12 Days in Thailand - Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi

Back in 2022, I was on a night out with some friends, myself and Daniel were talking about our travel adventures and where we'd prospectively like to go in the next few years. I rememeber vividly the conversation, and we were all pretty tipsy at this point and he said "Ben, have you ever been to Thailand?" I said "no, I'd never really thought about travelling to Asia besides Tokyo". Then that night we booked our flights to Thailand, roll on 6 months we were flying out for the greatest holiday of our lives.

Flight Route: Quatar Airlines Manchester > Doha > Bangkok

Bangkok > Doha > Manchester

Accomodation Stayed in:

Bangkok: Khet Khlong Toei, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, Thailand

Phuket: The Topaz Residence, Phuket, Chang Wat Phuket, Thailand

Krabi: Kannapat House Krabi Villa 5,

Bangkok: GardenRoominCityCenter/3MintoBTS/Storebag/SpeedWF

Bangkok

5 days in Bangkok

Day 1 Highlights

Bangkok is privileged with a wide variety of parks and green spaces where you can easily spend parts of your day relaxing in the shade out of the blaring heat of the Sun and take in the lovely scenery and wildlife. We decided to take a little walk around Benchasiri Park which wasn't too far from our flat on the way to Wat Arun.

We arrived at Wat Arun and you can easily spend a couple of hours walking around the 'Temple of Dawn'. This is a gorgeous Buddhist temple with architecture so unique and interesting, I've never seen anything like this during my travels before. It has one main spire and four small ones and is so iconic that it’s on Thai money. From the top of the main spire, you get to see sweeping views of the city.

We then took a break from all of the walking in the heat and paid 25 Baht for a boat ride that takes you up the Khlong Bangkok Yai river so you can see the iconic Golden Big Buddha and some of the parts of Bangkok that tourists wouldn't typically go and see. Of course, we had a couple of cans of Chang Beer to help us relax and enjoy the experience and we got some really nice photos.

We got off the boat on the other side of the river and continued our adventure on foot around Wat Pho which is the home to the famous Reclining Buddha and massage school. and the Samphanthawond District to check out more of the temples and wonderful architecture before walking around Lumpini Park.

Day 2 Highlights

Grand Palace - The royal family don't actually live in the palace, it's only used for official state functions and you can't actually go inside any of the buildings but it's definitely worth wandering around the grounds and the open temples.

King Power MahaNakon Tower - Standing at 320m tall, this is the tallest building in Thailand. You can take the elevator up to the 60th floor and you can walk round the entire floor to get a full 360 degree of the Bangkok skyline. You can also take an elevator or walk the stairs up to the glass skywalk but trust me when I say this isn't for the faint hearted and getting up to the to level personally became a bit of a challenge but Daniel seemed to have no problems getting up to see it what so ever.

Rajadamnern Thai Boxing - You cannot go to Thailand without experiencing a Muy Thai Boxing event. It's impossible not to at least be aware of it because of the amount of advertisements and Vans that have posters or people on top promoting the sport.

The Rajadamnern stadium is the worlds first Muy Thai Boxing stadium and the events are entertaining and full of excitement. Typically, the stadium will have events on 5 days a week tat usually last for a couple of hours with a number of fights lasting around 30 minutes per fight and tickets for the events aren't actually that expensive

Tickets for these events in baht cost:

Second Class (Section 10) 1,500

Club Class (Sections 8 & 9) 1,800

Ringside (Sections 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7) 2,500

VIP Lounge (Sections 1 & 2) 3,500

Day 3 - Ayutthya Day Tour

If you have read any of my travel blogs and adventures, you will know that I love using Get Your Guide for planning day trips, and usually they're not overly priced when you take into consideration gas prices for getting from place to place.

We booked onto a group day tour with a number of people from different countries, mainly from Europe with our lovely host Anna who took us on a route to 4 different places full of history and interesting landmarks and scenery including the Bang Pa-in Palace,

Wat Yai Chai Mongkon where they had several reclining buddha.

We seemed to have arrived during a festive period in Bangkok as they were placing orange cloth around the buddhas and on the temples themselves, Wat Maha Tat and Wat Chaiwatthanaram. We booked ourselves onto a tour that allowed us to stop off for lunch in a very peaceful and scenic restaurant next to a river where we could re-energise and speak with our fellow travellers and overall we both really enjoyed ourselves.

Phuket Highlights

Phuket is the largest island in Thailand and is well known for its crystal clear waters, stunning beaches and let's call it a vibrant and atmospheric nightlife.

Wat Chai Thararam (Wat Chalong)

Wat Chalong is the largest of Phuket's temples and the most visited.

Inside you will find a number of Buddha statues facing inwards in a large square along with breathtaking paintings and mosaics, around the temple grounds, there are green spaces you can walk around and just take in the breathtaking scenery that this area has to offer.

We found some food stands that were selling some interesting food and snack options including bags of salted Bugs. I don't actually think these are things that the locals actually ate and are more for tourists but all the same, we thought they tasted pretty nice.

Big Buddha Phuket

The Big Buddha sits on top of the Nakkerd Hills between Chalong and Kata and is a 45 meter high white Buddha statue that can be seen all across the island.

This is one of the greatest places to visit for a sunset view as it has incredible sweeping views of Phuket and the sea as a backdrop. You can walk all the way around to get a 360 view of Phuket and then if you're feeling really adventurous, you can take the dirt track down to the beaches. Let me tell you, this is totally worth it but make sure you're wearing the appropriate footwear because at times, the track can be slippy and steep.

Beaches

Phuket is home to some of the most spectacular beaches in Thailand

You can enjoy them during the day or go for a walk during sunset and you'll capture some incredible photos

Green Elephant Sanctuary Park Phuket

Riding elephants may sound like a dream to many tourists but this is actually really bad for the elephants and their health, the Elephant Sancturary take in and look after elepants that have been enslaved to elephant rides and circuses, it's quite sad to see as you can clearly see the scars that have been left from the chains, ropes and mounts to alow tourists to ride them. But at the sanctuaries, they are fed, bathed and all round looked after with care and love.

Spending half a day at one of these incredible sanctuaries is definitely a must see and do thing during your time in Phuket and is by far one of the most humbling, exciting and probably my favouite activity of the whole adventure.

A half day visit including Breakfast / Lunch and transportation to the sanctuary as well as feeding the elephants, covering them in mud and then bathing and washing them in the water costs around 3,000 THB.

Beaches

Phuket is notorious for it's stunning beaches. Besides the infamous Patong Bay, there are many other beautiful beaches in Phuket including Freedom Beach, Surin Beach, Kata Beach and Nai Harn. The sea is very warm, almost like a nice bath to dip in and out of the hot Thai sun, we enjoyed some bottles of chang and cocktails and food at the local bars and restaurants and took some pictures on the swing whilst taking in the breath taking view with a familliar face.

Monkey Hill

There is a trail that leads you up a small mountain called Monkey hill where you will no doubt see some monkeys so it's important to be on your best behaviour, they may come up beside you on the ropes along the path and startle you so be aware of your surroundings and make sure you don't have any food in sight and your backpack securely fastened shut.

Phuket Old Town

The old town of Phuket (usually called Phuket Town or Old Phuket Town) is a remarkable mix from the remains of Portuguese colonial architecture and Chinese influence.

Some streets in Phuket Town are really well renovated. We really liked the Soi Romanee (also written Romani). Here you will find some nice cafes, such as the Dou Brew Coffee & Craft or the city’s most popular ice cream parlor, Torry’s Ice Cream. We get the feeling that there are many great restaurants and cafes in Phuket Town to choose from!

Phuket Town is also known for its variety of street art. Some murals or graffiti have been created with impressive detail on the house walls. The mural, which stood out to us the most, was the one with the former king – you’ll find it on Dibuk Road.

Krabi

We got the Water Taxi from Phuket Rassada Pier (Phuket) to Klong Jilad Pier (Krabi) via the Phi Phi Cruiser

Typically prices range from £54 - £165

Down the road about half a mile from where we were staying, we found a lovely little restaurant in a forest with a view of a litle lake and they did the most delicious food. I ordered a prawn paella kind of dish that came in a Pineapple with an Iced coffee and Daniel had some form of traditional Thai Curry and a smoothie

Tiger Temple - at Wat Tham Suea

A 1260 step staircase / 309m high mountain top that takes you to the summit of the beautiful views of Krabi where you can see the limestone rocks with the Golden Buddha at the top. This is one of the most adventurous tourist attraction in the region. There is also the famous Tiger Cave and the "Wonderland rainforest" are extremely interesting and worth seeing. A visit to this site is a must as the grounds are spectacular and the views at the top of the summit is worth the 1 hour hike.

Once at the top, you will be rewarded with the most gorgeous views over Krabi’s limestone cliffs and the rain forest. A huge golden Buddha sits on the large terrace, and also several other statues adorn this viewing platform. The meditative silence makes summiteers calm and some of them rest a long time up there. Many visitors even stay until the evening to enjoy the unique sunset.

Kayaking in a secret resovoir - Mueang Krabi - Nong Thale

One of the mornings we decided to pay 10 BHT each to rent a boat to kayak around a secret resevoir for a maximum of 3 hours, as you kayak through some limestone cliffs and into a jungle, there is a platform as you make your way through the trees where you can get out of the boat and plunge yourself into the clear blue waters.

Sunsets on the beach

We decided to spend our nights on AO Nang beach because the sunsets on this beach were stunning and they had some evening entertainment where you can order some local food and drink and enjoy the pyro dancers.

Bangkok (Part2)

Our last night of our first leg in Bangkok, we decided we would go for a few drinks and head out to Soi Cowboy to see what all the hype was about. If you are a male then you will highly likely get approached by the many "ladies" roaming the street in front of the bars and clubs asking you for a "fun night". The bars however were pretty fun.

We went to a bar called Vadhana where they had Pool tournaments and live bands playing cover songs.

If you are staying in Bangkok for longer than 3 days and you have run out of all of the touristy things to see and do, there are always places such as the Bangkok Awuarium and Madame Tussauds, rather than the London venue, this version has a large Bolywood collection of wax figures.