Never been so can’t say for sure. Heard some folks that went that just said it was kind of a big city outside of the canal. I have seen some islands off the coast that look incredible though.
Panama (the country) is awesome but just like Costa, you have to be on the move. Panama City is nothing special. I like the stretch near Bocas Del Toro. Coiba Island for snorkeling. But your best bet is probably to keep it simple and go to the beach towns close to Panama City. Look into Isla Grande or any of the islands below..
Work trip to Fort Lauderdale. Where should I stay? I have Sunday afternoon and Monday afternoon for brewery and food escapades
wolfpck and I will be attending a friends wedding down near Key Largo in late April. What airport, other than Key West, is the best to fly into? Miami looks closer, but Fort Lauderdale seems to be the better option from what I am reading online.
I haven’t used either one recently, but I can recommend West Palm Beach International. It’s great! But it makes for a longer drive to/from the Keys.
I just got back from Costa Rica yesterday, Las Catalinas specifically. Didn't get to do too much exploring as I was there for a wedding but the development was pretty awesome. My buddy's dad "invested" in the area 10 or so years ago and its very interesting what the town has grown into. It has a Sea Island type vibe for those of you who are familiar with that resort. I know PP lounges are a hot topic and for the record the Liberia VIP club had a 2hr wait to get in.
Stayed at a buddy’s house in Panama City three years ago. I remember partying in an old town area at night that was fun. Could be cool during the day? Just seemed like every other big city. I’d say spend 3 days there at most and get to the coast. I didn’t visit the canal so no help there. Everyone loves bocas Del toro.
Just left Pai after my 2nd trip there. Chiang Mai has soooo many old tourists now compared to 2015 Currently in Koh Lanta
Speaking of Costa Rica, any incredible restaurants worth checking out in San Jose? Will be there for the first night of the honeymoon. Eater and Trip Advisor have some good recs, but wondering if anyone ITT has any input
I’ll do a full trip log when I get home Tuesday. I’d stay in the Pai Hole for 2-3 weeks if I could. Aside from the day of scuba diving, I wish we’d spent more time here than Koh Samui
there are a few in this post, and I have two recent additions: A few weeks ago we went to La Terrasse, a French restaurant in Escazu, and had a great meal. The escargot and foie gras appetizers were both incredible. In November we went to La Esquina de Buenos Aires, an Argentinian Steakhouse that was excellent as well. The meat was fantastic (and there are some pics of me in the kitchen turning some steaks) but the sides were even better. Since you're there just one night and it's your honeymoon I recommend La Monestere. The food is good, and the setting/view are beautiful. Another update: we switched from the Country Inn and for the last several trips have stayed at the Doubletree in the same area.
Really enjoying Ko Lanta. High season but still not crowded. Plenty of good infrastructure and restuarants beach bars etc but can find secluded beaches with no one on them. Going to get my open water certification next week
Thailand Trip. Not sure how much will be repeating what any others have said but will spoiler by location and pics in there. Overall 10/10 great trip for a small group of guys. Only $565RT from Houston to Bangkok and ~$100ea for in-country flights x 3. Not counting the suits I got made while I was there, the 11 days probably total cost was around $1750 Spoiler: koh samui Did our first 4 days/nights here. Best part of the entire trip was scuba diving via Discovery Divers in Chaweng Beach. $200/person no PADI required. pickup + breakfast > boat ride to Mango Bay for a 15 minute lesson on all the basics of scuba followed by a 9m 30 minute dive > Lunch > Boat to The Twins for 45min ~12m dive. Instructors were all really cool and helpful made for a really fun day and 12m is deep enough for first timers IMO. Both locations were beautiful. And counts towards your 1st and 2nd Open Water Dives if you want to get your PADI after, it's a great way to see if you want to get certified and have never been or are on the fence about it. We're all getting certified this spring here in Austin Hostel we stayed in was Lub D Koh Samui. Pretty modern, social hostel on the beach. Next door to ARK so a great location right in the middle of the strip there. We got 2 deluxe double-rooms that were very nice beds and bathrooms for $181/person for 4 nights. Got in on Saturday early and that's a good time because they have a pool party every saturday with games to win free drinks and cookout. also seemed to be the day when people were still there from earlier in the week before checking out sunday and a lot of us new people getting in that day = get suggestions from the former and get to meet the people you'll be seeing around. For the most part the crowd was cool but definitely a hand full of pretentious folk / "influencers" types. Food and Drinks in Koh Samui are the same price and sometimes more expensive than you'd pay in any decent sized US city, so that was kinda shitty and one of the reasons we wish we would have only done 2, possibly 3 nights max. Not a ton to do on the island as far as exploring goes that you can't find better versions of elsewhere. The views were amazing and the beaches were beautiful though. Did one day of scooter exploring - south to Na Muang Waterfalls in the morning and then back thru Chaweng up north to Wat Plai Laen, Wat Phra Yai, and early dinner at Fishermans Village. Probably had one massage per day at Relax Spa that was on a side street between our hostel and ARK. ~$8 for an hour thai massage and a couple times added another ~$11 for an hour foot or neck/shoulders. Sightseeing is dangerous business. All 3 of my friends were 1st timers on scooters. Two ate shit simultaneously on some garbage country road en route to Na Muang. I slipped while climbing to a very low part of the 2nd waterfall there and should have been hurt a lot worse than I was. Small cut on my eyebrow and black eye for the rest of the trip. "It sounded like you got knocked out from over here" Only "going out" we did was hanging at the hookah bar Elephant House or something inbetween our hostel and ARK to watch fire dancer show, since we were up and doing shit around 6-7am everyday. Highly recommend doing the scuba diving and visiting the two temples mentioned they were beautiful. But I wouldn't stay there for 4 nights if I could do it over. Scuba one day and Exploring one day and then get away from this tourist trap. There was one seafood place worth mentioning... that doesn't have a name but it's southeast of the police station about 100 yards in a food market. It's the nice looking one. Had some great lobster and crab there. Spoiler: pai woke up and took an early flight from Koh Samui to Chiang Mai and originally planned on doing scooter ride up to Pai... bailed on that last minute and took a bus for $5ea since we had been on scooters for lots of hours already and figured if we wanted we would scooter the ride back down instead. We ended up not doing that either because JFC that looked just not fun at all. 700+ curves with a 40lb backpack leaning back and forth... no thanks. As previously stated, Pai is amazing. It just felt more like a vacation than anywhere else I've ever been. And the term Pai Hole is no joke, damn near everyone we met was extending their stay, many of them indefinitely. Whole place is like a valley inside a mountain range. Pretty cold at night I think it was in the low 40s all 3 nights we were there. Mid-high 80s during the day. Deejai Pai had the 2nd best view in the entire town. Whole vibe of the place was people moving at a sloths pace and overwhelming family atmosphere from the second we got there. Tourists turned residents outnumbered the locals it seemed like, but didn't have a touristy feel at all, simply because everyone had the family thing going. Most of the people we met were canadian, german, norwegian, dutch or american. The talent was amazing. And most everyone spoke pretty good english. Pretty much each day was wake up meditation > yoga > scooter exploring the countryside (Pai Canyon was breathtaking and also terrifying***) > hostel to shower/change to warm clothes > Walking Street dinner > Paradise Bar. pics from Pai Canyon, one of the hostel view at sunset, and a couple street vendors Walking Street has more awesome food in a 100 yard stretch than anywhere I'd ever been. All of it so so cheap. ~$2 for a plate/bowl of whatever they're serving. Also some solid street vendors selling crafted stuff for very cheap prices. Think the hostel was $7/night for mixed-gender 8 person dorm. Everyone very respectful of your stuff and for being quiet after 10p til around 8a. $5/day scooters. $10/day food. Paradise bar had plenty of drink options but I just drank a couple of big changs each night and bought a couple pre-rolled spliffs from the bar. Not the best green and more tobacco but still did the trick. They also had shroom shakes served at the bar but due to scootering around and stuff we didn't feel like going down that road. Pretty solid fire show here as well our last night. Seemed to be a group of people who decided to stay indefinitely, and just kinda took their dancing/hula hooping skills and added fire to them. Not "professionals" or whatever and most of them had at least one or two slip ups, no injuries though. Overall didn't really "do" a whole lot here besides eating a ton, some short range sightseeing, and hanging out getting to know cool people from all over. The Hot Springs and Canyon are within 15min ride from the town. But still it was my favorite part of the trip. ***Pai Canyon has an initial solid spot to watch the sunset, but to get to the interior paths of the canyon you have to walk over one stretch of rock that's probably 12-18" wide at most and it's straight down a LONG way on both sides with no rope or barrier of any sort. A few other spots you have to climb over/through are also pretty dangerous but just be smart. Spoiler: chiang mai took the ASA bus first thing in the morning and got to Deejai Backpacker here around noon. Went with a 4bed private bathroom room for I think was $9/person per night. Place is right in the middle of Old City and within a 15 minute walk / 5 minute scooter ride from anything in town. They also had a Deejai pool/bar that's pretty cool about a block away that has parties regularly where we met more people. Lots of "digital nomads"... and majority were cool people but there were some truly awful chicks there from both the US and UK. That basically turned their nose up at anyone that didn't decide to move to Thailand after their visit and quit their 9-5 in America like they did 90% of the people were really awesome people though. Spent a half day at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary and holy shit elephants are great. like a 6000lb dog they were super fun to feed/bathe. They did spend about an hour explaining the reason for them rescuing them and a few of the stories were fucking terrible how badly elephants as a whole get treated. Made you really despise the places that have them tied up and ridden by tourists all day. One of them was 76 years old and her story of logging camp abuse that still fucks her up mentally legitimately had a lot of our group crying. Just made us love being able to interact humanely with them even more. 2 of the 4 nights there we went to the main night bazaar. probably 200 craft/clothes/goods vendors and 50-100 food vendors at that one alone. Got a lot of my christmas shopping out of the way for family members. Also had a Muay Thai arena there, although pretty small and only about 60-75ish seats. But it was pretty awesome to watch. Mostly Thai vs. Thai, the fighter from Holland was a no-show and the French guy got kicked in the knee one too many times and threw in the towel mid round. Few really solid KOs in the first 4 fights though. Most of the fighters were pretty young looking and my goodness they are quick as fuck. Think tickets were ~$15 and first come first serve we were 2nd row last two days after elephant day we were just eating > massage > and either relaxing by the pool or scooter to a few of the attractions around town. Never went to the villages on the outskirts that I saw mentioned mostly because we had been doing stuff day and night for the entire trip leading up to then and were pretty exhausted. Had a couple of girls from South Africa that were teaching in Vietnam that were in our elephant deal our two single friends fell in love with. Met another whole group of girls from their hostel that came to our pool party so we were eating and drinking with them each night at the bazaar / markets. Had Laab our last day there and it was the best meal of the trip. At a family owned hole in the wall with 4 tables that I found through googling food spots. Most places have the same 25-30 offering food menu and this place only offers 5 things - Laab, steamed Rice, sticky rice, Pork Chili Paste, and Pork rinds. That chili paste was fucking amazing with the Laab. Didn't tell anyone in the group that one of the main ingredients was pig innards and everyone was real surprised to find that out. Last day I was there I remembered the things I heard about tailors there, googled shops in chiang mai and saw New Moda (right across from big bazaar) had like 300+ 5* reviews on trip advisor. Dude was super friendly and professional and the only tailor in all of thailand that wasn't on the doorstep soliciting people to come inside, which was a good sign of quality to me. Got a standard black suit and grey patterned 3-piece both in silk/cashmere blend plus two button downs with french cuffs for I think $450 after shipping, since I went so late in the trip and honestly didn't have the space to pack a suit carefully in my bag. they basically made one of the suits in less than 24 hours and made me come in for 2 fittings, one for pants and core part of the jacket + shirt ~4 hours after initial visit and then 2nd fitting about 24 hours after initial visit for the full jacket and make sure pants were good. Said he would have it shipped by this friday and takes about a week via DHL to get to the states. Has the 1st suits measurements all saved and can order whatever from him online + any adjustments I would potentially need later in life. Definitely recommend this shop if you go there and are interested in the cheap suit outlet there. have some other pics in a shared album that are still coming in and will post them later. mostly of groups of people we were hanging out with. The IG posts in each spoiler have the majority of good pics from the trip.
I also fell in love with Pai the first time I went. Was only supposed to stay for a few days, ended up staying up there for about a week. Might have been a good idea to take the bus -- I noticed like half the westerners in Pai had casts and/or half their body scraped up from busting on the scooter ride from Chiang Mai. And yes, Pai Canyon can be sketchy as fuck--but also amazing. Glad you had a good trip, Thailand is the perfect intro to SE Asia in my opinion. Good tourist infrastructure, easy to get around the country, amazing food and amazingly cheap.
We did have about 7 hours between landing in Bangkok initially at midnight and a flight to Koh Samui in the morning that we just got a taxi to take us to Koh San Road. Basically like a trashier, third world Bourbon Street. Saw two european dudes douching it up in the street party between two bars that got knocked out by security. Tried some scorpion at a vendor there to get that out of the way and tasted like deep fried worcestershire sauce. meh. didn't try anymore insects. and was pretty confident that 7 hours was all the time I need to spend in that city in my life. just a dirty place another negative about Koh Samui... on those beautiful beaches, there's a never-ending parade of beach hustler vendors. like every 2 minutes someone walks up trying to sell you shit and some are so persistent even though you immediately say no that it gets really fucking annoying. Never had that problem in the other cities.
Pai and Chiang Mai felt a lot like Bali to me as far as the overwhelming friendly vibe, cheap prices, and cultural/scenic things to see and do. Just Thailands food game >>>>>>> but Balian massages shit on Thai massages. Those Thai women crack backs and necks with super midget strength and quickness. felt more like physical therapy than a massage
Bangkok can be a good experience, but you need to know where to go. I've been 3 different times, hated it the first time, but each subsequent visit it's really grown on me. Koh San sucks. Chinatown is fucking incredible, and you can stay in luxury 5 star hotels for like $100/night.
GF has talked about wanting to go back to Thailand (she's been 2-3 times) for scuba diving and she's never been to Pai. I could see giving Bangkok a shot with her since she went there both of her trips and then doing 2 days of scuba in Koh Samui (she's PADI certified and I will be later this year) and then just planning on doing a week or so in Pai slothing around. Probably put that on the 3-4 years down the road plan since our next trips we've talked about are going to be somewhere in South America for one and western Europe for the next one.
Bangkok grows on everyone, it's weird. I also hated the Hawking vendors on KS, you just have to get to less populated islands where they aren't around. Been in Ko Lanta a week, probably going to stay another two weeks Debating doing Vietnam still for February, Wuhan virus may be out of control by the end of it. Thinking about getting back to the States early and then spending the time in santa Theresa, CR until I head back to Seattle
Myanmar was very different, I liked it. People are incredibly nice. Food like you said was meh. Bagan was the best, spent 4 full days there. Didn't do inle---honestly it looked extremely touristy, I've seen floating markets several times, and we have way prettier lakes in the PNW.
I am very templed out at this point, especially after myanmar. That's all there really was in Mandalay but we saw some really unqiue ones about 1.5 hours outside of the city so it was worth the stop
lol I think everyone would be templed out after Bagan. I did Mandalay first, then down to Inle, then Bagan. It's definitely very different. I liked it as well, but not sure if I'd go back.
I would someday maybe to do the Kalaw trek but that just ends at Inle usually. The beaches also look unreal and they won't be crowded
This was at the 2nd fitting after they got the pants like I wanted. Jacket he was going to take the shoulder in to get rid of the extra 1/2” point and take in the torso 1/2” each side. GF likes a real slim “euro-cut” suit. I’ll post the finished products when they arrive Spoiler: TLModelAU
Of course La Monestere's website is down and when I call the person who answers only speaks Spanish. Would you recommend a reservation to La Monestere or do you think we could get away with just showing up?
I want to say that we've just shown up when we've been there. If it's a week night I would think you're ok. My local work contacts will sometimes make reservations to places, but thinking on it now I can't think of a time when I've ever waited for a table at any restaurant in San Jose.
Will be there on a Saturday night, but we'll take a chance with just showing up. Not afraid of posting up at a bar for an hour if we have to. Gracias for the recs
Thailand People: If I have 2.5 days in Chiang Mai, is Chiang Rai worth a trip? It doesn't seem like it - Everything I see is just that one white temple that looks cool but probably not worth the trek. Tell me if I'm wrong.
That one turned out pretty fantastic. I’m pretty sure the thought of doing that wouldn’t have crossed my mind.