About Laurel's Trip to Thailand

[Amberlee]

Please increase this time to more than 1 week. Pretty please with sugar on top.

Reason:
X00 herbs and 2 weeks in Thailand

Thailand is an awesome country.. i assume you had a jolly good time?

[Laurel]

Going there in December.

[Amberlee]

Where in Thailand are you going btw?

[Laurel]

Bangkok and the rest ... we'll decide when we arrive there

[Recoba]

Bangkok and the rest ... we'll decide when we arrive there

Bangkok is HUGE and very interesting.

Just keep your wits with you and your eyes on your wallet. Although generally I found people are quite relaxed and authentically nice over there - most friendly smiles are honest (yes, even to tourists). They have a quirky sense of humor there too, which is very funny if you notice it.
Don't forget to check out the Buddhist temples, they are very very cool places - I recommend the one at Khaosan Road, if that's where you're staying, they are quite used to foreign visitors, just remember to pay attention and respect the rules (and take your shoes off ). The Grand Palace district with its temples and palaces is truly awesome if you're into architecture and historical monuments.

The East is truly something very different.

[Laurel]

cool stuff
I'm rather a lazy one - spent 2 months in Egypt and never managed to convinced myself to go under the piramids or to the British Museum ... prefered to go on a safari on the desert

my girlfriend on the other hand ... she made me WALK around Barcelona for 4 days, at least 20km each day ...

[Recoba]

cool stuff
I'm rather a lazy one - spent 2 months in Egypt and never managed to convinced myself to go under the piramids or to the British Museum ... prefered to go on a safari on the desert

my girlfriend on the other hand ... she made me WALK around Barcelona for 4 days, at least 20km each day ...

Barcelona is great for walking, and even better for cycling. It's almost all flat and straight angles, as long as you stay away from Montjuic

[Earth]

cool stuff
I'm rather a lazy one - spent 2 months in Egypt and never managed to convinced myself to go under the piramids or to the British Museum ... prefered to go on a safari on the desert

my girlfriend on the other hand ... she made me WALK around Barcelona for 4 days, at least 20km each day ...

Barcelona is great for walking, and even better for cycling. It's almost all flat and straight angles, as long as you stay away from Montjuic

Barcelona is a beautiful place: lots of culture, great night life, and wonderful food. Hopping from one tapas bar to another was one of my favorite things to do.

I'm hoping to do Thailand in the next five years, so post lots of pictures and experiences so I can get some ideas on what I might want to do there.

Speaking of Egypt, my wife just booked a cruise sometime near Christmas 2011 in eastern Med. Rome, Greece, Turkey, Israel, and an overnight in Alexandria, Egypt. Maybe you can give me some hints on what do in Egypt too

[Laurel]

cruise = stay on ship for almost the whole time?
a safari onto the desert was my most favourite experience there ... the rest was too noisy/touristic/aggressive to be enjoyable for me
the desert is calm, great, huge ... it's awesome
just make sure you get to spend at least one night out there in the great sand sea

[Earth]

cruise = stay on ship for almost the whole time?

I think of a cruise like a sampler dish at a restaurant. It's a good way to see a lot of different places you've never been to for a reasonable amount of money, then once you find the things you like, you can spend extended times at the places you like.

It would be much more expensive to go to Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt in one trip if you fly, but for less than $800 per person I can visit all those places and have food and lodging taken care of mostly on the ship.

Granted, it's almost $1000 to fly to and from where I am in the US to Rome, but for a "sample plate" it's not to bad of a trip.

If you like wide open spaces, I would recommend Kenya and Tanzania. I went for a 3 week safari there, and it was wonderful. Nairobi was really congested, but once you got out of the city, it was really beautiful.

Also, I would recommend a trip to Alaska if you are from the states. The wide open wilderness is really a site to see. (It's not a white snowy expanse during the summer).