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Published: February 1st 2008
Snorkellingtour
One of the beaches we went to on our snorkellingtourI can understand why Thailand is so popular among tourists: the beaches are paradise perfect, the sea is crystal clear and turquoise, the sun is shining all the time and the food is fantastic. But there are some bad sides too: Theres a lot of hassle! You can be sure, that almost anyone who'll come up and talk to you is trying to gain something from your chat, most likely try to sell you something. The taxi and tuk tuk drivers try to charge you double or triple price or even more than that. But don't get me wrong, Thai people in general are very friendly and helpful. And the tourists, they are everywhere! It's hard to get off the beaten track in a country which lives to such a big part on tourism.
Our first stop in Thailand was Krabi, on the west coast in Southern Thailand. We stayed in a hotel in Krabi Town away from the big tourist beaches, which we were more than happy with. Krabi in itself isn't that much to see, but it turned out to be a good base for daytrips. We went to see the famous island Ko Phi Phi. It was
Captain of the ship
To the left our captain and to the right our snorkelling guide amazingly beautiful, but very touristy and more expensive than the mainland. Our second day trip was a full day snorkelling tour: the corals were amazing and so where the views and the weather was perfect! In the evening we met up with our snorkelling guides and played some pool.
After working on our tan for a couple of days we felt we were ready to face Bangkok. After 12 hours on the nightbus we arrived to Bangkok and realised we had been wrong: We were not ready for this. Tuk tuk and taxi drivers everywhere trying to charge us even 10 times the normal price, people and cars everywhere... Nooo... Get me out of here! We were couchsurfing again, this time we stayed at a guy from Cameroun called Charlie. He took us out in the evenings and among other things we saw the red light district...I'm going to spare you from the details, but I have to say it was interesting...
I guess it was partly the fact that we were suffering from travel tiredness and Helena had a flu but we didn't enjoy Bangkok too much.
Two nights in Bangkok was enough, we left earlier
A temple
This one had something to do with fertility... Wonder why? than planned for Ayutthaya, about 100 km north of Bangkok. Coming to Ayutthaya felt like a big relief after being in Bangkok! It's a very small and quiet town and there's not much to do than see the templeruins they have scattered around the city. Perfect! So we rented a bike and went to see the ruins. Other than that we didn't do much.
In Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand we did the compulsory sightseeing: the city is full of beautiful buddhist temples and you can see monks in their orange clothing everywhere. One of the best things to do in Chiang Mai is to go to the Sunday Walking Street and shop. Luckily enough we arrived there on a Sunday. We went to see the Sunday Walking Street and went absolutely mad! It was great! So much nice stuff and so cheap!
We decided it was time to find out the secrets behind the tasty Thai food and attended a cooking class. In the morning we went to the market to buy the ingredients and after that we started cooking! We made six dishes each and of course we had to eat all the food that we
Tourist Road
Kao San Road in Bangkok by night cooked... Next day we didn't feel too good and especially I was feeling really bad! I don't think it has anything to do with the cooking course though... I had been feeling a bit funny on and off for about three weeks and decided that it was time to go and see the doctor. I went to the hospital and almost immediately got to see a Gastrointestinal specialist. He ran some tests and gave me four different types of medicines. That's the way!
Next day I already felt a lot better and we rented a scooter and went out of the city and up a mountain to see a big temple, and I just can not remember the name of it 'cause they all sound alike.
And that was Thailand for now. We're still coming back in March to catch a flight from Bangkok. I enjoyed Thailand, but it didn't steal my heart, so I'm very excited about getting to our next destination, Laos!
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Partha
non-member comment
Cool!
Awesome! Save some good time for Bali! :)