Beaches and Visitors in Thailand

Good old Marriott. After months of staying in budget rooms, we decided an upgrade was in order and the perfect place to do that was an island off Thailand called Ko Samui. We had one free night that we receive every year burning a hole in our account and decided to add another night on with points, so 2 nights free at the Renaissance was in order. We flew south from Bangkok and caught a ferry out to Ko Samui, arriving after dark to a crazy scene. Ko Samui was nuts! Not at all like we pictured a quite Thai island to be. The main town of Chaweng had crowds of people, stores, nightclubs, restaurants, exotic animals, bars, call girls, ladyboys, restaurants, etc. everywhere. We spent the first night at a cheap hotel and while we were there for only 10 short hours we were approached by mutilple people wanting us to feed their monkey or iguanas on the leash at their sides. It was odd. Luckily the Marriott was much removed from the madness on a quite secluded beach and we arrived there the next morning and spent a blissful 48 hours lounging on the beach or in the pool, sipping wine on our porch and enjoying the cleanliness of a comfy bed and room. The staff was nice enough to great us with a bottle of red wine, upgrade our room to an ocean view with a jacuzzi on our private porch and they even added on a daily buffet breakfast. Needless to say, it was heaven and exactly what we needed!

We said a sad goodbye to the wonderful Marriott and headed back to the mainland where we bussed it to the opposite coast to meet up with our very first visitor of the trip, my sister Hilary. Chad and I were thrilled that she was coming and couldn’t wait to see her. Hilary showed up at our guesthouse in the coastal town of Krabi the following day and we immediately threw her into the world of budget travel. As a flight attendant with United, Hilary is used to staying in pretty nice hotels but she had no problem fitting in with our thrifty ways. She also brought a few MUCH needed supplies from the US that we just haven’t been able to find in other parts of the world.

The weather, as always (the monsoon), wasn’t fully cooperating with us, but we decided to go ahead with our plan and head out to the island of Ko Phi Phi for a few days to introduce Hilary to Thai beaches. Ko Phi Phi is truly paradise. The island is tiny and there is only one town, but the beaches are beautiful and the people are friendly. Ko Phi Phi was completely destroyed in the 2004 Tsunami, thousands were killed and the wave washed away most of the buildings. Even today the town is working on rebuilding itself and the emotional scars on the people remain with the physical scars of the landscape. Nearly every shop owner had a story to tell on a sign or the back of a menu and the town was still in the process of reconstructing walkways and buildings.

We spent a full four days/nights oceanside at Long’s Beach in our 3 person beach bungalow. Our days were passed catching up in beach lounge chairs and at night we dined out accompanied by sunsets. On the night of a full moon we even introduced Hilary to the infamous Thai buckets of whiskey. We cherished our time in Ko Phi Phi and to be able to experience it with Hilary is something that we will have for a lifetime.

No trip to Thailand is complete without a stop in Bangkok so we returned there for the 3rd and final time of our trip. We caught an overnight bus (another treat for Hilary) to the back packer haven of Koh San Road. We spent two nights there, stocking up on much needed supplies, drinking cheap Chang beers, touring Buddhist temples and taking in all that Bangkok has to offer. Hilary even got a $3 haircut to match the one I had gotten a few weeks earlier.

Hilary decided to continue the trip with us, and we all hopped on a short 2 hour flight to Singapore. Singapore is expensive! To save some much needed cash we decided to stay in a dorm room of a hostel, for only the second time on the trip. We checked in to a 3 bed dorm and to our great surprise were greeted with one of the wonderful sides of backpacker travel, bedbugs! Fortunately this is the first time we have ever encountered them, but unfortunately they really came out at 1AM and we had to switch rooms after a minor freakout. On our last day with Hilary we decided to head out for a Tiger Brewery Tour and a stop at one of the microbreweries in town. It was a great last day and the next morning we went our separate ways with a sad goodbye. We are so thankful to have been able to share this wonderful experience with Hilary and we look forward to many more in the future!