Last Minute Thailand

Last week was the Muslim holiday of Eid. We had the week off, so Karen and I decided to go to Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, the day before we left there was a bombing in one of the city's on our tour. So, we booked a last minute flight to Bangkok! We arrived in Bangkok Saturday evening without a hotel room! We ended up in a nicer upscale Le Meridian for the first night. This was nice, but we wanted a range of experiences, so we booked the following night at a guesthouse. On a one to five scale I'd probably give it a one and a half. We managed to make a rather drastic turnaround from the pervious night, but the location was perfect for all the best sites. Bangkok is a modern city mixed with ancient temples (wats) and palaces (see picture). Karen and I especially enjoyed riding around in the Thai version of a taxi--the tuk tuk (again, see picture). When riding these fun little motor-trics one tends to forget about the deadly exhaust fumes and focus on the beautiful sights and sounds of a foreign city. We hired a tuk tuk driver to take us all around Bangkok for the entire day for about four dollars. The exchange rate is quite nice.

We booked the rest of our vacation through the local tourism bureau. Up until this point, I had no idea how huge Thailand is. It's about the size of France, which means that in order to get around efficiently we had to fly. Luckily, the exchange rate was in our favor once again and we booked four flights, five nights at hotels, meals, and tours for about $600. First, we traveled north to Chiang Mai, which is known for its great cultural sights and beautiful mountains. We packed in a full-day excursion through the jungle, riding elephants, visiting tribal villages, and riding a bamboo raft down a river. It honestly felt like we were on a movie. Our favorite part about Chiang Mai was the night bizarre. We went shopping there almost every night.
After a few days in Chiang Mai, we fly down south to Krabi, a beautiful little resort town on the beach. Our hotel room was SWEET. Check out the view from our balcony (see picture). We didn't have much time in Krabi but we managed to work in a sea kayaking adventure--highly recommended! We flew back to Bangkok and stayed the night in a less than fabulous hotel (much less) and woke up the next morning for an early flight. As we soon found out, we didn't wake up early enough. I mistook the arrival time for the departure time and we showed up several hours late for our flight. I was really annoyed at myself at first but quickly came to terms with spending an extra day in Bangkok. We stayed our final (extra) night in the Sharaton Grande hotel in downtown. It was the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at. We had a butler. The pool was like a tropical oasis. You must stay there if you ever visit Bangkok.

So, what reason do you need to visit Thailand, other than the beautiful beaches, awesome outdoor adventure, and great historical sights? While all of these things were incredible, it was the people that made our experience truly incredible. Thai people are the most genuine, kind, and authentic group that I have come across in my world travels. If you've not been, you must add Thailand to your "must visit before I die" list. PS- in case you didn't figure it out yet, Karen is my girlfriend. :)