Thailand - Come and Gone

What a fantastic country pretty much sums it all up. I don't know what took us so long to go to Thailand but it is a definite must do.

Our 30 day free stay was way too short to enjoy everything that Thailand has to offer. But alas, we needed to move on. For those who don't want to move on, you can just head to a border town, leave Thailand and enter again all in the same day and voila, another 30 day free stay. Padang Besar in Southern Thailand is one such city.

So what's great about Thailand?

Firstly, it is dead easy to travel through Thailand. Almost everyone at the train/bus stations speak english. And there is usually someone on the platforms asking where you are going. All they see is the backpack and they'll ask.

We went from Ayutthaya to Kanchanaburi by bus and it stopped somewhere in the middle and there was a guy who pretty much herded us into the next bus. No mess no fuss!

Secondly, the people are super friendly. After coming from a country which has a "to each their own" type mentality, it was so different to have people on the street ask where you are going or where you are from. Not being naieve or anything but there will be some of these people who want something else from you and we were mostly skeptical of people who asked us questions, but on one occasion, I had a Tuk Tuk driver ask me where we were going and I thought I'd see if he would try to lure us in. I told him we were looking for the train station (yes, we were lost in Bangkok somewhere) and he simply pointed the way for us without even offering to take us there. Very nice!

Thirdly, the food. Now, my Malaysian better half will say that the best food is in Malaysia, but I think it's a hard choice after eating the food in Thailand. For one, the rice is awesome. I don't know why but Thai rice went down soooooo good! Curries were great too and the hawker food can't be beat. It's a really hard choice as to which is better but keep in mind that Thai food is cheaper than Malaysian food (I never thought that possible but it is!). Maybe that'll tip the scale a bit? ;)

And lastly, let's not forget the beaches. Now, I can't say I have anything to compare with since most of my life has been spent inland, but our week and a half on Ko Phangan was amazing!

The laid back attitude, clear water, beautiful weather all combined to make a great relaxing atmosphere.

The only thing that is a bit annoying is the fact that you pay a surcharge for reading an english menu. At least 50-100% more. But at the exchange rate 1 CDN - 30 Baht, it's not too much. Just more of a principle thing for me.

Needless to say, J and I have already said we need to make another trip back here to do some serious shopping and more beach relaxing!