Our route:
Bangkok (3 nights)
Kanchanaburi (2 nights)
Night train from Ban Pong to Surat Thani (1 night)
Ko Phi Phi (4 nights)
Phuket (4 nights)
Khao Sok (3 nights)
Surat Thani (2 nights)
Hua Hin (3 nights)
Night bus from Hua Hin to Chiang Mai (1 night)
Pai (2 nights)
Chiang Mai (4 nights)
Night bus from Chiang Mai to Bangkok (1 night)
In general, we were not the biggest fans of Thailand. It’s hard to say why but I think it was mostly because we were disappointed about how rude Thai people are. Especially in the south it feels like they hate tourists. In the north we made much better experiences with the local people. The public transportation was quite nerve-wracking as well. But to be fair I also think that we were a bit tired of traveling and we did Thailand kind of half-ass. We couldn’t really get into it for the whole month. We traveled very slowly, stayed too long in each place and now I feel like we haven’t seen enough for being there for an entire month.
The highlights for us were Khao Sok National Park. The nature around the lake is really really beautiful. In our opinion a “must” to visit when you’re in Thailand.
The cooking class at Tom Yum Cooking Class in Chiang Mai was also one of the best times we’ve had in Thailand. I was very excited about it and it was even better than I expected it to be. It was so professional how everything was set up, the teacher was amazing and you get so much for your money.
Visiting “Hug Elephants” was a highlight as well. Even though I wouldn’t recommend the place itself, being so close to elephants was an amazing experience.
One of our favorite places in Thailand, if not the favorite place was Pai. It’s such a cute little artsy hippie village and the landscape around it is breathtaking.
A personal favorite for us was Ko Phi Phi but not really because of the place itself, just because we had the best time there with Simone, Anna and JP. Those four days were some of the best since we’re travelling.
Thailand was nice but not outstanding. I think the mass tourism ruined the country a lot. So as I said, there were definitely some beautiful spots but what made that month special was more the people we were with. At this point I wanna say thank you very much for you’re generosity and for the good time to Noi and Urs and to Edina and Fernando!
Expenses:
~ CHF 2’000
We found Thailand to be the cheapest country so far, so we were quite surprised when we did the math about how much we’ve spent. Especially because we had seven nights for free, it seems wrong. We only spent one month in Thailand but we almost spent as much money as in the past countries, where we stayed for 1.5 months. Food and accommodation is very cheap in Thailand but what apparently hurt our budget were the different tours we did.
Must eat/drink:
Pad Thai
Fresh coconut (better than anywhere else)
Sticky rice with mango
Panang curry
Green curry
Massaman Curry
Spring Rolls
Stir fried chicken with cashew nuts
Best accommodations:
Better Bed (in Bangkok)
Worst accommodations:
In my opinion our worst accommodation was the floating bungalows on Khao Sok Lake. Unfortunately I couldn’t find out what it was called because there are a lot of different ones and when you book the tour, you can’t choose to which one you’re going. It was the worst accommodation if you think about cleanliness but of course, the fact that you’re sleeping in a floating bungalow and the amazing view you have, is pretty cool.
Highlights:
Khao Sok Natinalpark
Pai
Tom Yum Cooking Class in Chiang Mai
Hug Elephants
Overrated/Not our cup of tea:
Phuket
Trip to Ko Phi Phi Leh (beach from the movie “The Beach”)
Find the reasons and explanations in the different parts of the diary under “Thailand” and then under the certain name of the place (village or city).
If you’re planning on going to one of the places we have been to, ask me anything. I would be happy to help you!
The Travelling Smiths 