General Tips
The Thais are really friendly and helpful. They seem a bit distant at first, but just keep smiling and stay friendly, and you’ll make some friends for life. Don’t rush ’em, coz it doesn’t work. Keep your cool: if something doesn’t get done in 30 minutes, it will in one hour.
You can try to learn language, but it’s very hard. A word can have a different meaning if it is pronounced with a different tone. Be careful: you can say some pretty strange (or even rude) things if you don’t use the right tone. So if you learn stuff, listen to the words, but also listen to the tone.
Don’t book anything at a travel agent, but use the local public transportation. You should take the bus for trips up to 8 hours. It’s cheap, just as quick as a minivan and you get a chance to meet the locals. For longer trips I recommend the train. Take a second class sleeper with fan (Bangkok – Surat Thani 388 baht, book one day in advance) and you’ll sleep your way to your destination. Try out the restaurant in the train, but don’t fall into the tourist trap. Just like in the rest of Thailand, farang (= tourists) get charged more than locals. Ask for the extended menu and you’ll be fine. You can also try the vendors that offer their stuff at every station where the train stops.
If you’re using the ferry, don’t buy a ticket in advance, because the further away from the pier you buy your ticket, the more expensive it gets. They don’t check your tickets until you’re halfway and then you just buy one.
Some herbicultural (to parafrase TG Boyle) tips. If a policeman catches you smoking pot you will be fined 50,000 baht, get kicked out the country and receive a stamp in your passport so that you’ll never be able to enter the country again. And I am not even talking about spending a couple of days, or even weeks, in a Thai prison. Thai police are pretty harsh on dope-using tourists. For example: 6000 people went to the November ’99 full moon party on Ko Pha Nang and 600 of them were arrested on charges of dope-use and/or possession. The police even use tourists as moles. This is the downside. The upside is that it is pretty easy to get the herb. But always keep the above in mind. If you want to smoke without hassles, you should go to Amsterdam.
Bangkok
I stayed in Sawasdee House, just of Khao San Rd. It is a nice guesthouse, although the rooms are a bit rundown. Singles without window are 160 baht, with window 240. The restaurant serves mediocre and quite expensive food, so you’d better eat out. E-mailing isn’t very expensive with a rate of 1 baht per minute.
Watch out for scams in the touristy areas! Thais will come up to you and ask you where you’re going. If you, for example, say Wat Po, he will tell you that it is closed because of a Buddhist holiday (quite strange of course: the church is open for Christmas, isn’t it?). Just ignore ’em.
My favourite mode of transportation in Bangkok was the bus. It may take some time to find out which bus you need for which destination, but besides that it’s cheap (3.5 baht per ride). Besides, you get a chance to meet the locals which is always good.
Ko Chang
It’s an island near the Cambodian border that is still a bit off the beaten path. The beaches are far from perfect, but good enough. The rainforest on the island is gorgeous and offers some pretty good hikes. The further south you go, the less touristy it gets.
I didn’t stop on “White Sand Beach” in the north, because that was a bit too crowded for my taste. I stayed in a bungalow operation south of the village of Kai Bae, but the owner, a lovely German lady, didn’t want me to disclose the name of the place. Just keep your ears open and you’ll find out. Kai Bae itself doesn’t offer a lot; just a couple of bungalows and three or four bars, of which only the Comfortable Bar is worth mentioning.
Khao Sok National Park
West of Surat Thani is Khao Sok National Park, a beautiful place that strangely enough doesn’t attract that many visitors. The entrance is near kilometer pole 109 on the Surat Thani – Takuapa highway. It’s a 160 million year old rainforest amid some of the most scenic Karst-formations of South Thailand.
I stayed in the Khao Sok Jungle Huts, a couple of bungalows that offer the best view of the park. The place is run by Wan, a very friendly Thai woman, and her family. She charges you from 200 baht per night for a basic hut up to 350 for the ones with better views (and more concrete). The Jungle Huts arrange their own one- and two-day jungle trekkings, which are quite expensive, but well worth the money.
If the prices are too high for your budget, just shop around and go to the other bungalow-operations. Do stay at the Jungle Huts though. Wan and her family are very friendly and make you feel at home instantly.
Krabi
My first night here I stayed at Cha Guesthouse on the main road, but found it a bit too basic for my taste. But if you’re just staying one night to catch a boat to one of the islands the next day it’s perfectly adequate and cheap (100 baht per night). The place offers e-mail at 1.5 baht per minute; you can even get a discount-card, but that is only worth the money if you’re going to be on-line for more than 100 minutes.
I also stayed in KL Guesthouse, a place off the main road, at 150 baht per night for a room with a view. The “cells” are 25 baht cheaper. You should get your dinner at one of the two nightmarkets at the beginning of the main road and near the pier: it’s cheap and very tasty.
Highlight in Krabi, or actually near Krabi, is Wat Tam Seua. The Wat itself isn’t impressive at all (it’s pretty kitsch), but the monks stay in a secluded mini-rainforest, surrounded on all sides by Karst-formations. Really impressive.
Ko Jum
Ko Jum is a lovely little island which you can reach from Krabi. The island has only three bungalow operations: Joy and New Bungalow next to each other and a new place 15 minutes walking further north. Joy and New offer anything from simple wooden constructions with shared facilities at 100 baht upto concrete monsters with aircon for 700 baht.
Try the new place though: 100 baht per night for wooden bungalows with shared bathrooms. The lady that runs the place is very friendly, but she could surely use some practice in English speaking, so help her out! By the way, she does the best Muslim cooking on the island.
Next to her place some concrete bungalows are being built. They are monstrous and to me a sign that Ko Jum is going to be overrun by tourists in the long term, just like Ko Lanta and Ko Phi-Phi.
Furthermore, two restaurants are recommended:
Rimtang, halfway between Joy/New and Ko Jum-town. It’s a nice place that offers some wicked curries and run by two lovely and very friendly women. Bring some mozzie-repellant though, because there are millions of mosquitoes there.
In Ko Jum-town itself you’ll find Mama Cooking. I had some great Pat Thai there. I heard some stories that mama’s food gives you the runs, but I didn’t have any problems myself. Besides that, all the local kids eat there, which I think is a good sign.
The downside of Ko Jum is that the beach gets all the rubbish from Phi-Phi. Makes you think…
