. Since we've already been to Thailand last year, we decided to only go to the Thai beaches this year, as we've seen most of the countryside.
Since the boy and I really need this holiday after months of working really hard, I decided NOT to blog whilst being abroad. But ofcourse I can't leave you guys without anything; every two days there will be a brand new post online so you won't get bored while I'm having fun. And ofcourse, once I'm back I'll show you everything from our holiday, and maybe I'll vlog a bit as well :)
Just three hours before our flight back to Amsterdam we took a couple of outfit pictures. Nothing special, but this is what I wore while searching for breakfast (which our hotel unfortunately didn't offer). I hope you like it. It's all primark.
The last day of our holiday. We ended our Thailand trip in Bangkok, but we both didn't like it: too crowded, too hot, too much of everything. Maybe one day is even too much for us, but we made the most out of it.
We woke up early as usual and took the tuktuk to the market in chinatown. I really wanted to buy some beads for at home (I make my own jewelry every now and then). After our shopping trip we took the boat to another part of the city while passing the 'Wat Arun' temple. It became bloody hot that day and since we were both really annoyed by the stupid tuktuk drivers we decided to go to the big shopping mall MBK.
After MBK we changed our outfit and went to Lumphini park to escape the hot and crowded city. During the sunset we headed to Vertigo Moon Bar and enjoyed an overpriced beer during the sunset. It was beautiful yet crazy at the same time.
After a quick breakfast it was time to leave Koh Phangan. We booked a boat/bus combination ticket at a local office here in Koh Phangan to go to Sarut Thani airport. The boat/bus ticket was 600 baht per person. The boat left exactly on time and 2,5 hours later we set foot on shore. Afterwards there was another 2 hour busride to the airport of Sarut Thani. We booked our very cheap flight (50 euro per person) at Air Asia to fly to Bangkok.
We arrived during the evening and had to take a taxi from the airport to our hotel, Chiang Siam Inn. The taxi was about 300 baht in total, not really expensive for a 45 minute ride. After dropping our stuff we had dinner at mac donalds and took the tuktuk to Khao San Road for a nice drink and a little bit of shopping.
During our last day on the beautiful island of Koh Phangan, we took our motorbike for one last trip to one of the beaches on the east side of the island. The ride itself was also a lot of fun. From the good concrete roads we had to conquer some dirtroads as well. After this holiday Pim definitely deserves a master degree in riding a motorbike if you ask me!
The beach was beautiful, the sea lovely for a little swim and the weather was amazing. After our break at the beach we took the motorbike to a waterfall. A real waterfall indeed, because all the others we went to were dry. But this one was still there, a bit weak, but oh well it was still lovely to see!
During the evening we took the kayak and paddled towards a HUGE raincloud. Luckily, I got bored pretty quickly and after about 20 minutes we were back in our lovely bungalow at Baan Manali watching the cloud became bigger and bigger. We enjoyed a lovely singha while watching this extreme power of the nature. While it came closer we saw and hearded a lot of thunder as well, but the rain never came. It was just really heavy wind and thunder, that's about it.
Not a lot of pictures today! Sometimes one needs a little bit of relaxation during their vacation without holding a camera all the time. But you know me, I still need to capture just a little bit of the everyday live here in Koh Phangan.
Pim went on a very cool diving trip with Sail Rock divers to the sail rock. This time he went alone (if you have read my previous post about his diving trip, you know why I'm not diving nor joining him on the boat, haha). According to Pim, Sail Rock divers is a really professional and good diving company and his diving experience (2 times 1 hour) was amazing at the 'Sail Rock'. I enjoyed a nice coconut oil massage in the mean time and did a little bit of handicraft shopping.
Today we went for a nice hike trip to the so called 'bottle beach' here on Koh Phangan. We parked our motorbike where the road ended, somewhere around Coconut beach if I'm correct. We saw on the map of Koh Phangan that the hiking trip would take us about 1 hour before we would reach 'bottle beach'. Strange name for a tropical beach, huh?
We took 1 litre of water per person with us and started our hiking trip on our vans (Pim) and cheap primark sneakers (myself). We soon discovered why bottle beach is called bottle beach. When you're hiking to this place, you need to follow a track of empty bottles. In the beginning, everything was easy peasy and we really thought it would only take us 1 hour. But after half an hour, our hike became very intense. The track was really hard to follow despite of the empty water bottles. It wasn't actually a track, just a jungle route. We needed to climb as well, which was pretty intense because of my shoes which were very slippery (fail) and the almost vertical climbs. Heavy!
We ran out of water after 1 hour and became really annoyed by that. No sign of bottle beach whatsoever and still those intense climbs up and down the rocks and through the jungle. We even saw some monkeys, who weren't very delighted to see us. I wanted to go back after one hour but decided that the way back would be just as hard as the way to bottle beach. We still had no idea how long it would take us to get there. After two hours into the jungle, I cried because of fear (we were climbing really high and my shoes were so slippery) and the lack of water. But we reached the point of no return an hour ago. After app. 30 more minutes, we finally reached bottle beach. So relieved! It was difficult to enjoy because I was so tired, but after 1,5 litres of water and a good lunch, we swam in the amazingly clear sea and went back by longtailboat (thank goodness). We enjoyed the most amazing sunset I've ever seen and here are the pictures!
Today we moved to another resort. I heard so many great things about the Baan Manali Resort here in Koh Phangan that I really wanted to stay there. The first two nights Baan Manali was already full, therefore we stayed in the other hotel I told you about. But today we could finally move and we're here for the next 4 nights!
After the move we walked around on the private beach and explored some new beaches as well. Koh Phangan is just so pretty! We rented a motorbike again, this time a little bit more expensive (200 baht per day) because of the hills here. We needed a powerfull motorbike. During the evening we had a nice dinner at Nic's restaurant in Haad Rin. Really good food, friendly waiter, just perfect :)
We both enjoy Koh Phangan alot! It's so peacefull here, the roads are good and the weather is really nice! We took our motorbike (150 baht per day) around the island and enjoyed the beach life. I found a cute new bikini in a local store for just 500 baht, cheap! We're still in the Sarikantang resort but we're moving to another resort tomorrow, so stay tuned!
We took the Lomprayah catamaran for 450 baht per person from Koh Tao to Koh Phangan, and so we arrived at our last tropical island before we're heading back to Bangkok and eventually back home. We decided to stay longer in Koh Phangan because it's a bigger island than Koh Tao and there is more to do. We're not the type of persons to sit on the beach all day, we need some entertainment!
We arrived a couple of days after the full moon party, and since it's low season right now it means the island is basically empty. Everyone left after the full moon party and now it's peacefull and quiet here, exactly what we like! Phangan is beautiful, big and has a lot of white sandy beaches!
We had a very active third and last day in Koh Tao. After our breakfast we rented a motorbike and decided to explore the island. It was the second time that we rented a motor bike in Thailand. This time was a little bit more difficult: it was very hard to read the map, no directions along the way and a lot of dirt roads. We ended up pissed off and exhausted. But we did make it to one view point and to two beaches.
