Island Hopping

Perhaps it's cliche to read Alex Garland's The Beach while island hopping through Thailand, but I just couldn't resist the backpacker classic. When I found it at a book exchange in Ko Phangan I snatched it up and found myself with an overwhelming urge to find an idyllic secluded beach of our own.

We began our island hopping in Ko Samui where we stayed on Chaweng beach. Busy as it was, it was still beautiful. There was also a great night market where we probably had the best pad thai of our lives.

After a few nights on Chaweng, we headed to Hat Rin - home of the infamous full moon party on Ko Phangan. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately?) we were not there for the full moon. We ended up getting some great accommodation for a third of the price and still enjoyed the surprisingly beautiful sunrise beach. We also rented motorbikes and experienced the "road of tears" - a pee your pants good time.

Coke has really saturated the market here...

Next we headed to Krabi for a night before catching a ferry to beautiful Ko Phi Phi. As touristy it is, it is still amazing and we managed to find a quieter place to stay in the main town. We did a day boat trip around the island to various beaches and snorkeling spots before stopping at Phi Phi Ley's Maya beach - the film location for The Beach (the book was actually set on the gulf coast near Ko Samui and Phangan). The irony did not escape us that the beach's claim to fame was its depiction as a secluded spot where a lucky few could escape the "banana pancake trail", and yet the beach is now crawling with tourists (us included)! For good reason though, this beach is every bit as perfect in person as it looked on the big screen.

By the time we reached Ko Lanta, we were really looking forward to escaping the crowds and finding that secluded beach of ours. Lucky for us, this was surprisingly easy to do. We rented a motorbike and rode around the island until we found a nice long beach with only a few other sun-worshippers around. Paradise found.