Bangkok to Koh Tao

People had told us that Bangkok would be crazy, but compared to Delhi and Mumbai it was a blessing. On day one we took the Skytrain to the Siam Centre (ginormous shopping complex in central Bangkok) and wandered around the shops, featuring UK/European brands like H&M, Zara and Pull & Bear, as well as PRADA, Mont Blanc and huge luxury car show rooms. That night we ventured to the legendary Khao San Road to find out what all the fuss was about (you could compare it to any mainstream party strip, but with edible scorpions). We got pretty drunk in an array of bars, bought some tat from some of the stallholders (including my stunning elephant shirt) but resisted the urge to try a scorpion.

(Khao San Road)

The next day we got the hop on/hop off boat to visit the many temples in Bangkok. The boat cost 150THB pp and ran from 9am to 6pm and is the easiest way to get to the various sightseeing spots. First stop was the Grand Palace (500THB entry pp), an assortment of colour, Golden sculptures and buildings. From there we walked to The Royal Crematorium (free entry and bottle of water), which in my opinion was far more stunning than the Grand Palace. Following that we hopped back on the boat to Wat Arun, the Flower Market where we saw (and could be part of) a reality show called Asia Express being filmed then headed back to the hostel. For dinner that night we just went to a street food place across the road and cooked our own hot pots on the side of the road for about £2 each.

(Grand Palace, The Royal Crematorium, Wat Arun, Flower Market pier at Sunset)

Our third day in Bangkok was spent back at the MBK Centre before heading to the Sky Bar (the world's highest open air bar, 64th floor) where The Hangover 2 was filmed, for a night of expensive cocktails (£80 for four cocktails) and incredible views of the city. There is a minimal dress code at The Sky Bar (no flip flops, no shorts, no vest tops) hence why Molly and I spent the day at the MBK centre looking for some smart-ish clothes. We both had a Gin cocktails in the lower bar then headed up to the higher bar where Mol had another Gin cocktail and I had a 'Hangovertini' which had been specially created for the cast and crew of The Hangover – it was amazing! We could have stayed there for hours, and hit the Michelin star restaurant above the Sky Bar afterwards for food but we thoughts we'd spent enough money in there so headed out for street food for 80THB each.

(Sky Bar)

The next day we chilled in the hostel most of the day before embarking on our 20 hour journey to Koh Tao. We booked with Songserm and were originally meant to get the bus to Chumporn then get the Lomprayah Catamaran to Koh Tao – Songserm had other ideas! We went straight past Chumporn to Surat Thani, then got another bus to Dansak, then waited an hour for a ferry to Koh Samui, Koh Phanang then on to Koh Tao. The ferry was really choppy and loads of people were being sick – thankfully Mol and I were ok.

(Koh Tao sunset)

When we got to Koh Tao we walked to our hostel, 8 Home'stel (250THB per person, per night in a huge shared dorm) which took around 10 minutes from Mae Haad Pier then hired a moped and drove to Sairee Beach to book our Open Water SCUBA Diving course. We booked the SSI Open Water Course (cheaper than PADI but the same qualification) with Big Blue Diving for 9,000 THB including accommodation. We grabbed some food in Mae Head Pier then hit the hay ready to wake up early for an Xmas Eve Crossfit workout.