Trip to Thailand

[AViking]

I've been there a lot. Why do you want to go to Phuket? That places is mostly nasty. Going there or Pattaya would be a mistake in my opinion. Koh Phi Phi Don is worth going to for the day trip to Koh Phi Phi Leh, the island where they filmed The Beach. I haven't been to the floating market but for a local experience check out the water taxis in Bangkok. I never see tourists there so it might not be in the guide book. Honestly though you should get out of Bangkok as soon as you can. Maybe see some of the cool temples and palaces, a ping pong show combined with a night of debauchery, pass by kao san road, and then leave. You don't have enough time to waste it on Bangkok.

With only two weeks you won't see much. I'd pick and choose a couple from the following:

Koh Phi Phi Leh and the Crabi area
Dive the Surin and Similan Islands
Chang Mai
Ayuthaya and/or some of the other old provincial capitals like Sukhotai
Head over to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat
Maybe a national park for wildlife spotting

 

[stag3]

make sure you wrap it up, don't want to come back with additional STD's!

 

[drbrock]

I've been there a lot. Why do you want to go to Phuket? That places is mostly nasty. Going there or Pattaya would be a mistake in my opinion. Koh Phi Phi Don is worth going to for the day trip to Koh Phi Phi Leh, the island where they filmed The Beach. I haven't been to the floating market but for a local experience check out the water taxis in Bangkok. I never see tourists there so it might not be in the guide book. Honestly though you should get out of Bangkok as soon as you can. Maybe see some of the cool temples and palaces, a ping pong show combined with a night of debauchery, pass by kao san road, and then leave. You don't have enough time to waste it on Bangkok.

With only two weeks you won't see much. I'd pick and choose a couple from the following:

Koh Phi Phi Leh and the Crabi area
Dive the Surin and Similan Islands
Chang Mai
Ayuthaya and/or some of the other old provincial capitals like Sukhotai
Head over to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat
Maybe a national park for wildlife spotting

I did not realize Phuket would be so filthy. I knew Pattaya was. Bangkok is probably a two day max for us. We were thinking of catching a quick ride out to Cambodia for a few days if we feel like it. I want to hit northern Thailand but it is a hard sell to the rest of the group for some reason.

Def not going to chance anything with the local females. Just going to keep to myself and let all my friends make poor decisions lol.

I have so much research to do in so little time. Has anyone done volcano hikes?

 

[Mai72]

An ex-coworker went to Phuket on his own. He had a Thai bar girl sit on his lap, and she told him everything he wanted to hear. She said "You so handsome. American girls must love you." etc... Keep in mind that this guy weighs 300 lbs. He looks 45 years old although he is only 27. Not a handsome guy.

Anyway, he gets loaded and takes her back to his apartment. She steals his Iphone and wallet when he was sleeping.

 

[drbrock]

An ex-coworker went to Phuket on his own. He had a Thai bar girl sit on his lap, and she told him everything he wanted to hear. She said "You so handsome. American girls must love you." etc... Keep in mind that this guy weighs 300 lbs. He looks 45 years old although he is only 27. Not a handsome guy.

Anyway, he gets loaded and takes her back to his apartment. She steals his Iphone and wallet when he was sleeping.

Heck they do that here in South Florida lol. Women are tricky and they know what the right moves are.

 

[Ms. DICKINSON]

I went last spring for 4 weeks. It's gonna be very hot this time of year. The Thais are peaceful and respectful people. Just don't be a jack ass like them Russians in Patong Beach. If you like to shop, check out MBK and JJ Market. If you like tourist crowds stay at Khao San Road for a night.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Bangkok/Khao_San_Road

I've rented jet ski in Pataya and didn't get scammed. The rental company took pictures before I took it for a ride. I suggest you do the same after watching Korea74 linked video, lol. All the rentals are dirt cheap in Pataya compare to Phuket. Maybe you want to try parasailing. I'd suggest Koh Samui rather than Phuket. You'll come across lots of Chinese tourists, especially in Phuket.
Full moon party @ Samui http://youtu.be/YUoxQTn9HMI

 

[AViking]

Phuket is gross in many of the same ways as Pattaya. Lots of old guys with super young thai girls and it's a lot of sex tourism. Skip it. With two weeks you have so much more to see. People go there because it's easy and a hub. So if you have to go through it to get to Koh Phi Phi so be it but don't stay.

Chang Mai is pretty nice. You can get quite a bit of both party, culture, and nature in there. They had/have this really touristy trek that is incredibly fun up there where you go bamboo rafting, ride an elephant, and see some of the mountain villages. It's all in one day but there are longer treks for probably an even better experience. You could fly up there. Google pictures of the area and some of the surrounding villages like Pai and see what they think. It's all going to depend on how much you want to squeeze into two weeks. Also show them pictures of the temple in Chang Rai and see if that helps.

With that said try to get some temples in (Bangkok, Ayuthaya, Chang Mai, and the best of them all Angkor Wat), Beach (Crabi and Koh Phi Phi), Party (Bangkok, Islands, and if you're there for a full moon definitely hit up Koh Phanang for the Full Moon Party). On top of that some kind of trek (Chang Mai), diving (Koh Phi Phi, Koh Samui, or the best of them all the Surin and Similan Islands), or whatever nature floats your boat as a good addition.

That's two weeks.

If you skip Angkor Wat you will regret it. Put aside two days for it. I've gone back several times and it never fails to deliver. Pro tip, on the second day get your driver to take you to some of the further temples first thing in the morning when they open. You'll get them all to yourself since everyone will be at the big one. If it's raining you'll get several hours of them to yourself which is epic. I'm pretty sure they've fixed the road from Bangkok to there so that it's not such a nightmare.

 

[rh71]

We did something like a Lonely Planet bus tour that hit up Chang Mai, Chang Rai, some other place, and finally Bangkok. We did temples, saw a couple shows, visited some monkeys, rode elephants (really the only thing that I recall vividly), and did a lot of lunch buffets. Wife did some massages too - apparently they're pretty rough on you. Nearly the whole bus got sick while in Bangkok toward the end - probably food poisoning - and they say don't drink the water there. Oh I forgot about a couple boat rides that were interesting... we were a stone's throw from Cambodia at one point. I wouldn't do it again, but it was certainly an experience. A bus tour is a good way to explore a big country like that.

pic: https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/192_23835122192_2659_n.jpg (we got the baby)

 

[Midwayman]

Thailand really needs to be my next big trip.

 

[iGas]

I've been there a lot. Why do you want to go to Phuket? That places is mostly nasty. Going there or Pattaya would be a mistake in my opinion. Koh Phi Phi Don is worth going to for the day trip to Koh Phi Phi Leh, the island where they filmed The Beach. I haven't been to the floating market but for a local experience check out the water taxis in Bangkok. I never see tourists there so it might not be in the guide book. Honestly though you should get out of Bangkok as soon as you can. Maybe see some of the cool temples and palaces, a ping pong show combined with a night of debauchery, pass by kao san road, and then leave. You don't have enough time to waste it on Bangkok.

With only two weeks you won't see much. I'd pick and choose a couple from the following:

Koh Phi Phi Leh and the Crabi area
Dive the Surin and Similan Islands
Chang Mai
Ayuthaya and/or some of the other old provincial capitals like Sukhotai
Head over to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat
Maybe a national park for wildlife spotting

Thailand is not a quiet country as it was 20-30 years ago. Even places like the City of Temples (Chaing Mai) now are full of people and have air pollution.

Cambodia is an interesting country, it is still under developed and the people are very poor. Siem Reap on the other hand is quite a quiet city compare to most Thai cities, however it is quite busy because the Angkor Wat/Thom/etc.. have >10,000 visitors per day.

 

[rsutoratosu]

water isn't as clean