November 08, 2017 6 min read

There is nothing as fun as an all-girls trip! What happens when 4 girls, three of whom had never met each other before, decide to go on a beach vacation to Thailand? A fabulous trip ensues! Imagine crazy night outs, never-ending shopping trips, brunches discussing love, life, careers and crazy near death experiences! Married, single or in a relationship, all women deserve a no-pressure, free-to-do-as-you-please vacation sans men and families every once in a while.

Shop Your Heart Out In Bangkok

Girls! You cannot visit Thailand and not shop your hearts out especially when you are travelling without grumbling, impatient men. Bangkok with its local markets is a shopping haven to be explored with your girlfriends. Only girlfriends will scout an entire 4 floor mall with you on no sleep for that one pair of shoes you fell in love with but didn't pick up the first time. Only they will run around a mall at closing time (which is 6 in the evening during weekends) like their life depends on it. They will bargain for you and tell you whether that dress looks better in blue or red.

I knew I'd found my tribe when I realized these girls loved shopping as much as I did. We recommend you do not miss Platinum Mall and Chatuchak Weekend Market! Chatuchak Market isn't for the faint-hearted or the impatient. We prepared for an entire day at Chatachuk Market like we were preparing for battle. Comfortable shoes, hassle-free clothes and water bottles and what not! There is nothing you cannot find in Chatuchak - clothes, plants, books, home decor!

Party It Up

The next best thing to shopping with the girls is partying with them. Girlfriends are the right kind of protective. They will always accompany you to the washroom, hold your hair while you puke and ward off creeps with just their looks. They will take embarrassing drunk videos of you, but will never complain about having to take care of you when you get drunk. Also, why is there no female equivalent of a wingman? Women are so much better at winging, eyeliners and girlfriends.

From Route 66 in Bangkok to pub hopping at Central Point in Ao Nang, beach parties in Phi Phi to trying out every club and bar (even a Ping-Pong ball one) at Bangla Street in Patong, our girls night out went on for all 8 days of our trip.

Sun, Sea & Island Hopping

A beach vacation in Thailand is incomplete without some island hopping. The clear water, larger-than-life limestone cliffs and rock formations and soft white sand beaches will make you want to sit there all day long. From island hopping in Krabi and Patong to relaxing at the beach in Phi Phi Islands, we managed to visit almost all the islands on our list.

The four island tour to Railey Beach & Phra Nang Cave Island, Chicken Island, Tup Island and Poda Island from Ao Nang, Krabi is slightly overrated. The islands around Patong are so much better. Coral and Raya Islands looked straight out of a postcard. The water is in shades of blue you probably didn't know existed. Phi Phi is a quaint little island that is hard not to fall in love with. I will let the pictures do the talking.

Making Crazy Memories To Last A Lifetime

The friends you travel with are some of the greatest friends you will ever have! Discovering new places, conquering fears and sharing incredible experiences together makes every moment matter even more. From losing our way in Railay Island to almost drowning to scuba diving and snorkelling for the very first time, we definitely had the experience of a lifetime!

Losing Our Way At Railay Island

Our four island tour in Krabi started with a visit to Phra Nang Princess Cave at Railay Island. The cave opened up to the beach. Even at 10 in the morning, the beach was swarmed with people so we decided to move on to the next island. Instead of going back the way we had come, we decided to wade through the water to our boat. Such a terrible idea! The boats looked closer than they actually were! If not the strong waves, the rocks in the sea almost made us fall into the sea. To make matters worse, two of us were carrying heavy backpacks with food, phones, and camera. But we finally reached the other end only to realize the boats anchored there weren't ours and we'd reached another part of Railay Bay. So we had to wade back through the water! So much for a shortcut to the boat! By the time we left Railay, it was already 12 and we had 3 more hours to explore four other islands!

Snorkelling for the first time without an instructor

When your tour package includes snorkelling, you'd expect an instructor to be there to help you around. There wasn't. The boatman handed us our snorkeling gear along with information that we had to go snorkelling at our own risk. I was the only one who couldn't swim and also the first one to go underwater. I wasn't letting the snorkelling gear go to waste! We went into the water holding onto the ladder of the boat. We did manage to see hundreds of tropical tigerfish!

Surviving A Mini Sea Storm!

You know how people tell you not to visit Thailand during the rain? This is probably why. Being out in the sea during high tide isn't the best idea! I can tell you that because we almost drowned to our deaths! We found ourselves in the middle of strong winds, heavy rains, high tide et al at Tup Island. The people who'd come in speedboats were allowed to leave, while the four of us were stuck on the island with 2 national park employees. So much for wanting an authentic Thai experience in a longtail boat! As if being stuck on an island with two park employees wasn't scary enough, the rain kept getting worse. So we decided to leave.

Picture a storm scene from a movie. That is how the sea was that day. The peaceful blue of the water changed to an angry dark colour. The waves were bigger than we'd ever seen. Everytime our boat hit the water, there was a loud thud and with every jerk, we fell off our seats. My girlfriends had their priorities right even when they thought they were about to drown! One cried about not wanting to die unmarried and the other cried about not wanting her husband to remarry. We didn't die, but the experience was enough to scare us off longtail boats.

Scuba Diving

I didn't think I could ever go scuba diving. But when you travel with the craziest bunch of girls, they make you believe you can do crazy things like go scuba diving without knowing how to swim. The minute I put on the diving suit, all my excitement to dive flew out of the window. To top it all, it took the diving master literally 2 minutes to show us some hand signals when I was expecting training for at least an hour. Between three of us (one chickened out), we had two instructors to hold our hands through it. I was so scared that I couldn't remember any of the hand signals other than 'okay', so every time I wanted to come up for air, I was flapping my hands and legs all over the place until the instructor helped me up. But the few rare moments I let myself enjoy the underwater world of Nemos and colourful coral made up for the fear of dying of a heart attack underwater. I even stood on the seabed for a while!

Travelling with your girlfriends will either make you want to pull each other's hair off or bring you closer to each other. So when you find the people you enjoy travelling with, hold them close. I went to Thailand with one friend and two strangers and came back with my travel squad. Someone very rightly said the best bonds are formed while travelling.

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Woodgeek Travels To Thailand: Sun, Sea & Shopping With Your Favourite Girls