Travelling to Thailand

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Less than 200 quid for 9 day's inc food shared taxis Hostel/Guest house BKK to Chaing mai by Train
Elephant ride River Rafting Jungle Trek scoter for two day's all done low season last aug/sept :cool:
 
I was there last year when bus's were being set on fire etc and everything was fine for me in bangkok and pretty much no sign of it else wear in the country.

My advice to you is if you see a big mob of people in red , put on a blue top and say Gin Kii

Please do not follow this idiotic advice. Funny to those who know what this means as they would obviously not do it, but bloody dangerous if someone innocently follows it.

As for the troubles, they will not affect tourists unless one specifically wants to go where they are. Why not go along and talk to them? They actually have valid points to make and are doing so peacefully and with limited economic damage unlike their political opponents who shut down the airport.
 
I'm currenlty in BK now, yes there are loads of people in redshirts , but they are just singing and dancing. They have no interest in tourists , like most places if you want to find trouble then you will find it BK. If you use some sensiable precautions you'll be fine
 
I'm currenlty in BK now, yes there are loads of people in redshirts , but they are just singing and dancing. They have no interest in tourists , like most places if you want to find trouble then you will find it BK. If you use some sensiable precautions you'll be fine

When I was in Bangkok (August 2008) there was some sort of political demonstration. I thought it was some kind of street festival as free food (horrible black jelly stuff) was being given out, live music lots of stalls sellings things etc. I only noticed it was a demonstration when I noticed loads of armed police, army and barbed wire fences. Everyone was looking at me like I was crackers but carried on shouting/singing something presumably about the president or something. It was fun

In a month I would say to do the trekking in chiang mai first for 3 days then head straight to the islands. Maybe do koh chang first, then phangan, tao, railey, ton sai, krabi. Personally I liked Phangan the best. I stayed on the southern coast in baan tai. Smack on the beach for £2.50 a night. Of all the islands I didnt enjoy Samui. To touristy and fake. Heres some info/pics from my old thread....

Inspired by the coconut thread I thought what my favourite place in the world is. Without a doubt its the islands in Thailand. In particular Koh Phangan, Ban Thai, Liberty Bungalows.

I ended up going back to this place 3 times. Travelled around and all over the island by motorbike and push bike, watched some Mui Thai, went to the local markets, climbed a waterfall! 2 full moon parties in Haad rin, a half moon and a black moon (which was about 20 meters from my room)

No cares what so ever, a few beers every night with tasty (but cheap) food, talk to and met randoms local and from over the world then partied hard with some of them. Went crab fishing with local people (was terrible at it) Made fires on the beach and stayed up all night...


What is your favourite place in the world? Pictures would be good too

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southern coast of koh phangan
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day before full moon
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Haad rin (full moon) beach
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Im due to go out to Bangkok and Koh Samui in about a week and a half, so am interested in anything else anyone has to say about the trouble.
 
May have already been said, if you're only going for a month, drop off some of your planned destinations. I've been twice, both times for 3 weeks. Each time I hit about 3 main places and even then it felt like as soon as I was settled a little, I was travelling again.

My personal suggestion...stay 2/3 days in bangkok at the start and end of your trip, take Air Asia up to Chang Mai for 5/6 days, same plane back to Bangkok, then another down to krabi or phuket and do a short 3 day stay in Phi Phi on your way to the other.

So basically either to Krabi > Phi Phi > Phuket or Phuket > Phi Phi > Krabi

If you want to stay on Phi Phi longer, get out of the town, I hated it there. Get yourself onto one of the chilled out easy little resorts on the east of Phi Phi.

I stayed 5 days at http://krabidir.com/phiphirelaxbeachresort/ and it was one of the best times of my life. Granted I was looking to just relax, all I did was snorkel, kayak, eat, drink, read for 5 days. The offshore snorkelling is some of the best i've seen in my life. Also as this was the end of the trip, we were a little low on money. The owner gave us free breakfast and transfer on our final day without us even needing to ask him.

On the krabi side of things, i've stayed at Rai-lai (sp?), it's not an island but feels like it as you can only access by boat or a heavy jungle trek. In regards to Phuket you are spoiled for choice. Don't go to Patong...again, a horrid place. Stick to Kata/Karon beaches, this area is lovely.

Wow, only meant to post a few bits but got carried away. I've got about 6 weeks total time in Thailand so would be happy to answer any questions. Oh yeah, have some piccies...

Obligatory Khao San road shot...
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Kata or Karon beach...I get them mixed up...
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Out the back of a thai bus...
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Crazy thai guy...
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Greatest beer in the world, can't find it back here :(
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Big bhudda on Phuket...
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View from base of big bhudda...
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Looking back at Phi Phi on the way to the viewpoint...
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View from our room at Relax Beach...
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Crystal clear water at Relax Beach...
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Dinner...
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Finally what I saw every morning from my window when I woke at relax beach...
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...On the krabi side of things, i've stayed at Rai-lai (sp?), it's not an island but feels like it as you can only access by boat or a heavy jungle trek. In regards to Phuket you are spoiled for choice. Don't go to Patong...again, a horrid place. Stick to Kata/Karon beaches, this area is lovely...

Some good info. However you missed out my favourite island Phangan. Despite everyone thinking its party island all the time its very chilled out in the day. By night it comes alive though.

Railey is not so great, loads of boats go there. If you do go, take the jungle trek to Ton sai (its about 20 minutes and is easy) Dont ask the locals because they will try and make you stay in the much more expensie Railey.

I was supposed to stay in Railey for a few days a do a bit of climbing, what happened was I went to Ton Sai, met 2 canadian climbers and a load of other people and went climbing everyday with them, sharing their stuff and to a very small full moon party. Its a tiny village mainly for the 'proper' backpackers and climbers. We later labedded Railey west the 'fat rich american beach' It generally had rich americans eating ice creams that cost more than our accommodation!

Make sure to go to Wees climbing school, Mr Snorkel for breakfast, Kaas Bah, try slacklinin and deep water soloing :)

I think I may have the only Kaas Bah tshirt outside of Krabi. On the final night it was open before renovation all the locals joined us and we shared beers with them, they returned with some of their goodies. I offered to buy a tshirt off one of the 'bar' staff and he said ok, 50bht! Bargain. It did stink but is all good now
 
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Some good info. However you missed out my favourite island Phangan. Despite everyone thinking its party island all the time its very chilled out in the day. By night it comes alive though

I never travelled over that side of Thailand, both holidays were really relax and chillout breaks and wasn't interested in the party side of things at all.

Railey is not so great, loads of boats go there. If you do go, take the jungle trek to Ton sai (its about 20 minutes and is easy) Dont ask the locals because they will try and make you stay in the much more expensie Railey.

I went to Railey back in 2006 during august, must have got lucky, the main beach, you know, the one with that expensive resort at the back...was almost always empty, never saw more than 3 boats in 6 days on that part. The other two east/west beaches weren't very good though.
 
I went to Railey back in 2006 during august, must have got lucky, the main beach, you know, the one with that expensive resort at the back...was almost always empty, never saw more than 3 boats in 6 days on that part. The other two east/west beaches weren't very good though.

Are yes, I remember that expensive resort. You are right, when I went it only had a few people on too. One of which was a woman selling jewellry and another selling drinks. Me and a mate canoed over from Ton Sai. We tried to check out the expensive resort but guards moved us on. Very nice beach though and did end up buying a couple of beers. Very remote and perfect im sure if you are a couple wanting a total relax holiday
 
Are yes, I remember that expensive resort. You are right, when I went it only had a few people on too. One of which was a woman selling jewellry and another selling drinks. Me and a mate canoed over from Ton Sai. We tried to check out the expensive resort but guards moved us on. Very nice beach though and did end up buying a couple of beers. Very remote and perfect im sure if you are a couple wanting a total relax holiday

One of the things that really sticks in my memory of that beach is the other little island maybe 2 minutes swim away, had the tiniest little beach on it and the water was full of urchins so you couldn't walk around. However hardly anyone bothered swimming there so it had a great tiny beach to relax on out of the midday sun.

It's just come to me...Rayavadee is the name of that resort, looked so damn nice as I walked along the path next to it to get to the beach. I remember thinking i'll never be able to stay at a place like that and getting a little disheartened at the time. Now after saving for a year i'm off to fiji and staying a week at this place http://www.matangiisland.com

But enough hijacking...OP, if you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
 
Rayavadee, thats it. Ta

From the beach at Rayavadee it looks accross to a big rock. We canoed maybe 20minutes out to that then went around it. The sea was pretty rough and it took us over an hour to get back. Was getting a bit scared at one point

Fiji is also amazing, I did one of the aweso me adventures tours over 5 islands. Turtle beach was paradise (as was all the islands really)

Again...back to OP questions
 
Silghtly off topic but......... in reponse to your Fav place in the world , indonesia is such unfound gem for divers and snorklers . Gilli air just off lombok is one of the most awesome places I have seen in my 14 months of travelling.

True in high season its busy but go just off high season I.E march time , its cheap VERY cheap 9 quid for air con room with bath cable TV. Beers quid a large bottle and people are beyond helpful. No cars on the island which you can walk around in 1 hour it truly is a fairly unspoilt place.

Sorry again for off topic
 
lad i know has been living there for last 6 months and moved to bangkok 2 weeks ago. apparently its been declared 'a state of emergency' and government officials had to get airlifted out of thier building after it was surrounded by protesters :p

to cut a long story short hes got photos from within the riot crowds and no ones gave him any aggro or even said a negative word
 
whats the story about the red shirts? me no understandy!
theyre usually the poorer people and they dont like the current government.

iirc in 06 or 08 the yellow shirts overthrew the supposedly red favouring government and now im guessing the gov is showing too much love for the yellows

this happens every year. twice sometimes. funny thais
 
Double standards is the main problem.

All elections are crooked but only the party that favours the poor gets accused.
Pro-autocracy demonstrations closed the main airport and no-one was prosecuted, pro-poor demonstrate in the city and the army moves in on them.

The red-shirt leaders claim that the "red shirts" who attacked parliament are not authorised, not wanted and are quite possibly agent provocateurs.
 
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