Thai Seas
THROUGH THE mosquito-netted window, the sun rises over a turquoise sea. The beach is just a few steps away, the fishing boats already out with the early tides. For normal holidaymakers, this would be an unholy time to get up, but morning yoga is no stretch at all when you are staying at a lulling spa on one of Thailand's glorious islands.
Here's a proposition: instead of eating out at your local Thai restaurant once a fortnight, save that money for a few months, buy your tickets to Thailand, then pity the miserable diners back home as you relax on your own perfect island break.
Nearly four years on from the tsunami, much of the damaged coastline of the luxury eastern side of the country has been rebuilt; but while this side has received the world's help and attention, the western Gulf Coast has also been changing. Now, on these beautiful islands, backpacker accommodation squats alongside plush resorts, and development is apparently unstoppable.
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There is a holiday here for everybody: six of the 80 islands of this archipelago are populated and the major three are easy to reach. Koh Samui has a reputation for spa retreats but it is equally a place to go for bustling shops, party bars, and sprees in the sun. Koh Phangan's beaches are usually deserted, except during the full-moon parties, while Koh Tao offers magnificent, clear waters and good value diving courses. Best of all, the islands are open all year.
One of the most attractive qualities of Thailand is that its people are industrious, flexible and open. It offers everything from diving, climbing, golf, massage courses and cooking to spa retreats, yoga, trekking, shopping and beaching. Indeed, Thailand remains one of the easiest, friendliest and least hazardous places in the world for tourists to experience a very different culture.
KOH SAMUI Koh Samui, one of the most developed islands, is an excellent starting point. It is relatively large (at almost 250sq-km), with lush green forests and waterfalls in its centre, excellent transport, and a variety of beaches and town resorts. For shopping trips, the grubby harbour town of Na Thon might offer the best prices, but the throbbing resort of Chaweng is the most fun - the main road has everything from discount, market-style goods to air-conditioned stores for brands such as Levis, with a couple of Boots The Chemists too (in case you want to shop for cheaper bottles of the firm's own-brand face cream that has sold out in the UK, renamed Restore & Renew for Thailand).
Tesco has moved onto the island too, and has an enormous store just inland from Chaweng beach. Here you can buy a tent, or discover which UK products are perplexingly overpriced (men's shaving balms, for example).
Further south, Lamai offers a smaller but seedier-feeling party scene together with a terrific spa that does not need to advertise itself in the island's guides: Spa Resort (www.spasamui.com). Run by an American and his Thai wife, this completely hassle-free operation has gorgeous huts right on the beach and in verdant gardens, a new "village" of accommodation inland and even a set of retirement homes under construction.
The resort has a superb restaurant, yoga and meditation courses, very clean pool, internet café and no obligation at all to do anything but relax and enjoy the banter of the receptionists. However, more austere visitors may want to make use of the monitored fasting and the colonic irrigation. For those going the whole hog on self-discovery, the Health Oasis Resort (www.healthoasis resort.com) offers vortex astrology and is set on a good area of beach in the north of the island at Bang Po. Despite decent accommodation and a large, sparkling pool, this spa is more overpriced, tends to hard sell and is only for people who are incredibly serious about their fasting and cleansing.
The island is in development all year round, ensuring that some of the five-star accommodation is sparkling and new. In the north of the island, past Mae Nam town and beach, is the stunning Samui Buri Beach Resort & Spa with beautiful rooms, some with private pools, and discounts available from rates starting at £100 a night (www.samui buri.com). There is also a tempting beach bar. But for the humbler budget, and still excellent food, places such as the friendly Shady Resort (00 66 77 425 392) offer lovely bungalows, with fridge and air conditioning, for £14 a night.
Most restaurants stock excellent free tourist maps for trips around the area. Local buses - or rather, converted trucks - are about 70p a ride, taxis are from £3, and if you do hire a motorbike (from around £3 a day), be extremely careful: by far the greatest risks to tourists are traffic accidents on the narrow, badly-lit, chaotic roads.
KOH PHANGAN If your aim is more solid partying, then your destination will be Koh Phangan. Once a month, as the full moon arrives, all of the trains south are booked up, the planes are rammed and putting on extra flights, and the buses do a fantastic trade. It is a backpacker rite of passage to attend one of these parties, created first by the good value Paradise Hotel (00 66 77 375 245, Hat Rin East). It is worth bearing in mind that many of the most professional thieves of the country are on hand to tidy up wallets and bags left lying around, and that there have reportedly been some incidents of drowning. Even in the rain, though, the party lights up the sky for miles around and in quiet beaches nearby such as Hat Thien, health-seekers may wake momentarily from their retreats at the Sanctuary Spa (www.thesanctuarythailand.com) which has dormitories from £1.20 to family houses at £55 a night..
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