Company: Jana and Martin

Planned route: Tallinn-Helsinki-Bangkok-Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville-Phnom Penh-Bangkok-Phuket-Phi Phi-Krabi-Bangkok-Helsinki-Tallinn

Our journey began on the afternoon of the 4^th of April with a trip to the Tallinn Airport where we flew to Helsinki with Finncom Airlines. There we had to wait about 2 hours for our direct flight to Bangkok with Finnair. It was night time flight and we even managed to witness a severe thunder storm which shook the plane quite hard. At about 10 am we happily landed in the Bangkok airport. As we had chosen Cambodia as our first destination we had to wait about 5 hours in the Bangkok airport for our connection flight. Then we took the Air Asia to the capital of Cambodia- Phom Penh. Read more about our adventures to Cambodia from my Cambodia trip section. 

At 3pm 9^th of April our Air Asia flight took off towards Phuket. Phuket is an island located in the southern part of Thailand which is famous for its lively night life and gorgeous beaches. In the Phuket airport a mini van was waiting for us to take us to our hotel located in Patong Beach. We could see a beautiful view to the Patong Beach from our hotel window, but I must say that after seeing the snow- white sand covered beaches in Cambodia it did not leave a very strong impression. The sand was rather dirty and there were a lot of beach chairs which implied that there are a lot of people, the water was rather muddy and so on. From the Cambodian restaurant Jana had caught a stomach problem that just would let her leave the bed. So in the evening I took a walk around the city on my own to see the night life that is going on in Patong and then went back to hotel to enjoy a nice night sleep.  

The next morning we rented a scooter and headed down south by the coast. We visited both Karon Beach and also Kata Beach where we went swimming. Then we headed back by the coast and went to a local restaurant to enjoy Thai cuisine. After lunch we decided to go on a Safari tour which meant that we were taken to a park on the other end of the island, where we had the chance to ride with a buffalo and an elephant, were shown how rise is grown and also how gum is made out of gum tree, a Thai boxing performance and an elephant show where an elephant gave my a stomach massage with his foot. Then also trained monkeys gave us a show and then we were taken on a canoe trip on a local river. After all of this we were taken back to our hotel and as we were completely exhausted just fell into bed.

Another adventure was waiting for us the next morning as a taxi took us to the other end of the island to the harbor where a ship took us to the Phi Phi Island. There are two Phi Phi islands, the larger one is Phi Phi Don which also has houses and hotels and the other one is Phi Phi Leh, which is an untouched cliff island with a breathtaking picturesque lagoon. The famous movie “The Beach” was also filmed on that island. As soon as we got off the ship we were surrounded by a lot of different people who tried to offer us to go to their hotel. In the end we chose a rather decent hotel just in the middle of the island (about 100 meters to the beach on both sides of the islands). In the evening we just took a walk around the island enjoyed local cuisine and spent late hours in the local beach bar listening to local music.

The next morning a booked tour to visit Phi Phi Leh and other surrounding islands was waiting for us. It turned out to be an extremely pleasant day when we could work on our tan on the upper deck of the speedboat while travelling between the islands. At Phi Phi Leh each couple was given a canoe so we could look around between the cliffs on our own and also go snorkeling. As you could see in the movie “The Beach” it really was one of the most amazing places in the world. Soon we headed off to other islands; one of them was Monkey Island where we also went canoeing. All of the palm trees by the beach were filled with monkeys who did not seem to be afraid of people and kept looking at us. Then we went on to another island which name I unfortunately do not remember anymore, but there we were given a Thai cuisine lunch on the beach with fresh fruit and were given free time to go snorkeling and swimming. On our way back, we went by Shark Point where one could see real sharks while snorkeling. Unluckily I did not see one but one of our travel companion said that he had. Allegedly those sharks do not bite.

According to our agenda we were supposed to spend the next day also on the Phi Phi island but as there was not much more to see on the island and we were craving for new adventures, we decided to go and visit the near by Lanta Island instead. When you compare Lanta to Phi Phi it was very big as if you would measure it from the longest side the island is 100 kilometers long. In the morning when we went out from our hotel on the Phi Phi island we got a big surprise. More precisely the Thai New Year had begun. That meant that all the people had water guns, buckets, hoses and all other possible devises to make people walking by wet and then wish them a happy New Year. Luckily we managed to almost run to the harbor and make it there relatively dry. The trip to Lanta lasted for about half an hour and we managed to find a rather cozy bungalow style house close to the harbor. Then we rented a scooter and started to discover the island. The first time we got wet was when we were turning out from the hotel and basically it continued in the same way the rest of the day as we were stopped about after every 100 meters and then poured over with water again. As the weather was very warm all of this did not bother us and we were actually even happy to be there on that kind of special day as it was a unique experience for us. Lanta itself did not surprise us with anything. The locals gave us a warning that we should go swimming as the jellyfishes were exceptionally poisonous and a day before a boy had died due to being burned by a jellyfish.  

For the next day we had booked a kayak trip on the bay to visit other islands close by. At first we know that there will also be other people, but in the end the all day tour was just for the two of us. We were accompanied by the boat driver and the kayak tour guide. At first we were taken to see the monkeys in the mangrove forest as it was their morning feeding time. So for that we were chopping up pineapple and throwing it to them. Some of the more active monkeys even tried to jump into our boat. Then we went to the next island where we traded the boat to a kayak and went around the island with it, occasionally going into some caves and smaller lagoons. Then we took the bigger boat again to go to the next island where we were given local food and also some free time to sun tan and swim. The island itself was rather rocky but it was a nice place to rest. We saw a lot of geckos wondering around on the beach and when you compare them to the ones I have seen before they were rather big. Then we were taken back to our bungalow and after enjoying a nice dinner in the moon light fell asleep peacefully.

The next morning we were taken to the Krabi providence. Then we took a taxi and were taken to the Ao Nang beach where with the help our taxi driver we found a nice hotel right by the beach. Then again we took a scooter to get to know the area around. Ao Nang turned out to be a place filled with a lot of tourists and it did not have a nice beach, but on the other hand it was a nice starting place to go and visit the other islands close by. We took the scooter and went out of the town a bit where after going down from the rocky coast discovered fossil rocks that were all over the beach line. Then we started looking for things to do on the next day and thought about visiting other islands with a speedboat. In the morning we wanted to go down for breakfast before the trip but when we checked for our astonishment we were said that they start serving breakfast only from 10am. The speedboat trip was going to start at 8 am and we wanted to eat before that. The hotel staff got mad at us and started arguing with therefore we decided to go to a tourism office just next to the hotel from where we had taken that hotel and asked them to find us a hotel by that evening where everything promised was also really in the price. Then we were taken to the boat harbor and headed off towards Chicken Island which was a rocky formation that looked like a chicken head towering over the island. Then we were offered to go snorkeling which was spectacular as that was one of the most beautiful coral reefs that I have ever seen. The water was so clear that you could easily see from far the see bottom in the end of the coral reed that was actually about 20 meters below. Then we went to small islands called Pakbia and Lading Island that were like heaven on earth. There were no houses and the water was completely blue and the sand extremely white. Then we moved on to Hong Island where we were served a festive lunch with fresh fruits. Then we went snorkeling for few hours and fed some fish with white bread straight from our fingers. It was amazing how many fish there were and one fish even bit Jana from her bellybutton as it thought that her bellybutton ring was a piece of bread. When we got back a new hotel was already waiting for us that had a restaurant by the sea shore with an unbelievable view. In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant to have pizza that we both had missed already for a very long time.  

We had already booked a speedboat tour for the next morning but this time to other islands. The first place in our agenda was the Railay Bach and from there we went to the Phra Nang caves. There in the big cave where a lot of phalluses and food placed there for gods. Actually we did not understand completely for whom or for what all of those things were intended for. Then we went to the Tup Island and then from there we went to the Poda Island where we were once again served a very nice lunch. An interesting event happened on Poda Island when we were walking on the beach there. So, Jana was approached by a lady who introduced herself as a reporter for some kind of Swedish travel magazine and she said that she was writing a story about there island. She also had a photographer with her who immediately started taking a lot of pictures of Jana in different poses.  So this was how we spent our time on Poda and we even had some time left for snorkeling. The weather was once again magnificent and thanks to the sun we had already shed our skin many times. In the evening we enjoyed local fish in our hotel’s beach restaurant.

The next morning we had to say goodbye to the Krabi Providence and already in the morning we took off from the Krabi airport with Air Asia flight to Bangkok. The flight only took an hour and soon we landed in Bangkok downtown in a hotel called Reno. It was actually a budget- style hotel, but the quality was excellent. As housing in Bangkok is really expensive then paying 60 USD for a night at that quality was a good deal. We even had a decent pool and breakfast in the hotel. In the evening we visited the night market that started buzzing already at about 6 pm in Bangkok’s entertainment district called Patpong. The market was really lively and if you were willing to bargain you could get a really good price on many things. From there we decided to see what the night life in Bangkok was like and so we went to see the Ping Pong show and also other discothèques around town. We also met a lot of people all over the world that gave some extra spice to the evening.

The morning started with a nice swim in the hotel pool. After that we decided to get to know the cultural side of Bangkok and took a tuk- tuk that took us to different temples and other places where we could get some glimpse Thai culture and Buddhism religion. We also met one Brit who regularly visits Thailand to buy gems from there and then sells them in England to make money for another trip. In the evening we visited the Patpong night market again to buy the last things for people at home and basically our trip was coming to an end.  

Very early next morning we took a taxi to the airport from where at 9 am a plane took off towards Helsinki. The weather was nice and there was no trouble during the trip. In Helsinki we had to wait for few hours until Finncom Airlines took us back to Tallinn.

To sum up, I can say that the beaches in Cambodia and Thailand are the some of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen. The warmth of the people there, the smiles and the extremely cheap life is something because of what I would go back there in a heart beat. Thailand is much more developed and would have even been suitable to travel there with children. Thai islands and beaches are exceptional and also the local people there are very kind, helpful and smiling all the time. Thailand and Cambodia gave us a very positive charge for future trips that will never fade away.