Earlier this year I visited Thailand for an exceptionally brief 3 week backpacking adventure. Having spent many years as a poor undergraduate and Masters student and working badly paid jobs to fund these academic indulgences, I’d never really had the time or money to travel. I got to a point where none of the work my agency was sending my way was promising to develop into a permanent role and the work was drying up so I just decided to pack up my things and go (quite literally).
Thailand is the perfect starting point for any budding explorer because it is so accessible and geared up for Western travellers, whilst still providing such an authentic and eye-opening Asian experience. To get you started on your own itinerary, I’ve listed a few things below that you should absolutely make time for when you’re there.
I’ve decided to include experiences that deeply touched me, rather than a travel guide style run down of popular backpacker haunts. Also, I have photos! Admittedly some of them are terrible.
</dt><dd class=”wp-caption-dd”>Me trying to be all zen</dd></dl>The Lost Book Shop, Chiang Mai
As a bibliophile and self- professed introvert, this was my favourite place in Chiang Mai. This small city has the relaxed and casual atmosphere of a beach town, with everyone loafing around in shorts and flip flops.There is the strong sense that everyone here is well-travelled and that this the place for a lengthy pitstop on an extended globetrotting adventure. This is where all the cool kids hang out.
The Lost Book Shop is located within the old city walls and is where all the best bits of Chiang Mai converge. Inside the shop which is located on a peaceful back street, ridiculously cool people whose wizened faces convey the sense that they have a thousand amazing travel anecdotes wander amongst hundreds of well-thumbed books from pretty much every genre, which are imbued with the character and collective memories of previous owners. Some of the books are a bit on the expensive side, but if you’re looking for a worthwhile memento, there’s no better place.
The White Temple (Wat Rong Khun), Chiang Rai
</dt><dd class=”wp-caption-dd”>Stunning views</dd></dl>The White Temple is designed in the style of a Buddhist temple, but is more like an ambitious art installation. This project is the labour of love of artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, who will not accept donations over 10,000 Baht so that his that his vision isn’t influenced by anyone else.
To get there I had to take a rather scary bus ride from Chiang Mai with a driver who seemed like he would have been more at home in a drag race. After several near misses with other buses, having to almost swerve off the road over a cliff and a dreaded feeling of foreshadowing when we passed another crashed vehicle, I can confirm that holding my breath for over 3 hours was absolutely worth it.
The absolute outlandishness and creative scale of The White Temple is almost unfathomable. Predators head emerges from the ground; a bridge crosses a chasm, with outstretched hands representing unrestrained desire reaching up as though to pull you into the abyss; an anti-capitalism mural inside the ubosot depicting spiderman, the Hulk and Harry Potter, as devout buddhists float on clouds above the chaos with faces turned up towards the salvation of Buddha. Sadly you aren’t allowed to take pictures inside!
</dt><dd class=”wp-caption-dd”>Dedication</dd></dl>The best part of my visit was making a dedication: I purchased a small silver disk shaped like a leaf for 50 Baht and inscribed it with my hopes for the future in black marker pen. Reaching up to hang my dedication from a tree-like structure covered in the dreams, thoughts and prayers of thousands of others, I was overwhelmed with emotion and the feeling of unity with all other people in their hopes for a purposeful existence.
Wat Ratchaburana (Ruined Temple), Ayutthaya
</dt><dd class=”wp-caption-dd”>Ruins at Ayutthaya</dd></dl>If you can ignore the coach loads of tourists and cluster of stalls selling terrible souvenirs outside the perimetre of the ruins, this place is quite breathtaking. What at first seems like piles of rubble and the carcass of a once great temple, is haunted by an intense silence despite the noisy crowds.
I was able to wander off at times to an area that was briefly empty and absorb the waves of energy that emanated from the crumbling buddahs lining the walls. It felt so eerie imagining the lives that had been lived on this site. I realised that places have meaning not in themselves, but become meaningful because of the emotions they inspire and the significance they hold for people visiting them. The temple had ceased to exist as a sacred place, but was filled everyday with the awe of its visitors and continued to be a special place of both historical interest and pilgrimage.
Hin Wong Bay, Koh Tao
</dt><dd class=”wp-caption-dd”>On top of the world</dd></dl>Let me start with an embarrassing admission- I can’t really swim. I was determined however to try out snorkelling which Koh Tao is famous for. After visiting several hotspots on the island including the beautiful Syan Nyuan beach, I made the ill-advised choice to walk all the way to Hin Won Bay, arguably the best snorkelling hot spot on the island, in the midday sun.
By this point, I’d been walking about 7 miles every day for several weeks and was feeling pretty healthy. ‘It doesn’t look that far on the map’ I told myself, laughing at all the other travellers who faced being ripped off by hiring motorbikes. An hour later as I languished thirsty, hot and grumpy in the dirt by the roadside, I thought about giving up. I’m so glad I didn’t.
The bay is accessed by a series of precariously placed wooden planks balanced over the surrounding rocks, meaning I had to tentatively wobble my way across. There were only 6 other people in the bay, which was utter heaven after the crowds and commotion of Sairee. The surf lapped calmly at the shore and the only sound was the occasional splash of the flippers of other snorkelers. Floating serenely in the calm and clear waters, I marvelled at the alternate world unfolding beneath me. I spotted at least 7 different species of fish, got up close to a coral reef, and even glimpsed jellyfish in the distance.
</dt><dd class=”wp-caption-dd”>Koh Tao</dd></dl>Sleeper Trains
These are the most uncomfortable mode of transport I’ve ever used. Buffeted around as though you’re on the back of an angry bull, the carriages are either freezing cold due to overworked air con or sweltering cans of saharan heat. Just pray your bunk isn’t near the toilet which is pretty much just a tin can with a hole in the floor.
</dt><dd class=”wp-caption-dd”>Feeling like a sardine</dd></dl>At this point you must be asking, why is this on the recommendations list?! Travelling by train is the most thrilling way to experience vast swathes of Thailand’s amazing landscape rushing past, make friends and share stories with those in the bunks around you, and feel like you truly slummed it. The best experience I had on my numerous train journeys was lowering the window all the way (no health and safety rubbish here), leaning out with my hair whipping around my face, and waving to people travelling on motorbikes on the road running parallel to the track. This is the moment I finally understood and appreciated the truth of the description of Thailand as ‘the land of smiles’.
</dt><dd class=”wp-caption-dd”>Koh Tao sunset</dd></dl>It would be a cliche to say that I found myself in Thailand; I still don’t really know who I am. I did however, find the answers to several questions that had been running around my mind for a long time. That’s the wonderful thing about travel- it makes you feel so small and insignificant, that perspective comes easily. You learn to realise that no one really cares what you choose and that you are only accountable to yourself.
</dt><dd class=”wp-caption-dd”>Seeking solace and salvation</dd></dl>
