Week 11 & 12 – Thailand (part 5)

Phuket – Khao Sok – Krabi – Koh Tao

Well it’s been a ride the last two weeks folks, let me tell you. I feel like I’ve forgotten how to backpack, as the last two weeks have felt more like a surreal holiday. It’s ok though, because I have a 20 hour journey via bus and ferry to Bangkok today so that will humble me. My time in Thailand is finally coming to an end, having Emily and Anthony out here for 10 days has been the most beautiful end to my time here, they’ve completely spoiled me and maybe even ruined the rest of my trip because I’ve got the taste for wine again. Pricks.

So, I arrived in Khao Sok a few hours after I’d left Phuket, a three hour bus journey through some pretty spectacular views to arrive in the most beautiful national park. I was staying at Chillax Hostel. Most backpackers come here to go on one of the lake tours, so the village does feel a little transitory in nature, but it’s lovely. I turned up at my hostel at about 4pm, checked in by Mooky who runs the hostel and is maybe the best person ever, we really hit it off and she even told me she loved me by the end. On some level I think I loved her too? Anyway, in my dorm room there was only one other person in there, Purav. I don’t really know how much detail to go into on this, but safe to say we spent a pretty incredible week together, and as it stands I’ve decided to fly to Vietnam on my birthday to spend some more time with him. I mean it’s completely mental, but it’s fun and spontaneous, and he makes me laugh a lot. Anyway, within the first few minutes of meeting he’d made a really sarcastic comment so I was hooked off the bat, so I decided to get my big girl pants on and ask him if he wanted to hang out, and we ended up spending the evening together with four people from Belgium he’d met before, drinking beer and playing cards at this little Italian restaurant. It was completely lush. I wish I could remember how to play this game but there were about 18,000 different rules and not all of them translated that well into English. 

The next morning I was up and at ’em for the tour to Cheow Lan Lake and Nam Talu Cave. I was frantically packing my overnight bag outside the dorm room as I didn’t want to wake anyone up, bearing in mind it was only one night and we were able to leave our big rucksacks at the hostel. It was imperative I had all my shit on me, La Roche Posay foam cleanser, TICK. Phillips sonic electric toothbrush, TICK. As always, I didn’t use any of it, I just sat in my own filth for 24 hours. I don’t think I even showered. Actually, I know I didn’t because I don’t have memory loss, not sure why I said that. I’d met Aimee at our hostel that morning aswell, she was 31, from Portsmouth and so so funny. Me, her and Purav hopped on the bus at 9am to begin our journey. This journey was quite kind of chaotic, so I can’t completely remember the order of it all, but the highlights are a haiwaian pizza roll from this random market, a fucking huge spider in the mini van (can’t believe Purav fancied me after my reaction to this, I’ve never clambered across someone so fast. I was basically headbutting him out the way) and the most beautiful longtail journey boat through the lakes. The scenery was honestly breathtaking, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that. The water was so blue, and the rocks so incredibly shaped it was quite literally like something out of Avatar. The lake was actually built in the 80’s to help bring sustainable power to parts of Southern Thailand, but apparently it’s also fucked up the ecosystem around it. The tour guides sadly didn’t tell us anything about the park/lake which is a shame actually, because it’s fascinating. Apparently Khao Sok National Park is older than the Amazon rainforest!! Bonkers. We arrived at our bungalows on the lake after a couple of hours on the boat. It was all a bit chaotic, and the people running the place were kind of shuffling everybody into bungalows, some slept 4 or 5, others 2, it was all quite unclear. Since Purav and I were walking next to each other, the guy ended up putting us in our own bungalow. When I say bungalow, I mean teeny tiny room made of bamboo where the door doesn’t shut properly because the mattress was in the way and the fan only works between 6-10pm (what an inconvenient time to be cool?).  We both were a little taken back at first… sharing a bed and we didn’t know each other. The whole setup was quite surreal. But, easy, breezy, flexible (;) ) and FUCKING SLUTTY (joking) me thought why not?! Next up on the agenda was Nam Talu Cave which I was actually a little nervous about, I don’t love confined spaces and I’d recently watched the film on the Thai football team getting stuck in the cave which had set the tone in my head. A few of us had actually been discussing that film a few hours before which was an interesting topic of conversation considering what we were about to do. It wasn’t anywhere near as scary as I thought it’d be, apart from a few really big spiders and a couple of narrow deep parts, I managed fine. I’d been harping on about how afraid I was, so I actually felt like a bit of a hero by the end of it. I’m an idiot. Sweaty and filthy, we were taken back to the bungalows for a couple of hours of chill time before the night safari on the boats. Just as we got back, the most incredible storm came in, and for the next two hours, Purav and I sat on the little deck of our hut watching the most insane lightning and rain, smoking a joint and drinking Changs. It was definitely one of those moments I’ll never forget, completely surreal, so random and actually pretty incredible. The night safari was cancelled because of the rain which I think we were both a little relieved about because we were having such a nice time. This was it for the rest of the evening and actually the kind of theme for the next week. Beer, joints, (well a few tokes for me so I find everything funny for circa 2 hours) music, and being completely anti-social with everyone but each other. Worst backpackers ever. There were frogs everywhere by our bungalow, and at one point we were both crying laughing figuring out how to get this one frog away who it felt like was staring into our souls. They may be small but they are actually really fucking creepy, and incredibly shiny. Ribbit. 

The next day we were up at 6am for the sunrise safari on the boat. It was beautiful. We didn’t see many animals, except for a couple monitor lizards. We headed back to the bungalows for a delicious banana pancake breakfast, had a couple of hours to chill and sweat in our fan-less room and then we were back on the boat. The schedule had said we were having lunch at a viewpoint on the mainland, this was definitely a con as we all ate tepid fried rice out of a plastic box on a dusty hill by the pier. They were definitely trying to kill time before the tour officially ended at 2pm. I didn’t eat my rice out of fear of salmonella. Purav and I decided to get our own little bungalow for a couple of nights, so we collected our stuff from the hostel and then headed over to our new gaff. It was really lovely, no air con though which was a laugh, but we’d managed to get another fan which was a Godsend. It’s so hard to look sweaty and cute in front of someone you’re trying to impress. That night we went to a cute lil Italian restaurant and I was buzzing to see some red wine on the menu. Devastated to find it tasted like vinegary arse. 

The next day was a moochy one. I pushed back going to Koh Phangan to the full moon party AGAIN. You guys know how excited I was for this so it was a real struggle to push this back another day in lieu of spending another night with someone I quite fancied. It took a good few hours to come to this decision in a coffee shop as I was going back and forth with the ‘shoulds’ but then settled on the fact that I should only be doing exactly what I want to be doing, particularly now. Being selfish is actually so fun?! Purav had organised a cooking class that evening and as we were on a scooter heading there we got caught in the torrential rain. A lovely standout moment, both turning up absolutely sodden. We picked fresh basil (who knew there were so many different types of basil?!), turmeric, bok choy, and other things I cannot remember the name of. We made fresh coconut milk, cut myself twice like the clutz I am in the midsts of scraping out the insides of the coconut. We rolled the rice into bamboo leaves and they rolled these into a bamboo to steam over the fire. Incredible to see (and be a part of, if only once) how much work goes into these dishes. The result was unreal, we ate a chicken coconut curry, a red curry, tofu curry, bak choy, tempura banana flower and probably a couple of other dishes I can’t remember. Us and a few others (who were LUSH) ate all of this out of bamboo under the stars in this garden in the middle of nowhere and it was pretty spectacular. A particularly surreal moment was watching the child of the man who ran the class play with her pet cat. I’m not sure she quite understood that it was an animal because she was throwing it around like it was a rag doll and we were all convinced that the cat was in the midst of an identity crisis…. ‘WHAT AM I?!’. I wrote in my journal “Girl playing with cat like a toy. Incredibly disturbing.” Fat and shattered, we scooted home and watched Milf Manor. Now don’t judge it, but it’s basically a show where Mum’s and their sons go on, and the aim is for the Mums and the other sons to hook up. It’s like Love Island but extra weird and fucked up. Morally, completely hate it. High, and eating chocolate… fucking heaven.

For what was meant to be our final day together, we’d had another place to stay in Khao Sok. This time with aircon so we were feeling pretty fancy. We decided to hop on the bike and just drive around, we found a random Thai place on the side of the road. I had a noodle soup and sweated 75% of it back out which was super cute. We went to somewhere called fish cave, which was a temple in a cave surrounded by a river with shit loads of fish in. We paid 20 baht for fish food and this experience was exactly as random and odd as it sounds. Spent the evening flexing my table tennis skills and drinking margaritas which is basically my idea of pure heaven. After some more deliberating, I decided to sack off the Full Moon party entirely and head back to Krabi (the place I really didn’t like before mega lols) to spend a few more nights with Purav there, and then head to Koh Samui from there to meet Emily and Anthony. A good plan I’d say. I was definitely having serious pangs of guilt for changing my plans for someone else, but when else do you get to be that spontaneous?! That question was definitely directed at myself. 

At risk of being super repetitive, I’m not going to go into huge detail on the next few days. Some things are sacred. JOKING! To be quite honest, it’s partly down to the fact that my laptop fucking broke last night and I’m having to type this on my phone. My thumbs are numb and I’m devastated about my laptop. I guess I’m going to be an internet cafe girly for a while, which is actually giving Carrie Bradshaw vibes so I’m not totally mad at it, I’m just mad at how much it’s going to cost to fix my laptop. Anyway, maybe it’s my karma for showing off about all my massages. Touché universe, touché. So Krabi, such a lush few days. We spent the majority of it promising that tonight was the night we were going to go out and party, but then eating way too much at dinner and deciding bed and Below Deck was probably the best idea. We ate and drank seriously well here. Some incredible Indian food, dipped back into my love of paneer butter masala (big up Al), discovered pineapple rice and fell head over heels, had my first duck curry, a 10/10 Big Mac, finally tried SangSom (Thai Rum) and Soju (a  Korean take on vodka which is so strong but super yummy). 3 days of eating, drinking, smoking and ONLY snogging. A standout moment was sitting on the balcony with the sunset and a joint, alternating playing a song each as our music taste is worlds apart. Bit weird that I’m saying ‘we’ so much, but it makes sense as this part of the trip was with somebody else. So fucking bite me. At risk of sounding like an absolute tuna melt (I miss these soooooo much), spending a week so intensely like that with someone has actually reminded me/taught me quite a lot about myself. I’m not sure I’ve let myself be comfortable with someone like that in a while, so even if that week is all it was, I’ll take alot away (good and bad). It’s also a reminder that fancying someone and it being reciprocated is a VIBE?! Sounds simple, and obvious, but I think it really is that simple sometimes. A.fucking.vibe. Anyway I’ll stop now and unpack that properly with my therapist in my own time. 

Purav and I said our goodbyes and I headed off to meet Emily and Anthony. The timing couldn’t have been better and seeing Em at reception was a beautiful moment. We both sobbed our eyes out and seeing her in Thailand was just so surreal. They let me pick the restaurant for the evening and I mean it when I say I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS GOING TO BE THE BOUJIEST ON THE ISLAND. I was just drawn in by the light wood and dim lighting. Honestly!!! Safe to say the vibes were impeccable and this was all of our favourite meal of the trip. We drank stunning white wine, the most delicious steak tartare (lol) and fish galore. Catching up with family about the last 3 months was just glorious, and well needed. We rolled home via a bar for a final margarita and then slept like a baby in my hotel room. The next day was spent round the pool, followed by a few pints and plates of party food at the local Irish pub to watch the Celtics game for Anthony. Not sure what Emily was thinking but she ordered two of everything and we all felt quite weird about what we’d eaten for the next hour, particularly the tempura prawns, if you can call them that. The Celtics won (hoorah) and it was my choice for how we spent the rest of the evening. MUAY THAI BABY! I’d never been before, it’s such a big thing here and apparently Koh Samui is the place to watch it. What a fun and completely surreal experience. It’s amazing how quick you get used to men beating the shit out of each other, and even low key enjoying it? There were a couple of pretty gross moments, including watching a guy get KO’d and wheeled out the arena, and then another guy dislocated his shoulder and we saw him outside in agony. I had no idea quite how dangerous this sport was, my eyes were opened. Em and I spent the first half wincing and the second absolutely loving it. Introduced Anthony to the 7/11 toasties and he was hooked, obviously.

The next day was another pool day followed by a lovely beach dinner in the Fisherman’s Village. Sat on the beach and ate a platter of fresh seafood with a bottle of white wine. 

It was time to head to Koh Tao the following morning. The boat journey was pretty easy, I sat on the top deck with my earphones in and caught a cute little tan. Em and Anthony had booked us rooms in this lovely little resort which felt like it was in the jungle, and absolute paradise to me. The bed was so comfy and these 4 days were the best I’ve slept, maybe ever. One of the downsides of Koh Tao was that it was hotter than the fiery depths of hell and we all struggled with the heat. Em and I had to keep taking wet flannels out with us just to stop us from dropping dead (see picture below). Anthony didn’t find the heat too bad, safe to say it was a different story for me and Em and I found a new appreciation for the menopause. The aircon also wasn’t that strong in my room in the days so getting ready for the evenings had similar vibes to sitting in a sauna. I did manage to look glowy at all times, which was basically just a mix of sebum and sweat. Our first night in Koh Tao was spent watching the sunset on the beach and then we went for Thai Pizza. I’d heard lots of things about this place called Chu Chu and it has amazing reviews. On reflection, massaman curry probably doesn’t need to go on pizza. 

The next day we hired scooters and had a mooch around the island. We went snorkelling at Shark Bay. It was lovely but the bottom of the ocean kind of looked like a graveyard and it was so shallow. The coral had mostly died thanks to the fucking tourists, including me 🙂 I gave this a go for 10 minutes and gave up, Em also told me about coral poisoning so had a mini freak out about the fact I’d cut my toe. It was fine, obviously. We scooted over to a beach resort and had our 900th Chang of the trip. That night we went to Whitening for dinner, another lovely beach spot. Anthony ate his second massive fish of the day and started to grow fins, I had a lush sea bass and Em had a kebab, but like a chic one. No doner meat in sight. This was a lush evening. As had been the theme of the trip, it got to 9:30 and we were all in a food coma so we rolled ourselves home for an early night. 

I spent the next morning mooching around on my own. I took myself for some breakfast at High The Moon and then for a dip at Banana Rock. Bought myself a cute skirt and top from one of the shops in town, got mugged off on the price as per. I met Emily and Anthony for lunch at The Cove and then Em and I rushed home to get ready for our tattoo and then dinner. We only had 20 minutes to get ready, and to say we were sweaty was an understatement. We were soaked. We got our lovely matching tattoos (my first bamboo tattoo) for Grandma, big up Olive, and then headed to the Gallery for our fancy tasting menu dinner. This was such a cool evening, I’ve never really experienced anything like this, it was very theatrical and was called ‘Trust the chef’ and was a journey through Thailand in food. We ate WELL and surprisingly by the end I didn’t feel like a whale. 

For our final full day together it was Songkran, Thai New Year. We decided to immerse ourselves in the day before heading out for dinner, and I’m so glad we did. It was absolute chaos but in the best way. Before we’d even made it to 995 Duck (an amazing low key restaurant known for amazing duck- it lived up) we were absolutely soaked by all the kids with their water guns. The streets were packed with people (albeit mostly backpackers) in the midst of water fights and it was pretty special. We ate, took our beers to go and headed to the beach through the crowds. There were parties on every corner and the atmosphere was incredible. We found a slightly quieter spot on the beach and had a few aperol spritzes in the shade. Glorious. That evening we went to Haad Tien for a buffet Songkran dinner, ate like little piggies and put the worlds to rights over a couple of bottles of wine. 

We got on the boat back to Koh Samui the next day, Em and I had our earphones in, top deck of the boat, music video vibes. We said our tearful goodbyes and it was back to being on my own again. I’m so grateful for Em and Anthony coming out to see me, such a special week with them and we will all remember it forever. I’ll definitely never forget the humidity, I thought I’d adjusted but fuck me. I spent last night in my hostel in Koh Samui before my big journey to Bangkok today. There were rats above my head in the ceiling last night, I’m well and truly back to reality.

I sat and watched the sunset last night on the beach, pondering on how lucky I am to have such amazing people in my life, and feeling both nervous and excited to be back on this journey on my own again. Can’t believe I’ve been gone for three months, not trying to be depressing but it does make you think that it’s not actually that long… it goes so fast?! Next up is Siem Reap for 10 days for my yoga and meditation retreat. Happy fucking Birthday to me. I love knowing I have quite a while left of this, I wonder if I’ll be ready to come home, right now it feels like I could do this for months and months and months. Currently sitting and looking out at the sea, I’m being picked up in 45 minutes for my mammoth journey to Bangkok. Typically I’d be stressed out about how this journey will pan out, but I’m not even a little bit… Here’s to just going with it.

Until next time,

Lily xx