Thailand - Hot, Hotter, Hottest

We'll start with a summary; Hot, Wet, Lush, Sandy, Developing, Hubble, Religious, Cheap, Ancient, Calm and Chaotic. A place to visit which seems to offer plenty of choice for all holidaymakers and travellers. The people struck us first and most profoundly; they had such a sense of calmness and joy.

Our journey led us to Phuket, then Krabi and then Bangkok.

Phuket was quiet; our hotel sat beside a tiny empty resort. Hotel staff told us this was partly covid, but mostly because regular attendees, Russian and Chinese tourists, were not going on holiday at the moment. The former is because of the Ukraine war sanctions, the latter due to long covid isolation periods on return.

It didn't take long to get out of our modern luxury hotel, so we threw an overnight bag together and booked 'Hotel Memory ON ON' for £30 in Phuket's old town centre. It felt so authentic and was the first hotel built in Phuket to serve merchants in the early 20th century. It had a charming nature, full of cafes, bars and small traders, mostly admittedly for the tourist trade. We took the opportunity on the way to visit a nearby temple (Chalong), leaving a small offering of lotus flowers, it was beautiful. The next day we visited Big Buddha, still (20 years on) under construction, and Patong, a naff tourist trap full of bars with skinny-looking local women to entice customers in.

After five days, we transferred by road to Krabi, about 90km away. Here Martin got convinced into a handmade suit, and we booked Thai cooking lessons (like green curry and sticky mango rice). We also went out on a tour of all the nearby small islands across the bay (we didn't make it to James Bond Island) and booked ourselves to do two Scuba dives.

That turned out a bit of a disaster; the trip started well, but every km out into the sea, the waves got bigger, and then the rain started. Martin kept throwing up. Determined not to have to refund us, the team led us on a dive in swirling seas with limited visibility. We refused to do another dive after the first and then spent a gruelling 90 minutes getting back, sheltering halfway as the rain turned torrential. "If you can dive in that, you can dive in anything", we were told. Martin threw up a few more times before landfall.

The area was beautiful with a lush tropical feel, slightly more relaxed than Phuket. The highlight was experiencing photo-luminescent plankton, which glowed when disturbed, topping a firefly spotted at our hotel in Phuket. There were a few more holidaymakers, particularly Indians, who Thailand have recently been strongly marketing their country to as a holiday destination.

We also took the opportunity to learn some Thai cooking skills at a local school.

Bangkok's five days felt like three weeks, in a good way. The city was so chaotic and fast-paced. We spent the first day getting lost among the bargains of Chinatown, a warren of small businesses interconnected by alleyways full of people and mopeds. The next day started at 7.00 am. In the morning, we visited a market now based on a railway line, literally on it. Eight times a day, they peel it back to reveal the track for the Bangkok train. We leant this was a relatively new addition to the 1/2 day tour, which also included a visit to a local palm sugar business, targeted more at tourists than locals. We discovered palm sugar comes from the palm flower head, which, when cut, weeps a sweet solution into a pot hung overnight over its ends. This solution is then boiled down to make the palm sugar, similar to unflavoured fudge.

Martin was shocked at the floating market he had visited 25 years previously when it was a thriving place. Today, part through change and part through the pandemic, it was almost silent, with locals flogging tourist takeaways to the few of us arriving. This, it turns out, is the reason the addition of the railway market was added to the itinerary. We returned about midday, slept, and then went out exploring more of Bangkok city, first finding their flower market area, then returning to Chinatown for a seafood dinner in the early evening. Our restaurant, recommended by a guidebook, spread its tables to the edge of the busy road, lit by neon signs and a soundtrack of mopeds whizzing by. Very atmospheric and very popular.

The next day was ours, and we spent our time exploring the city's best temples. Somehow Martin managed to be convinced into buying another made-to-measure suit at a somewhat classy tailor.

For our final full-day in Thailand, we booked a guided trip out to Ayutthaya, the previous capital of Thailand. We travelled by train, allowing us to see the nearby countryside. Paddy fields and fish/shrimp farms spread across the flat landscape for the 70km journey. Ayutthaya was a real highlight. Its centre is a World Heritage site, with many ancient temples - half toppled ruins built with large clay red brinks. We whizzed around these by tuk-tuk, then took a boat to yet another temple that looked like a modern church. After crossing a river by cable car, we end at the royal family Summer retreat. Its manicured grounds held a sad story. Long ago, one of the King's wives went out in a boat which capsized. Shouting for help, everyone looked on powerless. The King had forbidden anyone to touch his queens; the punishment would be death for you and six generations of your family. She drowned. Later the grieving King lifted this rule for future generations.

It was a long day, so we chilled out at the end of the day, planning our visit to the Grand Palace the next day and a bit more wandering. The palace (with temples) was an absolute delight of opulent Asian design; gold, detailed paintings, roofs tiled and glazed in various colours.

On our final day, a few hours before our taxi to the airport, we reached new dizzy heights. Ascending by lift some 82 floors of the tallest building in Bangkok for views of a city is

expanding outwards and upwards. Afterwards, we walked around the nearby fashion markets where clothes were a fraction of the UK cost. Next time we should bring an empty suitcase.

Martin and Jacqui