Hannah’s Thailand Trip

o Head to Khao San Rd and you’ll find lots of bars and stalls, as well as tasty Thai delicacies cooked right in front of you by the many street vendors.

o There’s also an abundance of souvenir shops & massage places.

o Really nice street other side of road to Khao San called Rambuttri Rd- more chilled alternative to Khao San.

Bangkok- Things to do…

Temples

• The grand palace is walking distance from the Khao San Rd area (15-20 mins).

• It’s around 400 THB per person to enter the complex & women must cover their shoulders and arms before entering (i.e. long sleeve cotton top/light-weight cardigan).

• Men mustn’t wear shorts & must cover their ankles.

• If you don’t have the right clothing, you can borrow trousers/tops upon arrival for about 200THB deposit.

• The palace and temple complexes are really beautiful. There’s a real sense of calm and you can easily spend a couple of hours wandering around.

• A trip to the Grand Palace and temples added so much more to our short stay in Bangkok…

• I recommend packing sun cream & water as it can get very hot in the mid afternoon sun (however there is a shop on site). And it goes without saying that cameras are an absolute MUST…

• Afterwards, you can walk along to the river, where you’ll find lots of market stalls & street vendors.

The Bicycle Tour

During our stay in Bangkok, we took part on a cycling tour around the city- a fantastic way of seeing the different sides of Bangkok..

We met with our 3 cycling guides and a group of other travellers before kick-starting our tour with a trip through Chinatown.

We cycled through fresh food markets & weaved our way through winding streets where locals prepared food & greeted us with a smile. We felt really privilege to get a glimpse in to this local way of life!

We visited temples and a local school and watched as the children were assembled for lessons outside.

Bicycle Tour

After a boat ride across the river, we cycled through rural plantations and over scenic bridges- a side of Bangkok we’d never have seen otherwise.

We ate a traditional lunch of delicious fried rice & vegetables followed by some refreshing pineapple in a hidden riverside café shack. Before heading back over the river and cycling back to Chinatown.

A really amazing day!

In the afternoon, we said goodbye to Bangkok & took the overnight sleeper train to Surat Thani.

The 2nd Class beds were more comfortable than I’d expected & there was hot food available from the restaurant carriage on-board.

It was great to see a mix of western travellers & locals on board! The curtains also meant that the beds were quite private.

We arrived at around 7am and travelled by mini-bus (a couple of hours) with a few other travellers to the dock at Lake Racha Praba to catch the boat to the floating raft houses.

The boat ride was wonderfully scenic . As we glided along the glassy lake between limestone ricks, it was hard to believe that we’d been in Bangkok a few hours earlier.

Sleeper Train-> Surat Thani->Dock

Floating Raft Houses

The raft houses sat upon the tranquil lake; a very serene setting. When the boat’s engine stopped, only the sound of the surrounding jungle could be heard.

Our room had towels & a fan that came on at around 6pm until around 11pm when generator stopped.

We sunbathed on the jetty with a good book before plunging into the lake & taking a canoe out to the archipelago of limestone islands.

Lunch was good & catered for veggies (curry, tofu, rice, vegetables, omelette)

Though the mozzies didn’t really bother us too much, I’d recommended bringing insect repellent just to be safe…

Our Accommodation

In the afternoon, we went on a guided walk through the forest & the guide told us about all the flora and fauna..

There was a little uphill walking, but nothing too strenuous, but insect repellent and water are a must!

We took a bamboo raft to some limestone caves & learned about the formation of the caves.

Guided walk

We met the guide at 7am (just in time to see the morning mist rise above the limestone mountains) & took longtail boat around the surrounding islands.

We turned the engine off and floated silently as we watched monkeys swinging in the trees above.

We arrived back at the raft houses at around 8am and- after coffee and breakfast- we lounged around and swam in the lake until 10am when we journeyed back to the main dock by longtail boat.

Day 2 at the Floating Raft Houses

Khao Sok Jungle Lodge• After a couple of

hours drive, we arrived at our lodge in the jungle of Khao Sok National Park.

• Our spacious room had a big bed with a mosquito net, a fan to keep the room cool, a nice bathroom which looked out onto the jungle and a fantastic balcony with a view of the river.

Elephant RideLater in the afternoon, we drove a short way with our guide to begin our elephant ride.

Once we’d hopped on, we rode along a pathway with our mahout; through the green jungle and rivers before arriving at some small water falls.

After our mahout had finished cooling the elephant down with splashes of refreshing water, we made our way back and rewarded our elephant with a bundle of bananas.

Transfer: Khao Sok to Ko Hai

We left our Khao Sok jungle lodge at around 8:30am and after 2 or 3 hours drive and an hour long boat ride, we arrived on Ko Hai island.

The weather was a little stormy as we hopped off the boat and waded through the water, but we were greeted with a very warm welcome.

Ko Hai• This was another favourite

destination on our Thailand holiday.

• Our cottage was set back on the second row of huts and our room comprised of a bed with a mosquito net, a wardrobe, a nice outside bathroom/shower & porch with two deckchairs.

• We were just footsteps from the shore.

• We walked all along the beach which seemed generally quite quiet during our time there.

We departed from Ko Hai at around 9:30am and arrived at Pak Meng pier about an hour later

We then had a transfer from the pier to Krabi (which took roughly 2 hours)

From there, it was only a short boat ride to the next destination on our Thailand trip, the hidden Railay Bay.

Ko Hai-> Pak Meng Pier -> Trang->Railay Bay

Things to do…

• Go canoeing• Walk to other side of

Railay to another beach.• Get a massage• Go snorkelling • Climb to the viewpoint• Go on boat trips to

nearby islands• Relax by the pool

Time to say goodbye!

On the last day of our Thialand holiday, we got a longtail boat back over to the Krabi port.There are lots of places to sit and have a drink as well as many souvenir shops and stalls.

At the end of an amazing Thailand travel experience, we caught an internal flight back to Bangkok (which took less than an hour) and then caught our flight back to Heathrow.