Last Updated on January 27, 2024 by PowersToTravel
With this Thailand Travel Blog I want to tell our story of our trip to Thailand in mid-November 2017 as a part of our quasi-independent 65-day Southeast Asia Odyssey.
We first flew into Bangkok via Doha, Qatar on Qatar Airways. We stayed four days in Bangkok, then went with an agency’s private driver and guide north by van through Phitsanulok, Ayutthaya, Lampang, and Lamphun to Chiang Mai. We stayed in Chiang Mai four days, making day trips out to see the elephants, tigers, temples, culture shows and Chiang Rai. We flew out of Chiang Mai onwards to Myanmar on Bangkok Air.
Then near the end of our 65 day trip, we flew from Vientiane, Laos to Surat Thani, Thailand in the southern peninsula. We stayed at the Elephant Hills Camp near Koh Sok National Park for several days, then took a boat to a small island Koh Yao Noi where we spent several more days. We took a boat transfer from Koh Yao Noi to Ao Nang and another smaller boat from Ao Nang to Railay Bay, then spent several days at Railay Bay relaxing and doing excursions.
Finally, we hired a private car transfer service to take us from Ao Nang to a small resort in northern Phuket for a one-nighter prior to taking Qatar Airlines back to Doha.
Preparation
Since I am a Type 1 diabetic, I wasn’t about to let anything go to chance on this massive undertaking. I knew that I wanted to see Bangkok and Thailand’s smaller cities, towns, countryside and beach. The large amount of luggage for our trip dictated many of my choices. Sure it would be nice (and cheaper!) to take the train north but the thought of heaving around our 4 cases from taxi to train to taxi to who-knows-what, just to see some towns from the confines of a train did not appeal to me.
When I discovered the Chiang Mai Tour Center through a Google search, I found their private one-way tour from Bangkok to Chiang Mai to be ideal. While many backpackers may find a private tour to be too expensive, the contrast of Asian prices to Western prices was pleasantly striking to us.
We decided to continue the sightseeing in Chiang Mai with the same tour center. The Chiang Mai Tour Center agency was excellent and a very good choice.
For southern Thailand, I chose Elephant Hills Camp. It’s everything they advertise it to be, but we found it a bit too large and impersonal for our taste. We didn’t like being called “#14” (tent)!
We took two separate day trips from Railay Bay – one to Koh Phi Phi using Thalassa Tours (very nice) and the other a Krabi-area multi-interest adventure with Huay Tho Safari (very good as well – unfortunately they didn’t seem to make it through the COVID pandemic because their website is broken and there are no recent TripAdvisor reviews. That’s sad.)
I anticipated that I would be very happy to be escorted around at the beginning of our long trip, but that by the end, I would have become more acclimated and happier running under our own steam. This turned out to be the case.
No visas were necessary, however I did have to ensure that our comings and goings complied with Thai immigration laws. We would be arriving by air and staying for 12 days, then absent for 25 days, then arriving by air again for 13 days. Laws may be different in Thailand depending on whether you arrive by air or by land border crossing, and may also change over time. I found this site helpful; it’s not official Thai, but a law firm. Here’s the official site.
We went to our local travel clinic. Due to the particular itinerary I created for the 65-day trip, we ended up being on malaria pills the entire trip. They don’t bother me and give me confidence.
Thailand Itinerary
You can click in on many of the activities to my detailed pages. You’ll see that I kind of ran out of steam writing after the Bankok and northern sections of the trip! I hope to complete the southern part soon.
- Days 1 and 2 – Flight to Bangkok
- Day 3 – Arrival in Bangkok, Wat Arun, Orange boat sightseeing on Chao Phraya River.
- Day 4 – Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, Khlongs Tour by boat, Wat Pho (3 separate blog postings)
- Day 5 – Wat Benchamabophit, Jim Thompson House, Chatuchak Market
- Day 6 – Chinatown
- Day 7 – Pickup by Chiang Mai Tour Center – Ayutthaya to Phitsanulok
- Day 8 – Breakfast at Pattara Spa, Buddha Foundry, Folk Museum, Suhkothai and Lampang
- Day 9 – Lampang to Chiang Mai via Lamphun
- Day 10 – Long Neck Village, “Be an Elephant Mahoot for a day”, Wat Ban Den, Buatong Sticky Waterfalls
- Day 11 – Day trip to the White Temple and the Black Museum of Chiang Rai, evening culture show
- Day 12 – Chiang Mai temples (Chedi Luang, Wat Phan Tao, Wat Phrasingh, Doi Suthep) and tourist shopping (did not enjoy) This was not the same thing as the Night Market, which we loved.
- Day 13 – Free day to wander the historic center: Wat Inthakin, Wat Duang Dee, Three Kings Monument, Wat Chiang Man
- Day 14 – Visit to Tiger Kingdom, afternoon flight to Mandalay
Many, many days spent in Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, followed by:
- Day 49 – Fly from Vientiane, Laos to Surat Thani, Thailand on Air Asia
- Day 50 – Transfer to Elephant Hills Camp and afternoon canoe ride and elephant feeding
- Day 51 – Elephant Hills day trip to Cheow Larn Lake
- Day 52 – Elephant Hills day trip to Mangroves
- Day 53 – Van transfer to Phuket and boat to Koh Yao Noi
- Day 54 – Koh Yao Noi on scooter
- Day 55 – Koh Yao Noi on scooter
- Day 56 – Koh Yao Noi – we spent one day too many here
- Day 57 – Speedboat transfer to Ao Nang, taxi to Nam Mao pier to Railay Bay boat
- Day 58 – Koh Phi Phi snorkeling day tour with Thalassa Tours
- Day 59 – Day trip – elephants, waterfalls and temple with
- Day 60 – Hanging around Railay Bay, trip to Ao Nang on longboat
- Day 61 – Private transfer to Phuket with Krabi Shuttle to Naiyang Beach
- Day 62 – Fly to Doha, Qatar on Qatar Airways
You’ll have to read my individual Thailand Travel Blog articles!
Diabetic Travel Tips
As a diabetic I am very careful about planning for, and traveling to these wonderful places far from home. I’ve written two articles to help you do the same. Even if you aren’t a diabetic, many of the travel tips should also be helpful to you:
My List of Best Places to Visit in Thailand
Thailand is a large country and has so much to see and do. If I had the opportunity to do this trip all over again and had a limited amount of time, here are my top sights, my must-do’s of Thailand. I’ve linked most of them to my detailed blog postings about our experiences.
Wat Arun in Bangkok
With the completion of its renovation in 2017, Wat Arun on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok is now a dazzling display of brilliant color and extraordinary architecture.
Wat Phrae Kaew in Bangkok
Wat Phra Kaew with its accompanying Grand Palace is truly the grand showcase of Thai temples. Wat Phra Kaew is the home of the Emerald Buddha, an image treasured and sought-after for centuries.
Wat Pho in Bankok
Wat Pho is extraordinary to see. What we did not realize at first is that the Reclining Buddha is an icon found throughout Southeast Asia. If you are heading to Myanmar, you will actually see more amazing but very different versions of the reclining Buddha, in Yangon and Monywa.
The Chao Phraya River and Khlongs Tour in Bangkok
The river itself is a fascinating experience. The thrill of racing up and down the river in an Orange Flag boat, or in a ferry cross-river to Arun, is an assault on your senses with the variety of boats, colors, sounds and smells. The cherry on the top is a Khlongs Tour, which lets you wind your way through tiny canals and see close up the daily life on the river.
Wat Mahathat in Ayutthaya
North of Bangkok, and accessible on a day trip, is Ayutthaya. The Historic Center of Ayutthaya is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Wat Mahathat temple complex completely different from what you experience in Bangkok. No gold here, just a fascinating study in the history of Thai Buddhist culture, and of the nation itself, with an amazing face of Buddha thrown in for interest!
Sukhothai
Sukhothai is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well, a huge flat plain of fascinating temple after fascinating temple, once again, not the gilt gold temples of Bangkok, but the earlier temples of the “Birthplace of Thailand” You just can’t say you’ve been to Thailand if you haven’t seen the “Birthplace of Thailand.”
“Be a Mahoot for a Day” elephant experience with Chiang Mai Tour Center
This act of learning to “Be an Elephant Mahoot for a Day” – learning about elephant food, making their meal, feeding them, riding them and bathing them – is an intense and very enjoyable experience. I believe it is our #1 experience in all of Southeast Asia. It certainly is the one that comes first to mind when someone asks us, “What’s the best thing you did?”
Tiger Kingdom near Chiang Mai
Granted there is a lot written recently about the questionable practice of domesticating tigers for interactions with humans, but Greg still rates the Tiger Kingdom as #2 in all of Southeast Asia. For Greg, the intensity of the experience of touching a tiger, patting him, fondling his tail and feeding him fulfilled a true bucket list dream.
The White Temple in Chiang Rai
The White Temple in Chiang Rai can be reached on a day trip out of Chiang Mai and is definitely worth the effort. It is an artistic, ghoulish interpretation of the journey of man and the afterlife that engages and captivates your senses. We didn’t even see it in sunlight and yet it still enveloped us.
Snorkeling day trip to Koh Phi Phi
At the moment Maya Bay on Koh Phi Phi is closed to tourists due to the damage sustained from overuse. However for us, when we visited it was not the bay itself that was the draw, it was the snorkeling adventure combined with the island visit. We used Thalassa Tours and were extremely happy with our adventure.
Staying (but not swimming!) at Railay Bay
The scenery at Railay Bay is just bucket-list quality. We stayed at the Sand Sea resort hotel at Railay Bay and I can highly recommend spending time at Railay Bay just to get the right light on the mountains. The sea with its long-tail boats and the bathers gives such an exotic aura. HOWEVER, the swimming is almost non-existent at Railay Bay. The water is dirty due to the engines of all the boats, and the water is barely knee-height no matter how far out you trudge! We went to swim and found we could only lay in the water to get that important picture to send to our friends. We quickly hustled back to the pool to relax. That said, the vibe, restaurants and hotels, at Railay Bay are delightful!
Summary
Thailand is more developed than its neighbors. You may not feel that way when you first arrive and if you leave the city, but after spending weeks in Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, we felt as if we were coming home when we arrived back in Thailand. The diabetic in me breathed a sigh of relief – we were back in civilization (and the land of safer hospitals)!
What a wonderful country to visit. We want to return!
Read all about it in my Thailand travel blog articles.
I’ve also posted video slide shows of the entire Odyssey. Click here to see them all.
