Three (Equally Awesome) Ways to do Thailand: Which One Would You Do?

(This writer had fun doing all three)

Oh the places you will go.  And Thailand is one you should go to, a lot.  If you’ve traveled a lot through Asia, you know that there is a plethora of places you can travel to get great cultural experiences, steep yourself in history or explore beautiful beaches.  None offers the beauty and all of the experiences as easy as Thailand does.  From Bangkok to Koh Samui to Krabi to Phi Phi (pronounced pee-pee) Islands, there is no shortage of options.  Here are my thoughts on what to hit, depending on what you are looking to do.

Paaaartay and Pray – Bangkok

If you’re going to have a wild, good time, then you have to hit Bangkok.  There is no shortage of places to party, including the famous Sky Bar form the Hangover 2 movie.  The views from there are actually as great as the movie makes it look.

There is also plenty of fun, cultural aspects to check out in and around the city.  Staying in the heart of Bangkok, you can find temples on almost every corner.  A favorite of mine was the Wat Po Temple which had a Buddha the size of a football field laying down, smiling oh so happily that you were visiting him.  Very impressive to see.  

I also took a day tour with Bangkok Day Tours where they showed up to my hotel, with a PARTY VAN, full of fun disco lights, drinks and anything else I could want.  I went to a floating market which, don’t let anyone fool you, it is nothing but a complete, utter tourist trap but the best tourist trap I’ve ever been too.  There are always elephant rides and tiger temples you can check out, as well, but they aren’t the most humane so check your morals first.

“I’m So Fancy” Bougie Beach Trip – Koh Samui

If you’re looking for a nice beach spot you can go and relax, enjoy good food and get a good massage, my suggestion is Koh Samui.  It’s probably the most developed beach spot next to Phuket but not as well known as Phuket which makes it the perfect place to go to a nice beach spot and chill.  David Beckham has a house here.  I also discovered  a new favorite restaurant: The Larder Restaurant.  Toasted goat cheese with walnuts, scallops and salmon in hollandaise sauce, bacon wraped pork in puréed parsnips and a DECONSTRUCTED bloody mary which made every bloody mary since pale in comparison.  

There is also a famous tree-house like restaurant (called Anantara) there that looked amazing but I didn’t get a chance to try. Probably because I was too busy getting the best and cheapest massages in my life.  If you’ve never had a thai massage, get one now.  I mean it.  Stop reading right now and go get one.  You can thank me afterwards.  While there, we also took Seaview Tours to go snorkeling, sea kayaking and general sightseeing to see the famous stone structures (found in some of the James Bond movies).

Ahhhhh Relaxed Beach Scene – Krabi and Phi Phi Island

If party and bougie isn’t your scene, then Krabi beach is the place for you.  Krabi is only about a half-hour boat ride from Phuket so it’s just as beautiful but is way less well known which means it’s not nearly as developed and it has a lot less people.  

I stayed at Ao Nang Villa Resort (pretty good place) which was right next to the beach with all kinds of good restaurants nearby.  My favorite place to go was a chill, open-air bar called – get ready – “The Beach Bar,” where they had a live band playing every night singing all your golden oldie favorites.  It’s the perfect place to go walk along the beach at night, take in some good music, good food/drinks and just relax.  

We also booked a tour from there that took us to local nearby islands; Phi Phi Island being one of those.  For those of you that don’t know, Phi Phi Island is where Leonardo DiCaprio filmed The Beach.  It’s just as beautiful as in the movie but imagine 5,000 more people.  It’s a tourist trap to the tee but fun to see.  My favorite part was booking a tour at the hotel to go sea kayaking.  A must do in Thailand.  Afterwards though, make sure you go back to the beach to get yet another Thai massage.  I found them the cheapest yet in Krabi.  Walking down the beach, you come across all these open-aired huts with tons of mattresses on the floor (don’t worry – they are clean…enough).  For $5 USD, they’ll give you the best hour-long massage you’ve ever had while listening to the waves crash on the beach.

Long story short – you can live the life of dreams in Thailand.

Go do it.

Paartay & Pray in Bankgok
Sky Bar – Wat Po Temple – Bangkok Day Tours

“I’m So Fancy” Bougie Beach Trip 
Koh Samui – Larders – Anantara – Massages

Ahhhhh Relaxed Beach Scene in Krabi and Phi Phi Island
Krabi – Ao Nang Villa Resort  – “The Beach Bar” – Phi Phi Island – MORE massages!

Tennyson Blackwood has also written about kind-of sort-of escaping NYC, visiting Disney–without kids and how to do Hong Kong and drinking scotch in Scotland.