A Travel Blog by Katie Chavez
Koh Phangan was never an island that I particularly wanted to visit. I was 33 on my first trip to Thailand and couldn’t have been less interested in attending a full moon/half moon/blood moon/blue moon/whatever moon party, and that’s why most people go to Koh Phangan, right? Turns out that there are a lot of […] Read more…
I can’t say that I had heard of Les Saintes before I started my trip research on the French islands of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. Hell, I knew almost nothing about Guadeloupe at all, let alone that there was a secluded archipelago of mini volcanic islands, south of the main islands of Grand Terre and […] Read more…
Did you know that such a thing as boiling lakes existed? I have seen small pools of boiling hot water in both Iceland and my home country of New Zealand but I never knew there were actual LAKES where the water was actively boiling. Turns out there is, and the second largest boiling lake in […] Read more…
After spending New Years in rough and ready Coron, the first thing that struck me as we were pulling into El Nido, Palawan after seven hours on a ferry, was how much more developed it felt in comparison. But also – how much prettier it is. Emerald green water, towering limestone cliffs and lush green […] Read more…
I decided to go to Coron for different reasons than most. I don’t dive so it wasn’t for the ship wrecks that attract divers from all over the world. And it certainly wasn’t for its beaches as it really doesn’t have any to write home about. The main reason I ended up there was a […] Read more…
The first time Malapascua Island in the Philippines popped up on my radar was when a British expat, who lived on the island and owned one of the dive shops, was murdered there. This didn’t stop me wanting to visit, but it could be one of the reasons why my time there felt clouded with […] Read more…
Maybe I would have felt differently about Koh Tao had I not been sick. But maybe not. Sairee beach on Koh Tao was the first place I stayed in Thailand that lived up to the bad stereotypes. It was overrun with young, drunk teenage backpackers, tourist bars blaring annoying pop music, rotten smelling streets that […] Read more…
I had heard good things about Koh Lanta. How it wasn’t full of tourists and that it wasn’t overly developed. That the locals were still friendly, not jaded like on some of the islands that have been engulfed by tourism. How it had a peaceful vibe, great food and beautiful scenery. It sounded like my […] Read more…
Turns out I was about 15-20 years too late to see the Thailand untouched by tourism. With a lot of beaches being overcrowded, dirty and developed to within an inch of their lives, I didn’t know if I would be able to find the beach paradise I was searching for. Luckily beach paradises do still […] Read more…
I always suspected that Kauai, known as the Garden Island, might end up being my favourite Hawaiian Island. It was a sneaking suspicion based solely on what others had to say about it. It was the greenest island. It has the most beautiful beaches. It is more laid back and less touristy than the other […] Read more…