Thailand - February 2007
Dave and Sarah's first visit to Thailand was a life changing experience by all accounts... we're already helping them arrange another visit for early 2008!
They travelled on a tailor-made itinerary created by one of our Thailand specialists - Phil.
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Day 1 - touchdown in Bangkok, 'the City of Angels '
Arriving in Bangkok after the 12-hour flight we are pretty tired but the adrenaline soon gets us going as we transfer in to the bright lights of the city. After we check in to our hotel we have a quick freshen up and then it is out to explore for our first evening. We have no idea where to start in a city so vast so our guide, Thu, recommends a great place to go eat. Thai food is amazing and so much better than the Thai food I have had in England, plus a tenth of the price! After a couple of late night drinks we are glad to find our beds and get our head down for the night.
Day 2 - Bankok
The Royal Palace and Wat Po
What a day! We start fairly early after breakfast and head out to the sites. After seeing high rise buildings everywhere it is amazing to turn a corner and suddenly see the magnificent Grand Palace. The place is amazing with some massive rooms - seeing the Emerald Buddha is truly spectacular and it is great to hear our guide speak about how important religion is and especially this image of Buddha in particular.
We also visit Wat Po which is famous for its 45m reclining Buddha. Sarah was also happy to visit the massage school and take advantage of the massage by the students. Obviously I only joined in to help them; I got no enjoyment out of it!
Once fully relaxed our afternoon is free so we get Thu to drop us off at one of the shopping centres and enjoy browsing through the many trinkets, fakes and electronics! We are leaving pretty early tomorrow so it is a bite to eat at another recommended restaurant before going to bed.
Day 3 - Welcome to Chiang Mai!
We grab a quick breakfast at the hotel and then we are whisked off to the airport for our flight to Chiang Mai. The traffic on the way to the airport is crazy, like nothing I have ever seen before!
As soon as we arrive in Chaing Mai we meet our new guide Ran before driving to the hotel – we can already feel that this is a much more relaxed place than Bangkok. Our hotel is right next to the night bazaar and Sarah is already excited about the shopping later. We have the rest of the morning free so we just relax for a bit and go for a swim to freshen up before heading out for the afternoon.
We take a drive up to Wat Doi Suthep. The road is really windy when going up and down the side of the mountain and we see some crazy locals riding bikes up it! It makes me tired just looking at them doing it. Nothing can prepare us for the beauty of the temple and its the huge gold stupa. Ran tells us all about the temple and why it has become such a big part of life in the city. We go and pray with the monks and get blessed for good luck along with Ran who is very pleased that we are showing such an interest. It really is so alien to me how important religion is here but it is refreshing to see that so many people get so much from the whole experience.
Our guide takes us to The Gallery restaurant where we have one of the best meals I have ever had – my mouth doesn’t stop burning for quite a while although I find that the Singha beers help! We then head just down the river to another bar with a live band playing where we dance the night away with a nice mixture of Thai’s and westerners.
Day 4 - The old town and shopping in the night bazaar
Our guide picks us up in the morning and we take a drive to the old city where we just have a really relaxing day walking around the many temples located within the city walls. The whole laid back feel of this place is really refreshing and even though we are in a city it just feels at ease.
We head back to our hotel and in preparation for the shopping later I decide to take a siesta and a dip in the pool! The weather has been great so far and it shows no sign of letting up.
We head out to the night bazaar to find ourselves surrounded by what appears to be millions of stalls selling everything that you could ever imagine! We pick up some beautiful Thai silks for my parents which I know that they will love and some handmade jewellery and trinkets for each other and friends back home.
After most of the shopping down we sit down at the side and enjoy some street food at its very best. I have an amazingly hot Som Tam salad and Sarah has a Tom Yum Goong, the famous hot and spicy soup. What a day and what a place.
Day 5 - Lazy..us?
In the morning we check out of our hotel as we have treated ourselves to one night in the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, the most stupendous hotel that I have ever seen! It is lavish yet refined, classic yet modern. We have nothing planned for the day and take it easy in the massive pool and just relax. Bliss!
Day 6 - Koh Samui and the Full Moon
We transfer to Chiang Mai airport for a flight down to the gorgeous island of Koh Samui. We are picked up and driven to our hotel by the Selective Asia driver before heading straight out to set about exploring. We have no guide or driver from here on in, so its time for us to start exploring on our own which is fun although we do miss the Thu and Ran – they were so easy going and helpfull!
We eat quite early as we are off to Koh Pha Ngan later on this evening for the full moon party that the island is famous for…after just an hours boat ride we arrive on a beach full of revellers of all ages…I’m not sure we are dressed appropriately (Thai-dye…Thailand…I should have guessed!) but it’s a great atmosphere and the music is ‘interesting’!
Day 7 - the day after the night before
We got back about 8am this morning and too be honest most of the night is a blur, so it must have been great! We still head out for our last night in Samui. I really love this place, there’s so much to do and some beautiful, ‘secret’ bays still to discover where there’ll be no more than a handful of others.
We hire a jeep and head down to the south of the island and after driving through huge forests of coconut trees we find a small stretch of deserted beach.
We are out for a meal around Chaweng, the busiest beach in Samui, we go to one of the places that Phil recommended to us and it is fantastic…again! The choice seafood is unreal.
Day 8 - Welcome to Phuket...it just keeps getting better
We drop our jeep off at the airport and just make the short flight over to Phuket. Once again we are picked up at the airport which is ideal as Phuket turns out to be far bigger than Koh Samui. We have treated ourselves to a deluxe hotel down in the far south of the island…it’s quite breath taking – the room has an incredible private balcony overlooking the Andaman Sea.
I take a stroll around the area and speak to a local who has just finished fishing. He tells me that he has been fishing all his life here and we discuss what kind of fish they are catching. He tells me that he has a small restaurant just around the corner from where we are staying and offers us a meal there. We head there later in the evening, to call it a restaurant is a push, more like a very small shack! Never one to judge a book by its cover we dive in and end up eating yet another incredible meal. The food is ridiculously fresh and the curry sauce they cook the food in is divine. We share some Chang beer with the owner and his wife and raise a toast to our fine host….the bill is embarrassingly small (the tip is not!).
Day 10 - time for one more shop!
After another waterfront breakfast we begrudgingly join our driver fro the journey to Phuket airport and fly back to Bangkok, the place where this all too short adventure started. We check-in back to the same hotel and it is nice that they remember us and even arrange for us to have the same room we had before (great views of the city).
The rest of the day is spent shopping, going from centre to centre, market to market, side street to side street! The place just never stops and makes it a great arena for us to end our holiday.
Day 11 - UK bound
As we depart it is with very heavy hearts. We both know that we will be back as there is so much more of this great country to see! We got exactly what we wanted out of the holiday, a great mix of exploring the sites and relaxing with each other. The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned!
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