Bangkok
Taxi from the airport to Maxims inn was around 200bhat plus toll which is 50b I think.
Bangkok seems very crazy at first its all very fast paced, very busy and there appears to be no rules to the road. First thing that struck me in Thailand was the sheer amount of mopeds and not many locals seems to wear helmets or care where they go.
Maxims is right near the Nana station of the skytrain and for 120b gets you around all day very effiecent.
I only spent 2 days here to start with, went to the Grand Palace (you want to get a sarong before hand or not wear shorts or a tank top otherwise its a queue to get covered up).
Did a boat tour which you can hop off right near the peir at one of the skytrain stations, theres quite a few knocking about so its easy to get one. Also quite a cheap way to travel as well along the river.
Siam is the shopping epicentre I mean it has HUGE malls, some 5-6 floors and they sell everything you could ever want. One sold Lambos on the 4th floor. If you want to shop here is the place to do it.
On the weekends in Bangkok they have a market in Chatchuchak which is massive. It could take you the day to get around it, get there earlier than I did which was around 11 as it gets very hot and very very busy.
I didn't get it when I first arrived as I forgot all about them until I got to Samui but in the airports and I assume bookstores or similar they sell a brand of maps called 'groovy'.
You can also buy them from Amazon I believe, very handy as it highlights some key things to see and do, places to eat and has a 'groovy day' planned out.
Most people now take a train up towards Chiang Mai and stop off at Ayuthaya and Sukhothai on the way. Its a 14 hour journey I think to go the whole way but the train is cheap and if you go first class sleeper you get a bed and aircon. Food is included or did when I got the train going the other direction via 2nd class.
Book the train in advance if you want to use it, it gets full fast and you do not want to be going via 3rd class.
Unfortunately I didn't book it in enough time and ended up flying to Chiang Mai for around £100 maybe less, took <1 hour (also food included on domestic flights for free!).
Chiang Mai
As soon as we left the airport I instantly loved Chiang Mai. Its a bit like Bangkok in regards to being quite well developed but its so much more laid back, less frantic and just more enjoyable place to be.
I stayed at Trigong in which was nice, rooms were clean and tidy, good location and the owner was a nice bloke. Theres a good place around the corner for breakfast the owner told me about called Blue Mountain (good coffee here and snacks to take with you for the day ahead).
The other plus to Chiang mai is its size, not being to big there are a lot of things to visit in quite a small area. Its easy to get around a bunch of temples just walking. Some quite close to Trigong.
The first temple we visited (wat chedi luang) we sat down to have a drink and spent 30 minutes given an English lesson to a Thai student. He just came up to us asked if we were English and if we could help it. Was really quite enjoyable, Thai people on the whole are very friendly.
By all accounts you haven't been to Chiang Mai if you haven't been to Doi Suthep. Biggest temple in Chiang Mai which has around 300 steps or a lift to the top.
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I did this on a day trip and we also visited a hill top tribe (the ***** I think now) and had good tour guides for this.
After talking to a lady in the bank just a few months before leaving she informed me of pataraelephant farm. This appears to be one of the few decent places in Chiang Mai where elephants are treated farily. By this I mean not used to do tricks and to show off for the usual tourist crowds. The owner takes elephants in and tries to breed them and look after them as well as he can. There was a nearly born one here when we arrived.
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This is a bit different to other places in the way that you are the owner for a day. You get introduced to your elephant spend some time feeding and bonding with it. Then you have to clean the elephant down. This involves brushing then bathing in the stream! Very enjoyable and something I won't forget.
You then ride the elephant to a water fall where you are given lunch, the elephants bath in the stream/lake and theres chance for some really good photos here. The ride back is tougher and I shared an elephant with a friend, me being on the back had a very hard time staying on. Probably scariest thing I have ever done but one of the most memorable moments of my trip.
You get given two dvds for free at the end with loads of pictures from the day, some very good ones infact and some videos from the trip. All the people who worked here were very nice and I highly recommend this place.
We did another boat trip that left via the back of a temple, sure this place will be marked on maps. We travelled up the river where we ended up at a thai farm. This place just grew loads of herbs/plants and was pretty big. Was badly effected by the floods but seemd to recover well. It was also used in Rambo 4 for the scene where Rambo is fighting cobras.
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Theres quite a large market in Chiang Mai also so plenty of shopping can be done here.
Can't remember what day it is, but theres a big street market on as well. We got back after Doi Suthep and it was on. Unfortunately I pigged out before going here, I was gutted after seeing the food on show. Some amazing stuff to be eaten! Don't make the same mistake haha
There is a night safari in Chiang Mai and a Zoo which I didn't get chance to see either. The night safari has a free bus from the market area (opposite the tourist police booth). My friend had her card swallowed by an ATM meaning we spent time on the phone trying to sort it out and missed the bus. Luckily the next day they sent out G4S to give her card back after she showed her passport.
Another thing I wished I had done in Chiang Mai was Pums cooking school. This appears very popular and I left it to Phuket to do it. For 5000baht you can do an entire day. They take you to the local markets to pick your own fruit/veg/spices and explain everything to you, its a complete masterclass in cooking. If I am not mistaken they are actually going to open one in Manchester.
From Chiang Mai we got the train down to Sukhothai. Cost around £9 2nd class.
Sukhothai
To get here the train stops at Phitsanulk and you have to bus it to Sukhothai. I stayed at Pin Pao which was very close to the historical park.
I only spent 2 days here but there are quite a lot of parks to visit so depending on how much you want to see depends how long you will want to stay.
If you get a moped you can easily vist a few in a day. The best way to get around the actual parks is by bicycle which I never did. The parks are quite large so walking them takes a long time.
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Ayutthaya
Train from Phitsanulk to Ayutthaya was few hours late but not to bad.
On the way to Ayutthaya you go past Lop Buri which has old ruins where monkeys run wild! This was on An Idiot Abroad season 2.
I planned on doing a trip here one day from Ayutthaya but never did make it there.
Ayutthaya use to be the capital of Thailand until it was raided by the Bermese.
I stayed at Tonys Place which was really cool! The rooms we had were massive, nice and clean and had a really good vibe to it. I also had the best Thai massage my whole trip here for a measley 200baht.
From here they do a trip that leaves at 4pm and goes down the river stopping off at some temples and ruins, bit of a sunset tour. You don't have a guide for this just stop off and left on your own for half an hour to walk around. It was ok but don't expect much input on the places you stop off at.
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I spent 3 days here visiting temples and ruins and the 3rd day just sorting out the next leg of our journey as we hadn't planned that far in advance.
Tonys place arranged a taxi for us to Bangkok airport for 1100baht for two of us. Worked out around £10 each I think for quite a long trip which is a bargain.
Ko Samui
We flew from Bangkok to Ko Samui which is just gorgeous.
As soon as you fly into Ko Samui you are greeted by endless palm trees a small airport that is hard to imagine is actually an airport.
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We arranged pickup from the airport through Arkbar where we stayed.
Arkbar has its own little section of beach which was nice and clean and plenty of sun chairs for all its guests.
The bar and restaurant was big with a decent menu selection as well.
Problem with the beach here was the amount of people constantly walking around trying to sell you nik naks after an hour or two it does get a little frustrating.
Every Wednesday and I think Friday Arkbar hosts its own beach party which appeared to attract large crowds. If you want to party Ko Samui is the place to be. There are so many bars/pubs/clubs here theres plenty to do.
I went to my first Muay Thai fight in Ko Samui, it wasn't that far froM Arkbar. I had ringside seats for 1200 baht which was quite high but the view was great. Fights started at 9pm and last until 11. Doesn't seem like a great deal but there was 7 fights in this time so the wait between fights was next to nothing.
It has an English announcer as well which explains quite a lot about the culture behind Muay Thai. There are 60k pro Muay Thai fighters in Thailand alone and you can become pro from the age of 8!
The biggest annoyance I came across probably the entire time I was in Thailand and until I reached Samui I hadn't come across it was the tailors.
We ventured out to the main strip which was about 20 yards from Arkbar. Some guy stopped me and pointed to the Kangaroo on my t shirt and then started to name it in different languages claiming to be able to speak about 20. When I spoke some very basic french he seemed lost.
You can't go 10 yards without coming across one they all shout at you "hey friend" or just shouting "Are you Irish/English/Austrailian" god knows what else. They try and drag you in to their shops and can be very pushy and very very annoying. The same guys will stop you over and over and not realise which just goes to show how often they do it.
I think the main reason for going to Samui is just to party so if thats your thing this is the place to do it.
Ko Phangan
Famous for its Full moon party, Half moon party and black moon party.
You can get here via ferry from Samui which drops you off at Hat Rin, which is where most people tend to stay.
A lot of places you stay on Ko Phangan seem to arrange transfers to the full moon parties and you can check the dates of it via
http://fullmoonparty-thailand.com/
Unfortunately I missed the full moon party as it was on the 8th of January (the day I did elephant owner and then around the 20 something when we were leaving.
I stayed at the opposite end of the Island at Haad Salad beach resort.
This end of the island is very quiet, although it only had a small stretch of beach it was nice and the water was incredible. You could walk quite a long way out and it never seemed to get much deeper. It was also crystal clear so snorkelling is easy here.
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Diving is also popular, on the way to Haad Salad we shared a taxi with a guy who use to live on the Island for 6 months. He recommened someone called Jamie who did a lot of the water sports on the Island and this also comes up in the Lonelyplanet guide. If I had stayed longer I would have probably done some diving here.
I did the Ang Thong national marine park day trip from Haad Salad. Although it was slightly more expensive doing it from Koh Phangan comared to Samui the resort had flyers for this and arranged the tour for me.
This was one of the highlights of the trip for me. You travel via speedboat that had around 20 people on it. Do some sight seeing of the islands and then some snorkelling in some amazingly clear water with loads of fish, water was very calm and although I usually hate doing this sort of thing it was very cool.
Theres also a stop off on one island that has a very large 'emerald' lake. It is quite challenging getting around on this part of the trip as the steps up to the viewing points are very narrow and very steep. The lake is quite a sight though. You can see why it has the name Emerald, although you can go in it you can walk down to platform and get a really good view of it. Theres also a viewing platform from the top where you get a great picture.
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You then stop off for some lunch and for an extra 200 baht can do kayaking around one of the many islands. Another guy from the group and I decided we would do the trek 500m up a very steep hill/mountain side. It had been raining a few days before and it takes a while to dry out. Was very slippery and almost vertical in places on sharp bits of rock. It took us around 20 minutes to reach the top and 40 to get back down.
The view from the top was just amazing though, pictures really do not do it justice. You can see so far and get a view of a lot of the national marine park. I would definately do the trek up the hill if you can instead of kayaking, you won't get time to do both.
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From Ko Phangan we got a ferry back to Koh Samui then flew to Phuket.
Phuket
As the Lonelyplanet guide says, Phuket is convenient but Phi Phi is a beauty.
From the airport we got a taxi to Patong which is pretty much a hub of package holiday tourists.
Get a taxi from inside the airport or be prepared to haggle with the taxi drivers. We were asked to pay 1100 baht for a taxi I said this was way to much and I would pay 800 max. After reading the Groovy map it seemed 700ish is the correct price so expect to be over charged if you don't stand your ground.
The same goes for all taxis and tuk tuk drivers in Phuket. You can tell they rip people off as they all drive around in what look like brand new tuk tuks and taxis, I assume most people who come here on a package holiday don't really bargain with them so they can get all this extra money. I actually found it much easier in Bangkok! There is also a distinct lack of meter taxis here so agree price before going any where.
I stayed at Sweet Lobster Inn in Patong. It was close to everything, the rooms were decent but a bit loud due to all the noise from the street. This is to be expected from most on this strip though unless you want to pay more for a nicer place.
Patong is very lively and the beach is right next to it all so it makes it a prime location for people to visit. You get the 'best' of both worlds.
In all honesty I was not a huge fan of Patong.
At night it was very seedy, there are loads of go go bars, people trying to drag you in for a massage and the amount of bars/clubs etc.. was crazy. If you want to drink yourself stupid its easy to do here. It lacks any real Thai culture though in all honesty so depending on what you want you could probably miss Patong out. It is quite a sight though and has a pretty large shopping centre called Jungcelyon.
We did a James Bond Island tour from Patong. This was on a big boat with loads of people on it. You visit the island from Gold Finger which took over an hour to get to.
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When you arrive it is actually a pretty small strip of land that has loads of women trying to sell you nik naks from what appears to be exactly the same stalls! You get the chance to do some swimming, I didn't bother the water was horrible and after being to Ang thong it was quite a let down.
You do however get a chance to go out in a kayak (with a guide) to show you some of the sights and the little ride is actually ok. It's quite nice not having to do the rowing as well so thats a bonus.
There is another stop off where you can go through a cave to a section that is usually under water earlier in the day. You get rowed out and taken through the cave and come out to this area that has huge rock faces and mangroves in the middle.
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We moved from Patong to Cherngtalay which is closer to the aiport. We stayed at Teeta resort which we found via booking.com
The place wasn't to bad but it wasn't at Bang Tao beach like the description said. It was also a little out of the way so getting to anything like a shop/food/the beach needed a taxi. The owner was happy to do this for a small fee or to rent us a moped, my travel insurance didn't allow me to ride one and I wasn't to keen on the idea. Thai roads are quite something.
It was around 5 minutes from Laguna beach though which was a lovely stretch of sand with plenty of places to eat and sunbeds and also seemed to house a lot of expensive resorts.
I got a taxi back in to Patong to do a cooking class at Pums. It was 599 baht to learn two dishes of your choice, I went for Pad Thai and green curry.
It was quite informative but being one of the cheapest classes they offer you don't learn quite as much as I thought. The green curry is all about the paste which was already pre made for me, doing a more expensive class would be better but I left this a bit to late to do.
You do leave with a cook book though so you can try some of the stuff when you get home and you get to eat it afterwards! Classes are held at various times throughout the day depending on what one you want to do, mine was at 6pm and was me and just one other girl doing it. Took around 90 minutes in all.
Next door to Teeta were some other bungalows which were for rent and they also arranged day trips.
We spent 1 day on the beach sunning it up and then the next on a day trip to Phi Phi and Maya bay. Cost of the day trip was 1600 baht, pickup at around 7:30-8am day out and finish around 4-4:30 and then dropping off again. This includes some lunch as well.
We orignally planned on trying to stay on Phi Phi but as I said earlier it can be pretty difficult to find accommodation and turning up to find something is not a good idea. By all accounts a lot of people turn up on the morning ferry, can't find any where and end up getting the ferry back. It really was beautiful though from what I see so maybe try and plan this bit of your trip in advance and sort some where to stay.
Obviously everyone knows Maya bay from the movie 'The beach' as this is where part of it was filmed.
The actual beach and the water were both stunning and the areas around it, unfortunately this is extremely popular tour and expect A LOT of tourists on this realively small beach.
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On this trip theres a stop off at pileh cova, you see viking cave and a quick stop at monkey beach. It was high tide when we went to monkey beach but the boat got in close and there are loads of monkeys running around the trees waiting for food from the tourists. They get very close and its quite amusing watching them trying to catch the bananas.
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Last part of this trip was spent on Koh Khai island where you get around 90 minutes to sun it up, do some swimming and snokelling and get something to drink on this quite small stretch of sand but with very nice waters.
We had to catch a flight for 7am so were up at 4am for the last day at Teeta, the owner was happy to drive us to the airport for 600 baht at 5am leaving us enough time to check in and fly to Bangkok.
Most of the flights were booked apart from this one and one at 11pm which meant we would have lost an entire day at the Hilton which we booked when first getting to Thailand to unwind for the last two days before coming home.
Bangkok
Last two days of holiday.
We got to Bangkok around 8:30 by time we got out the aiport taxi to Hilton it was already around 10 but we couldn't check in for 2 more hours.
We went for a wander but being in the business district (wrong side of the river really) wasn't a great deal to see here.
We had something to eat and a nap then went back to Siam via the free boat transfers to the Skytrain (as well as few other places) that the Hilton offer.
On the Sunday we went to the massive market in Chatchuchak, about 30 minutes via Skytrain.
Unfortunately my friend fell ill and we had to leave a bit ealier than planned and go back to the hotel. By this time though a month of travelling and day trips starts to take its toll so you really do need to add some rest days in your travels. It might seem like a waste of a day but you will feel a lot better if you do.
Tips
Never agree the first price for anything you buy or taxis/tuk tuks theres always room to save some money.
Mosquitos are a real pain for some. I was very fortunate in that I didn't seem to get bitten or react to any I had. My friend however was not so lucky and got bitten a lot! Lost count and they became a real nuisance. She was using 50% deet spray she got from home but it didn't seem to work. In some of the pharmacies out there you can get some cream she started to use and it seemed to work a lot better than deet spray.
Don't try and do to much it becomes very tiring.
Don't plan to far ahead you don't want to become locked in a tight schedule, I for instance ended up staying 1 or two nights longer in some places. Luckily I had nothing planned so this made no difference to my schedule.
Check out the tour groups before hand and try and get as much information as you can. Look for well establish ones or do it via your accommodation.
Smaller boats like speedboats for tours may be a bit more expensive for some tours but the less people the easier it is to get on and off the boat leaving you more time to do the activites and you don't have to wait for people who disappear beyond the time limit allowed.
Do not pay anyone to much money up front for anything. I spoke to people who paid quite a substantial amount of money for large portions of their trip. Things like accommodation and trips in advance, only to arrive and not being given what they are promised. Usually end up in sub par hotels/guesthouses and the other person will pocket the difference.
Try and stick to officially ran buses, I know on Khao san road there are a lot of fly by night touts who offer a lot for little in return. Roads are dangerous and things get stolen. The death toll from the roads is pretty high in Thailand and this is quite often from shoddy buses, really keep your head screwed on. If it appears to good to be true it probably is, go into things skeptical.
Theft is also a problem so lock your bags, when walking around busy markets keep your bag on your front and take a money belt to be safe. Don't carry all your money/passports/cards at once. I quite often left mine back at the hotel and just took my debit or credit card and some cash.
Take photocopies of important documents and scan some and email to yourself so you have backups.
Never handover your passport as a kind of deposit, there are scams were people will hold it ransom.
If a tuk tuk driver tells you something is closed or a random person comes up and tells you an attraction is closed and you should see xxx instead, go and check it out for yourself. Often they are on commision to take tourists else where.
Fakes are a problem as well, don't fall for the gem scams which in all honesty I do not believe how people do this. Paying £1000s or maxing out credit cards on gems that are worthless, seriously? Some common sense goes a long way.
If you hire anything, car, moped, jetski etc.. tell them of any marks/scratches etc.. and take photos. There are scams where they claim you damaged it and try and extort money from you.
If you want to ride a moped get a good helmet and make sure travel insurance covers it, most do not include it as standard and probably for good reason.
Hopefully this is of some use to you and gives you a good idea. I put off going for a long time and seriously regret it. I wish I could go back now!
If you plan on going on your own I doubt very much you will be on your own very long.
I bought my ticket planning on going by myself but ended up going with a friend. The plus side is you always have company which is nice and gives you a bit of grounding. The downside is you don't really meet that many new people well we didn't. I think most assume you are a couple.
I overspent but a lot of this was probably domestic flights which I hadn't accounted for before hand. It did however save a lot of time, giving me a day or half a day more in some places.
When entering Thailand you get 30 days on your visa there and then if you enter by air, 15 if by land/sea. You can extend this if you cross in to neighbouring country for a few hours and get a new visa. You can do this a few times and some places actually operate small trips to do this at around 2000 baht I think.
For money I just took money out from the ATM. There is a 150 baht fee per transaction plus I expect something from your bank. I took my debit and credit card and no other form of money.
To save on costs you can withdraw up to 10,000 baht a day which will go a long way but I never took more than 5,000 at a time.
You can buy a Thai sim card when you arrive in BKK for a decent price and will be a lot cheaper than using your own. I used one for a while but something on my phone caused it to use up all my allowance very quickly where as my friends lasted much longer.
I used a smartphone a lot as well. I wasn't going to take it but it became vital! Booking plane/train tickets, searching for places to stay, maps, places app all sorts. Quite a few places offer free wifi or charge a small amount for it. Some places also had computers for you to use which was quite handy.
Think that is about all
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