To speak to his hostel part, when you stay in backpacker hostels lots of people are traveling alone as well, or with a really small group, many times consisting of people like you they met at other hostels. People will hang out and play drinking games, cooking, and just talking about where they're from and where they've been. You can always find a group to go out with or do an excursion with if you're interested and choose a good hostel, which isn't hard.
I'm super outgoing but team alone also. When you travel with someone you get caught in the rut of hanging out with them like a safety blanket. More likely to be content and not adventurous. I traveled to Thailand/Cambodia last month (I still need to do my report ITT) and my friend left early with me having the last week alone. She wasn't a bad travel partner but I was so excited to be alone. I did Croatia/Prague alone (with TYW) also. It's a little tiring if you move around a lot and have to make new friends every night. If you're doing 3 cities at 5 days each traveling alone is amazing. If you're doing 5 cities at 3 days each, I can see it being difficult
I don't think anyone is denying that, but this convo started from Open Carry 's comment that he needed to find someone to travel to Europe with him to have a good time. People are just helping him out by showing that's not the case. In the past 3-4 years I've been on about 4-5 solo trips abroad and domestic, to Thailand to Rio to multiple stops in Europe. And you link up with people you meet along the way---this most recent trip to Copenhagen, I stayed with a guy I met in my hostel in Rio that is from New Zealand who had lived in Copenhagen for the past 5 years. I'm meeting a friend in Vietnam that I met in South America, and two Aussie girls I met in Peru will be in Nepal the same time I'm there. If you stay in a hostel you're never truly 'alone.' And further, if you want to be an introvert from time-to-time (like ohhaithur said, constantly introducing yourself and meeting a different group every single night can get tiring), you can go do your own thing whenever you want. Basically, don't let "traveling alone" be the reason you don't go on a trip. Like Alshon said, it'll change your life for the better, I know it did for me. I was scared to death the night before my first solo trip and it was the best decision I ever made. It's also nice waking up and doing, literally, whatever the fuck you want to do for that day. I've brought some friends on trips with me, and while we had an absolute blast, sometimes it can seem like a bit of babysitting/wanting to make sure they're having a good time as well. When you're by yourself none of that matters.
Alright, so if I did a trip it would be at least two weeks. Iceland Air has flights for $330 from NYC to Stockholm with a stopover in Reykjavik, maybe do one day there. From Stockholm, idk, maybe to Copenhagen. I've been to all the major cities Americans go to(London, Paris, Rome, Munich, Athens), so I'm looking at north/central europe. I've heard good things about Prague, but I don't really know where to go from there since I would need to get back to Stockholm. I want to get to Amsterdam at some point, but it's not close at all to Prague.
What time of year will this be? During the summer? I was in Copenhagen--Berlin--Prague over New Years Eve, absolutely loved it. Would highly recommend each city, with my favorite being Berlin. I'd really like to go back to CPH during the summer, everyone was raving about it. Berlin's an easy destination from most anywhere in Scandinavia
I'm actually at a bar solo right now in steamboat. Have spent the entire day talking like Fargo. Weird sure, but oddly fun.
I'll do disstortion with you and Jean-Ralphio ETA: Not sure if I mentioned it prior, but I closed last week with the biz I was telling you abt
I've been to Europe twice now - once alone and once half alone/half with a friend. I'll be going back a third time this summer alone (have only booked in and out flights so far). As long as you book decent hostels you won't have a bad time. It's nice to do whatever you want solo during the day and then head out with people from the hostel at night.
I want to do Disstortion so damn bad. It looks incredible. I really want to take a return trip to Copenhagen/Norway/Sweden during the summer. I've been following on snapchat, that's awesome. Hopefully frees up some time and works out for you
I'm looking at late May early June since I graduate in May and start work first week of July. I don't really know anything about those cities. Also looking at a day or two in Reykjavik since Iceland Air does free layovers if anyone has any comments about that. Teach me of Copenhagen
When I was just screwing around on the yacht week webpage I didn't find where you could get a cabin on your own, only renting a cabin for two? Granted, I didn't spend an hour playing around but just did a quick search for the Croation route. Am I an idiot or has things changed?
Will definitely ask for some closer to the date. For now all I know is that I'll be there the weekend of August 4th.
Here's my recent write-up on Copenhagen. Of course, I went in winter when a lot of things were dead. Still really enjoyed it, though.
OP has my writeup on Iceland. Although IMO the cool part is the countryside more so than Reykjavik but it wouldn't kill you to do a day or two there But yea use hostelworld ratings for good recommdations and you'll be good to go
Guys who have done plitvice, is it somewhere I need to show up early as fuck or is that not necessary?
Didn't make it down to the islands. Only Chiang Mai and Pai (about a 4 hour bike ride North of Chiang Mai) Pai is one of my favorite places in the world
Have you done a write up on them itt? I'm going to all three and would love to get some recommendations.
I've done them but I think they were lost in the crash. I'll type some stuff up for you in the next day or two. How much time you planning for each?
Beyond the hostel life, which is totally made for solo travelers, fire up Tinder and meet some local chicks. I did this in Tbilisi and the girl ended up showing me some cool local spots, driving me around to some nearby attractions and giving me restaurant recommendations. I ended up friend zoning her because I met an American girl who I really liked and am currently dating but it was still totally worthwhile to hang out with a local.
Thanks man. I'm going to book award flights over there next Saturday night (331 days out) for next Christmas. We'll have a total of 13 nights to spread out between the islands and the north. I had been thinking Chiang Mai (5), Koh Tao (4), samui (3) with a night in BKK, but now I'm thinking I should include Pai (or other spots you recommend). I've done the Phuket stuff so wanted to go elsewhere on this trip.
I'm on mobile so maybe that's a problem right now but when I click on ever destination it states that their cabins hold 2 people then asks you who you're traveling with: 2 girls, 1 guy/1 girl, or 2 guys.
I love pai as well and I do recommend but it is a bitch to get to and back from, so that it is up to the person. Are you a diver or anything? That many days on koh tao is probably excessive unless you're a big time diver.
Cabins are for 2 people. Outside of the summer BVI weeks, I haven't heard of them offering single cabin bookings.
No. Just figured it would be a good place to chill and relax. I do like snorkeling a lot, and I was thinking about getting dive certified for this trip. I'm not wedded to the dates. How much time would you recommend in Pai? Maybe 4 in chiang Mai and 2/3 in Pai?
Yeah, you're not getting to pai in under 4 hours and that's on a moped. Bus will be longer. Can make it home on a moped in 3 or so if you're confident and haul ass. I'd probably pick 3 days Chiang Mai is great but if you're going to do 3 in pai then 4 in Chiang Mai will be fine There's a lot more to do in koh samui, and you can also relax there. So unless you had a reason pushing you to koh tao I would spend more time in koh samui than tao unless you're very interested in seclusion and not club/bar/food options
Big Apple Duck here's my write up: Spoiler Arrived in Bangkok Saturday about noon. Subway to the hostel, which was badass and right near downtown, Ko Sahn Road, the main strip. Go out and get lunch have a few beers, chill. Bangkok fucking sucks. Huge, so many people, smelly, shitload of pollution, just dirty. But I go back to the hostel, meet some guys from Scotland, and head downtown. Outside all the bars down there are just nitrous balloons for like one dollar, so we'd go have a few beers, go outside and take one, and got real fucked up. I don't remember much, it's pretty spotty, but it was the most fucked up I got the whole trip. Nothing really special. Next night I met a local Thai girl at a bar in the early afternoon (it was a Sunday, so still the weekend), and we went and got drinks and dinner. End up going back to her house, getting weird, and she had to go to work the next day so she just took me to the airport to catch my flight to Chiang Mai, it was pretty sweet. She took me to a real dank local restaurant (everyone was staring at me because I was the only white/western guy in there) and we just got real wine drunk. If it hadn't been for hooking up with her, my 2 nights in Bangkok would've sucked. I still left with a bad taste in my mouth for the first 2 nights of my trip. She's in the first pic, her name was Pumy. Pretty hot. Fly to Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand, land at about 2:00 PM. Meet 2 American girls and a guy from the UK and went and got some beers, but I was fucking exhausted from the night before so I went back relatively early to my hostel with no AC. Next morning I decided to drive to Pai, which is a hippie/mountain town about 100 miles North of Chiang Mai, but only accessible by this windy mountain road. A lot of people rent motorbikes/scooters and do the drive themselves, takes about 3 hours straight through, so I decided to do it too. Best decision I made the whole trip. It was incredible driving through the mountains. It took me like 5 hours because I stopped a shitload and ventured off onto different waterfalls/parks/scenery stuff. The next 2 pics are of just the drive up there. The entire drive was like that, at times better. Met a guy from Germany that was doing the same thing and rode with him for a while, but he was on like a real fucking motorbike and left me in the dust after an hour or so. About 20 kilometers (~13 miles?) from Pai, it starts raining a little bit. I've never really ridden a bike like this so I just drove regular, ended up busting my ass around a corner. Lucky as shit I wasn't hurt. I was wearing pants so maybe that helped. I was only going ~20 mph around a curve and the wheels just slipped out from under me. I was also wearing my backpack whilst riding up. Then, to make things worse, my my bike said it had a half a tank, but apparently it was on empty, wouldn't start. It had stopped raining, but I was freaking out a little bit. After like 2-3 minutes, these locals pulled up in a truck, helped load me up the bike in their bed and drove me to a gas station. I learned a little bit of Thai beforehand so I was able to communicate a little bit. It was actually pretty awesome. Pulled up to my hostel, and it was the coolest place I've ever stayed. Called Spicy Pai, and it was a bunch of wooden/thatch dorms looking over a rice field and the mountains, this was view every day: The dorms had no AC, and it got pretty hot inside, but outside was pretty cool at night so I slept in the hammock right there most nights. It was incredible. Pai is the coolest place I've ever been. I was only supposed to stay 2 days and then go to the beach, but ended up just canceling the islands and staying 6 nights. Weed was for all intents and purposes legal, you could get magic mushroom shakes (which weren't great, but still gave me a mild trip), and a group from the hostel was exploring and doing random shit all day. Waterfalls, hiking canyons, swimming in hot springs, visiting local tribes/villages, elephants, etc. Did stuff like that every day, never alone, always with a good group from the hostel or people I had met the night before. It was a small backpacking place, and just a small place in general, so you saw the same people a lot and got to know people, wasn't a bad thing at all. Everyone was doing the same thing and always getting fucked up. Every night, the small strip (maybe 3-4) of bars would close around midnight, and then there was one bar that stayed open all night that everyone went to, the only place open in the village. It was like this every night, just awesome: First night there I met a French-Canadian girl in law school, so I was obviously in like flynn. Next night I met a girl that had just graduated from FSU. I didn't get their names/facebook, so don't have any pictures. Hooking up in hostels is kind of tough if you're staying in a big dorm room with like 8 people, so you gotta get creative. Shower/late night in lobby area, whatever. About my 4th or 5th night I met a fucking gorgeous Dutch girl, legit 6 feet tall, skinny blond, and hung out with her for like 2-3 days. We would go get dinner and get fucked up, and slept together 2 straight nights. Lissette: So that was fucking awesome. Our last night in Pai I just got us a private place for like $15 (the awesome hostel was, literally, $5/night). She had to go to Chiang Mai to catch a flight home, and I was spending so much time in Pai and wanted to see other places, so we both motorbiked back to Chiang Mai, stopped a lot of places along the way again. Unfortunately she flew back home when we got back, but she will be mine. There was also a local Thai guy, who was also a rastafarian, with dreads down to his back, that was staying in Pai. He lived in Chiang Mai, would get us weed, would go to the market and get local food every night for cheap as shit, and go with us places and get us deals because he was Thai. It was awesome. His name was Gof. One of the coolest things I did the whole trip was watch USA-Belgium at the bar in Pai that stays open late. The World Cup games started at 11 PM and 3 AM local time, so people were always up watching it. The USA game was the 3 AM, so I stayed up all night and watched the game with like 30-40 Belgians, I was the only American in the whole bar. They were cool about it, didn't talk (too much) shit or anything, but were doing chants and were just like SEC football fans going apeshit. It was awesome. Went to sleep at like 6 AM that night. So after riding back with Lissette, the blonde from the Netherlands, I had 4 days and 3 nights in Chiang Mai, was just going to chill there. First night I actually got a legit hotel ($25/night), first night not doing the hostel thing. I walked around the market and ate some street food (there's tons of food vendors everywhere, and all the food is like $1-2, and delicious. I never spent more than $10 on a meal). I took it easy that night because I partied so hard in Pai. Gof came back the next night and took me to some real good places and I partied with him for my last nights in Pai. Also met another girl that will be my bride from Germany, and was like a martial artist/muy thai/jiujitsu fighter. She was ripped as shit and had like a fucking 6 pack. During days me and her friend would ride around and go to temples and explore waterfalls/forest shit. We also went to this place called Tiger Kingdom, where you can legit hang out with full grown tigers. Some people don't like it because there are rumors that they drug the tigers with sedatives to make them calm around humans, but I did not get that vibe at all. Many were jumping around and playing while we were there, and they didn't seem drugged at all. Lana: Exploring Chiang Mai: Chiang Mai continued: I had to splurge a whole $20 for a private room with Lana, but it was worth it. Next I flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia for 3 days/2nights before I came home. But general thoughts on Thailand: -Their local beer is called Chang, and for some reason their alcohol content isn't really regulated. It's called "Chang Roulette" when you drink it because although the bottle says it's 6% alcohol, the actual alcohol content can be anywhere from 4-15%. You can have three and start to be pretty fucked up. It's actually pretty funny. -Thailand is incredibly cheap, and at no time did I fear/feel threatened violently/physically. Everybody was incredibly nice. -I got a massage virtually every day, they were only $5 for a one hour Thai massage, and they were awesome. I was not offered one happy ending or anything of that nature one time, like I said, I feel the sex thing is way overblown. I think it's kind of like drugs in the US sometimes, it's definitely there, and if you look for it you'll find it, but if you don't look for it you don't even notice it. Kind of glad it was that way because I most likely would've spent money on a hooker, and there are rumors of guys paying for sex and then having the cops show up and demand like $5K or they'll throw your ass in Thai prison. -It's just fucking awesome. I would highly recommend it. Even though I only stayed in Northern Thailand, in the mountains, I've heard the beaches are incredibly impressive as well. Pai is the coolest place I've ever been. On Wednesday I flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I don't know if Cambodia is officially considered a third-world country, but if it's not it's damn close. It was awesome, but sooo fucking poor. Significantly cheaper than Thailand. Beers were 25-50 cents, almost every meal was $1. They also use American currency, which was weird. I imagine just because theirs is so de-valued. There are people without legs begging, and it was really sad at times. I stayed in a nice ass hostel for $10/night for a private room with AC. Very worth it. Still got to meet people with the hostel scene, but also had a private room. They have one strip of bars called "Pub Street," that is like 8-10 bars all on one avenue. Very similar to Bourbon street, just on a much smaller scale. Went out both nights there and had a blast. Didn't hook up, unfortunately, but still had a great time. Some of the people I met in Pai were in Siem Reap with me, so I went out with them, and also met a ton of people at the hostel that were doing the same thing. I don't know why I don't have more pictures of Pub Street, I thought I took more. This is a lesbian couple from Australia that was backpacking, very chill and smoked me out both nights (I was too nervous to buy weed in Cambodia. Like Thailand, there were a lot of stories of you asking for it and then cops showing up immediately, or you being offered and the guy's a cop). Hostel staff: Another one of the coolest things I did the whole trip was go to Angkor Wat, one of the oldest and most famous places in the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat It was fucking amazing. Angkor Wat is the most famous, but it's a huge area comprising like 8-10 temples. You hire a "tuktuk" driver, which are guys on mopeds with carriage-like apparatuses hitched to them, to drive you around them all day, it takes like 5 hours to view, and costs you $15-20, with a tip to the guy. You just tell him "Angkor Wat Tour" and they know what you're talking about. Just fucking awesome. Flew out of Siem Reap at about 11 PM on my third night and made my 40+ hour trek home. Final thoughts: -It definitely wasn't all peaches and cream all the time. I was able to handle most of the local food, but when I got to Cambodia I got a pretty bad case of the runs and the food wrecked my stomach. To make matters worse, you can't flush toilet paper down SE Asian toilets, you just have to throw it in a small trashcan next to all the toilets. Needless to say, my bathroom in Siem Reap didn't smell too good. -Nowhere has AC, and it's hot as shit all the time. Not nearly as humid, but really hot and nowhere to cool off. I was pretty much constantly sweating, as was most everyone. That's why I needed AC my last night in Cambodia. -Even though I traveled by myself, I was very rarely alone. Always met people at hostels, always ran into a group of people, it was insane. I met so many people, and a significant portion of them were traveling alone as well. -I can't emphasize how cheap everything was. Insane prices. Accommodation ranged from $5-15/night, food was rarely more than $5/meal. We ate at Siem Reap's #1, 5 star restaurant my last night and it was $5-6 for their best entrees. -While the people in Thailand I felt were generally nice and good people, Cambodians were always looking for money. I can't really blame them, as it really is hard to put into words how poor this country is and how little assets they have, so you just kind of have to take it with the territory. Didn't ruin my experience by any means, but gets old at times. -You have to differentiate between "Western Spicy" and "Thai Spicy" when you order, as their spicy is insane and most Westerners simply can't handle it. I was a little buzzed and ordered a "thai spicy" dish once and couldn't even finish the meal. My mouth was numb it was so hot and I was pouring sweat. Very poor decision. I don't think the pics are saved, unfortunately. I was supposed to do the same thing--split about a week in the north and a week in the islands--but fell in love with Pai and the mountains and just spent 9-10 days between Chiang Mai and Pai, then on to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat (which I'd also highly recommend). I'm also biased towards mountains because I grew up on the beach, so that may just be my personal preference. I would think you could do 6-7 days in Chiang Mai and Pai, then another 6-7 at the islands. If you even wanted to include Siem Reap (I flew into BKK and then flew from Siem Reap back to the US, prices were comparable), just thinking out loud: -fly into BKK -3/4 days on the islands -6/7 in Chiang Mai and Pai -2 in Siem Reap, or add these 2 elsewhere---there's not much here other than Angkor Wat, but it lives up to the hype imo
I did all three last month. Any specific questions? I'll do a full report soon Not even a little necessary
What did you do? What do you recommend? What should I skip? How long do you recommend spending in each place?
Thailand Islands Cliffs: Enjoyable but entirely dependent on weather. If I'm you I 100% fly into BKK and leave the decision of which side of the country to go to to the weather. You'll easily find transportation and accommodations and it's not worth going if it rains. Full moon didn't live up to the hype. Made some bad accommodation choices which led to not making enough friends. Heard good things about Phi Phi/Phucket so I wish I just waited to see the weather and went there instead Koh Tao Cliffs: Nicest of the three islands in the group but also the furthest Flew from Bangkok into Koh Samui with the intent of taking a three-hour ferry north to Koh Tao. Trip got off to an inauspicious start as my friend fell and broke her foot at the airport and required medical attention. Ferry is easy and inexpensive and takes you to Mae Haad on the west side. If you're staying in Koh Tao, you want to stay in Mae Haad or a bit north in Sairee. There are tempting options on the other side of the island but the roads are miserable and cabs don't even want to go there. I stayed in Sairee and thought that was the better choice as it's nicer and has more stuff around. Diving is the main attraction of the island but I never did that. Mostly walked around and went to shops, etc... Rain killed us but we did get one great day and went to Koh Nang Yuan, which is a super nice island to just chill at. Met a really cool guy whose paths crossed with ours in other cities, which was nice and a super hot girl who I went to Koh Chang with because she's super hot and awesome and I'll meet with her again. My hostel (Indie Hostel) sucked a bag of dicks so I am of no help here besides saying not to stay there. Pics of the beach and of a very good dog Spoiler Koh Phangan Cliffs: You're only going here for Full Moon and it's not worth it imo Eventually took the ferry to Koh Phangan and even though it was the "dry season" flooding scared away a lottttt of tourists. The island was mostly dead and pretty gross. My "hostel" ended up being more of a guesthouse despite very good reviews. Just ended up being the luck of the draw due to weather. Also, it seems to make more sense to stay on Samui and trying to get a ferry back just avoid staying here entirely. Full Moon is kinda cool for like a half hour but it's just a big frat party with absolutely nothing unique besides fire jumping/fire limbo. Maybe Yacht Week ruined me? Maybe it was because of the smaller crowd? Some people say it was SO LIT but it was absolutely not lit. Also didn't help that I wasn't out with a huge hostel group, but even if I was it was just not impressive. PS The "bucket" people will slip amphetamines into your drink to keep you awake all night so watch out for that. Fucking awful hangover. Awful. 3/10 would not recommend Koh Samui Cliffs: Weather ruined an otherwise nice island This isn't the nicest of the three but there's the most to do. You can spend a good two days here easily with nice weather. I got absolutely fucked by weather. If it's pouring there's really nothing you want to do as the shops get a bit repetitive. We got a few hours of partly cloudy and went to the Namueng Waterfalls, which were nice, but then the skies opened. The "world famous Ark Bar Friday party" had literally nine people. My flight out was delayed six hours because of flooding. Read other people's reviews since they had better luck, but I will share my big tip: make sure you know what pier you're going to and coming from as you could waste over two hours. The ads will say "Koh Samui" but that's not good enough. Find the exact pier name. Stay in Chaweng Beach. Koh Chang Cliffs: I followed booty here and it's a decent island, just really fucking far So at the end of my trip I went to Koh Chang by flying to Trat and taking a shuttle. It is absolutely not worth a trip for just this island, but it got me halfway to Cambodia and there was a super hot (and cool) girl who wanted me to come stay with her for a few days. I regret nothing. Part of the island is hilariously sleepy but there is some decent nightlife. I stayed really far south and wouldn't suggest it unless you're looking for a really quiet place. There are some really nice resorts in the middle of the coast that are better choices but they're pretty expensive for Thailand. Tip: Stay more north than going south because transportation is difficult. But there are better time/money values in Thailand
I spent 5-6 days in Koh Tao (cant remember the exact amount). Spent most of those days getting dive certified which was a great time. We were lucky enough to be there during Songkran which is the Thai new year. It was basically an insane day of drinking and having a massive water fight with everyone and I mean everyone on the island, so my opinion might be a little biased based on these memories. If you aren't getting dive certified I don't think you'll need a week in Samui & Tao. Depends on if you would rather spend those days lounging on the beach or in Pai.
Chiang Mai Cliffs: Awesome place. Wish I had more time here. You could easily do 10 days in the mountains. Not much partying but mostly due to circumstances. So I loved Chiang Mai. Because of wanting to be active we stayed at a guesthouse instead of a hostel. I regret that because there was certainly opportunity to party and still be active, but oh well. Elephant reserve: Can't say enough good stuff about this. It's a must see. Make sure you go to here: https://www.elephantnaturepark.org/ Elephants are basically tortured in SEA for money. If you're riding an elephant or seeing it do tricks it's because it was extremely tortured until it behaved. Do not support any of those causes. Anyway, this place is pretty great. For $70ish you get round trip travel, lunch and a day with the elephants. There is a half day and a full day, both the same price. I'd do the short one despite how much I loved it. It leaves an hour later and comes back an hour earlier and they do not make good use of that extra two hours. Basically it's more time waiting around. The only addition is being able to bathe the elephants, which is pretty cool. But I would've preferred to have my two hours back to ten minutes of throwing water on an elephant. But no complaints, it's awesome. In either trip you get to feed them and pet them and walk around them. It was a great time. Super sad hearing about all the torture they go through but it's nice to see them happy. There are 70 elephants there but at least half are terrified of humans due to torture so you only get to play with a few Pics of some elephants Spoiler Zip Lining: There are a few options but I did Eagle Track as that was considered the best value money-wise. It's an hour each way and there are three packages. We figured if we were spending all this money and time we might as well do the gold trip and it was a lot of fun. Some people did silver and liked it but spend the extra money and live a little. It's not that difficult and the tour guides are awesome if you're scared. Still fun even though it's not terrifying. It's a nice balance I think. Cooking class: Took a cooking class at Asian Scenic cooking, which was super cheap and really damn good. Learned how to cook five dishes with a group of 12. $22 for four hours of instruction, food and a cook book. (half day is definitely the choice, don't need eight hours) Moped rental: Fuck me. I never wanted to get on a moped because of how terrifying the drivers are and I did it anyway and regretted it. Wrecked the bike, cut up the whole right side of my body and had to repair the damage. Police are shady as fuck and will ticket you for not having a license and shake you down on the spot for money. NOT GREAT Muay Thai: Drunk Arkadin called me and yelled at me one night for not going to a fight so I finally did and I'm glad I did. Inexpensive and got hammered and bet with locals. I looked like a baller throwing around 500baht notes but that's like $12. Just go and have fun and don't care if you lose money. There are people who come around and are willing to just do any bet, you pick the fighter and they'll bet straight up. Pretty good setup. Spoiler Wat Phra That Doi Suthep: Super nice temple but out of the way. I got to take this dope pic though Spoiler Nightlife: This is hilarious but apparently there are laws that everything closes at midnight (unless you bribe the cops) so you might get a drink at 11:58 and then all of a sudden all the doors and gates are closed around you and the lights are off and you're trapped. Scared the shit out of me the first time but it's common. There are two nightclubs that bribe the cops, and some smaller bars stay open until 1 but it's a weird scene. I never got wild here so no help on the clubs but I hear they're OK. Every bar is full of hookers. Markets: There are two night/weekend markets in town. Both are impressive in size and good for walking around if you're having a quiet night. You're going to like negotiating everything. "Grand Canyon": It's a little stupid lake with cliff jumping. Not sure the appeal. Apparently there's a water park but it wasn't open when I was there. City/accommodations: The city is a big square with a big stupid square road around it. Stay inside the square in the middle, closer to the west probably. But really everything is all over so just pick a good hostel and worry about location later
I had a similar experience with full moon party. It was fun but nothing too special. And Koh Phagnan was really dirty. Only the sunrise beach was clean enough to swim in. I think I posted about that in here before and most people had a much better experience. Koh tao was my favorite by far of tao phagnan and samui. The diving in Koh Tao is only ok though if that's what you're going for. They'll take multiple large boats out to dive spots so you can be diving with 100 other people and it gets very crowded. Also the visibility and overall quality of the dive wasn't great. I've been on much better dives in hawaii and the caribbean.
Bangkok Cliffs: It's a very difficult to navigate city but there's plenty to do. It has been pointed out to me the experience would be different had I stayed near khao san road, which is closer to the palace. Loved mine but that location might be better After having a tame first ~10 days I switched us to a rowdy hostel so I could get fun and it was absolutely the right choice. Bodega Bangkok. http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Bodega-Bangkok/Bangkok/81843 The owner is an awesome American dude and it's near a lot of restaurants. The city is absolutely shit to get around and everything is spread out so just being in the middle is useful. People we stayed with were fun and it was a great time. I like wandering more than attractions so I don't have a ton of recs. I just will walk around for five hours for the hell of it and to see shit. IDK why, but it's what I like Grand Palace: Super impressive and super somber because of the king's passing. Definitely worth going but go early because they stop letting people in at a certain time. 2pm for me. It just sucks that no trains go to that side of the city Spoiler Wat Pho: Nice temple, couple it with your trip to the Grand Palace because you're not going to want to go back to that area twice Spoiler Wat Arun: Looks really impressive from the other side of the river but never made it over. Kind of regret that Jim Thompson house: Not worth it unless you have shit weather and are right next door. Most people loved it but I don't get the appeal. The dude's story is really interesting but the house isn't. I'd rather wiki it while pooping. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thompson_(designer) Ratchada train market: Never heard of this until some girl from my hostel invited me to go with her there. She was cute so yolo. It is wild. All these standard market shops in the middle with the usual stuff but the perimeter has rowdy bars. I had a lot of fun and ended up getting lucky so I approve. Same hostel problems everyone else has with hooking up in hostels so we did it in a park as the sun started coming up. Mid BJ I notice a huge portrait of the dead king staring right at me. Sorry, king. Bangkok Art & Culture Center: It's a weird place but it's really cool to see what they see as art there. The building itself is worth the visit. 10 story spiral. The art is fucking weird though. Free to enter too. Forgot to take a pic but here's what it looks like from the middle Spoiler Soi Cowboy: Call me a prude (besides the public sex part) but this place is fucking gross. It's all whorehouses and it's bitterly depressing. Walked into a place with ~50 women on stage wearing nothing but a number on their hip and you order them like you would order food off of a menu. If that's what floats your boat, go for it. But it just made me sad. Interesting to walk through the middle. Definitely wish I tried Koh San Road instead Spoiler Chatuchak Market: this big fucking weekend market (biggest in Asia) that has 200,000+ people a day. You can buy anything. I bought a bunch of Under Armour shit for cheap. It's out of the way but there's a nice park next door Traffic: FUCK THE TRAFFIC. Plan everything to take twice as long to get around as you expect Trains: Their trains are awesome and clean and I loved that nobody pushed to get on. They actually line up on both sides of the door and leave the middle open for passengers to exit. As someone who grew up on New York City subways this made me
We stayed here while we were in Koh Tao. http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Good-Dream-Hostel-Khun-Ying-House-/Koh-Tao/63027 The first couple nights in dorm bunks and then moved to our own room. In general I was pretty impressed with the hostel it seemed fairly new, pretty clean, and the rooms were nice. Its also a short walk to bars, restaurants, dive shops, etc. *If you get the inclination there is a westerner hippie bar half a mile up from new way dive shop that rents mopeds. Like Ohhaiarthur mentioned these are usually cutty deals but these guys you pay cash upfront and they do not care if you wreck them or scatch them up when you get back you just hand over the keys no hassle. We ended up taking these scooters up to high point on the island where theres a bar overlooking everything and in general just perusing the island it was pretty cool. How do people link photos nowadays, is photobucket still the go to or has it been changed up?
Thanks, man. This is awesome. So my plan is to spend 1/6/18-1/9 on Koh Samui bc I have a ton of Hilton points that I racked up on a trip to a city with only a Hilton. Hilton redemption rates usually blow (60k/night for the portland Hilton that's only $180/night) but you can get good deals at the really nice resorts (Conrad Koh Samui is 95k/night or like $800/night). Towards the end of the trip, it's 95k, but earlier in the trip (bc of christmas/new years) it's 200k/night. I'd much rather have three nights here than 5 nights in Portland: Spoiler Anyway, because of that I want to be in Koh Samui till the 9th. There's a flight from BKK that leaves at 7pm and gets back to NYC at 430am, so I think that I'll fly from Koh Samui to BKK around 3pm (1 hour flight, 2 flights/hour) and just chill in the lounge in BKK till our 7pm flight. I'll be with my girlfriend, who will likely be my fiance by then, so I won't be able to go as hard as I did on my last trip to Thailand when I was single. I don't think I want her riding that road from Chiang Mai to Pai so we'll probably just get a driver (I saw on line for $40) to take us up there, then rent bikes while we're there to ride all around. I feel pretty comfortable on a bike but I don't think I'd get one in Chiang Mai and try to deal with that traffic. Yeah, we'll have to think about it. As it's looking now, we'll fly into BKK and spend the night, then get up and fly to chiang mai and then onto Pai the next morning. 1: BKK 2: Pai 3: Pai 4: Pai 5: Chiang Mai 6: Chiang Mai 7 Chiang Mai 8: Chiang Mai 9: Koh Tao 10: Koh Tao 11: Samui 12: Samui 13: Samui 14: flight back From what you guys are saying, it sounds like the extra time in the mountains would be better than on Koh Tao and Samui. I do want to get in some good time swimming though. My favorite thing about Thailand last time was spending hours a day in the water. Thanks, these reviews are awesome
Do they have a direct flight from Bangkok to NYC? I flew NYC to Hong Kong once. 16 hours. It was miserable.
Thai Air might but I'm Delta so we'll likely have to fly on China Southern or China Eastern. We've managed to scrape together enough miles for business class so it shouldn't be as bad. There's a flight that leaves JFK at 12:45am for Shanghai so it should be pretty easy to pass out and sleep most of the way. Then we could connect to either BKK or Chiang Mai and still get in during the daylight hours.