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Day 82 & 83- it is not goodbye but instead, Thailand, I will see you very soon

Day 82- A literal day of nothing

Today was another chilled out day. I spent my day by the pool just chilling out. It’s amazing on the islands how quick time flys. 

I literally moved from my bed to the on-site restaurant, to the pool and back to restaurant and then to bed. 

Today was my last day on the islands. Tomorrow I travel far from Koh Phanghan to Phuket which I am not really looking forward to. It’s going to be a long day of ferry and bus travel.

Day 83- Thailand, thank you and see you very soon

Today was the start of my journey to Malaysia. Today I have to travel to Phuket. This includes a 2.5 hour ferry ride to Donsak Pier in Stuart Thani before hopping on about a 4/5 hour bus journey to Phuket. I had intended to get over to Phuket to explore the city and surrounding islands however I kind of got stuck in Koh Tao so I will have to come back for this.

Before we get to my thailand highlights here are some fun facts about Thailand!

Social
  • the population of Thailand is about 67 million (huge!)
  • 1/10 of the whole population of Thailand lives in Bangkok
  • It is known as ‘the land of smiles’ because everyone is super friendly and smiley! 
  • Thailand is the only country in South East Asia that was never colonised by a European Country
  • There are about 35000 temples in Thailand! I am yet to see an ugly one!

Economic 
  • tourism is now a big part of the Thai economy. Each year the number of visitors increases. There are about 6,000,000 tourists annually! 
  • Although tourism is huge the biggest contributor to
  •  Thailand’s GDP is industry including manufacturing, mining, construction, electricity, water and gas which combined contributes 40% of the total GDP
  • There are over 10,000 7 Elevens in Thailand. With only China having more. Make sure when you visit to grab a toastie! 
  • Over the last four decades there has been huge progress in moving thailand from a low income economy to a upper income country.
  • Poverty has declined over the last 30 years from 67% in 1986 to 7.8% in 2017.
  • There are still huge problems in rural areas as education and medical care is hard to access.
  • Thailand has free medical for its people (yay!)
  • Education is free for 15 years per pupil. 

Environmental 
  • When people think of Thailand they think of elephants. There are around 5000 elephants in Thailand (around half are domesticated). These numbers have fallen massively in the last 100 years. There used to be around 100,000 elephants with about one fifth of them being wild!
  • The beautiful Forrest’s of northern Thailand used to be a lot bigger. These days it is only about a quarter of the size it was 100 years ago.
  • Because of the above Logging is illegal in Thailand.
  • The orchid is the national flower of Thailand, there are about 1500 species of orchid in the Thai wild.
  • Bangkok used to be known as ‘the Venice of Asia’ due to the amount of canals. Now most of these have been filled in and became streets. 
  • Thailand is made up of about 1430 islands! Good luck trying them all! (I personally would start with Ko Tao)
  • Thailand is home to 1/10 of the species of animals in the world.

Overall I have loved thailand. More then I thought I would. I am so so sad to be leaving but I know it is only temporary. 

My Thailand adventure started on the 24th March where I arrived in Chiang Kong. This was purely a stop over before heading to Chiang Mai the next day.


25th March- Headed to Chiang Mai- highlights included the White temple




27th March- Start trekking and stay the night at Ban Mae Jok- highlight was obviously the beautiful jungle


28th March- Second day of trekking to reach Pa Khao Lam- again more beautiful jungle


29th March- Bamboo rafting and Back to Chiang Mai- cooking class! 



30th March- Bangkok!- river boat time!




2nd April- Khao Sok- the most beautiful National Park

3rd April- Ko Pha Nagn- Black moon party





4th April- Ko Tao- my new second home 🏠




12th April- Koh Samui- Songkran! 



16th April- Ko Tao (again)- I hated leaving all over again! 


18th April- Ko Pha Nagn- Jungle party and Full moon party! 

21st April- Phuket- Malaysia here I come! 


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