Thailand: Overview

We spent almost 3 weeks in Thailand and visited 4 areas: Bangkok, Kata Beach on Phuket, Railay Beach in Krabi, and Koh Tao.  For more detail on each location as well as getting vaccines in Thailand, see the links to each separate blog post at the bottom of this overview blog post.  Also, be sure to see the pictures from Thailand here.

​Overall, I found Thai people to be very pleasant.  At the markets, there weren't very many really pushy people trying to get you to buy their stuff.  Of course you encountered a few, but it wasn't the norm.  In Bangkok, every time you passed a massage place, they asked you if you wanted a massage, but if you said no, they were accepting of the answer.  On Koh Tao, there were several taxi drivers standing around asking you if you wanted a taxi, but again, if you said no, they went on to the next person.  

A few things about Thailand in general:

• Language Barrier (or not): We never had trouble with the language.  It is helpful (and polite) to learn a few words in Thai, but you can get by easily in the places we went with just English.  
  
  
• Booking: We used 12go.asia to book most of the ferries and buses we used.  They have so far been very legit, easy to use, and have low prices.
  
  
• Elephants: You should NEVER ride an elephant or go to an elephant show.  Would a wild elephant let you ride it?  Nope.  In order for it to be "safe" for someone to ride on an elephant (or to teach it tricks), the elephant must be taken as a baby from its mother and tortured to break its spirits.  The practice is called Phajaan - “the crush” - in Thailand.  Even if you THINK you are at an "ethical" elephant riding center, consider how they were able to break the elephants into letting you ride them and ensuring they won't hurt you.  See more information in the YouTube video here, and take a look at our video clips from visiting Phuket Elephant Sanctuary here.
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• Massages: super cheap (as expected).  A 30 minute foot massage costs around $5 USD (or less)!
  
  
• Health: The food is amazing.  Lots of amazing curry, rice, and noodles.  Pro tip: if you don't like your smoothies and coffee SUPER sweet, ask for everything with no sugar.  They use some kind of sugary syrup in EVERYTHING!
  
  
• Weather: I thought that we were out of rainy season, but it rained a lot while we were in Phuket.  It was pretty sunny for Bangkok and Koh Tao, and it only rained once in Krabi.  The rain was pretty heavy and came on fast when it did rain.  I think the weather is just very fickle and does what it wants.  Just be prepared for any situation, and maybe build in a day or two extra in case your beach day turns into a movie day inside :)
  
  
• Walking & driving: It's super interesting to me that in Thailand they drive on the left-hand side of the road, but they walk on the right-hand side.  So in a car, it's just like other countries that drive on the left-hand side: you drive on the left and pass on the right.  Normally in these countries, the same would apply to walking - you'd walk on the left and pass on the right.  But for walking in Thailand, you walk on the right and pass on the left.  If you're walking by someone who is coming at you, you walk by them on the right.  And if you are standing on an escalator, it should be on the right-hand side unless you are passing someone on the left.  
  
  
• Shipping to Thailand is hard.  I had my parents ship me some vegan hair products, and I knew it was expensive to ship, but I decided that the cost would be worth it.  Then, the products got stopped by customs.  It was all downhill from there.  The email from customs said that processing would take 3-5 business days.  When I called, I was told the actual time was 2 months.  Well, I wasn't going to be at the same address for 2 months, so I asked what could be done.  I was told that I could make an "unofficial payment" to the customs officer's personal bank account.  He emailed me his name and bank account number (from his personal gmail account), and I made a deposit of $83 to him as a bribe.  After a few days of more waiting, I was told that I would need to pay a customs tax of $220 to get the products.  The products are worth $50!  I knew that I may have to pay a tax, but I had no idea it would be over 4 times what the products were worth.  When I called again, I was told that they found the actual value of the products were $500, and they were taxing me based on that amount.  I argued with them over several phone calls, and finally, they lowered the tax to $60.  Yep... shipping into Thailand is hard.

 
Here are links to each separate blog post about Thailand that I've written:

Getting Your Vaccinations in Asia
Bangkok
Kata Beach, Phuket
Railay Beach, Krabi
Koh Tao