Thailand Islands in the sun.

[PauloUK77]

During our winter months of 2003 I headed over to Thailand for a bit of an adventure.The first thing you can't help noticing on arriving at Bangkok airport is how hot it is.The hotel I stayed at in Bangkok had air conditioning so everytime i walked outside it was a shock.Even late at night it was like stepping into an oven.
I spent a few days exploring Bangkok taking in the sights in the old part of the city with all the Wats and Tuk tuks.
Then we headed south on a night train to a town called Trang this was an experience in itself,at every stop people would board the train to sell everything from fruit to beer.As you can imagine with the cheap prices we were all a little drunk come midnight.
The next stage of the journey was to head to the islands off the west coast of Thailand these were very attractive places indeed some totally untouched by tourism.Koh Hai stood out as it was very basic with one resturant where I ate crab everytime it was that cheap.There wasn't even a jetty to land on this island so we had to lift our luggage above out heads and jump into the sea to get on land.
The next stop was Koh Lanta which was another brilliant place,we explored a little inland on this island going into some caves and trekking through jungle,I also had an Elephant ride here which i found scary.The Elephant kept losing its temper due to being attacked by these very large flies and insisted on ripping small trees out of the ground to lash its stomach and the soles of my feet.
Then it was Phi Phi Island which was a beautiful island but had an abundance of tourists.There seemed to be lots of Scandanavians there with a lot of the nightclubs being owned by them.I managed to get bitten by a very large spider (Nephila) heading through jungle areas on this island.I'd walked through a line of it's web which was crossing the path and it dragged it from where it was hiding onto my leg.The bite hurt and left a mark for a few days but luckily they are not poisonous.
Phi Phi island got hit by the Tsunami about a year after my visit totally devastating the place.
From here we travelled back to mainland to Krabi the beaches and rock formations here are out of this world.Then it was back to the islands to Phuket and Koh Racha Yai.
Overall I really enjoyed my time in Thailand and didn't want to return home but all good things come to an end.

One of the many Wats in Bangkok.

The coast at Krabi

Canoeing aroung the coast at Krabi

Sun setting at Koh Lanta

Having a go at milking the rubber trees on Koh Lanta.

Walking through the jungle.

Phi Phi Island.

Landing on Koh Hai

More time in the jungle.

Busy streets of Bangkok.