Traval in Thailand

- You have decided to visit Asia for your next vacation and have decided to go to Bangkok, Thailand. Your flight is booked but you are still looking for a hotel. But, how do you decide which hotel to stay at?Your decision should be based on what you plan to do while you are "Krung Thep". Will you be spending most of your time sightseeing, shopping or enjoying the nightlife? You don’t want to waste valuable time in a Bangkok taxi inching along Sukhumvit Road.Siam Square area is a good place to stay if you want to have some fun shopping. There are hundreds of small shops at street level and the Siam Center and the Siam Discovery shopping centers have many up-market brand label shops. On the top floor of Siam Discovery Center there is a cinema complex with some of the most comfortable seats to be found in the world. After a hard days shopping, relax and lie down as you watch a movie!Another great shopping mall nearby is Mahboonkrong MBK. It will take only minutes to walk there from …

- Over six million foreigners fly into Thailand each year. It hasbecome Asia’s primary holiday destination and is well located,serviced and popular as a first stop on any overland journeythrough Southeast Asia.Tourist money has played a significant part in the country’srecent development. Yet amazingly Thailand’s cultural integrityremains largely undamaged. In this country of fifty-threemillion people, over are practicing Theravada Buddhists.King Bhumibol is a revered figure across his nation. Templerooftops and saffron-robed monks dominate the entire country.Though some cities and beach resorts are have been westernizedby high-rises and neon lights, the typical Thai community is thetraditional farming villager. Still true to this day, ninetypercent of Thais still earn their living from the land.Most journeys start in Bangkok . It can be an overwhelmingintroduction to Southeast Asia, as Bangkok is characterized withits chaos, noise and pollution, but there are travell…

- It is the dawn of a new morning in the beautiful Andaman Beachin Phuket. Vendors start arriving with their colourful goods;resort workers conscientiously prepare the many lounge chairsand umbrellas that will shield the noonday sun. The masseusesare waiting near the trees, chatting as they wait for customers.Life goes on for these Thais who depend on tourism for theirlivelihood. Everything is as it has always been, except for oneimportant detail. The tourists are nowhere to be found.After the devastating tsunami that hit this once tourist-densearea of Southeast Asia the day after Christmas in , thenumber of tourists in this picturesque Thai destination has gonedown to a mere handful. Just a year ago you would have seen analmost frenzied horde of foreigners filling the beaches and theresorts, but today the picture is less festive, and more sombre. However, the resilience of the people of Thailand is evidenteverywhere, especially where the tsunami’s devastation hit the…

- Our trip to Thailand had been long awaited, originally plannedfor the winter of . My wife Karin had bought the maps andbooks and even packed; we were off. The balloon was ready atThunder and Colt with a heavy duty basket tailor made for harduse overseas. And then they went bust. The delay meant that wemissed the relatively short window available for flying inThailand. So it was rainy old England for most of the winter anda rethink of the plan for us. I had been asked to go out thereby Jon Nunns having previously worked for him in South Africaflying passenger ride balloons. Jon’s interest in Thailand comes from several commercial tourshe’s probably had the most experience of flying in Thailand. Skyballoons agent in Thailand managed to sell one of the firstballoons to roll off the production line to a pair of businessmen who wanted to learn to fly and fly advertising banners in Icome again, this time to train and point them the right way. So after a fantastic summer…

- Thailand is known as the land of smiles, which is amazingconsidering the traffic jams in Bangkok. For budget travelers,Thailand simply can’t beat on price alone. ThailandThailand is an odd mix of contrasts. It can be extremelystressful while trying to get around in Bangkok and gloriouslyrelaxing while laying on practically any of the beaches thatpopulate the coast of the country. Regardless of the situation,the Thais have a habit and custom or smiling regardless of whatyou ask or how you ask it. BeachesThe beaches of Thailand need no introduction. Used as thesetting for hundreds of movies, they come in a variety ofstyles. The beaches of Phuket and Phi Phi fall along the linesof traditional beach resort areas like you might find in a placesuch as Cancun, Mexico or Tamarindo, Costa Rica. On the otherend of the scale, you can find more rustic beach areas in placeslike the island of Ko Chang where you’ll have a few beachbungalows, a couple of bars and one or two stores. I…

- Chang Mai is the largest city in the north of Thailand and wellworth a trip. In many ways, Chang Mai is similar to Bangkok, butwithout the mass of people. Chang MaiChang Mai is perhaps the most serene big city I have ever hadthe privilege of visiting. Located at the foot of a largemountain, the city nicely meshes older areas with modernconveniences. Serene Buddhist temples stand only a few blocksfrom bustling universities. Much of the city can be walked, butmoped rentals are cheap and plentiful. Street markets arecommon, but the hustle and bustle of Bangkok is not. The night market is perhaps the most noted thing about ChangMai. Located in the eastern side of the city, the night marketruns about a mile down the length of street dwarfed by malls,restaurants, stores selling art and spas. The stalls on the sideof the road tend to sell cheap touristy products, but you shouldcheck them out anyway to sample some of the food items. Thaisseem to take great humor from cooking a…

- Thailand is a land of enchanting and exotic tastes for foreignvisitors as I was to learn when I experienced the Water Festivalof Loi Kathong on the island of Ko Chang. Ko ChangIn October , the travel bug seriously bit me. The symptomsled me to sell my business, pack a small backpack with necessaryitems and roll into Los Angeles International Airport with amajor credit card and an attitude. A few days later, I was inThailand and headed for the island of Ko Chang, located close tothe border with Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand. Ko Chang is a heavily forested island with little towns full ofbeach huts. This is what I was exactly what I was after.Spending days lounging in the sun and contemplating my navel.Unfortunately, I soon experienced the local bacteria, which wasnot what I was after. Since I had rented my beach hut for a week with payment inadvance, the family running the place looked me upon favorably.They took pity on me and I was soon growing fat on Tom Yom K…