Was staying in Rayong last week , I think you may now be disappointed at the changes. They got a "retirement community" of old fellas drinking piss all day, I was amazed at how much these fellas can put away. Koh Samet is now a lot more popular they are building many jetty for launch points to get there as its just off the coast there, didnt get chance to go as was visiting friends and only there a couple of days.
Stopped over in Bangkok on way to Australia about 20 years ago. Good experience from what I can remember. Thinking of going to Thailand next year our lasses father lives out there.
Ko Chang definitely. If you have time sleeper to Chang Mai. Side trip to Cambodia for Angkor Watt (unmissable) - quick flight from Bangkok. Ko Tao is lovely. Phi phi good. avoid Phuket etc
We did the sleeper to Chiang Mai. Great experience but I'd probably not do it if I was only there for a fortnight. Especially bearing in mind how unreliable the Thai trains are. I loved the very badly translated sign at the railway station, which basically said something along the lines of "We'll do our best to get you to your destination, but if the train arrives several days late, breaks down completely or anything else goes wrong, it's not our fault."
Back in the days when Cambodia only had one train line it took me 9 hours to travel 30km. Not helped by the train stopping for 3 hours while the Police loaded it up with loads of trees that had been illegally logged. but yeah might be a stretch unless you trained up them flew back.
I've got a feeling that train line is no longer in use, since they built the super duper "motorway" from the border to Siem Reap. Average speed about 20mph, due to constantly stopping to avoid dogs, cows, and piles of boxes that had fallen off motorbikes as people transported them in 20 foot high towers. Bonkers country.
Yeah it’s definitely not. I was gonna do it last year for nostalgia. I love Cambodia. Love the craziness. Contemplating a move out post retirement
The improvised vehicles are nuts! Fantastic, fascinating country and somewhere I'd love to return. But I'm not sure I could hack living there. I can happily live quite a minimalist lifestyle, but Cambodia is far too primitive for more than a few days.
I went for a month about 20 years ago, just before the tsunami. It's all a bit of blur now, but I travelled all over, Bangkok, Ayuttayaha, Chiang Mai. Stayed in a wooden hut with a family on the Burmese border with no electricity or running water, just washed in the river every morning with the elephants. That was great. Kanchanburi is close to Bangkok and is a worth a visit for the train journey and Bridge over the River Kwai experience. Although I went to an elephant sanctuary and played football with baby elephants. We flew down to Krabi and Kho Phi Phi for the last week or so to relax and went diving at 'The Beach' of di Caprio fame. It's a fascinating place and you'll find 2 weeks isn't nearly enough I'm afraid.
I noticed a few retired European gents with younger Thai women, but they all looked very far from being underage. I'm sure some pretty seedy stuff does go on in Bangkok and the touristy areas of Cambodia if you go looking for it, but it certainly wasn't overt in any of the places that I visited.
What’s it like to drive over there? Would give us another option, as some of the ferries aren’t running while we’re there. Any thoughts on Ao Nang?
We hired a car in Chiang Mai to go up into the mountains. Absolutely fine. Decent roads, very reasonable drivers by Asian standards, drive on the left. I certainly wouldn't entertain the idea in Bangkok or anywhere in Cambodia though! China and Bali also looked absolutely terrifying on the roads from my perspective as a taxi passenger. But Thailand is far from the worst place I've driven. It's much more sedate than Italy, for example.
