Thailand

Quick Summary

Bangkok

Places to visit: Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew, What Pho, Golden Mount, China Town, Khaosan Road, Floating Market, Upside down House, Chatuchak Market

Transportation: Metro, Tuktuk, Grab taxi

ChiangMai

Places to visit: Tiger Kingdom, Night Market, Elephant Sanctuary, River Rafting, Long neck Village, Khun Chang Kian, Wat Phra that doi suthep, Tapae Gate

Transportation: Red local taxi, Grab taxi, tuktuk

Phuket

Places to visit: Phuket town, James Bond Island, Phi Phi Island, Patong, Nai harn beach, Chillva Market, Sunday Night Market,

Transportation: Local bus, Bike taxi, Grab taxi

Food: Mango sticky rice, Fresh Fruits, Pad Thai, Tom Yum, Shrimp Glass noodles, Curry Powder seafood, Shrimp Coconut soup, Sushi, Banana Roti, Coconut Ice cream, Fresh seafood,

What to pack: Light clothes, swimwear, cell phone water resistant covers, bug repellant, sunscreen

Land of Smiles is a very well deserved title for Thailand. From breathtaking beaches to incredible mountains, mouthwatering food to party spots. Travelling solo, with your partner or friends. Everything you would ever wish for in a vacation, you can find in Amazing Thailand.

I’ve been to a couple of trips few years back, but they were mostly for business purposes. I loved those trips, enjoyed them so much and made the best out of them, but let me tell you, this first personal trip was awesome on a whole different level. Starting with how it was, so unexpectedly, planned to the places I visited, to the fun and laughter. It was legit!

I’ve been living in India for 4 years and with all the excitement of living abroad, this has made meeting my family and friends a rare occasion which is not so exciting. So, one day while I was chit chatting with my best friend in Egypt, she said the magical words…Let’s go to Thailand! And, you guessed it, we did. And to, even our own surprise, we landed in Bangkok, only 10 days later!

We planned the entire trip in 3 days including flights, hotels and Visa and that too while we are in completely different countries. It was a bit of a challenge getting arrival and departure times close to each other so that none of us have to wait for a much longer time, but we managed that too. We used flights both international and domestic, because we were worried about not having enough time to use other options.

Our trip was in February 2019 during the best time to travel to Thailand which is the dry season from November to April. However, because it’s high season, prices are also higher. We visited 3 cities; Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket, and each one of them had a completely different vibe, flavor and pace.

Bangkok

We started the trip by landing in Bangkok, and if I have to describe how we met each other after a year I’d totally need another blog. Upon arriving at the airport, you can easily pick up a local number for you cell phone. There are couple of booths with different packages to suit your needs. There are also money exchange booths, but I found money exchange places with better rates in the city. We have been mainly travelling in the city by Grab taxis, which is not the cheapest way, but was more convenient to us. The best affordable way would be to use the metro. Tuktuks also are nice to try, but not really feasible for all your travelling as they can get a little expensive.

We spent 3 days there in Khaosan Palace, a 3* Hotel in Khaosan Road. The hotel was decent and clean which was what we mainly wanted. It, also, had a small pool on the roof, but we really didn’t have time or intention to spend time there as our schedule was already full and crazy. Was this the cheapest we can go? No, you get cheaper options, especially if you go for a hostel, but we thought this was appropriate for us since - a hint for you- we don’t travel light! So, whether you are planning to backpack or take your entire house along, you will, definitely, find so many options according to your preferences.

When it comes to the location of the hotel, it’s very tricky. You will either LOVE it or absolutely HATE it. Khaosan Road is a nice street to take a walk in the morning with a lot of shopping stores, eating places and travel agencies, so you basically have everything you need in the same area, but in the night it transforms into an insanely busy and place. Loud music, people dancing everywhere and a lot of street vendors trying to sell you stuff or take you in one of the cafes/restaurants. And if you are planning to sleep before those guys go home, make sure you carry some earplugs. Another hint…that might not even work! But, were we team love it or team hate it? Team absolutely Love it! The location was very good to go to so many places and we enjoyed being around in this atmosphere for a change and the fact that you can do almost everything in one place. You can explore the city by taking the metro which is convenient and affordable, by Grab taxis and tuktuk.

On the first day, we visited The Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Phra Kaew. They were all very close to each other, all walking distance. The temples are a must visit. They are so beautiful. The colors, especially, all the gold glistening in the sun, the structures and how detailed their designs are is just amazing. We were stunned by how huge sleeping Buddha is. The paintings, the statues and the halls were really fascinating.

We were, also, so lucky to be there on a weekend because we got a chance to visit Chatuchak Market which opens only on weekends. It’s one of, if not the biggest markets I’ve been to. You can find everything there; clothes, souvenirs, eatables…etc. You can, also, happily, stroll through it having a pineapple juice in an actual pineapple or eating mango sticky rice. As we were dead tired, having been on red eye flight and not getting any sleep and roaming the city all day, we decided to go back to the hotel. Reaching Khaosan road, we couldn’t resist spending couple of hours on the street, watching all the craziness, grabbing a bite (pad thai and tom yum soup) and perfectly ending this exhausting day with a, never ever to miss, foot Thai massage that leaves you floating.

On the second day, we didn’t quite start it off on a great note. We wanted to go to the famous Damnoen Saduak floating market which is out of Bangkok. Based on online info stating the opening hours until 5 pm, we, unfortunately, started the trip a little later in the afternoon. When we arrived there, we were asked to pay a huge fee for the boat and after a lot of bargaining they gave us a still expensive but cheaper option which obviously they don’t start the conversation with. So far, we were still ok and excited, but upon sitting in the boat and moving ahead, we saw … NOTHING! All the market shops were shut! After 45 mins of watching nothing, we came back to the ticket sellers and had a long chat about how they should’ve told us the market was already closed. Happily, for us, they refunded half the money, but we were so upset about all the time wasted. So, moral of the story, make sure you go very early in the morning.

To cheer ourselves up, we decided to go to the upside down house and had some of the funniest pictures ever. If you don’t know what that is, google it! Ok, I’ll tell you. It’s a complete house which has all the rooms furnished upside down, all items stuck up on the ceiling and all you need to do is be creative with your poses and have fun. And by flipping your pictures, you are the one flying above the furniture. See you could’ve just googled it!

Having already had a long day, we were starving, so we headed to Chinatown and, oh my God, the food you get there is divine. We had shrimp glass noodles, curry powder seafood and shrimp coconut soup. Later, of course, we ended our day on Khaosan road where we had a yummy coconut ice cream and super yummy banana roti.

On the third and last day in Bangkok, we didn’t really have a plan of what to do, so we decided to go and roam around nearby streets, which ended up being a really good idea. We did some souvenir shopping and had some fresh fruits which is the sweetest fruits I have ever had. Then my heart skipped a beat seeing the freshly made sushi spread on the street. Yes, you get very nice sushi on the road and very cheap. After that, we visited the Golden Mount temple and then went to see some malls. The malls area in Bangkok is huge. You get a lot of different malls right next to each other and you probably need more than a day if you plan to explore them all. We spent few hours there, then went back to our hotel to pack and get ready for our next stop.

Chiang Mai

We wanted to go to Pattaya in the beginning, but after getting some advice from few friends, they have highly suggested going to Chiang Mai instead. That city ended up being my favorite!

Going to Chiang Mai, we took an early morning flight with Nok Air. You can also go by bus or train, which is way cheaper, but that would take around 10-14 hours and we didn’t really have much time on our hands. Departure was from Don Muang airport, Bangkok. And while we are at it, if you are hungry at the airport, make sure you go to BreadTalk. Even if you are not hungry, still go there and you will be!

When we landed in Chiang Mai, we had to get some sleep before starting our day since we, as usual, had just slept for couple of hours the night before. We knew we had booked a nice hotel there, but reaching and entering our room, we were literally jumping with excitement. We were staying in Thannatee Boutique Hotel and it was superb. It has this jungle vibe to it with wooden entrance and floors, fully wooden furnished rooms and greenery everywhere. Also, the service was really good and the staff were very friendly.

Chiang Mai is a smaller city, but charming. I felt wonderful just being there. People there are cheerful, the roads are beautiful and the pace is much calmer than Bangkok. It is so peaceful.

You can go around the city by cabs and tuktuks, but the best way is taking the local red taxi. It takes more than one passenger at a time, they charge less and they drop you where you want. You can also have a deal with them if you need to go somewhere far, but you will need to negotiate and pay a different price depending on where you are going. What you can also do there is rent a cycle which would be an extremely fun way to explore the city.

On the first day, we went to Tiger Kingdom. We took a tuktuk with an amazing deal. He agreed to take us, wait for us and get us back for just 100 Baht! We were shocked and scared that something might be fishy, but no, everything was fine. It took us around an hour and when we reached, we went to the front desk to book our tour. We had seen some prices online, but they were different from what was actually there. They had different prices for each tiger depending on the size and the prices were on the higher side so there was no chance we could visit them all. We really wanted to see the cubs, but they were the most expensive, so we had to let it go. We chose to go for the big tiger.

When you enter through the gate, you can see a lot of cages around with different tigers. There was also a lion in one of them and then they keep the cubs somewhere alone in a nursery room. We weren’t allowed of course to enter since we didn’t book that tour, but we could see them from the nursery window and they were the cutest little things! After walking around a bit, we went to our tiger’s cage and the guards took us in. We were terrified! There were 3 tigers, 2 of them were calm and we got to take pictures with them, but while completing the visit, the 3^rd tiger was growling a bit and the guards told us we couldn’t go near him now. We had such a fun time there. After that we headed back and got down at one of the tour agencies to plan the next 2 days. Of course, we couldn’t just go with the first prices given, we had to bargain and get them as low as possible and stop only when we run out of breath! The agent was very helpful and patient and gave us a very good deal.

Later that evening, we went to the night market which is a lovely place. A food court full of different savory and sweet options. There are also separate restaurants around, live music in the middle of some of the markets and shopping stalls. It’s such a lively and a happy place. We even came across live singers in a small hotel garden and even though it turned out to be a private party, everyone on the road was just stopping by for few minutes to dance and clap along. We stayed there for more than a few minutes…well, you don’t get to dance with people on the street every day!

On the second day, we went on an amazing full day tour to an Elephant sanctuary. We were given information and instructions about the day and a blouse to wear during the day. We were then introduced to 3 beautiful elephants who completely stole my heart. It was the first time for me to see and meet elephants in real and it was such a fabulous experience. We got to feed them bananas, made them food out of a mixture of bananas and other elements that help in their digestion, went in the mud with them for a mud spa and finally took them to the river for a bath.

After having some Pad thai and fresh fruits-our favorite- in a small restaurant by the river, the elephants went back with their Mahout (keeper) and we headed to the Long Neck Village. It’s an extremely small village with no electricity. The villagers come from Myanmar and the women there are famous for wearing golden rings around their necks. They start wearing them as young as 5 years old and they never take them off unless they need to exchange them with new ones and add more rings growing up. They were selling handmade items and that’s how you can support them besides donations.

One thing for sure is that when you travel and see what’s out there in the world outside your own small world you have so much gratitude and appreciate life more.

The third activity for us was river rafting. We started from one point by the river where we were given life jackets, oars and helmets. We then sat in the rubber boat with another 4 people, 3 on each side and the captain at the back. The river was slow, which I was thankful for considering how nervous I was about the current and the entire activity. There were few places along the river where we encountered rocks with faster current and where the real action was. I have to admit it was really fun I hoped there was more of that. Also, what was so special was the scenery around. The mountains, the greenery, the water and elephants by the river banks. It was breathtaking. That ended one of the most amazing tours we had. The tour was done with elephant explorers chiangmai and the guide was very nice and friendly and was giving us information about everything we came across.

Our evening was spent again at the night market and one thing you need to be aware of is that the city sleeps earlier than Bangkok. By 11 the stalls are either done or almost done with the food cooking and start to close.

On the third and last day, we had a plan to go and see the cherry blossom at the top of a mountain. The place is called Khun Chang Kian and we had no idea how to get there. We were told by some agents that we can hire the red taxi and that’s the easiest way to go so that’s what we did. We were quoted a very high price for the ride and after asking many taxis we knew we will have to pay a lot…unless we find someone to come along and divide the fare. But who do we take and how do we find someone to come along? Well, we just asked a girl on the road who was standing next to us and seemed to be exploring the place. As weird as it sounds, it actually worked. We approached her and told her where we are going and asked if she would be interested in visiting that place so we can share the taxi. And she agreed. Not only that, another guy came in the taxi and wanted to go to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep which is on our way and by hearing us talking about the cherry blossom he suggested that 4 of us take the taxi, visit both places and divide the fare. Could it get any better?!

I have to say that the road up there is a bit tricky. It starts as a normal mountain road but after one point where you get closer to Khun chang kian, it becomes very narrow and unpaved.

We first went to Khun chang kian, and let me mention that the driver first took us to a point where there was some blossom but turned out to be just a closer point for him and the real place is a little further. The guy with us realized that and asked him to take us there, and thank God he did that or else we would’ve missed the real magic and the beauty we witnessed. All the different shades of green and all the pink flowers all around was mesmerizing. It seemed like a place out of a fairytale. Unfortunately, the driver allowed us only 1 hour there and then took us to Wat phra that doi suthep.

We were really thankful for that unplanned addition to our day tour because the temple was a really nice place to visit with all its golden ornaments and beautiful details. There was also a higher balcony kind of place where you can stand and watch the entire city below. I would definitely say that this temple is a must see and should’ve been on our list from the beginning.

After of course taking a thousand pictures over there we headed down the mountain and went to the old city for lunch and found Kat’s Kitchen restaurant which had super delicious food. In the evening we sadly went for one last time to the night market. Chiang Mai was my favorite thing on this trip. I left a piece of my heart there.

Phuket

Very early in the morning, we left from the hotel and took a local red taxi to the airport. Going to Phuket we had connecting flight in Bangkok so we landed there by afternoon. You get a bus from the airport which goes to Phuket town where we were staying which was really good and easy. It dropped us on the main road and we had to walk quite a bit to reach the hotel, and considering pulling luggage on the street in that heat, it was painful. We finally made it to Na Siam hotel. Honestly, the room was not how we expected it to be and didn’t really resemble the pictures online for which we were a little disappointed, but what made up for it is the staff’s hospitality and friendliness. They went above and beyond to make us comfortable and happy with our stay and we really appreciated it.

On that first day, it was difficult to go anywhere far or do any activity since we reached late, so we decided to make use of that time to check the different travel agencies and book our tours for the next 3 days. It is really advisable to not go with the first one as you can get so many options and different prices. We checked so many of them and had to keep checking more because we found the prices to be a little higher than our budget, until we found the best place, Elegance Travel. It is run by the most wonderful lady we have met. She was very sweet, friendly and helpful. She even asked us to call her Aunty. She explained everything to us very well, recommended some tours and gave us the best prices. We booked both the tours with her, James bond and Phi Phi Islands. Later that evening, we luckily found a small night market close by. It didn’t have many options for food and drink, but was good enough to grab a bite.

On the second day, we got up early and got ready for our first tour to James bond Island. They sent a bus to pick us up along with the other tourists on the trip and took us to the pier. We met our tour guide for the day, who was seriously the funniest person ever. Her name was Pineapple and was a very good guide. She explained things on the way, helped everyone take pictures and was very organized. The boat was also nice and they served fruits and cold drinks on the way.

We took off from the pier and the first stop was a cave. We had to go into the cave which was pretty dark. The water was up to our knees and we could hardly see, but they also provided us with some torches. Some worked well and some had very dim light. Anyway, we had to cross a very short distance to come out into a very nice space with a lot of trees. It was very small but very beautiful. The second stop was at James bond Island. We had almost an hour to see the place and come back to the boat. The place was really awesome. Amazing greenery and scenery. We had seen so many pictures online before going and knew it was a must see, but actually being there and seeing it ourselves was incredible. The third stop was at the floating Island, where we had extremely delicious food. They had a buffet and we kept eating until we couldn’t breathe. Thai food has become a favorite of mine. The restaurant was really good and the view was amazing. Our fourth stop was canoeing. We sat in canoes in pairs and were taken around that heavenly place, watching different shapes of rocks, trees and taking in all that beauty. Oh my God, that experience was simply, serene. I had a huge smile on my face the entire time and just wished I could just be there as long as possible. But before I knew it we were back on the boat heading to the last stop of the tour; swimming at the beautiful waters of Rang Yai Island which was a perfect end for that magical day.

Third day was our Phi Phi Island tour. First thing, you need to ask and make sure of all the details of the tours before going. We chose a 5 swimming/snorkeling spots kind of tour because we wanted to get in the water more that day. It included Green, Khai, Dolphin, Paradise and Phi Phi Islands. The water was obviously incredibly clear and just breathtaking. The only thing we didn’t enjoy was the boat we were taken on. It was some kind of a smaller boat and the ride was very bumpy and got everyone dizzy and nauseous. That was not fun. Also, we would’ve loved to spend more time on Phi Phi Island since we got only an hour to spend there. So, if you enjoy Island hopping, then you will really like this tour. And if you are looking for spending the day only on Phi Phi Island or getting enough time to swim and enjoy the beach, because it is out of this world, you might want to skip the multiple locations tour and just go for Phi Phi. You can either book a night or just go and come back on the same day from Phuket by the big boat.

And then it was our last day in Phuket and Thailand. We couldn’t believe that it’s been 10 days and that we have to leave. That day we decided to just relax and chill. We took the local bus and went to Nai Harn beach. Those local buses start from their station near the market in Phuket town and each of them go to a specific location. It is a convenient and affordable way to travel in Phuket since taxis are so expensive. The only thing is that the last bus leaves by 6 pm so if you are planning to go somewhere for the evening/night, you need to be careful with the timings. We chose Nai Harn beach based on Aunty’s recommendation (Elegance Travel, remember her?) because all other beaches were more commercial and crowded. And yes, it was definitely a fabulous choice. The beach was not crowded and you can rent a long chair and umbrella or you can get your own which is a better option if you plan to come to the beach multiple times. We did neither since we had little time to spend there before the last bus going back to Phuket town and we mainly wanted to swim so we weren’t going to be on the beach for long anyways. We just laid our towels on the sand and jumped in the water. I mean, we jumped in one of the most incredible water I’ve ever swam in. It was so clear, calm and had such a beautiful color. It was breathtaking we were trying hard to fight back tears on our way back. And to tell you the truth, at one point we looked at one another and we both openly wished we had our significant others instead of having each other out there. BFFs!

Going back to the bus timings, we were planning to go to Patong in the evening, and to make it on that bus before it departs, we had exactly 1 hour to go up to our room, take a shower, get ready and walk to the bus station. The struggle was real!

Every day, we used to spend at least 2 hours to get ready for our evenings, but we were so determined and thus succeeded that day to finish everything in 1 hour. We were so proud of ourselves. So, did we make it to the bus? No! We had just turned into the station street and saw the bus leaving the station and stealing our last evening dreams with it. Did we give up? Heck No! We ran after the bus and 2 bike taxis saw us and offered to take us to the bus. We immediately agreed. We hopped onto the bikes and they went after the bus, stopped it and we were happily in.

Patong is a famous place, very busy, very loud, but we didn’t really enjoy it. It was just too much. Being in Phuket, we had to see it, but it’s not a place we would’ve wanted to spend more time at. We just took a walk, had dinner which of course is a highlight everywhere every time and then started looking for a way to go back to the hotel. We decided to take a bike taxi all the way back. I wouldn’t say it’s the safest since we go on highways and curvy roads, but it was such fun experience.

Early the next morning, we left for the airport and went back to our respective countries.

I tried so hard to describe our trip in the best possible way, but honestly, none of this does it justice. Thailand is way more than all these words.