Thailand Adventure

In August I went on a trip to Thailand, hosted by one of our Travel Groups, EXO Travel. I was one of 12 travel consultants to be fortunate to be on this tour. This trip was for us all to experience Thailand & to see what EXO Travel can put together & offer our clients. The trip was also in partnership with Dusit Hotels. We made our own arrangements to fly into Bangkok. I flew with EVA Air, direct from Heathrow & it was an 11 hour 30 minute flight. On arrival, I was met by a local guide, it took 45 mins from the airport to my hotel, the Asai Chinatown in Bangkok. I haven’t been to Thailand before & the first thing that hit me was the humidity. The hottest time of the year is April and the best time to go is from November to March. I met Pam from EXO Travel who was to be with us throughout our time in Thailand & the rest of the group in the hotel reception. Our first tour was a walk around Chinatown with our local guide Gong. Gong was going to be with us throughout our time Bangkok. I didn’t know what to look at first, there were so many different sights and smells to take in. We tried a few things to eat & drink along the way & saw how local dishes were made. We ended the evening with a lovely dinner at the hotel. Day 2 – We started the morning with a trip to Wat Pho, once of Bangkok’s oldest temples, it was wonderful to walk around & listen to the resident monks chanting. Here is where the reclining Buddha image resides, it’s the 3rd largest in Thailand and took over 17 years to build. Next was The Grand Palace, where we went by tuk tuks. This was my first time on a tuk tuk (but not my last!) The Grand Palace has served as the seat of Thailand’s revered Royal family for more than 2 centuries. After, we boarded a long tail boat along Bangkok’s khlongs. We had lunch at a garden restaurant called ‘Poomjai Garden’. Owned by a local Thai family, who work with the local community to source ingredients to be used in the restaurant. We later arrived at our second hotel of the trip. This was dusitD2 Samyan Bangkok. We had time to freshen up, before our hotel inspection. The hotel had laid on a wonderful buffet and drinks for us, &after we were able to enjoy a cocktail on the roof top bar before retiring for bed. Day 3 - The breakfast was wonderful, it included a wide variety of food, from continental, to various Thai dishes, as well as sweet treats. We were collected by our mini buses & taken on a 25 min journey to the train station. The journey took 1 hour to get to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed city of Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya dates to the 14th Century. We visited various majestic Wat Yai temples and as well as Wat Mahathat, which is a restored ruin of a Buddhist monastery & where you can see Buddha’s face naturally emerging from a tree! After lunch, we were taken by tuk tuk to the mooring point, we boarded our boat to travel around Ayutthaya Island. Then it was time to go back to our hotel, where we had a quick change before we went off out for dinner!! For dinner this evening, our venue was Benjarong Bangkok at Baan Dusit Thani. During this special meal we met our individual account managers that we work with from EXO when putting quotes together for our clients. The food was extraordinary. Day 4 - The next day, we were up early, to leave the hotel for an 5am internal flight to Chaing Rai from Bangkok Airport. The flight was 1 hour. Sadly it was time to say our goodbyes to Gong. We were met at Chaing Rai airport by our guide Sam, we went to the hotel for a quick lunch, before going to explore the Blue Temple. We then visitied a tea plantation, we certainly enjoyed our iced tea and cake taking in the views, as we were quite tired at this point! That evening, we were staying in the ChainRai Riverside hotel. We enjoyed a lovely dinner with the hotel manager, then bed! Day 5 - The following morning we started our journey to Chaing Mai. On the way we visited 2 temples, & stopped off in a local village & experienced a beautiful home cooked lunch in a families home. We arrived at our next hotel, the dusitD2, Chaing Mai, & had a hotel inspection. Then dinner in the hotel, hosted by the hotel manager followed by some free time to explore the street market for some souvenir shopping. Day 6 - The following day we were very excited to be visiting The Elephant Discovery Camp. First, we were to travel on a bamboo raft along the Mae Wang River, what an adventure. Our Elephant Mahout walked us to our camp where we were introduced to the Elephants, we learnt their story a&how they are looked after each day. After their lunch, we walked them down to the river to see them bathe. Once back at the hotel, we got ready for our evening street food tour of Chiang Mai. We tried all sorts of different food. This is where locals dine as it's so inexpensive. We ended our evening in an ice cream shop, taking with us the banana fritters that were made for us at one of the street food stands. Day 7 - After we checked out of our hotel we began our journey by plane to Phuket which took 2 hours. Once we arrived we explored Phuket old town by tuk tuk of course! We were staying at the Dusit Laguana Phuket for 2 nights, after a lovely welcome, we started our hotel inspection. I had a lovely room overlooking the beach & was able to enjoy some free time before another wonderful dinner. Day 8 - We'd been looking forward to this day! We boarded our long tail boat & visited ‘James Bond’ Island famous for the filming of ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’. Later we arrived at our private island, where we relaxed, enjoying a wonderful BBQ, cocktails & a swim in the sea. The evening was spent having dinner in one of the various restaurants at the hotel. Day 9 - This morning we checked out & began our road journey towards Krabi. We stopped along the way for lunch & were also treated to a traditional Thai massage. We arrived at Krabi quite late, to our final hotel, & final night in Krabi, at Dusit Krabi Beach Resort. We enjoyed a lovely farewell dinner together. Day 10 - After a wonderful time spent together, it was time to leave for our flight’s back home. I was flying from Krabi to Bangkok & onto Heathrow. Thailand is an amazing country, there is so much to see & do & it suits, couples and families of all ages. If you’d like to find out more about this wonderful country, please contact me and I will put together a memorable itinerary for you.