I am planning to travel to Thailand either on December or May. I am most interested in the gorgeous beaches,shopping for silks and silver and of course FOOD! I hear nothing but great news about Thailand. I want to make the best out of my trip so am asking where the best beaches are and how to get around as well as reasonable accomodations. I appreciate all information. Thank you :)
2007-07-03 06:42:47 · 9 answers · asked by Starlite 2 in Travel ➔ Asia Pacific ➔ Thailand
Whoever said Phuket has the best beaches is obviously not an off the beaten path type of traveler. If you want somewhere very touristy where everyone goes then you can go there but I have a few other suggestions. I lived in Malaysia for 4 years growing up and I have backpacked and traveled through a lot of thailand.
If you are starting out in Bankok then you want to stay on backpackers row which is called Khao San Road. You can find very cheap accomodation and a ton of other travellers of the backpacking kind. If you want cheap silver, silks, etc. go to the weekend market called the Chatuchak weekend market. Here you can find everything from pet squirrels (I really saw one), to great clothes, to some of the best local food you will find. if you go to www.wikipedia.com and type in Bangkok Markets it can give you a list of some of the other good ones but this is my personal favorite. My mom and I used to make special trips to the city for this one.
From Khao San Road you can also find a lot of smaller travel agencies that can get you bus rides to some of the nearby smaller islands. My favortite is Koh Samet. You can get cheap airfare to some of the further away islands too. Phi Phi is amazing (where the movie The Beach was filmed). And Koh Samui is probably my other favorite stop. Of course the full moon party in Ko Pha Ngan is a highlight of everyone's trip to Thailand. It's a little too hippie drug haven for me because everyone is blitzed out of their minds on everything you can imagine, but if that's your idea of fun then you'll love it. Koh Lanta is nice too and there is a fairly cheap resort on the island.
If you want to get away from the beaches and see a little more of the Thai terrain then Chang Mai is incredible. You can ride elephants through villages and see some of the really untouched parts of the country. They have a great night market there as well where you can see some of the really local cuisine. Get ready for roast crickets and other crawlys. In all these places it is very easy to find accomodation as long as you aren't looking for 4 star hotels every step of the way. these are just the highlights of Thailand from my personal experience but you will find it is easy to see what you like and what you don't like. Always bargain! otherwise you will get ripped off. The thai people are some of the friendliest in the world so enjoy your trip! Oh and whatever time of year you go it will be either hot or hotter, and at that point it is hard to tell the difference so I wouldn't worry about your timing except it is the raining season in south thailand in May. And it isn't just a little rain.
2007-07-03 07:48:53 · answer #1 · answered by ditzwannabe 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Phuket (pronounced POO-ket; the Malaysian word for mountain) has the best beaches.
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&gbv=2&q=phuket+beaches&btnG=Search+Images
Take a speedboat daytrip to the islands and snorkeling. Phuket is an 8-hour drive from Bangkok, but you can fly there much quicker for a small amount of money - see Air Asia or Bangkok Air.
The best silks come from the Jim Thompson Company. Visit his restored vintage Thai house and gift shop in Bangkok.
December weather is much nicer than May weather. May is the second hottest month of the year after April.
Check out the travel talk page on fodors.com for more good info.
Chok Dee
(Good Luck)
2007-07-03 06:51:05 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Beaches close to Bangkok that upper middle class go to would be Hua Hin and Cha-am (you can see the pictures on my 360). There are many good hotels with reasonable prices like regent Cha-am which I often stay over when I visit the place, and there are many overseas travellers there as many as Thais.
Personally, if I have more time, I like Samui island requiring longer travelling time (although there's a small airport that you can get there from Bangkok within an hour). Samed island is not so far away either, about less than three hours for road trip (very good highway), and less than 30 minutes ride by boat.
On the eastern most side of Thailand there's Khao Kood (island), with a very large private resource that was very peculiar (belong to one of my friends who very rich). He hired majority of the island people and dress in funny costumes and danced for us when we got there. Don't know whether he does that anymore, but visiting the place is a fun experience but you need to book a tour from Bangkok and the trip is quite far. He bought also a big ferry boat to get to the island.
Phuket and PP islands are one of the most popular destinations in the south as well.
Shopping for silks are available everywhere in Bangkok. You can find nice western style Thai silk at Jim Thompson which has a branch in all big shopping malls like all the Central department stores. They have shops standing by themselves at the beginning of Suriwong roads at the Rama 4 intersection as well.
If you search for a unique one piece designed Thai silk, that could be a little bit pricy but there're plenty of those in Bangkok, although the very good ones come from northeast part of Thailand and you'll find it cheaper buying from there. It's not worth just to travel there to buy one or two pieces.
Chiangmai province and all the other surrounding it can also offer great tourist attractions with great and cheap souvenirs including hill tribes people’s handicrafts, silk, silver ornaments, umbrellas, wood carvings and etc.
Once in Bangkok, there’re plenty of Temples to visit. Thai ways of life used to centre around temple for study, marry, birth and death. One of the must see is the Grand Temple with the Emerald Buddha (the whole statue made of emerald ) and Wat Trimitr which host a Buddha statue that made of 5 tons of solid gold.
Do a bit of web search of Bangkok, and Thailand you’ll find most amazing facts and fascinations. Have fun and enjoy the trip. By the way, December and January is best time as the weather cools down a bit.
2007-07-03 20:39:22 · answer #3 · answered by Titan 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you have a choice, chose December. One of the best months of the year here. Weather is perfect.
To know everything you want to know all you have to do is visit Thailands only commercial and advertising free website with 1000's of photos of everything Thailand, from shopping, to food, to beaches, to waterfalls, to temples.
This one website is the one place that can answer all of your questions in pictures http://www.visualthailand.com
2007-07-03 19:28:52 · answer #4 · answered by visualthailand 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Perhaps the best information you can get about Thailand from people who have been there is at wikitravel.org:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Thailand
This page has links with detailed information about major tourist destinations such as Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and a number of other popular destinations.
2007-07-03 07:18:17 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Phuket is for tourists that go for safety in numbers. Beaches were nice 15 years ago (same can be said for Koh Samui), but now they are just too crowded.
There are so many things to see/do in Thailand, it would take up pages to describe it. But check out TAT's official web site. It is actually quite good for inspiration.
2007-07-10 00:14:43 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Every time when people talk about love thailand and wanna travel somewhere in Thailand, I feel pround of and would like to say that Welcome to Thailand.
Hope you enjoy traveling around
2007-07-04 18:42:36 · answer #7 · answered by Serina^ 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Bird Flu is contageous.
2007-07-10 16:17:36 · answer #8 · answered by Mr Answerman 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
i wish i could go there im planning on it maybe when im older. because im thai and i would like to know about my heretage. so when you go there tell me all you know. have fun!!!
2007-07-03 06:46:48 · answer #9 · answered by dannii 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋