We start this trip by landing at Bangkok. For convient reasons (flight and hotel bookings...) our visit of
this city will be split in 2 parts : at the very beginning and at the very end of the travel.
Then this first day we visit the Wat Phot Temple which contains, among other things, the world biggest Buddha (45 meters long and 15 meters high). This temples also contains lot of beautiful facilities, statues, etc...
To finish the day a pleasant boat trip in the Chao Phraya river and some shopping at the MBK Center.
It's now time to take a domestic flight to discover the world famous Phuket island...
... And litte bit desappointed. The ambience is not so exciting that we tought, the main city (Patong) is not so nice, the beach are not so beautiful... Well we stay around Patong (Kata Beach, etc...) and
may not have seen the best of Phuket (and may be not at the best time !). That's however the only place we were able to approach the symbol of Thailand, the Elephant.
Without lot of regrets we continue our trip via shuttle boat to Phi Phi...
And then we arrive on the paradisiac island of Koh Phi Phi. No
cars, wild nature, relax ambience, lot of globetrotters, nice
beaches and beautiful waters for the two main islands
(Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh). Definitively the best
place we've ever seen in Thailand, especially the unhabited
Phi Phi Leh island which be used as decoration for the
Di Caprio's movie "The Beach". Very impressive
caves, cliffs, waters... Don't miss it !
Koh Lanta is quite different than Koh Phi Phi. Unfortunately we did not have a sufficiently good weather to appreciate all the charms of this island. Anyway traffic is quite calm so it is very easy to discover it by renting a small motorbike.
Some landscapes of small islands and bays, especially from the south, are very nice. Fortunately the food is still SOooo GOOD :-)
Back to Bangkok to finish the trip... Then time to visit the huge Grand Palace site. Like the Wat Pho there is a lot os beautiful facilities, statues and temples, especially the Temple of Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew).
Impossible to leave Bangkok without visiting the awesome Chatuchak Market... The labyrinth of shopping, impossible to go out without buying someting :o)
We finally just see a small part of this country but it was globally very nice !
Various and beautiful Landscapes, beaches & sea, wild nature, awesome food, great shopping and markets, affordable life cost, sure we'll be back ! :o)