The Cost of Thai Paradise: Making it Accessible to Everyone

Even though I relied less on other people's blogs for my budgeting for this trip, I still appreciated them when searching for attractions, or food recommendations. I will say that my two main resources for this trip were How to Travel the World on $50 a Day: Revised: Travel Cheaper, Longer, Smarter by Matt Kepnes and, thanks to this book, travelfish.org. So without further ado, here is what I spent. 

Airfare (to Asia): ~$630

Airfare (within Asia): ~$390

Lodging: $850 ($283/person)

Utilities (towel rental, laundry, etc.): ~$40

Transit: ~$310

Activities: ~$330

Attractions: ~$120

Food: ~$230

Souvenirs: ~$130

Total: $3,000

The main difficulty here is that since I traveled with two friends, all the lodging and transit numbers were for 3 people, but all the food and activities are for 1. I did put 1/3 of some of these numbers in parentheses to try to help, but they're pretty inaccurate. I know this makes it complicated, but in reality if you are traveling alone you will pay more for lodging and transit (particularly taxis) since they often are not individual costs.

Since we spent time in Thailand and Cambodia, and many of our pre-trip costs were in USD, I converted my entire budget into USD. However, we spent most of this budget in thai baht. Which brings me to a big question that we had before our trip: How much thai baht do we need in cash? I tried to figure this out as best I could before we left, overestimating many of our spending categories to ensure we had leftovers and weren't short. Something important to note is that while ATM fees are ridiculous, changing money over from USD to thai baht is relatively easy, so bring lots of USD in cash is definitely advisable, since if you don't change it over you can just take it back to the US. We solved the ATM problem by taking money out in Cambodia, only incurring a $5 ATM fee for taking out $400 USD, which we promptly changed to baht on returning to Bangkok.

My pre-trip estimates:

Thai baht needed = 21,000 (=$705 USD)

USD (for Cambodia) needed= $170

The actual numbers:

Thai baht used = 25,000 (=$740 USD)

USD used (in Cambodia) = $300

You can see in these numbers why I ended up needing an additional $200 when we were in Cambodia (the $400 was split between me and Kerry). But overall, my pre-trip estimates were pretty accurate, they just did not account for some of our unplanned expenses. Mainly, these were a cab to Chiang Rai instead of a bus and two very expensive taxi rides to/from airports. Transit is definitely the area of the budget where we spent more than we wanted to, either because we did not pre-plan well or because of the reality that we were non-Thai speaking foreigner tourists trying to negotiate prices when we didn't know what we should be paying in the first place.

I'm definitely pleased with the cost of this trip. I think getting such a low cost flight from the US to Thailand was a huge plus, making me feel better when we went over our in-country budget. Of course, food, souvenirs, and activities are categories that are going to vary based on what you want out of your trip but I felt that what we did was definitely worth the money in most cases. I'm excited about the success of this trip, and can't wait to start planning the next one. I've already got a running list of countries, as well as US cities, that I've got to choose between. 

Until next time!

Railay: 4/20-4/24

The last stop, the final journey We've been quite a few places over the past 3 weeks, and I'm so glad we decided to end our trip here. Besides the fact that this might be the most beautiful beach I've ever been to, we got to spend our time here with three other great friends. You already met Soraya in the post about Chiang Rai, but now Stef and Leah, two of our other medical school classmates, have joined the fun. They are at the beginning of their trip while we are at the end of ours. Are perfect transition point, trading stories and advice, passing on sunscreen and bugspray. Plus, having six people meant more opportunity to have different goals and different experiences of the same place.

Railay is a small beach / resort area in Krabi province. I can not really call it a town since it is pretty clear no one lives here. Leah even said she saw the resort workers running to the pier to catch the last boat out one night. There are resorts, restaurants, mini marts, and tour companies. To our dismay, no bookstores, although six people worth of books were passed around to pass the time. True to the guidebooks and blogs, it's not a culinary destination, but we managed to sniff out the good spots. You come here for the beaches (and some rock climbing but not me), and you marvel at the sunsets. 

I spent all 3 full days here on the beach. Some of my friends went off on treacherous hikes and kayaking, but I was fully ready to take a bum beach by the time we arrived. And these beaches allow you to do just that. 

Railay East - This is where we all stayed, in two different resorts. It is a pier and dock, with no beach to enjoy. This means our resorts were cheaper and quieter. Restaurants were cheaper on West, but it was between them where we found the best deals. 

 

 

Railay West - The amazingly incredible beach. I do not want to know what the resort here cost, because even though it was a 0.5 mile walk from us they looked much fancier. The restaurants definitely were. But we found ourselves a big tree to sit underneath and enjoyed our first full day here. We also enjoyed two sunsets. 

 

 

 

Phra Nang Cave Beach - Named for the Princess Cave it surrounds, this beach was to the south tip of the Railay peninsula. The cave has many myths surrounding it, and is filled with offerings from sailors hoping for a good catch to either a deity or a lost princess, maybe both. Here we discovered a tree that shaded us for the whole day, long boats that operated as food stands, and another amazing sunset. 

 

 

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I managed to only get sunburnt the first beach day, and was cautious the rest of the trip. Having trees to shade us on the beach definitely made a different for me, because otherwise I would have been an overheated, dehydrated tomato. And once we found reasonably priced food, I actually enjoyed my beach kabob and roti for lunch, always accompanied with a fruit shake. Having all of my friends with me meant the world to me, especially since we are all moving to different states in a few months (NY, PA, DE, DC, VA, and IL all represented in our group). I will miss them all, and hope that we can all draw energy from our trip as we move into intern year. 

 

Day Trip to Ayutthaya

*UPDATED*
While researching and collecting recommendations for our time in Bangkok, a visit to Ayutthaya was mentioned by many. It is a small town about 1 hour north, and was the capital of Siam for a few hundred years. We decided it was worth the trip to check out.

Getting there:

Our hostel front desk hero told us the best way was to get a metered taxi to the Hua Lamphong train station, and catch the train up to Ayutthaya. The taxi cost about 60 baht, and our 3rd class wooden seat 20 baht each. The train takes 2 hours, regardless of delays or a late start. 

Getting around:

While most of what we wanted to see was technically "walkable", we decided to rent bicycles for 50 baht each. The whole city is flat with the exception of the bridges crossing the canal, so even someone who's not big on biking should have an okay time. We just walked out of the train station and to the first "Bicycle for Rent" sign. This way, we did not have to pay a tuk tuk but could get around more efficiently.

Planning our route:

Since we were biking, we did a lot of reading about the main sites to see. I found the Ayuthaya in a bicycle by article on travelfish.org to be an invaluable resource. Although we designed our own route, it was great to have a starting point. Plus I used the recommendations on the site to choose our lunch spot. An accurate map of our journey will have to wait until you have access to a good computer, but this is the one that Kerry neatly wrote out the night beforehand. It is not the order we actually saw things and we took many wrong turns, but you can get an idea. 

 

The sites we successfully visited (in the order we visited them):

Wat Chai Watthana Ram

 

Wat Wora Pho

Wat Wora Chet Tha Ram

 

Wat Lokaya Suttha

 

Tourist Administration of Thailand building - mediocre bathrooms, but a great informative air-conditioned exhibit that gives details on many of the temples, including some we were unable to visit. 

Wat Phra Ram

 

Wat Phra Si Sanpeth

 

Wat Ratchaburana

 

Wat Maha That

 

The sites we were not able to visit:

Chedi Sri Suriyothai - closed for construction

Ancient Palace - we were able to bike around it, but found no way to enter it and decided we did not need to investigate further

Wat Thammikarat - on the same plot of land, we think ...

Chao Sam Phraya National Musem - one of two museums in the city, both with a 150 baht entrance fee, which we were not worth seeing at the free exhibit at the TAT building

The food:

Arguable the most important in my opinion. Breakfast was a small place across from Wat Chai, since that's where we started and we were hungry. There were many options along the road, all probably serving similar food. We had vegetable fried rice.

Lunch was pre-planned to be boat noodles, and specialty of Ayutthaya. The location recommendation from travelfish worked out perfect since we ended our day at Wat Maha That our fried rice was filling enough to last until mid afternoon. 

 

Snacks were mostly in the form of hydration, since we stopped at 7-11 for water and juice / tea. We had planned to get roti sai mai outside the Ayuthaya hospital, but did not have a hankering for sweets so we passed. 

Our Recommended Route:
This is, of course, not the route we started out on and not the route we actually took. However, I think that it's what we would have done, if we had to repeat the day knowing what we already know.

(1) Wat Chai Watthanaram

(2) Wat Wara Pho, Wat Wora Chet Tha Ram, Wat Lokaya Suttha

(3) Tourist Administration of Thailand building

(4) Wat Phra Ram, Wat Phra Si Sanpeth

(5) Wat Ratchaburana

(6) Wat Maha That

Lessons learned:

-Reapply sunscreen often

-Stock up on water early, we found ourselves in an area with no 7-11 or minimart for a while while 

-All the bathrooms cost 5 or 10 baht, except at the tourist center

-Be flexible with your route, and stop whenever and wherever you want

- The train back is going to be packed, so be prepared to sit with a stranger or stand the whole way home (2nd class was sold out or we would've upgraded)

 

Phuket Town: 4/18-4/20

I'm crazy behind my posts, mostly because I've been enjoying this beach with my friends. That, and I really did not feel like blogging on the ferry that we took to get here.

Phuket was a later addition to our trip. We had chosen to avoid it because of its partying reputations, but decided that it was worth seeing what everyone was so hyped about. We were heading to Railay, another beach town in neighboring Krabi province, from Phuket we thought the ferry would be a fun way to travel between them. So Phuket Town was the logical choice, since that's where the ferry ships off from. 

We had some plans of doing exploring, but by the time we arrived, I was ready to start my beach bumming. Our hostel was pleasantly quiet compared to Bangkok, as was the surrounding streets. We never did find the partygoers, wherever it is they hang out. 

The two major highlights:

1) Food - We finally got to thai coffee and eat at a local breakfast breakfast spot. It was so good we ate there both mornings. In addition, we found reasonably priced seafood and restaurant food, avoiding the hiked up tourist prices that we had been wary of upon arrival. 

 

 

2) Karon beach - Since Phuket Town is not a beach to offer, all of the beachs have shuttles that you can ride for less than $ 2 US. Kerry researched and chose Karon, since it boasted a large market where we could finish up some souvenir shopping we had been putting off. And the beach itself did not disappont. I could've laid it all day, had not been scorching hot. We sought shelter under palm trees at the top of the beach which was perfect. 

 

 

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Overall, our stay was short but it was just what I needed. Some good food and a short beach stint; Just a warm up to what was to come in Railay. There was not much else that would have held me there otherwise, so more time would not have been useful. We were happy to get on the ferry and head to meet up with our other friends!

Bangkok: 4/13-4/18

I'm a little behind on my post, as we've been in Phuket for almost 24 hours, but i was enjoying my book too in the airport to want to write my post.

Bangkok is a little too big and we were there for a very long post. So I'm going to go to day-by-day with what we did and especially yummy that we ate. 

Day 1 (4/13): We got to our hostel around midnight and crashed, nothing exciting to report. 

Day 2 (4/14): After getting advice from the amazing lady at the front desk of our hostel, we took the Express Boat to Wat Pho , known for its large reclining buddha statue. It was beautiful, and in full Songkran (Thai Buddhist New Year) celebrations. I will not go to a fancy show in their gift-giveaway! We planned to hit the Royal Palace, but it was too crowded so we found a nice air-con cafe for lunch and then went back to our hostel. That evening we went out to the street of Songkran in the Khao San Road area. There were water guns, water buckets, hoses, and talc powder, plus huge crowds of people jostling about. It was definitely a fun adventure!

 

Day 3 (4/15): Using the advice we would have received on day 2, we took the boat to see the Temple of the Golden Buddha . This allowed us to then wander through Chinatown, browsing the markets and eventually stop for a delicious dim sum lunch. We got a tuk tuk to our next temple, the Golden Mount ( Wat Suket ). We were rewarded with 360 degrees views of the city after climbing 344 steps. From there we stumbled upon another temple before visiting Wat Suthat . Finding ourselves without a good way home, we took another tuk tuk. We wandered to the same Khao San Road area for dinner, this time avoiding the still well marked water fight area. 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 (4/16): We were successful in taking the bus this morning, thanks again to the front desk lady. We went to Jim Thompson's house , an American who helped revitalize the Thai silk industry before disappearing soon after his 61st birthday. Then we visited MBK center , one of the very large shopping malls here. As tourists we received a free thai iced tea in the fancy food court! We got KFC, our orders dictated by my friend Soraya to ensure we got the true Thai KFC experience. Right next door is the Bangkok Arts & Culture Center, where we are a few galleries, one of the most beautiful one with art paying tribute to the recently deceased king. A short walk away was Caturday , the charming cat cafe I had researched. Kerry and Patrick indulged me for a while and watching all the kitties sleep. I really enjoyed it. Then we road the BTK, the very clean and efficient elevated rail system, is Lumpini Park. 

 

 

 

 

Day 5 (4/17): A day trip to Ayutthaya, one of the historic capital cities of Siam. I'll write a separate post on this trip. 

Day 6 (4/18): We slept in a bit, and then checked out our hostel early. Since it was a Tuesday and no longer Songkran, we decided to try the Royal Palace again. Even tho it was still crowded, it was much better than it was in the weekend. The Temple of the Emerald Buddha ( Wat Phra Kaew ), the outside of some of the Palace buildings, the Museum of Currency, and a Museum about the late queen. I really enjoyed all of it, especially the interactive part of The Queen's Museum where we learned about traditional dance. I was so glad that I found out the night before the free tours were given the day, so we were able to have our own private tour of the Temple and palace buildings! It definitely helped us understand the importance of everything we were taking pictures of, and made the 500 baht price tag seem more reasonable. After a quick lunch, we took a taxi to the airport and flew to Phuket. 

 

 

What you can do with a 3-day pass to Angkor Wat and other temples

As promised, my companion post to the one about Siem Reap. Angkor Wat was the true attraction of our short trip to Cambodia, so I figured it deserved it's own post. We decided that a 3-day pass for $62 (the first price increase in >20 years from $40 made two months ago) worked best for how long we had in the country. If you're wondering by the seemingly extra $2, that is a donation that goes to a Children's foundation.

First, I will list the temples we visited, and then at the end I will explain the context in which we saw them:

Angkor Wat - The main temple in the eyes of most, it did not disappoint. Sunrise was worth it, and incredibly beautiful. Then we learned about the various carvings and the stories they told. We got to climb up to a special area where even the Cambodian people don't go very often (they leave it for the tourists).

 

Angkor Thom/Bayon - In its prime, Angkor Thom was an amazing walled city. Throughout our visits we traveled through three of its four gates. Bayon is a central temple/palace structure with more carvings. There are various terraces and smaller temples surrounding it that we saw on our drives through the area. Here we learned more about the ways these temples were built; thanks to some handy models used by all the guides. 

 

Ta Keo - A spontaneous pit stop, we asked to climb Ta Keo to see the view it provided. We would see a better one later, but it was still worth the climb and the breeze we enjoyed at the top. 

 

Ta Prohm - Arguably one of the best, and Kerry's favorite, this temple is known for the "Tomb Raider tree", a strangler fig featured prominently in the Angelina Jolie movie filled on site. It was overcrowded with large tourist groups and many people desperate to get their picture with this tree. We agreed that it would be best enjoyed in the early morning or during the lunch hour, when others were busy elsewhere. 

 

Banteay Srei - This temple is a 1 hour drive from Siem Reap, but worth it in my opinion. It is very small, and was crowded when we went. However, it is a beautiful burnt red, a stark contrast to the colors seen at the main temple complexes. It is surrounded by a small moat, as many of them are, which I imagine would be a bit more impressive in the rainy season. 

 

Kbal Spean - Don't be misled, this is not a temple. However; it requires the same pass as the temples do, so it is included with them. It is past Banteay Srei, and involves a medium difficulty 1.5 km hike. There were some cool carvings, and a small waterfall. However we were exhausted to the point of not being interested in fighting the other tourists for our turn in the water. Compared to the waterfall outside of Chiang Rai, I would say this one was not worth it. But maybe if we had a guide or more knowledge of the carvings it would have been more informative. 

 

Phnom Bakeng - This is the place to be at sunset, apparently. If you want to fight with other tourists for the perfect view. We did it first thing in the morning, and shared it with 2 other people. 360 degree views of the area were well worth the walk and the climb. You can ride an elephant up, but I hope no one does, as these seats are painful for elephants and they should not be ridden this way. 

 

Preah Khan - This temple is surrounded by a moat, and had three accesible gates. The most interesting this that I remember was the grecian style area off to the side of the east entrance, unexplainably appearing as if it came out of Hercules. 

 

Neak Poan - Our tuk tuk driver called this one the Royal Hospital, but the guidebook made no mention of that. It was a bit unimpressive, maybe because the small moat/cistern areas were almost dry. The walk up across a large reservoir was definitely the best part of this temple. 

 

Ta Som - Home to the "most iconic photo", this temple is relatively unassuming. You can't even find the photo you're looking for unless you head through a back gate and turn around. As a prize, you are harassed by children trying to sell you things, although this is common to all of the temples not just Ta Som.

 

Pre Rup - The final climb, literally. This was a hot sunny experience that left us happy to return to our aircon lodgings. However it had beautiful carvings, a nice view, and made for a good photo-op.

 

There are many ways to see these temples, and we probably could have seen more in a better climate (you can only sweat so much before needig rest and relief).

Day 1: We prebooked an English speaking guide, guaranteeing that we see the 3 big ones on the list (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Ta Phrom). Most importantly, we would see Angkor Wat at sunrise. We were picked up by a minibus similar to our Chiang Rai ride at 4:40 am. The guide's English was difficult to understand at times, but he was nice and knew a lot about the temples. Ta Keow was an added bonus as we drove by and decided to stop. We ended our day earlier than we had planned (after being up for 8 hours, mind you) so that we could eat a cheap lunch at the guesthouse and go back to sleep for an afternoon nap. 

Day 2: We organized a trip with one of the tuk tuk drivers from our guesthouse. We rode 1 hour to Banteay Srei, and then another 30 minutes to Kbal Spean. We stopped for a marked up tourist lunch, and then visited the Landmine Museum (see my Siem Reap post).

Day 3: Using our tuk tuk driver's services again, we returned to the main complex to visit the remaining temples on the list. It was good to drive past the temples from day 1 again, more rested and in an open-air vehicle. 

If we had a driver for the whole time for one flat rate, maybe we would have returned in the evenings. We were often chased away by the heat, hunger, or the growing midday crowds. But once back in our aircon lodgings, it was hard to want to slather on the bug spray and go back out there, even just for dinner. There are many more temples to be explored, but I think we got to see a good number with the time we had.