The beaches in the islands surrounding Thailand are most beautiful. I live in a place where it is very difficult to compete with when it comes to beaches. Miami is known for its fulfilled coastline and year round sunshine. However, the Thai islands have nothing to envy from the Caribbean. I visited a total of four islands and Bangkok in fourteen days. I am exhausted to say the least, but it was so worth it. My trip began in Bangkok, as I wrote in my previous blog. For my 24th birthday, I was in the gorgeous lush island of Koh Samui, lying on white sand watching the sunrise. I spent two nights in Koh Samui and then took a ferryboat ride to another island “Koh Phangan”. Here I met up with my friends and went to the infamous “half moon party”, a body-painting, house music, funky dancing, crazy party in the middle of the jungle. We all had a great time. The next day I took another ferry and headed to my favorite of all the islands “Koh Phi Phi”. The coral filled waters in Koh Phi Phi are just a must-see. For about 400Baht we booked a tour on a water taxi that takes you snorkeling with the sharks, Di Caprio Island, which happens to be the island where they filmed the movie The Beach. You end the day watching the sunset in the middle of the ocean. The beauty that lies in this island is very hard to explain, you just have to see the pictures. In Koh Phi Phi, I spent two nights and headed over to Phuket. Here I was not able to see much because I the weather did not permit it. There was bad flooding in the north of Thailand, and even though we were to the south, we still had a lot of rain. After speaking to many locals in the other islands, I was warned that Phuket is a highly touristic area and everything is overpriced. Therefore, the next day we headed back to Bangkok and visited several temples including the Lying Buddha Temple the largest of all the Buddha’s in Thailand made out of gold. Bangkok is very busy, with high loads of traffic at all times of the day. The food is good! For 50Baht, you can eat the best street food consisting of padthai with whatever you want to put on it, and spring rolls, and however spicy you want to make it. My trip was a complete success; I learned a lot especially about tourism. Three plane rides, two taxis, and one train ride later, I was back in Tianjin ready to get back into school mode.
As always,
Your caffeinated tourist guide
