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hi there, i am looking to book a 3 week holiday to thailand with a friend end of august / sep (yes i know it is the tropical season!).

- chiang mai
- bangkok
- Koh Samui
- Koh Phangan
- Possibly a few days in Cambodia too

any tips on things to see/do in these places, or other places I should be going to instead? Don't really have the time to go to more places in the list, but possibly to swap one or two around.

thanks!

Bangkok is worth 2-3 days, Chiang Mai 4-5, bit longer in each if you plan on going out on the piss much as you won't do much the following days. Lots to see in both those places, then go hit your chosen beach resort  :)

If you want to see Angkor Wat you can Fly to Siem Reap from Bangkok, probably 3 days would be enough there.

what are you into?

haha

penicillin

3 weeks isn't really long enough do do them all justice

- chiang mai
2nd biggest city in Thailand and quite a bit cheaper than the other tourist area's of Thailand.....Chang Mai (and Chang Rai) is more of a base for back packers looking to go on elephant treks thru the golden triangle (strongly recommend this)
- bangkok
as Cos importantly asked "depends what your into" :)   If your single then visit the long gun bar on Soi Cowboy on Sukhomvit road, very "artistic" entertainment, or nana plaza on soi 4.....its like a shopping centre for entertainment (lots of bargains ;)  ).......if its both your first time I would avoid Patpong .......If you have a partner go visit some temples and the palace or some shit...... I personally love Bangkok for 3 days, frickin hate it after a week.
- Koh Samui
Lived here for a few years, the place (for me) has lost its soul since it became more touristy, some lovely beaches and waterfalls, plenty to do and good night life
- Koh Phangan
Only reason to visit is the full moon party (well there are some nice beaches and its pretty cheap)....but if you into 10,000 nutters dancing on a beach all night..then the full moon party is defo worth doing

the better beaches are places like phi phi and krabi, or if you like diving ko tao.......one thing is for sure, you will always find something to do in Thailand.. but as mentioned 3 weeks just ain't long enough (3 months isn't)

Angkor Wat is a must for 2 or 3 days

^ I think Chiang is a decent place just to mooch around slowly for a couple of days, but I like temples and markets and shit like that. Maybe that's not for everyone, some people get sick of all the temples after a couple of days of it.  :)

Mate of mine went mountain biking up there last month and had fun, he also did a Thai cookery course up there which he enjoyed.

They have a small night market there that is open every night, but if your there on a Sunday they have a MASSIVE market that opens in the afternoon (I think) and into the evening. Its mostly full of locals and worth a look. Don't eat before you go out and munch your way around some of the street food stalls that you will run across. Some of the best food I've had in Thailand was from the street stalls at the market, really tasty and fresh  ;kev;

thanks for taking the time to give me some details about each place.

have any of you done treks in chiang mai? odds of seeing massive spiders / snakes??

yeah obviously 3 weeks isn't enough but that is all I can take off work! :( with regards to what i am into, yes i am single haha ;)

the time i am going it looks like  Koh Phangan has better weather so might be pointless going to Phi phi if it will rain the whole time? isn't that where the film called the beach was filmed too? think the full moon party is sep 1st? might give it a miss as will just be full of locals and will then lose the next day being hungover!

 Me personally I loved Chiang Mai, spent about a month there around 2002/03......but no I'm not really into the temples malarky and the markets i like are on sois on sukhumvit road ;).............being a lazy bastard instead of treking on an elephants back for 3-5 days i hired a jeep and a driver/guide for 3 days, visited all the places the trek does just a lot quicker :)  we did a half a day on an elephant (to say we did it haha)...also visited the karen tribe, various spas and waterfalls, bamboo rafting etc....really enjoyed it.

    If I was Anthony I would do 2-3 days in banggers, fly out and do Angkor wat for 3 days (fly back).. get a taxi down to Pattaya for a few days, get a flight down to Samui and koh phangan (time it for the full moon party) for 10 days or so and have there final few nights in banggers again.....you couldn't really fit them all into 3 weeks (u could but you'd spoil it)

wow 1 snake? is that each day?   i've seen prolly over 50 or so, seen the same one every night for 10 days when I went to ko Samet in around 1998 when it decided to make under my bungalow his home, a dog was killed by a cobra in Lamai, Ko Samui.....if you ever did namuang (spelling) waterfall on Koh Samui pre 2000 you had to walk about 2 miles through the jungle you'd be blind to miss at least 10 snakes each way.......don't know why but I love snakes, have zero fear of them.....but I'm terrified of wasps and jelly fish haha.

    The full moon party has changed over the years, the first time I went was about sept/oct 1996 and it was frickin amazing.....but I loved dance music as a kid and was a bit of a rave/ acid house party goer....so though it was awesome, went again about 1999 and in just 3 years it was far more commercial with idiots everywhere with body paint and glow sticks, still had a laugh but no where near as good as the first time when is was more of a back packers secret......if you like dance music I would still go

   Defo agree with Pattaya if your single and are going for night life....plus is far cheaper than the islands (night clubs are ridic expensive these days tho....***for Thailand)

Seen shit loads of snakes in Africa, but only 1 in Asia for some reason dunno why  :dontask:  They don't bother me anyway. The clubs in Patts aren't too bad for prices, think a sang som coke is around 100-130ish which isn't too terrible. Now don't get me started on prices of drinks in Manila  >:(

yeah but sang som (sang thip) is an acquired taste, too sweet for my liking, i'm a jd coke man and your looking at 200-300B, plus the Baht is a crap rate at the mo...think its about 48/£......i remember 1998 when it got near 100  happy days :)


  Now we know he is single and can only do 3 weeks, I would recommend you did  3 or 4 days or so in Pattaya, its reasonably cheap but very easy to spend shit loads......possibly take a bus to Koh Samet for a a real nice chill out beach (island) when I went there we had a good time but actually found it difficult to spend a lot (probably around 1999 so things might will have changed a bit....fly out to do Angkor Wat for a few days (get your flights from inside Thailand its so much cheaper or use air asia, some bargains with them ) and then party away in bangkok before u fly home.........thats a pretty "affordable" 3 weeks of awesomeness

pattaya is a hole

Well if your just after a few nights on the piss and a laugh that doesn't really matter.

can do that in Patong though and it's not as depraved and horrible as pattaya.

Patong is no different mate all the same shit, you know that.

I thought this the first time I went, but i didn't know where I was going.....but then went with a load of mates who "knew" the place and had an awesome time.....been a fair few times since and now I know where I am going I think is class......pretty big place with plenty "shit hole" areas....but more than its fair share of great places

hmm not quite, Pattaya is defo worse. More drugs, beggars, people living on the street. More crime etc.

You can stay in a nice part of Phuket and go to Patong for a good night out and then be out of it too.

Same in Patts mate, you can stay in Jomtien, Naklua etc and do exactly the same and be away from Walking st etc. If someone only visited Patong in Phuket they would probably come away with the same impression of Phuket if they hadn't explored elsewhere on the island. Can't really comment on the crime aspect as I've never felt less safe there than anywhere else in Thailand, or been offered drugs etc. Let's just agree to differ  :)

In Laymans terms

Phuket is for girls, pattaya is for boys ;)

Well for a holiday it's different but...

You couldn't pay me to live in Pattaya.

Have you explored any of the suburbs away from the nightlife area within say a 10 mile radius? I'm obviously assuming you have been to Patts itself at this point.

There are some perfectly decent areas to live, I know a few expats/longish stayers that just live perfectly normal lives with their families and never go anywhere near the nightlife.

As I said in an earlier post it would be the same as me just going to Patong only and rejecting the idea of living in Phuket based
entirely on that. Patts has everything Phuket has minus the world class beaches and is generally a much cheaper place to live.

Now if you want to pay me to live there....  :D

yeah would agree with that, its definitely more for a "lads" 2 week holiday.......but there is a fair amount of long stayers

i could help u out with a siiiiick trip i reckon m8.

I hate Bangkok (personal pref thou)
Chang Mai is mileage from other places.

you should do something like this imo...

Phuket (3 days max) few beaches, Patong, party, rump a lady boy, go Ping pong show lolz
ferry to Phi Phi (wicked) 3 days party, birds galore. Nice lil place. Best value boat trip $5 to Maya as well, wicked!
then ferry to Koh Lanta (chilled, get reallllly stoned off your tits) 2 days (could swerve this, time dependant)
boat to Krabi (stay @Tonsai villiage or Railay) fkin awesome imo 3 days. go on another redic valoooo boat trip to other islands
then maybe Samui and Phagen. (wasnt a big fan but had best ever NYE night ever in KP. Probs depends what places you go too. I went to partay places Chaweng n Haad rinn. Samui kinda nice, lush beach

Yu could then go to Koh Chang if got time, not been myself. Makes it easier from there to get to Sikounokville in Cambodia. You must go CAMBODIA!

Sikounokville - get really stoned, lovely beaches,, birds, casnio (mega soft ;) stay at Otres, trust me
Phnom Penh (capital citay) Killing field, S21 museum really humbling and interesting, riverside is nice
Siem Reap (Pub Street, plenty of girls and amazing out of this world ancient temple!

Seems alot but i done all that and more in 3 wks. fkin loved it. Involves quite abit of moving about thou, buses n boats. Dunno what ur like in regards to that, i kinda like it. Deffo worth it thou, very doable. Catch me on Skye m8 ;)

Sounds like you enjoyed Sihanoukville mate, what was it like? I skipped it as I didn't hear great things plus I'm not really a beach person either.

yh loved it. If u not into beaches n stuff probs not for you. Cambodia one of the best places i've ever been to m8, deffo most interesting. Also went to Kratie and Banlung. Got a really good mix of everything poss in Cambo, great two weeks. Left Bangkok yest and just arrived Malaysia Penang then going Langkawi for a bit.

What's in Kratie and Bankung? Not been to those. When u coming home?

Kratie was just onroute to Banlung really, 1 night stop.  Saw indangered freshweater irrawaddy dolphins here and went to these cool rapids in some local village where the cambos built these huts on the water and stayed there 1 arvo, was really good. Banlung is up n coming place. East cambo, kinda off the beaten track. Will be big in a few yrs imo. Amazing waterfalls there and went swimming in some 700,000 yr old volcanic lake. Do some sick treks there too, but i didnt bother with that.

Come home 10th May :) Although just been offered free accom in Costa Rica and thats on my hitlist :)

A day in Bankok is a day wasted, so my mates tell me. All single pisshead, sex tourists though.

They just go to Pattaya all the time.

Deffo personal preference, Bangkok is a love or hate place. Plenty of normal nightlife to be had though for those not interested in the more infamous stuff. In fact it's mostly confined to 3 small areas in Bangkok.

Nice one. Got to admit my head is being turned more and more towards to central/south America slowly and Costa Rica is high on my list, supposed to have some of the best wildlife outside of Africa and I love photographing that kind of stuff.  :)  Couple of more places to tick off the list in Asia and I might start heading that way.

If you like Thailand you will LOVE Costa Rica.  Wonderful place with everything there is to love about Thailand without the cynical side that sometimes spoils Thailand.  I was going to suggest Koh Samet if you like the idea of a totally unspoilt island and total relaxation.

I mentioned samet earlier in the thread.....real nice chill out beach(island), I was there pre 2000 (1998 iirc) so dunno how much it has changed

but 2 single lads for 3 weeks.....hmmmmm    there is defo more "interesting" places to go ;)

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