Tonsai Beach: The Worst I've Ever Felt in The Most Beautiful Place I've Ever Been


On January 22nd we arrived in Tonsai, a beautiful beach located in the Krabi Province of southern Thailand. The beach is surrounded by massive limestone cliffs cutting it off from the mainland, so it is only accessible by boat. The views here are unbelievable. It's a place known for climbing, something I'm not particularly interested in, but love observing. Upon getting off the boat, we realized this place had a must different vibe compared to where we had just been (Phi Phi Islands). It was not crowded at all and had a very peaceful, laidback energy. We checked into our rustic accommodation, called "Chill Out Bungalows."

Chill Out Bunglows

Since we are traveling for an extended period of time, we have to save money where we can, which in this case, meant choosing the option with no AC or hot water and minimal electricity (only available from 6pm-6am). The only thing that bothered me a bit was the visible black mold growth, but this is common all over the islands - we had it bad in our bungalow in Phi Phi too. I woke up the first morning and couldn't breathe through my nose at all. I was congested, coughing, and had a sore throat. I immediately blamed the mold, but looking back, maybe it was the pollution in Bangkok, allergies, a cold, travel exhaustion or a combination of everything. Who knows, but I didn't feel well and spent the first day taking it easy. We had a delicious breakfast, walked on the beach and then I sat at a beachfront cafe and spent the afternoon researching for the trip, writing a blog post, and talking to a full-time traveler from Cyprus. He works remotely and has been traveling the world for 3 years. He had been in Thailand for 3 months and is heading to Bali soon. Goals!! It was really interesting talking to him because I didn't know anything about Cyprus and he said he hadn't met many Americans and didn't know much about our culture, so I think we both learned a lot from each other. This is one of my favorite parts of traveling: meeting the other travelers along the way and getting to know a taste of their culture! After my cafe session, Atticus and I went for a sunset swim and got my favorite Thai meal, Tom Kha Gai, at the same beachside cafe!

Tom Kha Gai - chicken and veggie coconut milk soup

The next day, I woke up extremely ill. I want to walk you through what the next 24 hours looked like for me, but if you have a sensitive stomach and/or don't care to know the details, skip to the picture of the next photo and continue after.

I was feverish, had a raging headache and immediately had to make a mad dash to the bathroom where I experienced the most violent vomit session of my life. I laid in bed with no AC or fan trembling and unable to think straight. I tried to take a sip of water, but it left my body within seconds. Then the diarrhea began :-) I was running to the bathroom for one reason or the other every couple minutes. I felt like I was fighting for my life and told Atticus I desperately needed AC. He frantically began looking for accommodations with availability nearby. After rotting in the hot bungalow for a couple hours, we began the journey to the other side of the island where he had found a room. I couldn't do anything for myself. He packed up my bags and even put on my socks. That walk across the island was brutal. It was only a 10-minute walk, but I was hoping and praying I could make it without shitting myself :-) I'm happy to report I did not; however, I did vomit twice. We checked into our room and I passed out on the bed feeling so feverish and slightly hallucinating. I was in and out of sleep having wild fever dreams and often waking up with excruciating abdominal pain. "This is the most intense food poisoning I've ever had," I thought... I racked my brain trying to think what I ate that Atticus didn't, but we had shared everything, so it didn't make sense. Then he came down with it about 8 hours later... And we both spent the next 24 hours fighting off one of the most aggressive illnesses we've both ever experienced. I reached out to a group chat on Hostelworld, an app that connects travelers, in addition to offering cheap accommodations, and asked for advice. Within 5 minutes, a dozen travelers responded offering helpful advice and a few people mentioned Norovirus was going around. I googled symptoms and knew that this was exactly what we were dealing with. I was slightly relieved that we hadn't been poisoned by food so early in our 3-month journey, but also a bit scared of what I read about Norovirus. But I knew we just had to ride it out. Luckily, I started feeling better around 10pm and Atticus started feeling better a couple days later. It was short-lived, but during the worst of it, time couldn't have moved slower. Remember that communal shot glass I mentioned from Phi Phi Islands? Yeah... We believe that is what brought this on! 

Oh by the way, if you want to get incredibly close with your boyfriend of 3 months in ways you didn't intend to so soon, go on a budget trip around Southeast Asia! He's been the best travel buddy of all time and helped me big time when I was down bad. I'm so grateful for him!

Giant limestone cliffs of Tonsai

The next day, we were feeling depleted and run down, but had to checkout by 11am and move on. We really wanted to stay another night, but they were booked :( We actually had plans to take a bus 4 hours north to a national park, but there was no way we were ready for this. Thank goodness the accommodations we had booked in advance were only $15 each and we had the rest of our Thailand trip unbooked, which gave us the freedom to make a new plan. I highly recommend going with the flow on trips like this and only planning 3-7 days out because plans change all the time! We knew we didn't have the energy to travel, but we also knew we needed a break from the place where we had felt so bad. Tonsai also didn't have any air-conditioned accommodations available, so we took a boat to the beach next door, Ao Nang, where we spend the next couple nights making a full recovery and also exploring a really cool place that we hadn't planned to!

We were really bummed about how our time in Tonsai ended and we wanted redemption, so we rearranged our itinerary and made plans to return. After 2 nights in Ao Nang, we were recharged and ready to return to the most beautiful place ever! 

Thank you so much for being here! Much more positive blog posts coming soon :)

The boat ride to get to Tonsai before it all began

Links to where we stayed:

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