Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Thailand: Where to Go When You're Not in a Rush with Rick
Looking to escape the typical tourist experience in Thailand? Rick is back again to reveal some of the country's hidden treasures and practical wisdom that most travel blogs won't tell you.
Forget what you think you know about Thailand. While Phuket might dominate travel magazines with its luxury resorts and premium prices, Rick guides us through extraordinary alternatives where authentic experiences await. From the breathtaking dual bays of Prachuap Khiri Khan to the fruit paradise of Chanthaburi (where durians can sell for up to $30,000!), we explore destinations that showcase Thailand's diverse beauty without the crowds.
The podcast delivers practical gems that will transform your travel experience. Learn why booking accommodations for more than two nights is a rookie mistake, how to find quality one-bedroom beachside condos starting at just $40-50 per night, and why most visitors surprisingly tire of Thai food after just a few days. Rick's firsthand experiences illuminate how Thai people themselves vacation differently than foreigners, often seeking out markets and food experiences that typical tourists miss entirely.
Beyond destinations, we dive into life-saving travel hacks: why Charles Schwab and Fidelity debit cards are essential for avoiding ATM fees, how taking prophylactic Pepto-Bismol can save your vacation, and the perfect months to visit different regions to avoid both crowds and rainy seasons. The conversation paints a vivid picture of Thailand beyond the brochures—where breathtaking beaches, dramatic karst mountains, and unforgettable food experiences await the curious traveler.
Whether you're planning a family trip, a digital nomad adventure, or a beach getaway, this episode equips you with insider knowledge to experience the authentic Thailand that keeps seasoned travelers coming back year after year. Listen now and discover your next dream destination!
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Hosts
Carol Springer: https://www.instagram.com/carol.work.life
Kristen: https://www.instagram.com/team_wake/
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Hi, welcome to our podcast, Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol. I am Kristen. And I am Carol. And we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure. Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next. In today's episode, once again, we are meeting with Rick, an American living in Thailand. Rick shares his tips for slow travel and provides some practical gems for longer-term stays. He'll share why booking accommodations for more than two nights is a rookie mistake in Thailand and how to find quality one-bedroom beachside condos starting at just$40 to$50 U.S. per night. And finally, how Thai people themselves vacation differently than tourists. Enjoy. So welcome back, Rick. We are so happy to have you talking about Thailand again. And really our focus here is going to be about, hey, Chris and I want to go to Thailand for one month or two months. Where should we go? And Kristen, I gave Rick a little background of, and he kind of knows this, like what kind of places we might like. We like outdoorsy stuff, action, not super party scene. And so for the more mature crowd, where would be a great place and what kind of, like what's housing like in, you know, certain towns? And I think you narrowed it down to a few towns for us, Rick. So I'm excited to hear about that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, thanks for having me back. I'm excited to do this and get a little bit deeper into exploring this country and especially focusing on, you know, some particular cities I think would be fun.
SPEAKER_00:So I think, you know, one thing, kind of a criteria is like say a month or maybe two months, you know, so maybe stay in two different places, maybe like a month apart. Like I've heard a lot about Chiang Mai, but you said maybe that's not the best. Maybe there's something better. And then Koisumi, I'm slaughtering the name. What's that place called?
SPEAKER_01:Koisumi.
SPEAKER_00:Like that. Or is there something like even cooler than that? You know, internet is important and safety, of course. And, you know, ideally proximity to beach and doesn't have to be, you know, for people. Thailand standards doesn't need to be super cheap, right? You know, so we're not going to see how the cheapest we can get, but like, Hey, for 50 bucks a night, 80 bucks a night, a hundred dollars a night. Like what do I get in those areas?
SPEAKER_01:And sure. Sure. So, um, yeah. So let's talk about a couple of things we could just get out of the way. Right. Uh, at the beginning would be safety. I would say with the exception of, you know, walking around in certain places at 3 a.m. or something like that, pretty much everywhere in Thailand is as safe as anywhere else. So that's really not anything that you'd need to worry about. You can go really anywhere in the country and you'll have, you should feel safe anywhere you go.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, fantastic. Love
SPEAKER_01:it. Yeah. And then in terms of pricing, it's pretty standard across the country for the most part that the price is about the same almost everywhere you go. The only real exception would be the island of Phuket, which is also a province. It's a very large island and city, and the prices there tend to be quite a bit higher, 20 to 30 percent probably.
SPEAKER_00:Why is that? What's special about Phuket?
SPEAKER_01:Well, it's a large island, so it has a lot of beaches, just dozens and dozens of beaches.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:You know, it's a mountainous island, so it has a lot of views. And it's just, it's more developed than any of the rest of the country. And so the consumer conveniences are really great there. And so, you know, there's a premium on real estate. And I've never been there. And that's the main reason why I haven't been there is because I just, I'm on a budget and I don't need to spend 20 to 30 percent more.
SPEAKER_00:Do the Thai people go to certain places for vacation?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they tend to not go to the same places that the foreigners do. And so most of the time. When you see a place that has mostly Thai people, there will be very few foreigners there. And a lot of times the infrastructure is a little bit different. Definitely the. accommodations in the restaurants and things like that are different. The types of food and the way that the food is served and stuff like that is different. So that's one of the things you've got to think about in terms of where you want to be. Most people who visit Thailand kind of surprisingly, I'll say, really don't want to eat Thai food. Maybe they eat it for a day or two and then they're ready to just move on to something else. Just like you would in America, you know, where you'd go eat one particular cuisine one night and you'd want to eat another cuisine the next night.
SPEAKER_02:Most people
SPEAKER_01:had their fill of Thai food after a day or two. That's just the reality of it. That's the reality of being an American and having such vast food choices. available to you all the time is that you wouldn't want to just eat one style of food. And the other thing is, you know, most people are used to fine dining, you know, and going out and having really nice meals and that sort of thing. And the only place where you can really do that in Thailand is, you know, a more upscale restaurant. and more the types of restaurant that your average Thai person goes to would definitely not qualify as fine dining. And I'm not saying that it isn't good food. That's usually what I
SPEAKER_00:hear. Oh, no. No, I kind of feel like a lot of times you go to restaurants, it's kind of like a hole in the wall, but it's got amazing food. You know, so it's just like, yeah, not fancy, but sit down, almost like a Denny's for Thai food, but like better quality.
SPEAKER_01:That's right. And so most people who are just here for a week or two, they're not here long enough to adapt to that. And so they just continue eating like they do wherever they're from. And they're going out and spending$50 or$100 on a meal or something like that, you know, or at least, you know,$30 or something like that on a meal because that's just what they're used to. That's the budget that they have for their one or two week holiday. And That's what your average person does. You know, they're spending$150 or$200 a night for a hotel room and then going to, you know, the restaurant at the hotel or just down the street or something like that. And they're usually not eating Thai food or it's some sort of Thai fusion food or something like that, you know. So that may be what you want.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So, but like in the Thai food is like sometimes when we go out here, we say Thai hot or, you know, just mild, whatever. Is it generally really hot unless you ask for it like super mild?
SPEAKER_01:Generally isn't. And especially if they see that you're a foreigner and that you're not with Thai people or something like that, then they're not going to serve you an especially spicy dish or anything like that. You can be sure that no one's going to do that to you. Because it wouldn't be good for business. And so you don't have to worry about that. If you do want it spicy and you request that they make it spicy, chances are they're barely going to make it spicy anyway. So you pretty much have to beg them to make it spicy or speak in Thai or be with Thai people and then you'll just get the normal
SPEAKER_00:spice. Oh my gosh, I want to go get Thai food right now. I agree. What was it like Pad Thai? But then I was like Pad Thai or the penang curry, you know, curry bowl. But there's also you can just like get seafood, right? Is that like a normal Thai meal? Just seafood with some noodles or rice on the side? Is it rice? Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:it's a mix. Yeah, it's a mix. Rice and noodles. Most people eat rice every day. But in restaurants, yes. I'd say half the dishes probably on most menus are noodle dishes and the other half are rice dishes. And then there's just a lot of just grilled things like grilled seafood and grilled pork and grilled chicken and things
SPEAKER_00:like that. Yeah, that sounds pretty good. Okay, so did you pick out two locations? So one maybe more countryside and one more beachy?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I actually have quite a few we could just
SPEAKER_00:talk about. Let's
SPEAKER_01:talk about the pluses and minuses. So you'd mentioned Chiang Mai, which is in the north. And that is, I think, the second or third largest city in the country. And it's Definitely unique. It has this thousand-year-old moat around the old city, which is kind of fun to explore. And the moat then creates this square perimeter around the old city. And the inner city of the moat is very walkable. And it's... But it's still walkable. And on Sunday night, especially, there is a night market just packed with people and vendors and people selling every style of Thai food imaginable. Just so many different styles of food. It's really a great shopping opportunity. And it's so large that you could just in that one market see most everything that's for sale in Thailand at that one particular market.
SPEAKER_00:And how often is that, every week?
SPEAKER_01:Every week, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01:And really nice atmosphere, probably about 50-50 foreigner and Thai people. You know, it caters to foreigners, but it also really caters to the local crowd as well. Thai people do do a lot of traveling, probably maybe more than Americans do, I'd say, just to, you know, packing up and going to somewhere new on the weekend, something like that. They probably go more than your average foreigner does. And so, you know, that's, it's a culture of going out and touring and, you know, seeing new places and eating new things and, shopping, especially. So everywhere you go, there's always going to be a lot of markets and Chiang Mai's got one of the better ones. The rest of the city, though, is pretty urban and it's not walkable and it's large. There's some cool mountains and some temples and things like that to see. But you've got to have a car or arrange a guide or something like that. It's not walkable. And you've got to be really careful about when you go to Shanghai because there are several months of the year where there's just a lot of pollution in the air from burning the rice fields.
SPEAKER_00:Ah, who would think of that? Okay.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and so that, it just creates a blanket of smog over the city for several months and really not a time to visit.
SPEAKER_00:Is that consistent every year, like, you know, August and September or something? Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:based on the harvest of the rice.
SPEAKER_00:Oh,
SPEAKER_01:okay. And so you want to stay away from there in the late winter to early spring months. Okay. You know, that would be like, you know, January to November. April or May or something like
SPEAKER_00:that. Oh, okay. All
SPEAKER_01:right.
UNKNOWN:And...
SPEAKER_01:Let's see. Let's talk about some other cities. You had mentioned Koh Samui. That is another large island, not as large as Phuket. And it's really nice and has some great beaches. It's a lot more affordable. It's a little bit more of a premium price than most of the rest of Thailand. But I think it's worth it. To get there, you've got to take a ferry. And that's about a hour and a half or something like that, I believe it is. And there's a lot of little cities and tons of little beaches in each city. And so you could easily spend a month there and just kind of, you know, hop around from one city to the next and go visit just dozens and dozens of beaches.
SPEAKER_00:And how hot is that place?
SPEAKER_01:Depending on the time of year, you're probably not going to see days over 95 too much. There are times of the year where it does get that hot, but most of the time it's going to be more like upper 90s. The better time of the year might be upper 80s. So you want to kind of keep that in mind. In terms of when to come, things are very seasonal in terms of there are only a few months where you don't have a lot of rain. So for most of the country, between November and April to May, it's not raining very much. And it's usually clear skies and warmer. And it doesn't really start to warm up too much until about February, though. So the coolest months of the year are November, December, and January, which are the high season. So again, it's clear skies, it's cooler weather, and there's no rain.
SPEAKER_00:Oh,
SPEAKER_01:okay. But then the... The seasonality also depends on where you are in the country. So if you choose not to go during that ideal high season period, then you'll want to really take careful note of where you're going and when. Because there are certain places that will be windy and choppy water, and sometimes you won't even be able to get to where you're trying to go on a boat because the boats will be grounded.
SPEAKER_00:So say Khoi Samui, what's the place? So you're thinking go November, December, January is
SPEAKER_01:best. It's not the ideal time to go there. I can't remember exactly what it is, but the season is not exactly the rest of Thailand. I'd have to look it up. Oh,
SPEAKER_02:okay.
SPEAKER_01:The country is so large that these aren't geographically specific to those areas, and I don't have it memorized.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, sure. Okay, cool. That sounds good. amazing that it's an option. Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:usually most of the time of year there's a certain place you could go and have great weather.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. So maybe if we're not too particular about where to go, just kind of figure out when we want to go and then that'll help us decide where to go and maybe be a little flexible. So when you try to book something like for a month, like how do you do that? You know, I assume like Airbnb would be expensive. Is there like local ways to find places?
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So let's talk about that. In terms of pricing, first of all, I would never recommend anybody book a place for a month. And the reason for that is you may get there on the first night, you absolutely hate it. You're not going to get a refund.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:It's just most places are not going to refund you.
SPEAKER_00:And
SPEAKER_01:if they do, they're going to take a big chunk of it and it's going to be a big headache and it's going to be something you don't want to deal with. I would recommend it. But for people who are only here for a week or two, it's you know, kind of they feel it's a necessity. You know, they've chosen their place and they don't want to have to deal with checking in and checking out and that sort of thing. So that's what most people do. But if you're coming here for a longer trip, I would highly recommend you just book for a night or two and probably two nights when you first arrive just so that, you know, you at least have a little time to settle in and decide what you're trying to do. But I would never book more than a couple of days.
SPEAKER_00:And then, Rick, would you do that before you get there or?
SPEAKER_01:No matter how bad it is, most people are just going to choose to sleep, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Because the flight is so long and you're just going to be wrecked, you know, the first day or two. So, you know, just plan to be somewhere and don't worry about trying to change it up if you don't like it. But after two days or so, you know, if you really don't like it, you've got the option to get out. And the thing is, there's so many hotels and condos and all those things that there's no real reason that you need to book in advance for most
SPEAKER_00:places. There's no risk of like, oh no, we're stuck at$300 a night now or something. I
SPEAKER_01:mean, if you're doing a honeymoon or something like that, obviously that would be an exception. Or, you know, a really large or something. Let's talk about then the different types of accommodations. Yeah. So, one thing to consider too in terms of pricing is you've got a couple of different options. You either pay by the night or you pay by the month or you, for a long-term stay, you'd actually sign a contract. About the shortest contract you're going to see here would be six months. Okay. People are signing for 12 months and so when you sign a contract 12-month contract, you can expect probably about 50% discount from what you'd pay at a daily rate. And then if you're doing a monthly rate, like through an Airbnb or something like that, you're probably only going to get about a 30% discount.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:really barely worth it, I would say. And then comparing a daily rate to a weekly rate is usually about 15%. So again, barely worth it. Better off really just paying by the night. And when you find a place you like, stay there. And when you get tired of it, you get bored with it, or you come up with a better idea, Go somewhere new. Same thing. Look for a couple of nights so you can just settle in. And then, you know, if you like it, stay a few more days. And you may find, too, as you're out exploring and walking the beaches and walking the market, you'll stumble on a better property. And you'll be like, why didn't we choose this place? You know, this looks nice.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And then, oh, let's move in here. And it's, and it's not, not only that, but it's very satisfying, you know, to know that you have the freedom to do that. Yeah. So we run into a better place. You can just be like, okay, well, we've only got two more nights at this other place and next we'll go here.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And so
SPEAKER_01:it's fun to just explore and be free like that, I think.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And I think you told me one, I don't know if it was you or one of our guests, that you just never know because it's not like, oh, this is like Hilton standards or whatever. It's like, It could totally smell like pee, I think, or smell like smoke. Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:that's right. Unless you're at that price point where, you know, your satisfaction is guaranteed, which, you know, is a couple hundred dollars a night, pretty much. You gamble always.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Oh, yeah. And then so places like this nightly, what would it be like? 50 bucks a night? 40 bucks a night? 80 bucks a night?
SPEAKER_01:What places?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like for, like, so say, I don't know, it's Koisamui or maybe not Koisamui, some are a little bit more reasonable. Like, what would an average price per night be for, oh, I guess it depends if we're talking, can you get a two-bedroom by the night?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Or just hotel rooms?
SPEAKER_01:You get pretty much anything you want, yeah. You can get anything you want by the night. So let's just talk about the types of accommodation. So there are hotels. A budget hotel is just going to be like what you'd see at like a, You know, motel, what is it called? Motel 6? Motel 6, yeah. Yeah, something like that, you know, like a Ramada Inn or something, you know, where it's just a room with no view, you know. Yeah. And then you might have a step up from that would be like the deluxe room, you know, where everything looks nice and it's a large bed and maybe you've got a balcony or something like that. And then you'd have more of like a studio apartment. with a small kitchen, which usually is just a sink and a large full size, nearly full size refrigerator and, you know, maybe a rice cooker or something like that. Okay. And then up from that would be like a kitchenette, you know, where you've got more of a full size kitchen and more of a living room area and probably a separate bedroom. And then from that would be maybe an apartment with two bedrooms Oh, okay. better appliances and all of that, and just more of a modern experience and usually comes with a gym and a pool and, you know, views and a security guard and gated community and that sort of thing. And then the next step up from that would be what's called a pool villa, which is a standalone small house that usually has a private pool built into it. And it's, At that level, I'd say pretty much anybody's going to be pretty happy with that. And you can actually do that pretty reasonably. We just stayed in Patiaf a couple of nights ago for two nights. And we stayed in a 3,000 baht a night, which is about$100. And it was four bedrooms and a big full-size kitchen and a pool and just really nice.
SPEAKER_00:Four bedrooms?
UNKNOWN:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Four bedrooms, yeah. Would have been at least$300 or$400, pretty much anywhere.
SPEAKER_00:And was this a pretty decent, like, I don't recognize this location you're talking about, but is it kind of a nice tourist location? Like, by water or anything?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it was on a lake. It was a lake view. That's actually the name of the property. But, yeah, you know, it was definitely not a glitzy neighborhood or anything
SPEAKER_02:like
SPEAKER_01:that. You probably have to pay two or three times that to have a really glitzy community club type of environment, which was actually just right down the road. In terms of your expectations, everybody thinking about coming to Thailand needs to understand that it's a developing country and there's not very many golf club communities and things like that. They are here, but certainly the vast majority of the accommodations are nothing like that. You know, it really, it caters to people who are on a budget. So if you're not looking for a budget location, go to France or somewhere like that. Won't come to Thailand.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Gotcha. All right. So how about, so in Koh Samui, a, like a one bedroom condo, like what do you think? Ballpark?
SPEAKER_01:Bedroom condo, I would say would start around, I'm trying to convert this into U.S.$40 or$50 a night or something like
SPEAKER_00:that. Oh, okay. That's
SPEAKER_01:crazy cheap. Yeah, nice quality, decent quality.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Okay, and that's like a beach community? That's insane. Wow. Okay, yeah. That's worth... having the flexibility to stand by the night for sure.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's right. That's right. You know, I would recommend you just shop on one particular app. I never use anything else. It's called Agoda. Agoda, A-G-O-D-A. It's the best app for Southeast Asia. You get the best discounts and it's got pretty much every property listed there. You can get a lot of deals, 20 or 30% off pretty regularly. They discount everything. properties all the time on there. They select a group of properties and discount them every day and it changes. And so you can just look at really nice places for a lot less than the normal price if you shop
SPEAKER_00:around. And when you do it like that, do you like just you pay for it right there? I've seen a lot of hotels now like you prepay. I'm like, I want to prepay so I make a reservation.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, normally what you can do is you can actually just reserve it with a credit card and then you'll have up to about 48 hours before the reservation.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. Okay, so the same here. Okay, so it's a little cheaper if you prepay just because they guaranteed the money.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you do get a little bit of a discount if you prepay usually, not always, but you can be pretty safe. I actually do reserve a lot of places in advance like that with keeping in mind that I'll cancel at the last minute if I need to. So I do recommend that because you know, the better places go quickly. And so you do want to keep that in mind. You know, if you wind up with, you're booking somewhere and you don't like it and you need to change at the last minute, chances are the best places are not going to be available the last minute.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:The other thing that we didn't talk about were our houses for rent.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:Definitely another, you know, thing. I don't know much about that. I've never rented a house. But again, it's just going to be up a little bit from that price point. You're probably going to be looking at, I'd say, at least$7,500 or$100 a night.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:But the quality is going to be a lot better, and it's going to be more of a house with a full kitchen and that sort of thing. One thing to keep in mind, too, most Thai people don't do a lot of cooking at home.
SPEAKER_02:Oh,
SPEAKER_01:really? Because food is so cheap and plentiful here. And because the food is, you know, considered pretty high quality by Thai people that people don't really see the need to have to cook at home and deal with cleaning and all that. When you live on your side, you do. But most people who live in a city, they prefer to just eat out all the time. And so kitchens usually aren't like the full kitchen like you have in the U.S. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02:Like
SPEAKER_01:ever an oven or anything like that. And the food preparation area is usually a whole lot smaller.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. Yeah, I think it's more like just, yeah, like sandwiches and, you know, just enough to have like lunch and then go out for dinner. But,
SPEAKER_01:you know. There's really no point in it, you know, unless you really.
SPEAKER_00:But just more speed and you care
SPEAKER_01:about what you eat. Well, the thing is, is that food is so much more convenient in Thailand than it is in America. Oh, okay. It's just so much more easy to get what you want quickly anywhere you are because there's just so many more choices.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so for the gluten-free people out there, I know Thai food is typically pretty gluten-free. Do you think they care about that or like, no, it's not going to be a thing? It's usually in the soy sauce that it's the problem. I
SPEAKER_01:don't really know the answer to that question. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I mean,
SPEAKER_01:I know that some people are gluten intolerant here and it's, yeah, I'm not that familiar with how you
SPEAKER_00:go about avoiding a
SPEAKER_01:new diet.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, all right. Okay. And so what other... Okay, so we understand all the housing options. What are some other good locations for professionals, good internet?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. So in terms of internet, anywhere you go, you're going to have great internet, almost without exception. There's a few places you could go, some remote islands and things we've been to a few times, national parks, where the internet is pretty poor. But... I'd say 99. What's
SPEAKER_00:your favorite island? Sorry, I was thinking. Oh, I'm just more intrigued. What were the islands you went to? Maybe not necessarily that you have Wi-Fi, but that you're all the way in Thailand and you should come and visit.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, goodness. We've been to so many islands. It's hard to pick one or two that are the best. You know, it just depends on what it is that you like. You know, is it beautiful beaches or is it more of the relaxed beaches? you know, vibe of nothing there, just being like on a secluded beach? Or do you want to have nice restaurants and, you know, dining at night? Or are you trying to go to someplace with, you know, a little bit of a party scene in the evenings? Or, you know, do you want to really have all the consumer conveniences where you go shopping and, you know, find salami and cheese and whatever it is that you have a craving for that night?
SPEAKER_00:Well, with the like first two, maybe like something that Carol and I would like, like maybe hikes or outdoors or hanging out on the beach or something with activities.
SPEAKER_02:that
SPEAKER_00:you would suggest? And maybe there's so many, but maybe just two that come to mind or something.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I would say, Kristen, given that I understand your lifestyle so well from having edited podcasts for years now, I would say Phuket is really the place for you because I know that you really like activities and outdoors. doing things. And that's really the place that caters to that. Yeah. I don't anywhere else even comes close to that in terms of the number, sheer number of different activities that are available there.
SPEAKER_00:So Phuket it is.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. Phuket it is for you. I would say the first time coming, that would be the way to go. Just stay there. It's got everything you would want. It absolutely has everything you would want.
SPEAKER_00:Well, my kids are great.
SPEAKER_01:I don't have anything to ask about it.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, because I'm thinking, I don't know if United Airlines goes there, but we'll have to look because my brother flies there and I'm trying to take my son for a senior trip. Oh, yeah. We were thinking Whistler, but now I'm like, hmm. Yeah, right. And so right near Phuket, there seems to be like just hundreds of islands like in this like kind of bay are a lot of those places people visit or a lot of them just
SPEAKER_01:uh yeah in terms of hundreds no um i don't really know if there's that many maybe there are but if there are they're just rocks i'd say
SPEAKER_00:oh okay i just see like coconut island is the only one i'm really seeing yeah yeah i'd say it's in
SPEAKER_01:the many dozens of islands probably in those areas um and most of those yeah they you know they have people living on them but There's probably a few dozen that are regularly visited. Now, all of those have like, you know, nice snorkeling spots and that. So they do cater to people who are looking for unique diving experiences and snorkeling or just. boat trips. You know, if that is exciting, again, Phuket and that area is probably about as good as it gets, especially for like a family vacation and not just a specific snorkeling or diving location.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh. Wow. I'm just, I just felt like tight. It's like Tucson Beach Resort and an island just off of Phuket. Just like, So cool. Just like a wooden hut and just your own personal pool and lots of nice stuff down there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that would be a good place to focus. And, you know, one of the things a lot of people don't give enough thought to is that the country is pretty large. And so if you think you're going to go and see, you know, four or five places in a month, you may be really challenged to pull that off. Some people try and do. 10 places in a week, you know, and that's just ridiculous. You have no time to do anything because you're stuck in a van or something like
SPEAKER_00:that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Great thing about Phuket is it actually has an international airport. And so if you want to pay the cost of that, you can just fly right in there and skip Bangkok and just fly in from, you know, one of the hubs like Singapore or from Japan and fly right into Phuket. And then you're already there, you know,
SPEAKER_00:And I would assume, do ads different speak English there in
SPEAKER_01:Phuket? Anywhere you're going to go, people are going to speak English, yeah. Okay. I'm not going to run into anybody who doesn't speak English, I'd say, on the first trip.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. All right. What about countryside? Do you say there's some in the mountains that's maybe cooler, that's not Chiang Mai as popular? Chiang Rai, maybe it was?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, Chiang Rai is an hour north of Chiang Rai. But again, I wouldn't recommend it for a first-timer, probably, unless you just really know that that's what you're trying to do. You're just really dead set on getting away from the tourists. Chiang Rai isn't the place to go do that, though. But there are places up near the Lao border, for instance, where you can get accommodation right on the Mekong with these beautiful views of the river. And it's much more serene and tranquil and not the hustle and bustle of the big cities.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, gotcha.
SPEAKER_01:Now let's talk about some of my favorite places, if you
SPEAKER_00:want. Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:gotcha. These are the places I would recommend if this appeals to you. Anyway, this is what appeals to me, I guess I should say. One of them is a province called Pachua, Curacan. P-R-A-C-H-U-A-P. Oh,
SPEAKER_00:Curacan? Okay, yeah, it came up.
SPEAKER_01:This is a province in the southern part of Thailand that there's only one city here that gets a lot of tourists, and that one is called Hoa Hin. And that is very popular with retirees and also families who come for long stays. Oh, okay. There's a lot of hotels to choose from. Everything is very reasonably priced. There's a lot of Ah, okay. Ah, okay.
SPEAKER_00:Nice.
SPEAKER_01:And it's really nice. It's really beautiful. It looks beautiful. For me, it's too touristed because I've been here so long. That's just too touristed for me. So there's another city about an hour south of there, which is actually the capital city of the province by the same name, Ortuap, Currican. And that is... the name of the city. Okay. In the province of Pachuca.
SPEAKER_00:I
SPEAKER_01:see. You might look up and you can see the main beach if you'll search. A-O-M-A-N-A-O. I
SPEAKER_00:see it. Oh, I see it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so this is the bay, Almanau. Oh, yeah. The city there is Pachuca. Okay. the capital city of the province. And it is just a fantastic city. It's a pretty good-sized city, about the size of Boulder or something like that. And it's got two huge bays. This one you're looking at right here is the South Bay, and then there's also a North Bay. If you look at enough pictures, you'll see them.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So you've got this good-sized city, which has got everything you'd need, and you've got these two absolutely beautiful, breathtakingly beautiful beaches, both on the north and the south side. So plenty to do. And there's very few foreigners.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I'm sold on that. It's
SPEAKER_01:really not over-touristed at all.
SPEAKER_00:And would you fly into Bangkok
SPEAKER_01:then? Yeah, you could fly into, yeah, that would be the thing, fly into Bangkok, and then you'd probably just take like an Uber ride. down to Betulkir.
SPEAKER_00:How long? Is that like an hour drive? It looks pretty far.
SPEAKER_01:It's about five hours, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Five hours in an Uber?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Or the Gram, whatever. How much does that cost?
SPEAKER_01:It wouldn't be too much, yeah. It wouldn't be too much. Probably wouldn't do it all at one trip, you know. You could go in and stay there for a couple nights and then do another trip and go down to Amunet.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. And it looks like there's a national park. Have you been there?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yes. And then if you really want to get away from it all, you actually go to Batua Thai, which is south Batua. And there you have all these just dozens and dozens of small beaches and small beach towns. And almost everyone is just absolutely picture perfect it's so pretty with islands off the coast and very little development and most of the hotels are just you know their budget they're like you know$20 a night$30 a night and they've got a swimming pool and they're clean and they're well kept and the beaches are clean and everybody's so friendly and there's almost no foreigners and the food is great and That's where we tend to go. Ah,
SPEAKER_00:Pachuap and then S-A-I? Oh,
SPEAKER_01:Pachuap. Oh, I was talking Thai, which is south. Oh, got
SPEAKER_00:it. How would I find it on the map?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so if you look up Pachuap Currican, right, and then go to Google Maps, and that should probably pull you right into the city of Pachuap. And then you'll see that it's a province that it's just, I think maybe hundreds and hundreds of kilometers of beaches.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So I think maybe like start at the place that you feel is too touristy and then just kind of go down the coast. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:That might well be worth it. I wouldn't say that would be your style though, Kristen. Yeah. I think you'd have more fun, especially if you brought the kids to just go to Phuket because you're going to have a zip lining and snorkeling and the elephant sanctuary. And, you know, I could just rattle them off water parks and all of these different things. There's just so dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of things that you could go do. Um, but I think Carol, for you, I think if you, if you feel like you want to go do like the beach bum thing, you know, and just really get to see Thailand, um, that would be pretty fun. And you probably, you're going to have to do something about transportation.
SPEAKER_02:One
SPEAKER_01:thing you could do, though, is there's a train that runs the entire length of that coast. And every few dozen kilometers, there's a train station. And then you can get a local taxi to your hotel. And that's always going to be available and easy and not anything that's going to be difficult to navigate. Oh,
SPEAKER_00:yeah. And then you can get the water looks very calm for like. Like paddle boarding and things like that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah. There's not really too many places with big surf or anything like that
SPEAKER_00:in Kona. And then how far is that from your main location where you stay? We're
SPEAKER_01:not nomads at the moment. We're just...
SPEAKER_00:Oh, really?
SPEAKER_01:We were renting a condo for a year and let that go. Oh,
SPEAKER_00:so where are you right now?
SPEAKER_01:Onken.
SPEAKER_00:How do you say... K-O-H?
SPEAKER_01:Onken. K-H-O-N... And the second word is K-A-E-N.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. All these words don't exactly seem to be going
SPEAKER_01:can. It's the largest city in the country.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, really? Oh, okay. Very cool.
SPEAKER_01:Very well developed. But without a lot of traffic or... Yeah, it's really nice. It's probably the best place for... Consumer conveniences, I'd say. There's a huge German population and Swiss population, so the grocery stores have all the foreign foods you might be craving that you can't find in a lot of places.
SPEAKER_00:Ah, interesting. I
SPEAKER_01:like that.
SPEAKER_00:I see a big lake.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we actually just bought a little electric scooter about a month ago, and we've had a lot of fun cruising around this lake on our little scooter bike.
SPEAKER_00:Food bowl. Ubo Ratana?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a public park and it has this little pathway where you can go exercise and walk.
SPEAKER_00:There's an airport there too.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, there is. That's right. Comcan is unique in that it's big enough to actually have an airport. We've actually flown in here a couple of times, which is nice.
SPEAKER_00:Well, we are getting close to our time here. Is there anything else that you were like, I really need to tell you? I'll do some rapid fire questions for you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, let me check my notes
SPEAKER_00:here. I also wondered, food. I can't remember. I know I could listen to the first, but traditional meals and foods that you like. Sure. Okay, here's
SPEAKER_01:another place I would consider. If you want a very authentic place to go, Shantambuli would be highly recommended. This is the fruit capital of Thailand.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, how do you spell it? Shantambuli?
SPEAKER_01:Chantambuli. C-H-A-N.
SPEAKER_00:C-H-A-N.
SPEAKER_01:C-H-A-B-U-R-I. I
SPEAKER_00:like it. It looks like Discovery Day, like where all the houses are in the water.
SPEAKER_01:So this is the fruit capital of Thailand. It's got tons of orchards, and it's on the ocean. It's a province, and there are a lot of beaches there, and there's pretty close to zero foreigners. It's more of an upscale type of place for Thai people to go vacation. And so there's orchard tours and like fruit sampling tours. Thailand is the capital of the durian fruit growing. And durian is a very expensive fruit. Some sell for like$30,000 a fruit. Yeah. And it's extremely expensive, certain ones. So you can go on these like, you know, tasting tours and the orchards and try all of these different tropical fruits. And it's an absolutely gorgeous place. It's very lush with just tons of fruit orchards and mountains and rains every day and... Definitely not for everybody, but if that's appealing. And then about an hour away from there is Koh Chang, which is an islet. And it's got all these little tiny beaches and coves. And it's not very well developed, but there are some really nice options in both budget and in luxury accommodation there. Is
SPEAKER_00:that the ko-chong with a G at the end?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, it's A-N-G.
SPEAKER_00:And
SPEAKER_01:there's really no mass tourism there, but there are some very nice restaurants and some really just beautiful accommodations and stuff of all price ranges. That, if you're looking for an authentic Thai experience, I would highly recommend. And then I'll tell you another one to look up real quick if you want. And that is Koh Larn. K-O-H-L-A-R-N. This one is just off the coast of Pattaya and is stunningly beautiful. And it's only a 20 minute ferry ride from Pattaya. It's not expensive. The beaches are just, Breathtakingly beautiful with white sand and clear, calm water. And it's really, really nice.
SPEAKER_02:It's beautiful. It's
SPEAKER_01:not overdeveloped. And it's really easy to get to. You can get there about two and a half hours from Bangkok.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01:There's really not that many people going to it. And then another one, I'll tell you my favorite beach in the country, if you're going to look that one up. And that is called Sam... And then the second word is R-O-I. And then the last word is Y-O-D. And this is, we keep coming back here. We've come back here more times than anything else.
SPEAKER_00:Well, that's actually not too far from the other, the first place you were telling us about. Yeah, that's right. It's along the peninsula.
SPEAKER_01:That's right. This is in the province of Cachua.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:But it's like, I would say, the most exceptional of the beaches. And the town there is just extremely picturesque because there's all this karst geography, which are those tall, jagged, rocky outcrops. In all 360-degree views of all sides, you see these big, rocky outcrops.
SPEAKER_00:So, okay, now it's time for the rapid-fire questions. Okay, what do you have for breakfast every morning, or do you eat breakfast?
SPEAKER_01:I do. Yeah, I kind of change it up. I often eat yogurt or cereal.
SPEAKER_00:And do you have coffee or tea? I drink both. Oh, okay. What's more popular there?
SPEAKER_01:Um... Both are popular, although there's almost no tea culture here. Everybody just drinks Thai tea. I'm sure you're familiar with
SPEAKER_00:Thai tea. Oh, sure. Yeah, with the milk.
SPEAKER_01:But it's very difficult to find any Chinese or Indian teas, although they are available. That's interesting. And for about a tenth of the cost that you'd pay in America.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:To go to Chinatown in Bangkok to buy it.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. Yeah, I remember you brought me some tea back once.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that was so good. All right, and then the money is, is it the bot? Okay, and again, we talked about this before, but should we bring cash or just everything, just credit card with no foreign exchange fees, of course?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, get a credit card that doesn't have foreign exchange fees. I mean, you should really just do that now. Don't even think about it. Get the Charles Schwab debit card. Refund all your ATM fees anywhere in the world. You'll never have to pay and you'll never have to worry about it. Load the cash onto your debit card. Then you can just pull that out. And if you ever lose that card, they can replace it anywhere in the world in like 24 hours.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my gosh. Okay. I'm writing it down. Debit card, you said?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I actually lost my card one time while we were traveling. We were in between hotel rooms and I ordered it. Didn't even have a place for it to like land. And just ordered it to go to my next hotel. I picked it where we thought we'd be in a couple days, and it arrived at the same time we did, in less than 48 hours.
SPEAKER_00:What about when you're going to that market up in Chiang Mai, for example? I'm sure there's other markets. Do those places still take credit cards?
SPEAKER_01:No. Yeah, Thai people are able to scan everything and just pay with their phones. But as a foreigner, you can't get an account to do that. So you'll need cash.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, got it. Is it better to exchange when you get there, like on the street or at the bank? Where do you change your jacket? Just
SPEAKER_01:get it from ATM, anywhere you go. Oh, just
SPEAKER_00:get the ATM.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. If you get one of these, like a charge swab, you'll never have to worry about the cost. Otherwise, it's going to cost you about$8 every time you take money.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I did, unfortunately, that in Bali. I went to Korea, but Bali was really expensive. So I am going to get the Charles Schwab debit card. They should pay you for that.
SPEAKER_01:Fidelity has one, too. If you happen to have a Fidelity account, you can get a Fidelity debit card that does the same thing.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, you know, I do have a Fidelity account. So Fidelity does the same thing as the Charles Schwab one?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think it's only the debit card.
SPEAKER_00:That's fine. I will get that. That sounds perfect. Okay. And what's your favorite meal when you go out? You're like, oh, I want to get this for dinner. Or lunch, I guess. Do you still like it? I remember when we used to go to Thai restaurants, do you like that Penang chicken or something?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's what mom cooks for me every day. So I'm kind of, I don't know. I love it, but at the same time, it's not, I don't, it's my favorite food, but it's, It's not what I would probably order when I go out to a restaurant since it makes
SPEAKER_02:it
SPEAKER_01:perfectly fun every day. But I think the favorite thing I like is actually a snack. It's called Miancom. And it's this strange leaf. It's this big green leaf. And it's in a plastic bag. It comes in a plastic bag. And you open this leaf up and then you pour in dried garlic, dried shrimp, this sticky sweet sauce. with some Thai peppers and limes and some other things that are all just like chopped up in these little bags. There's like six little bags and you just like very delicately put it inside of this leaf and roll it up and it's the most delicious thing ever. But you can't find it all the time and it's just hit or miss. And often when you do see it, they'll only have one or two in stock. And I don't know, I'm kind of obsessed with it and every time we see it, I buy it.
SPEAKER_00:M-I-A-N-G and then K-A-M. Is that what this is? Mine comes with dried shrimp. Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:that's it. It's delicious. I absolutely love it.
SPEAKER_00:Very interesting. Okay, great. Okay. And then we'll just go, where's the closest place to surf? I know these are not much. I think Phuket. I think Phuket is
SPEAKER_02:probably where you're going to
SPEAKER_00:be for that, yeah.
UNKNOWN:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:is you want to be on the Andaman Coast, which is the Pacific Coast, because everywhere else in Thailand is in the Gulf of Thailand. And so that's a big, huge bay, and it's not the ocean, you know what
SPEAKER_00:I mean? Right.
SPEAKER_01:It's on the Pacific side of the ocean. That's where the waves are. Got
SPEAKER_00:it. Great. And then I see Myanmar is like so close. Do you ever go to Myanmar? Not really. Is it just.
SPEAKER_01:Right now you can't really go there. They're in the middle of a 40 year civil war and wouldn't go there. You can if you really want to, but mostly if people go there, you can fly into the capital city and it's, you know, It's totally calm. It's not a war or anything in the capital city. And you can also go into the border towns, but typically you only get a pass for like a day. You can't go anywhere except one town. You need to come back out the next day. Or that day, actually.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. I never thought it was so close to India.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's not too far away.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. I'm looking at your traditional, like this Mayankam. I see it, the way it's displayed, it kind of looks like the rice... paper with
SPEAKER_02:the
SPEAKER_00:spring rolls. Yeah, it's like a spring roll. Yeah, it looks really good. It's
SPEAKER_01:really good.
SPEAKER_00:Tons of little bowls of all this fresh stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's the perfect mix of flavors. I just can't get enough of it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and you create it yourself. You just have the
SPEAKER_01:leaf. Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_00:It looks like oil or some sort of thing. Wrap it and just
SPEAKER_01:eat it. Sticky sweet sauce, yeah, that you pour on top of it after you put all the you've assembled all the ingredients on your leaf.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. It looks like a flower. There's a plate with the dipped leaves around. That's a man that looks good. That's my
SPEAKER_02:style.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Thanks for sharing. Oh my gosh. It's so weird. Yeah. Like it's so interesting how like some countries just have food that you've never seen before. And just one quick question. Like if I were to go and have this or something, I don't have to worry about like getting sick from the food or something like that. And it's all pretty healthy. It's not like Mexico.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think that's the case. No, I think you probably should expect you're probably going to get sick the first couple of days because that mostly happens anywhere you go. Because it's not because of food poisoning. It's just because your body is not used to the different bacteria that you're going to your body when you go to a new place.
SPEAKER_00:And
SPEAKER_01:I get the same thing when I come back to America. I get sick.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. But the longer you stay, the less of an issue it is, you know?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. And then you just have like Pepto-Bismol or whatever it is. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I would recommend, that's what I used to, I followed the advice of a lot of other travelers who say to take Pepto-Bismol prophylactically. And I find that that works really well. Yeah. So what you do is you can buy the little tablets or you can buy the liquid and just drink that four or five times a day. Just do a little like spoonful every couple of hours. It just, your guts lined with that Pepto-Bismol and it won't necessarily prevent you from having any problems, but it will definitely make it a lot less severe and a lot less of a...
SPEAKER_00:Wow. So maybe like bring some of your own food in the bank and then just like slowly eat the new food. It's not like. Yeah. Just bring a big thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's what I would recommend. Just bring a big bottle of Pepto-Bismol.
SPEAKER_00:Go to Costco. After
SPEAKER_01:about two or three days, you won't notice the difference yet.
SPEAKER_00:And wasn't there something about, I think the lady in Vietnam was talking about, there's some kind of pills. Remember they sounded weird, like ash pills or charcoal.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, charcoal. Yeah, that's good if you actually really get legitimately sick to where you don't really have a bacterial buildup in your body because that will absorb the toxins that are being released by the bacteria and allow them to travel out of your body quickly.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Cool. All right. Back to work. All right. Sounds good. It was a pleasure. Thank you so much, Rick. It was so helpful. Absolutely. Have a great weekend. Bye. You too. Bye. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the podcast, can you please take a second and do a quick follow of the show and rate us in your podcast app? And if you have a minute, we would really appreciate a review. Following and rating is the best way to support us. If you're on Instagram, let's connect. We're at where next podcast. Thanks again.
UNKNOWN:So,
