SOUTHEAST ASIA PART I : THAILAND

Hello there blog, it's been a while! So myself and my bestie Barbara had been talking about a trip to Southeast Asia for quite some time now, and in the past few months, we started to finalise the locations. We would start off in Thailand, in Bangkok for 2 nights, then move on to Koh Samui for the week. Then we would jet off to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and finish the journey in Singapore. The duration of the whole trip was three weeks, because we both work, but it was definitely enough to get a taste of Asia, and we definitely want to go back! With so many countries to see, I took far too many pictures so I'm going to split the blog posts by country, starting off with Thailand.

When planning out a big trip like this, it's important to get together with the people you're going with and think of places everyone wants to see. It helps if you're all of a similar mindset. For example, our group aren't too big into drinking/parties, so we opted for a more relaxed, cultural trip. At first, we contemplated doing solely Thailand, hitting up all the islands. But we thought since we're flying halfway across the world, we wanted to see other countries too, so we added in Malaysia and Singapore.

On the 7th of June, we left Ireland for Bangkok. We had two flights, the first to Abu Dhabi and the second from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok, with each flight being around 7-8 hours long. Thailand is 6 hours ahead, so I can't explain the sheer exhaustion and confusion when we landed. We landed at around 8 o'clock in the morning at Bangkok International Airport and bought some Thai Bhat while we were there. The conversion is roughly 38 Bhat to 1 Euro, and I exchanged about 200 Euro (close to 8000 Bhat) for the next 8 days. They also sell sim cards at the airport and you get around 2.5GB data daily for a week for around 10-15 euro. I didn't buy one as I wanted a bit of a break from technology on this holiday. From the airport, we got an Uber to our hotel. Upon arriving, we were told that check-in wasn't available until 3... On any other holiday we've been to, that has never been a problem and we usually just leave our bags and go out and explore, but we were all so tired that we started to look for another hotel that allowed early check-in. We cancelled our hotel and booked the next two nights at the Maitria Hotel in Sukhumvit, collapsing on the bed on arrival and taking a nap to re-charge. Feeling slightly more human, we decided to get out in the afternoon and walk around Bangkok to find our bearings.

TRANSPORT

Cars, motorbikes and more cars! Bangkok is densely populated, with 8 million people living there, and we were in some of the heaviest traffic we ever experienced, sitting in 1 hour jams to get to our destinations. While taxis are extremely cheap, I suggest anyone that goes to Bangkok to opt for public transport such as the BTS Skytrain instead. There are also Tuk-tuks, but BEWARE: they will scam you if you're a lost tourist. We had read up about it but still fell for the trap. A tuk-tuk driver will promise you a tour of the city's attractions for just 40 Bhat (just over 1 euro). It started off well, with the driver taking us to Wat Parinayok, a lesser known temple with all 5 Buddhas. 

In the temple, we met an older Thai gentleman that we were chatting to for a good 15 minutes, telling us about Bangkok, the temples and a famous clothes factory that makes luxurious fabrics which you can get at a very cheap price. This was where the tuk-tuk driver was due to take us next. We thought nothing of it as the man was being so nice. We arrived at a small shop, which sold suits and dresses, no impressive factory in sight. Upon arrival, we were sat down, given bottles of water and catalogues to browse through, while the shopkeepers sat beside us, stared, and picked out ensembles which they thought suited us. After sitting there for a few minutes, painfully trying to look interested, we bolted out of there. When we went back to our cheeky tuk-tuk driver, he was annoyed and said we didn't stay in the shop long enough and that we need to stay there for 15 minutes for the shopkeepers to pay for his petrol... At this point, we wanted our little tuk-tuk adventure to end, but we felt kind of bad for the driver so we allowed him to take us to another shop. We experienced the exact same thing in the second shop, however they also sold souvenirs here so we spent our 15 mins and bought some stuff, got out, and had the driver take us to Chinatown where we gladly waved goodbye to him and started laughing at what just transpired. We began walking around Chinatown, trying to find some food.

If I thought Times Square in New York was an attack on the senses, there was nothing that could prepare me for this. 35 degree heat and 80% humidity feels even more intense in Chinatown, it's like walking around in a giant sauna. Colour is absolutely everywhere. There's the constant noise of cars stuck in traffic and tradespeople in market stalls shouting out different prices. And the smell. You're hit with pleasant smells of fruit and barbecued meats, roasted chestnuts and fresh fish, strange and unfamiliar smells and also the strong smell of hot garbage and sewage. We were all very overwhelmed, particularly after our tuk-tuk adventure and we began to feel a little faint from hunger. We found a restaurant called The Canton House, which specialised in Dim Sum (more of this in the Food section below). After eating a delicious and very cheap meal (5 euro for a starter, main and two drinks), we decided to head to Lumpini park to get away from the chaos.

After the park, we headed back to the hotel for some pool time before heading out to Octave rooftop bar.

Our brief time in Bangkok was at an end, and we were looking forward to escaping the madness and chilling by the beach at Koh Samui. We arrived at our hotel - Casa del Mar, on Chaweng beach.

 This island was truly paradise on earth, and it was one of those "can't believe we're here" moments. 

We didn't do much sightseeing in Koh Samui, as this was the relaxed part of the holiday, so the majority of time was spent on the beach or by the pool reading. One thing we did go see was the Hin Ta & Hin Yai rocks on the southern tip of the island. This a famous rock formation which resembles male & female genitalia...

Hin Ta & Hin Yai

  Not everything we did was relaxing however... We couldn't help but go jet skiing and parasailing on Chaweng beach. These are not cheap, with each at around 40 euro, but they're so worth it! 

We saw a lot of couples around, and I can see why. With remote parts of the beach all to yourself, candle lit sunset dinners and a star full of skies, it's definitely a romantic place.

 FOOD

The food in Thailand is outrageously cheap, particularly in Bangkok. You can have a starter and main with a drink for easily 4-5 euro. Koh Samui was a tad more expensive, but was still very cheap. The food is of great quality and they use fresh ingredients for everything. The rice even by itself has so much flavour, and if you can, try some glass noodles. These were some of my favourites below:

Pineapple fried rice

Pad Thai w/glass noodles, Dim Sum & Gioza.

Papaya salad

Massaman Curry

Banana Fritters w/cinnamon and vanilla ice cream

Coconut ice cream

Chicken fried rice

If you're up for a party, head on over to Ark bar which is the main party resort on Chaweng. There's also plenty of more chilled out bars and Shisha bars where you can have a drink or two while watching a fire show. 

That's it for Thailand! It was truly hard leaving this paradise behind, I hadn't felt that relaxed in a while. I'll definitely be back to Thailand to explore the rest of the islands. Stay tuned for my Malaysia & Singapore blog post coming soon :)

Tom.