18 Days in Thailand
In which Barry and Harry officially kick off their travels in the land of smiles, sunshine, and sticky rice.
Okay friends, we made it! Hard to believe that not only has our 6-month travel journey begun, but that we’re three-ish weeks into it. Despite the length of the trip and the years of planning that went into it, we can confirm the days are already moving way too fast—but that’s life!
Our Thaitinerary
Let’s recap the past three weeks:
Seattle → Singapore → Bangkok → Surat Thani/Khao Sok National Park → Krabi/Ao Nang/Koh Phi Phi → Koh Lanta → Koh Samui and Koh Phangan → Bangkok
Singapore and Bangkok: Part 1
Our trip began with a LOT of transit. We had a 16-hour flight from Seattle to Singapore (traveling by Singapore Air so don’t feel too bad for us—their food, beverage, snack, and entertainment game is unreal, even for economy). We then spent the next 20 hours at the Singapore Airport. And don’t get us wrong, it is one of the fanciest airports in the world. But, because we elected not to leave security and didn’t spring for the $200 it would have cost to rent an airport hotel for 6 hours, it was a long 20 hours. Here’s where/how we slept.
From there, we flew another 2.5 hours to Bangkok! We spent one night in a fancy Bangkok hotel (thank you credit card points), where we had an incredible breakfast buffet (the first of many in Thailand) and mostly lounged around to mentally prepare for the next three weeks!
To get to Southern Thailand, where our journey really kicked off in earnest, we took a first-class night train sleeper from Bangkok to Surat Thani. The 10-hour train ride was pretty comfortable, with air conditioning, bunk beds, and linens. Beyond familiarizing ourselves with Asian squat toilets (Aaron came across these on his travels in India, Mak learned how to use one at 2am on the moving train… little did we know there was a Western-style toilet one door over), the train ride was pretty uneventful—because it was a sleeper train, it was dark outside, so we weren’t able to see much and pretty much just slept the whole way.
From Surat Thani, after a quick breakfast, we took a shared van to Khao Sok National Park to begin our Southern Thailand adventures.
Khao Sok National Park
Khao Sok National Park is located in Southern Thailand and is made up of lush rainforests, diverse wildlife, a huge turquoise lake, and towering limestone pillars. We stayed in a rustic (read: no air conditioning, semi-open air, mosquito net around the bed) yet charming hotel that had beautiful jungle landscaping and a little restaurant on site where we ate most of our meals. Safe to say that while Bangkok was hot (95°F not including humidity), the jungle brought the heat and humidity to a whole other level!
Our first night we went on a night-hike through the jungle. We had a guide who helped us spot various creatures including:
Lemurs
Slow loris (aka this creepy venomous monkey)
Lots of bugs (scorpions, baby tarantulas, beetles, stick bugs, moths, centipedes, millipedes)
Kingfishers
Chameleon
The hike was pleasant and we were surprised at just how hot it was, even after the sun had gone down! I (Mak) was really thrilled about the car ride there and back because it had air conditioning ;)
The next day we went on a long-boat adventure on Cheow Lan Lake, a massive 63 square-mile man-made lake that has towering limestone pillars scattered throughout. On the lake, we visited a cave with impressive stalactites/stalagmites and a few sleeping bats, stopped for lunch at a floating restaurant called the Raft House, and got to take a dip in the bathtub-warm water. Aaron went with the group to go on a little hike while Mak stayed back to swim and relax. While on the hike, Aaron saw a binturong, a type of bearcat that is rarely seen due to their shy nature!
Then we headed back to the hotel, got a good night’s sleep, packed up, and hit the road to Ao Nang.
Ao Nang/Krabi
After a brief pitstop at Wat Maha That Wachiramongkol, one of the most spectacular temples we’ve seen on our travels so far, we arrived in Krabi!
Known for its stunning beaches, pristine waters, and dramatic rocky cliffs/outcroppings, Krabi was a highlight of our time in Thailand. To get a sense of what the area looked like, watch either the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio film, The Beach, or the more recent 2023 movie, The Creator, both of which were filmed in Krabi.
Much of our time in Krabi was spent “relaxing” (aka acclimating our guts to Southeast Asian cuisine and our bodies to the heat) at our beachside hotel in Ao Nang, where the breakfast buffet was incredible, the 7-Elevens were plentiful, and $1 fresh fruit smoothies were consumed at least twice a day.
But the highlight of our Krabi trip by far was our daylong boat trip to the Four Islands and the islands of Koh Phi Phi. Breakfast and lunch on the beach, snorkeling, swimming, sunbathing—it was as idyllic as travel can get.
Ko Lanta
From Ao Nang, we took another van and ferry to the island of Ko Lanta. Less visited than Krabi or Phuket but just as beautiful, Ko Lanta proved to be another much-needed moment of calm before the craziness awaiting us in Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, and Bangkok.
Beyond chilling at our Long Beach hotel (apparently Southern California isn’t the only place where we could have been more creative with our beach naming conventions), we ventured into Lanta Old Town, which was settled by several waves of indigenous, Malay, and Chinese migrants over the past 500 years.
We had one of our favorite meals on our whole trip at a very cute, family-run restaurant: Apsara Restaurant.
Koh Samui and Koh Phangan
From Ao Nang, we made our way by van and ferry to Koh Samui, where we finally met up with our good friend Ben, who is joining us for the Bali wedding we’re currently attending post-Thailand!
Koh Samui is a VERY famous holiday/resort/tourist destination in Thailand; if you’re a fan of White Lotus, the next season of the show was filmed at the Four Seasons Koh Samui - expect this island to blow up with international travelers more than it already has. Still, despite the crowds, it’s worth a visit! Our time there was pretty short, but we got to enjoy great food and the Chaweng Beach bar scene, complete with fire dancers, men trying to get you to take photos with iguanas, and a lot of 20-somethings from Australia and Europe.
Our real destination in the area however was Koh Phangan. For decades, Koh Phangan has developed a reputation for its Full Moon Parties, an all-night celebration of the Full Moon that draws in tens of thousands of visitors from around the world and happens every single month. Its reputation is definitely more dramatic than the actual event, but let’s just say it is a spectacle!
From sunset to sunrise, the three of us spent the evening on the beach dancing to DJs from around the world alongside 20,000 of our closest friends. Fun fact: this was Mak’s first all-nighter! While she can’t say she wants to do any more of them, it was definitely worth doing just this once!
To get to Bangkok, we took the ferry back to Koh Samui and got to experience the adorable Koh Samui International Airport. With its outdoor campus, $5 massages, and free orange juice, tea, coffee, and snacks, it’s one of our favorite airports we’ve ever visited.
Bangkok
Bangkok - hard to summarize such a massive and historic city, but it’s safe to say in our 4 days there we barely scratched the surface of what the city has to offer. Here are some of our highlights:
Visiting the epic Grand Palace complex, which includes the famous Temple of the Emerald Buddha—if you can only see one site in Bangkok, see this one!
Checking out several other famous temples/Wats in the city
Learning more about the Thai silk industry at the Jim Thompson House museum
Shopping at several local markets (Ben’s family: prepare yourselves for so many pairs of elephant pants)
Meeting one of Ben’s very good family friends for a great dinner on the river at Sheepshank Public House
Seeing our first drag show performance at House of HEALS, a drag house founded by one of Asia’s top drag artists, Pangina Heals, who competed in the first season of Ru Paul’s Drag Race: UK vs. the World
A Tuk Tuk food tour of Chinatown’s Michelin-starred street food stalls
Some of the best pad thai and mango sticky rice we’ve ever eaten
Also…Aaron and Ben might have gotten their ears pierced…
Fun Facts from Thailand
The official calendar of Thailand is in BE (Buddhist Era) and the current year is 2567
They drive on the left side of the road, but they were never a British colony!
Scooters are so popular here (and in much of SE Asia as we are quickly learning) that Google Maps literally has a scooter icon when you search directions
7/eleven is a lifesaving establishment (snacks, cold drinks, air conditioning?! Several strategic 7/eleven breaks were had while walking the streets of Thailand)
Here’s some vocab we picked up while in Thailand:
Sawadeekah! = hello!
Kop kun kha = thank you
Baang = house
Ko/Koh = island
Best things we ate
Stir fried morning glory
Deep fried fish
Fruit smoothies/fresh fruit (mango, pineapple, passionfruit, papaya)
Yakult, onigiri, and Pocari Sweat (all from 7/eleven)
Ao Nang chicken noodle shop
Pad Thai from Thipsamai
Khao soi
What We’ve Read / What We’re Reading
Makena:
Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow: a very captivating but tough read about the reporting on Harvey Weinstein/start of the #MeToo movement
Aaron (it looks like I’ve read more than Mak, but really I’m just a serial book starter-and-non-finisher, so this trip has just allowed me to finally catch up on several books I had already been working on)
Evidence of Things Seen: True Crime in an Era of Reckoning by Sarah Weinman
Faith, Doubt, and Reason by Brent A. R. Hege: this book was written by one of my college professors and summarizes a class that was instrumental to shaping my views on faith and the world! Whatever your views on faith, belief, and doubt may be, I couldn’t recommend it more highly.
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Where to Next
Currently, we’re writing to you all from Bali, where we’re attending the Indonesian wedding of some of our dearest friends! But that’s a story for our next newsletter.
Love,
Barry and Harry
Loved the update! It looks magical there but I imagine the heat was a lot to get used to! It sounds like you two are having so much fun and eating a lot of delicious food. I hope the wedding is a blast and I can’t wait to hear about it! Love you two!