Thailand People & Culture

I've been there for hiking. I really recommend it for adventurous people who wants to see also a beautiful nature. There are many providers with different prices for day trips, but as usual in thailand you can deal with them. Well the trip was like that: I joined a group of 8 people (mixed nationalities, really good for conversations about other cultures) which has been leaded by a native who guided us to his secret village in the deep thai wood. They have easy-built houses n sleep on the ground and they can cook delicious meals such as spicy snake, soups and other stuff. After one night we hiked back. On the way we could do an elephant ride and bamboo rafting. All in all a really nice trip but they've already been convinced by the government to do some touristic stuff (selling goods n commercial things) and pay them kind of taxes. About Chiang Mai I can't tell a lot because I just did this trip there.

Be aware that the prices listed for all government owned attractions in Thailand have gone up significantly from what is listed in the guidebooks. I found my Lonely Planet to be 4-5x lower prices than what was actually being charged in some locations.

In November 2008, I was in Thailand and Cambodia (looking at Angkor Wat among other things). I got into the country with no problem, but getting out was difficult.
For months before I arrived there had been political trouble in Thailand, but nothing serious. I flew into Bangkok, went up to Chang Mai, back to Bangkok, to Angkor Wat (Cambodia) back to Bangkok, and flew out to Phuket with no problem. After I got to Phuket, protesters occupied the airport at Bangkok, which blocked my planned return to Tokyo and the US on All Nipon Airlines (ANA). Every day I expected police to clear the protesters and restore normalcy. But this did not happen, and as I inched closer to my planned exit date, it became apparent that even if the airport was re-opened, there were a lot of folks that needed to leave and I might be bumped.

I looked first to my US-based Tour company to extract me, but they looked to their local tour folks whose attitude was – if you wait long enough things will be fine. On the other hand, I had no need to spend extra money, and my boss expected me back at work on time. In any event, Thanksgiving was approaching, and my Tour company was shutting down for a long week-end. So, I pulled out my secret weapon and called my wife to extract me. She worked for hours with my Tour company, ANA (my airline), and everyone she thought to call, in every country.
The Bangkok situation was deteriorating. It seems the protesters were politically in line with the King and Army, while the Government was backed by the police, Air Force and Navy. It was unlikely, but a civil war was possible. My contacts with the tour company gave the impression that they had no idea of how to go about getting me out of Thailand, much less how to get me home on time. It was beginning to look impossible to get out of Phuket. It is a much smaller city and airport than Bangkok. It quickly became flooded with travelers who, like me, had been scheduled to go to Bangkok. I met some travelers who had taken a $300.00 taxi ride from Bangkok to Phuket, in the hope of getting a flight out of Thailand from Phuket.

Initially, we thought that the non-violent takeover of the Bangkok airport would be quickly resolved and the facility reopened in time for the scheduled flights. The airport incident seemed like just an inconvenience. And even if I had to wait for days, and missed the scheduled flights, Phuket seemed a safe place to wait. But as the incident continued, it grew into a problem, which deteriorated into a dilemma, that had the potential to escalate into a civil war--which would engulf Phuket. So there was a growing sense of urgency to getting out of Thailand altogether--to anywhere else that was safe.

The tour company, which has been reliable in the past, was not effective. Its Asian operative did not find a way out of Phuket, and for as far as I can tell, didn’t try very hard. Its US personnel eventually left their offices for an extended holiday--Thanksgiving through the weekend (no sense of urgency on their part). We had asked the travel company (before they went on holiday) if I might travel by car or some other means to another city with an airport. The nearest alternate cities were very far away--Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, or Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. But there was no safe route, not by car, nor train, nor boat. It was all too dangerous travelling overland in the Thailand-Malaysia border area because of bandits, terrorists and rebels. So I had to fly out, as soon as possible.

Eventually, it became my wife’s task to get on the internet and to cobble together a plan to get me out of Phuket, Thailand, and home. As she took up the task, she thought, “How can I do this--even the professionals in the tour company cannot solve this problem, and even if there had been any flights from Phuket, surely all the stand-by travelers at the airport would be snapping up seats as soon as they become available.” But she had to give it a try. My wife finally came to that realization at about 7:00 p.m., Thanksgiving Day, when I called to say that the Bangkok situation had not been resolved, that the tour company representative had not gotten me an alternative flight out of Phuket, and that I had no local resources available to work through this problem on my own. So it was up to my wife to get me home. She worked from 7:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. (7:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. in Phuket) to get the flights lined up, and another hour looking for a back-up flight, just in case the one from Singapore to Tokyo did not materialize. But, there was no back-up available.

There were very many calls to the tour company, numerous airlines, and calls from the US to Phuket. (Not many airlines fly out of Phuket, and none fly directly to Tokyo--the point of departure for the last leg home). Finally, my wife found one regional airline, Silk Air, operated by Singapore Airline, had one seat left on a flight that I could get to on time, and that would fly me to Singapore. Singapore was the best alternate place for me to go en route to Tokyo via ANA, although that ANA flight was already fully booked to Tokyo. I would get to Singapore just in time to get a connecting flight to Tokyo, which would arrive in time for me to take the originally booked flight back to the US, if I could get a seat on the flight from Singapore to Tokyo.
The above few sentences summarizing the resolution of the dilemma convey no idea of the complexity of the problem and what it took to work through it to the solution. There is an old saying, "the devil is in the details.” For example: several times my wife was on the phone with an airline reservation clerk, when another call would come in. (The natural inclination in such a situation is to ignore the incoming call--they can leave a message or call back--but she took the calls.) Each time I was the incoming caller, and supplied details about my situation needed by the other callers!

Before we found the flight out of Phuket, I figured I would be waiting there for days, so I sent out my laundry to two separate places. When my wife informed me of the flight out of Phuket, I only had three hours before take-off, but the laundry wasn’t scheduled to be returned back to me for many more hours. Nevertheless, it had all been washed, but I still needed it back in 30 minutes to catch a taxis. They hurriedly dried it and I picked it up on the way out of the hotel to the airport. When I got to the Phuket airport, there were long lines at every ticket window, except mine! Almost the moment I sat down in the airplane, it pushed back from the gate.

As soon as my wife booked a flight out of Phuket to Singapore, she called ANA in Singapore -- the airline with which I still held a ticket for the Tokyo to US flight. ANA had only one flight from Singapore that would get me to Tokyo in time for the planned flight to the US, but it was extremely overbooked and the reservation agent said she had no control over seat allocation. She said that she would call their airport ticket window agent, who could make a seat allocation, and would explain my situation--that I had to be on that flight to make my connection in Tokyo and that I already had a ticket with ANA for the Tokyo to US flight. She said that there was no guarantee that they could give me a seat. Nevertheless, at the airport I discovered that ANA had a policy of favoring passengers trying to get home from Thailand, and they did give me a seat!

Throughout this situation, my wife found many dead ends, where there should have been assistance. The US offices of the various airlines that she called for ticket information, said that they did not know (in the day of instant internet communication?!!) if there were any spaces left on their flights departing from Phuket. To get information from some airlines, she had to resort to their Singapore offices; for another, she had to call their Phuket airport agent. That person was swamped. It was a miracle that my wife’s call got through to her, that she could hear and they could understand each other (above the background noise of the airport chaos)--and it was she who had the one flight seat left! I flew out from Phuket at about 6:00 p.m., local time, flew out of Singapore about 10:30 p.m. there, and out of Tokyo about 11:00 a.m. the next day. I arrived at Dulles airport, Washington, DC, about 9:30 a.m., tired and hungry, but none the worse for the experience. I was home safe and well, while the dilemma in Bangkok continued for many more days.

My thanks to: Silk Air, Singapore Airline, and ANA. I highly recommend them.

PS My phone bill that month had over $600 worth of international and long distance calls on it, and the phone company thretened to cut our phone service if we failed to pay the phone bill EARLY.

Unseen Travel Agency Bangkok – Unseen scam
On our first night in Thailand we got a little lost in Bangkok. Round 9pm a friendly lady comes towards us, shows us on the map where we are and points us out the right direction. Then we start chit-chatting a little and when she finds out that we have booked a trip in some travel agency, she tells us that we shouldn’t have done that. It was better to go to an agency ‘controlled by the governement’. There was one nearby that was still open. And we were lucky: it was the last day of the promotion prices before the high season started. (It was half November, we should have know better, but little did we know at that time.)

The lady calls a Tuk-Tuk for us that brings us to our destination: “Unseen Travel Agency”. We are received by Fon, who seems to be in charge of the office. She’s very open, spontaneous and makes quite a lot of jokes and she helps us (read:rips us off) with a very big eternal Thai smile. We explain to her what we would like to visit and she makes us a package deal of 15.000 Bath each for a one-day trip to Ayutthaya, a half day trip to the floating market and 5 days Koh Samui by bus.

We found that to expensive and when she saw we were hesitating because of the price, she starts looking for a way to give a discount. Are we students? No, we're not and we don’t even look like students, we’re 30 years old. “Oh wait, we’re from Belgium right”. Earlier that day a group of Dutch students made a reservation, she could pin the copy of our id’s to their reservation so she could give us a 3000 Bath discount per person. And if we booked the same day, we could still profit of the last day of the discountprices (which would make a difference of at least +/- 2000 Bath extra to be paid each if we booked only the next day.)

It still felt like a lot of money, but since I had to work the five following days and I didn’t want my husband to have to arrange everything for our trip afterwards on his own, we were both like “Okay, why not book it at once.” Once again, we should have known better. And on top of that we paid cash, so there was no way of getting the transaction cancelled. How stupid can one be…
As soon as we got out of the office we felt a bit uncomfortable about our reservation. When we typed “Unseen Travel Agency” on google later on, we saw nothing but messages about scam. Buses not showing up, peopling having to pay a second time to get on the bus, the bus dropping people off where they shouldn’t be dropped off, etc. Our experience wasn’t much better.

For our trip to Ayutthaya we were supposed to be picked up at 6 am at our hotel. At 6.30 am we still didn’t see anyone, so we ask the receptionist to contact the number mentioned on our reservation ticket. No answer. More than 2 hours later we finally can speak to someone on the phone. To my Thai colleague (who also contacted the agency several times for us) they said the bus was involved in an accident, to the receptionist of the hotel they said they mixed the dates up and to us they told that they had planned a private tour for us, since we had to leave the same night for Koh Samui. The guide was on his way and would arrive round 9am. So he did, but he didn’t speak English and was in fact just a taxi driver that was supposed to take us to Ayutthaya.

We were already more than three ours late on the schedule and didn’t feel anything for organising a sightseeingtour ourselves in a city we didn’t know at all, so we ask the driver to take us to the travel agency. Once in his cab, we notice that he is leaving Bangkok! After a phonecall he drives back towards the center. After another phonecall he tells us that he has to take us back to the hotel and that we can’t go to the travel agency. That’s where we decided to get out of the car and go their by ourselves.

Once we arrive there we are not allowed to speak to Fon. My Thai colleague had been negotiating with her and she managed that we would be paid back 3000 Bath each. We didn’t want to accept it just like that. When we asked for a detailed overview for everything she booked for us, she told us that it was impossible because it was a ‘package deal'. Confronted with the fact that she booked a room for 300 Bath/night which she charged us for more or less 2000 Bath/night, she just told us that we had no right to complain about her overcharging. We agreed on the price when we booked, case closed.

Then, Koh Samui. When we arrived at Koh Samui,we found out that the transport from the ferry port to the hotel was not included in the price and that there was no pick-up at the hotel for the last day. The hotel was clean, but very basic: no tv, no airco, no refrigerator, no warm water, just a bed, a fan and a shower right next to the toilet and even no breakfast included. It was really the cheapest ‘hut’ she could find on the entire island, which she overcharged a maximum for. We got over it pretty fast and decided to move to another beach and book a nice, cosy cabin next to the beach.

Once back in Bangkok we were again supposed to be picked-up at the hotel to go to the floating market. Once again no-one showed up… This time their excuse was that they thought we no longer wanted to go there. Why shouldn’t we?! We decided to go to the travel agency to ask the money back for that trip. But Fon knew it was our last day, so she just threw us out and said that if we had a problem, we should go to the police, knowing that they wouldn’t do anything about it. And if they did, it wouldn’t be settled in one day time.

We got very disgusted by this travel agency and their lack of respect and honesty. That’s way we decided to share our story in this blog. Hopefully people will read it and never book their trips at Unseen Travel Agency in Bangkok. And we give everyone a good piece of advice: don’t believe what people tell you in the streets (the friendly lady must have worked for the agency), think twice and never book immediately at an agency you don’t know. Check it first out on the internet and go back afterwards. And always pay with visa, even if they are charging 10% extra for it.
Please spread this blog or share the url with everyone you know. This kind of practises must stop. The sooner the better .

NOTE: It must be said that Thailand is a beautiful country with friendly people, delicious food and stunning sceneries. It’s really worth visiting. Just be careful not to get ripped of by dishonest agencies.

Our blog: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.viewfriendId=181019611blogId=526437620

the islands off krabi are some of my favorite spots in this world. ko lanta, railey beach etc, the best for diving, relaxing, rock climbing. and i love the food, the people are super friendly, its almost too good to be true!

Find a great spot to lay in the sun. Meet some good people and party like its 1999.

While in Pattaya, you must attend the Alcazar Cabaret Show. It's performed by lady-boys. No way to guess that those gorgeous, talented people are men unless somebdy tells you. The show is brethtaking and extremely rich; the songs, the light, the decoration, the clothes are bewildering. The show is divided into several parts that take place in different countries. When you go out you can take photos with the lady-boys.

Travel with lots of people - the more people you travel with, the more power you have for bargaining. Many tours are cheaper with more people too (especially in Asia).

An educational experience! Visited the naughty clubs and chilled with the transvestites - they're very charming and friendly people. The sex trade is booming, but one does not have to partake in the action if it's not one's style. The party atmosphere in on every night and there's enough beer for everyone! No question about the safety - we got back to the hotel at 04h30 in a tuk-tuk! I will visit again, this time with the wife and my youngsters.

Travelling to Narathiwat in year 2000 with my partner was one of our adventurous trip as backpackers from Kuala Lumpur heading North in Kelantan. Access from Malaysia is convenient via a ninety-minute bus trip and two immigration points where travelers can cross into Thailand and vice versa. With Amphoe Su-ngai Kolok serving as an economic and border tourism center, the province welcomes an increasing numbers of Malaysians and Singaporeans on short holidays or shopping sprees. Sungai Kolok has more than its fair share of hotels, many of them short-time joints catering mainly to Malaysian men who skip over the border or a bit of action in the town's many karaoke bars and coffee houses. The restaurant scene is also pretty basic (though tasty) with noodle shops, roti stalls and typical shopfronts the staple. If you're crossing the border here, coming from Malaysia, after clearing immigration either take a motorbike taxi or just follow the main road into town -- it's about a ten minute walk to the start of town and the train station. Sungai Kolok has suffered a series of bombings, arson attacks and killings as a result of the ongoing trouble in Thailand's far south and while none of these attacks have specifically targeted westerners, you should exercise care, particularly in the outlying districts. Expect to see a heightened military presence with humvees and soldiers fully kitted out both in town and in the surrounding area. Amidst the tight security all, that did not stop us from travelling to Narathiwat. Capital of the same-named province, Narathiwat sits on the bank of the Bang Nara River, south of Bangkok by road. A particularly friendly spot roughly 66 km from Sungai Kolok, Narathiwat has the rustic charm that has disappeared from so many of the other far southern Thai provincial capitals. Although the bulk of the town is now comprised of the typical concrete egg-carton style buildings, it still has a generous helping of old wooden buildings and a few sino-portuguese shopfronts by the riverfront. Most travellers treat Narathiwat as an overnight stop (if that) as many choose to head north to the larger centres such as Hat Yai, while others bypass it completely, in part no doubt due to the ongoing difficulties that blight this portion of Thailand. Narathiwat appears to be very popular with cyclists who use it as a breather before pushing on north or south. We took great opportunities to spend days at the beach and in the forests and take excursion trips to some of the magnificent temples! For those who choose to stay though, expect to be rewarded with some excellent southern Thai hospitality and enough Muslim eateries and curries to last a lifetime. Those who do choose to stay here often find themselves marking Narathiwat as a place to return to, well, which me my partner did! As far as security is concerned, the bulk of security incidents have taken place outside the provincial capital, mostly in rural districts that most travellers would be unlikely to find themselves. Nevertheless, care should be exercised and the early evening curfew instituted by some hotels, is best adhered to. Is it safe to travel to Narathiwat? Well, i shall leave it to you to decide. And oh, My honest opinion, Narathiwat is an amazing and unique area with a constant flow of culture and trade between Thais and Malaysians.

There are few cool things to do in Samut Prakarn. My historical trip to Samut Prakarn , Thailand was unforgettable. Bangkok is the nearest city to Samut Prakarn. Muang Boran or so called the ancient city has the world's largest outdoor museum. I paid like 300 Baht for the entrance fee. If you do not have time to travel around the different historical parks in Thailand to witness the splendors of its past, this is the place to go. The arts and culture of Thailand are being beautifully crafted and displayed on the land. This is an innovative park-cum-museum (Muang Boran in Thai) in which visitors can learn about Thai architecture and history. As you drive around, you will find famous buildings, monuments and temples representing all regions in Thailand . You need a private car to navigate around the 280-acre outdoor museum. Do set aside a whole day for this visit, as the attraction is located a little outside Bangkok , in Samut Prakan. A few kilometres from Muang Boran is the famous Crocodile Farm in Samut Prakarn. The croc farm was founded by Thailand's famous crocodile king this crocodile farm ranks as one of the world's largest housing a diverse range of more than 60,000 fresh and seawater crocodiles, including the largest ever held in captivity. Apart from the crocodile wrestling, putting heads in crocs mouths, shows that runs every hour, you can also watch trained elephants, gibbons, lions and snakes, amongst other animals. Absolutely amazing! I come from Sarawak ( Borneo ) believe me, our rivers are home to the notorious crocs too!

if ur looking for cheap shopping ..bangkok is the place..clothes, electronics, etc ..u name it and they got it all ..that too at a reasonable price..but hey quality mite differ..but u shure can get some great bargains..apart from shopping bangkok has got a nice cultural and historical side to it..so all those lookin for some of tht mite be interested ..another great feature of the city is its night life..tho a bit doggy..and 2 things which make bangkok kinda hard to travel in is its bad traffic and a peculiar kind of smell on the roads..

Mae Hong Song's is one of those places that is nothing special as a town, but the area around it is beautiful. It's easy to lose time here and if your into the gentler side of trekking its great. One of the biggest draws is 3 local Padaung villages/refugee camps (Giraffe woman long necks are derogatory terms, please). This is a weird situation, as they are refugees from Burma and there is clearly some exploitation being had here. But its not so black white. None of village entry fee goes to these tribes women or their families, but it does mostly go to Karen rebels fighting for freedom against the Burmese Junta. The rest to Thai middlemen as a tax or rent. The girls are not forced to put these rings on they choose to. Although they choose to because its the best chance of making money as their unable to leave the camp to find other work. The rings do not harm them and do not stretch their necks, It does deform them but in their culture it is seen as a sign of great beauty. As the rings are added over years, the collar bones sink down and give the illusion. There are several explanations as to why they started doing this, To protect their women from tiger attacks, to make them seem ugly to slave raiders, but my favourite is their legend that they originated from a dragon and hence the elongated neck is a homage to that. This very old custom was dying out of recent times until tourism entered the fray. Is this a case of tourism actually inadvertently reviving a minority culture's tradition heritage.....???? Thats up to you. But please go see them, they do want you to go. Be open minded and spend lots of money on their handicrafts, thats the only direct income they actually get and the only way you can be sure your money goes directly to them.

Ayuthaya is the ancient capital of Thailand and is at the intersection of three rivers. It is an amazing, wide spread area with numerous temples, courtyards, statues and buildings from about 700 years ago and most are still well kept. Some really nice ones are for example a buddha statue head, which is grown around by the roots of a tree. A MUST SEE, for a cultural trip or just a nice little getaway from the Bangkok buzz.

Relax during the day and parties during the night in this beautiful island full of young people. The most exciting events are the Full Moon party (trance, techno, drumbass, reggae, commercial - every kind of music - every full-moon night at Haad Rin beach) and the Half-Moon festival (tribal trance huose music in the jungle, during some waning or crescent moon nights); besides there are also a lot of blackmoon events.

I notice this morning that somebody has hung a sign on my door during the night which reads "Please no molest". Always nice to know the management has my best interests at heart... I'm already quite at home in this hotel. To get to reception from the street, you have to walk along a private driveway which makes me feel like royalty. After experiencing the dilapidated condition of the streets beyond the hotel, it's like stepping into another world: the trees play lift music at you from hidden speakers, and at any moment you expect a little man to appear from nowhere shouting "Da Plane, Boss, Da Plane..." and for Ricardo Montalban to emerge from the trees to fulfil your every dream. But I digress. I'm staying on the 5th floor. On the 4th floor, rather puzzlingly, is the lobby, and then on the lower levels we have the two Olympic swimming pools, fitness centre, two private beaches, Shopping Mall, five restaurants, Thai Massage Suite with ten private rooms, Conference facilities, Ballrooms, Banqueting Hall, two full size indoor squash courts, three tennis courts, and a partridge in a pear tree. I awoke this morning to the sight of the sun rising over the sea outside my balcony, and wondered briefly where Thailand had been all my life. After a while, I dragged myself out of bed and headed once more for the beach road, where I ended up at 10.00 this morning sitting in a shop with the quaint and not altogether authentic local name of Mister Donut. Cup of coffee and box of Donuts packed away, I felt like I could finally face the day - So I headed over to the travel shop to book a day trip tomorrow to the beautiful nearby island of Koh Samet, which my trusty guidebook of Thailand promises me will be a trip I will not forget. I've also extended my stay here until I leave for Phuket in five days time, courtesy of American Express, so I can kick back and relax for a while without having to worry about returning to dreary Bangkok on Saturday! A typical day here in Pattaya goes something like this: "Oh what a pleasant day, think I'll go for a stroll... My, it's a bit hot out here, probably should've worn a hat... Where did that mirage come from?... My legs appear to have stopped functioning... Please call me an ambulance for these third degree burns!"
Around mid-day, the sun decides that it's about time it made an appearance, and it suddenly goes from being hot but tolerable in the morning to being like Death Valley on a bad day. Still, nobody tells muggins here this, do they?
So, like mad dogs and Englishmen, I went out to find somewhere to get my first roll of film developed and to buy some more for Koh Samet. I should have suspected what was coming from the fact that even the dogs were laying in the street, tongues hanging out, lapping hopefully at puddles and barking "Kill me now" as I passed. I'm not going out in the mid-day sun again without a ten gallon tank of water strapped to my back, I can tell you - And I have the third degree burns to prove it. Much to my surprise, the shop said that my film would be back in two hours. This impressed me - Back home, the current situation is that if you take a roll of APS film to be developed in a small local chemist, the shopkeeper looks at you as if you have just told him that you intend to make love to his daughter and does he know the fastest route to the local Ann Summers store, and then he has to consult with somebody else on the phone to decide how much to charge. Then he informs you that they don't know what APS is and that developing my film will involve sending the film to Thailand for processing where they can do it in two hours(1). So, what are my impressions of Thailand after the first week? Well, apart from Bangkok with its all-enveloping smell of Sulphur from the drains, I could spend a lot longer here. The only mild irritation is all the street vendors trying to sell me stuff I don't want wherever I go - And if one more beautiful nymph grabs me by the arm on the street and says "I come with you now - We go Focky-Focky", I think I shall scream. And there's something you don't hear me say every day. (1) Obviously, since writing this journal we've gone from APS to Digital photography so this situation has not only got better but the whole concept of taking film to a shop to develop is becoming pretty much obsolete. This also explains the lower quality of photographs on this trip than on my later travels, as all film taken here had to be developed and then scanned and converted to digital later.

I had a pretty fair idea of what I wanted to do in Phuket before I even left England, thanks mainly to the amount of people who suddenly turned out to have been here and wanted to tell me all about it. So, when my tour rep turned up in the lobby this morning with his clipboard, hard-sell face and book entitled "1001 ways to get people to do what you want them to do", he was rather surprised to find that it took him all of fifteen seconds to sell me on the idea of doing exactly what I came here to do in the first place. He probably got promoted. So, clutching my tickets for a trip to Phi-Phi Island and to the beautiful bays around the coast over the next two days, I set out to see Patong by day. As with all places, the town is considerably different without the beating music and bright lights of night time. In fact, it was quiet and relaxed this morning, full of couples walking along the beach arm in arm. At the first travel shop I came to, I booked myself onto an "Introduction to Phuket" tour which was leaving within the next few minutes and which confidently promised to show me some of the sights of the island in 4 hours. This tour set me back the princely sum of 300 Baht - about a fiver - so I didn't really expect much more than a basic drive to a couple of temples. On the whole, though, I think it was money well spent: The "English Speaking" guide was obviously from the Chinese school of English, and spoke so fast that it was hard to believe he was speaking English at all, but for 300 Baht I wasn't about to complain. Christ, for that sort of money I think I would've been quite happy with the Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show! I did start to get a bit annoyed with the way the guide kept saying "Yes?" at the end of every sentence, though, as though he was trying to convince himself that he was telling us the facts. And I did start to become a bit sceptical when he informed us matter-of-factly as though talking to a group of 5 year olds that they have to train monkeys to pick coconuts for them as they have discovered that only monkeys can avoid the poisoned fruit on their trees. It apparently takes 6 months to train a monkey to do this, and there is a University for monkeys in Bangkok for this purpose, we were informed. I have just one problem with this. If it takes 6 months to train a monkey to not eat poisoned fruit, what do they do with all the dead monkeys? Our first stop on the tour was at a lookout point at the very top of the island, where we all scurried off to take our first photos of the breathtaking scenery. This is one thing that Phuket has in abundance. According to the guide, who I was starting to think was making it all up as he went along, parts of Jurassic Park were shot on the island - although people disagree as to exactly where and when and nobody seems to actually be able to remember any camera crews or anything. Looking at the views of the forests and beaches stretching away to the horizon, it certainly isn't difficult to imagine a few Raptors down there though. The highlight of the day for me was our afternoon visit to Wat Chalong, a supremely beautiful Buddhist temple built on a traditionally grand scale and somehow exactly the opposite of what I was expecting from Phuket after the obvious excesses of Patong Beach. In fact, the place is such a culture shock after arrival in Patong that it takes quite a while walking around the extensive gardens and market stalls before you even feel worthy to set foot inside. Wat Chalong is the pride of the island, a fact that was obvious just to hear our guide talk about it's history and the miracles said to have been performed there as though he considered it his honour to pass on every drop of knowledge he had ever learned about the place.
The temple had a major part to play in the war between Chinese secret societies in the 19th century. At this time the island was something of a power in Tin Mining, and Chinese workers came looking for work and started to create societies. Unfortunately, the workers started to get a bit upset when the owners of the land and tin mines decided they weren't about to allow them to partake of opium as they were used to, and they took it upon themselves to begin a murderous rampage. Locals fled to the temple where the Abbot did all that Buddhism would allow which was help rally the people to fight back against the attackers. Despite quite rigorous fighting from the Chinese side, the opium finally got the better of them and they were overwhelmed by the locals. When this all got back to the king the Abbot was called before him for a well earned promotion, and Wat Chalong became a royal temple. The temple is filled with statues, and every single inch of it is covered in gold as I should have come to expect by now. The walls are covered in paintings depicting the Buddha's life, and statues of previous abbots adorn the corridors. The grounds are amazing, gardens stretch out in all directions and are a pleasure to walk around, and today there were market stalls set up on the boundaries through which I spent a good half hour of browsing: just sitting in the grounds in silence for a few minutes is almost enough to make you want to take the vow. One room of the Wat was full of locals praying and we tiptoed respectfully through watching them meditate or sit in silent prayer, although none of them seemed to be remotely bothered or worried by our presence. Buddhists are, of course, nothing if not understanding and tolerant - something which is refreshing to say the least after spending a lifetime in the West where everything is stress and rush. Some would argue, for this reason, that Buddhism is in fact not so much a religion as a philosophy. It is, if you are interested in a slight digression at this point, a set of teachings based entirely on, not the belief in any particular divine entity, but the words of a man called Siddhartha who achieved enlightenment around 2500 years ago at the age of 35 while sitting under a pipal fig tree. These, naturally, were gentler times when a name like Sid Arthur meant you were a respected prince rather than a wheeler/dealer type from the east end of London. Anyway, Siddhartha Guatama was born and raised in ancient India in the region now known as Nepal, and had spent his early life as a prince, being given whatever he desired before being married off at the age of 16 to his cousin. He seems to have led something of a sheltered life because only as he approached his 30th birthday did he decide to actually leave the house and survey his kingdom. It must have come as something of a shock to come across the sick, the old and the dying for the first time because Siddhartha promptly announced that he needed to find the path of enlightenment, packed his bags and headed off to devote the rest of his life to abstinence from all worldly pleasures in an attempt to prevent such unpleasant things as death and old age from happening to him. Over the next few years Siddhartha became a beggar, studied under several hermit teachers, brought meditation down to a fine art and just about managed to starve himself to death by taking abstinence to the ultimate extreme and restricting himself to a leaf a day. To paraphrase the teachings of Buddha slightly here, this is the point at which Siddhartha decided he needed a new plan.
So Siddhartha created the "Middle way", which has a slightly different meaning depending on which branch of Buddhism you listen to but which is essentially a transcendental path away from self satisfaction and worldly pleasures and towards the pursuit of wisdom and enlightenment. Settling down to meditate under the Pipal tree, he told his companions that he wasn't going to get up again until he had understood the truth about everything - this he duly did after several weeks, but not before all his friends had, unsurprisingly, gone home. Siddhartha Guatama had finally achieved enlightenment and become the Buddha, or "Awakened one".
Enlightenment brought with it an understanding of the four noble truths of Buddhism, which would appear to be a series of statements which connect together logically - we crave our desires (some wish to attain pleasure, some wish to attain happiness, some wish to kill and some wish to love, etc); these cravings lead to suffering; to relieve suffering one must eliminate craving; to eliminate craving, one must follow the Eightfold path: correct outlook, correct intentions, correct speech, correct actions, correct work, correct amount of effort, correct mindfulness, correct amount of concentration. Following the Eightfold path will ultimately lead anyone to the state of Nirvana which, as a child, I firmly believed was the next state over from California! Of course, the western way of thinking tells us that happiness is whatever we want it to be. If you find true happiness in meditation and giving up all earthly vices, then that's fine - but if your idea of supreme bliss is going out on a Saturday night, getting totally rat-arsed and waking up in somebody else's bed, then that's fine too. I came across the following story while updating this entry, which I thought I would share with you for it's humour value. It would appear that one of the ex-abbots of Wat Chalong, Luang Poh Cham, was promised by a local girl that she would cover his genitals in golf leaf if he cured her with his magical walking stick. However, after being cured she subsequently forgot about her promise and fell ill again because the Thai's believe that breaking a promise will result in evil falling upon them. The girl's parents returned her to the Abbot for an explanation, whereupon he saved the day by sitting on his walking stick in such a way that it stuck out from the front of his robes and the girl was able to coat it in golf leaf, become cured again, and remain none the wiser...

After leaving Mae Hong Son in February 2002, Tanya and I headed for the gulf of Thailand. Ultimately, our final destination in the country was a small island resort off the coast of Krabi, a place which Tanya knew little about as I had been keeping it a closely guarded secret. On the way, however, we had a few days to spare and had decided to spend them in Phuket so that I could show her the beauty of Phi Phi and the surrounding scenery that I had loved so much on my previous trip. This time, however, I had booked us into somewhere a little further from the nightlife of Patong. The Central Karon Village is a resort complex on the top of a hill halfway between Patong and the nearby village of Karon and, from the pictures in the brochure, the resort looked to be not only extremely romantic but also positioned just far enough away from Patong to afford us the peace we were looking for while still being within reach of the shops and restaurants (1). Almost as soon as our taxi turned off the road and drew up in front of the lavish looking reception building, I knew the Central Karon was going to be everything I'd hoped it would be. Built on the side of a steep hill overlooking Karon Beach and the bay, a narrow private road zig-zags downward between rows of wooden villas supported on stilts. The road is truly private, only being just wide enough to allow two narrow golf carts to pass each other carrying guests up to reception at the top or down to the swimming pool by the beach at the bottom of the hill. Flights of steps wind between the villas, connecting each flat stretch of road and creating the effect of several levels as you make your way down to the beach. Telephones are positioned at intervals along the side of the road, so that anyone wishing to get anywhere without having to climb the hundreds of steps between the villas can simply ring for a golf cart to come and collect them. It felt a little like being on fantasy island. The room I had booked for Tanya and I was grandly titled a deluxe villa, and we were driven on our golf cart to the nearest telephone point from where the driver helped us carry our luggage up the remaining steps to our accommodation. Entry to the villa was through a small wooden patio which, due to the stilts holding it up against the edge of the hill and the steps leading away in both directions, also doubled as a balcony on which we could sit and watch the sunset or watch the almost non-existent waves on the sea through the trees. Our patio doors led into a small cosy bedroom, most of which was taken up with an eastern style four poster bed over and around which had been draped mosquito netting, and waiting for us on the pillow was a single red flower. Adjoining the bedroom was an en suite bathroom which, bizarrely, contained a large open window over the top of the shower which flooded the room with light during the day and showed us the stars at night. The amount of light in the bathroom also served another purpose because, even more bizarrely, the room also contained a small indoor garden in the form of a selection of plants planted in a bed of soil along the length of one wall. To me, the villa was perfect - and yet it was not the most expensive option. For the mere cost of one arm and two legs, we could've probably just about afforded to stay in a poolside villa or have our own spa in a private outdoor garden, but both of these options seemed to me to be rather missing the point - who wants to stay at home in their villa all day taking baths when you're in a place as beautiful as Thailand? For the same reason, the fact that our room also boasted satellite television, on demand movies and a well stocked mini-bar totally passed by me un-noticed. We were far too interested in having a great time around the resort and planning our visits to nearby islands to take any notice of trivial things like that! There were plenty of choices at the resort when it came to food. At the top of the hill, next to reception, the Cliff Bar and Restaurant allowed us to sit outside sipping cocktails at sunset or have dinner surrounded by panoramic views of the Andaman Sea. On the other hand, if all our energy had been sapped by spending all day taking part in strenuous activities such as laying by the pool or shopping in Patong, we could opt to walk down the hill rather than up it and have dinner at the Bayview Restaurant overlooking the pool. This was generally more of a buffet set-up and we found that we could usually just wander in, mention our villa number and load up our plates. The chef looked to be constantly busy behind the counter, steam and delicious local smells emanating from his general vicinity throughout our meal - every now and again, he would emerge from his hiding place with a giant platter of mouth-watering delicacies and set them down at somebody's table before disappearing back into the makeshift kitchen. The Bayview did exactly what it said on the tin, affording us particularly spectacular views of the Andaman sea and the bay beyond the pool, and was a delightful place to relax at the end of the day. Both restaurants, however, are pretty popular local destinations - so much so that you can even book a table on the internet before you've even booked your room. Getting from the resort to the shops and nightlife could be done in one of two ways. If we were feeling lazy, we could get reception to call us a taxi. These usually turned up pretty quickly, but we wouldn't have really cared even if they'd kept us waiting as it would've just been an excuse to sit at the bar next to reception and gaze out to sea for a while. Alternatively, we could decide to get some exercise and set off on the long downhill walk in either direction - one way would eventually lead us into the town of Karon, the other to Patong. Either way, the downward journey was very easy - it was the return up the hill which taught us a thing or two about fitness. As a general rule, we walked to town and then got a taxi back. Actually, the taxis in Karon and Patong were not at all what we had been expecting as westerners. Rather than being comfortable enclosed vehicles as we are used to back home, a local taxi in Phuket usually consists of a guy driving a fairly old small truck with a cab up front and a rickety carriage on the back with a single long hard wooden seat on each side. The back of the carriage is completely open for climbing in and out, and the two sides consist of two long glassless windows through which you are more than welcome to fall whenever the taxi goes over a bump in the road. If you're lucky, the driver might even notice and come back for you. The small seafront town of Karon is a world away from neighbouring Patong, if you'll excuse my strange bending of the English language for a moment. Rather than being a loud vibrant place, Karon attracts people looking for a simpler holiday and provides only the amenities to get from one day to the next. It is, however, Phuket's second most popular tourist resort for precisely this reason. There are no streets of nightclubs or rows of packed restaurants, a refreshing fact which proves that the popularity of a resort doesn't have to rely solely on how much there is to do - on our first trip into Karon, it took me a while to even find a cash machine - and afterwards I rather wished I hadn't as it told me it was out of cash and then took the money out of my account anyway.There are a couple of low-key restaurants and bars as you enter the town from the direction of Patong, but very little beyond. Karon does have a street which runs along the beach, but it is lined with hotels and spa resorts rather than attractions. The sand is of the pure white variety you would expect to see on the outlying islands rather than the tourist destinations, and according to the website for the Central Karon Village it is known for squeaking loudly when stepped on. Personally, I cannot vouch for this as I have never encountered squeaking sand in my life and would probably run quickly in the opposite direction if I ever did, but I can certainly recommend Karon Beach as an alternative to the junk food wrapper covered seafront that is Patong - especially since the larger fast food chains have begun to descend on the area. This is very much the place to stay if you don't want to be woken up in the middle of the night by a drunken bar crawl staggering past your front door, and Patong is very much the place to stay if you want to be on a drunken bar crawl that gets to stagger past somebody else's front door! In contrast to Karon, Patong has become the favourite destination for young people looking for a wild, drunken orgy of parties and bars. There are even distinct heterosexual and gay areas of the resort. Back in the 80s, Patong was a quiet seaside resort just like its neighbour until westerners suddenly decided that it was surrounded by such beautiful scenery that it really was the place to go to get drunk and not appreciate any of it. This seems to be quite a popular theme with Europeans - find somewhere really stunning and cover it in fast food wrappers as quickly as possible. These days, Patong is very much the hub of activity on Phuket and contains the vast majority of its nightlife and restaurants. To be fair, if you're looking for somewhere to eat or shop on Phuket or you want to go out for the evening to a reasonably sized club, then Patong is the only real choice - but personally I would always stay elsewhere and go in for the evening. There is a large shopping centre in Patong, spread over several floors and selling everything from cheap clothes thru wines and spirits to souvenirs. Due to the large communities of new age holiday travellers and old style hippies heading out to Thailand for the full moon parties and island life,the clothing here tends to frown in the face of traditional style and you'll see many people wearing more gypsy style clothing, and this is openly available in the clothes shops throughout the island - although bargains can be picked up quite easily on clothing in general, especially if you're willing to take the risk that what you're buying might not be exactly one hundred percent authentic. In fact, this is very much something to be aware of when stopping in resorts such as Patong. We're all familiar with the concept of roadside vendors selling fake rolex watches, but in Thailand it is not unknown for an unsuspecting tourist to go into a large reputable looking department store, wander into the music section and pick up an apparent bargain such as a chart album for the equivalent of a few pennies, only to discover upon listening to it that they've actually got a recording of a talented impressionist covering the original songs - not something it will tell you on the CD case. One really obvious thing about the ridiculous exchange rate between the Thai Baht and the UK Pound is that nobody really knows what their money is worth from one day to the next. At the time of writing, one pound would buy me sixty-four Baht. This is never really a problem as you know that everything in Thailand is costing you next to nothing, but the confusion did prove useful to Tanya and I when we arrived in Patong and decided in a moment of madness to head for McDonalds for something to eat. While Tanya found a table among the throngs of tourists stuffing their faces, I went up to the counter and ordered - coming away with a tray laden down with food and drink which had probably cost me not much more than a pound or two. On the way back to the table, a drunken English guy came bursting through the door with his mates and knocked me flying, sending my tray clattering to the ground and spreading my food all over the floor. Stopping in his tracks, he looked momentarily horrified at what he had done before putting his hand on my shoulder, apologising profusely in a drunken slur and handing me a wad of Thai banknotes with which to replace our meals. I worked out later that he had given me enough money to pay for our first couple of days spending in resort, probably enough to have replaced our meals fifty times over - but by that time the group had moved on and we were forced to spend the change on souvenirs instead. It isn't often you arrive in a foreign country on a budget and almost immediately have somebody pay for your stay! Our stay in Phuket coincided with our first Valentines Day together, and we had dinner in one of the nicer restaurants on Patong sea front. I had, of course, tried very hard to arrange the dates of our holiday so that Valentines Day would be during our stay at the Rayavadee, the island resort I had ended up booking for the following week - but as you can imagine, getting such a place for Valentines was a little like trying to book a ticket to Glastonbury music festival the day before it starts. I didn't even like to ask how far in advance we would've had to book a table at the Central Karon Village, but the people were already lining up to get in when we left. Nevertheless, we found a romantic place along the front and were able to forget for a moment that we were in Patong and be surrounded by other couples celebrating the day. As it turned out, our stay at the Rayavadee a few days later was pretty much like an extended Valentines Day anyway. On our return journeys to the Central Karon Village in the back of a taxi, Tanya would try very hard to get me to join in with a romantic rendition of Close to You by The Carpenters. This would usually end in embarrassment, partly because it's not that easy to sing well when you're being tossed around in the back of a truck, but mainly because I've always had an unfortunatetendency to muddle all the words up between the various choruses in such a way that the song changes rather dramatically from one of the most beautiful love songs ever written into a bit of a farce. "Why do birds fall down from the sky, every time you walk by" doesn't have quite the same ring to it, and probably puts across completely the wrong message... (1) Since our stay, the Central Karon Village has been renamed the Centara Villas. Looking through the website, however, it doesn't seem to me that much has changed other than the name. When I looked, there seemed to be a sudden lack of photos of the villa exteriors, however, and they seem to have repainted the interior walls red. Perhaps the management aren't as impressed with their own facilities as we were! However, Considering where we were and how beautiful the resort was, I found the cost of staying at the Central Karon Village entirely reasonable - at the time of writing, the deluxe villa we stayed in is showing on the resort website at an online rate of 88 UK pounds per night. Many basic hotels in London charge more than this, and I don't remember any of them having majestic views of the Andaman sea. For a more detailed description of Phuket and the amazing limestone stacks and islands surrounding it, you may like to read my previous book - still available at http://www.offexploring.com/globalwanderer

Nightlife: SAFARY !! incredible, between Patong Beach and Karoom Beach. For food, drinks and live music the MOLLY MALONE´S, in Patong Beach.

Ko Chang is one of Thailand’s most beautiful islands with long white sandy beaches, most half deserted. The island is also home to a wide range of wildlife, including a good selection of birds, snakes, deer and a number of elephants. The island and its vicinity are great places for snorkeling, diving and jungle hiking.

Careful with the rental bikes don't leave your real passport since they just leave it in the desk not a safe. Give a copy instead and if they refuse ask to give a 2000 bah deposit.

Arrive at the most adorable outdoor airport, where the waiting rooms are gardens and there's just a few shaded waiting areas. Don't expect to find anything open during the day other than various water sports operators and food vendors on the beach. At night the town comes alive with shops and restaurants. Each eatery will also play one or two movies in the evening so choose when and where to have dinner with the movie schedule. Great eating also to be had on the beach where restaurants will set up tables right by the water. You'll love it.

Stay at the Ban Thai guesthouse. Nice little guesthouse with great fruit shakes. From there you can do guided bike tours to the old town and the country side

I spent some weeks on the Island and mostly on Had Yuan Beach.. Next to Hat Rin but you got to go by boat to get there, or hike the jungle trail;)
Eden Garden have a jungle hut for you from $3 a night and great food!
If you want party like on Samui, don't go to this beach...

Bangkok is the best place for cheap shopping of all kinds. They are renowned for their authentic-looking rip-off designer goods, and clothing is amazingly cheap. Best markets/places to go include: Chat Tu Chak (although it is really hot and crowded can become overwhelming), Sum Lum Night Bazaar is good for a night out, MBK (Mahboonkrong) Center sells great bags and clothes (and is wonderfully air-conditioned), but by far the best place for shopping (and just to check out the scene) is Patpong. It is certainly the Thai experience. I kinda hate Bangkok, as it is a falling down mess, but the shopping and food are unbeatable. I suggest being adventurous buying from the street sellers... they really make the best food although it looks dodgy. Great places to visit are: The Royal Palace, Wat Arun, Wat Pho, and taking an hour or so train to the abandoned city of Ayutthaya (although I suggest seeing Ayutthaya before ever going to Cambodia for Angkor Wat). After Angkor Wat, Ayutthaya is quite disappointing.

Hotel: Relax Bay.
Geiles Hotel, echt

Wear bug repelent!!! (Normally they don't bug* me but here they were EVERYWHERE!) Also, the famous Bridge over the river Kwai is walking distance from most accomodations along the river, so don't get scammed into paying $20 for a boat to it unless you want to see all the extras the boat trip includes- (there are far more impressive versions of most extras accross Thailand.)

When you come out of the airport you may need a shuttle but/taxi. Be careful as sometimes the stop at a jewellry store/tour/hotel booking centre….they will try to sell you tours and stuff to make a commission. Simply tell them you want to go straight to the hotel and that all your tours are booked. We had a major hassle, but I remembered to tell them to just take us to the hotel. We stayed in Patong. Please note that this is a party town! There is a strip with all bars and clubs and it gets rowdy everynight. So don’t stay in a place located near the main strips (Bangka Road) if you want peace and quiet. The beach was nice, but the water was very rough (at the beginning of July). Not much swimming- just avoiding waves. Still some beach activities like parasailing and jet skiing.

Pattaya was a disappointment for me. I'm an asian girl and i was traveling alone in Pattaya. Does this alone necessarily mean i'm looking for someone??? Pattaya's swarmed with dodgy old blokes and putas. I really disliked the atmosphere there and ended up staying in the hotel's swimming pool for 4 days! Pattaya is an oversized red light district. Unless your interest is in prostitution, go somewhere else!