Reading time 14 minutes.

In the coming months, we are going to travel at a significantly faster pace. We would like to make the most of our limited time in China. I won’t have much time to write, so blog posts are going to be fewer and more concise, I suppose.

My only visit to Thailand was 11 years ago in August 2013 in a private tour with guide and driver for two families. Y visited Thailand twice and the last time was 10 years ago.

Bangkok

Last time, I visited Bangkok main touristic spots (Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun, etc.). This time, we only had slightly more than two full days, hence not enough time to visit them again and discover new places. We skipped all the famous monuments without too much hesitation.

Khao San

We landed in Bangkok on the 31^st of December. Was it slightly cheaper on that day?

We celebrated New Year’s Eve in Khao San Road.

We had dinner in a vegetarian restaurant my sister recommended. We could tell the food was very good, but it felt bland after 7 weeks of Indian food. It was a strange feeling. I sympathize with Indians traveling abroad.

There were two stages on both ends of the street. We attended the count-down at the busiest stage. I could not get my hand on the free t-shirts thrown to the crowd.

Some street vendors, without any place to seat, are selling beers almost at the same price as the bars! The 7-Eleven supermarket, which was open late, had much cheaper beverages.

Clubs charged 400 bahts entrance fees. Bars put tables and super loud music on the street.

Several 60-year-old Thai women were dancing with more energy than most young folks. We also noticed many lady boys and people had many tatooes. The vibe was crazy in Khao San. A bit too much for u, we left not long after the count down for some street food and went back to the hotel.

ICONSIAM

The public boat service (orange line) brought us from our poshtel to the ICONSIAM mall. The boat seems very convenient to get to the numerous famous monuments located near the river. A poshtel has some features of high-end hotels and reasonable prices and dorms like hostels. There are rooms with private bathrooms.

I love malls in hot countries. In Thailand, staying outdoor all day feels uncomfortable.

Sook Siam is the food court located on the ground floor of Icon Siam. There is a huge variety of food. The decorations and the atmosphere are pretty great. It has a cute floating market. Clothes shops are mixed with food stalls. Prices are reasonable, it is definitely worth eating there.

On the outside, Icon Siam presents itself as a giant pagoda, and the luxury shops, with heavily customized facade, are visible within. It is probably the most luxurious mall we have ever seen.

The Fallabella restaurant and bar with terrace view were excellent.

Going to the food court after 9:30 pm while it is closing, like we did, is not a good idea. Food is not fresh and we had no discounts.

We wanted to go to the Asiatique Night Market after most of the mall closed (except some restaurants inside), but it was too difficult to get a taxi. A taxi asked for 1000 bahts (25.7 euros) for a 12 minutes ride. Public transportation was still not developed enough to rely exclusively on them.

After 11 pm in front of Icon Siam, we could not order a taxi with Grab. We stopped taxis, they all wanted to negotiate the price of the ride instead of using the meter. We were told no taxi would use the meter at this hour. One of them laughed when we asked to use the meter, we ended up going with him…

Tuktuks in Thailand are different from those in India. They are bigger and you can almost lie down. They were even more expensive than taxis, so we have not tried them.

We did not visit the Jim Thompson museum. But we went to the Jim Thompson shop and bought a Thai silk shirt. Is it going to be my birthday gift from Y?

The Icon Siam mall is amazing, we had two days in Bangkok, and we spent an entire day there. If I lived in Bangkok, I would come back often. It is the best mall I have ever seen. Well, there are no rollercoasters (like the Mall of America, Minnesota), but there are a lot of choices for durian to make up for it.

They sell many products that match my taste.

We have found an art gallery which has very interesting pieces for less than 1000 euros.

Agatha London has a beautiful collection of stones. Most of them are big amethyst geodes, but there were more unusual stones (e.g. Gogottes) as well.

China Town

We had a Chinese meal with delicious crispy pork belly and pork meatballs.

There are so many interesting things to buy at the day market. Some shops are very specialized, for instance the one selling all sizes of plastic bags.

We went to Wat Tramit (temple, ‘wat’ means temple) and the China Town Gate. Every time I see a Chinatown gate, I am wondering why there is no Chinatown gate in Paris.

The day market closes when the night market starts.

We started exploring the day market around Sampheng Market on Vanich 1 Road. The night market is mostly on the main street of China Town: Yoawarat Road.

On Yoawarat Road, we queued at Nai Ek Roll Noodle and had a soup with many unusual parts of the pork, every part was good!

The neon big shop signs on Yoawarat Road was quite a sight!

Later in the evening, I was strongly affected by the heat, especially due to the lack of sleep.

I tried an oyster omelette at the night market, it was not a good one. It is really hit or miss with street stalls. I would have preferred the famous restaurant for oyster omelette, but it was closed that day.

We had a good Che Thai (dessert with crushed ice and various toppings) in the night market.

Koh Tao

We took the Lomprayah, a reputable transportation company combining ferry and bus, from Bangkok to Koh Tao (1550 bahts or 40.5 euros) and from Koh Tao to Phuket.

Lomprayah asked us to arrive at least one hour before the departure. It was fine to arrive only 45–30 minutes before. They asked us to arrive early because they do not have (they have not hired) enough staff to issue all the tickets in less than an hour.

The VIP bus was super comfortable and the breakfast was a nice addition. Industrial cakes were good!

Open Water

We signed up for an Open Water certification with New Way Diving. It is an SSI diving center. SSI and Padi are pretty similar.

I took the Padi Open Water certification in 2017 on the Perhentian Islands, but I never sent my profile picture to receive the certification. It’s kind of a shame. I had not dived since then, so it was useful to take the Open Water certification again. Nowadays, there is no mail to send.

There are dozens of diving centers, if not a hundred, in Koh Tao. The cheapest Open Water certifications we saw were at 9000 bhats near the pier. On the beach, near where we stayed, it was 11,000. On the way to the beach we stopped at New Way Diving, the boss offered an Open Water for 9,000 with 2 fun dives. A 900 discount on their listed prices.

New Way Diving does not have the best location or the nicest building. But the basics are covered. No matter their location, all the dive shops are loading a pickup with divers and materials and meet their boats on the pier.

We had some theory lessons on the SSI app. We mostly studied on the books our instructor (Yui) provided to us. On multiple occasions, we studied at the restaurant while waiting for the orders.

On the second dive, Y had a reverse ear squeeze. We waited for it to heal for one full week after seeing a pharmacist and a doctor.

During this long and stressful week of daily check we tried to occupied ourself on Koh tao:

I ran a 5 km in the morning, crossing the island from west to east. It was very steep. I had to walk at some point. I ran a 10 km from north to south to go to John Suwan Viewpoint. I had no cash, just my phone. A resort and a bar were blocking the way and charging for entry (only cash) so I turned back, railing against the privatization of nature. I hesitated to beg for cash, but I was not too eager to pay the entrance fee. I stopped at other charming free beaches around.

We did a good yoga session (200 bahts) with a German instructor. We finally understood how to perform a proper downward facing dog.

Y watched a lot of chinese dramas which could be helpful for our coming trip to China!

Finally, we completed our SSI Open Water and two fun dives. There was no time after the recovery to do the Advanced Experience. We need to come back for the Sail Rock diving site!

On dive 4 I was badly bitten by a (grenade) jellyfish, I believe.

I was not the only one wearing a short wetsuit. I guess I just reacted a lot more than the other divers. I felt some bites in the water. Now, it’s clear to me why instructors, dive masters and experienced divers wear long wetsuits and cover most of their bodies even in the hot waters of Thailand. It is for protection!

I bought a “rash guard”, actually just a long sleeve synthetic t-shirt, before dives 5 and 6.

We always dived with our Thai instructor, Yui. And we did 4 of these dives with DJ, a Korean guy with an instructor level who bought 40 air tanks for 20000 bahts and planned to use them during his 10-day stay. It’s 4 dives a day. Morning dives often start at 6 am at the diving center.

Yui had her own diving center for 4 years before the pandemic.

On the last day, we saw whales. We started chasing them like many other diving boats. It was a very fun and bumpy ride with everybody on the front of the boat. It’s extremely rare to see whales so close to Koh Tao. There were about 5 whales. We think they were playing with us because they were surfacing more frequently than necessary.

After we returned, some divers were trying to identify them using the reference book and the pictures we took. There were no more than 30 whales (individuals) properly identified in the Gulf of Thailand. Have we discovered new whales?

We had a drink at the Seashell restaurant. It has bad reviews, but the beers were cheap and the terrace on the beach is very nice for the sunset.

We took Lomprayah to go to Phuket. The hotel staff dropped us at the pier for 200 bahts.

We took the high speed boat from 11h to 13h30 and a van with 4 other passengers to Phuket.

You could also take the ferry at 9 am and then the bus. The second option is one and a half hour longer, but the ferry has AC and the ride is smoother. And the bus is more comfortable than the van. If you are not in a hurry, the ferry, and bus combo is perhaps preferable after all.

There was the Jungle Party while we were there. It is twice a month, I think. I did not go. Some people say it is the best party ever. Others say it is full of British people in their early twenties.

Restaurants

Pork Leg: excellent ice coffee, delicious fried ice cream. We came back for the fried ice cream, and it was not as good as the first time. Hainanese chicken rice was pretty terrible.

Blue Shark Brunch Cafe: Cheese cake brulée was the best dessert I had in Thailand. It is a mix between the New York cheesecake, the Japanese cheesecake and a crème brûlée.

Bambu: Burmese restaurant with enjoyable atmosphere and good tasting menu.

Da Claudio: one pizza for two is enough for a light meal. Pizzas are good. Live music.

Duck 995: for fast meals, very convenient before a dive.

House of Pad Thai: great pas Thai and even better drinks.

Nanya’s: good Thai food.

Dairy Queen: one of the few place that accepts credit cards without fees. The matcha red bean ice cream can be a nice dessert if you had too much mango sticky rice. Close at 9 pm.

Onions: good and healthy western food. Nice place to chill. It closed randomly during our stay without any explanation.

We have tasted many other places in the same area, they were okay.

Phuket

We had 4320 bahts (112 euros) in cash to spend in 2 days in Phuket before we left. The hotel room was already paid for. We naively think it would be too much since we wanted to relax and not do much.

At the restaurants, I had the feeling we were encouraged to order more.

At 10 am, it was 30 degrees, with a dew point at 24 degrees, and 69% humidity. Temperatures do not drop much at night, only by a few degrees.

Phuket was quite clean, but we could occasionally smell the sewers in the entire old town.

There were many clothes shops in Old Town Phuket. Y hunted for breathable pants for hours.

We were looking for a nice Thai restaurant, we ended up in Blue Elephant. The lunch menu was excellent. Three servings of three dishes each. Not a lot of new and surprising flavors. But it was perfectly executed. The restaurant is located in an impressive colonial house with a large garden. There were incredibly large orchids bouquets on each table.

There was a Blue elephant restaurant in Paris, which closed during the pandemic. Y has been there years ago. We had to pay by card, the remaining cash was not enough.

We visited a café with the most conspicuous decoration I have seen: fake flowers everywhere. You actually need to order before entering because the main activity there consists in taking pictures.

There are two food courts with affordable food priced fairly.

Anfield Cafe: we passed 3 times in front of the café in the evening when there was no live music. Every time, the waiter told us the music would resume in 10 minutes. We started to doubt it. The live music is a real thing! There are two bands in the evening until 1 am. When we were there, there were also 3 big screens broadcasting the Tennis Australian Open. I enjoyed the tennis match because the music was not good enough to focus all my attention on it.

Bye Phuket

We took Nok Air, a Thai airline, to fly to Chengdu, China. Since December 2023, French citizens (among others) are allowed to travel to China for 15 days, 14 nights without visa. At the check-in counter, they did not know about it, and asked us to wait on the side while they confirmed it with their hierarchy. We were asked to show the tickets to exit China. She counted the number of days multiple times. We could not add check in luggage online. We had to pay 1500 bahts for each luggage by cash at the counter. We did not have enough cash anymore, so we changed some Singaporean dollars. She accepted to count a single luggage as long as the total weight of hour two bags was under 20 kg. We removed many clothes and wore multiple layers. I was too hot for the airport, but it would be perfect when we arrive in China.

The duty-free tax refund was after the security check. It was not necessary to present the goods we purchased because they were not valuable enough. We could choose to receive the tax refund in yuan, US dollars or bhats. The refund was a bit disappointing because the amount of each purchase fell in a bracket and the lower end of the bracket was used to determine the refund. And the conversion rate in USD was pretty terrible. We got 17 US dollars, I was expecting almost twice that amount.

Practical Details

We could not avoid ATM fees which were between 200 and 250 bahts per withdrawal (5.23 – 6.53 euros).

Sockets support European and American plugs.

Miscellaneous

Dates on search engines (I only checked on Google) are shifted by 543 years and prefixed with BE (Bouddhist Era). Year zero of the Thai solar calendar is when Buddha attained Parinirvana, basically when he died.

Many kids have circular patterns made of clay and applied with fingers. It is a Burmese tradition.

Very few travelling salesmen, street vendors, or solicitations on the streets. Just some distribution of flyers for the parties in Koh Tao. Some taxi drivers are waiting at the crossroads with ‘taxi’ written on cardboards.

Fruits are delicious. Prepared fruits are affordable.

We could not pay with Phonepe, the phone payment app. A local phone number and account are probably needed. Credit cards are sometimes accepted. We withdrew a lot of cash, since they charge 3% commission on credit card payments in most places.

In Thailand, people drive on the left because of the British influence even though the country has never been under British rule.

Everywhere we have been, it is really hot during the day and the temperatures do not significantly drop at night.

The heat was more bearable in Koh Tao compared to Bangkok and Phuket.

People were wearing fancy and comfortable flip-flops. The sole is thick with cushioning and grip. The straps look comfortable as well. It might be nice to upgrade our 10-year-old flip-flops at some point.

Food

Morning glory also known as water spinach is a ubiquitous vegetable.

I had high expectations regarding food in Thailand. I was disappointed. The products were fresh and good. The flavors of the Thai cuisine were not knew to me: no real surprise or discovery. The cooking skills were really average in Koh Tao and Phuket. We usually go to low to mid-range restaurants.

There were many Chinese restaurants. And many dishes in Thai restaurants are actually Chinese.

Drinks come with a lot of ice, sometimes ice cubes fill the entire glass.

In Koh Tao and Phuket, restaurants are serving almost exclusively tourists, including a few Thai tourists. Most tourists I talked to are satisfied with the quality of the food on the islands.

Thai food is accessible because of the flavors and the ingredients. It is made of fresh and high quality ingredients, and is exotic enough. Actually, it’s not surprising many people like it, even if it is not super well-prepared.

I would stay in Bangkok a little longer for better food next time I visit Thailand.

To be honest there are some good options for Italian, Burmese, Chinese, Japanese and “Western” food on the islands. I was just not convinced by the Thai food.

After India

At the hotels, we were happy to have proper blankets with covers. The shower was separated from the sink, so the bathroom floor was not completely wet after we showered. Infrastructures in Bangkok are way better than every city we visited in India. It was also cleaner. There were a lot more foreigners.

The first time I visited Thailand, I was impressed by the service and how nice people were. After visiting Turkey, Uzbekistan, and India, where people are overall super nice, I had a different impression. Thai were nice, not as nice as I remembered. They did smile a lot, and greeted us politely. We visited very touristic places, I guess it is hard to be warm and friendly with hordes of tourists when you are simply doing your job or living your life surrounded by them.