Our Thailand trip began and ended in the country’s capital. As we arrived in Bangkok, after 16 hours of flying, we were struck by the muggy hot weather (it was about 0°C in Switzerland when we boarded the plane). Fully loaded with our backpacks we started the journey by finding a place for the night first.

We had quite a culture shock. Bangkok is pure chaos if you compare it to slow-and-quiet Zurich. But fortunately the friendly locals made our start easier and so we managed not only to find a nice place for the night, but also had a great Tuk Tuk tour to some of the must-see landmarks in the city.

And because we missed our connection flight and were stuck in Singapore Changi Airport for 7 hours on our way home, I had plenty of time to capture the amazing Check-in hall:

Check out Part I & Part II.

Before we went to the beaches, boats and islands (see previous post), we went from Bangkok to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.  When we arrived in the morning – after a 12 hour bus ride – the locals were wearing thick jackets and woollen hats. Were we really that far up north?

Fortunately it wasn’t that cold. We had around 15°C in the mornings – for Thais this seems to be near absolute zero. Although Chiang Mai is the second biggest city in Thailand it is almost a village compared to Bangkok. From Chiang Mai we went on a 2 day trekking tour into the mountains, visited the White Temple in Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle and we even took Thai cooking lessons…

In late January we took off to our three week trip across Thailand. We started our journey in Bangkok – without a specific route in mind and without booking any accommodations. All we knew was that we wanted to travel from the north to the south of Thailand. And besides all the friendly people we met and the delicious food we ate, we also avoided the freezing cold in Europe.

Let’s start at the last part of our journey: the paradisal beaches and islands of south Thailand. We started our little island exploration tour on the main land in Ao Nang / Krabi where we visited the famous Railley Beach and the stunning Poda Island. The next stop was Koh Phi Phi. Then we left the Andaman Sea and went to Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand.

Beaches, boats and islands are nice in black & white, too…

Check out part 2 – Chiang Mai & northern Thailand