Backpacking Southeast Asia - Thailand Itinerary Ideas

If we consider a backpack trip to Thailand? Here are some ideas for your itinerary.

One week: if you only have a week in Thailand, you must sacrifice what you see can be done. The most common way would be to spend a few days in Bangkok, check out the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and familiarity with Thai culture. The rest of the trip could provide one of several sites on the beach bar in Thailand should be spent.

Take a cheap flight toEither Phuket or Ko Samui to relax on the beach for a few days. From Ko Samui you could spend a few days at Ko Pha Ngan if you wanted to attend the full moon party (book accommodation well in advance if you are trying to go to the full moon party). From Phuket, you could spend a few days on the beautiful island of Ko Phi Phi, relaxing on the beach or going snorkeling.

Two weeks: With two weeks in Thailand, you will be able to the vast majority of what Thailand has to offer. Again your Trip probably start most of Bangkok.

If you want to take to the circuit to the beach, take a bus or a flight to Phuket. Spend a day at first Phuket to Ko Phi Phi. Ko Phi Phi, a ferry to the Krabi region of spend and spend some climbing and snorkeling. From Krabi bus to Surat Thani to the ferry to head Ngan Ko Samui and Ko Pha, before returning close to Bangkok to stay.

Another option is to visit the North of ThailandBut for some time on the beach. Bangkok again before the train to Chiang Mai. While in Chiang Mai, visit the local indigenous people in the mountains, going around an elephant, go bamboo rafting, take Thai cooking classes, and visit the Sunday market. From Chiang Mai you can choose to visit Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Samui or Phuket, Ko Phi Phi and Krabi. The easiest way is to take a cheap flight from Chiang Mai to Phuket or Ko Samui is.

A month with one monthThailand you can visit almost every corner of the country. Along with all the destinations previously mentioned, you can also visit the white sand beaches of Ko Samet and Ko Chang. To the East of Bangkok, these destinations are much quieter than the beach destinations in Southern Thailand. Ko Chang is a good place to visit if you are into scuba diving.

Another destination that is possible to visit is Ko Tao. A short ferry ride from Ko Pha Ngan, this sleepy island also has some Excellent diving can, and a relaxing respite from the madness of the Full Moon Party is.

Sorry to Bangkok 's central location and the fact that Thailand is the hub, it must go back if you want the country to all corners. If you are willing to discount flights to some, it may be useful if the target to eliminate the backtracking along.

Hanging Around in Thailand

Our trip to Thailand had been long awaited, originally planned for the winter of 94/95. My wife Karin had bought the maps and books and even packed; we were off. The balloon was ready at Thunder and Colt with a heavy duty basket tailor made for hard use overseas. And then they went bust. The delay meant that we missed the relatively short window available for flying in Thailand. So it was rainy old England for most of the winter and a rethink of the plan for us. I had been asked to go out there by Jon Nunns having previously worked for him in South Africa flying passenger ride balloons.

Jon's interest in Thailand comes from several commercial tours he's probably had the most experience of flying in Thailand. Sky balloons agent in Thailand managed to sell one of the first balloons to roll off the production line to a pair of business men who wanted to learn to fly and fly advertising banners in I come again, this time to train and point them the right way.

So after a Passengers fantastic summer in England, was on a Quantas Jumbo from a snowy December Heathrow. We took a flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, a northern city, has hosted the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), our first stop. Jon, returning from SAGA, was there for three days to ease us into things.

Our guests were able to find a sponsor is a company cell phone and we had a whole day before. The city was bustling with activity, isto the games and it was great fun to be there. We generally flew across the city in the mornings and over the main stadium in the evenings.

The stadium itself was about 10km from the centre of the city and lay under an east facing slope which of course moved into shade in the evening allowing us to fly over the stadium and away into open countryside, the mornings had the ability to take us up the slope and away to the west which was not a good idea as there was about 50km of forest and national park before the next road.

It was always fairly calm and finding places to land was not a problem. We were not alone in the air a Carlsburg balloon had been shipped in from Europe and a Cameron Gas airship from America. Strangely neither thought to visit or call the international airport 8km south of the stadium. This caused some amount of trouble as Thai's love complicated permissions to fly and neither had any. As we did have permission we were contactable and received some amount of flack from their CAA. We smoothed the path quite well for them, prison was mentioned on more than one occasion!

The airship did a fantastic job seemingly never out of the air and carrying a TV camera beaming live pictures from the stadium. During the evening we tethered next to the stadium and the airship still plodded around dropping leaflets.

Thai's are football fanatics and the Asian cup was also held during the games in the evening. Our tethers coincided with all the home team games. As Thailand progressed through the ranks tickets sold out and it started to get ugly at the gates. For the semi final the fans burnt down the ticket tents in protest and several thousand extra tried to get in causing an outbreak of police brutality.

We tethered high allowing us to see the matches and carried PR people, they tended to want to stay up a while as we had the best view in the house!

On the first and last day of the games we flew into the stadium itself, the first flight by Jon, with me on board and the last by myself. What a fantastic feeling when you drop over the edge of the stadium roof and come to a dead stop amid all that noise and then pile out again, really good fun, it comes highly recommended!

The flights over the city were also commendable. The airport required us to stay below 1000' and if we required to fly higher then we had to call them on VHF. It worked well and of course flying across temples at low level was fascinating. Chaing Mai old city lies within a square canel and contains some 300 temples in total. It was here that we aimed to overfly every day. The River Ping winds it's way to the east of the old city and was very handy for big direction changes. As a rule most wind directions could be found and staying over the city centre for an hour or so and then climbing and departing was fairly easy.

I have to say that Northern Thai's seemed more fun loving than their Southern countrymen. To this end they enjoy letting off fireworks and tissue balloons carrying balls of burning rag to keep them aloft. Not uncommon to see 10 or so cross the night sky glowing red when drinking a beer. They climb quite high as well I flew with some at 3000'. On a couple of occasions, on landing villagers let off tissue balloons in our honour. They also flew bigger ones with strings of fireworks blasting away underneath. All good stuff for balloonists to watch. The last night of the games saw the launch of in excess of 1000 of these balloons in about 10 minutes from all around the stadium, and as it was a calm night it was the prettiest balloon thing I've ever seen.

So once that was all over it was off to Bangkok eight hours South by road. Unbeknown to myself we had come to the notice of the Prime Ministers office and were sought out for a job!

The deputy Prime Minister, Thakasin Shinawat, had said on coming into office early in 1995, that by the middle of January 1996 (or 2539 as it is over there) he would sort out Bangkoks traffic problems. He has been pouring millions of Baht of his own money into what is basically an impossible task. He has also been doing all sorts of stunts to show the people that he is trying to remedy the situation.

We were asked to fly him over Bangkok to observe the traffic from the air, this being in their words, a low cost solution. Permissions obviously had to be sought. We were summoned for our first meeting with the CAA on Christmas Day, at 10 O'clock, everybody apparently finding it amusing that I was missing my Christmas day. On arriving it transpired that they didn't really want us to fly as it is a military state and they didn't want me to see anything I shouldn't. The Kings Palace is a no no to fly over as you should never have your head higher than his! However the civilian run Prime ministers office had put big pressure on and they felt they had to relent and by the way, what could we tell them about the other balloon and airship in Chaing Mai ( are you getting the picture that this is a warning). It transpired that we held the winning hand but they really had to tell us they did not like it first. There one and only request was that I didn't fly higher than 500'. Now what! a pleasure. Royal helicopters fly at 800' so that was that. I walked away on Christmas days with a piece of paper that ordered me to fly not above 500 AGL wherever I liked! A trip then to the tower at Bangkok International to let them know what was happening and pick up an air chart. They already knew all about us and wouldn't give me an air chart: military secrets and all that. If I'd known I could have brought them in England before we left!

Thus it came to pass that I was doing balloon traffic reports over the city of Bangkok with the deputy Prime Minister on board and a film crew and five TV crews following through the traffic. We flew two days doing four flights. The flights themselves were pretty exciting to the point that I wouldn't rush to do them again. The tallest building is getting on for 1000' and we flew right between a bunch of them of course stopping all the traffic as we went. For those that know we launched from just above Siam Square and flew across generally towards the Queen Siriket Convention centre and then over the river. The 500' level became a real pain in the afternoons as the OAT was some 37C and thermals were popping off all over the place I may or may not actually flown quite a bit higher at the beginning of these flights and came down when it cooled down, but perhaps I'd set the altimeter incorrectly!

So after all the fun and games it was off to train three people in total: our agent and the two business men. To start with we went off to Rayong a Province to the SE of Bangkok renowned for it's beach resort Pattaya. The guys for some reason where keen to train there. Unfortunately, it proved too coastal and the sea breeze at night knocked down and the breeze of the morning. Our only allowed for a 25 km square, so that we could not go further inland.

No problem, because one of the boys had relatives with a farm near Kanchanaburi, home of the Bridge on the River Kwai, west of the country. E 'was here that the bulk of the training was completed. It 'was an ideal area for ballooning, generally flat with occasional 500-600 metershills popping up like islands. The fields are mainly of Sugar Cane roughly three quarters and the rest are rice paddies. Everything went fine and after three return trips to Bangkok on business the guys where ready. They will be travelling to England to take their PPL's shortly.

One more surprise lay in store. Seeing as the flying into the stadium in Chaing Mai had gone so well I was asked to fly into another with a football to start The Thai football league. Not such a big deal but the stadium as 500 metres from the sea with houses all the way to it. Luck was on our side once more and after two days of strong monsoon winds on the day in question it was calm. We inflated behind a five story building which was right next to the stadium and bang on for the wind direction. The signal for us to launch was a series of fireworks the ninth being our go. At the practices which we couldn't fly into because of the wind we made sure that the marching bands had left and we had a clear stage. You know whats coming next.1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 Go, we rose from behind the building to see that everybody was still stood there,down between them all I came our official hopped out with the football and handed it to the President of Yamaha and we quickly deflated the balloon,! no way was I going to fly out of that one!

So thats briefly it, I haven't touched on the really infuriating stuff, the stuff thats supposed to add character afterwards. I'll let you find out all those bits for yourselves.

If you are interested in going out there then the man to contact In fact the head man of the brand new Balloon Club Of Thailand is:-

YUTAKIT WANICHANOND

125/135 CHANGWATANA ROAD

PAKRET

NONTABURI

11120

THAILAND

FAX 584 0042

To update the story in June 04, the deputy Prime Minister became the Prime Minister and is poised to buy a share of Liverpool Football club in the UK. I have since flown in Australia, Kenya and am now back in South Africa with my own ride business. [http://www.airborneadventuresafrica.com]

Scuba Diving Safety

There are four pieces of scuba diving gear that I think are essential for your scuba diving safety. I make a point of having them with me on every single Asia dive trip and liveaboard dive adventure that I do. My experience in the water has shown me the importance of these potentially life saving diver tools, for you and you dive buddies.

Safety Sausage, this surface marker is the cheapest piece of dive equipment you can buy besides a whistle, which is also a good thing to have, but today they are almost always standard equipment on many "BCD'S". The safety sausage can be seen even in choppy seas from a long way off with the unaided eye. Today there are brands that also include a strip of night reflectors that will light up very brightly when it is hit with any kind of light.

A dive light, preferably a LED light as the burn times is so long. At night if you are drifting, you can catch the attention of passing boats, helicopters or airplanes. Certainly if a search is being made for you at night, you really increase the odds of being seen. I keep one in my pocket all the time as I like to look in holes for small critters on dives, so I get a lot of use out of my pocket light, always knowing in the back of my mind that I have it should I drift off and go missing into the night.

Knife I can remember one time in Cambodia I was diving with a group, and I was looking at something and got separated, as I was heading to the pick up spot, I very nearly swam into a large, nearly invisible, Phantom net! It would be very easy to have gotten entangled and with out a knife I would have had a very hard time to get out of it.

I have a friend that works with nets fishing Hawaii shore lines, and when he does this at night, he swims naked to decrease the chance of having anything hang up on the net and drowning him, which does happen to this type of fisherman.

Dive computer, today they are very inexpensive and they last for years. Why rely on the old analog gauges with tables and charts, when you can have this very essential piece of dive gear for, roughly calculated for most divers, less than a dollar a dive. The bends is something that you don't want to mess around with, having a dive computer lets you know right there on your wrist or dive console, exactly where you are at as far as you nitrogen loading and dive time, which will also will tell you how much of a decompression stop you should make if you accidentally exceed the safe limits on your planned dive profile.

Let's review

Dive with a safety sausage, inexpensive and very easy to see on the open ocean, if you can get with light reflector, even better.

Dive light to use as a signal at night to attract attention from boats, helicopters and search planes.

Dive Knife used to cut fishing line and fishing nets that you might accidentally run into.

A Dive Computer keeps you from accidentally getting decompression illness (DCI)

Remember to plan your dive, and dive your plan, and be prepared with the right dive equipment.

Air Asia X Seat Review - What Are the Best Air Asia X Seats?

This article will explore the Air Asia X seat in great detail and explain the truth about the seat pitch. Little information exists and there are not detailed reviews currently out there. Yet there are some really good seats to pick that you would not otherwise know about. We will explain how to go about securing the best seats for yourself. Air Asia X receives a lot of bad press as it is a budget airline. This article will explore the merit of these accusations.

The international press falsely accuse Air Asia for the very small places, with only 31 "seat pitch. Now 31" is actually higher than the industry average and is actually the same as British Airways, KLM, Lufthansa and United Airlines. Taller people can sit in the seats no problem and really tall people will have few complaints. the larger individuals the impression that the venue is smaller than normal though.

Air Asia X Airbus A330 often use with 9seats in a 3-3-3 across configuration. The industry standard for Economy seating on an A340 is 8 seats across (2-4-2). Air Asia reduced the seat with very slightly, but also reduced the armrest size and aisle width. It is barely noticeable that the seats are narrower, and if you have no problems with a standard Economy seat then you will have no problems with the Air Asia seat.

The clever inspiration that put 9 seats across was clearly not present when the seat recline options were picked. Air Asia X seats don't recline as normal, and instead slide forward at the base to make the back angled down. For most seats this will reduce your legroom to near painful levels. This is not an issue at all however with exit row or bulkhead seats or if you happen to be a small person. Air Asia has been listening to passenger feedback and will be replacing these with new reclining seats in 2010. Make sure you bring a neck pillow until then.

All Air Asia X seats have individual TV sets with audio and video on demand, an excellent feature for a budget airline. The TV is located in the back of the seat in front of you. However for exit row seats, it is located in the armrest and slides out on an extendable arm. This normally reduces the width of an exit row seat, however as Air Asia seats are already very narrow, they have simply made the middle seat very small and kept the aisle and window seat the same size. The middle seat is not sold and always remains empty, meaning that aside from having unlimited legroom, exit row seats also have an empty seat next to them. These seats are bookable in advance from any time including booking through to check in. They are labelled as hot seats on the seat map and costs 100 Ringgit, £20GBP or $40AUD per trip.

The bulkhead seats are designed exactly the same as the Exit Row seats. As the middle seat is far too narrow for anyone to fit in, it is not sold and is always empty. The bulkhead seats do not have quite as much legroom as exit row seats, however it is still a vast improvement over regular seats. Also note that these seats are next to the bassinet and therefore more likely to have babies in them. It is definitely worth while to book a bulkhead of exit row seat if available and will make your journey very comfortable. These are all bookable on the Air Asia website and also at check in, assuming they haven't all been snapped up by this point. Make sure you do book them though because even if they are empty, the crew will land you sit on the move in these places.

Beer Lovers Airport Guide

Today, travelers are spending more time hanging around airports waiting for their flights. Instead of walking up and down up and down the airport waiting for the flight, there are many things travelers can do to in the airport to kill time. There are establishments within the airport that provide activities where people can relax and enjoy their time while waiting to board their flight. One great place to relax and kick back and relax is an airport bar. Most airports now have great bars and lounges where one can sit and enjoy a delicious beer. If you traveling and are looking for a pleasant place to have a beer, below is a beer lovers airport guide:

British Columbia, Canada: In Vancouver, BC, the Jetside Bar, located in the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel, is a popular pace to stop and get a delicious beer. Popular beer brands at the Jetside Bar include: Russell Cream Ale, Whistler Pale Ale, and Okanagan Spring 1516. In the city of Victoria, BC, The Airside Café serves such mouthwatering brands as Race Rocks Amber Ale, Beacon India Pale Ale, and Lighthouse Lager.

Quebec, Canada: The Bijou Bar in the Montreal Airport Marriott Hotel Montreal serves a variety of brands of satisfying beer. The McAuslan Brewing in Montreal serves the popular Griffon Extra Pale Ale, St-Ambroise Pale Ale, and St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout Ale. In Quebec City, the Aerobar serves the popular Rickard's Red and O'Keefe, Coors Light, and Molson. After the airport checkpoint, The Resto-Bar Altitude offers a broad variety of different types of great tasting beer.

Ontario, Canada: At the Toronto Pearson Airport, travelers can get a variety of different beers at the Casey's Grill Bar such as Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale. You can also get the Rickard's Red at the Exchange Cafe. In Ottawa, the D'Arcy offers Alexander Keith's and Molson Canadian. Other popular Ottawa bars to get a great beer include: Byward Taps, The Rideau Bar & Grill, and The Senate Chambers. Stop by and have a Coors Light, Canadian, Rickard's Red, or Molson Excel.

Nova Scotia, Canada: At the Halifax Stanfield International, travelers can relax at the Maritime Ale House and enjoy a bottle of Coors Light, Keith's, or Canadian. Rickard's Red, Rickard's Dark and Rickard's white are also available.

New York, United States: Travelers will find Samuel Adams Brewpubs at the New York Kennedy Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport. The pubs serve Pale Ale and Black Lager. In the Buffalo airport, the Blue Zone serves Canadian beers. Labatt Blue is one of the most popular beers.

Florida, United States: At the Orlando International Airport, travelers can have beer at McCoy's Grill in the Orlando Airport Hyatt Regency Hotel. Some of the more popular beer served are the Orlando Red Ale organic beer and the Orlando Blonde Ale. The Peroni, Sapporo, or Pilsner Urquel is also served. In Miami, you will find the Miami Samuel Adams Brewpub in North Terminal D. They serve great Summer Ale.

Chicago, United States: The Goose Island Beer Company at the Chicago O'Hare airport is a great place to have a beer where travelers can get a delicious Honker Ale and Oatmeal Stout. As well, Reilly's Daughter is an Irish bar located at Chicago Midway where travelers can enjoy Smithwick's Guinness and Harp.

When making your travel arrangements, not only can you find the cheapest airfare and travel deals when searching online, but you can also learn about the great airport bars. Even if the plane is delayed, you can relax and enjoy your beer knowing you got a great travel deal.

Things to Do Near Bangkok Airport During Transit

If you are in transit at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport for more than 6 hours and don't fancy sitting around the airport all day, there are a number of attractions nearby that are a short taxi ride away and will definitely break up the boredom of your short stay. A very interesting and unique option near the airport is "Ancient Siam" (formerly known as Ancient City). Called Mueang Boran in Thai, it is a cultural park spread over 200 acres and is referred to as the world's largest outdoor museum.

The park is built in the shape of Thailand and houses 116 replicas, reconstructed monuments and architectural attractions. Each of the structures are placed in it's geographically correct position within the Thailand-shaped park. Some of the monuments are life-sized, while others are scaled down. Spending a day here will give you a great tour of the history of Thailand and you can even opt for a private guided tour in English, though of course at an extra cost (1500 Baht).

The architecture on display throughout the park is absolutely amazing, a lot of it quite difficult to find nowadays throughout Thailand. Apart from some major reproductions such as the floating market, the reclining Buddha, the Pavilion of the Enlightened and the Giant Swing and Brahmin Temple, you can also see and walk through realistic depictions of traditional Thai villages which are still in abundance today in rural Thailand, but unless you have Thai friends or relatives to take you, it would be difficult to see during your stay.

Ancient Siam really is very beautiful and it is so large that you can spend a peaceful day roaming or cycling and only run into someone every now and then. Bicycles, and even 2 and 3 seater bicycles, can be rented inside the park for 50 Baht each (100 and 150 Baht respectively for duo and triple bicycles).

The park is roughly 15 kilometers from the airport and is accessible in 40 minutes. Admission is 300 Baht for adults and 150 Baht for children. It is open form 8am to 5pm daily.

In the same area as the Ancient Siam park is the Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo. Built in 1950, it was Thailand's first crocodile farm and now houses over 60,000 crocodiles, of both the saltwater and freshwater variety. You can see elephants, chimpanzees, and other animals such as gibbons, turtles, boa constrictors, pythons, birds, camels, hippopotamuses, and of various species of fishes. There is also a tiger chained up with which you can have your photo taken.

The park is open from 7am to 6pm and shows are performed every hour between 9am and 5pm, with handlers catching the crocodiles bare handed, wrestling with them and even placing their hands and heads inside the crocodiles' open jaws. There are also elephant shows with performances every hour between 9:30 am and 4:30 pm.

Be warned that this zoo has come under a lot of flack from some tourists for the way the animals are treated with small concrete enclosures with no secondary barriers. Advances in zoo designs have certainly not come to Thailand yet and if you are sensitive to such things you may want to skip this zoo.

In summary if you have between eight and twelve hours, the Ancient Siam park is an excellent choice to get outside, have a relaxing time and even learn something about Thailand. If you have a shorter amount of time and if you have the stomach for it, you may consider the Crocodile Farm and Zoo. Both of these attractions are close to each other and can be reached by taxi from the airport in a little over half an hour. Be sure to check at the new Tours for Transit Passengers desks in the transfer hall of the airport to see if these destinations are offered as a tour. If so you can avoid paying the 700 baht airport tax when you re-check-in to your onward flight by taking the tour.

A Visit to Bangkok

Thailand has been for many years one of the most popular destinations in the world for people of all ages. As the capital city and largest populated area in Thailand, Bangkok has become the first place to visit when travelling to Thailand. Potential visitors have access to a huge wealth of Bangkok holiday packages, many of which contain fantastic and affordable deals for holidays in Bangkok.

With a population of over 11 million people living in and around Bangkok, the city is a hub of skyscrapers, traffic and nightlife and a great place to visit to be entertained. Bangkok is the political, spiritual and culture capital of Thailand and contains many different temples and palaces belonging to many different religions and cultures.

Bangkok is renowned as being one of the most traveller friendly cities in the world; this tropical metropolis can sometimes seem quite daunting due to its size, humidity and nightlife. With Thailand being so close to the equator its climate allows many wonderful exotic plants and flowers to grow, many of which grow throughout the city giving it a unique look and feel.

Bangkok has two airports Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi, both airports are approximately thirty kilometres from the city and visitors are advised to allow at least three hours travelling between them due to traffic congestion. Suvarnabhumi Airport is used by most airlines and has the great facilities available for holiday makers, in size terms it is one of the world's largest airports and contains one large terminal that covers both domestic and commercial flights.

Public transport is available within Bangkok in the form of the Skytrain. This futuristic looking train system was designed to help reduce pollution in and around the city. There are many different options for tickets including weekly and day passes available at affordable prices. There is a whole host of other travel options available within the city such as river taxis, metered taxis and Tuk Tuks.

The main sights and attractions of Bangkok are located on the island of Rattanakosin, this island is the historical and cultural centre of the city and contains such destinations as the Grand Palace. For a greater understanding of Thai history it is recommended to spend at least a day during your Bangkok holiday exploring the districts many museums and temples.