Thailand Summary

Days travelled - 53 days (7 weeks, 4 days)

Distance travelled - Approx. 2,887 km (1,794 miles)

Hours travelled - 78.5 hours (3 days, 6.5 hours)

Destinations - 13

Top 3


3. Chiang Mai

The major city in Northern Thailand has plenty of activities to offer the backpacker, wether you feel like taking on a jungle trek a snake or monkey show, or even go petting the tigers at Tiger Kingdom, you can get everything in Chinag Mai. The nightlife is bumping and the city has plenty of restaurants with a selection of worldwide cuisines (Particularly the Mexican joint we found). Chiang Mai is well connected with Bangkok even though it feels a world away.


2. Rai Leh

An island that offers beautifully peaceful beaches, plenty of chilled bars and restaurants, CHEAP accomodation and some of the best rock climbing walls in the world. World renowned for the climbs it has on offer has made Rai leh pretty famous for excursions from the island of Phi-Phi. The lagoon is not to be missed, neither is the lookout point. A very memorable day........if you can handle the challenge (Eh-hem, Cough!, Vish, Cough!)



1. Koh Tao

In total I spent 2 weeks on this island and I can say I enjoyed every minute of it. Personally, I feel like it had everything. Cheap accomadation (if you know where to look), great nights out on the beach side bars and clubs, amazing scenery to explore (if you can handle the hills) a number of hidden bays with some of the prettiest beaches in Asia, and of course, you can do some diving, lots and lots of diving. The small thai boxing gym took up a lot of our time as did the lovely cafe opposite thecabaret show. Backing paradise = Koh Tao (but will it make the overall top 5 in Asia?)



Final Advice

For many people, Thailand is an essential country to travel with it's chilled out culture and the parties they boast about. Thailand has been the most touristic country that we have visited, which is a downside but we have loved it that much, that we visited this country twice. Starting off in Chiang Mai and working our way down to the full moon party was the route we took the first time and the second time round, me and Danny did our own route, due to different reasons and met in Bangkok before we flew home. A lot of people visit Chaingmai, Bangkok and do the islands in the south but we stopped off in Sukhotai and Ayutaya to see the Khmer styled temples, which was definitely worth the visit.

Thailand is a country that is moving forward and I completely understand why people move over here, generally because they're looking for thai brides, but the thai ladies are looking for the rich old men too. To us, the weather is warm all year around and there are plenty of beautiful beaches (south) to sunbathe during the day and party at night. The Thai food is nice too, especially for people who like coconut/lime flavoured curries, but because Thailand is a well visited country, you can easily find places from all over the world especially in the main cities. The cost of living is cheap, with good quality accommodation and food costing a little. The only thing that seemed expensive was with the travel and that was only if you booked through tourist travel agencies, which is what most people do. The second time I travelled around, I got on the government buses, which were a lot cheaper, generally better quality and the had no tourists on so you can experience the culture better.

Thailand is the place to shop but also the place to get hustled. The main cities, Chiang Mai and Bangkok are the best place to shop for fakes, but you have to hustle hard. They always start at ridiculous prices and work their way down. If you're clued up like me and Danny, you'll have a chance to pick up a bargain. If you'r in Bangkok for a while, there are loads of markets that you can go to but if you're around on the weekend, Chattuchak weekend market is the one to visit for presents.

From personal experience, If any of you are interested in doing Thai boxing out there, then I would definitely train in Bangkok but the only problem is that you're staying in a muggy city, where Chiang Mai is a lot more of an open city. It is expensive to train and you have to be careful not to get skanked, but remember you are getting trained by the best. i trained in Chiangmai for 2 weeks, Krabi for 1 week and Bangkok for 3 weeks and enjoyed it more in Bangkok. I've done Thai boxing before so I enjoyed a more serious training style but if you're a beginner, than you may prefer somewhere else.