Wat Phra Singh is touted in our lonely planet guide book as “the real star amid the inner city’s soaring stupas, and a perfect example of Lanna architecture.” However, we weren’t that impressed. Maybe after seeing the Grand Palace in Bangkok one is not easily impressed by other Thai temples (or maybe we were just […]
We changed our proposed itinerary a bit, and skipped the hassle of taking a train north to Sukothai and then Chiang Mai. Instead, we flew from Phuket to Bangkok and then from Bangkok to Chiang Mai the same day. On our first day in Chiang Mai we headed out of the city to neighboring Bo
We rented kayaks our first evening on Phi Phi and again on our third day there. There were kayaks to rent at various spots along the beach. The price seemed set at 200 baht ($6) for the first hour and 100 baht ($3) for each hour thereafter. We thought that was a reasonable price considering
We took a longtail boat ride around to some spots on Phi Phi Don that we hadn’t visited before. It is highly recommended that you hire a longtail boat driver versus a speed boat because you will be supporting a local Thai person (vs. hiring a speedboat that is most likely owned by a westerner)
It’s easy to find the viewpoint … just not easy to climb! If you do get lost, just ask any local and they will point you in the right direction. There is a seemingly endless steep stairway leading up to the first viewpoint. I started counting the steps part way up which totaled over 320.
For our 3 day 2 night get-away to Phi Phi Island we stayed at Chunut House. It was the most expensive place we’ve stayed on our trip so far, and the most roughing-it accomodations. We stayed in a fan (no AC) bungalow. Chunut house is on the pathway that leads towards the view point, but
Bang Thao Beach is on the west side of Phuket, south of Nai Thon Beach. Bang Thao has nice luxury resorts, but not much else. There weren’t restaurants near the beach, so if you stayed here you would probably have to eat at your resort. The laguna resorts are connected by a lake, and there
We stopped for a couple minutes to see the Macau monkeys. Locals visit each day to feed the monkeys bananas. According to Sam, they wouldn’t have enough to eat in the wild. This monkey was smart. Instead of waiting for people to throw bananas to him, he climbed up to where the people were, to
Does anyone know what a cashew apple is? Neither did we, even the first time we ate one. On our tour around Phuket, Sam pointed out a flowering cashew tree (abundant in Phuket) and told us that in about 2 months there would be cashew apples and nuts on the tree. We were confused, since