Island Hopping in Thailand - Phuket, Koh Samui, Kho Tao, Phi Phi

It has admittedly been a few years since my last visist to the islands on the southern Coast of Thailand. I shall however still attempt to offer as much advice as I possibly can on the matter.

Phuket

I went to Phuket in search of beaches but it was unfortunately raining nearly no- stop! After a good few days of rain the sun finally decided to come out and all peace was resumed. Due to this we decided to go to the local beach adjacent to the main strip in Patong (Patong beach). After a couple of days in Patong we decided to head further south to stay by Karon beach. Karon beach was a lot more relaxed due to the fact Patong felt like an amalgamation of Magaluf and Amsterdam - full of prostitutes, pole dancing bars, and loutish men on lads holidays. In hindsight, I would have arranged to start the trip from Krabi instead of Phuket, which is supposed to have lovely beaches and be great for rock climbing.

In Karon we found a home from home in the form of a very classy bar that overlooked the beach. We went there both nights for a few drinks before bed. The beer was cold, the music was chilled (deep house n ambient dance - lovely) and the staff were very friendly and helpful. To add to all this, it had a cross between a hammock and a couch for seats! No better way to explain it than that I’m afraid.

Phi Phi Islands

After Phuket we jumped the boat to Phi Phi Islands (the island which boasts the beach where the film 'The Beach' was filmed. Of a night we'd head down to our local beach (which was a 5 minute walk from our bamboo bungalow) to chill by the ocean outside a beach side cocktail bar, very peaceful (except for the bar a few bars down playing drum n' bass and dubstep music all night! )

We had one absolutely amazing day in Phi Phi where we booked a boat to go to the famous 'Beach' and also went to Monkey Island and went snorkelling with fish. On the boat buckets of whiskey were passed round n in the end we decided to have a chug contest with a snorkel with one Irish guy and one American girl - it was like a scene off an American frat party film! In the end I got to go home with the rest of the bottle of whiskey, as I was the only one who chugged it straight without coke! A word of warning - Thai 'whiskey' is unlike any whiskey you've probably ever encountered before! Its famous sold in 'buckets' at the bars, which usually consits of local whiskey, ice and a mixer such as coke.

There was a sadder side to Phi Phi as well. We saw a memorial for those who lost their lives in the Tsunami which ravaged the island's coasts in 2005.

Koh Samui

We got to Koh Samui and spent a couple of days in a guesthouse by Chaweng beach. The most notable bar on Chaweng beach, and possibly in the whole of Koh Samui, is Arc Bar, which seemed to be the most popular and definitely the loudest! After this we decided to head over to the quieter Lamai beach to stay in a beach bungalow, we made two Thai friends called Lok and Sallee who worked in a near-by bar where we got our asses whooped at pool (except for doubles where we had some epic games! ) they looked about 18 but turned out to be 40! That’s the Thai lifestyle for you I suppose.

We then moved to the ‘Best Resort’ (which is actually the name of the place) in order to have a couple of days by the pool. It was incredibly cheap! After a couple of relaxed days by the pool we bought our tickets for the boat to Koh Pan Gnang for the Full Moon Party...

Full Moon Party

We decided rather than find a place to stay in Koh Pan Gnang for the Full Moon Party, we'd instead get a boat back to Koh Samui the following morning. On arrival we found a nearby bar playing some decent music so decided to take a seat next to some strangers ended up going the party with them. The cliché is always correct; a stranger is just a friend you haven’t made yet, and this proved to be the case!

When we first arrived we stepped onto the scene of a beach full of drunken people dancing to Katy Perry, and crazy people – who assumedly were equally drunk – jumping over skipping ropes lit on fire. With that, a few of us out the gang headed towards the end of the beach to a bar aptly nicknamed 'Mushroom Mountain', where we indulged in some of the questionably legal ‘happy shakes’ they served. The shakes were quite weak but eventually did the trick. I’d heard rumours of police going undercover and arresting anyone silly enough to bring the shakes on to the beach as well as anyone caught smoking weed. Mushroom mountain however, seemed to be a utopia for anyone wanting to do either. Be careful however, as drug laws are extremely strict in Thailand and you can go to prison for years merely for posession. The night soon turned to day and we witnessed an amazing sunrise accompanied by some astonishing clouds and waves, truly beautiful scenery for any of those who appreciate a good view. The red sky reflected on the waves, signalling the end of our night, leading to a culminating boat ride back to Koh Samui.

Scuba Diving in Koh Tao & Return To Koh Pan Gnang

We then stopped off In Koh Tao for some scuba diving. Koh Tao seemed a bit more expensive (and quieter) than the other islands, but still cheap by any Western standards. We bumped into a mate we had made previously at the full moon party, who advised us Koh Pan Gnang would be a 'ghost town' at this time, due to the fact the full moon party had just been - thus we seen even more reason to go! The general consensus amongst backpackers is to head to Koh Tao for some scubadiving after the Full Moon Party, which seemed to be the case whilst we were there.

Thankfully he was right, the island was filled with locals n' very quiet for a change. First things first we jumped off the boat, found a cheap beach side bungalow (6 quid a night) n threw our stuff in n headed straight down to the local English Pub for a roast dinner... (Yes they have an English pub in Koh Pan Gnang! ). We found a moped rental shop across the road for only 200THB (less than £5) a day so we snapped 1 up for a couple of days. Its possible we got such a good offer because we weren’t there during the peak season, as we were there in September. The rental process was painless, I just had to give them my passport as a deposit and didn't even need to show them my driving license, which in hindsight seems rather worrying. We had a couple of relaxed drives that day n then went to bed for the evening. The same couldn't be said for the next day, as we now had to find a new place to stay.

Picture the scene: Me, my ex girlfriend, 2 huge backpacks, and a bright fluorescent pink li-lo all crammed on to a tiny little 100cc moped going back and forth across the island looking for a cheap, appropriate place to stay. As I grew hungry, we decided we needed some fuel in our bellies so stopped off for food at some dingy off road café – anything goes in Thailand! We did however get speaking to a cockney who recommended us two places to stay. The first place was a place called Haan Son on the other side of the island where he assured us the luxury of 2 swimming pools, a hot shower and free breakfast. He also recommended a place called Lime N' Soda which was cheap but also had a pool. I was keen for a free breakfast and to wag it up for a few days so we headed for Haan Son n naturally got lost on numerous occasions so a few locals watched and laughed as they seen us come back and forth down the same road on a regular basis.

After about 40 minutes - or what felt like 40 hours - we finally arrived at Haan Son. Anyway when we got in we were in fact informed breakfast was not included which had been the biggest attraction really due to our budget so we headed off back round to the other side of the island in search of Lime N' Soda.

Lime N' Soda was a brilliant place to stay for the price we paid as the pool overlooked the beach and the bar had nice food, cold beer and a free pool table. We'd spend the afternoon sitting by the pool, the evening sitting on our balcony with a beer listening to some tunes on the iPod speakers and then we'd head out to some of our favourite bars later in the evening where we'd made quite a few mates.

Half moon party:

We'd heard a lot of things about the Half Moon Party, one being that some people preferred it to The Full Moon Party as it was less busy and also due to the fact it was in the jungle. We'd also heard some bad things from a local talented dj who said the music was something called 'psy-trance', (forgive my ignorance on this genre psy-trance fans! ) which we had no idea about and had never heard or encountered. We went with open minds and absolutely loved the first few hours! It wasn't very busy at all. The music was in full motion with house and techno pouring from the speakers & men waving fire sticks about to the music. We absolutely loved it!

However, our stamps allowed us to enter and leave as we pleased so we decided to get a taxi boat to another club we'd heard about just off the island called 'Eden Garden'. This place was amazing, a really relaxed atmosphere and it was only open two nights a week so we knew we had to go. After a short stay there we headed back to the Half Moon party wondering if we had came back to the same place we had been at earlier in the evening or not! It was horrendously busy and something truly terrible had happened to the music! Some French guy who was now playing some cheap sounding throwback stuff at around 145 beats per minute had replaced the first dj! If you’re into psytrance however you might be a fan, it just personally wasn’t my cup of tea! :) Anyway we still had an amazing night and we followed it up with a few relaxed days hanging at bars and going round the island to see the sights.

All in all it was an interesting experience but I'd advise most people to start their journeys from Krabi rather than Phuket.