Plane spotting
2025年12月8日, タイ ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
43B = £1
Both slept really well and had to drag ourselves out of bed for some more plane spotting. This morning I guess the wind had changed as could see the planes landing rather than taking off which was more impressive. Very frequent, generally at least one every 5 mins. Great fun and some great pics.
We got some street food for breakfast as hotel was charging £9 each! Roti pancakes with banana and chocolate and coconut / iced coffee for about £6.
£12 Grab to Kamala beach which was about an hour's drive to our next hotel Thai Kamala Beachfront (£85 per night). It's not the grandest of places we've stayed but we opted for cheapish with a good position. Anna isn't too impressed by it - she's become too used to the high life! We knew from previous reviews it has bikes / cars etc parked in front so weren't expecting an unimpeded view however our balcony has a restaurant right in front of it so barely any view and need to keep the curtains closed really! They won't be getting a good review.
We went for ice cream while we waited for check in time, then went for a wander up and down the beach. Really nice to be able to walk compared to Phu Quoc which was quite limited where we stayed. The beach is stunning and there are zillions of restaurants and stalls.
We had Pad Thai for lunch (100B each). They seemed very amused I wanted a veggie, no egg version as I'd they've never been asked before.
Then Anna sat in the shade while I did some sunbaking in the late afternoon sun. A yoga class set up next to us so we got a free sound bath. Sunset was stunning even though sun sets behind one hill of the beach.
Dinner was at Deng's where we had green and red curries with tofu, very yummy! (140B plus extra for rice we shared). We went in search of more gelato but very few options here so ended up back at same spot (100B).もっと詳しく
Elephant sanctuary
2025年12月9日, タイ ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Both slept really well.
Roti pancakes and coconut for breakfast, similar prices to last place.
In the morning there is lots of shade on the beach so we had a quick dip and then Anna lay in the shade and I lay in the sun which didn't feel too hot once wet.
Then we got ready for our pick up to the Hidden Forest Elephant Sanctuary (£75 each) which is one of the few ethical places we found that doesn't include bathing with them which we've learnt isn't natural for the elephants.
After quite a long journey (traffic is slow in Phuket) we had a briefing and video and then went to feed the 8 rescued female elephants (males are uncontrollable!). You handed them a bunch of bananas and they took it with their trunks and gobbled it down in one go before asking for more.
Then we wandered up the hill stopping at 5 diff bamboo huts to see the elephants. They are walked daily to aid with their digestion. The first stop, they walked past us in a line coming super close and one trumpeted at us. They are paired with a mahout who leads them via sugar cane treats. Then we watched them feed - whole banana trees they broke up and crunched, and one asked for water to drink out of a hose.
The last stop was a vegan Thai buffet which was amazing and overlooked 2 ponds which some of the elephants chose to bathe on whilst the others wandered around munching away (they eat about 200kg a day!) absolutely magical experience. Anna hit the gift shop of course and then we headed home, which took ages as traffic through Patong at sunset was super slow but the sunset was amazing!
Back in our room, we didn't need any dinner however a pipe in the bathroom had snapped - unclear what this was for but was dripping water. The receptionist fixed it with some tape and sprayed the floor clean with the bidet hose so we went out for a wander to let it dry out.
However it snapped again about midnight waking us both up with the dripping. Neither of us slept well and both pretty annoyed. Had we not been on a tour the next day we would have moved hotels.もっと詳しく
Phi Phi tour
2025年12月10日, タイ ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
After being awake much of the night, we had to get up early for a 7:15 pick-up and drove for quite some time and then dumped in the middle of nowhere and joined by others and had a banana and a couple of anaemic slices of toast and jam. More and more people turned up and the organised chaos began!
We were herded onto our boat. Anna was faffing as usual so we were some of the last ones on and everyone was squashed in like sardines. There was barely any room for us, however we ended up outside on the bow which turned out to be great as we had good views and more room. Plus there were some great girls - a Vietnamese German, a Thai and a German and some of their friends / sisters who were hilarious.
After speeding and bumping along for an hour we got to Phi Phi and followed the crowds to Maya beach which was stunning. Last time I think we visited and maybe snorkelled from the sea but weren't allowed on the beach. This time it was the opposite and we entered via a walkway from the back. You could stand in the water for photos but weren't allowed beyond a line and there were men blowing whistles yelling - 'you Indian woman / you sexy ladies'. Hilarious. Several people, mainly Russians I think, didn't turn up on time so we're left behind. I've never seen a tour do that before but I guess the other boats in the same tour group picked them up.
Then we saw Pileh Lagoon where we swam but they parked in the shade so wasn't that great, monkey beach where I didn't like everyone crowding round the monkeys and Viking cave which you weren't allowed on so was a bit rubbish.
Then we snorkelled which was better than I expected, lots of fish - the usual really and a pipefish. Anna almost got left behind!
We were dropped off on the big island for a buffet lunch which had a veggie section and was really good. Curry was v spicy! Had a weird ice cream after which was supposed to be coconut but had candied bits in it. Not the greatest.
Then we went back towards Phuket (most of us falling asleep) and stopped at Khai island. When we arrived it was fairly empty and we went snorkelling briefly and saw a baby black tip reef shark but otherwise not much to see. There was jet skiing, banana boating etc or could pay extortionate prices for a drink - almost double for a coconut! As time went on more and more coats arrived until the island was absolutely rammed and all you could see was people and boats. None of us enjoyed it much and went back to sit on the boat so we could at least see the sea!
On the way back we googled potential hotels to move to but agreed we were too tired and just wanted a shower and dinner. The pipe had been taped up again - hopefully it holds this time, and room had been cleaned.
We went to the 'market area' and had delicious Pad Thai / curry and huge spring rolls. The lady there was absolutely lovely. Too much food we could do ish the last spring roll. Got some more money out the ATM and another ice cream for dessert (always room for ice cream!).
Hoping we both sleep better tonight...
We could confirmed with Thai girl Phuket is pronounced pooket.もっと詳しく
Sunbaking on Nai Yang beach
2025年12月11日, タイ ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Both slept well but shortly after waking up the electricity stopped - apparently affected all properties in the area and weren't too sure when it would be back on, maybe the afternoon. Decided to move hotels so booked a nicer one (hopefully!) near the airport.
We went for banana and Nutella pancake rotis and coconuts / iced coffee again to the local ladies who welcomed us back, and then packed up and checked out. We asked for a refund for the last night due to all the issues and they were very nice about it. Filled out an early check in form which will be passed to the hotel owner.
Tried to get a Grab but no takers! Instead took a bolt for 490B which took about an hour. Traffic not great so glad we weren't doing it tomorrow morning as would have been stressful for a morning flight if no Grabs.
Bella Nara Phuket Naiyang is our next hotel (£104). I'd asked if early check in was a possibility and they said they couldn't guarantee. Upon check in we were given cold towels and a delicious blue drink and we'd been upgraded to a deluxe room and it was ready! She whispered it so I think we got lucky. Super nice hotel, a far cry from the last one!! Very shiny and posh and Anna is super happy. As am I. Room is huge, as is the bathroom. One of the nicest rooms I've stayed in.
Nai Yang beach is much less developed, much more our style (though would have been out of range for trip pick ups), though seems to be lots of development around so how long it will stay quaint is unknown.
Went for a wander and had lunch at a cheap place with plastic chairs on the beach. Both had Pad Thai, slightly cheaper than Kamala. All the restaurants are on the road behind the beach and all the cheap restaurants are on the sandy beach, which is fab!
Place is super chilled and lovely, still quite a few people but a less developed feel. Found some shade further down the beach which had very few people on it and had a dip and sunbathe. Sand is super soft, almost white, which is odd as just around corner is Mai Khao where we stayed the first night and watched the planes and the sand there was very coarse.
After a trip back to the hotel to dump bags and bug spray, we went for a walk along the beach/ through the National Park trail which is through some huge pine (?) trees with some cool purple plants at the base. Very pretty. Walked for about half an hour and if carried on for another half hour would reach the plane spotting section of a few days ago. There is a big coral island which causes the water to converge in a triangle and looks pretty cool. There is a shallow shelf that runs out to it as some people were walking along / taking cool photos.
We wandered back a bit and watched another glorious sunset. There were lots of runners which we hadn't seen much of before and tons of locals around coming out to watch the sunset, it had such a lovely vibe. So much nicer than Kamala. We both wish we'd stayed here the whole time. There are still lots of people here but Kamala always felt busy as you were funnelled down a path along the seafront with lots of people trying to tout business. There's hardly any of that here.
After showering, we headed out to Jack Beach Restaurant, right on the beach with cool jellyfish lamps and had a delicious dinner - Tom Yum for me and Massaman curry for Anna. Started spitting a little and the staff hurried around putting up parasols so efficiently. We've been super lucky with glorious sunshine here considering there were horrible floods the week or so before.
After dinner we had a wander round the shops and marvelled at all the weird and wonderful foods in the 7elevens etc.
Very glad we switched hotels and got to experience this place.would definitely recommend this area.
I had traipsed some sand into the room and swept it up into a little pile next to the bin as couldn't pick it up. A little while later Anna found some sand in a bag and said where is your pile of sand and added to it. I queried why she didn't just pour it into the bin 🤣🤣🤣. D'oh.もっと詳しく
One night in Bangkok
2025年12月12日, タイ ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C
We both woke up early and went out for a wander along the beach as none of the food carts were open yet. Definitely is a sleepy place! Even the street dogs were fast asleep on the beach. As we came back some were opened and we had roti pancakes and coconuts on the beach.
Checked out of the loveliest hotel to date and got a Grab (£9 which is pricey considering it's less than 10 mins drive but guess there are drop off fees).
Check in process was super smooth and all automated for Thai Airways. £63 each for flight to Bangkok, 1.5 hrs. Got a small bottle of water and a rose flavoured creme cake in a chic cardboard bag.
Took a little while to grab a Grab and then took an hour to get to the city due to traffic. Very flashy electric car though with glass sunroof.
Last hotel is Dewan Bangkok (£55 per night tho we paid for 2 nights so can check out late). It's 2 roads down from Khao San rd but on a quiet street and has an Arabic design.
We had to go down the river for our evening cruise Anna had booked. She wanted to walk and explore a bit rather than head straight for the ferry so she navigated us to a gigantic roundabout which had traffic lights but also about a dozen traffic police blowing their whistles and controlling the crossings. We got across a few lanes and then got yelled at to not go any further down a road which was all blocked off. So we turned around and headed back to the roundabout and got blown at and told to stop. Anna got a bit fretful but we waited and some cars sped by and then they let us back on the roundabout and I navigated to the river. The only option from this point was to just go across for 4.5B as the road to further down was blocked off. The ticket lady said it didn't go where we wanted but I thought we should go across and catch a diff ferry which a local lady confirmed for us. So we jumped on, went across and then paid another 40B and the same lady ushered us onto the correct ferry. Not at all obvious which one went where! But once on there was a screen and announcements showing the stops so we jumped off at Icon Siam, a huge shopping mall and piers, where we registered for our cruise. Then we had some time so had a brief wander round the mall - totally nuts, very Asian, absolutely decadent and fabulous with a 'floating market' scene selling pad Thai. It's about 10 floors, you could spend days in there.
Then we boarded our Sawasdee cruise (£30 each), which was half empty but still had tons of people. We had a seat by the window on the middle deck which was lovely. The buffet left a little to be desired unfortunately. Veggie options consisted of mashed potato, some stale fries, a few noodles and salad. Anna said meat was chewy and dry and she wasn't very impressed either. There also weren't as many temples etc lit up along the riverbank as I expected. However we both still enjoyed it, always nice to be on a boat and the entertainment was pretty good - various people dressed in Thai attire - some dancers, some boxers etc plus a couple of singers murdering songs such as Ronan Keating, Ed Sheeran, YMCA and our favourite: Golden (k pop song) which was was a bit beyond her vocal range!
At the end it was extended to watch a drone show. Before we left for travelling, the ex Queen had died so there is a long period of mourning and a month or so of celebration shows. The drone show was really cool and several bridges were lit up as we went through them. There are pictures of her literally everywhere. In the airport, down the street, every 50m on one street there were huge pics. Civil servants are supposed to wear black for a year. Visitors are supposed to wear black too but the Thai girl we met in Phi Phi said this wasn't at all strict.
Just as the cruise ended, the Icon Siam water show had begun which was pretty cool. We then hot footed it to the Grab pick up site as we knew the other cruises would soon be landing and it would get manic. Somehow we managed to get one really quickly despite there being loads of people waiting. We selected a premium type of car as well so I think that helped give us more options.
He dropped us off at Khao San road and we wandered down and Anna got her first taste of the madness - ping pong show offers, skinned crocodiles, all sorts of bugs to eat, tons of competing music, tons of cannabis (thought it was banned?!), BB guns and all sorts. We went down the parallel street which was a bit more chilled and had some good bands playing. It doesn't seem massively different than 20 years ago, no huge restaurants / bars etc just mainly simple places.
Being the ravers that we are we retreated to our hotel by 10:30 and went to bed!
We both got a couple of mozzy bites which were unexpected despite having spray on and a mozzy bracelet on each limb!もっと詳しく
Last day: Bangkok temples
2025年12月13日, タイ ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C
Starbucks for coffee and croissants as low on cash and can pay by QR code at business places only in Thailand or so we thought.
Tuktuk driver quoted us 400B which we laughed at so dropped to 200. Grab was 90 so we got that to Wat Arun (pointy temple by river - 200B entrance each). It's a Saturday so there were loads of Thai people dressed up in their classic outfits taking photos. Temple is very detailed close up. Lots to see.
5B each for boat to cross the river. Rusty, swaying platform and need a confident jump across to make sure you get on / off boat.
Wat Pho (300B entrance) was next which is the long reclining buddha and loads of other bits to see. Wasn't too busy. By midday we were hot and templed out so got a coconut ice cream - I tried my Moreta app just in case and it worked! Turns out it is available starting today for personal QR codes, ie small businesses. Great news to save us getting more money out.
We caught a boat back to our hotel area (21B) - still not sure how the boats work but the people there ensured we got on the right one. This boat was much better as no windows so could see properly as opposed to yesterday's downstairs which was opaque.
We stopped somewhere for lunch - coconuts and yummy pad Thai with tofu for me and some stir fry thing for Anna she wasn't overly impressed by. Then I found more ice cream, really good stuff (well it is our last day!) and we spent some of our last cash in the markets and 7 eleven on snacks for our flight home - my fave things are red bean paste sweets buns. Also picked up a manta ray necklace and elephant ring as Xmas presents for each other which were more pricey.
Went back to the hotel for showers and packed and got a Grab back to airport. Grab driver was constantly talking / chewing and had 3 phones on the go, veering across the lanes several times! Not impressed. However we made it in one piece and checked in easily.
Spent the 1,000B deposit on some tuktuk chocolates and elephant biscuits plus an almond pain au chocolate and chocolate covered croissant - yum!
Flew to Bangkok at 7:30pm, half hour late, took 1.5 hours as part of main Vietnam Airlines flight from London package. Didn't get premium seats for this flight as not available when booked though there were some on the plane. We were sat near engines and they were so loud on take off I worried the plane might be broken but seemed to settle down for rest of flight.
Served chicken and rice, which I didn't touch. Anna nibbled some rice. We've switched to normal food as weren't impressed with the veggie options which is treated as vegan. Wasn't expecting a meal on this flight though so wasn't hungry.
In Hanoi, we had to go through transfer check then security which took quite a while, and downed our water not realising there was somewhere to pour it away.
Had a banh mi each and iced coffee for $18. Mine was veggie and consisted of some lettuce and melted plastic cheese. Edible but hardly nice. Anna's pork version wasn't much better including the first poor Vietnamese coffee. Browsed the shops but not even Anna was tempted to buy anything.
Next flight was 12:45 so had quite a wait but went quite quickly. The airport staff were raising a huge dragon, looked like carnival Chinese new year type on this swaying scaffolding with a guy on top with no safety equipment.
Flumpy still has nasty cough after getting my cold, which has lasted about 2 weeks and kept us both up at night. Think in whole month away I've only had a handful of good nights sleep and some of those I took a sleeping pill.もっと詳しく
Thailand info
2025年12月14日, タイ ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
Money
Cash is still king in the types of places we went to.
Found very few places we could use the Moreta app though believe that changed on our last day so should now be more useful.
ATMs all seemed to charge at least $5 for withdrawals.
Grabs
Used Grabs to get around. Only quotes we got for tuktuks were way more expensive.
River boats are also an easy way to get around. It's not too obvious which bus to get on but just tell the ticket person where you want to go and someone will make sure you're on the right boat.もっと詳しく
Flight home 😭
2025年12月14日, イングランド ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C
Flight took off on time and they hurried to give out and collect back in the food so we could all get to sleep. Ate some of the dinner but not much then managed to get a fair bit of sleep.
I didn't fancy either of the hot options for breakfast so she gave me an extra croissant along with the fruit and yoghurt so much better than the congee we had on the way.
Flight landed slightly early at 7am and we whizzed through security and bag check and were at the bus terminal within the hour. We'd been worried we might miss the bus back but instead had almost an hour to wait in the cold, busy waiting room - several buses had been delayed.
Flix bus back at 8:50 to Cardiff. Both slept for a lot of it. Train back to Barrybados and home just after 1pm.
Asda
Christmas tree
Fell asleep on sofa at 8:30pm, 11 hours sleep.もっと詳しく
