Thailand
 

Hi all
Im off to thailand soon, im thinking of doing bangkok and maybe some surrounding areas! Which places besides bangkok would you suggest to see! It would be great if answers are from experience and not wikipedia :P

Surrounding Areas?
Within what sort of radius, and time involved getting there and back?
Staying overnight, or for a few days.
By train and bus alright?

I'll start anyway, and yep all based on experience.

If you want a bit of culture and adventure for a couple of nights, then I'd choose two areas. The first is Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Siam. That'll provide you a bit of culture, the temples are fairly close together, and by hiring a tuk tuk the driver will know what you want to see. Nightlife is there but it's very low-key. The adventure bit is to get there and back by 3rd Class train from Hualmaphong train station in Bangkok. It takes about 2.5 hours to get there, and the price of a train ticket is 15 (fifteen) bahts! It's a v.enjoyable train ride, you mix with the locals (that's why you're in Thailand isn't it?), nice scenery along the way, and it's not too far. Two nights in Ayutthaya would be sufficient.

The second place is Kanchanaburi, again by 3rd Class train. I'll let this excellent link explain things...

http://www.seat61.com/Bridge-on-the-...m#.U7ER2pRdVEw

The Kanchanaburi area really is beautiful and moving. A couple of nights covers the basics like the Death Railway, Bridge over the River Kwai, Hellfire Pass, Thai-Burma Railway Museum, Commonwealth War Graves. Thousands of Allied servicemen, and civilians gave up their tomorrow so that we could have our today. 4 or 5 nights will allow you to travel a little further and visit Sangthlaburi on the Thai/Myanmar border, which is absolutely serene.

The nearest beach to Bangkok is at Pattaya, but there are much better in Thailand.

You want to see what?

Ruins
caves
waterfalls
Beaches
local atmosphere or touristy
snorkelling
Kayaking
Temples
museums

Depends what u like and how long u have

As suggested, it really depends on what "doing" means to you.

Many of us here have been to Thailand many times, so you should have no trouble getting answers from people's experience. But you will have to give us some hints: what interests you? How much time do you have? Where else will you be going on this trip? Have you been to SE Asia previously?

We're going to be there for a year, im interested in nature stuff so all the places you listed rock!
Ruins
caves
waterfalls
Beaches
local atmosphere or touristy
snorkelling
Kayaking
Temples
museums

Thank you for the help guys n gals!

We didnt actually help u much.

If you are staying for a year, I hope you have your visa situation sorted out.

Some of us also speak a little Thai and that really qualifies us to give fantastic advice about how to travel. The more Thai you speak, the more of an insight you have into the "right" way of traveling in Thailand, I find...

Wow everyone thank you so much!
@Prachuap The help was the Kanchanaburi advice from @lancasterlad :)
@Kathie yep thanks for that too, we will be based in bangkok and we will use laos, cambodia and malaysia to explore and go and renew our visas!
@filmwill I would love to learn Thai, somehow the actual writing makes it daunting ... is it as hard as it looks ?
we just booked our flight with emirates. We've budgeted 50 dollars a day not including insurance, flights, special events etc. Booked a hostel for our arrival only with these guys http://www.hostels-in-bangkok.com after that we still need to book. unsure wether to head south to beaches or north towards Pai. We might flip a coin when we get there!
Has anyone got any more POIs?

Be aware that crossing back into Thailand overland only gives you 15 days entry, flying in gives you 30 days.

Depends on nationality Kathie.

At land borders, citizens of the USA, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Malaysia are allowed 30 days while all other nationalities only get 15 days.

Kathie is correct and LancasterLad's information is not up to date. Within the last month alone there have been some radical changes for land crossing as Thailand is cracking down on visa run and visa abusers.

More information:

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004...e.php?page=voa
*Read the remark.

http://www.nzembassy.com/thailand/ne...laos-malaysia-
*Explanation for Kiwis and non kiwis from the NZ embassy.

More information from a law office specialising in immigrations:

http://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand/new-visa-rules.php

For important information like visa regulations, don't trust trolls.

More information for illegal expats in Thailand:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nati...-30238504.html

Those changes are targeted at people attempting to live there not casual tourists.

Without doubt Hanu is the biggest troll on here.

Oh you kwai! The changes are for all foreigners travelling to Thailand overland. READ!

Nope. The 15 day rule is old.

These visa rules change with some regularity.

"Border runs have been cut short due to the very recent change in rules regarding overland entry by Thai immigration. Foreigners entering Thailand via border posts at Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Malaysia without securing a prior visa will now be granted only 15 days of stay in the country as opposed to the previous Visa on Arrival, which was valid for 30 days." This is from the Thai embassy site.

Oops - I hit post too soon - The bulletin above is dated July 15, 2014.