I have continued my research, booked an in-country ticket, and have even slightly altered my itinerary.
After much deliberation, I think I am going to entirely forgo the final quadrant of my trip and opt to stay entirely on the Andaman Sea side of southern Thailand island-hopping between Phuket, Ko Phi Phi, Ko Lanta, and Railay during the final 15 days of my odyssey. My original plan was to spend a week on the Andaman Sea side and then to spend a week on the Gulf of Thailand. However, doing so, would add another travel day to my already busy schedule, so I can arrive at an island that is just like the one that I just left. From all reports, the scuba diving, scenery, and weather in December are all better on the Andaman sea side than the Gulf of Thailand, so it makes little sense to transfer. Besides, there are 4 unique islands that I plan on visiting on the Andaman side that all offer different things and are easily accessible from one another by taking ferries that will take no more than 2.5 hours to get from one to another.
Perhaps the only thing that I would be missing out on by not going across to the Gulf is the Full Moon Party on Ko Phan Ngan. While the prospect of dancing and partying all night long on Christmas eve (which is the full-moon) with 20,000 travelers from all across the globe is certainly enticing, the more I read about the party, it seems overly commercialized, full of undercover cops trying to sell drugs and then make arrests/accept bribes, and thousands of drunken teenagers littering the beach with bottles, urinating or throwing up in the ocean, and then passing out in the sand. While this certainly sounds like quite the spectacle, I don’t necessarily believe that it will be worth the extra effort, especially considering the variety of islands on the Andaman Coast and equal opportunities to party elsewhere (just not with as many people).
One exciting thing that I did was book a direct flight from Chiang Mai to Phuket at about the half-way point of my trip. If you know me, you’d know that I avoid stop-overs if at all possible. Who needs to waste several hours hanging in an airport or worrying about missing a connection or worrying that your bag(s) will get lost in the intermediary city? Not me! So, I found the one airline (Thai airways) that offers direct flights from Chiang Mai down to Phuket without having a stopover in Bangkok, and booked a one-way ticket for $173 (5890 baht). Sure, I could have gotten a flight for $100 if I didn’t mind that stopover but now I depart Chiang Mai at 12:50 PM and arrive in Phuket at 2:45 PM, which means that I am only wasting half a day traveling 1525 kilometers or 950 miles all the way from the north of Thailand down to Phuket. That’s like having a stopover in DC on a flight from Connecticut to Atlanta – who wants to deal with that hassle?
I realize that I want to leave room for spontaneity, but unfortunately, I am traveling to many of the most popular islands in Thailand at the very busiest time of year. So as much as I would like to simply go with the flow and stay as short or as long as I want at each location, I just feel like I don’t have the luxury when I am traveling in mid to late December on the Andaman coast. Unless I want to spend large portions of my days searching for a hotel or guesthouse that has vacancy, I am much better planning and booking the final 15 days of my trip in advance. So, that is precisely what I am planning on doing, err, have already done.
Phuket – 3 days/2 nights - December 11th thru December 13th – Phuket is the upscale and posh pearl of the south. It’s where the rich go to play, or honeymoon, or yacht. There aren’t going to be many backpackers there, and it is going to be expensive. Still, after spending the previous week on treks in the north hiking and camping, a little R&R will probably be quite welcome. Therefore, for 2 nights, I plan on booking myself into a luxury resort having completed the “cultural” aspect of my trip, and enjoy the good life. I’ll also take in the insanity of Patong Beach, which is Las Vegas with legalized prostitution, do some watersports, and possibly play a round of golf. Phuket is huge, so with 3 days/2 nights, I will only be able to see a bit of it prior to moving on, but I do think it’s worth the stop.
Ko Lanta – 8 days/7 nights - December 13 thru December 20th – This is where I plan on doing the SCUBA diving portion of my trip. I plan on giving myself plenty of time here (a whole week!), in order to get in as much diving as I see fit. It’s close to the very best dive sites in Thailand and has come personally recommended to me as a great place to do a course. The PADI course will take me 3 or 4 days, and then I still have another 2 or 3 days to do an advanced course, do some additional dives, or just relax if I find out that diving isn’t my thing. The island itself is less developed, doesn’t have the crazy nightlife or magnificent scenery, but has a large backpacker scene and is very chill.
Ko Phi Phi – 3 Days/2 Nights – December 20 thru 22nd - Ko Phi Phi has some of the best scenery of any island, and is the location where they filmed the Beach. Similar to Phuket, it is apparently over-developed, but has good nightlife, great snorkeling, and several locations that make more good cliff-jumping – which I am excited about. Gotta love adrenaline caused by gravity. I probably could do Phi Phi with just a day trip from Lanta or Phuket, but I rather at least give myself a few days to actually get a feel for the island.
Railay Beach – 4 days/3nights December 22nd through December 25th. Railay beach is actually on the mainland but is surrounded by cliffs giving it an isolated island feel. It has world-class rockclimbing which I will give a go, and also has great coves and bays for kayaking. I am sure to get a great upper-body workout between the kayaks and climbing. Between all day-time activities that I want to do (Water-skiing and golf in Phuket - Snorkeling and Cliff Jumping in Phi Phi - Scuba everday in Lanta - then kayaking and climbing in Railay), and all the nightlife I also want to experience, I'm not quite sure when I am going to find time to sleep, or at least be well rested for my day-time activities. I hope they have strong coffee in Thailand. The Tonsai Bay of Railay is where many of the climbers and backpackers hang out, so I am in the process of booking a room there for the final 3 nights (including Christmas Eve) of my trip. Supposedly, smaller versions of full-moon parties may break out here as well. Since I will be here on Christmas, I’ve already started contacting a few places to stay to get a reservation. Kinda funny that the very last place that I am going to stay is the very first hotel I plan on making a reservation. On the 25th, I’d take a flight from the Krabi airport back to Bangkok in order to my flight home on the 26th.
I just looked at ferry times to get an estimate of how long it takes to get from one island to another (about 1 to 2.5 hours each; not bad at all), and I realized that there are no DIRECT ferries from Phuket to Lanta, you have to stop at Phi Phi first. So, I think it probably would be must wise to switch Lanta and Phi Phi around, as its silly to arrive at Phi Phi from Phuket only to immediately leave for Lanta, when I can just do my 2 days at Phi Phi first, then go to Lanta, and from Lanta to Railay. I guess this goes back to my philosophy of hating stop-overs.
Of course, this is subject and probably will change, especially considering how often I am ammending my trip - hell, I just switched my locations around from the time I created the map above to the time I posted this entry an hour later. The crazy thing is as amazing as these 15 days sound; it only represents half of my trip. This advanced planning obviously represents a huge change in philosophy for me as I had initially planned on traveling on a whim, but hey, that what the first two weeks are for – where I don’t plan on booking anything past the first few nights in Bangkok. But at this rate, before I know it, I will have every last detail planned and booked.
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