We would first like to apologise for the delay in posting,we have been mega busy and have been slacking a lot!
As our time in Malaysia came to an end we looked northwards to the most spoken about, most documented, and most touristy country in SE Asia, Thailand. As we boarded the ferry at Langkawi for the short hop to Koh Lipe we knew not what to expect from the little speck in the Andaman Sea nor the country it belonged to. However, once we arrived with a few spits of rain coming down, we still couldn’t believe the beauty of the white sand beaches and the quaint nature of the one street island. Indeed, on Koh Lipe you can start the day off on sunrise beach wqtching the sun emerge, then have a relaxing day reading a book and swimming before heading through the solitary street on the island to get a lovely dinner befote arriving at sunset to see the sun finally go down. The beauty of Koh Lipe was vastly apparent even just from the day we spent there, however it was more just like a stop over before really going north into the main Thai Andaman Islands, but in hind sight we do perhaps wish we spent some more time there.
The next morning we woke up and went down to the beach to board the ferry to Koh Lanta. Whilst we ate our toasties on the sand we saw a few gorgeous speed boats arrive ashore, little did we know that our ride had landed. We knew the transfer was slightly more expensive than other ferries we had taken but I had just assumed it was the distance and did not think of the fact that we had booked what was essentially our own 4 engined speedboat. Never in my life have I felt more like James Bond than bombing it at 90mph through the Thai islands on a speedboat!
Thailand has about 1,430 islands with the vast majority of them and most of the famous ones being on the west side of the Malay peninsular, places like Phuket, Koh Phi Phi and Krabi. Koh Lanta is one of the largest however one of the quieter ones, so thus fitted us perfectly for a few days relaxing on the beach. Indeed Koh Lanta turned ojt to probably be our favourite, cedtainly on the west coast. We stayed on Phra Ae (Long Beach) and were in this lovely bungalow just a minjte from the beach itself. Lined with cute restaurants and cafes as well as a few cool bars, the beach was perfect, more rugged than Koh Lipe’s but just as gorgeous. Sunsets there were incredible and illuminated the sky as we overlooked the tourist hoards of Koh Phi Phi, its fair to say we felt quite smug! The final day in Koh Lanta we did a trip of the island after finally peeling ourselves away from the beach. We managed to see the vast contrst between the rocky south and the flat north, as well as the old town, with its houses on stilts perching in the sea.
Sadly our time in Koh Lanta had come to a close however and we headed to the tourist mecca of Ao Nang. Its fair to say that when we first arrived in the town we werent impressed. McDonalds, Starbucks, and millions of touts all reminded us of how blissfully peaceful Koh Lanta had been, but we were determined to not judge the place on a first glance. The first day we were there we hopped aboard a longtail boat and got a lift to Railay beach, one of the poster boys of Thai tourism, however the natural beauty of the area could not be mistaken. Towering karst cliffs stood guard over the cowering beach as the boats ferried people on to the sand, as we slapped the sunscreen on I sat there admiring the pure marvel of the place almost forgetting about the sheer amount of people surrounding us. In fact we liked Railay so much we decided to repeat the visit again the next day and the morning rains had scared most of the hoardes away so we were gifted with a relatively quite and relaxed beach. This was until a tropical storm moved in and we needed to essentially evacuate in to the long tail boat before becoming stuck there overnight! On the final day in Ao Nang we boarded a tour to Koh Hong and the islands surrounding it. Although the area is a National Park, the amount of boat loads of people we saw would fool anyone into thinking it was a city beach. Despite this, a similarly to Railay, the natural beauty of the area couldnt be disputed, it was stunning, and our guides did a relatively good job in getting us around before the main hoardes arrived.
The next day our time on the west coast and the Andaman Sea had come to a close so we headed to the full moon island of Koh Phangan. A joint bus and boat ride took us a miserable 10 hours however as we arrived at the nice little backpacker resort we had booked in to we felt a bit more relaxed. Koh Phangan is the party capital of the world for a night every time the moon reches it maximum size and 30,000 people arrive en masse to Haad Rin beach. However, the Koh Phangan we saw was very different, as wehn the masses leave after a night of debauchery, the island chills out and gets on with its meandering day to day life. The first day we were there we managed to take a tour round the island and expereince the beautiful amount of quite, hidden beaches that are essentially ignored. The second day, we simply relaxed and did a bit of admin work by the pool. Not a bad life sometimes.
Koh Phangan was nice but it didnt really blow us away, which is why, when we took the ferry to Koh Tao after deciding to sign up for our PADI certification course, we were thrilled to be back to doing something. Koh Tao is a stunning island, a lovely small size, bliss beaches, and a fascinating topography were the backdrop to some of the best 4 days ever. The first day we met with our instructors, Luke and Fiona, and then with our classmates and completed the theory. Boring though it was, putting our mind to something for the first time in months was actually quite a nice feeling. The second day was the pool training day, learning all the basic skills in order to equip us for what to do in case of emergencies at the ocean bed. The third and fourth day were the actual dives and we managed to hit the max depth of 18m with ease and discover the beauty surrounding the island. We can now safely say we are PADI open water divers and a massive thank you to Luke and Fiona and Crystal dive. What a way to end our time on the islands.
2 Degrees of Travel 
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