What travelling around Thailand is really like

 Many foreigners think once they've seen Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Kho Samui, they've seen the best Thailand has to offer.

I spent nearly 2 years travelling around Thailand, and even after I settled down in Phetchabun, I still like to travel when I get the chance, and my favorite places are none of the places mentioned above. They are rural places in Isan such as Buriram, Loei, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Nong Khai, as well as Lanna provinces such as Chiang Rai and Nan, and other places in the Northern & Western regions, such as Mae Hong Song, Mae Sae and Phetchabun of course.

Touristy areas are often full of tourist traps such as:- the fake version of the Floating market (not the real one that Thai people use), Khao San Road, Temples that have no cultural significance, overpriced and staged attractions and of course the scams that many foreigners complain about, yet many people I've spoken to who visit Thailand insist they want to go mainly to the tourist areas but then say they're worried about scams?

Each province in Thailand offers something unique, whether it be older temples, such as the ones in Buriram that have Khmer influence, or the Chinese inspired ones in the Lanna regions such as Nan and Chiang Rai.

Loei has a festival for the dead (it's own version of Halloween), and when I'm in Isan provinces, the people are often dancing to music while walking down the street in large gatherings to celebrate something (someone getting married, someone graduating university etc.)

Isan provinces have cultural dances where the women on stage wear dresses that show a bit of skin, and they put on a performance, but it's very entertaining. There's also types of Isan music that use traditional instruments and have a traditional way of singing, or that have a party vibe.

The province I Iive in named Phetchabun, has lots of beautiful mountains and waterfalls, hence it gets many tourists from Korea, Japan and Europe. Some Thai people refer to Phetchabun as the Switzerland of Thailand, because one of it's mountains named Khao Kho has the Switzerland resort with European style pine trees.

I actually took these screenshots from a video I created for YouTube of clouds right above our head near Mt Tabberk in Phetchabun.

This video I did is on the Mountain Khao Kho in Phetchabun. It doesn't give a good view on the height of the mountain but shows the Buddhist Temple named 'Wat Phra Thad Pha Son Kaew' that you can see high up on Mt Khao Khao.

This is a photo somebody else did of Wat Phra Thad Pha Son Kaew, and it shows the mountain scenery better.

Phetchabun has some of the highest mountains in Thailand outside of Chiang Mai, ethnic tribes that live on the mountains and 99% of sellers in Phetchabun give me the same price as Thai people, unlike touristy areas that have dual pricing.

Many people I've spoken to, mainly Australians and Filipinos whom are first time visitors go to places such as Khao San Road or Phuket and pay 150 baht for Pad Thai and think it's 'cheap', because it's cheaper than in their own country (yes, Thai food is expensive in Philippines because it's a delicacy). They tell me they go to these places because the restaurant staff can speak english.

Sure, in rural Thailand, the restaurant staff often speak little English, and the menu is in Thai, but it doesn't take much effort to say Pad Thai Mhoo/goong/Gai. 

Sure Phuket has beautiful islands and limestone, but so does Krabi and Krabi is less crowded, and IMO, the beaches in Krabi such as Railay beach are even more beautiful than the ones in Phuket, while offering a Muslim flavor to things. However, you'll need to make a little bit more effort to organise a trip to and around Krabi, since Phuket offers more convenient, ready made tour packages. 

Hua Hin is a relaxing coastal city on the mainland, only a few hours drive from Bangkok and suited for families. Bang Saen is another one that's even closer to Bangkok and is a weekend getaway for Thai families. I prefer how the beaches as Hua Hin don't have food vendors on the beach which keeps the beaches in Hua Hin looking clean and spacious, where as Bang Saen does allow food vendors on the beach, which makes the beaches look cluttered and litter ends up on the sand/in the water. Many Thai people hate walking though and like food vendors on the beach, even if there's restaurants across the road.

Here's a photo of Pradipat beach Hua Hin.

Below is one of the beaches in Bang Saen. The picture of the water might look more picturesque because of the sunset, but look how cluttered the sand is from food vendors.

Some of the warmest experiences I've had were travelling by bus through rural towns and seeing a restaurant that looks like a wooden shack with all Thai people eating Thai food the way Thai people really it. These Thai people often drive to the restaurant in their pickup truck or motorcycle, and they'll often eat Guay Tiew (noodles in a soup with meat, vegetables and beansprout) or Isan food or pad ka pow. Pad Thai is extremely popular with foreigners, but it seems to me Thai people prefer Guay Tiew, and so do I. 

I'll rather Isan food in an old style rural restaurant, over curry dishes served in a coconut in a restaurant in Phuket. Food  in old style, homely rural restaurants is often just as good or better than the ones in tourist areas that charge 4X or 5X the price because they might present the dish in a coconut, or simply because the restaurant staff can speak better English.

Thailand also borders numerous countries by land, and it was fun crossing into Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia by land. I discovered the existence of 'No Man's Land, which is an area in-between 2 countries and when you're in the No Man's Land inbetween Thailand and Laos, or Thailand and Cambodia, it's interesting as technically you're not inside a country and these areas are full of casinos, duty free, dodgy restaurants, corrupt police, scammers, but I'll say it's not dull...

Maybe my last sentence has put off people from going on the unbeaten path and trying an ultimate sense of adventure that isn't staged.

But I'll say this, I stayed in a casino in No Man's Land between Thailand and Cambodia, room was 400 baht per night, included a buffet meal and 400 baht worth of Casino chips...

I figured out the casino dealers would let us win roughly 1000 baht everytime with the free casino chips that were a different color, but as soon as we started using casino chips that we purchased with our own money, we would suddenly lose 200 baht quickly everytime...

After this happened 2x in a row, I told my Thai ex girlfriend whom was travelling with me the games are fixed, and just act surprised each time we get 1000 baht free, and after the free casino chips are used up, we stop gambling and just enjoy what the casino has to offer (performance shows, expensive items on sale from people who pawned then to get money to gamble and cheap food from duty free store and restaurant).

I know I shouldn't laugh, but I saw a Thai woman standing outside the casino in the evening, yelling at her husband on the phone to send her money for a bus ticket back to Bangkok, because she lost all her money at the casino, and she also told him it's not his business what she does with her money and she's cold, so hurry up and send her money. She was actually not bad looking, but had a bad case of princess syndrome and gambling addiction.

But in all seriousness, Mae Sae is Thai a border town/city next to Myanmar, with lots of small and tall buildings, and even the tall  buildings have architecture that looks  traditional on the inside, while looking like tall, skyscrapers on the outside. 

These tall buildings were often hotels,  with decent rooms, satellite TV, hot water etc for only 300 baht per night. Food was very cheap, and the night markets were great, I still have some lovely souvenirs from it, such as this beautiful watched I bought for 150 baht

and I enjoyed seeing the Bikie gangs all over the place, but they looked harmless, lots of middle aged Thai men and women in leather jackets and cowboy hats.

I saw older farang men sitting in the lobby in the hotel in Mae Sae, they were socialising with each other and relaxing and said they preferred the more simpler existence. It gave me a nice, warm feeling.

These old farang men said renting a nice hotel room in Mae Sae, in a tall building with a view of the city was only 300 baht per night (cheaper than anything in Pattaya, Phuket and obviously Bangkok if you want the same quality), and if they want to have 'fun', there's lots of bars and they can 'meet women' in these bars if you get my drift.

Mae Sae was like a hidden, cheap, relaxing place that made me forget about the troubles elsewhere in the world.

As for Chiang Rai, it was the first Lanna province I visited (even though my mother is from the Lanna province of Nan), and I loved how quiet and peaceful it was, the people spoke so softly and I noticed their Lanna (Chinese) features. The town we stayed at in Chiang Rai was surrounded by mountains, I went on an elephant ride through the village and across the river, and went on a long style speed boat for a longer trip across the river.

Here's photos of me at ab Elephant care facility and on a riverboat in Chiang Rai.

The hotel I stayed at in Chiang Rai was only 400 baht per night, and the nearby city was full of cultural significance, I visited Rama IX's house and saw his garden.

Speaking of Nan province, I eventually did go there, and it's referred to as a hidden gem. It got voted the cleanest city in Thailand, full of hills, and it's kinda isolated, surrounded by mountains and forest. It has a gentle, old school way of living with mainly people driving around in pick-up trucks, not much traffic, just a simpler way of living.

Here's someone's photo of a view of Nan province.