Island Hopping & Busy Bangkok

We have spent most of the time since the last posting island hopping on the west side of Thailand. The first stop was Phuket, which was very touristy. We stayed near a popular beach called Kata Beach. Apparently this area is very popular with the Swedes, which we soon realized since I (Klas) believe more Swedish is spoken here than in Sweden. Just kidding, but only a slight exaggaration. Kata beach was great except the fact that my back got really sunburned. For the people who know me, you are probably wondering how this happened. Well, let me tell you - the sunscreen must have been absorbed by the travel towel I have been using. I will definitely not use it again without reapplying sunscreen because I have a section on my back which mirrors the width of the towel. Very attractive if you can imagine.

The next stop was Phi Phi Don island, which is a smaller island with no cars. This island was hit hard by the Tsunami a few years ago. I could still see some of the effects it had on the island. We spent 3 nights on this island. One day we went on a snorkelling tour, or "snooking" as the tour guide pronounced it. The snorkelling was awesome and Bamboo Island (see photo below) had the best sand. On this tour were two girls from Northern Ireland and, believe it or not, they were so white that they made me look like I have a great tan.


After Phi Phi we went to Koh Lanta for 2 days. Here we met up with Mattias, who is a good friend of Pelle's, and his girlfriend Camilla. We spent the day relaxing on Klong Dao beach. It was great to have someone to hangout with for a change. While we were on Koh Lanta we rented a scooter, which I don't think Melissa's Mum would have approved of - however, we were very careful.

The last island we visited was Railay. We didn't stay on this island, but day tripped from Ao Nang. This island was also very nice, but our favourite so far in Thailand has been Phi Phi.

The last few days we have spent in Bangkok visiting temples, seeing lots of Buddha statues and doing some shopping. Since everyone has to take their shoes off before entering the temples, there can be some serious odor problems. I'm not kidding, but in one temple we almost passsed out.

Altogether, we spent almost 3 weeks in Thailand. Originally Thailand was not included on the list of countries to visit but a friend convinced us that we should stop here on the way to New Zealand. Thank you Mattias. People here are very friendly, the beaches are great and the cost of things is very cheap. However, I could do without all the people trying to sell a suit to me - they are everywhere.

Today we leave for New Zealand which is number one on my list of countries to visit, so I am pretty excited.

Kata Beach, Phuket

Lunch on Long Beach, Phi Phi Don



Long Beach, Phi Phi Don


Bamboo Island near Phi Phi Don



Sunset at Phi Phi Islands


Motorbiking on Koh Lanta


Dinner by the beach, Koh Lanta


Sunset Koh Lanta


Klong Dao beach, Koh Lanta, with Mattias and Camilla