Thailand

We've been to Thailand twice. The first trip, a group tour in January 2022, included ten days of Covid quarantine in a hotel after one of our group tested positive. We went back from 28 December 2022 to 17 January 2023, saw the new year in on a river cruise in Bangkok, then headed south to Khao Sok, Phuket and the islands around Krabi. Between the two trips we've covered Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Ayutthaya and a good stretch of the Andaman coast.

History and Temples

In 2022 we spent a day among the ruins of Ayutthaya, the old capital of Siam, including Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon and Wat Phanan Choeng. On the 2023 trip we stood on the Bridge over the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi, a place with a lot of hard history behind it. The Ancient City (Muang Boran) outside Bangkok, with its replicas of Thailand's temples and monuments, was so good we went twice, and the giant three-headed elephant at the Erawan Museum is worth the trip on its own.

Bangkok

Our favourite way to see Bangkok was a cycling tour through the backstreets and along the old canals, stopping at small local wats. Outside the city, the Maeklong Railway Market (where stalls fold back for the train) and the boats of Damnoen Saduak floating market make a good early-morning day trip. For views, we went up to the revolving deck on the 84th floor of the Baiyoke Sky Hotel, walked the Makkasan Skywalk at sunset and had a drink at the Tichuca rooftop bar. We saw in 2023 with fireworks from the deck of an Alangka River Cruise.

Jungle and Waterfalls

We've swum in the blue pools of Erawan Falls on both trips, and climbing all seven tiers is worth the effort. In Khao Sok we canoed the river, went on a torchlit night safari, and spent a night in a floating bamboo bungalow on Cheow Lan Lake, with hornbills and monkeys on a misty dawn boat trip the next morning.

The Andaman Coast

Ao Nang in Krabi was our base on the coast in 2022, and we stayed there again in 2023. From Ao Nang we took boats to Koh Phi Phi and Maya Bay, and a longtail round to Railay Beach, where limestone cliffs rise straight out of the sand. On Phi Phi in 2023 we swam with bioluminescent plankton after dark, which we still find hard to describe. In Phuket we hired bikes to reach the Big Buddha and stood under the landing planes at Mai Khao beach.

Food

The night markets in Kanchanaburi and Ao Nang were where we ate best: street food cooked in front of you, for very little. Eat as many mangoes as you can.