Koh Tao & Koh Samui

We travelled down from Chiang Mai to Koh Tao where we had booked on to an SSI Open Water Diving Course at Roctopus Dive.

In a way I'm a bit surprised we managed to have such a great time on Koh Tao as we seemed to accumulate new injuries daily during our time on the island.

On our first day we decided to head to one of the beaches and snorkel with some black tipped sharks. The snorkelling was amazing but I quickly managed to cut my hands and soles of my feet on the sharp coral whilst Phil was busy building up a red raw burn from the sun.

We then hired a moped as we thought it would save time and taxi money getting to and from our dive course every day as it was on the other side of the island... Of course, I immediately crashed it, resulting in most of our bodies being covered in cuts, scratches and bruises.

The following day we began our Open Water course and, as luck would have it, I then perforated my ear drum due to the water pressure. By the next day all our cuts were infected and both Phil and I had the beginnings of ear infections.

Despite all of this - we had the time of our lives. Koh Tao is one of the most beautiful places either of us have been to. Every morning we woke up to the turquoise sea and cloudless sky over Freedom Beach, and each evening we watched the sun burning orange, red and purple over the horizon.

Freedom Beach view from our balcony

Sunset on Sairee Beach

The food was also delicious, most of all the out-of-this-world fish platter at Barracudas near Sairee beach. Too much fresh fish to know what to do with.

Roctopus Dive were a 5* dive school and we are thrilled we completed our Open Water with them. They take groups of up to 4 people per instructor so we were well looked after the whole time. Our instructor Mick was fun, patient and so passionate about diving it was hard not to feel the same fire in our bellies by the end of our course.

Our first day consisted of pool training, day two was our written exam followed by two 12m dives, and finally on day three we did two 18m dives and became certified Open Water Divers! We had heard a lot about Big Blue dive school, but they take large groups and it seems a bit of a factory - churning new divers out day by day. I would recommend Koh Tao to anyone who is thinking of doing an Open Water course, and there is no better dive school to learn with than Roctopus. 

We left Koh Tao the following morning and spent a couple of nights at a beautiful air bnb on Koh Samui which had views of the ocean and mountains.

We had just one day left in Thailand so followed a friends recommendation and booked onto a tour to AngThon Marine Park where we kayaked and relaxed before flying back to Singapore the next day.

Chiang Rai & Chiang Mai

Back in 2014, I travelled around a bit of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam with a pal and adored it, so was keen for Phil to experience some of things I had seen and done, and also do some new stuff together. Phil was able to take another two weeks off work so we booked an outbound flight to Chiang Rai in the North, and a return flight two weeks later from Koh Samui, an island in the South.

We arrived in Chiang Rai in the evening just in time for the Sunday food market. We ate lots of new street food (including our first taste of grasshoppers!) and watched some traditional live music and dancing. The following day we visited the famous White Temple (Wat Rong Khun) which was beautiful. It reminded me a little of Rivendell from Lord of the Rings, but maybe that's just me.

White Temple, Chiang Rai

Later that day be got a tuk tuk down to Chiang Mai where we tried the city's local dish - Kao Soy - and shopped in the Night Bazaar where we bought hundreds of Thai pants at £3 each - what a barg.

The following day was spent at a farm with the Asia Scenic cookery school. It was great that Phil and I were able to learn how to cook some Thai dishes together as we are now really excited about cooking some of them again when we live together in Singapore. We made (and ate) spring rolls, Pad Thai, soup, curry and banana fritters before rolling back to our hostel.

Asia Scenic cookery school

We spent two more days in Chiang Mai at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary a few hours drive north of Chiang Mai. We were lucky enough to be with a great group of people so had a good laugh and some interesting conversations. We had a similar mindset about going on this particular tour - we had all heard so many horrible stories about elephants which are treated badly out here; poked with sharp sticks, made to do tricks, and ridden by tourists. This particular tour was based at an elephant sanctuary where two families of elephants had been rescued from being abused at another camp. We could all tell immediately how happy the elephants were; as we fed them, bathed with them and washed them.

Elephant hugs and kisses

Mud bath with the gang

The rest of the group headed back to Chiang Mai but Phil and I stayed the night with one of the families up there in the mountains. We spent the evening playing with kids in a waterfall and eating and chatting with our host Mr Somm until nightfall.

Waking up to the sound of clucking chickens, snuffling pigs and barking dogs in the middle of the mountains was surprisingly wonderful. We both felt kind of liberated being so far away from phone signal, cars and buildings.

Waking up with nature

After breakfast Mr Somm and the two of us took one of the elephants on a walk through the jungle along the river. Another surreal experience as the huge, pregnant elephant daintily stepped through narrow pathways and river crossings.

The two days we spent at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary was something we will both remember forever and we now both have a new-fangled love for these gentle giants.