Our short stay in Thailand with attractions, local cuisine, and travel tips. Dive into bustling markets, river life, and cultural highlights on this unforgettable escape.
Our first stop in Thailand was a little island called Koh Samui. Hubby and I had looked at the ship tours and nothing stood out or appealed to us. So, Hubby did some research and found the Samui Elephant Haven for us to visit!
Short Stay in Thailand: Elephants, Food & Cultural Gems
This is an ethical elephant sanctuary with no bathing or riding of the elephants.
They offered a three hour experience where you got to feed the elephants, watch them play in the mud and then the pool, and got to meet both the baby elephant and the large male elephant.
We would have booked that in a second, but the times (9am- noon or 2-5pm) did not work with the ship’s in port time as we also had to add in a 45 minute drive each way. Our ship docked to late to be on time for the 9am session, and we left too early to stay until 5pm (the the drive back + tender boat).
We settled for the feeding (bananas, pineapple, and watermelon) and making the “rice balls” to also feed the elephants.
The rice balls consisted of rice, bananas, pellet salt, fruit and vegetables that “we” (I got bored after two and Hubby made the rest in our two bowls while I took photos) mixed together and then formed balls with.
This was a FABULOUS experience!
We took our time feeding them and were told to withhold the watermelon because once the elephants knew you had it, they would (literally) stick their noses up to the other food. They wanted that watermelon!
The elephants were very accommodating, and it was a fun and educational experience.
We then returned to “town” and had pad Thai (of course!) at a local MOM & Pop restaurant.
After lunch we did a circuit of the town, bought a few trinkets and headed back to the ship.
The day was very pleasant (we missed a heavy rain) until after lunch when it rained a little bit more before the sun came out. That made everything nice and steamy, and instead of trying to walk through the heavy soup of humidity, we went back to the ship.
When we got back to the ship we showed out butler (John) the photos and video of our time with the elephants. He was so envious, he immediately started searching for, and found, an elephant sanctuary for the next day, and went with his friends (they got a ride!).
After our time in Bangkok, we regretted not joining them. His pictures and video were great, and he said they had a wonderful time.
Bangkok, Thailand
The ship docks in Laem Chabang which is about a 2.5 hours ride one way (due to traffic) to Bangkok. Because of how far away it was, and we did not want to miss the boat, and took a ship tour.
Our tour stops were to the Pak Khlong Talat flower market, a junk boat ride, Wat Arun, Temple of the Dawn and then to a … what else? Shopping Mall. The Siam Paragon Mall is VERY high end, and that is where we were able to visit a restaurant and have lunch.
The interesting thing about that mall is that even though we were greeted with the Hermes store as we disembarked the junk, there was a food court on the bottom level that was very reasonably priced.
The bottom level of the mall was basically all food, although I did manage to purchase a $1.50 fan at one of the stalls. The ladies restroom was nicer than any high end restaurant I have ever been in. Just amazing.
But I am getting ahead of myself…
After our long drive from the port to Bangkok (the traffic and smog are truly incredible) we were hustled off the bus and run through two sections of the flower market.
This was very disappointing as it was supposed to be an hour of out time in the flower market, and instead was a blur of 35 minutes. Far too many people were on this tour (30) to gather around the guide and see what she was talking about. We could hear her because we all had a receiver on. But see what she was referring to? Nope.
The flower market smell was fantastic. The flowers were beautiful and diverse.
I could have spent out entire tour time there, been very pleased with the day, and still not seen it all!
She then rushed us through some market stalls, said we could buy stuff as she raced us along. No way could we have looked at anything in more that a cursory manner, let alone purchased anything for sale at any of the stalls. It was just incredible.
We were then off to the junk boat.
I swear I almost had a panic attack getting on this thing.
The bow of the boat was pushed against a dock, one rope “held” it in place, and the river was not calm! The boat was bobbing up and down in the water as people were trying to board.
We had to “hop” up on the bow, walk over the front of the bow to the stairs, not hit your head, and get down the stairs where they stuffed you into a seat not made for the width of American fannies.
Well, let me tell you, my hopping days are long over. But, I did make it onto the junk, put on my life jacket (the police patrol the river and make sure the boats with tourists have life vests on), and I settled in for the hour boat ride.
I thought I was going to take the longest to board, but I was quite quick about it actually. Apparently, terror makes me move swiftly. It was over a five minute wait before the next person boarded, and she was directly behind me in line.
We saw the highs (imperial vessels) and the lows (locals bathing with buckets of river water that was none too clean) on the Chao Phraya River.
We passed a lot of sites, but one of the highlights was the floating market.
There were several men in boats that approached our junk, but only one was allowed to pull alongside – whoever got there first, I assume. His boat contained fruit, drinks, and souvenirs!
About 30 minutes into the boat ride we pulled up to a large temple, Wat Arun, Temple of the Dawn. Those that wanted to could “hop” out, run to the temple, rush around inside the temple, and be back at the junk in 30 minutes. Oh, and that included wait time to buy the entrance tickets.
Pass.
Half of the people got off and did the quick look-see, and half of us stayed on the junk and saw more of the area from a river view.
After everyone was back on board, we pulled over to the side and fed some VERY large catfish some bread. It was a feeding frenzy!!
After that, it was over to the dock near the mall to disembark. Since the junk was quasi-tied up for us to get off (two ropes, not the four available, but better than the one to board), getting off the junk was surprisingly easy.
Hubby and I ended up eating at a very nice restaurant. I still have dreams about the mango lassi I had there! It was – by far – the best one I have ever had.
And of course, pad Thai.
We did go to the food court, bought a few trinkets and some cookies for Hubby. That food court was amazing and very reasonably priced.
We tried to go up to level 5 to electronics to get Hubby a small cable for a rechargeable brick, but there were so many escalators and to take them was basically switchbacks, so we gave up. Hubby found one instead at 7-11. I swear there are more 7-11s in southeast Asia than there are in the United States1 It seemed like one on every corner. When we were in Thailand, there were six on a five mile stretch of road!
After that, it was back on the bus for the 2.5 hour drive that took closer to 3.5 hours on the return.
This was a long day, and a poor tour. Instead of four things to do on the tour and rushing around like chickens, we would have done better with two sites with longer time spent exploring and enjoying them. I’d have picked the flower market, and believe it or not, the junk ride (with a safe on-boarding). We really got to see a lot from the river that we never would have had the opportunity to have seen otherwise due to traffic concerns.
And now, we were on to a week in Vietnam.
Our other stops on ths long vacation:
● Our Two Days in Singapore: Itinerary & AttractionsBali, Indonesia | Two Days on the Island
● Adelaide to Perth: Our Australia Travel Stops
● Two Days in Melbourne, Australia: Our Itinerary
● Two Days in Tasmania: Short Stay Itinerary
● Exploring New Zealand North Island
● Auckland, New Zealand – Sightseeing and Our Itinerary
● For more travel posts on Ann’s Entitled Life, click here.
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