Thailand, wingin’ it!

Words Lucille Wendler

Thailand has been a trip that we have wanted to do for years. From the temples in Bangkok, to the stunning snorkelling in Kho Tao, our trip was out of this world!

Getting Around

This is fun! Tuk-tuk’s are the coolest way of transportation in Thailand, although they’re a lot more expensive than the normal taxi, you have to try them! In Kho Tao and Kho Samui, we rented scooters which was a lot of fun!

You cannot travel to Thailand without seeing the following:

You have to have a party in Kho San road in Bangkok and walk the streets with a bucket containing a lethal drink of your choice. Snorkelling in Kho Tao was one of our favourite things to do; the marine life is exquisite, and you could spend hours relishing in the natural beauty. An unusual thing to do on a tropical holiday, is to go to an ice-bar, we went to one in Kho Samui, and it was amazing!

Food

Chicken rice, chicken rice, chicken rice! I can’t stress this enough! Boiled chicken, dhanya and rice may not sound that appetizing, but a little place in the heart of Bangkok made the best chicken rice ever and we continued to eat it almost every day! We tried some stranger cuisines such as stink fruit (it really smells bad), but tastes sweet and fluffy, as well as crickets and scorpions which were deep-fried and crunchy, it was, well, interesting to say the least. We tried some street food, which were great; from spicy sausages and chicken kebabs. However, my favourite dish was a crispy shrimp salad at a little place in Khanom, it was mind-blowing! A lot of people are afraid of their bodies reacting to foreign foods which they aren’t accustomed to when travelling. So, to prevent us from getting sick, which luckily, we didn’t, we took activated charcoal tablets, which worked wonders! We also enjoyed the local beers, whisky and brandy’s, and one particular drink, which was a slushy frozen watermelon drink, amazing!

Where to stay

When I say we seriously winged our entire trip, I’m not exaggerating. We booked our first two nights of accommodation in Bangkok the day before we left for Thailand, the rest, we booked as we went along. Most of our accommodation was found on Bookings.com and if I can give you any advice it would be to read the reviews, and the reviews by South Africans, as we tend to trust fellow South Africans’ opinions when travelling and if it’s too good to be true, it most likely is. Most of the places we stayed at in Thailand were around three stars, one was probably minus 1 star, but that’s a story for another day!