Thailand Trip Report

[twaatie]

Going to Thailand in June- July for 15days, can't wait

 

[Batista]

Hey guys

I also want to do this.

Can I get a quick indication of travel costs for 2 adults?

What is a good duration of stay?

We are fine with 3 star places(If that is their system).

Thanks.

 

[Muttley]

The Mrs and I have a rule that we don't visit a place twice but Thailand is an exception...
It's that good!

 

[RanzB]

Hey guys

I also want to do this.

Can I get a quick indication of travel costs for 2 adults?

What is a good duration of stay?

We are fine with 3 star places(If that is their system).

Thanks.

Flights for two via Dubai were R16k, no visa needed.

I didn't want to arrive and leave from the same place, internal flights for two came to R2,5k; Phuket to Chiang Mai to Bangkok. If you come to Phuket you'll also have travel costs to the other islands. Phuket to Ao Nang seems to be around R700 pp return via the ferry. Island Tours vary in price depending on where you'd like to visit.

 

[bokka1]

Hey guys

I also want to do this.

Can I get a quick indication of travel costs for 2 adults?

What is a good duration of stay?

We are fine with 3 star places(If that is their system).

Thanks.

Where are you flying from and what time of the year will best suit you?

 

[Batista]

Where are you flying from and what time of the year will best suit you?

Slaapstad,

What time of year is best for Thailand? Summer is too hot?

 

[bokka1]

Slaapstad,

What time of year is best for Thailand? Summer is too hot?

It is summer the whole year there, February, March and April it can get very hot but I enjoy the heat.

I just did a quick check on Travelstart and you can get return tickets to Bangkok for R7300 in May. May is a good time as it is the end of the hot season and not yet the beginning of the rainy season.

You can get nice accommodation for 2500 Bht a night and cheaper. That is per room and not pp. (R960 / 2 = R480 pp)

You can do a loop from Phuket to Phi Phi to Ao Nang to Bangkok for your final shopping.

You can add another 2500 Bht (R960 pp) for spending money, food, drinks, transport and day trips. With this pocket money you can live very lekker without worrying about money.

Flights between Bangkok and Phuket and Krabi is cheap.

12 nights will be R7300 + R5760 for hotel + R11520 spending money= Total: R24 580 pp.

Your accommodation and spending money will be less than that.

You can also go to Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao for a more laidback island type holiday. The flights there will be a bit more expensive than to Phuket but once you are there you will get cheaper accommodation and cheaper transport costs.

If you are not too big into partying I would skip the Phuket side and stay in the Samui side.

Edit: Same Batista from SAGamer?

 

[RanzB]

Nice! Enjoy it R.

I will be following closely for the food and photos of course!

nice, enjoy the trip

Nice , enjoy.

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing. Will definitely follow.

Thanks guys.

Will you rent a scooter?

Never even been on a motorbike/scooter so no Wanted to take lessons but then again seeing the driving here I wouldn't chance it.

 

[Batista]

It is summer the whole year there, February, March and April it can get very hot but I enjoy the heat.

I just did a quick check on Travelstart and you can get return tickets to Bangkok for R7300 in May. May is a good time as it is the end of the hot season and not yet the beginning of the rainy season.

You can get nice accommodation for 2500 Bht a night and cheaper. That is per room and not pp. (R960 / 2 = R480 pp)

You can do a loop from Phuket to Phi Phi to Ao Nang to Bangkok for your final shopping.

You can add another 2500 Bht (R960 pp) for spending money, food, drinks, transport and day trips. With this pocket money you can live very lekker without worrying about money.

Flights between Bangkok and Phuket and Krabi is cheap.

12 nights will be R7300 + R5760 for hotel + R11520 spending money= Total: R24 580 pp.

Your accommodation and spending money will be less than that.

You can also go to Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao for a more laidback island type holiday. The flights there will be a bit more expensive than to Phuket but once you are there you will get cheaper accommodation and cheaper transport costs.

If you are not too big into partying I would skip the Phuket side and stay in the Samui side.

Edit: Same Batista from SAGamer?

Shot thanks, really appreciate it!

Yes same guy

 

[RanzB]

150baht? Holy moly thats expensive, i guess it is tourist central.

Yup, Patong is a bit crazy with prices for Thailand but I knew that going in so I'm OK with it for the most part.

Go try the following food:
(Gai = chicken, moo = pork)
Tom Kah Gai - Coconut Milk soup with chicken, so good.
Pad Ka Pao Gai - the classic meat fried with basil and chilli and ask for a egg on top.
Laab - not sure if u can find it as its more an isaan dish, fried up chili mince served with mint and you wrap it in lettuce leaves.
Yum Badook Foo - Also maybe difficult to find, have to ask by name - Its fried fluffy fish, basically all the meat is like flash deep friend and comes out really crispy and fluffy, served with a delicious sweet/sour/spicy dip.

Haha, I'm on a food tour so I've planned everything I want and most of that is on the list.

I won't try Laab here since I'm headed to the north, from what I understand Issan food is better there.

Nice dude! Enjoy. Patong is absolutely crazy.

150baht? Holy moly thats expensive, i guess it is tourist central.

imo LEO > Chang Tiger is also good. bars are ridiculously over priced there, go buy form 7/11 but 60b for a big beer at a restaurant is decent, not the 150 for a small the bars in patong charge.

I've tried all three and and I agree, Leo is my favourite. The prices even on Bangla Road seem to have come down quite a

You must take the ferry to Phi Phi and then spend the day on a long boat visiting the islands - awesome, awesome experience and it's super cheap (well it was in 2009 when I was there).

We're headed to Ao Nang via Phi Phi but I'd rather not stay at Phi Phi. Things seem too partyish and not to mention, expensive.

 

[RanzB]

Check at the bottom of my website in the Phuket section for some info on Ao Nang.

Your site and some threads on MyBB (even the outdated ones) have been a big help, thanks so much for sharing your info Do you also post on reddit? If so, I've seen a couple of yours on /r/thailandtourism.

I must still update my website with Chiang Mai but if you go there I found Pai to be better than Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai was very boring for us. I would rather spend more time on the beach areas especially in the current hot season.

We're not staying for a long time in Chiang Mai, three nights I think. I've always wanted to visit so I made it a priority this time.

My best advice: If you want to chill but also go to a jungle one day and go snorkeling on beautiful islands the next day then go to Nang Thong Beach, Khao Lak. http://www.thailandtips.co.za/nang-thong-beach-khao-lak.html

As I said above, this is more a recon and street food tour trip, I've set aside some time for beaches and snorkeling at Ao Nang, I'm sure I'll enjoy it but it's not really important for me to be honest.

@OP: You won't be able to haggle regarding the prices with the taxi's or Tuk-Tuks, it's a Mafia with fixed prices. I would rather spend that extra 400 to 600 Bht per day on getting a place closer to Bangla that is within walking distance in the heat. You will be able to find relatively cheap places close to Bangla and the Beach.
.

Yeah I hear you. We got a bit lucky from Patong to Karon, the driver accepted 350B when 400B was the going rate, but anything less than 400B was flatly refused on the way back.

I hear you about the closer spot to Bangla, but I honestly don't mind the walk, I love walking cities at night, and even last night at 2:30AM I didn't hesitate to walk back with my fiancee, this place just seems so safe.

Here is a place that is not even 5 minutes from Bangla and across the road from the beach for R675 tonight (1760 Bht) and it includes a nice balcony.

.

Did you miss a link? I don't need it for the accommodation but I'm keen to check out your recommendation for the food around it. Or is the same as the following?

To orientate yourself, walk down Bangla Road, when you get to the beach turn left, keep past Tropica Bungalows (my favourite), past Patong Seafood, past the Banana Disco and mall till you see a One-Stop supermarket. Just past the One-Stop you turn left, the further down you go the cheaper the food will get.
.

Coz if so, I'm familiar with where you mean. Haven't eaten there yet but we've been passed a couple of time already.

 

[RanzB]

Today we had a late-ish start and left the hotel around 11am. We walked Patong for a few hours, through Jungceylon Mall, Banzaan Market and through Bangla Road to see what we could see.

Jungceylon is boring, just another mall. Banzaan was fun but wow the prices were crazy. 1000B+ for 0,5kg of lobster, 700B+ for 0,5kg of tiger/king prawns etc. We weren't that hungry but I wanted some iced coffee. We stopped at a Starbucks passed Bangla Road (R135,55 for two cold brew coffees with vanilla and cream) and hit the beach for a little while. Packed isn't the word. I'm not a guy to body-shame but man some dudes shouldn't be rocking Speedos.

We decided to head for Karon as we weren't really feeling Patong Beach that much. We had had some recommendations and heard the food was a bit better than Patong. 350B and a 20 minute ride later, we hit Karon. We stopped at one of the first places we saw, a part of a larger clump of restaurants all joined together.

The prices and menus were all pretty much the same, but the first one had the friendliest hostess so we joined a table of Scandinavian pensioners and ordered some lunch. The fiancee went with fried glass noodles with chicken, and I ordered the green curry with chicken.





Both were absolute winners, though I have to say that even though I asked for spicy, the dish wasn't that hot. The glass noodles were delicious, and I say that as not the biggest fan of most noodles.



So far with meals we were 2 for 2.

 

[RanzB]

After lunch we walked Karon Beach for hours, stopping at the beach, darting into little markets, checking out the food stalls and grabbing more iced coffee. (240B for two iced coffees. Yes, coffee is expensive here)

The quality of food seems a bit better here in Karon, and in certain spots the pricing is decent compared to Patong.







MyBB is attaching the second half images to this post for some reason.

 

[RanzB]

We were still stuffed from lunch, and didn't eat again until around 6, as the sun was setting. We had walked pretty much from one end of Karon Beach to the other in the blazing heat, but still didn't want to compromise on what we ate. In a small market we found a little place that seemed to have fresh seafood and the price didn't look too bad. 700B for a KG of tiger prawns, cooked in different styles. We chose to have half in garlic, half in tamarind sauce.

View attachment 491719

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Again, not a huge fan of prawns but these were amazing. The tamarind sauce one was good if a little on the sweet side, but the garlic prawns were a serious delight. I wouldn't have minded a second KG of just the garlic style.



3/3 with our meals. Good job Thailand.

 

[RanzB]

Random images.













For anyone who cares, most of these were done with a 56mm F1.2. I love my Fuji so much

 

[bokka1]

@OP: Ja, I post a lot on r/Thailandtourism. I have been a member on Reddit for 11 years, June it will be 12 years.

Sorry, here is the link to the Hotel: https://goo.gl/pTdmBN Goldsea Beach.

Yes, the hotel is in teh same area as the restaurants.

I agree, the only good things about the Mall are the air-con and the cheap liqour in the Supermarket at the back. You can also buy prawns there per kilo and ask them to cook it for you.

I love those garlic prawns but Thailand is not a place for cheap seafood. If you walk up Bangla and when you get to the Muay Thai ring on the left-hand side turn in there for nice seafood, it is a little bit cheaper than the beach front places. I usually buy two or three of those big mofo's.

Enjoy it.

 

[RanzB]

Dang man, you're making me paranoid :/

 

[Desig]

Random images.

View attachment 491727

View attachment 491729

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For anyone who cares, most of these were done with a 56mm F1.2. I love my Fuji so much

I care. Was going to ask what camera cos the pics are amazing

Today we had a late-ish start and left the hotel around 11am. We walked Patong for a few hours, through Jungceylon Mall, Banzaan Market and through Bangla Road to see what we could see.

Jungceylon is boring, just another mall. Banzaan was fun but wow the prices were crazy. 1000B+ for 0,5kg of lobster, 700B+ for 0,5kg of tiger/king prawns etc. We weren't that hungry but I wanted some iced coffee. We stopped at a Starbucks passed Bangla Road (R135,55 for two cold brew coffees with vanilla and cream) and hit the beach for a little while. Packed isn't the word. I'm not a guy to body-shame but man some dudes shouldn't be rocking Speedos.

We decided to head for Karon as we weren't really feeling Patong Beach that much. We had had some recommendations and heard the food was a bit better than Patong. 350B and a 20 minute ride later, we hit Karon. We stopped at one of the first places we saw, a part of a larger clump of restaurants all joined together.

View attachment 491691

The prices and menus were all pretty much the same, but the first one had the friendliest hostess so we joined a table of Scandinavian pensioners and ordered some lunch. The fiancee went with fried glass noodles with chicken, and I ordered the green curry with chicken.

View attachment 491693

View attachment 491695

Both were absolute winners, though I have to say that even though I asked for spicy, the dish wasn't that hot. The glass noodles were delicious, and I say that as not the biggest fan of most noodles.

View attachment 491699

So far with meals we were 2 for 2.

 

[RanzB]

We got back to Patong around 8PM via tuk tuk being driven by a Senna wannabe.

We chilled in the room for a bit before heading out to a local night market.



The place had a few clothing/souvenir stalls but it was mostly food.



No, I didn't pay for that picture.

The fiancee finally got a banana and nutella pancake she had been craving.



On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a little roadside stall restaurant and had a small plate of calamari and a few beers.



I've uploaded a more complete album from the market to imgur

 

[RanzB]

I care. Was going to ask what camera cos the pics are amazing

Thanks buddy, quite a few are also taken with the S7 Edge.