Thailand

Thailand represented the end of our journey in South Asia and the start of the final South-East Asia leg of our trip. We had originally planned to fly from Nepal to Vietnam and start our circuit there, but the Vietnam visa for my SA passport proved more challenging than we had anticipated. Cheap flights to Bangkok tipped us in favour of a reroute to Thailand, to plot our way  from there. Our attention had been fully immersed in our Nepali adventure, so as we landed in Thailand, we realised we were a little underprepared for this next stretch of our adventure. We had a total of one booking for South East Asia – 3 nights in Bangkok – and nothing more. We would have to feel our way forward from there.

Fortunately, Bangkok is a highly developed and incredibly organised city that has everything you need, and is easy to get around in. We (especially St Nicholas the Efficient) were so impressed by the airport process. Even though it was nearly midnight: there was no visa process, we went straight through customs, there were ATMs in the foyer, and a whole row of sim card vendors to ease your way into the country. We then ordered a taxi through the Grab taxi app (which worked), and even though it was late at night, it all felt smooth and easy as we cruised into our AirBnB apartment in one of the three huge Supalai Park towers in northern Bangkok. 

Our first and most important mission in Bangkok was to sort out my Vietnam visa. After sleeping off the heavy travel day from Nepal and acclimatising to the humid 38 degree heat, we took the impressive BTS sky train into the centre of town and to the Vietnamese embassy.  (As we travelled between the skyscrapers, Daniel remarked, “this is a real concrete forest, with lots of 11-7s”!) We were immediately deflated to realise that: a) we were too late (receiving hours are only 9-11am); b) we didn’t have the right documents (since Covid, an additional internal approval letter is required for some countries, including SA); c) it was going to take at least a week to get the required Letter of Approval from the Vietnamese Department of Immigration, via an approved Vietnamese travel agent; d) we would have to come back to the embassy once all that was done; e) there was a series of public holidays across SE Asia that would make embassy opening times even more of a lottery. Back to the apartment we went, with our tails between our legs, for a sulk and a swim.  

In the searing heat we didn’t feel like leaving the comfort of the airconditioned apartment and the enormous complex swimming pool. We also didn’t have anywhere to stay the following night and had no idea where we should go. It all felt a bit overwhelming. Should we stay in Bangkok? Should we switch around our route and head to Cambodia? Should we laugh off Vietnam altogether? Should we go and chillax on a Thai island? There was general travel fatigue in the family system, and I hit a real travel low – I didn’t want to go anywhere, see anything or learn anything more! After a short family conference, the Thai island won out. We would go and have a sunny holiday for a week and come back to Bangkok to figure out the rest of the logistics. We did some rapid research on which of the dozens of islands to choose – it couldn’t be too far, too expensive or be a party island. We settled on Koh Kood in the east of the Gulf of Thailand, quickly bought return transfer tickets and accommodation, and at 5am the next day, we were on our way. 

Waking up at 4:30am has never been popular with the youngest in the family, so we prepped the night before and planned a military departure to ease the inevitable grump factor. Fortunately, the company we had booked through was super slick and organised, and once we were on the comfortable bus, it was a walk in the park (after our 13hr adventure in Nepal, anything is a walk in the park). At the ferry dock, they even gave us a prepared lunch before being taken to the ferry on a funny people bakkie trailer. Graham sea-legs are notoriously wobbly but we were lucky, and the crossing was flat and pleasant.   

As we approached the island we could see the palm trees and the white beaches. The deep blue water was irresistible and we couldn’t wait to jump in. Unfortunately, we still had another (very well organised) bakkie transfer right to the door of our accommodation. During the week of our stay, we realised there are two main types of transport on the island – scooters (which you can rent for 250 bhat/R125 a day, and which are capable of carrying a full family of 4!) and open Toyota Hilux tuktuk-like people carriers, which the kids named truk-truks.  

Garden View Koh Kood is a budget option on the island, but it suited us perfectly. The series of 2-bed little wooden bungalows are set out in a lush green garden along the main road, and only 270m from the stunning Klong Chao beach.  There is an open deck that serves drinks by day and becomes a restaurant by night. Trees drip with orchids, and the ubiquitous garden alter was lovingly tended daily, with various offerings of flowers, bottles of cold water, coca-cola, incense and beer. After dumping our bags we headed straight for the picture-postcard beach and took refuge in the crystal water, warm from the afternoon sun. 

As it turned out, Koh Kood was a great choice. We heard a few young backpackers describing the nightlife as ‘a bit quiet’ – fantastic! Our version of nightlife included a full symphony of different types of frogs, barking geckos and the antics of the mynahs protecting their nests from the golden flying snakes. One evening we heard a deep barking emanating from our room – as we walked in, an ENORMOUS gecko charged across the wall and into the bathroom. It was quite surreal, with our brains reading the shape as definitely gecko, but the size reading as large rat/tiny crocodile! We slept with the bathroom door closed that night. (Although we quite happily co-habited for the rest of the time – funny roommate!) 

Another reason Koh Kood was a good spot for us was that, so far it has escaped tacky tourism. We have heard that many beaches and islands have been ruined by development, but Koh Kood is mostly jungle, interspersed with rubber tree plantations, a scattering of accommodation options and the odd little homestead dotted here and there. Apparently it’s the only Thai island that does not yet have a 7-11 shop. The main road consisted of two dive shops, a cell phone shop, an ATM, a handful of little resorts with restaurants, a petrol pump and a small shop. That’s all. There were lots of local, cheap as chips restaurants – we tried a good few over the week. We missed the one that advertised: Hot beer, Bad service, Live music, Expensive.

One evening a tropical thunderstorm broke while we were eating outside at a local spot. It was the most violent and torrential downpour, with lightning striking all around us, and thunder crashing while we dived for cover. The Cape Town born children, not exposed to proper storms, were torn between fascinated delight and terror! Fortunately, as tropical storms do, it blew over before we needed to walk home, so we were spared swimming home through the wall of water.  

Most of our days were very relaxed, with morning swims and snorkelling; during the heat of the day we would rest and do a bit of schoolwork/blogging on the deck under the blast of a fan, and then more lounging in the shallows in the afternoons. The number and variety of fish around the rocks kept us entertained for hours! As did the people-watching – humans are hilarious and fascinating! Selfie and TikTok culture is strong everywhere (from rural Kyrgyzstan to the distant homesteads of Nepal), but put people on a beautiful beach, and it blossoms en masse into a phenomenon of its own. In the shallows, a young guy does a spontaneous mixer dance while his girlfriend videos him, he checks it, repeats spontaneous dance, rechecks, for 20 minutes; while girls in bikinis jump to be caught mid-air against the tropical backdrop – check the photo – repeat jump – check photo – repeat jump etc. A range of sultry poses, draped over rocks, peering back over shoulders or just pouty-lipped peering around hands – they were invariably followed by a check and repeat – just to properly capture the spontaneous, natural fun of the moment. Transcending language and nationality, from Brazilians and Russians to local Thai tourists, the moves and poses abound. With multi-coloured fish, clams and corals under the water, and hilarious humans above the water, lolling in the shallows was brilliant entertainment!   

One of the days we went on an organised snorkelling trip to 3 spots that had more established coral reefs. It’s such a privilege to see these ecosystems, teeming with life, clown fish cuddling in their anemones, parrot fish in obscenely beautiful colours, skates cruising the sandy bottoms and all manner of sea worm, cucumber and clam clustering on the rocks. Closer into the shallows, in some beaches, the increasingly hot water had resulted in mass coral death, and the coral graveyards are bleak and depressing. It is with mixed emotions that we enjoy the beauty of these threatened environments – I wonder what these will be like when our kids are our age.

After a week of resting in paradise, we found our travel legs again. Our ferry return was as pleasant and well organised as the trip out. We arrived quite late back in Bangkok, and our very gentle taxi driver was quite confounded by the address of our next spot, he had to stop multiple times in the backstreets, off the tourist beat, to ask for directions from locals. We weren’t sure what to expect, but as we self-checked in to Station8 Hostel we became increasingly impressed. This spot has been designed by a someone who has travelled a lot, who knows what is needed and what little extras make a difference. Each room had little sleeping pods – we took the family of 4 pods – and it was such fun arranging our own tiny ‘rooms’, with cleverly placed hooks, charging stations, shelves and black out curtains. The free noodles, breakfast cereals and biscuits were gestures of a thoughtful and generous host who knows you sometimes need emergency breakfast! 

We had arrived on the weekend, so we hopped onto the sky train and cruised a bit around Bangkok. Our visit to Wat Pho, with its numerous temples, beautiful little internal gardens, and enormous golden reclining Buddha, was an hilarious experience because of our guide Chuklet. He decided the tour was for Daniel, and the rest of us were just bystanders (I was a particularly annoying one because I kept trailing behind taking photos, and his agenda was speed!). He frog-marched us around the incredible complex, giving fascinating facts to ‘Boy’ in double-time, while the rest of us trailed along. By the end, Carys was shaking her head – “why do people like Daniel so much – he’s so annoying?!” 

Exiting Wat Pho, we wandered past the palace and on to Khaosan Road. One of the things we’ve learnt over the trip is that one set of ‘buildings’ (ruins, temples, churches) a day is a reasonable plan with kids. Trying to do more is counter-productive, and it’s best to switch to something more sensory. So Khaosan Road it was! We walked through the racks of ‘Packer Pants’ into sellers of “cheap massages”, stalls selling cannabis in sachets or kilo bags, peddlars of scorpions on sticks, and a full crocodile on a rotisserie. We settled for some fresh mango, pad Thai, some packer pants and a bit more tattooed people-watching, just as my brother, Richard, messaged “what’s wilder on Khaosan Road – the people or the food?”  (It’s fascinating that a country that is so harsh with narcotics and even prescription psychoactive meds – the death penalty for possession is only recently under review - has nevertheless legalized cannabis.) 

The next day was yet another public holiday, but we’d realised that we needed to print documents for the Vietnam visa application. Our host at the hostel very kindly phoned around town and directed us to a printing shop that was open (we suspect he stayed open just to wait for us). With the printing done, we wandered down the road to an enticing fruit stall to try out Thailand’s exotic range of fruits. We watched the fruit seller skilfully slice open the notoriously smelly and spikey durian fruit (it is banned in metro stations, hotels and many public places) without damaging the delicate yellow flesh.  A very helpful man from the shop next door helped us to pick out a bagful of fruits we’d never tried before, including a contribution from his own stash – he ran into his apartment and returned bearing a branch of langsat. On our way home, Nick spotted the helpful man’s face on a large election poster. A bit of Googling told us that he is a local MP, campaigning on a ticket to legalise small breweries, after having been convicted for micro-brewing legally. He seemed like such a nice guy with a worthy cause – we’ll be rooting for him! Fruit and craft beer all the way! Back at home we set out on a fruit tasting mission and sampled the rambutans (delicious), mangosteens (amazing!), durian (wow), langsat (bit sour) and rose apple (so so). Carys commented later – “I never knew there were so many fruits I had never heard of! This trip has made me realise how much I don’t know about the world – before I didn’t even know that I didn’t know.”

Bangkok’s night markets are famous, so we headed out to a nearby market that was reportedly not too touristy. After abandoning our spluttering tuk tuk in favour of walking, we arrived at the Indy Night Market to discover that ‘not touristy’ meant that there were actually zero tourists and we were the only foreigners there. We had a wonderful time browsing up and down the numerous food stalls, picking up and sampling interesting things here and there and soaking in the local Bangkok vibe. It was amusing to watch the poor musicians at the side-by-side restaurants trying to make themselves heard amongst each other, while the scantily dressed touts tried to lure customers in. 

So, the next day was 2 May, a work day in Thailand, and we estimated that if we could be first in the line (we knew the timing now), make sure we had ALL the paperwork this time, and pay the accelerated fee, we could just get my visa in the 48 hour turnaround time before the next public holiday on the 5th. We set out early, and arrived hopeful, bristling with papers all in order, and no-one at the gate – we must be the first people there. Except no. We were the only people there. Us, and a note on the gate saying that they would be closed until the following week. Damn! A whiff of a public holiday, and the bureaucrats vanish.  

Despite it being early morning, we were all dripping with sweat, and feeling a bit defeated, so we retreated to a coffee shop with aircon to escape the heat and re-strategize. Now what? We went through the various options again, did some more research, and after satisfying ourselves with enough credible-seeming sources, we discovered that a Visa on Arrival was a legitimate option for South Africans. We decided to roll with it and hold thumbs when we got there. We quickly booked a bus to Laos, a bunch of accommodation, and with that plan sorted, headed out to a local park. 

Walking in the heat meant less than jumping enthusiasm from the kids, but when we got to the park spirits were raised on spotting a huge lake with a fountain and paddle boats, and loads of enormous water monitors (or legomonitors, according to Daniel) climbing on the banks and swimming in the water. We hopped onto swan pedal boats, a free service for the public, and raced each other around the lake, under towering trees backed by even more towering sky-scrapers. 

We had been telling the kids about the fish-that-nibble-your-feet pedicures, so we left the legomonitors, and found our way to ‘I Am Dr Fish’ near the Chao Phraya river, located in a bizaare Disney-themed waterfront cluster of shops. So while we squealed at the intense tickle as the fish nibbled our feet and legs, Disney songs blared in the background, and Micky and Minnie greeted new customers with respectful, palms-together Thai bows.

One of the things we had wanted to do in Thailand was a cooking course. We loved Thai food before the trip, loved it even more after spending some time here, and wanted to be able to cook it back at home. We booked a course through AirBnB and met up with Chef Nam and another family from Korea at one of the metro stations. Chef Nam took us on a whistlestop, eye-opening tour of the local fresh food market before we started the course. At the market we were shown a fish stall with live fish, eels and frogs thrashing around in buckets, all manner of exotic fruits and vegetables, and interesting preparations of all the fresh ingredients. With our baskets full of ingredients, we were bundled into tuk-tuks and directed back to the cooking school. 

The course was incredibly well done. The ingredients and equipment were beautifully laid out on mats on the floor. We were taught to make tom yum soup, prawn pad thai, chicken panang curry and mango sticky rice. We had so much fun squeezing coconut milk, bashing lemongrass and pounding red curry paste – all prepared from scratch. And the result surprised us all – it was amazing! Definitely the best Thai food we’d tasted (even if we say so ourselves....).  

Over the rest of our time in Bangkok, we made another visit Khaosan road for browse around, while Nick had a haircut (to get that fringe out of his eyes) and the kids and I tried out a Thai massage – which was joint-popping and eye-opening!  After a final lounge about and a couple of games of UNO at Station8 hostel, we took a very friendly Grab taxi out to the Bangkok bus station to catch the bus to Laos.  As for the rest of Bangkok, the station impressed us greatly – as we entered we were approached by an official who asked where we were going and pointed us to the right desk; the lady behind the desk had our tickets printed out and waiting for us; we were able to replace a lost neck pillow in the station shop for cheap-cheap; and we filled up on a last delicious Thai meal from one of the many family kitchens operating around a large food hall. 

We all loved Thailand. It is so organised and efficient and easy to navigate as a tourist. It has so much to offer – from bustling glitzy street life in Bangkok, to the idyllic beaches, to the lush mountains in the north (which we will have to come back to see). It is rich with culture, history and tradition. The people are friendly and it is inexpensive to travel in – even for South Africans! Big thumbs up to Thailand.