THAILAND!
Thailand has been one of my favorite countries I’ve ever visited! It was my first time in Asia and I loved the peacefulness of northern Thailand, the limestone and lush landscapes of the southern islands, the elements of culture and royalty in Bangkok and how amazingly far my American dollar went! I tried to jam pack my 13 day stay here so I could be familiar with the north and south of Thailand. Here was my 13 day itinerary and some adjustments I’d make for a further visit!
We flew Eva Air. I highly recommend! It made an 11 hour flight to Taipei Taiwan a little more comfortable with extra leg room compared to another airline we almost took. We originally booked China Southern Airline and after hearing horror stories from multiple clients about that airline I was apprehensive about my trip with them, but luckily they made major changes to our flight times and I was able to cancel our flights without charges and rebook with another airline. From Taiwan we had a 3 hour layover which actually flew by. It was nice to eat at a restaurant and stretch our legs throughout the clean airport! From Taipei we flew to Bangkok which was a 3 hour and 45 minutes flight. So all together it was over 24 hours of travel at airports which sounds more intense than it actually felt. But be prepared to suffer from major jet lag on day 3 or 4 of your trip (don’t plan anything major.) With such a long flight time I think staying 10+ days in Thailand is necessary.
The view from Nest by Sa-ngob Hotel.
DAY 1- BANGKOK:
We checked into Nest by Sa-ngob Hotel. It was lovely and roughly $40/person for 2 nights! We were able to rent out the entire top floor so our group of 6 each got our own room and bed! The hotel was on the outskirts of the chaos of Bangkok and we really enjoyed being outside of the center of the hustle and bustle. We were walking distance to some night markets but we mostly used Grab- Thailand’s uber app since Uber was not accessible. The hotel provided a yummy free breakfast and the front desk was super helpful with suggestions. That evening we went to the Ratchada Night Market. It was so cool to experience a real night-market since I had only gone to an LA version of one “626 night-market.” We tried interesting bites from multiple vendors of the market and it was insanely cheap!
DAY 2- BANGKOK:
I arranged a full day tour with “Tour with Tong.” It was about $30/person for a full day tour with a private driver. I HIGHLY recommend this company! We loved our tour guide so much! We pretty much told him some temples and markets we wanted to check out and they took us there and were super informative about the history of everywhere we were. http://www.tourwithtong.com/tourrates.htm
We visited The Grand Palace and saw the beauty of the Emerald Buddha. The intricate temples plated in gold were so detailed and ornate. Bring a shawl so cover your shoulders! After we checked out a huge outdoor mall and shopped the rest of our day away. We missed Wat Arun because of a heavy rain downpour but the driver drove by slowly for us ;)
DAY 3 CHIANG MAI:
We took a flight from Bangkok to northern Thailand which was slightly over one hour. Chiang Mai is a beautiful city and in the northern mountains of Thailand. It’s known for the elephant sanctuaries, cafe scene, beautiful temples in the Old City. We checked into the grand Mövenpick Suriwongse hotel. I absolutely loved this hotel and it was about $40/ person for what felt like a swanky stay but without the steep price tag. It has a very elaborate breakfast buffet that was included with our stay- it had cuisine options from American, Chinese and Thai breakfast! We walked around and enjoyed the bar scenes and local Thai restaurants that night. Directly across the street from the hotel was a huge night market that we caught the end of!
DAY 4 CHIANG MAI:
We didn’t have anything planned for this day so we ended up booking a last minute cooking class the day prior. I had a handful of clients suggest that I take a cooking class in northern Thailand so after a quick google search I landed on a company called A Lot of Thai Cooking School. Okay- this class was INCREDIBLE!! It was roughly $70/person. They picked us up at our hotel, taught us to make 4 dishes from scratch and took us on a local market tour! Yui was our cooking instructor and one of the most humble, passionate and entertaining people I’ve ever encountered! She lights up when speaking about food and the flavors of Thai cooking And how it reacts to our body. We all had our own individual cooking stations and ate our dishes immediately after cooking them. On the menu was Pad Thai, hot and sour soup, Thai curry, and mango sticky rice. At the end of the class we noticed photos of her with Gordon Ramsey and Andy Ricker(the founder of Portland’s Pok Pok restaurant). She was sooo modest but told us she taught them both to make Thai cuisine and had her recipes featured in their cookbooks (without the given credits)! That night the jet lag caught up to us! We took a nap after class around 6pm and never woke up until the next morning haha.
elephant nature park
DAY 5 CHIANG MAI:
Elephant Nature Park! Very magmatic. This was an elephant sanctuary so no elephant rides happened here. This park is mostly for observing the elephants and they try to make the habitat as natural as possible for them. We got to feed them and learned about the different types of elephants that have been saved there and their personalities and how the react to humans. Being so close to these huge animals was a little intimidating to be honest. It was roughly $77 per person. ENP also picks you up from your hotel and has you watch a video on the abuse of elephants that will bring you to tears. It’s muddy and there’s a lot of dirt. I suggest bringing closed toe shoes.
That night we visited the famous, Khoa kha moo Chang Phuak. After watching the lady with the cowboy hat on Anthony Bourdain I was so excited to try this infamous pork and rice dish. OH MY GOSH did it live up to my expectations!!! It was sooo delicious and we kept ordering more and more order of it. It doesn’t look like much in the photo but the flavors of this meat was so juicy and intense my mouth is watering just thinking about it again! You cannot miss this experience If you travel to Chiang Mai.
DAY 6 PHUKET:
We flew 2 hours from CM to Phuket for the island portion of our tour. We checked into The Westin Siray Bay Resort. This was a beautiful resort, ocean view, 3 bedroom suite with a private swimming pool for $35 a person! This was such a relaxing resort with an incredible sunset view. We only had one night here but I wished we had spent more time here. Phuket the island itself was not our favorite though. It was pretty pricey and a bit run down. We were constantly getting yelled at by street vendors and it was a pretty touristy scene with crowded beaches. However our stay at the Westin was very luxurious with American showers and pizza lol. A bit refreshing from all the noodles we had been eating.
Our private pool overlooking the ocean!
The view from our upper deck suite at The Westin Phuket
DAY 7-10 KOH PHI PHI:
From Phuket we took a two hour ride on the large fairy to Koh Phi Phi Islands. We purchased our round trip tickets for the fairy at the departure area, but I would suggest to purchase one way tickets so you can return at whatever time you’d like with whichever company you pick.
We checked into Viking Nature Resort for the next three nights and it was the perfect Thai bohemian stay. It felt like we were living in a tree house with 3 separate bedrooms- it was amazing!! The hotel had a water taxi at the docks waiting for us to take us to the hotel. We had a private beach that was very clean but a little rocky so I suggest water shoes!! The restaurant at the hotel was very delicious- everything was made to order and some of our favorite Thai dishes were available! We had to walk through the jungle to get to the town area, it was a little intimidating at first because it was dark but after one walk through it was less intimidating and the hotel provides flash lights that we were able to take with us! There was also an excursion desk at the hotel and we were able to do a private 3 hour island hoping and snorkeling tour for $15 a person!
Koh Phi Phi is known as a party island. It was the best people watching!!! There was a constant party on one side of the island but luckily our resort was on the opposite end.
Our treehouse at Viking Nature Resort
Viking Nature Resort’s beach
DAY 11,12 &13 PHUKET & BANGKOK:
We had one more night back to Phuket before our flight back to Bangkok. We finished our last night in Bangkok going to more last night market because we missed our reservation at the legendary Jay Fai because of heavy traffic. We finished our last morning off at one of the local malls to pick up last minute souvenirs.
All in all Thailand is so peaceful and beautiful. The people are so kind and welcoming. The food was so flavorful and the fruits tasted different from here in the states! I would most definitely travel back!
Extra tips:
-the “OFF” brand bug spray seemed to be the only one that worked. We tried the biodegradable and organic kinda but they weren’t good at keeping the bugs off.
-we went during the wet season- the end of September. For the most part we had good weather but sometimes the rain downpour was SO intense. Prices were great during that time but just be prepare with a good umbrella.
- it’s very humid. Don’t even pack makeup foundation! With the heavy pollution and humidity in bangkok my skin got some environmental breakouts. You swear majority of your makeup off so I felt better when I just had no make other than my eyelash extensions
- I would maybe pick Krabi instead of Phuket as a major island to fly into
- 12 nights was great but we packed so much in to get the most of our trip so we were constantly packing and unpacking. I highly recommend spending equal time in the north and south islands. 3 nights is Bangkok is a perfect amount of time.
-bring laundry detergent! It was nice to get some clothes refreshed after the humidity
- make a reservation at Jay Fai and plan ahead for traffic! Check out her specials on Anthony Bourdain and other Netflix food shows! She famous for her crab meat omelette.
-download the GRAB app. It’s like uber.
-I was able to pack everything in a carry-on size luggage! I knew it would be a lot of travel so everything I brought for in CalPak’s carry on size luggage. Packing cubes were a must!
Knob khun ka!!! Anymore questions feel free to ask me!
