Thailand is one of those countries where tourism is growing fast and sex tourism is a major industry. Why it has become this way has many reasons. What I do know is that Thailand is a great place to spend your holiday, especially if you need to relax. Food is excellent, people are open minded, smiling and helpful most of the time. The less sex tourism you find in a place, the nicer people generally. The country is also still great value. You can find a decent Bungalow on or near a paradise beach for as low as six-seven $ a night. You can order a 60 cl Chang beer (6,4%) for around three $ in most restaurants. You can have the most amazing Red Curry Chicken or Phad Thai in your life for the same price.

My whereabouts in Thailand this time is because of a dirt cheap flight I found a late night two weeks ago (less than 400 $). It’s been seven years since I traveled this part of the world, and even though things have changed or developed depending on how you look at it, you can indeed still find your paradise there.
If you’re looking to do that for a two week getaway or so, here’s my receipt:

Look for last minute charter flights from your country on dates out of holiday periods. London, Paris, Frankfurt and Scandinavian airports are a few examples of good places to fly out from. Or look into Phuket airports arrivals to see from where there are available direct flights. It’s better to fly into Phuket directly than Bangkok since it’s easier to get to the beaches and it’s where you’ll find cheap charter flights to.

If you need a day or two to rest after your flight you should go to Nai Yang, a beach located 10 min from the airport. I spent last night there and I’m amazingly surprised by its beauty, it’s lack of tourists and excellent, chilled out restaurants and bars.
From there you have, in my opinion, two options. Head south a few hours (maybe five or six) towards the Malaysian border where you’ll pick and island you’ve read something good about. Or, head towards the east coast three to four hours like I did then catch a boat to Koh Phangan or Koh Tao, where you can still find great places. Unfortunately I cannot recommend Koh Samui anymore; it’s lost to mainstream charter tourists forever. That’s based on my visit to once great Lamai Beach – now ruined by umbrellas and fancy restaurants have replaced trianga-pillow-filled chill out lounges. There are however, several smaller beaches I still haven’t been to and can indeed be worth checking out. That said, New Hut is one of the best places in the world to stay (twelve $ for a bungalow spot on the beach, fifteen meters to the water) and is situated at the very end of Lamai Beach.
According to reports from my friend, former excellent destination Krabi and its nearby beaches three hours south of Phuket has faced the same destiny. And whatever you do, get out of Phuket – unless you want to pay more than double prices and party with old, beer bellied men in leather jackets and their eighteen year old Thai-girlfriends.

You always wake up with a silly smile when this is what you see from inside your bungalow first thing in the morning

The hut

The New Hut restaurant

Beats most outdoor restaurants

Koh phangan is legendary backpacker ground. Its full moon parties on Hat Rin beach has been around for long. Unfortunately some of the vibe and most of the cool, nice and interesting people have been replaced by hip, rich kids, people in big groups and the regular crazy europeans on drinking tour. It’s not that good party anymore. Still it might be worth a visit if you’re really into electronic music , mushroom shakes and the idea of 10-20 000 people getting wasted on a beach.

Hat Rin Beach day of the full moon

Though Hat Rin is a good place to position yourself and explore the Island that has a lot to offer. Thong Sala is the islands port and biggest town, which I find a nice place to drift around for a day, explore the Saturday market and play some pool in one of its many characteristic bars. North of Thong sala is the big surprise, where I hadn’t been before; the beach road is amazingly scenic, up an down the mountainous Island you’ll have amazing views. All of the beaches north west, about five of them, is the best Phangan has to offer right now in my point of view. It’s chilled out, beautiful sunsets, Rastafari culture, bungalows and restaurants right on the beach for reasonable prices. The Thais are extremely good at decorating, making a relaxed atmosphere that fits their fabulous landscape and lifestyle.
At the northwest end of the island there are two beaches with decent coral reefs that you could swim out to from the beach. There’s also an Island connected by a beach walk.

Thong Sala saturday market

West coast beach road north of Thong Sala

Haad Yao, a west coast beach

Haad Yao at night

If you drive northeast you’d be better off with a dirt bike though a scooter with good tires will do the job as well. Its mainly raw jungle and uninhabited apart from some coconut farmers and a few classic, backpacker jungle retreats. The “road” used to be nothing like a road; more of a river with most of its water gone. Nowadays they’re building a concrete road (that will take years to finish). There are still some real off road paths, especially the one leading to Bottle beach on the north coast, that are fun to ride.
The main road eventually takes you to another legendary backpacker place called Thong Nai Pan Yai and Noi, two stunning twin beaches forming a perfect ellipse. The place is still stunning but resorts are coming up and its nowadays filled with families and kids. So some of the magic of the place is unfortunately and sadly gone. Though Dolphin, the coolest place in the world, is still there. It’s worth going there just to check this place out; a bar/restaurant surrounded by palms trees and jungle right on the beach.
North of Koh Phangan is the island famous for diving called Koh Tao. I’ve never been there but reports are telling me it’s still a place worth visiting.

Thong Nai Pan Yai

Thong Nai Pan Yai

Bumpy road might…

…get you wet and leads you to..

… a deserted Bottle Beach…

… with some colorful huts…

… and relaxed workplaces

To get to these islands mentioned above you can take the ferry. It takes two to three hours from the mainland port of Surathani, depending on which island. Or you can take a Bangkok Airlines flight to Koh Samui from Phuket (50 min, about 100-200 $).

Right now I’m sitting on the train to Gothenburg from Malmö and it’s 9pm on Christmas Eve. It’s been two days of quite hard traveling to get here. The flight took fourteen hours, landed in Dubai for depot. The airport in Malmö is a joke and I never ever go there again. The gateway didn’t work because something was frozen, then the tractor that tried to pull the airplane in place broke down so I had to jump down in my flip flops and walk in the snow into the airport (-10C). Next there was technical problems with the luggage, took two hours to receive my bag so I missed the last bus to the city center (which I payed for already and ran out of customs and slipping in the bloody snow again and asked kindly the driver to wait). This was followed by the lights in the hall for receiving the bags going out, so we had to look for our bags in dark.
Then there were no taxis and no company I called wanted to drive to the airport! So I had to hitchhike to the Central Station and almost missed the last train. The “hitchhike” cost me 60 $. It was pure luck it was delayed so I had the chance to share some Thai rum with a homeless man (all restaurants were closed and I had to kill my hunger and get warm) before I finally could jump on the train. Merry Christmas!

Welcome to Malmö Central station on Christmas Eve