I couldn’t wait to do this post, I’m so in love with our home for three nights!

My dream was an infinity pool above Bangkok, that definitely turned out very hard to find if you don’t want to spend 250€ per night. Well, and then I luckily found the perfect place to stay, not even very expensive. (If you would like to have the contact information let me know)

And I don’t need to say something more now, the pictures are speaking for themselves, I hope you enjoy!

And now I can finally let you know my next travel destination: 🇺🇸

From Bangkok to Ayutthaya takes some time, but it’s super easy and super cheap!

You need to go to the Bangkok Railway Station (Hualamphong // don’t buy anything before!), the train is leaving every 20 minutes and it’s 15 Baht per person (0,40€). It’s third class and there are only fans, but the other option costs 300 Baht, so its a easy way to save some money.

Ayutthaya is worth EVERY EFFORT! It’s just stunning, the most beautiful temples we have ever seen!

Be smarter than us:

1st: Take your passport (without its not possible) to rent a motorbike! It’s a huge area! We actually rented bikes, but it’s so exhausting, because it’s so hot and humid.

2nd: In Ayutthaya you have to pay to see every single temple. But don’t even start (like we did) to buy at the entrance every time again. You have to ask for a special ticket, which is valid for more temples.

The three most beautiful temples we saw, but we only made it to 5 from more than 15 worth-to-visit temples!

WAT PHRA MAHATHAT:

WAT RATCHABURANA:

WAT PHRA SI SANPHET

And of course (as everywhere) poor Elis everywhere, breaks my heart.

Well, the moment we survived the journey from Koh Tao straight to Bangkok we felt very lucky haha. (+ exhausted) And at the same time it was a huuuge shock, all that smell and dirt and traffic, wow, this city is just gigantic. We were so lucky with our apartment (but more about that in another post) -the city itself….let’s just say I didn’t like it very much.

Discovering the „Mall-street“! (Rama I Road; more than 9 huge malls in one street.)

We wanted to see a couple temples so bad, but the moment we arrived at the Grand Palace (right next to it is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha), we were shocked by thousands of tourists, you couldn’t see anything, couldn’t walk on your own and it was so loud. We tried to escape going to another temple, but no matter where we walked, it was the same everywhere. That was nothing for us- so we went off seeing the Flower- and Vegetablemarkets and walked around in more peaceful parts.

Wat Poh:

I think Koh Tao is gorgeous, I love those huge stones, the island just looks different to all the others we saw before. Sadly it’s stuffed with tourists and build up as well. But there are still some parts you’re on your own, I truly hope they will try to keep those spots. Despite that I loved all the small restaurants and bars, most of them are close to the water & beach, kept simple and modern.

The island is known for diving, certainly there are not two or three, but more than 50 diving schools! Thousands of new divers are leaving the island each year and it’s the second most popular place in the world to get certificated. Sadly, we just didn’t have the time to dive, although we wanted so badly.

Koh Phangan is (I think) way prettier than Koh Samui, just because it’s so much wild nature! The bad part about that: it’s so mountainous that there is no way you can go with a normal motorcycle if you’re not used to it. So you have the option to go by Jeep-tours to discover the island and being there next time i would definitely do it. – At that time we just couldn’t stand being with 40 other tourists, so Koh Phangan turned out to just relaxing and no sightseeing at all.

We were there at the wrong time, so no full or half moon parties for us (it didn’t work out the way we planned it), but of course that’s what Koh Phangan is famous for and the island is ready to host hundreds over hundreds party lovers, not too idyllic of course.

On our second day we decided on seeing some nature!

Namuang-Waterfalls (there are three quite close to each other) sounded promising, but the moment we arrived we were stunned by hundreds of tourists going up by elephants (I have no words how awful it was seeing all this elephants being hurt and running circles.) or going up by some kind of a Jeep. We chose walking, but had to find out pretty soon that we would share the road with those Jeeps and jump in the mud whenever we heard them coming. Well, but whenever you’re at the waterfall there are little steep trails and before you know what’s happening, you’re on your own. Thank god!

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In the evening we searched for something real Thai and non touristy and were lucky to find one delicious and quite cheap little restaurant right in front of a huge statue: „Guan Yu“, a Chinese hero.

We were shocked coming from lonely small Koh Kradan to busy, touristy and huge Koh Samui. Although we spent two days driving around by motorbikes and truged around all the sights, we just couldn’t really share the „Koh Samui love“. The restaurants offer every sort of international food, suddenly everywhere you hear and see Germans and the beaches are not half as beautiful, but stuffed with people.

I can’t wait to show you the special places we saw, but if you think about choosing islands in the east or west I personally would recommend the west!

The first temple we visited was „Big Buddah“, definitiv the most famous one. The size is very impressive, but despite that, we were quite shocked about airplanes flying close to our heads every 10 minutes. You can’t really catch a moment to enjoy the temple.

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Right around the corner is Wat Plai Laem.

Our favorite spot for the day! „Fisherman’s Village“ right at the „Bophut Beach“ is idyllic, relaxed and peaceful (just because no motorbikes fit through the narrow street). But (and that’s quite a big but), it’s very expensive for Thai circumstances.

The island I was awaiting eagerly since we arrived in Thailand was even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.

But to start from the beginning, I definitely thought my dream was over the moment we arrived in Koh Mook (Neiboring island). No ferries going to Koh Kradan at all, just private boats that cost a fortune. And if that’s not worse enough, there was nothing open, I mean NOTHING open. From not even 10 hotels in high season, just 1 was open (guess what: it was not the cheapest one) – The compromise we found for ourselves was going on an one-day trip with a long boat to Koh Kradan and than to a cave Koh Mook is famous for. In the end we ended up paying way too much just for Koh Kradan, because the cave didn’t work out (you start to get used to a couple things being longer in Thailand, so let’s not discuss the reasons it didn’t work out). But even the couple hours we spend on Koh Kradan made me speechless. I have never been to a place I couldn’t believe the beauty with my own eyes. And I know this is the island I need to come back to and need to stay for a couple nights, as we wanted. For me, that’s the Thai-island of my dreams.

And if you ever happen to be around the corner, don’t be as stupid as me – hang on your dreams even if you need to force a fisher to take you with him, this island is worth it:

After our one night on Koh Phi Phi we went off and stayed one night on Koh Lanta. An island, we just didn’t fell in love with, although everyone was super sweet and Koh Lanta has definitely its own beauty.

And then we really had to fight to be able to see what we had planned and wanted so bad. Because of low season (we’re in the middle of the low season) there are no ferries ⛴ going down to other islands at all. – After many tourist agencies and way to much money spent, we went by bus down to the pier close to Koh Mook  and from there on with the food-ferry finally on the island we wanted to see so badly.

And in the first gasp, we were a little disappointed. The water was gone (I mean really gone, ebb means there the water goes 300-400 meters away), nothing opened, and we felt like stranded on an lonely island. The only thing that got us really were the massive amount of trash everywhere, especially at the beach. I mean, that’s not what you imagine talking about about your dream island.

But after one night and some little strain (I’m very crabby if I don’t get my breakfast, so we drove around the island, trying to find something to eat despite chips. Finally we found an little little „supermarket“ we were able to ask if they would cut us a pineapple. Of course with hands and feets, no one understands a word English) we just took bikes and drove around, and suddenly, we fell in love with the imperfect in a perfect way island. Of course it’s touristy in high season and then restaurants, cafes, Supermarktes and tourist agencies are open, but we had this island for our own, completely! (Well, we saw 2 other tourists) and that made it so special for us.

So we stayed instead of one or two nights three nights and discovered more than picture worthy places we didn’t want to leave again at all. (Sorry for so many pictures, I couldn’t decide)

And truly relaxed for the first time and it was breathtaking.

And our resort (although we had some misunderstandings) was idyllic as well:

On our second day we decided to do an one-day trip, but more about what we saw there in the next post.

An stunning island, you can tell already whenever you first see it through the ferry-windows. BUT there is a huge BUT, it’s a tourist-party-paradise. And that’s not overstated! We actually just spend one night over there, and that was wonderful, but after that we had enough already.