Northern Thailand

Northern Thailand, where locals, businessmen, travelers and monks share the streets...

Times spent in the north was very different to that of the south. With no beaches to spend our days we got on our bicycles and set our exploring the many temples dotted around the cities. It can be unbearably hot walking around at times, with no way of cooling off apart from taking three showers a day (no such luxury of air con or swimming pools), bikes were definitively the way forward. 

In Ayutthaya; one of Thailand's early and most revered kingdoms, we discovered the ruins of ancient Khmer temples from the 14^thC hidden amongst the sprawling urban center. We visited the Karen Longneck tribe, immigrants from Burma they now reside in the Thailand's hillsides. Was interesting to see their villages and hear their story. Really enjoyed the north, felt a real sense of culture here where monks are offered food every morning and people pray in the streets. 

Similan & Surin Islands Liveaboard

 DIVE, EAT, SLEEP, REPEAT...


Spent 4 days and nights on the Andaman Sea 5 hours off Thailand's west coast. Most of the dive sites were made up of coral bombies and granite boulders which provided great swim-throughs and surfaces for soft corals to thrive. Felt like a holiday off from backpacking, we didn't have to budget or get our wallets our for 4 whole days. Oi the boats chef cooked up enough food to fuel our starving stomachs after 4 dives a day. 1st dives were at 6.30am and last dives we surfaced just as the sun was setting. Thai and dive crew were all good fun throughout the whole trip, the biggest smiles in Thailand. Thanks to Hugh our dive guide who showed us some incredible marine life from leopard sharks to seahorses and everything in between. What a laugh everyone had on the boat together, we hope this liveaboard will be the 1st of many!

Southern Thailand

Arrived in Thailand bright and early after a 12 hour night bus from Malaysia. Boarded a boat headed for the Phi Phi islands where we were met by a throng of people at the pier throwing bags off the boats and ushering you into their hotels. Leaving the hustle and bustle behind we wondered out to a quieter spot where we found a beach where you can snorkel with black tip reef sharks. Took a longtail boat to Phi Phi Lay where Maya Bay was made famous as the setting for the film "The Beach".

Had a couple of great days climbing on the limestone cliffs at the World renowned Railay. With hundreds of sports routes to choose from, any climber would be spoilt here. An overnight ferry took us to Koh Tao, a small island on the east coast of Thailand. Definitely an experience sleeping amongst 60 other people on the floor of the boat. Nang Yuang (sand bar islands) off Koh Tao were beautiful. Howard and I are sat here finding it hard to describe in words just how stunning it was; best to just see photo above. From Koh Tao we went to Phuket where we awaited pickup for our diving liveaboard trip...