Thailand is also know as the land of the smile. It is an easy country to backpack around in, and you’ll never be the only traveler anywhere.
Bangkok
Bangkok is a great place to start out any backpacking trip through South-East Asia. On Khao San road you’ll find lots of other backpackers, restaurants, shops and market. There are also lots of temples. Or you can visit the floating market and enjoy fresh fruits and veggies. The Lumpini Park is nice to walk around. Get in contact with the locals and try to learn the game the older gentlemen are playing in the park.
Chiang Mai
This city up in the north is known for jungle trekking and a great night market. And if you wat learn something, you can take cooking classes or a massage course.
You may be aware of the fact that you shouldn’t do an elephant ride. So please don’t. The elephants are often neglected and treated badly. A great way to give back and help these gentle giants is the Elephant Nature Park. This is an elephant rescue and rehabilitation center where you can volunteer and get close to these magnificent creatures. You can feed them, bathe them and go for a walk (next to them!) with them.
Koh Tao
Diving courses and lots of scuba diving trips. At Koh Tao you can go for a diving course, there are plenty of schools around where you can get your PADI Open Water Diver certificate.
Maaike: I did my scuba diving course at Buddha View. What I really liked was that they had a swimming pool, which made my first nerve wrecking dives a bit more comfortable to me.
The small island in front of Koh Tao is called Koh Nang Yuan and is actually two rocky island formations connected by a long stretch of beach. Beautiful to visit!
Koh Phangan
Full Moon Party, or the Half Moon Party, or even the Black Moon Party, every week there is a party! Check which dates you should be there. And yes, you can fully enjoy them without taking drugs. Also the buckets of booze on the beach of the full moon party will get you wasted any other night of the week. Laugh with the ladies who sell the buckets, they will remember you the next day (that’s probably more than you can say…. but no worries, their names are written on the boards in front of their booth)
Be responsible, but enjoy! The area where the Full Moon Party (also known as the bucket beach) is, has lots of cute shops and restaurants as well. When you go to one of the moon parties, you can also score a cool souvenir t-shirt here to wear for the party. The north part of the island is much more relaxed, for yoga and scuba diving.
Koh Samui
A great place to stay is Lawanna Resort, it has beautiful bungalows. This resort is next to the beach, has a pool and a little massage hut. Day trip around the island, see temples, rocks (grandfather and grandmother rocks).
Koh Samet
This is a small island where not many tourists will go. On the one side it has a beach, restaurants and resorts, on the other side is pure nature. There are no cars on this island.
Khao Sok National Park
This National Park has the famous waterfall of the movie The Beach. Just don’t jump off it like they do in the movie! Because it really does not look safe with all the rocks sticking out. Make sure to get some of the oh-so-cute ‘leeches-socks’ (white cotton draw string knee socks (or is that one word?), one size fits all), to prevent leeches from climbing onto you. Spraying some sunscreen oil on the socks will help even better.
River Kwai
Check out the bridge and the museum (simple but impressive in a u-shaped barrack) first for the history on this river. And then try to go for a stay on the river, in one of the bungalow rafts. It is amazing coming around the corner on the river early evening on a long tail boat and see all the lights of the oil lamps. The rooms have a private bath room and a little balcony with hammock at the back side of the bungalows.
Maaike: You get only one oil lamp per room, so if one person needs to go to bath room, the other one will be in the dark in the room.
There is a restaurant on the rafts-resort, and a room where they do traditional dance shows.
Transportation
Wherever you want to go in Thailand, there is always a bus, train or plane that can take you there.
A tip regarding the night trains: you should try and get a bottom sleeper. If you feel more secure with it, you can keep your back pack with you at the foot end on your bed. The upper beds are usually smaller, and you’ll need to keep your back pack outside on the ground while you sleep.
Tuk tuks: you will find these typical Asian rides on any street corner. They are usually cheaper if they can take you to some souvenir shops or tailors. Often there is no need to buy anything, just walk around, and the driver will receive a petrol voucher or commission for bringing you there. Confirm this with your driver beforehand.
Festival
Song Kran is Thailand’s New Year’s festival (be aware that traveling and hotels etc. can be more expensive). The date is not set, it has to do with the moon cycle. It is somewhere in March or April, just check it for when you want to go there. This festival basically started with the monks just getting a little bit of holy water on their heads, but has now erupted to a huge water fight every where on the streets. This means lots of water everywhere, so if you have to walk around with your luggage: protect your stuff with plastic bags. Within your backpack just have a huge garbage bag around your stuff to keep it dry. The rain cover will help your backpack and the worst will dry in the hotel.
Other than that little inconvenience, just enjoy this party by joining them on the streets. You can buy a bucket for a dollar or so, fill it up in the canals or from big containers and start throwing it around. There is no traffic going, everything will be jammed from water throwing people. It is a blast!
Thai massage
Have lots of massages, they are very cheap. Thai massages can be quite tough, lots of bending and stretching, but you can let the lady know how tough you want the massage. Also make clear what kind of ending you do or don’t want with your massage.
Do a massage course, if you like to give massages or would like to know more about the practice of Thai massage. If you love to receive massages, also great, since during the class you’ll be practiced on a lot as well by your fellow class mates.
Eat and drink
If you love Thai food, you can sign up for a cooking class. There are usually several courses (pun intended!), varying from a day to a week of cooking your favorite Thai meals.
Try all the different curries and also the Pad Thai is delicious!
