Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Thailand Trip Overview + What We Learned


Here is a breakdown:

Sunday, Dec 22nd- 2:30pm Flew from Okinawa to Hong Kong, then Hong Kong to Bangkok and arrived at our hotel at 3am on Dec 23rd

Monday, Dec 23rd- Spent the day in Bangkok and walked around Chinatown. We caught the sleeper train to Surat Thani at 5:30 pm(12 hour train ride)

Tuesday, Dec 24th- Arrived in Surat Thani at 6am. Took bus to port and rode ferry to Koh Samui. Checked-in at our resort, laid by the pool, attended a Christmas Eve Gala.

Dec 25th, 26th, and 27th- These days we did pretty much the exact same thing. We ate at the delicious breakfast buffet, laid by the pool, walked on the beach, ate pad thai for lunch, got massages on the beach, explored the markets at night.
Our spot for 4 straight days

Saturday, Dec 28th- Flew from Koh Samui to Chiang Mai at 10am. Arrived at the hotel in Chiang Mai at 1pm. Got settled in and walked around to check out the temples in the old city.

Sunday, Dec 29th- We attended an all day cooking class where we learned about shopping at the market and made an entire meal. That night we walked around the Sunday night walking market.



Monday, Dec 30th- Ate breakfast and watched the Cowboys game in a local pub and then walked around town. We took a nap and then went out to dinner.

Tuesday, Dec 31st- Got picked up and driven out into the countryside. Spent the morning riding elephants and then eating a lunch and going back to the hotel. We took a nap and then went out to the New Year's Eve festivities and ate street food. We walked around and hung out until midnight and sent off our wishing lantern then went home.




Wednesday, Jan 1st- Spent the entire morning at the airport with a delayed flight. 1pm, we finally flew to Bangkok and went to our hotel. We took a nap and then ate at the delicious international buffet at our hotel.

Thursday, Jan 2nd- Took a tour to the floating markets and then some temples in Bangkok. Then we went out to dinner, visited a rooftop bar and hung out for awhile.

Floating Market


Bangkok at night


Friday, Jan 3rd- Slept in really, really late and then hung out at the hotel for awhile. We walked around the incredible mall across from our hotel and got ramen for dinner (couldn't wait until we got home). We left for the airport at 8pm only to find out we couldn't check in until 11:30pm. Flew to Hong Kong at 2am. 

Saturday, Jan 4th- Flew from Hong Kong to Okinawa and got in at 2:30pm


Things we learned:

-Okinawans are by far the nicest culture we have come across. Not that the Thais weren't nice, but I think our expectations have grown due to our experience in Okinawa. 

-We are really bad at figuring out conversion rates

-Thailand is very touristy, but not to the extent where you can't enjoy the culture

-So many of the locals spoke English. I thought more people spoke English than in Okinawa, but Jake disagrees

-American Airlines are so cheap(not in a good way) compared to other airlines. We got entire meals on flights that were less than 2 hours on our Asian Airlines.

-The majority of the tourists in Thailand were Europeans

-There are hardly any garbage cans in Asia. We can never find anywhere to throw away our trash

-Jake is a paranoid traveler and I am easy-going. He was a huge fan of the under your clothes money belt

-Chiang Mai was EXTREMELY hippie. It was also our favorite city

-We always thought we were the kind of travelers that liked to have a plan, but we found ourselves deciding things on the spur of the moment on this trip, especially restaurants

-We are not good at traveling cheap



It was a fun and exciting trip and we feel like we were able to see all we wanted to see in Thailand in the two weeks. 

21 comments:

  1. Spending days lounging on the beach, riding elephants and enjoying the floating markets, sounds like an amazing trip!

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  2. Chiang Mai was by far my favorite place in Thailand...I swear to everyone its what brought out my innner hippie while living abroad...While I was living in Asia and traveling I was always telling people how cheap American airlines were!!

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  3. It looks like an amazing trip. Riding the elephants looks like it would be so fun.

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  4. It looks like an amazing trip! How did you plan everything out? I would be so nervous trying to plan the moving from city to city part.

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  5. Looks like an amazing trip! Can't wait to read more!

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  6. I love your pictures!! I have always wanted to ride an elephant in Southeast Asia...looks like you all had so much fun!

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  7. My husband and I are not "cheap" travelers either- we ALWAYS go over our estimated "budget" but when we look back we don't really care :)

    Love the elephants!

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  8. This looks like SUCH a fun trip. We are not cheap travelers either and I just am okay with that! HA!

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  9. Thailand is such a cool holiday destination - and looks like you guys managed to fit in heaps of activities, while still having some beach days to chill. My favourite place in Thailand is Koh Tao - it's a little more relaxed than Koh Samui - and there are these amazing pancake stalls right when you come off the ferry!! Priorities :)
    Claire xx
    somewhere... beyond the sea

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  10. How did you like Koh Samui? I am headed there in April for my honeymoon! What are the can't miss things? Your trip looked wonderful!

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  11. Sounds amazing! I like your honesty too. : D

    Louisa @ My Family & Abruzzo

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  12. What an incredible vacation :) I definitely want to travel to Thailand. Did you feel really safe everywhere you went? I've been stuck in a scary situation in Africa that I hope never happens again and has kept me from making the decision to go anywhere outside of the US.

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