2006-07-01 03:46:38 · 10 answers · asked by mia amber 2 in Travel ➔ Asia Pacific ➔ Thailand
Take a bus from Mo Chit in Bkk - abt 6 hrs due north along the hi-way to Chiang Mai.. Get off in Tak city. It is a very nice Thai small city.. Rare to have tourists.. There are interesting things in the area but you need a car.. You can take a local bus up to Bhumibol Dam - and a long tail boat out in the river.. there are nice places to stay at the Dam too.. in Tak, Accomodations are good and very reasonable.. real markets, real friendly thai people.. beautiful temples [ as everywhere in Thailand ] - - this is genuine.. I live in a small village in Tak Province -
2006-07-01 04:53:21 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Just go into some jungle and go on a 5 days or more hike. With a guide obviously. I think that's the way you'll find "non-touristy places".
The funny thing is that if only the package tours and the tourist who go to pataya want to go on the beaten track. Almost all the other tourist try really hard not to be a tourist and to find that undiscovered village in the bush bush that hasn't been spoiled by modern tourism. Tough luck.......there are a bunch of tours you can take who go to places "not spoiled by tourism" but there are tours going there.
If you go there tourist come there so it's on the beaten track. You wanna go of the beaten track; learn Thai, live here for a while etc.
My advice is just to enjoy Thailand and go where the flow flows you and accept that you are visiting a country that is flooded by tourists every year. It's okay......just a bit more crowded
2006-07-05 13:31:23 · answer #2 · answered by Ward 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you really want to get off the beaten track... Head out to Surin and ask how to get to KohmSaiJahn. KohmSaiJahn is a village of maybe 100 houses roughly equidistant from Surin, Buriram, and Prasad.
If you are in the village near Christmas or New Year's you may find a few fahrung in town. Stop and say hi and they'll offer you a beer and a chat on the patio.
Walk down to the river and swim with the kids from the village. There are one or two leeches, but they won't really bother you. They're mostly for local flavor.
Stop by Benja and Poem's house for a bowl of soup. They have a small four seat restaurant in the front yard and the soup is excellent.
Remember that in this neck of the woods, the villagers, especially the elders, speak Khmer, not Thai. So all that Thai you practiced in Bangkok and Chiang Mai won't be that useful. Fortunately, Khmer is easier to learn than Thai (for westerners) as it isn't a tonal language. The one phrase of Khmer that you must learn is "Sawah see sawai". Literally: "Monkey eat mango". When you're walking down the main street of the village and you see a kid climbing a mango tree, yell out that phrase and he (or she) will nearly fall out of the tree in surprise that a fahrung can speak Khmer. And all of the kids following 20 feet behind you will laugh in great humor at your wit and education.
For a real treat, try to show up in October for the rice harvest. The villagers are always happy to teach a fahrung how to cut down the rice with a scythe. Or they're happy to use an extra hand to toss the rice up onto the thresher. And, if you stop by the Wajadee's house, mom will show you the traditional way to pound and cook fresh unhusked rice.
2006-07-01 21:27:14 · answer #3 · answered by ecspert 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My opinion of the best place to go in Thailand that is off the beaten track is Satun. It is the southernmost province in Thailand, but has almost no Muslim-related violence. It is not on the train line that goes throught to Malaysia so almost noone goes there. There is an amazing national park with no visitors. There are also a number of islands that are uncrowded and beautiful. Nice hotels with amenities and excellent service are amazingly cheap. People are friendly.
2006-07-07 05:08:44 · answer #4 · answered by kraikaikaigai? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The southern beaches of Thailand are beautiful, but loaded with tourists and IMO no longer very THAI. But if you go to the south, try Trang as Krabi, Phuket, Koh Samui, etc. are all loaded with foreigners constantly. Nothing against them, but when you have a lot of foreigners, you've got a lot of gimmics and such...
The northern areas around Chiang Mai are also increasingly over run with tourism.
IMO, if you want a true Thai experience, try Esan. that is the northeastern areas of Surin, Buri Ram, Ubon Rachathani, Kohn Kaen, etc... the further you go towards the Laos border, the more authentic your experience will be. Many of these people are very poor, but would spend a week's worth of pay putting you up for dinner as their guest. Thought you may be the brunt of some jokes and laughter, it's all in good fun and is Esarn is incredibly safe.
best wishes.
2006-07-02 22:45:28 · answer #5 · answered by TravArtz 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thailand is so big, so off the tourist track is easy. Depends on your mode of travel though.
Places to head to is Tak, as Ken says above. Great nature and beauty. He forgot that the 6th largets fall in the world is there in Umphang village. There are a few waterfalls and with this the rainy season, should be a beaut to watch them.
Go up north to Mae Hong Son is another province off the beaten track. In fact, Pai is a nice mountainous place to trek around. Real close to nature with nice local resorts too.
Another may be to Pak Chong in the north-east province of Nakorn Ratchasima. Place ia beautiful with a lovely temperate climate. Visit the Khao Yai National Park there. These are great places to relax too.
You can get in touch with me if you have more queries to be explaines. I am tongbn@yahoo.co.uk.
2006-07-02 12:37:05 · answer #6 · answered by peanutz 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thailand is a wonderful country. I loved Chaing Mai. It is a large town, but it was easy to walk a couple blocks in a direction that did not lead to tourists places. We had wonderful experiences with local people that do not see light skinned people often. I would like to let you know that I traveled the country from one end to another by train, bus, taxi and air. They were all thrilling. Ride the train because it is a unique experience.
2006-07-02 11:13:54 · answer #7 · answered by Fantasy Sarongs 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The commandments
One does not get a taxi outside a tourist site, one walks down the road.
Upon entering a taxi one insists on the 'meter'
One tries using the bus, monorail, subway (the latter are state of the art).
One eats like thai from street food, never english breakfast or Mcdonalds
one never ever books a trip around kho san road or on any private vip bus rip off
One shalt always go to the thai bus stations (ie coach) and book one there they are far better, the aircon dont leak like a waterfall and the seats comfy.
The only TAT (travel agent) you go to is the one in Bangalumpa (i think it was the southern train station towards china town.
The big one up the stars (the internet cafe next door is a rip off).
one avoids any tuk tuk tour as rip offs especailly hen they take you to dodgy TATs or jewlery shops.
The hospitals are very good...
but make sure your insurance has no medical excess... it will be the cost of treatment.
***********************
Ok go to Tiger Temple in kanchanbanui (thats not the spelling)
Not sure of officail name... get a bus there from the bus station and then a sontom (not sure spelling) a sort of taxi bus thats a pick up truck with a cover... to get to the temple itself.
A tiger sacturary where you get to play with real, adult, fully armed sober free roaming tigers. And hug and cuddle and take them walkies... all orphans brogght up by Monks.
Bring a empty video and stills camera.
Go to the thai holiday islands as opposed to the westerner ones , (you need malaria shots)
Kho toh is tourist but quiet... only scuba divers and trainiess (turtle island near Kho phan ynag the party hippy island from Kha samui)
Small temples not the big tourist ones.
Thai bars and clubs near their unis not the red light district...
Avoid in red light district the ping pong bars , the only place where you may get threatened to pay exptortion cash to get out...
The gogo bars are perfectly safe, no hastle other then to sit down and get a drink as you enter.
The guys will love the glass ceilings to the upper floors.
But that is tourist.
Bear in mind non tourist places are like here... shopping malls, cinemas, work places unis get the idea?
2006-07-01 11:06:39 · answer #8 · answered by Joey 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've just got a back, IM me with an email and i can go in depth and send you some photos
2006-07-01 11:53:09 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the north east
2006-07-03 22:03:44 · answer #10 · answered by the Traveller 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋