Dan's Adventure

At the beginning of January I will arrive in Thailand at Chiang Khong after crossing the Mekong river from Laos. The visa situation for Thailand is a bit frustrating. Until the start of this year, it was possible to get a 30 day visa exemption when entering Thailand over land from a neighbouring country. This has now been reduced to 15 days which would necessitate a visa run to one of the neighbouring countries if I want to stay longer. My current plan is to spend three weeks in Thailand so I have two options:

1. Get the 15 day visa exemption on arrival and then perhaps do a visa run to Myanmar or Laos after a week or so.
2. Buy a tourist visa somewhere en route which would be valid for 3 months. The question is which city would I be in long enough to get one?

On arrival in Thailand I would like to head to Chiang Rai and perhaps go on a trekking trip to the hill tribes. Further south lies Chiang Mai and the Elephant Nature Park; a sanctuary and rescue centre for elephants. It offers a number of programmes that enable visitors to learn about elephants and join the volunteers in caring and looking after them. Spending two days and one night at the park, I would get to observe the elephants in their natural habitat as they roam free, learn how to communicate with them, observe their health care, and assist in feeding and bathing them.

Busy and crowded, Bangkok is sure to contrast the preceding weeks that will have been spent in Laos and northern Thailand. Despite recent protests and the ongoing volatile political situation, I am still very keen to visit the capital. Its a long time until I’ll be there so who knows what the situation will be by then. Only time will tell.

Following Bangkok I plan to head to the south and visit a few islands as I work my way towards Malaysia. I could end up spending a couple of weeks just island hopping, perhaps some kitesurfing on Phuket, climbing at Railay, snorkelling at Phi Phi or relaxing on Ko Lanta. The Thai islands aren’t just a draw for travellers, their beauty and exotic setting have led to them being used in numerous films. The Beach (based on the novel of the same name by Alex Garland) was filmed at Maya Bay, The Man With the Golden Gun featured an island in Phang Nga Bay which is now known as James Bond Island, and Krabi was used in Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith as Chewbacca’s home planet to name but a few.

Another option for southern Thailand is Khao Sok National Park where you can spend several days going deep into the park, canoe down the Sok river, elephant trek in the tropical rainforest and jungle trek. Just need to watch out for those pesky leeches!