Our stay was for two weeks in the country. Started in Chiang Mai where we stayed for five days. Moved to Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort and Spa and finally Bangkok. Each of the locations we stayed at proved to be great for short trips to the various attractions we wanted to see. Chiang Mai was full of many cultural experiences. Santhiya Koh Yao Yai was an awesome relaxing paradise. Bangkok as expected was one of the craziest big cities we have ever seen. For brevity, only a few details will be listed under each section below. To get all the places we visited and attraction details click on the read more link next to each paragraph.

Chiang Mai

There is so much to see in Chiang Mai. Figuring out what to see is a challenge. It has so many temples, statues, bazaars that you always feel the time is not on your side. The plan was to do various trips every day to different attractions. Many of the places you would want to see are a few hours drive so have that in mind when planning. For example, the Floating Market was 3 hours drive from Chiang Mai for us. Elephant Rescue Park was about an hour. Staying in a good hotel with various concierge choices helps. We did that vs arranging those beforehand. Elephant Rescue Park was the only one we pre-arranged due to it being fully booked all the time. Here are some of the photos of the places we visited from Chiang Mai. / read more

Santhiya Koh Yao Yai Resort and Spa

We wanted to have some relaxing time while in Thailand. Santhiya was a perfect place for this. It is a resort located on Koh Yao island and has everything you can imagine for a resort & spa. Due to its location, it is also perfect for daily trips to the Phi Phi islands, Phuket, James Bond island, etc. We truly enjoyed our stay there and we highly recommend it. Here are some of the pictures we took while staying at Santhiya. / read more

Bangkok

Bangkok was a very unique experience for us. It has such a big contrast between the rich and fancy areas and the less fortunate ones. Downtown has these amazing stores, malls, temples, and places to see. We stayed close to downtown and traveled mainly with taxies. Traffic is pretty crazy so plan accordingly. There were many places to visit to list here. Here are some of the photos we took. To get more details about all the places we visited and we recommend click on / read more

Conclusion

After the two weeks we spent in Thailand we left the country truly blessed to have been able to explore and experience it. It has a very different feel from Japan and other countries we have been to. Truly unique landscapes, cuisine, and culture. People were super nice everywhere and always eager to help and assist you. Overall we would really miss Thailand and would want to go back for another similar adventure! Our 5 year old still asks about that trip. It appears he really likes Asian countries :).

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Bangkok is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep. The city occupies 1,568.7 square kilometers (605.7 sq mi) in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has a population of over eight million, 12.6 percent of the country’s population. Over fourteen million people (22.2 percent) lived within the surrounding Bangkok Metropolitan Region at the 2010 census, making Bangkok the nation’s primate city, dwarfing Thailand’s other urban centers in both size and importance to the national economy.

Lodging

In retrospect the hotel we stayed in in Bangkok was ok but nothing extraordinary for a 5 start hotel. It just felt small and cramped. The area could have been better around the hotel as well. Options were few when we were booking so that was the best option at the time. We used taxies to travel around and do day trips.

Things to See

Every day in Bangkok we either explored the attractions of the city or we had a day trip to something that was recommended to us to see. We loved the temples and the Grand Castle. We never expected those places to be so busy so have that in mind. The castle and temples get almost empty after 3 PM since most of the tourist buses leave around that time. We were almost alone in most of them after that time. Also if you look at the map you would notice that most of the main attractions are very close by. So in a day, you could visit the Grand Castle, The Temple of the Emerald Buddha and the Temple of the Dawn for example.

Mahanakhon Skywalk

The skywalk for us was a must-see. You get this stunning 360-degree view of the entire Bangkok. There is a bar and a transparent walkway which felt super scary to some of us :). Also, there is a gift shop and an amazing mall build into the 78 stories tall building. Have in mind that tripods and obviously drones are not allowed at all.
Here is a link to the official attraction web site: https://kingpowermahanakhon.co.th/skywalk/

Thailand’s highest outdoor observation area, with its highest point located at The Peak, 314 meters above ground level.

Wat Phra Kaew, Temple of the Emerald Buddha & Grand Castle

Probably the most impressive set of buildings you would see in entire Thailand. The temple resides on the territory of the Grand Castle which itself is a must-see. Insanely busy attractions. We have never in our lives seen so many people packed in one place at the same time. Make sure you go in the afternoon when it gets less crowded. You can’t go wrong visiting either of those. We explored both the temple and the castle. Have in mind that both have very strict dress code rules and would return anyone who does not follow them.

Built within the grounds of the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew or ‘The Temple of the Emerald Buddha’ is the most important and most visited temple in Bangkok. One of the most significant features of Wat Phra Kaew is the Emerald Buddha, carved from a 66 cm tall block of jade.

Wat Pho, Temple of the Reclining Buddha

Another interesting temple nearby is the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This one left an impression on us due to the Buddha size. It is located within walking distance from the Grand Palace.

Wat Pho, named after a monastery in India where Buddha is believed to have lived, is one of the oldest and largest Buddhist temples in Bangkok. It is also known as ‘The Temple of the Reclining Buddha’ thanks to the 15-meter-high, 43-meter-long Buddha image it shelters, covered with gold leaf and baring 4-meter-long feet encrusted with exquisite mother-of-pearl (or nacre) decorations.

Wat Arun, Temple of the Dawn

This one is better to be seen when it is dark outside. They turn on the lights surrounding the temple and the view is pretty awesome. Very different than the other temples which you see during the day. Worth the wait.
We were quite tired from a full day of exploring other attractions and waiting on the grass to get dark felt relaxing. There are plenty of places to sit and enjoy the view.

Tiger Park

There are not many places in the world that offer close proximity to elephants and tigers. After we found from a brochure in one of the taxies we took about the Tiger Park we knew we are not missing that experience. It was not initially planned in our itinerary and was totally improvised. It was awesome! You have a choice between baby/small/medium and large tigers with which you share a large cell. You can play/touch the baby and the small tigers where the medium and large ones you kind of do not want to even if you could. The time per session is 30 minutes and you can buy as many sessions as you want.

We have never in our life witnessed bigger and more majestic animals than the ones we saw in this Tiger Park. Some of the large ones felt as big as some of the elephants we played with the previous day. Size-wise we spent time with the baby and the small tigers. You have plenty of time to take photos and also enjoy the experience. The prices were reasonable overall. Here is a link to their web site: http://tigerpark.co.th/

Floating Market

Floating markets are quite a popular tourist attraction in Thailand. There are multiple ones in the country and each is somewhat unique. We went to one that was recommended by our concierge at the hotel. It was not very close but the drive was worth it. Quite a unique experience. You are on one of Thailand’s famous motorized small boats shopping through these water canals, surrounded from every side by merchants. All prices are negotiable. Make sure you negotiate the time on the boat. We had to argue to have two trips around the entire market. One was not enough to really get the feel since we were there early and most of the shops were closed.

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