Honeymoon. Part Two.
Part two of the honeymoon saw us fly from Chiang Mai to Koh Samui, where we were taken to our own little private pier to hop on our own little speedboat to take us over to Koh Phangan, up the north of the island to Thong Nai Pan. The hotel we stayed at is The Rasananda... which is where Katie Price and that Alex stayed on their honeymoon (this isn't the reason we booked it by the way, we'd had it booked for months)
I first came to Koh Phangan in 2006. I had literally just met Matt, in fact we'd been seeing each other about six weeks before I naffed off for a month on an adventure with my housemates.
We stayed up north, Thong Nai Pan and I swore that I would take Matt there one day. It was (and has been ever since) the one place on the whole planet that is just paradise.
So here we are in 2010 honeymooning with our little baby on board growing by the day - quite romantic really!
If I can recommend anywhere to travel to and stay in Thailand it's here. And whilst you're there go to The Dolphin. It's nestled away in the corner of the beach, but you will find the most eco/rustic/creative place to stay and chill out for a while. We kayaked from our beach a few times just for lunch. The food is beautiful. You can't book accommodation online you literally have to turn up and see if they have any of their amazing bungalows available.
Our bungalow at the Rasananda was huge. We had a massive walk in wardrobe, an infinity pool on our veranda, an outdoor day bed, decanters of whiskey, gin, vodka (complimentary - oh how I loved being a pregnant honeymooner and not being able to take full advantage of that) Apple TV (which Mr O loved - a nice bit of new gadgetry for him to play with), bath robes, slippers, mini bar, books - i've never seen hospitality like it! We literally didn't want to leave our room ;o) The only thing I found strange was that housekeeping came twice a day. Once in the morning, and again in the evening to close all our curtains, bring us a sweet the chef had made (wrapped in banana leaf - very cute!), oh and change our ice buckets and set our teapot out so we could enjoy some herbal tea before leaving to go out for the evening. It was weird to begin with but nice after a while, always looking forward to the next evenings treat from the chef!
Thong Nai Pan is still very backpackery (is that a word?) which is why I loved the place when I first went. You get the creative boutique shops packed full of handmade wares, and the tie dyed clothing etc, but now the Rasananda is there i'm not sure how long it will stay backpackery. Which is a shame. Because it would be a pity for the area to become up market and over run with foreigners like Koh Samui :o(
There are tons of AMAZING places to eat in the main village - some very moroccan fusion influenced places like Luna Lounge, then there's your traditional thai food places (the sort of place where you sit on plastic chairs and Mama makes you some of her delicious home cooking). You can get fresh fruit, hire mopeds (don't recommend this as roads are still few and far between up here!) Get tattoos, do PADI courses (you're literally a 45 min boat ride from Koh Tao), go elephant trekking, and of course go down south for the Full Moon\half moon/black moon parties! The thai food places are still super reasonably priced - I enjoyed my favourite King Prawn Tom Yum or Prawn Noodle soup for about a quid. You can't go wrong with that. I absolutely cannot wait to get back to Thong Nai Pan Nai with the baby and live the village/beach lifestyle. We've seen a lot of Thailand over the years, we've seen a lot of the world in fact, but I could easily call this place my home.
(sorry about the cringey leg shots, and dodgy bikini self take with dodgy fake tan action going on)
It was the most wonderful holiday we've ever had, the fact we managed to stay put in the same place for more than 3 days goes to show us how much we loved it there. I really hope one day we get back there, so I can at least show Bubba the most beautiful place on the planet.
Love
Jen x
We stayed up north, Thong Nai Pan and I swore that I would take Matt there one day. It was (and has been ever since) the one place on the whole planet that is just paradise.
So here we are in 2010 honeymooning with our little baby on board growing by the day - quite romantic really!
If I can recommend anywhere to travel to and stay in Thailand it's here. And whilst you're there go to The Dolphin. It's nestled away in the corner of the beach, but you will find the most eco/rustic/creative place to stay and chill out for a while. We kayaked from our beach a few times just for lunch. The food is beautiful. You can't book accommodation online you literally have to turn up and see if they have any of their amazing bungalows available.
Our bungalow at the Rasananda was huge. We had a massive walk in wardrobe, an infinity pool on our veranda, an outdoor day bed, decanters of whiskey, gin, vodka (complimentary - oh how I loved being a pregnant honeymooner and not being able to take full advantage of that) Apple TV (which Mr O loved - a nice bit of new gadgetry for him to play with), bath robes, slippers, mini bar, books - i've never seen hospitality like it! We literally didn't want to leave our room ;o) The only thing I found strange was that housekeeping came twice a day. Once in the morning, and again in the evening to close all our curtains, bring us a sweet the chef had made (wrapped in banana leaf - very cute!), oh and change our ice buckets and set our teapot out so we could enjoy some herbal tea before leaving to go out for the evening. It was weird to begin with but nice after a while, always looking forward to the next evenings treat from the chef!
Thong Nai Pan is still very backpackery (is that a word?) which is why I loved the place when I first went. You get the creative boutique shops packed full of handmade wares, and the tie dyed clothing etc, but now the Rasananda is there i'm not sure how long it will stay backpackery. Which is a shame. Because it would be a pity for the area to become up market and over run with foreigners like Koh Samui :o(
There are tons of AMAZING places to eat in the main village - some very moroccan fusion influenced places like Luna Lounge, then there's your traditional thai food places (the sort of place where you sit on plastic chairs and Mama makes you some of her delicious home cooking). You can get fresh fruit, hire mopeds (don't recommend this as roads are still few and far between up here!) Get tattoos, do PADI courses (you're literally a 45 min boat ride from Koh Tao), go elephant trekking, and of course go down south for the Full Moon\half moon/black moon parties! The thai food places are still super reasonably priced - I enjoyed my favourite King Prawn Tom Yum or Prawn Noodle soup for about a quid. You can't go wrong with that. I absolutely cannot wait to get back to Thong Nai Pan Nai with the baby and live the village/beach lifestyle. We've seen a lot of Thailand over the years, we've seen a lot of the world in fact, but I could easily call this place my home.
It was the most wonderful holiday we've ever had, the fact we managed to stay put in the same place for more than 3 days goes to show us how much we loved it there. I really hope one day we get back there, so I can at least show Bubba the most beautiful place on the planet.
Just thought i would throw in a few pics of us in Thailand in 2008 while i'm at it
Jen x
Comments
Love the photos - looks like a lot of fun. :-)
Loving your blog, have just stumbled upon it from RMW so enjoying catching up with all your goings on! x