koh tao + koh phanghan.

    

We decided to leave the hustle and bustle of Bangkok to enjoy the legendary Thailand beaches. Unfortunately we had heard that it was rainy season and that most beaches were closed on the west side of Thailand. That turned out to not be entirely true but we booked a bus/ferry to Koh Tao in hopes to catch the sunshine. There are 3 main islands on the east coast side - Koh Samui, Koh Phanghan and Koh Tao. Koh Tao is by far the least developed of the three. Koh Samui is the largest and most traveled and we actually ended up canceling our trip there because we heard from numerous people that it is too touristy. Additionally, that gave us a whole week in Koh Tao which became our little home. And lastly there is Koh Phaghan is known for the "epic" Full Moon Party...more to come later about that one. 

Koh Tao is very undeveloped with its long stretched beaches and mountainous jungles that still appear to be in tact with minimal invasion. It's known for its many coves that you can only get to by water taxi. The island is inhabited by local Thais, a large population of Burmese, a plethora of backpackers and expats that have decided to call Koh Tao home most of who work at one of the local diving companies. The diving in Koh Tao is supposed to be the best in the area and one of the cheapest places to get your certification as well. This place will be a different world in 10 years. You can already tell with the ongoing construction everywhere. We knew we found this gem right at the right time and decided we were going to take full advantage of it. 

We arrived at In Touch Resort located in the outskirts of Sairree Beach (the main town of Koh Tao). Christina and I had our own little villa just steps away from the beach. For starters, this was heaven. To have our own room and be able to unpack and set up camp was a real treat. We threw on our swimsuits and headed straight to the hotel bar perched right on the water front. We ordered mojitos and within minutes had already asked if we could stay an extra day extending our stay from 3 nights to 4. In typical Claire and Christina style, we sat there reading blogs and TripAdvisor on the go to places to eat on the island. Due to the many expats on the islands, the food options are endless. We decided on Portobello Bistro where we enjoyed a platter of grilled meats and tzatziki and a margarita pizza.

The next day we lounged at the beach and made plans to get diving certified for the next 3 days. We dined at a tapas bar that we loved so much we went back 3 more times. The staff knew us by the end of the trip. From zucchini fritters to a quinoa salad with manchego and beets to a slow cooked lamb paired with tzatziki. We almost sampled the whole menu over the week. Everything was amazing. It also turned out that the chef/owner was also an instructor at Big Blue Diving (where we got certified) so we got to know him and raved to him about how we were probably his #1 foodie fans. For any of you who plan to visit Koh Tao the place is called Kusto. 

The following morning we began our diving classes. It was a bit of an awakening to have to be somewhere at 8 am to sit in a classroom. To be honest all we wanted to do was hang on the beach all day. We watched videos all morning and then got in the pool in that afternoon. The first day was pretty basic training. That night we ate at Sairree Beach Cottage and drank Tiki Treats (rum, pineapple, coconut milk and mangos) with barbecue skewers. 

The next day we spent the morning finishing our classroom diving lessons and took a written test that was part of the certification process (and passed!). We headed out on the water that afternoon. We did a total of 4 dives over the next 2 days that were amazing. It is a different world down there that I don't think you truly can understand until your diving feet away from beautiful coral and thousands of fish. Unfortunately we didn't find the whale shark that inhabits the waters. The night we got certified we celebrated at the bar of Big Blue diving with our instructor, Alex, and the other instructors and students from the past 3 days. They put together a video of us under water which was pretty cool. We made our way down the beach to a few more clubs and had so much fun that I lost my shoes (or someone stole them - still unclear). To my defense you do have to take your shoes off everywhere you go and put them at the front of the restaurant. 

The next day we moved to a new hotel. We decided to stay somewhere cheaper since we extended our stay and the Seaview Hotel seemed like our best option. While we had some of the best views from our porch, the beds were pretty brutal. For the next few nights, Christina and I shared a rock hard bed that whenever you moved you could feel each spring piercing into your back. Our first night there we went back to Kusto and drank a bottle of wine to help ease into it. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep to well there but at least we had the beaches all day to nap. 

    View from Seaview Hotel

For the next few days we enjoyed the beautiful beaches of Koh Tao. As I mentioned before, they are known for their many coves all throughout the island. One day we hired a taxi boat to take us to one. We had heard there was a supposed to be a cool bar near by. We hiked around snd discovered a tree house/pirate shack set up in a little cove. It was perfectly isolated with all kinds of nooks and lofts that overlooked the water. We sipped on some beers and fresh coconut for awhile taking it all in. 

We were pretty bummed to leave Koh Tao. It became our little home for the week. We particularly were a bit skeptical to be heading to our next destination that we had heard a lot of mixed reviews on...Koh Phanghan. From previous backpacking trips, I had heard that the Full Moon Party on Koh Phanghan was the best party in the world and must do for world travelers. Although after coming through SE Asia this time around, we heard from numerous that is just a bunch of backpackers partying on a trashy/touristy beach. We were imagining Panama City Spring Break. But never the less, we were a few hour ferry ride away and felt we had to see it with our own eyes. 

Koh Phanghan was interesting the minute we got off the ferry. We were shuffled to a taxi line where we were told to get on the back of a truck with 6 other fellow back packers. The taxi driver sped up and down hills like a mad man. It felt as if he forgot that there were 8 people on the back of his truck with very little holding them in. We finally made it to our hotel that evening and decided to walk around the town of Haad Rin (where the Full Moon Party takes place). The whole town is centered around the party. Besides the quiet beach at our hotel, it doesn't appear there is much else to do around there. 

The following night was the night of the party. We met up with 2 girls from New Orleans one of which went to school with Stina at UGA. We gathered loads of drinking supplies and headed out to grab dinner. We came back to our room to make a new "bucket" (that's what they drink there - buckets you use to use to make sandcastles now filled with copious amounts of your choice of liquor and chaser). Being the typical foodies/cocktail connoisseurs we are - we decided to make ours with vodka, coconut milk, pineapple juice and lime soda water. We were greeted at our room by the furious hotel owner yelling at us for allowing the 2 girls to stay in the room and saying that we needed to pay him. Even though they never mentioned a limit of people in the room when we checked in - I fought with him for a good five minutes explaining that we were never notified of this and that he just made up a price we had to pay for them. But we paid it because he said he would kick us out if we didn't. 

With full buckets, we made our way down to the beach. Thousands of people - some of who were so drunk they could barely stand at 11 pm (the party is supposed to last until sunrise). Another big attraction is the fire. People jump rope through massive fire ropes. I didn't see one person make it out with out getting burned. It's a wild place - basically seems like a no rules party except apparently there are many undercover cops that will threaten to take you to jail unless you pay them off even for not having your passport on you. We decided to make our way up to Mellow Mountain that overlooks the party and hung out there most of the night enjoying their delicious milkshakes. We only made it until 4 am but I think that was enough for me to see it all. All I can say is if your thinking of going to Full Moon Party skip it. 

    koh phanghan beach day

We had a recovery day on the beach the next day and then headed back to Bangkok.

bangkok II

We went back to Bangkok mostly as a layover point to head to Siem Reap. We got back from a long day of travel from Koh Phanghan and were starving and just had to return to our favorite fried curry crab spot - . We didn't even speak to each other the whole meal we enjoyed it so much. 

The next day we did a cooking class. Meeting at the local Silom market, we were introduced to all different kinds of vegetables and herbs. We made our way to the kitchen and started cooking. This will be a short post mostly of pictures of what we made. 

silom market.

   cooking school.

   making coconut cream.

   

    tom yum kung.

    pad thai.

    thai chicken salad.

    green curry.

    mango sticky rice.

From Bangkok the next day, we made our way to Siem Reap by bus. We had read numerous blogs that crossing the border was a nightmare filled with scams by the bus driver and people on the street. Cambodia blog post coming up to find out if we made it! 

XO

CB

bangkok.

I'm not typically someone that is scared of flying but our flight to Bangkok was pretty brutal. A 6 hour flight on Air Asia whose name really should be Air Bus (I think this airline is worse than Ryan Air). Every time we hit turbulence I couldn't help but think about the fact that one of their airplanes crashed a few years back. After a lot sweating, yoga breathing, meditation and praying on Christina's part...we made it to good old Bangkok. 

We settled into our hostel where our room was located on the top floor and I had the pleasure of having the highest bed on that top floor. Heat rises for those of you that don't remember and boy did it. 

We read about a good restaurant that was near by and decided to walk there for dinner. Walking through the streets of Bangkok made me realize that now we are in the real Asia. I think the entire time we were in Japan, I probably saw 5-10 homeless people. Walking the streets of Bangkok was drastically different. One second you are smelling the most amazing food - fresh cilantro, grilled meats and chili sauces as you pass a popular food stand. Then the next few feet comes exhaust from the hundreds of motorbikes and rotting food on the side walk. The next street is filled with women in groups, sitting in a stadium seating waiting for men to come by and pick them up (I swear this trip is going to turn me into a feminist). The next block where our restaurant is located is suddenly quite and so completely different from the hustle and bustle you were just in before. Somtum Der was written up on some website and supposed to have the most delicious Thai cuisine. We were forewarned to take it easy on the spice level but we were still not prepared for the level of spicy that medium means in Thailand. We ordered a roasted duck with cellophane noodles and there were so many red chilis in every bite that we couldn't even eat it. We quickly asked the waiter to reduce the spice in the other dishes and were good to go. We were able to finish and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our meal.

Based on recommendation and from watching the Hangover II, we knew we had to hit up a rooftop bar. We were told to go to Sky Bar but upon further reading we decided to go to Moon Bar instead as it seemed it wouldn't be as crowded. We were escorted by probably 10 people to different floors/sections until we finally reached the rooftop. We grabbed a seat right in front of the glass that probably came up to my waist - totes wouldn't fly in the US. I tried to ignore my fear of man made heights as we sipped in our Mojitos taking in the views of Bangkok.

The following morning we woke up super early to see the temples before the crowds and the heat set in. For anyone traveling through SE Asia - this is the way to go. Wake up early and take a nap later if you need to. We arrived at Wat Pho aka the Reclining Buddha. Not only was the over 100 foot relaxed all gold (or bronzed - I dunno) Buddha pretty amazing but just the intricate details of every single little part of the temple were what blew my mind. Every pattern was so beautiful and detailed. A little tip we failed to remember - don't wear shorts and tank tops (despite the fact that it is 100 degrees outside) to the temples. As we walked in to see the Reclining Buddha we were quickly ushered out of the line where a Thai lady whipped out the brightest Kelly green robes and wrapped them around us so tightly to make sure not a single piece of skin was showing. 

We then walked next door to the Grand Palace - home of the Thai royal family. Once again, we were embarrassingly ushered aside and sent to a room to get proper attire. We were dressed in long wrap skirts and oversized button down oxfords. 

After wondering around and navigating the hundred different tour groups and told it would be over $20 entrance fee we decided to opt out of the tour. I'm sure it would have been beautiful but a girl has to save some money for vino. 

We road our first tuk tuk home from there. Another thing that would 100% not fly in America. The driver plopped us in the back with the smallest rail to hold onto and then speed off weaving in and out of the traffic, taking turns without even slowing down. It a blast and way faster than a  taxi. Later that day we had another tuk tuk pick us up. We patted ourselves on the back for our bargaining skills to only pay 50 baht (a little more than a dollar) to take us to Koh San road. We were going to have to make one stop along the way which we knew was standard for tuk tuks. Stores pay them to drop customers off and take a look around their store. We were prepared for the tuk tuks to do it and thought what the hell. We were dropped off into what seemed to be a variety of fabrics and clothes imported from India and would have been laughable for 2 backpackers to be tramping around in. But the place was air conditioned and we entertained the staff and wondered around for a few minutes. We politely exited only to find that our tuk tuk driver left us stranded - after that we were over the tuk tuks. That afternoon we wondered over to Koh San road know as the backpacker hang out spot in Bangkok. The real reason we headed to the area was a hidden gem of a street food place that was supposed to be one of the best. Nestled behind a series of clothing stands, there is a little alley that you walk through that opens up to a larger area of tables and chairs and surrounded by all kinds of stewing meats, grilled skewers and honey soaked teas. We sit down and point at a few things and the waiters and waitresses just seem to laugh at us. Yet a hot bowl of beef, noodle soup makes it to our table and we chowed down. We then ordered some skewers and chicken curry with rice. All of it was unbelievable and the whole meal costed $5! We wondered around Koh San road after stopping at the stalls selling fake ray bans and electronics that were probably stolen. 

koh san road.

We decided to end our day with a nice Thai massage. The first couple massage I have ever had would be with Christina laying right next to me as two ladies crawl on top of us yanking our limbs in different directions. It was amazing and painful all at the same time but only $12!

That night we went to a Bangkok legend called Somboon Seafood. Known for their curry fried crab - this place started out as a food stall and has expanded to be a local chain with 5 restaurants throughout Bangkok. There happened to be one walking distance from our hostel and we decided to check out ordering one medium curry fried crab and prawns with garlic. The curry fried crab was unreal - the picture below is not going to do it justice.

We headed back to our hostel with our minds set that we would go out. We started talking to some of the other people hanging around and made a plan to go to back to Koh San road - if you remember this is the backpackers haven for going out. Christina and I downed a bucket of gin and tonic - that's all they serve their cocktails in here. A bucket that you use to build sand castles with now filled with a small bottle of gin and can of tonic water. We quickly had a crew of about 15 people - including people from Dubai, Norway, England, and the US - that stuck together searching for some bar that some other friends were at. We hung out in the street for a little and for some unknown reason to me now everyone decided to eat fried scorpion. I took a little bite of one and may have forced Christina to do it too - I must say it tasted more like the cartilage of a soft shell crab (not nearly as bad as I thought it would be) but don't worry that will be my last time trying that. Koh San road was pretty crazy. Bars and streets filled to the brim with loads and loads of backpackers. 

I woke up the next day with a pounding headache and on a mission to get a yogurt parfait. There are random things I miss from home and yogurt parfaits are way high on that list. We found Eatdustry that is known for their coffee and said to have yogurt parfaits so we dragged ourselves out of bed and took a 40 min cab there. One thing we hadn't yet realized is how incredibly huge Bangkok is. On a map something appears close but with traffic it takes forever to get anywhere. We made it to find that we were the only people who seemed to want a yogurt parfait that day but the restaurant was sooo cute.

The rest of that day we wondered around Bangkok taking more 30-40 minute cabs in search of a Sony store to get Christina's camera fixed. That afternoon we felt we should do one more thing to see Bangkok and decided to hop on one of the ferries and take it towards where we were planning to have dinner that night. Well...the first ferry we got on only went from either side of the river. The second one we got on went in the wrong direction. A little grossed out by the state of the river and ferry, we decided to hop in a cab and head to dinner.

We dined at a well known restaurant called Krua Apsorn that apparently the royal family likes to eat. Once again the food was amazing. A very casual setting and packed with locals is always a good sign anywhere. We had another curry crab that night that was amazing and actually very different from the one we had the night before. Along with that we had a soup with the most melt in your mouth shrimp and pad Thai. We really have been blown away by the food in Bangkok - it definitely is my favorite part of the city.

We made it back to our hostel early that night ready to get a good night sleep and wake up early for our 6 am bus/ferry to Koh Tao. Our room was quiet and dark until 11 PM when 3 girls came in and decided to just turn the lights on and keep them on until I passive aggressively turned them off 2 hours later. Oh the joys of back packing. Thankfully waiting for us in Koh Tao would be a little romantic villa just for the 2 of us. 

We woke up bright and early and started our 8 hour journey to Koh Tao where we would fall in love with one of the most beautiful places we had ever been. Stay tuned for a Koh Tao post....we are on a ferry headed to Koh Phangnan for the Full Moon Party right now. Wish us luck! We are little worried we might be too old for all this partying. And don't worry Meme we have made a promise to stick to each other even when we have to go to the bathroom.

KISSES!!

CB

Post written on 6.1.15