Koh Samui, Krabi and Ao Nang

Koh Samui

After a ferry ride and minivan from Koh Tao, we arrived in Koh Samui around lunchtime and checked in to our hotel. This time, it was Treehouse Bungalows on Silent Beach. We had a hippie bungalow about 5m from the beach with a hammock outside - very relaxing and you could hear the sea when you woke up in the morning!

We shared a chicken and cashew nut stir fry (quite different to the Chinese takeaway version) and read our books (and slept) on the hammock, also booking some onward hotels and buses.

When we started to get hungry again, we wandered down the beach and into the town to find a restaurant for dinner. There wasn't really anything which took our fancy or anything much better than what we could get at the hotel (which we later read on TripAdvisor as 'one of the best restaurants on the island') so went back to have dinner there. We played some cards and had a few beers and then wandered to bed.

Our second day we had breakfast in the hotel with the plan to walk to the Fisherman's Village.

Within 2 minutes, we smelt smoke and discovered a forest fire fairly close to our hotel, which local firemen were trying to put out with a small hose and only a t-shirt for PPE. Dan very nearly stepped on a snake escaping his burning home.

We walked down a main road which seemed to go on for miles and were then met by the fancier hotels where you pay 4x the cost of our little bungalow. They also had boujee restaurants which a backpackers budget could not afford. One hidden gem that we stumbled across was a lovely coconut ice cream man amongst a couple of stalls who enticed us with a promise of unlimited toppings. We were quick to snap one off him which we ate on the beach. We also stopped of at a little cafe to share probably the hottest papaya salad we've had ever, and that was only 2 out of 5 chillis (god knows what the 5 chilli one would have been like, which the waitress said she would order)!

We wandered back to watch the sunset on the beach and got to the bar for the end of happy hour for a passionfruit mojito and raspberry mojito. We played cards and ate dinner, very relaxed by our stay on Koh Samui. It was not quite what we had both expected as it was much quieter, probably due to Covid as many of the restaurants and hotels seemed closed. Maybe if we had stayed in a different part of the island it would have been busier.

The following morning, after waking to the sound of the sea, we got our bags packed and had banana rice pudding for breakfast each. We were picked up in a taxi to get us to the ferry port and after a 2 hour delay, boarded ready for our journey to Krabi town.

Krabi

We had heard mixed things about Krabi town but were pleasantly surprised by the place. There seemed to be beautiful rock formations everywhere and the town was fairly busy.

After checking in, we decided on a night market for dinner and shared fishcakes, sweet and sour fish and pad see ew (not our favourite meal but the fishcakes were delicious). Lauryn also got (yet another) mango sticky rice for the way home.

The next morning was a very special day... another complete trip round the sun for Dan. For his birthday breakfast, the man requested a fry up so we attempted the best that Krabi town had to offer. Which was mostly delicious (apart from the hotdog), although not very authentic.

Our mission for the day was the Tiger Cave Temple with a mighty 1,200 steps to the top. Despite a health screening before being allowed to go up, we still underestimated the task. Dan's remark of 'we are a quarter of the way up' and us both feeling dead was little encouragement. The views at the top were well worth the climb, however, neither of us would rush to do it again and we should have started much earlier! The top of the temple held a large buddha, stunning views and a man from Bricket Wood who we befriended in our mutual exhaustion. He had recently completed a 5-month trip around Southeast Asia and Australia so we exchanged stories and he gave us recommendations for our future stops.

Our descent was much faster than the way up and we were refreshed by passionfruit sodas at the bottom. After a rest, we explored the caves and woods surrounding the temple steps which were almost as impressive as the temple itself. Monks lived in this area and we saw them going about their chores whilst exploring the caves too - it still didn't compare to Poole's Cavern mind! The tiger cave temple (where a monk apparently saw a tiger in the 80s) was a little underwhelming, with the other sites seeming much more impressive.

After returning back to the hotel for Facetime calls, we went out in the search of tea and birthday cake and upmarket coffee shop Much&Mellow provided the goods. Although not Yorkshire, the tea on offer was chrysanthemum and pandan (Lauryn loved it, Dan thought it was strange) alongside a slice of red velvet. We then sat by the river with a beer and canned cocktail whilst watching the sunset.

As we were in Krabi on a Friday, the weekend night market was on, which had a great buzz as there was live acts on and lots of food. We shared a couple of dishes from a Japanese food van and watched the acts perform, our favourite being an Elvis impersonator who went straight from Elvis classics into the Arctic Monkeys - thank you very much.

Brunch the following morning at Much&Mellow was two ends of the spectrum, a chia pudding bowl for Lauryn and another fry up for Dan - the previous days one only making the cravings worse.

A cheap 40 minute taxi took us to our stop for the next two nights: Ao Nang.

Ao Nang

After checking into out hostel we took a stroll down the main promenade to Ao Nang beach. Our plan was to walk the 'Monkey Trail' over the headland, which was swiftly abandoned. Within the first 20 metres we had seen the monkeys (macaques) steal some fruit from someone, lash out at someone innocently walking past and climb onto a lady's back to search through her bag. Not our idea of a relaxing afternoon. New fear: macaques.

We took a walk along Ao Nang's lengthy strip of restaurants and bars and can only describe it as like Blackpool, but with no fish and chips, no arcades, no donkeys and no tower. Make what you will of that.

Google reviews did come up with a nice veggie Indian restaurant (Ao Nang is very popular with Indian tourists).

The next day we wanted to find somewhere cheap for breakfast among the tourist trap prices - and found a noodle soup stand that does one for 5o baht, just over £1.

We visited Railay, a small peninsula from Ao Nang which is only accessible by 'traditional' longtail boat (small wooden boat with a outboard prop at the end of a long shaft and petrol engine on a pivot). It was 10 minutes on the longtail from Ao Nang to and we were dropped on the sand at Railay.

The landscape is the main attraction, with huge limestone karsts sticking up from the beach. We spent a couple of hours reading books on the beach and looking around the small town but there wasn't a huge amount. It was incredibly beautiful though.

For dinner that evening we had a red curry and green curry between us - probably too much curry for one meal. The place was absolutely packed and for good reason.

Our last morning we Ao Nang, we went to the other branch of Much & Mellow, this time Dan had the Chia pudding bowl and Lauryn had a beef massaman for breakfast, which made the Thai waitress very pleased and she said how Thais love a curry for breakfast. She was even happier when the bowl went back to the kitchen spotless.

After breakfast we were picked up from the hostel by a minivan heading to Koh Lanta, where we were spending the next 6 nights!