When Harry Met...Thailand

Apologies for the length of this post - we did do a ton of things on this trip! But, due to my memory being atrocious (and okay, just being lazy too I guess), this is all I could come up with.

My Ride or Die Girl.

Since booking her flights in December, I have been waiting anxiously for the day to come where my best friend, Harriet, would come to visit me in Thailand for a fortnight. After spending the first 36 hours in Bangkok allowing Harry to adjust to the time difference (which essentially involved her sleeping in for most of the day or watching X-Men reruns whilst I ventured out constantly and got her food, drink, or any medication she needed...), we heading to our first stop; Koh Phangan.

Harry had decided to treat us whilst on this first leg of the trip and booked us into a 5 star hotel on the North East side of the island, away from all the "Full Moon" craziness. This hotel, called the Salad Buri Resort and Spa, was in a stunning location and boasted its own private beach. When we arrived there that evening, we were treated to a sunset view from our room balcony and it was just beautiful; the sky was splashed with beautiful warm pastel colours with the sun just peaking over the hillside that surrounded the resort; I knew this was going to be the best that it got accommodation wise, so Harriet and I just soaked it all in for all its worth.

The stunning view from our hotel room in Koh Phangan.

We spent practically the entirety of the next day lounging by the pool and overlooking the private beach. I must have moved about 3 or 4 times the entire day, and in the naive state I was in, thought I would be fine lathering myself in SPF 30...I was wrong; I really should have learnt from when I was in Malaysia last summer but alas, the actual consequences of my actions didn't hit me until later that day, when my legs, face, and head turned more red as the night fell. Unfortunately, our paradisaical trip turned a little sour after that night. Harriet and I went to dinner at this burger joint not too far from our hotel. We both agreed that the food was delicious but just a few hours after, Harriet's stomach decided it had changed its mind. And then the night from hell ensued where we were cleaning up puke, on a tiled floor, at midnight, in a five star hotel...I will spare you from the rest of the details to avoid images in your head. But yeah...not the best of starts to our trip, but it was safe to say that Harry would definitely play safe with food from now on.

After our short trip to Phangan, we then made the long-ass trip over to Phuket, where we would stay for a further 2 nights. Our first full day there consisted of taking a tour over to Koh Phi Phi where I thought we would get the opportunity to explore Maya Bay which, apart from seeing me, had been the main reason of Harriet coming over to Thailand. Unfortunately (well, actually more bittersweet-ly), we just ended up going straight to Phi Phi and spending 3 or 4 hours there. But, we were definitely not disappointed; Phi Phi was mesmorising. It was like something out of a dream; the white sands, the crystal blue waters - it was just so relaxing and really gave Harriet and I time to not have to think about...anything really.

The gorgeous Phi Phi Islands.

We flew back to Bangkok the following night, and decided to use the filler day to explore the temples. Unfortunately, with our sunburns and exhaustion from our constant travelling, the heat got the best of us and we ended up touring the temples for a couple of hours and then heading back to the hotel to relax for the rest of the day. Looking back on it now, I think that was beneficial because the following day we heading out to Chiang Mai. Out of all the places on the itinerary, I was most looking forward to Chiang Mai; I had heard great things about it from friends and I was excited to get my first glimpse of the Thai New Year festivites, known as Song Kran (will talk about that in another blog post.)

Chiang Mai was just as beautiful as I expected. There was more of a calmer vibe there compared to other places I had visited in Thailand, especially on this trip. The city was nestled with cute coffee shops and restaurants and accompanied by stunning temples that were dotted around the city. We spent our only full day there exploring some of these beautiful temples and at the same time, trying to avoid other obnoxious Westerners throwing water at us...(even though Songkran officially started the following Monday). Unfortunately we didn't get to see what is renowned as the best temple in Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep, but I will save that for next time. The temples we did see, however, were just as beautiful. Our evenings though were filled with exploring the Night Bazaar and being astonished with my lack of will power in not buying everything I saw. I bought tons of gifts for my family and a water gun ready for Songkran (without really thinking HOW I was going to get it back on the plane.)

Chiang Mai was just beautiful.

What I loved about this trip with Harriet, is that all the places we went to was experienced for the first time for both of us. It was tiring to travel to so many places but an amazing experience none of the less. Additionally, it was cool for Harriet to get a glimpse of what Thailand has to offer - which is SO much more than just the beaches. After Chiang Mai, we took the long trip back to Korat and celebrated Songkran. But I'll talk about that later.

Thanks Harriet for an amazing trip! It was so good to see you and I had the best time! Hope to see you when I'm back home in the UK...whenever that may be...