In May 2017 I got married and — like half of the world’s newlyweds — went to Thailand on a Honeymoon. We wanted to combine bourgeoise Bourdainy food tourism and Honeymoony do-nothing-on-a-beachism into two weeks that would wipe away six months of prewedding diet and exercise.
Our itinerary was the product of advice offered by everyone from dentists and chefs to US Trade reps. Friends, friends of friends, and acquaintances of friends all weighed in with helpful advice on where to stay and what to do (thanks again, everyone!) Deciding what to make time for was overwhelming, so I thought others might benefit from our experience.
Here’s how we broke it up.
Flying in Thailand is cheap, fast, and safe (we flew Thai Airways, but there are a lot of options). It’s easy to cover a lot of ground in the country by flying from city to city, so if you’re making a first trip there’s no need to limit yourself to one city or region.
Given this, we decided to split our trip into four parts:
- Bangkok (2 nights)
- Chiang Mai (3 nights)
- Southern Thailand (5 nights)
- Bangkok (2 more nights)
Two Nights in Bangkok.
Chess had it right: one night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster. Many people skip Thailand’s capital and head straight for the countryside of Chiang Mai or Phuket’s beaches, but you should spend real time here. It’s a city that offers endless opportunity to create your own adventures. If you’re lucky enough to be visiting with a strong currency in your wallet and you’re willing to live like a local, your money will take you a long way. Throw in bottomless noodle combinations, a window into the Chinese-led future, and a communal entrepreneurialism that makes American cities feel dull by comparison and we left wondering what it would be like to live there.
We landed in Bangkok in the middle of a workweek afternoon and were faced with our first decision of consequence. The MRT train system and taxis take about the same amount of time to get into the city, but the train will set you back about $2 US while a cab costs closer to thirty.
Everyone told us to make room in our budget to stay at The Mandarin Oriental. We didn’t — opting to stay at the Le Meridien Bangkok (terrific) and The Peninsula (okay) instead. We discovered that this was a mistake at the end of the trip when we visited the Oriental for afternoon tea (a must, just go with it), and left determined to stay at some point in the future.
The first thing we did in Bangkok is probably the real reason I fell in love with the city so quickly. Bangkok Food Tours offers a range of group and private eating tours of the city and we took the Midnight Tour by Tuk Tuk (about $60 a person), which was a great way to insert ourselves into a new time zone and get in front of some fantastic food.
Stops included “Ann” Guay Tiew Kua Gai, where we discovered a bowl of noodles so good we went back a second time, the Flower Market on Tri Phet Road and the nearby night markets, Wat Pho, and a rooftop bar overlooking the river. At Ann Guay, our guide took us behind the restaurant to visit the kitchen before we sat for bowls of roast chicken with egg noodles (ask for the version with the runny egg and make use of the Tupperware containers of chilies and condiments that sit on every table).
We started the next day on the river. Co Van Kessel offers long and short tours of the city by longtail boat and by bike. The two hour tour of the river and canals leaves from the River City Shopping Center and provides a great perspective on the city at around $40pp.
In addition to weaving our way through the canals that serve as backstreets to much of Bangkok, our guide took us to two temples. Thailand’s temples are beautiful and worth making time for. The three we visited as part of these two tours (Wat Pho, Wat Khun Chan, and Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen) did the trick for us.
Not visited this trip, but recommended by everyone: The Jim Thompson House. We also chose not to visit any of the floating markets as most require a full day (and an early start) but the trip to Amphawa Floating Market by train on the Mae Klong line was the most tempting.
That evening we ventured into Chinatown to hunt down Tang Jai Yoo, where the goal was to recreate the meal featured in Anthony Bourdain’s first No Reservations trip to Thailand.
The suckling pig is the star here (and while gluttonous overkill for two people: zero regrets), but everything we ate was the best version of itself I’ve ever had. We ordered the stir fried vegetables with garlic, the Tom Yam Kung (Tom Yum) soup, and, unnecessarily, rice. The pig is eaten in two steps: first they bring it out with the skin scored into strips of crackling to be rolled into a crepe with hoisin sauce, green onion, and cucumber; when you’re done they cut the carcass into pieces and fry it with garlic.
The following morning we grabbed breakfast at On Lok Yun (recommended in Where Chefs Eat), a two story Thai cafe serving a ‘traditional’ Thai breakfast (sausages, eggs, toast soaked in butter and sugar, and Milo). On Lok Yun is situated at the intersection of Charoen Krung Road and Burapha Road, where the overwhelming number of firearms displayed in storefront windows create a kind of Bangkok gun alley.
With breakfast out of the way we cabbed our way to the airport and headed for Chiang Mai.
Chowing down in Chiang Mai.
I’ll admit that this was the leg of the tour I was most excited about solely because Pok Pok founder Andy Ricker credits the city with so much influence on his cooking. Thankfully our marriage was strong enough to sustain the weight of two distinct goals for Northern Thailand: eat at as many of Andy’s favorite restaurants as possible and get as close to as many baby elephants as possible. To accomplish both these things we stayed at the De Naga Chiang Mai, which was affordable and centrally located but not amazing.
Ricker’s interviews with the NY Times and Afar.com formed the backbone of our eating assignments, especially SP Chicken (get here early in the day as they often sell out of chicken by mid afternoon) and Krua Phech Doi Ngam, which was our favorite restaurant we visited in the area (we ordered the yam samun phrai salad, jin hoom soup, sausage, and roast chicken). We ate noodles at Yok Far, drank too much at The Writer’s Club and sought out Khao Soi Lam Duan Fah Ham which was closed when we arrived at 8pm. Also unvisited but on the list for next time: boat noodles at Kuaytiaw Tii Noi and Kuay Tiew Reur Rang Sit Go-Heng
Being in Chiang Mai during the school week we twice found ourselves swarmed by children as school let out and kids rushed to their favorite street vendors and climbed onto the handlebars of their parents’ scooters. The city has a vibrancy that comes from the combination of young families and international backpackers uninterested in growing up.
Elephant Nature Park was universally commended to us as “the place for Elephants in Chiang Mai.” ENP is a reserve for retired and rescued elephants from throughout the region. The park features a strict no riding policy and a somewhat intense orientation program in elephant suffering which creates an at first begrudging and eventually wholehearted appreciation for said no riding policy. We enlisted in the half day tour, which was more than enough time to see, walk alongside, and gingerly approach elephants of a wide variety of ages and infirmities.
While most hotels provide transportation for their guests, it was in Chiang Mai — where you’re less likely to stumble into a tuk tuk at every corner — that we discovered Grab, Southeast Asia’s excellent and possibly even superior version of Uber. This service came in handy throughout our trip and was safe and easy to use even given an interface in Thai and my innate inflexibility with new languages.
The cornerstone of our last day in Chiang Mai was a cooking class put on by Pantawan Cooking, one of dozens offered in the area. Pantawan is run out of a family home by a brother and sister team who lead alternating classes through the local Mae Hia market, collecting and learning about the ingredients for a different menu every day of the week. The class was fun and well taught but eating sausage off the grill at the market and learning about the unique qualities of various Thai vegetables was my favorite part of the experience.
We ended our stay in Chiang Mai with a trip to the night market and bazaar and noodles from one the dozens of vendors tucked into the alleys off of Chang Klan Road. There are no shortage of markets to choose from in Chiang Mai; we visited the largest to the east of the “old city,” which was bustling with tourists, locals, and musicians performing late into a Friday. If you can make the trip west of the city, Ricker’s recommendation is the night market closest to Chiang Mai University.
Kicking back in Ko Yao Yai & Kamala.
After a week exploring Bangkok and Chiang Mai the mandate for the second half of our trip was relaxation. Our plan was to fly into Phuket and charter a boat, making our way to Phang Nga Bay, the Phi Phi Islands and Ko Phi Phi, and then Ko Lanta. When a friend told us someone she knew once witnessed a monkey riding a goat down the street at the Santhiya resort on Ko Yao Yai we jettisoned our sailing plans for quality time in an infinity pool.
Any doubt over that decision vanished on the approach to the resort. Twenty or so minutes by speedboat from Ao Po Grand Marina Pier, Santhiya Ko Yao Yai rises out of the sea like something out of a Bond film, carved into the face of a hillside jungle. We spent the better park of the week there before ferrying our way back to the mainland and a splurge night at Keemala.
Located just inland from Kamala Beach, Keemala is a special resort offering treehouse accommodation in a variety of sizes at nightly rates that would sustain many Thai families for months. We stayed here thanks to an offseason deal on an incredible two room apartment that opened to an infinity pool and spilled out into the treetops and a clear sightline to the sea.
Thailand’s mostly Buddhist population becomes increasingly Muslim as you head south toward Malaysia. This was apparent not just in the noticeable presence of mosques and headscarves but also in the calls to prayer that reverberate through the valley and left me with an appreciation for the power of a ritual that adds structure and meaning to the day for millions of people around the world.
It’s worth noting at some point in this essay that while Thailand is fun, safe, and welcoming, it’s also a dictatorship hostile to dissent and engaged in a multi-decade arm wrestle between juntas and revolutionaries; yellow shirts and red shirts; the elite and the poor. Further south, Southern Thailand is also the subject of a long guerrilla war between separatists and Thailand’s military and police. While we knew about this conflict before our trip, I’m embarrassed to admit it took several days of airport authoritarianism, ever present monarchal deification, and uniform public politeness to bubble up into an urge to properly explore Thailand’s politics. Taking this perspective into your own trip will make you a more aware traveler and more sensitive guest.
Back to Bangkok.
Making time for two final nights in Bangkok allowed us to check off a few things we wanted to do before heading back to the US, specifically a night of kickboxing, afternoon tea at the Mandarin Oriental, a tattoo, and dinner at Bo.Lan.
Our stay at the Peninsula gave us an amazing view of the city and easy access to and across the river.
After checking in and revisiting the menu at Ann Guay, we headed northwest by tuk tuk to Rajadamnern Stadium, the MGM Grand for muay thai in Bangkok. We booked ringside tickets in advance ($60 pp), putting us among a small group of tourists who did the same, but regular tickets can be purchased onsite or online for between $30-$45, and the action in the crowd is as exciting as the stuff in the ring.
On our night — a Thursday that could have been any night — sixteen fighters fought eight fights over the course of around four hours. The country music that greeted us as spectators was quietened by the official silence due Thailand’s new, young king (represented in the crowd by a stadium shrine). Then, after a minute, respect gave way to the twisting whine of sarama music as the fighters prepared for their bouts and the rhythmic chang, chang, chang of cymbals clanged through each round. Sinewy fighters representing gyms from around the country circled each other, spraying sweat and icewater across the crowd with each clash. Small groups gathered around grizzly power betters who took up positions in the stadium that gave the coaches and crews in each boxer’s camp full view of their pleasure or displeasure. The whole evening sizzled with spectacle, tradition, and an energy that made it one of the highlights of the entire trip.
We stayed until the last fight was over and then snagged dumplings from one of the vendors that surround the stadium and cabbed our way back home.
Our last full day in Bangkok was possibly our fullest full day in Bangkok. We set out in the morning to find Jok Prince, a restaurant on Charoen Krung Road that might be described as a hole in the wall if it had a front door. Jok Prince is famous for its congee — a soupy rice dish served with pork meatballs that wait raw until they are dropped into vats of porridge and served to locals to help them start the day.
With half our party not entirely appetized by the prospect of congee, we ducked down the street and into Prachak Roasted Duck, a generations old restaurant serving up wonton noodle soups and pretty much any duck, pork, or noodle combination you could hope for.
After crossing the river earlier in the day we came across Common Ground Tattoo, a tattoo studio nestled in one of the many alleys that branch off of Charoen Krung Road. We found an artist to work on a permanent reminder of the city, but the studio itself is beautiful and full of art and prints collected by the artists who visit to tattoo at the studio from across southeast asia.
We killed the time spent waiting for the needle with a trip to the Mandarin Oriental for afternoon tea. The Oriental oozes a nostalgia for British colonialism that somehow feels less problematic given the scale of the Chinese tourism empire in which it now rests. We made the mistake of ordering two afternoon teas instead of a single afternoon tea for two people, but as with everything in Thailand — it was an experience worth much more than it cost.
Colonial era revisited, gifts purchased, and ink permanently etched into skin, we Grabbed our way east to our final meal in Bangkok: an omakase style feast at the husband and wife operated Bo.Lan.
Bo.Lan is routinely rated as the best ‘Thai’ restaurant in Bangkok and one of the best in the world. They did not disappoint. The restaurant serves food for the entire table from four seasonally adjusted multi course meals ranging in scope and focus depending on your appetite. If you’re looking for a splurge meal in Thailand, put Bo.Lan at the top of your list and book ahead of time. Not to be missed from the drinks list: the passionfruit caipirinha, which I’ve spent several hours since returning from Thailand trying to recreate.
Two weeks in Thailand provided a great reminder of how big the world is, and how much creativity and possibility exists outside of the cities, companies, and circles that dictate our day to day lives. Before visiting Thailand I was curious as to why so many people I know make return visits and now I know. The exchange rate, the food, and the energy everywhere we went left both of us eager to go back and to share our experience with everyone else.
