The Andaman coast on the west side of southern Thailand is known for limestone karst islands, long, stretching, white-sand beaches and coral reefs. We spent almost a month here, staying at Ao Nang, Krabi on the mainland and on two islands Koh Lanta and the famous Phuket.
Our first stop was Ao Nang, a mainland beach resort, which has apparently developed hugely over the last 10 years or so. It is fairly commercialised, but manages to retain a bit of charm. The beach overlooks distant islands and is partly sheltered by cliffs. Our hotel, the Ao Nang Regent was about a 20 minute walk from the beach, but it had stunning views of the cliffs. At the end of Ao Nang beach was a rickety staircase, clearly not professionally built, that took us over the cliff to the next bay. As soon as we got to the other side the heavens opened and we had to shelter. After pouring it down for around 10 minutes the clouds passed and the sun was out again. It is the monsoon season and that is quite often what it entails, a heavy shower then back to glorious sunshine. We stopped at the Movenpick resort there and had a drink whilst watching the waves lap the empty shore. We hired a scooter at the hotel for 200 baht (£4) and headed out to explore the area after a quick stop at the immigration office. In around 10 minutes they had fixed the mistake made at the border and gave us an apology for any inconvenience caused - nice service! We decided to do the Shell Cemetary - gastropod fossil park. This was 200 baht each! As it had just been pouring down the ticket sellers had gone inside, so we sneaked down to the shoreline where the compressed fossil layers were. A pretty poor show, the tide was mostly in and we would have been gutted to have actually paid for it! We also did another coastal road drive. We stumbled across an amazing little island that at low tide was joined to the mainland by a narrow stretch of sand. There were only around six people on the island sunbathing and enjoying swimming in the calm shallow waters. After collecting some shells we headed back across the narrow stretch of sand. To our horror the tide was coming in fast and we had to wade calf deep to get to the shore. Paul soaking his walking boots in the process - they still smell bad now! The other bathers were stranded on the island until the next low tide. The other beaches north of Ao Nang, such as Khlong Muang, were deserted and clean, lined with expensive resorts. We had them all to ourselves.

At low season there are great bargain boat trips to be had, normally the four island boat trip costs, 2100 baht (£42) but we got it for 400 baht each (£8). The coach took us from our hotel to a creek at the side of the little island that we were nearly stranded on. There we joined around 10 others on a speed boat. Our tour guide Runi took us first to West Railay beach (not an island really) to see Phra Nang cave. The cave was weirdly decorated with dolls and phalluses, part of a sea gypsy shrine. Next was Tup island - jungle covered limestone karst island with white sand beaches and colourful fish in the shallows. Chicken island was next for snorkeling, it was allegedly shaped like a chicken - we couldn't see it! Everyone except us got out to snorkel in the ocean, Paul took photos and I was handed some bread to attract the fish. I'm very sure that feeding bread to tropical fish is not a good thing but hundreds of green striped butterfly fish came racing in. I threw in pieces of bread near the snorkelers so they could get a good view. I have to confess that it went terribly wrong! I threw a piece of bread in front of a Spanish girl but it unfortunately landed on the side of her goggles and so fifty butterfly fish suddenly dived towards her face. "Sorry" didn't seem enough as the girl coughed and spluttered to the surface in shock. Eek! Poda island was the final stop - it was where we had lunch. There was an amazing stretch of beautiful white sand and there were limestone karsts off shore. We sat in the shade by the cliffs watching the waves lap the shore and the monkeys attack the tourists. We were the last ones off the island and headed back to Ao Nang. Koh Lanta is a large island close to the mainland reached by two car ferry boats - we stayed at the weirdly named Clean Beach resort at Klong Nin beach. We were staying in the south of the island and so got to drive through the northern resorts, which were a bit grim so we were not hopeful. Our hotel was however great, swimming pool, restaurant on the beach and a lovely bungalow to stay in. A huge american breakfast every day too for £14.50 per room per night. The beach was clean as advertised! We hired a scooter again and I sported a helmet with Marijuana written on the side. We visited Old Lanta town with its Chinese style wooden houses and further south were some stilted sea gypsy settlements. The island was once only inhabited by sea gypsies until they were thrown out to make way for tourism. On another day we did an hour long trek at the Koh Lanta national park. Some of the primary forest on the island has been preserved. They have built a paved trek through it though. It was 200 baht each to get in. Paul had run over a green snake on the way there, so not a good impact on the environment, it did slither away though. The park has been nicely done and there is also a pretty lighthouse on an island off the shore.
Our final stay was in Phuket, it is a big island with many resorts but my lack of research led us to stay at Patong - sex tourism capital of Phuket. Our hotels there were great value. Our first one was a bit expensive at £17.82 per night but the breakfast was worth it - full American breakfast and freshly baked croissants and pain au chocolat. We then moved to a cheaper hotel 88 hotel at £12.78 a night including a big breakfast - secluded rooftop swimming pool too. The hotel was located opposite Lil Pimp's Pool and Coffee bar - nice!
When we explored the resort of Patong we discovered sleazy bars and tens of time-share touts including a scouse drug dealer from Huyton. Everywhere you look you see western lads and old blokes with Thai lady friends. Paul came up with a genius idea for a T-shirt. On the back it would say "If you can read this, the hooker fell of my scooter". We spent most of our time relaxing at the rooftop pool or exploring the island. We got a local bus out to Phuket town with its Chinese and Portuguese buildings, Buddhist temples and Romanee Street, which was a red light area centuries ago but is now a pretty road full of chinese style shops, cafes and hotels. We hired a scooter for a couple of days and did a coastal drive to Phromthep cape with its Jubilee lighthouse and elephant shrine. We visited the viewpoints for the pretty beach resorts Karon, Kata and Chalong. We went to see the Big Buddha - he's very big and constructed in white stone financed entirely by donations. Chalong temple was another highlight - see photos. On a visit out to the north western mangroves, our parked scooter was violated by macaques. They had pulled Paul's helmet to pieces (mine was locked under the seat) and they had pooped on the dashboard. It also looked like they had wiped their backside on the wing mirror. Paul kept them at bay with warning shots of sticks, whilst I cleaned away their mess (wet wipes are a must on your travels!) Well that's the end of another long blog and another month of adventures. We have booked flights for the next couple of months, so we can reveal our plans. We'll be in KL until 3 August when we fly out to Sri Lanka for a month, after that it's South Korea for a month, then the Philippines. Join us for more excitement!