Thailand

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Ko Samui, Ko Pha-ngan, Bangkok

From January 18th to January 25th 2023

Day 1

We started our journey in Thailand after dark and landing at the Ko Samui airport from Singapore. We had somebody from the Four Seasons Ko Samui pick us up and take us back to our hotel for a light bite and rest for the night.

Day 2

Hailey woke up bright and early for the 8am yoga session in the yoga chalet, and then we geared up for a relaxing day at the beach and pool.
We got a couples massage on the beach and the ocean waves quieted down any loose thoughts in our mind.
We made it up to the hotel bar for sunset cocktails and watched the day say hello to the night. Our first dinner was at the Four Seasons Thai Restaurant. We got fried spring rolls, a seafood ceviche, fried rice, and a traditional pad thai with prawns.

Day 3

This day we geared up for an all day boat ride but noticed the weather wasn’t necessarily inviting. We decided to go out anyway, since it took a while to even find a boat to take us out.
Halfway through 45 minutes through our 1.5 hour boat ride to Ko Tao, Hailey got sea sick, and we had to make other plans for a place to snorkel. The seas were very rough for us westerners and it was not an enjoyable 45 minute boat ride to what looked like nowhere. Ko Tao is allegedly one of the best dive spots in all of Asia and its likely that you’ll see whale sharks as well (assume the weather and visibility is in your favor).
Our guide quickly detoured and stopped us at Ko Pha Ngan and we were surprised at how many fish were underneath us and the beautiful colors of the coral. We were amazed at how amazing it was compared to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. We thought they were definitely comparable, which was not what we were expecting.
After snorkeling for an hour or two, we stopped off at a small private beach called Secret Beach and lunch spot called Ko Raham to relax a little while off the boat. It felt like this area was so naturally beautiful and that we had stumbled upon a little piece of paradise that isn’t on every travelers list. Almost like we had discovered it on our own - with the help of our guides, of course :) We drank Singha beers and watched the waves roll back and forth for about an hour before we decided to head back to the hotel.
We came back to the hotel and Max had scheduled a couples massage for us.
After our massage, Max had planned a private dinner on the beach that we had all to ourselves. It was done so well with lit up lanterns all around us.

Day 4

The next day we went out around 10am to see the elephants at Samui Elephant Kingdom. We signed up to feed the elephants, and along with that we had to put some work into it. We were given bowls with all kinds of ingredients and were told to mix the bowls with our hands until the mixture became a sticky pancake like consistency. After rolling the dough into baseball sized balls, we then took our elephant food out to feed the pack. We also got to go and mingle with the elephants, but not for long as they try to limit their time with humans as best they can.
Lunch was served by the elephant sanctuary, a traditional pad thai, and it was delicious. They cooked it in a hot pot right in front of us.
After spending 2-3 hours learning about elephants and interacting with them a bit, we headed back to the hotel for a 4 hour massage. Well, technically a 30 minute body scrub, hour and a half massage, a 1 hour exfoliating facial, and then a 1 hour milk bath afterwards.
We were ready to call it a night, but it was Saturday night and we had signed up to go to the BBQ dinner on the beach to celebrate the start of Chinese New Year with the rest of the hotel guests. We’re glad we went as they had a dragon ceremony, live music, and a fire act that was mind blowing. We gave our leftover Singapore cash to the group of kids when they came over to “collect” our red offering envelopes. There were 15 different food stations with all kinds of meats, fish, pad thais, a whole suckling pig with all the sauces you could want, different kebabs with hummus, calamaris, ceviches, squid, prawns, dumplings with caviar, fruits, desserts, and yeah, mango sticky rice. They also had side vendor tables set up where you could purchase goods from local thai vendors.

Day 5

We shipped off early this morning to leave paradise for Bangkok. It was tough to leave, but we know we’ll be back. It seems odd to include this, but the airport in Ko Samui is one of the most beautiful and relaxing airports we’ve ever seen. You could almost forget that you have a flight to catch due to the outdoor relaxation areas they’ve built as their “waiting” areas.
We hopped from the Four Seasons Ko Samui and when we landed in Bangkok we checked in at the Four Seasons Bangkok. It’s a brand new hotel and an incredible and beautiful spectacle.
We threw our bags in the room and headed off to our first site to see, Bamboo Bar in the Mandarian Oriental Hotel. We felt like we were in South Africa inside the Bamboo Bar and could tell people have been coming to this hotel, and this very bar for many years. We had the waygu sliders that were to die for.
After a few cocktails, we had a nice buzz and decided it was time to check out Chinatown (Yaowaraj) and see how the Chinese New Year celebrations were coming along. It was absolutely packed in this little area and we immediately felt like what we would feel like if we were in China. The streets were barricaded off, thousands of street vendors had set up shop on the street, food was being served everywhere, there was a stage set to view traditional and cultural dance performances, a larger and televised stage was set up with what seemed like a hip boy band performing for the audience. Everybody around us was singing the words to the pop song, including the little kids.
We worked our way out of the absolutely packed streets in Yaowaraj and headed to one of the top bars in Bangkok, Asia Today. We met another nice couple inside who also had done a fair amount of traveling. They travel to chase total lunar eclipses. I told them we were chasing the worlds top bars.
Next we walked about 3 minutes down the alleyway to Teens of Thailand. We ended up scoring a spot at the bar and had a great time talking with the bar tenders. It was a younger crowd in here and it felt lively.
We decided to call it a night and head back home, but then remembered that the top bar in Bangkok is actually at our hotel. The BKK Social Club welcomed us with open arms (mostly because we told them we were hotel guests… we may have not looked the part). They had incredible drinks and the ambience inside was on point.

Day 6

We woke up around 9 am to prepare for our 10am departure from our hotel dock to tour the Chao Phraya River. The river has a lot to offer, most people even suggest taking a boat to travel across the city rather than take a tuk tuk or a car.
We took off on our boat and the guide told us our first excursion on the river would be the Ong Ang Canal. We had to wait about 10 minute for the lock to let us through, and the water to lower so that we could safely enter the canal. We’ve been through locks in England and France. These were basically the same concept, but slightly slower. Regardless, it was fun to watch all the traditional Thai boats line up for their ride through the lock.
After seeing some of the homes along the river, we took a pass through the Khlong Dan canal where we saw one of the largest buddha’s we’ve yet seen on our travels. It was wild to be wondering how these canal homes can still be standing in their architectural current state, but then look 50 feet across and see a ~230 feet tall golden buddha; Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen is located just at the crossing of the Khlong Dan canal in the Talat Phlu area. Any boat guide will take you through this area if you sign up for a canal tour.
The next stop is one of the largest tourist attractions in Bangkok: Wat Arun. We walked amongst many tourists around the temple, took pictures, and listened to a bit of history about the construction of the buddhist historic site.
After about 30 minutes at Wat Arun, we took a ferry back across the river to make our way to Wat Pho and The Grand Palace.
Wat Pho (also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha) is one of Bangkok's oldest temples and existed before Bangkok was established as the capital. People line up to see this 150 foot long golden reclined buddha. It’s a sight to see and we learned all the specifics on how to act and not act in the presence of a buddha in a temple.
The Grand Palace was about a 5 minute drive from Wat Pho and was our last tourist stop for the day. It was here that we saw the Thai military performing natural drills, somewhat like what could be considered a “changing of the guard” - although on a much smaller scale. The Grand Palace was also one of the larger tourist attractions in the area. One of the top attractions at The Grand Palace is the emerald buddha; it’s one of the only places that we were told photography is not allowed. This meditating Buddha is carved from just one piece of solid green jade stone, and allegedly was brought to Thailand all the way from India.
We called it a day on the day of touring (keep in mind, it’s extremely hot and humid outside) and rested back at the hotel for the next little while to prep for a fun night ahead. After getting some rest we headed out to Nana Plaza, which can be considered somewhat like Bangkok’s red light district. It definitely felt like a mix of Amsterdam and Vegas, but with an asian “anything goes” twist. We were offered all kinds of things, from substances, to live shows, to… special massages. It was a different world to see, and took a crazy tuk tuk ride home once we had seen what we felt was enough.

Day 7

Our last full day in Thailand was a relaxing one. We slept late in the morning and made our first stop a street food vendor near one of Asia’s top bars. The street food cart served us fried rice with a fried egg and we watched them cook it in front of us in a large wok. After getting a good base in, we walked across the street to Vesper bar. A staff of all female bartenders, these drinks packed a bunch and had a healthy flow of customers coming in and out. Their menu was one of the more creative ones we’ve seen, with every cocktail being “crafted” for the types of people that come to their bar.
Although we had just barely eaten a snack, when you’re in Thailand, you want to try all the food you can. We had dinner at Issaya Siamese Club which we HIGHLY recommend. The customers inside were a mix of Singaporians, Americans, South Africans, French, and more. It was great people watching and the food was really fantastic. The chef watched his mom work as a street food vendor her whole life, and he took her creations and put an elegant spin on them. Recommendations are encouraged as many people got turned away for not having any.
We weren’t sure we were very thirsty, but there were more bars on the list to try, so we decided to stop at Tropic City bar. This bar had such a great atmosphere and felt like we were in Cuba upon entering. It was fun to see Thailands interpretation of a tiki/cuban bar. We had a few cocktails, listened to their great music, and made our way back to the hotel.

Day 8