DAY 1--Bangkok
Our first day in Bangkok was Christmas Day. We got up early and headed out to see the city. We met up immediately with a tuk-tuk (small motorcycle/taxi type thing)driver. He told us he would take us all around the city to the places we wanted to see for 20 Baht (less than a dollar). We decided to take him up on his offer, as we figured riding in a tuk-tuk was an essential check to place on our bucket list. He took us around the city to all the places we wanted to see, and also stopped off at tailor suit shops and jewelry shops to look around. If we shopped at these places he would receive gas for his tuk tuk. We knew this was part of the deal since my parents had recently had this same experience.
Our tuk-tuk driver
Standing Buddha
Buddhas were EVERYWHERE
Lucky Buddha
The Golden Mountain
Lunch! Pad Thai and Chang beer
Long tail boat ride along the Chao Phraya River
Wat Arun
Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho
Reclining Buddha
Wat Arun lit up at night! So amazing!
DAY 2--Bangkok-->Railay
We didn't get to see everything on Christmas since a few of the temples and palaces were closed. We were able to check out Wat Phra Kaew (home to the Emerald Buddha) and the Grand Palace before we had to get on our plane to head south.
Wat Phra Kaew--home to the Emerlad Buddha. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures of Buddha
Wat Phra Kaew--We had to rent pants and sarongs to wear in the temple since we were wearing shorts.
Wat Phra Kaew-The Emerald Buddha is in here.
The Grand Palace
After we left Bangkok, we headed south to the Andaman coast. We landed in Krabi and got on a bus that took us to a pier and dropped us off. It was getting late and it was already dark out so we couldn't see much. We got a long tail boat to take us to Railay Beach, which was where we were staying. The whole boat right we could just see the shadows of huge cliffs jutting out of the water. Our boat driver called out "Railay Beach" and dropped us off on the shore. This was when I was really happy we had just brought our backpacks.
DAY 3--Railay Beach
Waking up and exploring here was really exciting! We could see all the giant cliffs that we could just barely make out when it was dark. We were staying in a little bungalow up on the top of a hill and had a pretty cool view of the sea through the trees. We spent the day on the beach here. It was just a small little village on the beach and very relaxed. The views here were so beautiful!
Railay Beach
Hanging out on the beach waiting for our boat!
Is this paradise?!?
Curry for lunch!
Drinking Chang beer on our balcony! We love Chang beer so much we even bought matching shirts!
Day 4--Railay-->Kho Phi Phi
We had to leave Railay in the morning to get to Kho Phi Phi. We took a long tail boat out into the sea where a ferry picked us up. As our boat was arriving to the pier in Kho Phi Phi we felt like we were in a movie. It looked like we were arriving at Jurrasic Park (minus the dinosaurs). Kho Phi Phi is a small island filled with restaurants, souvenir shops and bungalows. The island is surround with white sand beaches, jungles and bright blue water! I have never seen water so bright!
Since we got in late in the morning, we got settled in our hostel, grabbed some lunch and took a long tail boat over to Long Beach. It is one of the nicer beaches on the island, but you can't walk there so you have to get a boat everytime you want to go. I actually enjoyed taking the long tail boats around.
At night we watched fire throwers at a bar on the beach and also watched some Muay Thai boxing. There was a lot of night life on the island, but we are old and didn't get to see much of it.
Pulling in to Kho Phi Phi pier
cute little Thai girl we saw everyday
Gorgeous water!
Fire throwers
DAY 5--Kho Phi Phi Island Tour
We set up an excursion for the day. We took a boat around the island stopping at several beaches, islands and bays for snorkeling and kayaking. We first stopped at Shark Point to snorkel, but we didn't see any sharks. We realized shark point is right off of Long Beach, where we spent most of our time swimming the day before...sweet. Then we stopped at Bamboo Island, Mosquito Island, and Monkey Beach.
After that we headed to Phi Phi Leh, which is the smaller island off Kho Phi Phi. Here, we saw Viking Cave, Pi Leh Bay, Maya Bay and Loh Samah Bay. Maya Bay is where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. I always wanted to see this place and it was even more amazing to see it in person! Until I saw it, I thought that places like that couldn't really exist! It was so beautiful. After Maya Bay we stopped and watched the sunset over the ocean. It was the most beautiful sunset. I have never seen the sun so close and so clearly. It was hard to get any pictures that captured what it really looked like.
Bamboo Island
Mosquito Island
Monkey Beach
Viking Cave
Pi Leh Bay
Pi Leh Bay
Maya Bay--"The Beach"
Standing on "The Beach"
Maya Beach
Searching the jungle for Leonardo DiCaprio...he wasn't there
Long tail boats all lined up
DAY 6--Kho Phi Phi
Since it was our last full day in Thailand, we spent it on the beach. We took the boat over to Long Beach and just relaxed on the beach all day. We did some souvenir shopping in the evening and had our last Thai dinner.
Lunch on the beach
Phi Phi Leh (the little island) from Long Beach
We discovered that we really liked Thai pancakes for dessert. Its dough thats tossed real thin, stuffed with fruit, fried and smeared with Nutella. So delicious!
DAY 7--Kho Phi Phi-->Seoul
We really didn't want to leave, but we had to get back to Seoul. We spent our last morning getting massages on the beach and soaking up the last of the sun that we will see for a while:(. We took a boat back to Krabi, then flew to Bangkok, spent the New Year in the airport and got to Seoul Sunday morning.
Massages on the beach!
Monkeys enjoying lunch with us
So long Thailand! We will miss you!!
We took a boat back to Krabi, then flew to Bangkok, spent the New Year in the airport and got to Seoul Sunday morning. It was really hard to leave, but we are glad we had the chance to experience something so exotic!
Now we can start counting down the days until we return to the USA! 64 days....
We hope everyone had a merry Christmas and happy New Year!
