Two Weeks in Thailand — Double Dose Of LA

-Shavonti

Okay so full disclosure, this Thailand trip was ALL “Bargain Berri’s” idea lol. A friend of hers referred her to a website called AffordableWorld.com that offered an 11 day Thailand tour available for $1300, so she dragged me and 3 of our friends along for a two week Thailand takeover in November. Let me tell you, I NEVER travel for more than 5 days so as the days got closer for this 11 day trip my nerves got increasing worse but Berri made it VERY clear I couldn’t back out now lol.

I flew from Los Angeles to Shanghai, China and then China to Bangkok. Berri flew from New York to Doha, Qatar and then Qatar to Bangkok.

My layover in China was only 2hrs and went by pretty quick. I’d recommend anyone flying China Eastern eat before you get on the plane, take some snacks, and a large bottle of water for the long flight. My flight from Shanghai to Bangkok was approx. 5hrs and they served food and drinks. I ate noodles and bread since they had no vegetarian options available and the meat didn’t look all that great either. There were no outlets on this flight to charge my phone so I’d recommend bringing a portable charger with you!

Berri flew Qatar Airlines and she thoroughly enjoyed her flight and found the airline to be comparable to Emirates Airlines, which is her favorite. She wasn't thrilled about the food, but it was edible.

Once I landed in Bangkok the humidity damn near killed me ya’ll. I hadn’t even left the airport and I was so sweaty and sticky like I had just ran a marathon. I ended up having to wait over and hour in the baggage claim area because when traveling with a travel group you have to wait on a bunch of other people to arrive before getting on the tour bus and heading to the hotel. This was sooooooooo annoying and is the main reason I wouldn’t go through a travel group again.

Nevertheless; it was all fun, laughs, and liquor by the bucket (literally), with our lady boy bartender once Berri arrived! For those of you that may not know, Thailand is known for their “lady boys” which are transgender males whom are now recognized as female, who’s features look more feminine than mine ok? It was late in the evening when Berri landed so we went across the street from the hotel to the explore various street vendors and found pizza and liquor! We spent our first night drinking and catching up.

I already told you guys about my frustration with waiting on the other people in the tour group at baggage claim so to limit our headaches during the trip we opted to go on our own solo tours. We booked our own chauffeur daily and had them take us the same places the group went to, just at different times so we could sleep in. Most of the tours started early around 7/8AM Thailand time, and us adjusting to the 13hr time difference was HARD!! So we’d stay up until around 7AM, then sleep well into the afternoon.

Some of the highlights over our next 4 days in Bangkok were taking the cutest little boat down the Chao Phraya River to several temples. While on our boat ride it started pouring down raining (thank goodness I opted for a wet and wavy natural hair vibe and Berri had braids) so neither of us was too upset outside of our entire bodies being soaked lol. There were cute little stores outside of the first temple we visited, which must’ve known something we didn’t because each of them sold cheap umbrellas and capes to make the rain more tolerable.

We waited about 15mins for the rain to subside before touring the beautiful grounds of the Wat Arun Ratchawararam temple. I haven’t seen such detailed artwork like this in a really long time, everything was STUNNING! Lots of gold which is always a must see for me! And steep steps to guide you through the maze-like temple grounds. However, after you've seen a few they all start to look the same, so after about 45mins of taking pics and soaking in the architecture we headed to our next stop.

At the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho, I’ve never seen so much gold chile! It was like Fort Knox! Wat Pho is one of Bangkok’s main attractions which was a huge gold Buddha laying horizontal. In this location you can’t wear shoes, and luckily we were told ahead of time so we came prepared with wipes to sanitize! Anywho, there were people praying and giving money to the beautiful statue, so we did the same! We toured those grounds for a bit before heading to our next gold-filled stop!

The temple of Wat Traimit was a bit more strict with the dress code as they gave me safety pins to close my kimono before entering and they also requested that we not take video while viewing the statues... now you know we’re rebels and got some footage anyway.. we hope you enjoy them since we risked getting kicked out for y’all lol.

Bangkok nightlife has a lot to offer, the ping pong show is a big tourist attractions/swindle. We deemed this a swindle because they “size you up” before telling you the entrance fee. Every group entering the show paid a different price based on what they thought you could afford, and unfortunately we paid way too much! Now this is only for those 18 and up who are interested in uhhhhhm let’s say extravagant vaginal tricks. We’re going to leave it at that but feel free to reach out for more info, or if the title alone peaks your interest and you’re in Bangkok just ask anyone driving a cab on the street to take to the ping pong show lol..

Next up, was our visit to the Elephant Trekking at Chang Thai Thappraya Safari in Pattaya. Pattaya is about 90 miles away from Bangkok, which isn’t too far but, the traffic in Bangkok is comparable to LA or NYC, so this is a day trip! Elephant Trekking was our favorite part of our visit in Bangkok. We got the opportunity to ride an elephant through the jungles pathways and muddy waters! Of course it started raining while on our hour ride *cues Carl Thomas “Summer Rain”* because that was the vibe! The elephant Trekking was 1200 Baht which is less than $40 and included pics/video for an additional purchase of course.

Before you leave Bangkok, you’ve got to go to Khaosan Road. Khaosan Road is basically one big outdoor block party where you can get some of the best street food (I’ve never had pad thai or vegetable rolls so good in my life!), laughing gas, massages on the street, clubs, bars, tattoos and you can even eat fried scorpions, grasshoppers, water-bugs and spiders, if that’s what your into lol. And apparently this takes place every night of the week!

The best pad thai & egg rolls on Khaosan Road

After a fun filled 5 days in Bangkok we took a quick flight to Phuket. What we learned fairly quickly, was the vibe from Bangkok and Phuket are TOTALLY different. Phuket was really chill and romantic, we’d recommend if you’re looking for a nice spot for you and yours, Phuket is it. Most resorts are on the beautiful water and we spent most of our days lounging and relaxing in and by the pool with lots of food and drinks. After all of the late nights in Bangkok we needed to regroup lol.

We had our “friends-giving” dinner at an amazing restaurant called Black Ginger at The Slate Hotel. To get from the hotel to the actual restaurant, you had to take a little tug boat across a small river, it was super cool and unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. The vibe was really romantic, dark colors, with ambient blue lights. The service was a tad slow, but the food and drinks were delicious (and vegetarian friendly 😊).

Now here comes our favorite part of Phuket. We booked another solo tour to the remarkable Phi Phi Island. Babbbbbby, when I tell you it was BEAUTIFUL! The water was so clear, it was everything we imagined!

On this island there are serval parts, we stopped at Phi Phi Don to have lunch at a small waterfront restaurant where the boat gets you as close as possible then you jump into the water and swim your way to the restaurant! The food was OK at best, but the experience was one of a kind. We had drinks and swung on the swings in front of the restaurant before heading to our next stop which was Monkey Beach. A short distance away on the boat we pulled up to a large cave which seemed normal until you look up and see monkeys everywhere! Big monkeys! Little monkeys! Medium monkeys! You name it! We didn’t get off the boat here for a good reason. Monkeys are unpredictable, and we didn’t want to take that risk lol.

Next stop was Phi Phi Lay. Phi Phi Lay has all the famous bays you see on TV or social media. Phi Phi Lay housed Loh Samah Bay, Pi Leh Lagoon and Maya Bay, which all offer swimming and snorkling. Maya Bay is a cute little island where we got off the boat and I relaxed and sipped my FRESH coconut water on the beach while Berri took pics! Maya Bay had a ton of food, drinks, and clothing stores. At this point I was exhausted!!! The entire trip was about 8hrs and by this time, I was hot, sweaty, and wet from hopping in and out of the water. If you want to tour Phi Phi Island I definitely recommend speaking with your hotel concierge about renting a private boat that is to your liking. We found ours on our own and weren’t too happy with the outcome so take our advice lol!

My flight back home was BRUTAL. There was a 7 hour layover once I got to China from Phuket and I’m pretty sure on my China flight is where I caught the flu and wound up sick for the next 9 days. So, stock up on vitamins before your trip and make sure you’re wearing a mask if you see everyone else wearing one lol. Berri and I, are considering trying IV vitamin infusions before our next adventure, and please believe we will be masked up, just to be safe!