Discovering Thailand: 3 incredible weeks!!

Why Thailand?

I went to Thailand with my husband in September 2011. It was our first big trip and our first contact with South Asia. Since then, we have been unconditionally in love with Asia. Do you feel like finding out why? Keep Reading ;)

Itinerary

Thailand is a big country, so it’s impossible to see it all in 3 weeks. This is in fact an advantage, because it gives you an excuse to come back! We wanted to visit Bangkok to see the temples and also part of the rainforest area to do some hiking and some islands in order to go snorkeling.

After consulting the LP, a lot of blogs and some friends that had been in Thailand before us, we decided to do the following itinerary. I’ll make it short because I went there a long time ago and I don’t remember all the details.

Day 1. Flight BCN-Bangkok. Night in the plane L

Day 2. Bangkok. We arrived to our hotel in Bangkok in the afternoon, around 17:00h. We had some rest and went out for a walk and dinner.

We stayed in Navalai River Resort Hotel. The hotel was good value for money but the best thing was the location. The area was really cool, full with good and cheap restaurants and cosy bars that were popular among the locals (most of them with live music every night).

Day 3. Bangkok. Discovering some of the main temples and Jim Thompson House.

There are a bunch of temples (wat in Thai) in Bangkok and  itis impossible to visit all of them. We decided to pick up 3 temples and all of them were amazing and absolutely worth a visit: Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Arun. We really loved them all. Please, don’t miss any of them if you go to Bangkok!!!

We also visited Jim Thompson House, which is a house who belonged (of course) to Jim Thompson and that nowadays is a house museum that consists of a complex of six traditional Thai-style houses. The place is nice and it has a lovely café, but if you are short of time, I think that you can skip this one.

At night, we went to have a massage and then dinner, both activities quite close to the hotel. As I said before, the area was great to go out.

Some photos of the temples:

Day 4. Ayutthaya. We caught the train that goes to Ayutthaya early in the morning. The train trip is itself a “must do” and a very authentic experience. Once in Ayutthaya, the best thing to do is to rent a bike and cycle from one site to the other, because the old city is quite big and if you walk I think you’ll end up exhausted!

Ayutthaya is awesome. Definitely a place to visit!! Here is a photo:

In the evening, we went to have dinner at Silom area and afterwards we went to Sirocco’s Sky Bar. JUST AMAZING. The views were spectacular, the service exquisite, the live music outstanding and the drinks well prepared. It is true that it is expensive for Thai standards, but the equivalent in Barcelona would have cost four times more. We are not people that normally go to fancy bars, but I assure you that this one is worth it!!!

Day 5. Shopping and Lumpinee Park. Muay Thai combat.

We spent the morning visiting the main malls. I guess that if you plan to buy some stuff the malls are ok, but it wasn’t my case, so I didn’t enjoy that part. After lunch, we headed to Lumpinee Park (nice, but it is not like NY’s Central Park) and bought the tickets for a Muay Thai combat that evening. I think we paid the equivalent of 100€ for two tickets. Expensive, yes. Worth it, absolutely!!! We really enjoyed the whole experience: how they open your taxi’s door when you arrive, how they lead you to your seats (as if the place was very fancy when it is actually quite crappy (and I say that as a compliment)) aaaaand, above all, how you can see and hear all the Thais betting and shouting and whistling at the boxers.

Day 6. Bangkok. Flight to Chiang Rai. We spent our last hours in Bangkok day resting and enjoying the hotel’s swimming pool. In the afternoon, we went to the airport to take a plane to Chiang Rai. We arrived to Chiang Rai at night, so we just had time to check in at the hotel and go out for dinner at a nearby restaurant. We found out quite soon that we liked Bangkok’s cuisine more than Chiang Rai’s... To be fair, I guess the food wasn’t that bad, the problem is that we had eaten so well in Bangkok that, afterwards, the rest of the restaurants didn’t seem that good!

Day 7. Chiang Rai. It rained a lot. We visited the village (nothing special) and some temples (nice, but after you have seen Wat Phra Kaew, you found them quite ordinary). We also book a hiking trip for the next day. In the evening, we went to the night market. Food and shops were nice there!

Day 8. Hiking. AMAZING. We had a guide just for the two of us. The river, the greenery, the elephants, the fact of hiking alone almost all of the time… highly recommended!! I think that the trip was from 9h to 16h. We were so knackered that I almost don’t wake up from the nap we took when we got to the hotel…

Some photos of the hiking tour:

Day 9. Bus to Chiang Mai. Our next destination was Chiang Mai and we spent like 4 hours in the bus that took us there. Notwithstanding that, the trip was quite pleasurable because the views were very nice and the bus quite comfortable, actually.

We stayed at the Rimping Village Hotel. Very nice hotel and very friendly staff. After checking in, we borrowed some bikes from the hotel and went to explore the village. We liked it. It’s very lively and cute, with lots of good restaurants. We also booked the hiking trip for the next day.

Day 10. Chiang Mai. Hiking. The hiking trip in Chiang Mai wasn’t as good as the one in Chiang Rai, but, still, it was quite cool. We wanted to do a two-days and one-night hiking and sleep in the rainforest, but it had been raining a lot and we thought that maybe it would be too muddy to spend two days hiking. I regret not having tried it!

Some photos of the hiking:

Day 11. Chiang Mai. We took the bikes and went to visit the temples of the area. They were nice, but again, after you have seen Bangkok’s temples, these don’t impress you that much.

Day 12. More cycling around, reading and swimming in the hotel.

Days 13-14-15-16. Flight to Koh Samui. We spent four nights in Koh Samui, just resting, reading, kayaking and sunbathing. I know, it sounds a little bit lazy of us…

Days 17-18-19-20. We took a boat to Koh Tao. A colleague at work had recommended  that island and he really hit the nail on the head! WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!! Laid-back atmosphere, lots of backpackers and an astonishing sea bed: The Paradise itself!!

One of the days, we took a snorkelling tour. IT WAS AWESOME!! We went to four different spots and got the chance to see reef sharks, hundreds of beautiful goldfish (some of them really big!) and gorgeous corals.

And, with respect to the rest of the days, we mostly laid on the beach and snorkelled on the beach that was in front of the hotel. We wanted to enjoy Paradise with no rush!

Day 21. We took a boat to Koh Samui and a flight to Bangkok.

Day 22. We spent the day shopping and waving goodbye to Thailand (so sad to say goodbye!) and, in the evening, we went to the airport to take a flight back to home.

What would I have changed if I had known…

This is a very subjective opinion and I don’t expect everybody to agree with it, so please, don’t get upset if you don’t think the same way! There I go:

- I wouldn’t go again to both Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, because they are too similar. Just pick up one! I liked more Chiang Mai village and the restaurants there, but Chiang Rai felt a little more off the beaten path and we enjoyed more the hiking that we did there. If I went again, I think that I’d chose Chiang Mai but I’d only stay there 3 nights and I’d do the two-days and one-night hiking.

- I wouldn’t go to Koh Samui. The Island is nice and perfect when you travel with kids, but we liked more the laid-back atmosphere that we found in Koh Tao. Also, these two island are too close. I’d  try a different beach area.