Thailand wrap-up: route, transport, visa & budget

Visa

Thailand was by far the easiest country to visit. We could benefit from the “Visa Exemption Rule” and enter without a visa if we didn’t stay longer than 30 days (when entering by air). Let’s say we got a LOT of Thai stamps in our passport now.

The route

We spent a whopping 84 days Thailand in total, split over 6 different visits. There wasn’t really any logic behind our route, so I won’t be sharing it, but these are the places we visited:

• Bangkok: we spent multiple “long weekends” in our own apartment
• Chiang Mai: 2 weeks of feeling at home – again in our own apartment
• Ayuttahaya: a stop-over on the way from Bangkok to Chiang Mai
• Chaiya: living like Buddhist monks for 10 days
• Hua Hin: a stop-over  on the way from Chaiya back to Bangkok
• Krabi: a week at the beach with friends

The budget*

The estimate: $32.8/day/person (€ 29.53) <> The outcome: $33/day/person (€ 29.97) without any flights in/out of the country (but including other means of transportations like public transport and taxi) Our primary expenses were:

• Stay: 36.5%, not suprisingly our biggest expense. We didn’t go cheap but rented appartments almost the whole time (and it was worth it!). Do know that during the silent retreat we paid very little, 12 nights long. ($12.15 / € 10.93 a day)
• Food (breakfast, lunch & dinner): 31% ($10.31/ € 9.28 a day). Same as for the stay: we didn’t go cheap and ate regulary at Western restaurants in Bangkok (combining them with street food lunches).As you can see food & stay together are almost 67% already.
• Drinks: 6.6% ($2.19 / € 1.97 a day)
• Public transport (train & bus): 4.4% ($1.48 / € 1.33 a day)
• Postal service: 3.7% (a total of € 92 for 4 packages we sent home with excess bagage and souvenirs)
• Clothing: 3.1% ($1.04 / € 0.93 a day)

* € is accurate, $ depends on the exchange rate.

Time of year

We went on various moments:

• Bangkok in May, June, August, November, December and January and it was always nice: sunny & humid!
• Chiang Mai & Ayutthaya in August was quite rainy but not all day (it came if flashes). November was better but there was an occasional rainy moment as well.
• Krabi in May was very rainy but we still managed to go on a day trip (and be back for the early evening monsoon) and spend some hours on the beach and in the sea. Temperatures were very nice though: not too hot!
• Silent retreat & Hua Hin in May-June: Occasional rain showers and hot weather!