I've got a three-week trip to Thailand coming up in a month, and I've got the basic sketch of an itinerary worked out. First, the basics: I'm from the US, I'm a 28 year old guy, and I'm travelling by myself. I've got quite a bit of travelling experience in Mexico and Central America, but this will be my first overseas trip. I'm not into tourist traps or resorts, but I also am not a broke-all-the-time traveler.
Let me know what you think, or if you have any recommendations:
1. Flying into Bangkok on 8/17, and am staying at a place I found on airbnb: http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/559881. It has good reviews, but isn't particularly close to the touristy parts of town. That's actually what I'm looking for, as I'm just looking to get over jet lag and adjusted to the new time zone, and perhaps meet some other travelers.
2. On the night of the 19th, I plan on taking the overnight train to Chiang Mai. I'll do the first class sleeper thing, and hope that I can get some sleep amidst all of the stopping.
As for Chiang Mai, I'm still not quite sure what I want to do while I'm there - my original plan was to find a trek to go on, but the more I read about them, the more lame they seem. I was hoping for something more along the lines of Quetzaltrekkers in Guatemala, which was both rigorous and awesome, and 3 full days of hiking - which finished with a 4AM wakeup to go watch the sunrise over Lake Atitlan. Nothing I see in Chiang Mai looks the part - the quality of the trips appear to depend on the quality of the guides - but none of them seem particularly unique. Does anyone have a particularly good experience that they can share?
The other thing I was considering was renting a motorcycle and doing the Mae Hong Son loop, which would take about 6 days. My roommate did this and she said it was amazing. But she wasn't there during the height of the rainy season. So I will also have to play that by ear.
All told, the Chiang Mai portion of the trip will probably take about 7 or 8 days at which point I will head southward again - I may fly to Phuket or hop on the train again.
3. Khao Sok National Park - this may be a terrible idea during the rainy season, but I'm really interested in seeing the park, and it appears that one is more likely to see wildlife when (if) it isn't raining. I hope to spend 2-3 days in the park, either on the way down to some beachtime or on the way back.
4. Finally, I plan to spend the last leg of my trip (hopefully about a week) on an island or perhaps on a couple of islands. I think this is where I need the most advice, as there's a lot of conflicting opinions on where the best islands are, and some seem to be developing fast enough as to make plenty of information outdated. It seems as though the Gulf is not quite as rainy at this time of year, so I may be leaning towards that side. Ko Tao has some appeal, but I've also read some fairly nasty things about it. I'd like to do some snorkeling though, and that seems like a good spot for it. Also, Ko Pha Ngan appears to be relatively quiet on the northern side, so I was considering that as well. I was also considering Ao Khanom as a simple alternative to the islands altogether.
After all of that, it's back to Bangkok - I fly out on September 9th.
So that's my rough sketch of a trip - but as these things go, I imagine my plans will change every day that I'm there. Let me know if you have any suggestions, and thanks in advance for your help.
