When I say Thailand different people will think about different things to do. For ladies, Thailand is equal to shopping mall with season sale every day, for kids, amazing beaches to have fun time and for single guys, it is place to drink and party ;).
Sleeping Buddha at Wat Pho, Bangkok
Thailand is a mix of modern city yet a local town. Crowded but disciplined. Poor but everyone has a job. Fashionable but no show off. Luxurious but not expensive. A place where night life is more alive than daytime. So my journey begins with the capital city, Bangkok. The name of Bangkok airport itself give me feeling of still being in India. It is called Suvarnabhumi means land of gold, a Hindi name for a Thai airport. The religion followed in Thailand is Buddhism hence Thai language is influenced by Hindi and Sanskrit. Also majority of attractions in Bangkok is Temples. I visited one of the temple name ‘Wat Pho’. Wat in Thai means Temple. It was huge with a unique Thai architecture. Wat Pho has one of the largest Sleeping Buddha. If you like temples and want to explore more, you can visit more than 1 temple but since we didn’t had much time with our tight schedule, I ended up visiting only one.
Bangkok City, View from Baiyoke Tower
Bangkok has variety of attractions. The popular once and must visit are Siam Ocean world and Madame Tussaud Wax Museum. If one has visited Madam Tussaud in another country than you can skip it. Also if time frame is short in Bangkok, you can skip it and visit Louis Tussaud Wax Museum in Pattaya. There is not much of a difference except the creator of Wax statue and quality of statues. Another place where sea food lover should visit is floating market. Bangkok has many floating market and one can visit any one of them as traveling to and fro for floating market is minimum 1 hour. You will find people selling various sea foods in their boat. The whole market gives you different feeling and takes you to authentic Bangkok.
Karen View Point, Phuket
Next stop in my list was Phuket. Phuket is on the southern part of Thailand hence flight was the only option. Phuket is known again for party and night life. Beaches are amazing. All tourists do only 2 things in Phuket, relax at beaches and party at the pubs & bar. Phuket has 2 main attractions, a Karen View Point and Tiger Kingdom. Karen View Point is a place from where you can see the Kata beach and view is indeed amazing. Tiger Kingdom is again a branch of Tiger Temple whose main center is near Bangkok at Krungdhonburi. The main Tiger Temple has many other services to provide besides touching the Tiger and it is also huge in space an tiger. At Phuket Tiger Kingdom, you can sit besides Tiger, touch them and click picture with them. The place keeps tiger in good health and well trained. It is indeed an adventurous experience, fear and nervousness runs through your body but once you touch the tiger, your nerve will cool down.. Hopefully! In the evening, one should go for Phuket Fantasea. An amazing park which has many small small attraction leading to main attraction, their show. The show features around 25 Elephant and beautiful story of Elephant Prince.
Longtail Boat, Krabi
Next place on itinerary was Krabi. If one wants good beach and not too enthusiastic for party but more for relaxation and rejuvenation, then you should select Krabi over Phuket. Beaches are pristine and rock formation is unique. Krabi has a beach called Railey Beach which can only be accessible through water ways. You will find Long Tail Boat in Krabi which will take you to nearby beaches. It is one of the cheapest mode of water transportation. Apart from enjoying your time on these 2 island, Phuket & Krabi, do visit other marvelous beach in one day excursion to either Phi Phi Island (most famous) or Khao Phing Kan (James Bond Island – Not so famous). The cruise will pick you from your respective beach either in Phuket or Krabi and take you to these beautiful and breathtaking islands. Water is crystal clear and is dark shade of green and blue. Before we head for lunch, there is sea snorkeling session where they give you snorkel and life saving jacket to enjoy some time under water and see life under water without much of risk. If one has PADI scuba diving certificate, you can go for scuba diving to explore the underwater world which is said to be best at these islands.
Pattaya City
Last destination in my travel itinerary was Pattaya – city of fame, lights and party. The whole of Pattaya looks like a party place. It has Clubs, bars, go-go bars, walking street, beach road and what not. Pattaya is only city where you will find more group of friends coming together than family or a couple. If one wishes to visit other places than bars and clubs, head over to Ripley’s Believe it or not. An entire floor dedicate to amusement and fun. It has scary house, Wax museum, 10D Theater and and so on. A whole evening can be spent doing all this. Most of the itineraries for Pattaya also consist of Corel Island Tour. An island tour where one can seek adventure. Around 1 hour boat journey from Pattaya beach to Corel Island, before you reach island you will have an opportunity to do Parasailing and Underwater walk. Once you reach the island, entire afternoon is for you to relax on beach, get a massage, swim or do Jet Ski and other water activities. Other than this, Pattaya also features few Cabaret show, Tiffany’s and Alcazar are famous ones.
In all, Thailand is and will be good place for tourist. It has something for everyone except small children. Bachelors and young people can have the party life, nature lovers can explore the pristine beaches, families can get best of both world. It has peace and calm of beach at the same time; it also has loud and fancy clubs and pubs. Thailand is also famous for Scuba diving which one should not miss. Though I have only traveled to main cities of Thailand, there are other cities worth exploring, Chaig Mai, Chaig Rai, Koh Samui, Koh Tao, Sukhothai. For amazing and luxurious holiday in a resort, Koh Samui is place. To experience local side of Thailand, Chaig Mai and Chaig Rai are the place. Each part of Thailand has a different story to tell. Experience the Amazing Thailand !
