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Thailand & Myanmar
Bangkok
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When you get to Bangkok airport and you find yourself at the taxi stand, look for other foreigners. Everyone is going to Khao San Rd. so you can most likely share a cab with one or two other people. Since it is a little expensive to get to Banglampoo the more people you have in the cab is better.
Banglampoo
This is the area when Khao San Rd is. You can stay actually on Khao San Road but I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s noisy and there’s people everywhere all night. Some of the people are pretty dodgy characters as well. We stayed just off Phra a Thit Rd. Cabbies should know this road. They all know Khao San Rd. Phra Athit Rd is a 2-3 min walk from Khao San Rd.
The place we stayed was New Siam II guesthouse. You can check it out at: http://www.newsiam.net/ It was really quiet and the people were super friendly and helpful. I felt very safe there and they had all Western amenities.
Another place that came recommended was Bahn Sabaai. I had some friends stay here and they really enjoyed it too. You need to find Bahn Sabaai though. In the lobby they have a travel agency. We booked our River Kwai trip through them. They were the cheapest and we really enjoyed the trip. It came on recommendation from some friends. They pick you up from your hostel in Bangkok and drive you to a POW museum. You go to the River Kwai bridge. You get to eat on a boat and sleep on a boat. We went rafting and elephant riding and to Hell Fire pass. It was amazing. I highly recommend doing the 3 day 2 night trip. You get to go on a mini trek to these 7 waterfalls that way. They were so great. It was one of the highlights of my trip
Heading South
After our River Kwai trip, we were supposed to go back to Bangkok but we didn’t really want to so the organizers put us on a train headed south. We stopped in some town and saw the biggest Buddhist monument in the world. It was cool but not worth a special trip. If you are there, see it. If not, no big deal. We finally ended up in a town on the east coast called Chumpon. It is where you can catch the boat to Koh Samui. We just rented a motorcycle and drove to the beach. There were virtually no tourists and the food was dirt cheap and delicious. The place we stayed was a complete dump. If I could remember the name, I wouldn’t recommend it.
After Chumpon we caught a minibus to Ranong. This was a cute little town on the West side of Thailand. It was fun crossing the mountains in the minibus. It was just gorgeous! Ranong a great town. The bus station is a little ways out of the city. If you go to the travel agency next to the bus station they can arrange anything for you and will generally give you a good price. We stayed in this awesome villa for pretty cheap. The town of Ranong doesn’t have much to offer but it was quiet and we had fun looking at the shops. The main highlight for Ranong is that you can make a visa run there to Burma. You can extend your Thai visa this way and see Burma. We didn’t need to get another 30 days but we wanted to go to Burma. The travel agency next to the bus station arranged all transport and the longboat. You just have to have a brand new, crisp $5 bill for the customs people. If it isn’t new, they won’t take it and they won’t let you in.
Phuket
After Ranong we caught a bus to Phuket. It was packed with people. Karon beach has cheap places to stay. Patong beach is the life of the party. It has all the clubs, all the good shopping, the transvestites, the good restaurants…everything. It’s a little crazy actually. We could only handle it for a couple of days. We did a boat trip of the Phi Phi Islands. This was absolutely amazing. We got to go snorkeling and eat good food and zoom off in a speed boat. I felt like I was one of Charlie’s Angles or something. It was too cool for words. Plus the beaches on those little islands are beautiful.
Krabi
We had enough of Phuket after a day or two and so we caught a bus down to Krabi. Krabi isn’t actually a beach town. You have to arrange a long boat. Just head over to the canal and bargain for the lowest price. He will row you wherever you want to go. I recommend going to Railey beach. This is where we went and it was gorgeous. There weren’t too many tourists and it was almost as nice as the Phi Phi Islands. There is a lot of other stuff you can do there. Outdoorsy kinds of things like hiking and rock climbing.
Back to Bangkok
We got one of the all night aircon VIP buses. It was actually pretty miserable but there’s no other way to go. Just be prepared to freeze and be uncomfortable.
Bangkok
We went to the Grand Palace and that was pretty cool. You have to rent clothes if you aren’t properly covered up. I took my sarong and just ended up renting a shirt. This makes for some amazing pictures. We did lots of shopping on Khao San road. We also organized going to a Thai dancing dinner through our hostel. It was pretty fun but kinda cheesy too. If you are there on a weekend you can also organize to go to a floating market. Those are supposed to be really cool. Book a minibus back to the airport. It is the cheapest way to go. Make sure you book it with plenty of time. The traffic in Bangkok is so bad. We got to the airport only 30 min before our flight left. There is also an airport tax when you leave. Make sure you save 500 baht for that. Otherwise you are in trouble.