I came to thailand more than 2 weeks back. It was a fairly sudden trip. Leave job, plan everything and fly out within a week or so. The first week blog talks about why thailand and why I am traveling solo. I started off in Bangkok (because of the regulations and COVID stuff). Then I spent a few days in Khao Yai National Park which was beautiful with rolling hills. I then came to Pattaya to enjoy a bit of luxury and ocean views without traveling too far from Bangkok.
In Pattaya, I pretty much stayed in the room and walked around the hill of the area I stayed in. I explored a few coffee shops and the beach but by and large I was just trying to be instead of doing anything.
Phang Nga
Phang Nga is a province in the southern part of Thailand. It’s about 70KM from Phuket Airport. I flew into Phuket (because that’s the nearest airport) and stayed overnight at a nearby hotel. The next morning I set out to figure how to get to phang nga. I found that there is an hourly bus from Phuket Airport that goes south to Phuket town where the Bus Terminal is located.
Apparently phuket has 2 bus terminals, the older one called Bus terminal 1 for more short buses and minivans while the Bus terminal 2 is for long routes like to Bangkok etc. So it takes about 1 to 1.5 hour and 100 THB to go from Phuket Airport to Bus terminal 1. From bus terminal 1 there are usually hourly mini-vans to various places like Krabi, Surat Thani and Phang Nga. I took a mini-van to Phang Nga bus station and as usual it was 100THB and super cheap. It took about 2 hours to get there.
I had planned to stay in this Airbnb called Khanittha’s Homestay that’s built into mangroves in a small fishing village of Bang Toei. The owners were kind enough to pick me up from the bus station (about 15 KM away) and I spent about 4 days in that area. The airbnb by itself was very beautiful and secluded. The house was like a hut built on stilts and the mangroves around with tides coming in and out (sometimes under the hut as well).
I ended up renting a motorcycle and just roamed around the area. One of the days I went to Sa Nang Manora state park which had an interesting trail (free to enter) but it wasn’t maintained so there were parts where you had to literally step into water to continue. I was like the only person there (which is another benefit of going to random places especially in COVID with low tourist numbers).
The next day I went to Than Bok Khorani national park and that had a small hike and waterfall. The national park area actually encompasses a lot of islands around including the famous James bond island. You could take boats and spend the entire day browsing these islands (which I didn’t do). I did however go to this café in the middle of nowhere in an area called Ao Luek. Ao Luek is halfway between Phang nga and Krabi and the only reason I found this place was because the point to point distance from my Airbnb to this place was like 5-10KM but to actually get there it was 60KM.
The views from this café (which seems to have nothing nearby including hotels or any civilization) were mindblowing. It was like the perfect view I have ever seen in an café. There were very few people around and the coffee was especially good. You could just sit and see 270 degree ocean views with all these tall limestone mountain islands poking up in between and mangroves covering some parts of the water. I would say this was one of the highlights of the trip and worth the 60KM drive on a scooter.
Apart from that I just lazed at the Airbnb, and visiting cafés nearby. One of them was situated on top of a river and had a very good vibe.
Phuket
I decided to come back to Phuket to start the next leg of my trip. On the way I met a friend who happened to be in Thailand as well and so this was my first time in Patong area. It’s the most popular beach of Phuket but COVID has taken a toll even here. It was generally very quiet and the beach was very relaxed with a lot of activities to do. I spent a day there.
Motorcycles
Having rented motorcycles in Thailand last 2 weeks, I have found this to be one of the most amazing things here. It’s super cheap – starting from 200 THB for a scooter per day (USD 6) to a slightly more powerful 150cc motorbike at 300 THB and the heavier bikes under 1000 THB. If you rent for longer, you can always negotiate.
Having a bike for cheap and available easily allows you to be very flexible and mobile. You can just choose to go anywhere at random. For example, I realized that taking a taxi from Phuket bus terminal to Patong was 350 THB and motorcycle taxi was 180THB one way. I instead just rented a motorcycle for 200THB and got to Patong and back and could also stop at random cafes along the way if I liked.
Food
If you are not a vegetarian, the food is plentiful and cheap. Just walk in to any small places and eat the staples like Khao pad (fried rice), Pad grapao (rice with stir fried basil and minced pork), pad thai etc. Most of these small places charge around 60-80THB for this meal while the 4* restaurants might charge 170-200 THB. I have been eating a lot of random local food with pad grapao being my staple diet and it’s been pretty good everywhere!