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Chiang Mai
Sawatdee Khrap, In April 1996, I went toChiang Mai seeing the northern part of Thailand. It is a lot more laid back compared to Bangkok and the traffic actually moves. It was the low season, so a deluxe hotel only cost $40. I stayed down close to the river and the night bazaar. There are several day tours that I took:
Glenn Todd, May 1996
Islands of South Thailand
During 1996 Christmas holiday to visited two islands in southern Thailand that are big tourist destinations. I went on a budget trip taking trains, busses and boats vs. planes and stayed in bungalows. The first island I visited was Koh (for island) Samui off the east coast of Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand. The second was Koh Phuket off the west coast in the Andaman Sea. The first island was a one hour ferry ride off the coast while the second is so close to the mainland that it is reached by a short bridge.
I left Bangkok by the sleeper train. The train station is in town and a short $4 taxi ride. The big difference in the train station and airport is you can arrive 1.5 hours early, get on the train and start drinking. They set up the bunks by 8:30 and everyone went to sleep early. At 6 am, we were awakened for breakfast and arrived at Sarat Thani at 7 am. A bus was waiting that took us to the ferry which took us across to Samui. Total price was about $24 for the train, bus and ferry. Then I took the joint pick-up taxi for 80 cents around the island to the bungalow that I stayed in for $16 a night. Next to my bungalow was the Montana Bar owned by a crazy American merchant mariner (Jim, who has been in every port in the world and is now on his 5th wife). It was the hang out for a lot of the local expats, American and European.
From my bungalow it was a short ride to the town of Lamai which was like a small Mexican town (part paved streets and part mud, plus no sidewalks) full of restaurants and beer bars. I took a tour around the island one day, a snorkeling trip another day and visited the town and beach of Chaweng another day. The rest of the time I hung out at the Montana Bar trying to teach Jim to use the new Pentium 120 multi-media notebook computer he bought on his last trip to the states. Mainly I loaded a lot of games and showed him how to open and play them. On the next to last day, I moved to Nathon Town where the ferry leaves from as it at 8 am. There was a big group of Harley riders touring Samui and I met them at the main restaurant in town.
The next day I took the ferry and a 4 hour bus ride to Phuket for $8. There I had a $20 bungalow (high season). The beaches in Phuket were wide and very clean and the water very clear. I took a tour to some limestone formations in a long tail boat and to one called James Bond Island because the movie "The Man with a Golden Gun" was shot there. I visited Patong, the main tourist beach and a big fancy resort consisting of 4 big hotels, on the beach with a lake and golf course behind them and a water taxi to get between them. I also took a snorkeling trip to Phi Phi Island, fairly clear water, a lot of small fish that would go crazy when the boat would throw feed to them with us in the middle of them. I think I will stay at Phi Phi next trip as there are no cars or motorcycles and two beautiful bays on each side of the island, only 100 meters apart. There were some very good restaurants near my bungalow in Phuket run by Americans, one was even Mexican. The only complaint I had is southern Thailand has a big Muslim population and I didn't appreciate the 5:15 am wake up call for prayers blasted out over a very loud PA every morning that lasted for 15 minutes. On Friday, I took a bus back to Sarat Thani and the sleeper train back to Bangkok.
Glenn Todd, December 1996
Southern Thailand
Christmas 1997, my girlfriend and I went to the islands in southern Thailand by trains, busses and boats. We arrived at 11 AM in Patong, the big tourist town on Phuket and found a bungalo for $12. With the Thai currency at 48 baht/$ it was like everything was half price from my trip last year when $1 bought only 25 baht. Patong has a nice beach and many many restaurants, gift shops, go-go bar's, discos and beer bars and is really full of tourists over the Xmas holidays. We arrived on the 15th and you would notice more and more tourists every day. Ate lots of seafood; lobster, jumbo shrimp, oysters, squid and fish. One go-go bar had a show that I had not even seen in Bangkok. It was a variation of the ping pong show only with live gold fish and even live white mice. The second day we just hung out on the beach and people watched. Vendors walk by selling drinks, food and gifts so you don't even have to get up except to go to the toilet. You can watch topless European ladies walking by, people jet skiing, water skiing and parasailing behind a boat. The second day we rented a tuk-tuk for the day with driver ($15) and went around the island admiring the sights.
The next day we took a boat to Phi Phi Island and stayed there two nights. Phi Phi is like two islands connected by a big sand bar where most of the bungalows, restaurants, bars and shops are and is only 100 yards wide at the narrowest spot. It is really beautiful with lots of good snorkeling. We rented a 115 HP speed boat ($30/hr) that took us around the island and over to its sister island of Phi Phi Le. I also climbed up to a viewpoint for a good look across the island.
From Phi Phi we took a boat to Krabi on the mainland. It was really beautiful and next time I want to spend more than one day. Essentially you take long tail boats everywhere. There are many islands and beaches to visit. It is where part of the movie James Bond, the Man with the Golden Gun was filmed.
Next we took a bus back to Sarat Thani and a boat to Samui Island. While the above places were on the west coast of the Thai peninsula in the Andaman Sea, Samui is on the east in the Gulf of Thailand. Samui is where the back packers like to go as bungalows can be rented for around $3. We stayed in Lamai, took in the tourist sights, drank a lot beer and did a lot of partying. Then it was the boat and train back to Bangkok, only the train quit in the middle of nowhere and we had to hike back to the last station in the dark and then get on a non sleeper train with hard wooden seats and ended up at a different train station in Bangkok with my girlfriend reminding me the whole time that if we had flown it would have only taken one hour to get back.
Glenn Todd, January 1998
Father's Visit to Thailand
My father visited three weeks in January 1999 and I showed him around Thailand. Below is a day by day summary of where we went and what we did.
Sunday, 10 January - Dad arrived on a United flight at 11 PM. My brother provided him a business class ticket with his frequent flyer miles. My new girlfriend, Nit, and I picked him up at the airport to pick him up and took him to the Grace hotel that is right next to my apartment. Their deluxe room was only $33/night.
Monday, 11 January - Dad slept well and calls at 7:45 am and wakes us up. I go pick him up and bring him over to my apartment for breakfast. Then we go to Panthip Plaza to buy some pirate CD's. For lunch we went to the buffet at the 78th floor of the Baiyoke II Tower. It is billed as the world's highest restaurant and provides a very good view of Bangkok. For dinner we went to one of the several beer gardens that are set up around Bangkok by the beer companies this time of year.
Tuesday, 12 January - Dad slept well again, the jet lag didn't seem to affect him. We got up early and left for the Floating Market at 6:30 AM. It is about 80 KM west of Bangkok, so a long van ride. I had never been to it and it is one of the big tourist things one does on a visit to Bangkok. We also visited a snake farm and my father was very impressed with one of the snake handlers that caught three snakes, the first with his right hand, the second with his left and the third with his mouth! In the evening we went to Lumpini Stadium to see Thai boxing. The boxers hit with their hands, feet, elbows and knees.
Wednesday, 13 January - We went to the River Kwae where Japanese used prisoners to build a railway to Burma, made famous by the movie "Bridge over the River Kwai." Visited a museum, cemetery, the bridge, rode on a train and took a boat ride.
Thursday, 14 January - Toured Wat Prakeo in Bangkok.
Friday, 15 January - My father and I flew to Sukothai, the first capital of Siam (13th/14th Century). Stayed at the Pailyn Hotel which is a nice hotel outside of town near the historical parks. We visited the Sukothai Historical Park in the afternoon.
Saturday, 16 January - Visited the Si Satchanalai-Chaliang Historical Park 50 Km north of Sukothai.
Sunday, 17 January - Flew to Chiang Mai and stayed at the Galare Guest house on the river. Real quaint and my father really liked it. Took a boat ride up the river.
Monday, 18 January - Visited the Chiang Dao Elephant Training Center where we rode an elephant for about an hour. You sit in a bench chair on top of the elephant and it rocks back and forth as the elephant walks. My father thought we had a lame elephant and he said he no longer envies the Rajas in the pictures riding elephants. Went to a cultural show in the evening with lots of Thai dancing.
Tuesday, 19 January - Took a tour to Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand at 8,511 feet.
Wednesday, 20 January - Flew back to Bangkok.
Thursday, 21 January - Took a sleeper train to the southern part of Thailand.
Friday, 22 January - Arrived early in Sarat Thani and took a bus to Krabi. There took a long tail boat up the river sight seeing and then down the river and along the coast to Rai Leh Bay. Stayed in a bungalow for $22 a night next door to the Dusit that charges over $300 a night. The scenery was awesome, many weathered away limestone cliffs and islands. A lot of movies are filmed there.
Saturday, 23 January - Took a tour to James Bond Island where the movie, "The Man with the Golden Gun" was filmed. Fantastic scenery.
Sunday, 24 January - Took a long tail boat out to the islands south of us. Stopped and walked around them. Had a rough ride back and got soaked. Then did some hiking around Rai Leh.
Monday, 25 January - Took an Express boat to Phi Phi Island. There we took a speed boat ride around both Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh islands. This month the movie "The Beach" was being filmed there. In the afternoon we took another express boat to Phuket and stayed at the Safari Beach Hotel in Patong.
Tuesday, 26 January - Took a tour around Phuket Island. My father was amazed that there could be so many tourists. This year with all the problems in Malaysia and Indonesia, Thailand is getting all the tourists and Phuket was over booked during the Christmas holiday.
Wednesday, 27 January - Flew back to Bangkok.
Thursday, 28 January - My father was a touisted out so he just rested up for his long flight back to the US.
Friday, 29 January - Nit and I took my father to the airport at 6 AM. The taxi overheated and broke down on the upper expressway. Had to wait till the engine cooled and he had some water in the trunk. Then the battery went dead and the taxi would not start. So Nit and I had to push the taxi down the expressway and luckily it started and my father caught his plane OK.
Glenn Todd, February 1999
Mini Vacations
There are a few beach towns and islands only 2-5 hours from Bangkok. My girlfriend and I checked some of them out during the Winter of 1999. Some of the places we went were:
Jomtien - A little east of Pattaya and SE of Bangkok. Went there for New Years 1999 and stayed at Ambassador City which is the largest hotel in the world with over 5000 rooms. The next 11 largest hotels are in Las Vegas. The hotel runs its own buses for $3 a seat and the trip is about 3 hours. A so-so beach but a super swimming pool that is like four connected pools covering about 100 sq. yds. Watched the fire works from our balcony and drank a bottle of champagne.
Rayong - East of Jomtien, a $3, 4 hour bus ride. Mainly an industrial city and we just stopped there on our way to Ko Samet. Stayed at a big 12 story hotel for $23 a night including breakfast. Went to a neat pub for dinner with a Thai band playing folk songs and oldies. They did a great rendition of Cocaine, I thought I was back at JD's in Ridgecrest. Then went to a Thai disco with a live band. Two drinks were only $3 there and no cover, then back at our hotel where there was a Thai disco that was packed.
Ko Samet - An small island east of Rayong. Took a taxi, about a 20 minute ride to Ban Phe where we took a short boat ride to Ko Samet. The boat cost $1 and then another $1 each for a park fee as the island is a national park. We were pleasantly surprised. The beach sand was sugar white facing east so you cannot see the mainland, the water a beautiful blue green and not that many people. The first day we just walked along the beach and Nit had fun picking up shells and hermit crabs in the tide pools. The next day we took a speedboat ride around the island and I did some snorkeling. Stopped at a plush resort on the west side of the island for a drink and then stopped at a fish farm. I bought some small fish to feed them with and Nit decided instead of throwing the feed to the fish to hold the feed fish in her hand and have the fish eat out of her hand. Well they all did at once and in the commotion that ensued she dropped her dark glasses and when she tried to retrieve them, got bit by the fish. After two days, took the ferry boat back to shore and the bus directly from Ban Phe to Bangkok, 4.5 hours for $4 each.
Pattaya - A big beach town that is full of go-go and beer bars. A popular retreat for Bangkonians on the weekends. The bus is about $2 and takes about 3 hours. The hotel I usually stay at was full, but a new better hotel had rooms across the street. Visited a friend of Nit's at her beer bar and then went to dinner at a restaurant out over the water. Then went to a go-go bar that had shows of new uses for ping pong balls, new ways to draw pictures, pop balloons, blow out candles, smoke cigarettes, open bottles etc. Then went to a beer bar next to a boxing ring and watched Thai boxers doing Muay Thai, boxing that allows punching, kicking, elbowing and kneeing your opponent. Three rounds and then the winner comes around collecting tips (about 50 cents each) from the bar patrons. In Pattaya there are no taxis, only pickup up trucks that charge about 30 cents each for a short ride. You just flag them down, climb in and hit the buzzer when you want out. Then for the heck of it we stayed another day an looked at some condominiums and houses. I'm not really in the market but it is fun to be driven around by a realtor and get their perspective of what's going on.
Hua Hin - A beach town 4.5 hours SW of Bangkok. Took the train there and stayed at a guest house 100 meters from the beach. It was a pretty quiet town, the bar tender said it was a family town. A small down town with lots of Italian restaurants, some really big fancy hotels and a few beer bars and lots of guest houses, but not much in the way of shopping. The beach was so-so but OK to walk down and Nit again enjoyed catching sand crabs and hermit crabs. Had a good seafood dinner at a restaurant over the water and went to a disco at one of the big hotels. If one lived there they could easily get around on a bicycle as there is not much traffic.
Glenn Todd, March 1999
Thai New Year
Like the Chinese, the Thai's have there own New Year which comes in the middle of April, is a three day holiday and is called Songkran. In 1999 it fell in the middle of the week so most people took off Monday and Friday also to make a nine day holiday. There is a mass exodus from Bangkok to everyone's home province. This year, Nit and I were invited by my Thai friend, Khun Werawat, to go with him and his girlfriend, Khun Nai, up to Nan in Northern Thailand. It is a scenic province with mountains, rivers, lakes and a National Parks.
We left on Wednesday night before the weekend to beat the rush and to be able to attend a combination birthday party for Khun Nai's father and for her brother moving into a new house. We arrived the day before the party and it was already getting started. There was plenty of food as they slaughtered a pig and plenty of beer and Thai whiskey. We just sat around eating and drinking. Later jars of home brew moonshine appeared. I was the first farong or white person to visit the village and everyone wanted me to try their brew and see my facial expressions. Needless to say, I slept well that night. The next day, Friday, was the party with the street blocked off and a live band. More eating drinking and dancing and Nit and I went back to our hotel before the fights started. There we went to the disco at our hotel for a late dinner and to listened to the music.
On Saturday day we went on a drive through the mountains and ended up at a reservoir for fishing and dinner. They rent fishing poles for 60 cents, just a bamboo pole with a string float and a hook. The fish were pretty small but plentiful. Nit was really excited about her first 3 incher. Khun Nai's brother's daughter must have caught over 30. After dinner we went back to Nan and to the disco in the hotel next to our hotel. There the cocktails were really cheap, like $1 for a Margarita. Nit had fun trying all of them. We would order two different ones and then Nit would drink the one she liked best and I drank the other, then try two more different ones. Nit does not normally drink and I am glad we were in a hotel room and not our apartment that night as she got pretty sick. It was our plan to visit the Doi Phuka National Park on Sunday, but we all spent the day recovering, but were back at the disco again that night after having dinner at a restaurant along the river.
On Monday we flew to Chiang Mai. A five hour bus ride through the mountains or 30 minutes by air and the air fare was less than $15 each. Songkran is also known as the water festival or a better term would be water war. In no place in Thailand is it as intense as in Chiang Mai. We took an airport limousine (only $2.50) right through the center of town to our hotel. It was unbelievable! People lined both sides of the road and on one side was a klong or canal full of dirty water. They were pumping it out with gasoline pumps to fill trash cans and 55 gallon drums which would then be used to fill buckets for throwing the water, big squirt guns, and water cannons. The water cannons consisted of a piece of PVC pipe and a plunger. Put it in the water, pull back the plunger to fill and then have a high pressure high volume blast of water to deliver which can knock unprotected eye balls out of there sockets. The mobile weapon system of choice was the pickup truck with 55 gallon drum of water in the back plus 5-10 kids with buckets and water cannons. Everyone for some reason seemed to be enjoying themselves and there were lots of big smiles on everyone's faces. With Thailand having a severe water shortage this year and not enough water to plant crops, just think how much water was thrown away with all the water fights all over the country. We fortified ourselves to the hotel and then went out after 8 PM to the night bazaar for dinner and to watch the Thai dancers.
On Tuesday we took the local transport, a pickup truck with two benches in the back for sitting to a Buddhist Wat by the river. Being in an open pickup we got soaked by people on the roadside and by the cruising pickup trucks. The Wat has several tropical birds to look at. Many of them were quite friendly, they would fly right across their cage to see you. One minor bird would say Sawatdee Khrap (hello in Thai) and then bounce his head up and down like doing the Thai wai. We then took a boat cruise up the river. There are a lot of very nice houses along the river north of town. That night we all got together for dinner and then went to a pub and later a disco. All absolutely packed. On the menu they had fried grasshoppers and some king of insect larvae found in bamboo. I passed.
Wednesday we flew back to Bangkok as Chiang Mai is something to behold during Songkran, but not a relaxing, affordable place to visit. All the hotels are full and charging double, plus we had to stay in a hotel a long ways from the main tourist part of town which cost more for one night than we paid for four nights in Nan. All the good restaurants are full and you can only get in the second class ones, places like Doi Suthep, a beautiful Wat on a mountain overlooking Chiang Mai, are impossible to get to because of all the traffic and you stay soaked all day with the filthy klong water.
Glenn Todd, April 1999
To be continued.....
Chiang Mai So Thailand 96 So Thailand 97 Father's Visit Mini Vacations Top Back to Trips
