Thailand

Ko Pha-ngan & Phuket

Background

Phuket, unfortunately pronounced (poo-ket), is the largest island of Thailand. It is warm 80-90*F year round, with winter being the dry season, and the remaining year being the wet season. 

Our Trip

If you ever plan on going to Asia, plan on spending 24 total hours on an airplane or in an airport. I'm serious. Again, my sister planned this trip, and was waiting for me at the first stop. I had two layovers, an unexpected stop in Moscow (which was not on the itinerary) and Singapore. The airport in Singapore was literally like a tropical spa retreat. There were nap spaces, waterfalls, mini forests; they completely changed the game up for traveling. U.S. airports need to take serious note. Anyways, I get to Ko Pha-ngan, and our hotel hut is right on the beach. I changed into my swimsuit, and walked down to the beach bar with my sister. There, we met a group of Australian civil engineers on holiday. Being the great flirt I am, I knew how to impress these guys. I downed LITs until I blacked out. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the full moon party everyone went to later that night, which is also a huge attraction there. My sister tried to drag me to a restaurant and sober me up, but sleep was calling and I had to answer. I did manage to stay in contact with the Australian I made out with for a month or two. After I realized I was never going to actually buy plane tickets to Sydney, I let it fizzle out. I can't really give any other firsthand information on Ko Pha-ngan, other than it's a nice beach if you're in the Asia area. Afterwards, we went to Phuket island and petted tigers.   

Bangkok

Background

Bangkok is the capital and most populated city in Thailand. The currency is the Thai Baht, which is about 30 bahts to $1 US. If you've always dreamed of walking around holding a stack (10 grand converts to $300 US) like you were in a rap video, this would be the place to go. Obviously the language is Thai, and the main religion there is Buddhism. Almost everywhere you walk, you will see little shrines where people will leave gifts/leis/drinks, for the spirits to have. If you are like me and bare all on hot vacations, you will need to carry a cardigan or long scarf with you to cover your shoulders when stopping at religious points of interest. Also, you will bow a lot. If you don't know proper bow etiquette, watch Curb Your Enthusiasm (Season 8- ep.7). 

Our TriP     

I learned my lesson from Phuket, and remained fairly sober for the rest of the trip. We stayed in a presidential suite at a Hilton hotel where my sister has all of the points and rewards. All throughout the  hotel were these sculptures of overly curvaceous women and men doing random poses. My sister had made a comment about one statue of a lady walking her dog in the lobby, and the concierge must have taken it as a hint and left a mini statue in her bag at the end of our trip. I kind of think she lowkey stole it, but that's neither here nor there. We spent most of the days doing self walking tours of religious places. The city's mall actually has a really good food court, so we went there everyday for lunch. Right outside of the mall, they have pop-up Muay Thai boxing rinks they set up, so be sure to catch a free show. At night, we went to Thailand's sin city, and tried our hardest to find a ping pong show. To no avail, we settled on making friends with ladyboys and street workers in and out of the various night spots you may have seen in movies. We also took shots at an ice bar. 

Overall, Thailand was pretty chill . Theoretically, it is a cheap place to visit (see currency note above), and has pretty good food. There are a lot of visible sex workers and homeless people in Bangkok, but everyone is very friendly and no one bothers you.