Welcome to the virtual tour of south Thailand ! We made a trip down south Thailand starting August 11th 2023 until August 19th 2023. The South contains many beautiful beaches and islands in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. Bangkok is in the central region of Thailand and our idea was to drive down to the south upto Phuket and back. Just skim past the messages if it's a drag for you but I enjoyed taking you along last time when we did a trip of north Thailand in December. So stay tuned for some highlights about our travel to south Thailand. 🦋💕 The trip was divided into 5 parts with 5 destinations. The 5 destinations were:
A.Hua Hin
B.Khao Sok
C.Phuket
D.Krabi
E. Prachuap Khirikhan
The route and destinations of the trip
We headed to Hua Hin first which is a beach town. Hua hin is normally 3 hours drive from home but it took close to 4.5 hours this time. August september is peak of monsoon season in Thailand, still we took a chance and hoped rains don't disrupt our travel much. We reached the Hua Hin hotel at around 9:30 pm. The traffic was heavy ( Friday travellers) and just one wrong turn made us go around extending the travel by almost an hour. The map was too complicated to read. Since the hotel at hua hin was a beach side resort we walked down to the beach and the hotel served us with the welcome drink at the beach. We hung around for half an hour at the beach. We hung around for half an hour at the beach and then retired to our rooms. The stay at hua hin overnight was to just break the journey down south into smaller chunks so that the drive for jay didn't become too tiring.
Abijit and Abiram at hua hin beach with the welcome drink
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At the Beach resort centra by centara Cha am
The beach with water receded at low tide in the morning .
After spending some morning time at the hua hin beach, we travelled to Khao sok. It was a long drive of about 7-8 hours.Before getting to the hotel of our stay at Khao sok , we visited surat thani city pillar shrine. We offered prayers in the traditional way by lighting incense sticks and a candle, pouring some oil into the lamp and tying a ribbon around the pillar inside the shrine. The statue of buddha is in a pillar placed at the centre of the shrine.
Abijit ,Abiram and me at Surat thani city pillar shrine
Surat thani city pillar shrine
Pillar buddha
Our Stay at khao sok was at Belong Jin dam resort. Near the khao sok national park is the Chaeow larn lake and Ratchaprabha dam. Khao sok national park has one of the oldest rain forest on earth. Its millions of years old. We spent almost the whole day at the lake and the national park. At the lake the long tail boat took us around. The lime stone mountains in the lake is a beautiful sight. There were some showers all through our trip during the day. The long tail boat dropped us at the diamond cave which was the first stop at the limestone mountains inside the lake. The trek to the cave was bad for me. Truly a rainy day ! I slipped into the muddy slush not once but four times. Looks like my gripless smooth shoes and a little bit of misfitness contributed to the falls. Anyways i made it to the cave. The cave has some stalactite and stalagmites formations. According to the guide it takes 1 year for 1 cm of the stalactite to form. They have discovered different chambers in the cave and the purpose for which the chambers were used like storing the hunted meat and sleeping. After the walk to the cave I did not get down from the boat for the jungle walk, our second boat stop. Because of the rains the trails were all too slippery and I didn't want to risk another fall. There are some raft houses built in the middle of the lake and the boat made its final stop for the day at the raft houses. It was a nice experience spending close to 2 hours at the raft houses. There is a restaurant and a rest room at the raft houses. Children and jay did some kayaking. Children had a swim too.
Abijit and Abiram Kayaking at Chaeow Larn lake inside Khao sok national park
The slushy trail to diamond cave
Made it to the cave with delight written on my face despite the slips and falls on the way
Long tailed boat on which we travelled at the lake with the limestone mountains in the backgroun
We travelled to Phuket from Khao Sok the following day. It had been raining almost the whole day during our drive to Phuket from Khao sok.We spent some time time at old phuket town. At the old phuket town a chino thai museum called the phuket thaihua museum had some interesting details about the town. Phuket has a sizeable chinese population. Many people from the fuji province of china migrated to phuket during the opium war. Most of those migrants were involved in tin mining work. The old phuket town has a different style of buildings. Apparently they are chino Portuguese style of buildings. There was Portuguese presence in phuket for a while. Portuguese traded for tin. Big buddha at phuket perched on a hill gave us a glimpse of the phuket beaches from the hill top. We were fortunate to catch a glimpse of the buddha and the beach for a while. Very soon it was blinded by the clouds and rain started pouring.
At the Phuket Big Buddha
A glimpse of the phuket beach from big buddha
We did a tour of phi phi islands. Phi phi islands are about 55 kms by boat from phuket island. We took a speed boat to the Phi phi islands. The speed boat ride in the beginning was fun but turned a little terrifying in the return trip because of the high waves and rough seas. The speed boat took an hour to reach Phi Phi and it made various stops at the Viking cave, Pileh lagoon, monkey beach, main phi phi island, kai island and then finally back in the evening to phuket. The crowd in the beaches and phuket city is striking. Despite this being off-season now the place is teeming with tourists. Could see lot of Indian tourists. Our speedboat had about 35 people and more than half of the people in the boat were Indians. My head felt stuffy and heavy after the boat ride. Any way a night long good sleep at the hotel helped me recover. We stayed at Radisson hotel in Phuket.. Before exiting Phuket we visited kamala beach this morning. It was one of the worst hit beaches during the tsunami. It has the tsunami memorial. The memorial has an art piece which depicts mind as the universe and the artist's perception of what natural disasters are. The message is the thai belief that everything happens for a reason.
Pileh Lagoon
Abiram swimming in Pileh Lagoon
On a speed boat to Phi phi island
The next destination was krabi. Phuket is a small island and krabi is about 3 hours drive from phuket into the mainland. Phuket is connected to the mainland by a bridge. We headed to tiger cave temple mountain which is a Buddhist temple in Krabi. It is 306 m vertically high with a 600 m path comprising 1260 steps. Though many steps are relatively small quite a few steps are knee high. It feels like a winner to have made it to the top. It was a solid one and half hours climb up and 50 minutes walk down the cliff. The limestone cliffs and the rain forests view from the top are awesome. There is a golden buddha statue on top. There is a small ganesh statue as well. After getting back to the hotel, we went for a fireshow at Ao Nang beach just after sunset. Ao nang beach was just about 200 m aways from holiday inn where we stayed. The fireshow at aonang beach was for about 20 minutes and it was just amazing. The captain of the show was a guy in a wheel chair.
The route and destinations of the trip
We headed to Hua Hin first which is a beach town. Hua hin is normally 3 hours drive from home but it took close to 4.5 hours this time. August september is peak of monsoon season in Thailand, still we took a chance and hoped rains don't disrupt our travel much. We reached the Hua Hin hotel at around 9:30 pm. The traffic was heavy ( Friday travellers) and just one wrong turn made us go around extending the travel by almost an hour. The map was too complicated to read. Since the hotel at hua hin was a beach side resort we walked down to the beach and the hotel served us with the welcome drink at the beach. We hung around for half an hour at the beach. We hung around for half an hour at the beach and then retired to our rooms. The stay at hua hin overnight was to just break the journey down south into smaller chunks so that the drive for jay didn't become too tiring.
Abijit and Abiram at hua hin beach with the welcome drink
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At the Beach resort centra by centara Cha am
The beach with water receded at low tide in the morning .
After spending some morning time at the hua hin beach, we travelled to Khao sok. It was a long drive of about 7-8 hours.Before getting to the hotel of our stay at Khao sok , we visited surat thani city pillar shrine. We offered prayers in the traditional way by lighting incense sticks and a candle, pouring some oil into the lamp and tying a ribbon around the pillar inside the shrine. The statue of buddha is in a pillar placed at the centre of the shrine.
Abijit ,Abiram and me at Surat thani city pillar shrine
Surat thani city pillar shrine
Pillar buddha
Our Stay at khao sok was at Belong Jin dam resort. Near the khao sok national park is the Chaeow larn lake and Ratchaprabha dam. Khao sok national park has one of the oldest rain forest on earth. Its millions of years old. We spent almost the whole day at the lake and the national park. At the lake the long tail boat took us around. The lime stone mountains in the lake is a beautiful sight. There were some showers all through our trip during the day. The long tail boat dropped us at the diamond cave which was the first stop at the limestone mountains inside the lake. The trek to the cave was bad for me. Truly a rainy day ! I slipped into the muddy slush not once but four times. Looks like my gripless smooth shoes and a little bit of misfitness contributed to the falls. Anyways i made it to the cave. The cave has some stalactite and stalagmites formations. According to the guide it takes 1 year for 1 cm of the stalactite to form. They have discovered different chambers in the cave and the purpose for which the chambers were used like storing the hunted meat and sleeping. After the walk to the cave I did not get down from the boat for the jungle walk, our second boat stop. Because of the rains the trails were all too slippery and I didn't want to risk another fall. There are some raft houses built in the middle of the lake and the boat made its final stop for the day at the raft houses. It was a nice experience spending close to 2 hours at the raft houses. There is a restaurant and a rest room at the raft houses. Children and jay did some kayaking. Children had a swim too.
Abijit and Abiram Kayaking at Chaeow Larn lake inside Khao sok national park
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| Abijit and Abiram Kayaking |
The slushy trail to diamond cave
Made it to the cave with delight written on my face despite the slips and falls on the way
Long tailed boat on which we travelled at the lake with the limestone mountains in the backgroun
We travelled to Phuket from Khao Sok the following day. It had been raining almost the whole day during our drive to Phuket from Khao sok.We spent some time time at old phuket town. At the old phuket town a chino thai museum called the phuket thaihua museum had some interesting details about the town. Phuket has a sizeable chinese population. Many people from the fuji province of china migrated to phuket during the opium war. Most of those migrants were involved in tin mining work. The old phuket town has a different style of buildings. Apparently they are chino Portuguese style of buildings. There was Portuguese presence in phuket for a while. Portuguese traded for tin. Big buddha at phuket perched on a hill gave us a glimpse of the phuket beaches from the hill top. We were fortunate to catch a glimpse of the buddha and the beach for a while. Very soon it was blinded by the clouds and rain started pouring.
At the Phuket Big Buddha
A glimpse of the phuket beach from big buddha
We did a tour of phi phi islands. Phi phi islands are about 55 kms by boat from phuket island. We took a speed boat to the Phi phi islands. The speed boat ride in the beginning was fun but turned a little terrifying in the return trip because of the high waves and rough seas. The speed boat took an hour to reach Phi Phi and it made various stops at the Viking cave, Pileh lagoon, monkey beach, main phi phi island, kai island and then finally back in the evening to phuket. The crowd in the beaches and phuket city is striking. Despite this being off-season now the place is teeming with tourists. Could see lot of Indian tourists. Our speedboat had about 35 people and more than half of the people in the boat were Indians. My head felt stuffy and heavy after the boat ride. Any way a night long good sleep at the hotel helped me recover. We stayed at Radisson hotel in Phuket.. Before exiting Phuket we visited kamala beach this morning. It was one of the worst hit beaches during the tsunami. It has the tsunami memorial. The memorial has an art piece which depicts mind as the universe and the artist's perception of what natural disasters are. The message is the thai belief that everything happens for a reason.
Pileh Lagoon
Abiram swimming in Pileh Lagoon
On a speed boat to Phi phi island
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| Phi Phi island |
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| Before the tsunami memorial at Kamala beach |
The next destination was krabi. Phuket is a small island and krabi is about 3 hours drive from phuket into the mainland. Phuket is connected to the mainland by a bridge. We headed to tiger cave temple mountain which is a Buddhist temple in Krabi. It is 306 m vertically high with a 600 m path comprising 1260 steps. Though many steps are relatively small quite a few steps are knee high. It feels like a winner to have made it to the top. It was a solid one and half hours climb up and 50 minutes walk down the cliff. The limestone cliffs and the rain forests view from the top are awesome. There is a golden buddha statue on top. There is a small ganesh statue as well. After getting back to the hotel, we went for a fireshow at Ao Nang beach just after sunset. Ao nang beach was just about 200 m aways from holiday inn where we stayed. The fireshow at aonang beach was for about 20 minutes and it was just amazing. The captain of the show was a guy in a wheel chair.
Fire show at Ao Nang beach in Krabi
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| From top of Tiger cave temple in Krabi |
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| Steep climb up Tiger cave temple |
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| On top of tiger cave mountain |
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Spent some time along the krabi river in krabi town. the next day Walked close to 4 kms along the river. There are some sculptures in the park found along the river. The mud crab and sea Eagle sculpture are found in the center of the town along the river. We took a boat to a small island near by on the krabi river. There's a cave called khao khanabnam in it. The boat took us through the mangrove forests. The tide was not too low so the boat could be navigated through the mangroves. There are some fishing farms on the river. It is a raft house built on the river with a small area separated with nets in the river. The boat also took us close to the krabi cliff. Visited the warship museum. An original war ship is exhibited in the museum. There are no arrangements to show us inside the warship. Just an outside sight is possible. Got down at ao nang beach on the way back .
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| Walk along Krabi river |
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| Mud crab sculpture in the center of Krabi town |
Mangroves along krabi river
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| Abijit and Abiram with the Krabi cliff in the background |
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| At the entrance of a cave on an island in Krabi river |
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| Inside the cave |
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| Warship museum in Krabi town |
Crabs along krabi river
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| Ao Nang beach |
We travelled back home in 2 stretches. The first stretch was from krabi to prachuapkhirikhan. We stayed stayed over night in prachuap kiri Khan @T boutique hotel. Visited a Buddhist temple on the way back from prachuapkhirikhan to home. Wat chedi wisai rattinaram. It has a chedi which is the thai name for stupa. A stupa usually contains some Buddhist relic or scriptures inside. According to Google this temple which is inside a forest was found in an abandoned state by a tourist who brought it in the news and later a new buddha statue was consecrated.
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| The new big buddha at Wat Chedi Wisai Rattinaram |
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| The chedi at the wat, considered highly sacred by the buddhists. |
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| Sunrise from T-Boutique hotel at PrachuapKhirikhan |
On the final stretch a national park on the way was visited. The park has 650m long trail built through the mangrove forest. The mangrove forests are found to have a distinct ecosystem as they have qualities of the aquatic ecosystem as well as the land ecosystem. We couldn't spot any animal or bird in it . May be the eyes meet what the mind knows. There is a beautiful beach lining the park, a view point and some caves. I decided not to go up the caves and the view point as the trail up the mountain seemed Kutcha and difficult for me. Children and jayachandran made it to one cave and the view point. They thought it was good I decided not to hike as it was difficult.
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| The national park entrance |
The mangrove train inside the national park
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| Beach inside the national park |
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| View point from top |
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| Inside the cave |
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| Way to the cave |
Travelled well all through and got back home fresh, rejuvenated ,restored ! We have got back home with some new experiences and memories. Apart from the 5 hotels which were booked a week before the travel there was no major planning. I am so glad and grateful that the trip went well. I have had yet another lesson of how to deal with uncertainty and situations where you don't know what to expect. Enjoyed the lesson of accepting what comes to me and working on our available options. Living in the moment. Thanks for staying tuned and sharing the virtual journey with me.🙏.
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