Travel friendships blooming in Southern Thailand

Leaving Laos was a painful affair, as it meant parting ways with my travel boyfriend after four amazing weeks of travelling together. As he was going back to Vietnam, I spent a melancholic day and night in Loei, an untouristic border town in Thailand, where I started planning out my way back to Belgium. I still had a month in Thailand ahead of me, but I needed to start figuring out which route to take, which trains, what stops to make and where to get the visas. So when I arrived in Bangkok on a night bus, I was just a lonely soul missing her travel boyfriend and worried about getting a Chinese visa.

First meal in Loei: I was not used to dinner for one anymore

It got better from there, though. A lot better, actually.

Krabi and Koh Phi Phi with Hannah

After having kept to myself for some days in the hostel in Bangkok, I started hanging out with others again and at some point I felt ready to start travelling south, to the islands. I was planning to go by myself but then I happened to be messaging back and forth with Hannah, a nice British girl I met in Cambodia and whom I coincidentally saw back in Laos. As it turned out, she was in Krabi in southern Thailand at this moment, eager to have a travel buddy there. This was exactly what I needed.

I hopped onto the night bus going south and reunited with Hannah at the hostel in Krabi. Weirdly, both of us started getting a bit of a cold and although that was not necessarily a great feeling, it was very convenient that it happened to both of us simultaneously. It meant that we were perfectly in tune with what we wanted: a relaxing massage, tea with honey and just some chill time, thank you very much.

It didn’t stop us from heading to Koh Phi Phi the next day, which is a very nice island, although it is highly touristic. We picked out a quiet hostel in order to stay away from the party people (but where our coughing would alas be heard at night) and enjoyed the beach life.

The beach on Koh Phi Phi

The touristy little streets of Koh Phi Phi

We took a tour on the second day to discover famous Maya Bay which we visited in the early morning. The boat also stopped at questionable Monkey Island which gets its nickname from the many monkeys coming out to the beach to see if they can get something from the tourists. They’re obviously used to humans and to receiving food or other stuff, which made them very cocky, but also disconnected from their natural environment. As I was trying to snap a picture of a baby monkey, it carelessly jumped off the rock and onto my head!

The beach of Maya Bay

This was the boat that we took the tour with

Sadly, this is a tpyical sight on Monkey Island

Can you tell I was not entirely comfortable?

Koh Phangan with Anisha

As Hannah’s travel itinerary took her further on to Malaysia, I remained in Krabi by myself. A new perspective opened up, however. Anisha, a bubbly Indian from California whom I had met in Bangkok just a week earlier, was on the island of Koh Phangan and suggested that I’d meet her there. I did just that and spent some lazy days there with her, discovering the island on a motorbike, snorkeling off a pretty stretch of sand and topping it off with an amazing sunset that boasted a rainbow at the same time. And as it goes with the prettiest sunsets, I didn’t have my camera right there with me, since I was still in my snorkeling outfit.

Beautiful Railay Beach near Krabi where I spent a relaxing day by myself

Exploring the jungle of Koh Phangan

I might not have pictures of that magical sunset, but this intriguing cloud formation was also pretty nice!

The private beach at our hostel Goodtime Beach Backpackers

After these revitalizing days filled with friendship, I headed back to Bangkok. Back in Krabi, I had received the amazing news that my travel boyfriend unexpectedly had decided to quit travelling in Vietnam by himself and was going to come and join me to travel the rest of Thailand with me. He would come and meet me in Bangkok.