Thailand...Stats, Tips, Best & Worst of...

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Well after 31 hours travelling by bus, 29 hours by train, 9 1/2 hours by boat and an hour by plane we have reached the end of our first section of our trip. We have travelled in total about 4,801 kms in 48 days!

Now for the rundown of places we've stayed, areas we've visited and what we loved about Thailand and what we hated about it:

Pattaya Town:
Best: erm.....
Worst: Sleazy old farang men!
Rating: 1/10

Chiang Mai:
Best: Chilled out
Worst: The zoo!
Rating: 8/10

Chiang Rai:
Best: Less touristy
Worst: Too much construction going on
Rating: 4/10

Akha Hill House:
Best: Jungle and mountains and nothing else!
Worst: The critters! (that's to be expected though)
Rating: 7/10

Phitsanulok:
Best: The hippness of the town
Worst: No where really to eat
Rating: 6/10

Bangkok (Khao San Road area):
Best: Nightlife
Worst: Too many drunks lurking around
Rating: 5/10

Kanchanaburi:
Best: The history of the place
Worst: No public transport
Rating: 6/10

Hua Hun:
Best: By the sea (this was our first real view of the sea whilst in Thailand)
Worst: It was a pretty smelly place for a Royal Town
Rating: 5/10

Chumphon:
We only spent a few hours here over night so we couldn't really comment on the town.

Ko Tao:
Best: The beaches are spectacular!
Worst: Very hard to find somewhere to stay if you don't sign up to a diving tour
Rating: 8/10

Ko Phanga:
Best: Awesome roads to ride a motorbike around on!
Worst: The constant heat while we were there. The island was in the middle of a drought!
Rating: 4/10

Ko Samui:
Best: Nightlife
Worst: The constant rain!
Rating: 6/10

Ko Phi Phi:
Best: Nightlife (again!)
Worst: The beaches were pretty poor
Rating: 6/10

Phuket:
Best: Sunday Market at Phuket Town
Worst: Lack of transport
Rating: 6/10

Krabi:
Best: Nice temperature at the time.
Worst: Very quiet, perhaps a little too quiet!
Rating: 5/10

Satun:
Best: Friendliness of the locals by far!
Worst: No places of interest at all.
Rating: 6/10

THAILAND:
Best: Transportation is better than the UK in some cases!, beach life, ice-coffee's!!
Worst: Transport touts, not a great choice of food unless you can read Thai.
Rating: 83/140


PLACES WE STAYED:

Libra Guesthouse, Chiang Mai:
Double w/ fan, cold water 300B
Really friendly and helpful place, but the fan sounded like a helicopter was taking off inside the room!

Akha River House, Chiang Rai:
Double w/fan, cold water 500B
Quiet location a bit of a walk outside of town through a construction site. It's currently in the middle of being either knocked down or reconstructed. We'd recommend staying somewhere else!

Akha Hill House, somewhere deep in the jungle!
Double w/fan, hot water, TV 750B
Room was built on the side of a steep hill overlooking the jungle. Great place for a quiet retreat in the middle of the jungle! If you don't mind jungle critters then it's definitely paradise for a couple of days!

Sipanich Guesthouse, Chiang Mai
Twin w/fan, cold water 200B
Good enough place if you're catching the early morning train the next day (opposite the station). Appears as if the place was an old mental hospital though! Loads of ants also!

Bon Bon Guesthouse, Phitsanulok
Double w/aircon, hot water, cable TV 450B
Value for money here is excellent, even though the owner is a little creepy. Great location just down the road from the river.

Old Siam Guesthouse, Bangkok
Double w/fan, cold water 280B
Slap bang in the middle of Khao San Road, it's a handy place, and good value for money. It's big and it's scary when you get someone down the hall screaming all night. Think of the hotel in The Beach and you'll know what we mean!

Bamboo House, Kanchanaburi
Double w/fan, cold water 400B
Great location on the riverside next to the Death Railway Bridge, very quiet and peacefull until night falls and you get the karaoke barges sailing down river. A bit of a walk to wear any action is.

All Nations Guesthouse, Hua Hin
Double w/fan, shared bathroom w/hot water 450B
Good location, friendly staff, nice restaurant downstairs and decent views from the room.

Suda Guesthouse, Chumphon
Double w/fan, shared bathroom w/hot water 400B
Pretty much the only place to stay apparently. They also organise ferry tickets and transfers to the islands. Very friendly and clean.

Bluewind Resort, Ko Tao
Twin w/fan, cold water 350B
Not quite on the beach but near enough. Rooms are very run down and dark, a few cockroaches in the bathroom but the beachside restaurant (and the beach) make up for it!

Sea Salad, Ko Phangan
Double w/fan, cold water (when there is any!) 400B
Not worth the money. A bit of a walk to the beach, very hot rooms and water only runs for a few hours at random times of the day.

We couldn't remember the name of the place on Ko Samui, but double rooms with fan were 450B and decent value. Very friendly place.

Don Chukit Resort, Ko Phi Phi
Double w/air con, cable TV and hot water 1,200B
We got a deal on this place and it was the cheapest place on the island right on the beach. The beach isn't great though. Includes breakfast.

Phuket Backpacker Hostel, Phuket Town
4-bed dorm w/fan, shared bathroom 200B per person per night
Double w/fan, hot water 600B
Really friendly guy who works here is a Thai living in Coventry! Free internet, huge choice of movies. The dorms were good, but the double rooms are bad value for money.

A Mansion, Krabi
Double w/aircon, hot water, cable TV 400B
Absolute bargain for what you get, down the road from the boat pier and pretty central. Definitely recommend it!

Sinkiat Thani Hotel, Satun
Twin w/aircon, hot water, TV 680B
Not bad value as this is a hotel. The rats on the roof (we were on the top floor) making a hell of a noise at night and the screeching aircon let this place down. But it is pretty much the only place in Satun to sleep.


AMY & DAN'S BEST & WORST OF....

Hotel / Guesthouse / Fleapit:
Best: A Mansion, Krabi
Worst: Akha River House, Chiang Rai / Sea Salad, Ko Phangan

Town:
Best: Chiang Mai
Worst: Pattaya Town

Place to Eat:
Best: Tropical Murphy's, Ko Samui (for western food)
Worst: Anusan Night Market, Chiang Mai

Dish:
Best: Phuket Noodles
Worst: Anything at Anusan Food Market!!

Moment:
Best: Sunset on Ko Phi Phi
Worst: Fish-Gate at Chiang Mai

Journey:
Best: Chiang Rai to Akha Hill House on the back of a pickup truck through the jungle and mountains.
Worst: Bangkok to Chiang Mai by 2nd class sleeper car with fan only.

Beach:
Best: Hin Wong Bay on Ko Tao
Worst: Ton Sai on Ko Phi Phi

Island:
Best: Ko Tao
Worst: Ko Samui

Friendliness:
Best: Satun (by far!)
Worst: Phuket Town

Thailand:
Best: Hanging out of the door of a train
Worst: Transport touts

So there we have it! Thailand over and done with, Malaysia now a new experience. On a whole Thailand was the best place to start our trip but we were left a little diappointed. Even though Thailand depends on the tourist dollar, it also alienates the tourists from the people and vice versa. The language is a hard one to learn, add on top of that the script isn't romanised it's a hard place to fully enjoy what for sure it has to offer. The weather has been 50/50 while we were there, but it happened to be at it's worse whenever we wanted a beach!
Off the beaten track the locals become friendlier and want to know more about you and love practicing their English. On the beaten track everyone wants your custom.
However, we don't have any regrets, only that we didn't spend more time exploring more of the country away from the tourist trail.
We also didn't realise that July is a peak season so prices are higher.
We'd definitely come back again though and it has been an experience with highs and lows (as with anywhere). We'd recommend learning the language at least a little, as you get so much more respect our of it!

Thailand Over and Out!

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Comments

[angela]

Where are you now? Weather here is very changeable Thursday and Friday we had heavy showers ( mini monsoon weather)If you left work at the wrong time you arrived home like a drowned rat Ten minutes latter and it was really warm again. Saturady was a really nice day hot and sunny today started off warm but overcast is now grey and miserable.Went to John Heptinstall.s retirement party last night. Catherine is still in Lohdon but currently out of work and feeling lonely as the other two girls have moved out. Annette seems to like her new flat but is feeling the pressure of trying to get her thesis finished. We expect to see Mike and Fon next weekend as we are helping Catherine move flats on Sunday and will probably srtay at Liz/s on that Saturday. Can you add grandad Beard to your Blog also Helaen and Margaret. Take care ,have fun love mum.