Since we’ve been in Thailand for such a long time, I’m going to skip the small talk and get to the point: I thought Thailand was amazing. My family might not agree with me on that, because we spent so much time in Phuket, and Phuket isn’t the shining star of Thailand. In our time exploring Thailand, we went to Chang Mai, Bangkok, and of course, Phuket and its surrounding islands.
Chang Mai was our first land travel, and it was such a cool little place. We spent about 3 days there, not really going to museums and temples, but just walking the streets. I think that’s a great way to explore places. If you’ve ever been to Bali, you would really like Chang Mai. It’s super compact and small, and each day you don’t get run over is another day to pray to God. The last activity we did on our trip was a cooking class, focused on the Thai culture of Lanna, which is up in the northern tip of Thailand. We had the most amazing food in the entire world! It was so good, especially the dessert. It was thick coconut cream, ground with rice to be made into cream, then put in little egg ring things, and dipped in brown sugar with scallions. So good!
Bangkok. Wow. Bangkok. Just Bangkok. There’s nothing else to say, besides Bangkok. It’s a booming megacity. Beautiful and amazing, dirty and sweaty. It’s balance. It’s the Force. It’s Bangkok. I loved it. So did Stella. The others weren’t so hot on it. We met my grandparents and explored the food temples and just the street. Bangkok is also one of those places, like Chang Mai, that you can explore just by walking the streets. The only con was the air pollution. I loved Bangkok all the same, but I would’ve loved it even more without the air feeling like it was clogged.
And finally, Phuket. Don’t try to pronounce it, because you’re definitely saying it wrong. It’s PUU-ket. The H isn’t pronounced in Thai. Anyway, we spent so much time in Phuket. Most of it was exploring the island and exploring the mainland, but a full week was spent hauling* our boat out and cleaning it. My mom doesn’t like Phuket, my dad isn’t for it either, and I’m neutral. We loved staying in Thailand as a whole, partly because of the food and amazing things to do, but Phuket wasn’t the greatest (so much traffic!). The only ones who were fine with staying in Phuket were Stella and Cleo. Even they were just there for the Muaythai. (Muaythai is amazing!! Look it up).
*Hauling your boat means taking it out of the water to do any maintenance that is needed on the bottom of the boat. There’s really only one thing you need to know: that it’s not fun!!