Welcome to part I of a series of articles about the six weeks we spent in South East Asia last summer. It took us pretty much forever to choose a place in the world where we´d want to spend six weeks of our sabbatical. Things we took into consideration when making this decision were: safety, weather, cost, variety of things we could do (since we were going to spend such a long time on the road), and cultural attractiveness. When we ended up choosing South-East Asia it was then just a matter of figuring out how much can we squeeze into six weeks and which countries were prioritary for us. In the end we were left with Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. My idea for this series is to walk you through our itinerary, with focus on how we got from point A to point B, as the planning of transportation bit took us forever and I want to spare you all that research, leaving all the information in one place. There will be other posts expanding on some of these destinations, the food we ate there, and more. But in this one I will just focus on the itinerary of our 15 days in Thailand.
Disclaimer: I arrived in Bangkok by flight from Lisbon via Dubai. I have a Romanian passport so I had to get a VOA (visa on arrival) when landing in Bangkok airport. It cost 2000 baht and I had to prove I had a flight out of the country within 15 days (which is the limit of my stay in Thailand). I also needed a passport picture, or to pay for one on the spot, and this is a single entry visa.
Now to the itinerary…
Day 1, 2 and 3 – Bangkok
Let me start off by saying 3 days in Bangkok is not that much considering 1. You (like us) might have to recover from jet lag, 2. You (like us) might need a bit to wrap your head around the hustle and bustle of Bangkok and 3. Whether you’ve ever been here or not (we hadn’t), there’s so much to see in Bangkok! So we had to take a few days and soak in Bangkok´s beautiful temples, floating markets, night markets, great restaurants and more, as we embarked on this journey. PS: A post on 48h in Bangkok for new comers will soon be online on my blog. In a nutshell though…
Must Do in Bangkok: Visit the Royal Palace, eat at the floating market, check out the night market, have a cocktail on a rooftop.
We stayed at the Nanda Heritage Hotel and paid 38€ per night for a deluxe double room.
Day 4 – Bangkok to Ayutthaya (via train – 15 baht / 0.39 € per person)
Our next stop after Bangkok was Ayutthaya. We got the train tickets from the Bangkok train station 10 minutes before the train was set to depart. There are several trains a day, so just check the schedules online and pick the one that works best for you. We got 2nd class tickets as the train ride is just under two hours. There’s no air conditioning (at least not in second class) but the windows open and since the train is fairly slow, this does the job to refresh you perfectly. The train was fairly empty so we each got our own leather bench and I even managed to lie down and read a bit when I was not looking out the window. You can see a picture of our train below. We erroneously thought all transportation would be this cheap in Thailand, and maybe the trains actually are, but since we just took buses going forward, we would not end paying this little for transportation again.
Day 5 – Ayutthaya
Since we visited SE Asia during rainy season we were less interested in Thailand´s seaside and islands and just chose to head north. Ayutthaya used to be the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, and a prosperous international trading port, from 1350 until razed by the Burmese in 1767, leaving behind marvellous temples and a magical energy. Considering we arrived on the afternoon of day 4 and left on the afternoon of day 6, we had 48h in Ayutthaya and I feel that this was a perfect amount of time to spend there, even if I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t have stayed even more if I had the chance.
Must Do in Ayutthaya: Visit the main temples (my favourite was the Wat Mahatat) and eat at the night market.
We stayed at the Baan Thai House and paid 63€ per night for a Thai Villa.
Day 6 – Ayutthaya to Sukhothai (via bus – 378 baht / 9.91 € per person)
Notes on the transportation: While researching this route online, we kept getting the information that we’d have to take the train or bus to Phitsanulok and then a taxi or bus to Sukhothai. But in reality there’s a direct bus from Ayutthaya from Sukhothai and while it wasn’t exactly on time (and the bus station seemed in the middle of nowhere), the journey was perfect. We went to the station on the morning of the trip to buy tickets for the afternoon because there are a couple of such buses a day and they sell out if you wait until the last moment to buy the ticket. We chose the 19:10 one, which arrived to Sukhothai at 01:10, and then had to take a tuk tuk to our accommodation. The bus is quite comfortable, you get blankets, snacks and water when sitting down and they even stop for a free dinner which you can redeem with your bus ticket! We could comfortably sleep during the six hours bus ride until we reached our destination so it was totally worth the money. The operator we used was Express 44.
Day 7 – Sukhothai
As opposed to famous Ayutthaya, Sukhothai is lesser known by tourists and as such a bit emptier. Translating to ‘dawn of happiness’, this city used to be the capital of the Sukhothai Kingdom in the 13th and 14th centuries. It came across here and there as we were researching what our itinerary should look like, and I am so glad we did. The temples are at least as magnificent as the ones in Ayutthaya, and if you grab a bike, you can bike around them all day long, finishing the day with a sunset by the lake, as food stands are being set up for the night market, and as food starts cooking. It was by far the most magical dinner we had in Asia.
Must Do in Sukhothai: Rent a bike and bike around the Old Town, have dinner at the night market by the lake in the old town.
We stayed at the Perfect Resort & motorbikes for rent Sukhothai and we paid 12€ per night for a deluxe room.
Day 8 – Sukhothai to Chiang Mai (via bus – 324 baht / 8.49 € per person)
Notes on the transportation: The 5.5h bus journey between Sukhothai and Chiang Mai is definitely less famous than the Bangkok – Chiang Mai night train, and while you do miss the opportunity of a night train journey, on the plus side you’ve now seen Sukhothai which is an absolutely magical place. There are five buses a day, and we chose the 10:45 one, thus arriving in Chiang Mai at 16:15. We bought the tickets one day in advance. The bus operated by Express looks a bit like a party bus, but the journey was quite quiet, the only noteworthy thing to mention is that their bathroom stops are very short and they will leave without you unless you have someone on the bus that can remind the driver there’s someone left behind. Yep, it happened to us on one occasion.
Day 9, 10 and 11 – Chiang Mai
Next up comes Chiang Mai, a city dating back from 1296, and the capital of the independent Lanna Kingdom until 1558. Lanna translates to the Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields, and Chiang Mai is just a wonderful wholesome city full of beautiful temples, amazing speciality coffee stores and cool shops. This is where we went to visit an elephant sanctuary, did a cooking course, and enjoyed some of the best meals in Thailand. Almost four days were good but I think I would have stayed longer if we had the time.
Must Do in Chiang Mai: Visit an Elephant Sanctuary, take a cooking class at Smile Organic School, visit the Hmong Doi Pui Village and the Khun Chang Khan village, watch a muay thai match, go to the cabaret, and do a Monk Chat at a local temple.
We stayed at the Rich Lanna House and we paid 32€ per night for a deluxe room.
Day 12 – Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai (via bus – 200 baht / 5.24 € per person)
Notes: There are several bus operators that manage as many as 14 journeys a day between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. The journey takes between 3 and 4 hours and we opted for the 14:00 Green Bus Express one, for which we bought tickets on the same morning from the station.
Day 13 and 14 – Chiang Rai
Looking back, I think our stay in Chiang Rai is the only bit of the journey which I would have changed a bit. We mainly came here for the white and the blue temple and I think those could have been done without spending two full days there. A day trip from Chiang Mai should be enough and is what I would recommend knowing what I know now. If you do opt to stay in Chiang Rai though, you can move around the city either by bike (we got ours for free at the hotel) or motorbike.
Must Do in Chiang Rai: Visit the White and the Blue Temples.
We stayed at the Nak Nakara Hotel – SHA Extra Plus and we paid 43€ per night for an executive deluxe double room.
Day 15 – Chiang Rai to Chiang Kong and into Huay Xuay, Laos (via two buses – 250 baht / 6.66 € per person)
Notes: This was possibly our most complicated journey since we arrived. In order to get from Chiang Rai into Laos we had to take a very shabby 7:30 am morning bus, for which we could only get tickets on the spot. This means we got there around 7 am and the bus was already quite full, so it seems a bit of a gamble. The fun thing is that when I say shabby, I really mean shabby. This bus has improvised fans on the ceiling, no doors, the seats are adapted car seats, and it will transport everything from humans to live stock or fruits/veggies. The good news is that it’s a very short trip and the bus took us to the Thai border, where we got our passport stamped, as such proving that we were exiting Thailand. Next there’s a second bus which took us to the Laos border, over the friendship bridge (with tickets bought on the spot too), from where we eventually had to take a tuk tuk once crossing into Laos to get to the bus station in Huay Xay where our journey continued.
Final note on transportation and hotels – whenever looking up buses and trains we used 12goasia and rome2rio. For accommodation we always used booking.
Stay tuned for Part II…
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