Bangkok
Bangkok gives you a quick view of what Thailand has to offer. We visited
Siam Ocean World
We went without expectations and were pleasantly surprised. You can see colorful fishes, manta rays, turtles, sharks here
Safari World
We had a mixed experience here. A huge area with hundreds of animals. The good part is that most animals are not kept in traditional cages, they have space to move around. Some of the animals like kangaroos looked malnourished though
There are shows by elephants, sea lions, birds at set times of the day which are entertaining for sure, but made us reflect if it is the right place for animals. I have not been able to make up my mind on whether zoos are good or bad. A part of me says it is a good way to conserve and educate, but not all zoos care for animals equally well
Bangkok Palace
The place was closed for public when we were there as the kind had just passed away. There were long queues of locals going to pay respects. Coincidentally, I was dressed in black like the locals and managed to get past the gates. However my parents with colorful clothes couldn’t get it, so I returned back
Wat Pho
The temple with golden reclining Buddha
Wat Arun
The temple on riverside with majestic white tower. You need to take aferry to reach there
Wat Phra Kae
The temple with Emerald Buddha
Wat Suthat
Another temple with white building
Wat Triamit
The temple with golden Buddha
Phuket
Phuket is a gateway to the myriad islands of Andaman sea. Phuket itself is quite large an island with beaches
Big Buddha
The statue is on top of a hill and visible from almost everywhere in the island
Tiger Kingdom
I was excited about the possibility of seeing and touching tigers. We went there more out of curiosity to see if it is really true that you can go that close to a tiger.
The tigers are controlled by handlers with a small stick, not sure how much they are tortured behind the scenes. You are not allowed to go in front of them, can only touch them from behind
In hindsight, we should have completely skipped this place. Tigers are meant to be in the wild and this is NOT the place for them. We read horror stories of cubs being stored in refrigerators and getting killed after our return (elsewhere in Thailand). I lacked maturity that that point- Please avoid going here
Kata Beach
The beach is quite popular, and we went here more to see what the hype was for. It was like any other beach, nothing out of the world.
Phi Phi Islands
We took a full day tour to the islands that included pick up, refreshments, lunch and island tour by speed boat
The first stop was on Monkey beach. We did not get out into the water
Maya bay was serene with white sand, blue waters and karst mountains around. It keeps getting closed for restoration often
Lunch was on Phi Phi island
There were a few more snorkeling stops at Pileh cave and Khai island