People: Unfortunately, tourism ruins a lot. Also the friendliness of people. Thais in the South were often very distant/arrogant and seemed to be looking at us as if we were walking wallets. On Phi Phi I got shouted at (!!) by our tour guide, when just asking for vegetarian food in a normal way – no thanks, for me it’s only Northern Thailand anymore… In Southern Thailand you also meet a lot of party tourists and package tourists – less long-time travellers. But that’s kind of what you expect!

Food: Also the food in the South could not keep up with the North. Everything rather mediocre… The best part were still the night markets which we were sometimes able to find.

Weather: Summer, sun, sunshine – sometimes almost a bit too much heat! 😉 In any case, we always had picture-perfect weather… On Koh Lanta there were a couple of thunderstorms in the end, but during the day it was all nice and sunny again.

Costs: Southern Thailand is much more expensive, than the North. Food, as well as accommodation and transportation (boats) are increasing the spending. And of course also one or the other party night. So I ended up spending 40 Euros/day on average (!!)

Accommodation: As mentioned, there was not a lot of cheap accomodation to be found. Admittedly, accommodation was mostly really nice in return. On average we paid around 600 Baht for a double room, almost always with our own bathroom…

Infrastructure: Busses, mini busses and boats. And sometimes a taxi… Everything was modern, well organized. The only annoying connection was from Koh Lanta across the boarder to Malaysia to Penang. Not too far on a map, but there is (still) no good bus service on this route.

Illnesses: Sometimes food wasn’t too good on my stomach and on Koh Phangan I got quite a throat infection…

Safety: Everything fine…

Highlight: The Full Moon Party and my return to Koh Lanta.

Lowlight: Koh Phi Phi, especially the famous Maya-Bay-day tour.

Click here for all my pictures of Southern Thailand: