Thailand is one of the best sellers in my travels for some reason, I've been there 6 times.
Locations:
Bangkok is the capital of Thailand, a mixture of fresh skyscrapers and Asian slums with street electrical wires wrapped around each other.
Pattaya is the closest resort to the capital, famous for sex tourism and a kilometer-long street with brothels. Due to its proximity to Bangkok and shipping traffic, the sea here is not particularly clean.
Phuket is perhaps the most widespread resort town in Thailand with direct flights and holiday prices for any budget.
Koh Phangan is an island previously known for its endless drug-fuelled parties. Recently he has become cultured to the level of a big youth drinking party.
Koh Chang is an island that has a balance between locals and tourists. Quite calm, inexpensive and not outstanding with any special features.
Howhin - there is nothing to do there. Called the resort of kings. Perhaps you need to ask them about what you can do there.
Krabi is perhaps my favorite location because of the fantastically beautiful beach near the incredible cliffs.
Samui is a favorite resort among Europeans for its higher standard of living. Samui is actively developing, with expensive restaurants, clubs, beaches and shops opening. It is good to live in a private villa or in an expensive hotel on Samui, the main thing is to live there expensively, otherwise it will not be different from the rest of Thailand. For some reason, there are a lot of French people as local restaurateurs, entrepreneurs and property owners. Definitely those married to Thai women, since the latter is a prerequisite for doing business in Thailand.
Our last trip to Thailand was during the COVID-19 pandemic and they just started letting in insured vaccinated tourists with negative PCR tests with the condition of subsequent quarantine stay in a hotel with a special SHA+ category
At that time, having been stuck in Moscow, I wanted to escape anywhere and in any way, so when tickets to Thailand appeared, I immediately bought them. Moreover, as it turned out, if there are connecting flights, you need to somehow cleverly choose special quarantine flights approved by the local Ministry of Transport, or the Ministry of Health, or someone else. Our flight was not suitable for this and we flew “at random” to figure it out after the fact. As a result, upon arrival in Bangkok there was a chance to either get stuck there or be sent back to Moscow. We made it through the squeak.
Upon successful arrival in Samui, a special car marked with these treasured letters SHA+ and sealed inside with polyethylene for some reason (perhaps to prevent viruses from escaping from the car) took us to the hotel. A rented huge villa was waiting for us on Samui, but according to the rules of the local authorities, in order to be completely free, we had to wait at the hotel for two PCR test results, one of which was upon check-in. The conditions in the hotel were not comparable to the waiting villa, so I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
Having received negative results from the first PCR test, we were able to move within the province. Therefore, we took our luggage and, without de jure checking out of the hotel, silently took a taxi over the horizon. How wildly the staff looked at us when, without handing over the keys and room, we essentially just left with all our things. Considering that the day before, immediately after checking in, we violated our obligation not to leave the room and went out to the bar past the guards and cameras, all this seemed like a big and dangerous quest.
Having already checked into the villa, like a real oligarch, I immediately rented both a car and a moped, one for shopping, the other for everyday movement, freedom and emotions. In fact, the car stayed in the garage all the time, since even in the rain we still rode the bike. We hung out, ate delicious food, and regularly went for massages. It was rainy but great.
After Samui, we moved for a week to Krabi to the most expensive hotel Rayavadee, directly located on the most beautiful beach, perhaps in the whole world, with a cost of about 100,000 rubles per day. The weather was gorgeous, the sea was hot, the landscapes were amazing, monkeys stole our sweets from the minibar from the room - this episode of our vacation was simply wonderful.
Upon returning to Bangkok, we had a few days before flying to Moscow. Surprisingly, it was as if I had never seen Bangkok before or didn’t want to notice it. We walked around Buddhist temples that were impressive in size and beauty, rode on a rented boat and looked at the city from the water. It turned out that Bangkok is cool too.