The Best Islands in Thailand

Upon arriving in Phuket, our first mission was to find out how to get to our AirBnb, which was on the complete opposite side of the island as the airport. Phuket is small, so it was only about an hour drive from one end to the other and took a short bus to get there. We’d been traveling for most of the day, since we were arriving from Bangkok, so our priority was to find a place nearby for dinner before going exploring.

Bangla Road

After dinner, we washed up and grabbed a Tuk Tuk to make our way over to Bangla Road. This Tuk Tuk driver was extremely ready to party, as his music blared and everyone stared at us as we drove by in our little open-aired strobe-lit taxi.

Bangla Road is located next to Patong Beach and is home to the best nightlife on the island. We ended up going out to celebrate our arrival on the island with some fellow Americans we met on the airplane and yes, Bangla Road beat Khao San Road (in Bangkok) times 3000- so much, in fact, that we almost missed our 7:00AM pick-up the next morning for our Phi Phi Islands Tour.

Phi Phi Islands

Upon arrival at the speedboat which would be taking us around the nearby islands, we were greeted by our tour guide who said, “Hey! You’re the last ones here!” It was a great observation for a great morning. However, two minutes later, we received another greeting from two other people that we’d met on the airplane. This was a fun surprise and we all decided to take the seats that “weren’t meant for the weak” outside at the front of the boat. We needed to hold on tight and I could see what they meant about “not meant for the weak” as my whole body went airborne on multiple occasions.

We stopped at a few different islands to hop off the boat, do some snorkeling and enjoy some fresh fruit and homemade gelato throughout the day. Some people *cough*cough* [our guide] also enjoyed some nice beverages. Can you guess where we met our guide after every island stop? The bar.

On the way back, he stole the show in karaoke and even managed to make the captain worriedly stop the boat after screeching when an ad interrupted his YouTube jam. Don’t worry, though, he assured the families in the back that everything was all good.

Ink Studio

We arrived back home, sunburnt and ready for dinner, so we rented a scooter straight away and drove back to Bangla Road for some pizza.

After this, were feeling a bit adventurous and decided to stop by a tattoo shop on the way back because Thailand is known for having insanely good tattoo artists. Turns out, some of the guys from Fiji that we had met on the boat that day are friends with the owners and were sitting in the shop already. Funny how tiny this island was; there were people we knew everywhere!

The Fiji guys told the owners that we were friends and to give us a good deal, which they did along with some complimentary Chang beers AND the aux cord while waiting. The artists invited us out for the rest of the night, but we were exhausted from the sun, so instead went home and passed out, leaving the packing for the next morning.

Avengers: Endgame

Our last day on the island was spent lounging around. We took the scooter back to Bangla Road for brunch after packing and then meandered through a few markets until we couldn’t bare the heat any longer. We walked up to the ticket booth at the cinema and asked for 2 tickets to whatever’s playing next, which ended up being Avengers: Endgame. I know what you’re thinking, that I came to this beautiful island and instead chose to stay inside and watch a movie. You’re absolutely right, but it was a grand experience nonetheless.

The Thai subtitles were on the entire time and before the movie, we all had to stand up while some dramatic music played and a powerpoint of the King went on for about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that this was a THREE HOUR MOVIE (honestly, that’s just unheard of), so we left an hour before it finished so we wouldn’t miss our plane.

Our plane landed in Malaysia for a 10-hour-layover connecting flight, so we spent the night at the airport again. Once we finally arrived back in Melbourne, I had to run home from the airport (AKA take 3 hours of public transportation), unpack my suitcase and then repack it for New Zealand and head straight back to spend another night at the airport, as my flight was at 6:00AM. No regrets.

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