Now if you’re wondering why I didn’t really get into the details of the actual holiday, the answer is simple – word and space constraints. More importantly, I didn’t want to bore anyone into la-la land by going on for forever and a day. But as I wound up last week’s column, I realised that I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t not talk about all that I had seen and done; I couldn’t not divulge the little things I’d learnt along the way; I couldn’t hold in everything that made up the epic-ness of the trip. So here we are…
Straight off the bat, my first tip would be to procure a visa before heading to Thailand. Yes, you can get a visa on arrival and seeing as it’s one of the few places in the world that grant Indian passport holders this so called luxury, one is tempted to try it out, as was I. But take it from me – everyone else travelling from India is thinking the same way and as you can imagine, it’s not just a handful of us that happen to travel at the same time. I mean, when we touched down in Bangkok and stood in line for our visas, it felt like we were standing in our regular haphazard queues either at the Bombay or Bangalore domestic airports, surrounded by our fellow raucous countrymen and waiting to board a flight to Goa. While the promise of a good holiday may waft above all the noise, hours of travelling and sleeplessness, it’s not enough to make me want to go through all of that again. I’d rather pay the extra couple of hundred bucks, get a visa before arrival and save myself all that chaos and the stress of missing connecting flights…
My second tip would be to not stress about accommodation. You see, I somehow ended up being in charge of all the decision making when it came to our stay across all the stops on our trip and when you have to bear in mind the budgets, cleanliness standards and pre-requisites of five other people, the task can seem quite daunting. However, thanks to the plethora of available options, an amazing booking app and a common whatsapp group where I kept posting details of every hotel I was looking at, it was easy peasy! So for our first two nights of the trip, we stayed in a gorgeous little villa in the Kata beach town of Phuket and took in clear blue skies and waters, the sights and sounds of Patong and Bangla road, the larger than life Big Buddha and the freedom of whizzing around on little dinky bikes.
Our next stop was the island of Phi Phi which was a two-hour boat ride from the mainland of Phuket. Due to the fact that it cannot be reached by bridge or road, the island is free of almost all vehicular traffic, save for a few mopeds, bicycles and a few dozen hand pushed carts that trundle along its cobbled streets. So in order to get anywhere, you need to walk and it’s the walking that allows you to take in all that the island has to offer – from scuba diving and boat trips to restaurants, clubs and live music lounges, it’s all there for the experiencing! We opted for Captain Bob’s Booze Cruise on our first day there and it was everything that the name suggests and then some! Apart from the drinking and cruising, you’re teamed up with different people from around the world, taken to multiple other islands, given a pretty good guided tour and then allowed to watch the sunset while floating around in the sea.
Our third and final stop was the legendary Bangkok and as we made our way over, my mind was overtaken by strains of the song ‘One Night in Bangkok’ coupled with images from ‘The Hangover’. We stayed at a centrally located service apartment and were able to take in a night market, the legendary golden sleeping Buddha, a floating market, a Muay Thai match and a bit of shopping to wind up our trip and balance money. Speaking of which, here’s another tip: buy US dollars when going to Thailand and convert small amounts, as and when you need it. And lastly, never ever worry about food – there’s always a restaurant or street cart to be found with amazing flavours to tickle your taste buds. If not, you can always count on a 7-eleven!
