I recently took a trip to Thailand and Hong Kong! I did excessive planning and research before I took the trip and made this Google Doc & Map of all the places I read and was interested in. Thought I'd share my itinerary and experience, perhaps it'll be helpful in planning your trip as well!
First, backstory on why I choose Thailand and Hong Kong: because it is cheap!! Well, Thailand at least, HK is comparable to most US cities (but can be done cheaply if you tried hard enough). Dennis had a conference in HK so we thought, what's a cheap place that we haven't been that we want to go in Asia? Phuket and Chiangmai became a top choice because transportation to/from HK is super easy and lodging is pretty affordable.
Itinerary
Sunday
|
Monday
|
Tuesday
|
Wednesday
|
Thursday
|
Friday
|
Saturday
|
29
Home - HK
Travel
|
30
HK - Phuket
@Westin
| |||||
1
Phuket
@Westin
|
2
Phuket
@Westin
|
3
Phuket
@Westin
|
4
Phuket
- Chiang Mai
@Meridien
|
5
Chiang Mai
@Meridien
|
6
Chiang Mai
@Meridien
|
7
Chiang Mai
@
|
8
Chiang Mai
- HK
@Renaissance
|
9
HK
@Renaissance
|
10
HK - Home
Travel
|
Custom Map
Tip: Use the top left icon to the see legend and top right icon to view in Google Maps.
Detailed Itinerary
So I excessively plan everything and made this doc of a detailed itinerary. You can view, download, or copy Google Doc I created below! I also added some post-trip comments in red.
Day 1
I'm going to skip the traveling part. Flying for a whole day and a half kinda sucks and you totally lose track of time on the plane... but it's all worth is just thinking about the amazing place you'll soon arrive at!!! One bit of advice I have is to sleep, eat, and play on the plane according to the time zone you're going to minimize jetlag when you arrive.
We arrived in Phuket at almost midnight there, I had pre-booked a private car to take us to our hotel on the other side of Phuket. It's much cheaper on Chinese booking sites for some reason? (For non-Chinese speakers you can use Klook :) It's way cheaper compared to Grab (Uber of Thailand) or Taxi.
The ride took about an hour and we arrive at our lovely hotel at Westin Siray Bay. We promptly went to sleep as soon as we checked in.
A note on the hotel: we choose this one because it has great SPG platinum perks. We were only considering SPG for this trip to get the most out of Dennis' status. There are a number of amazing non-SPG hotels that I'm dying to try once we're no longer platinum π
I can make a list of it to share at a later time!
Day 2
Because of jetlag, I woke up pretty much every morning before 7am without an alarm. But not complaining! Because I got a glimpse of the beautiful sunrise from our balcony :)
We got the free buffet-style breakfast from one of the hotel restaurants. The variety is amazing and I love the fresh fruits!!! We ate here every morning and can't complain a single bit.
Following breakfast is exploring the hotel and scout out every single pool at the property haha.
It being Sunday, in the afternoon we took the hotel shuttle to old town Phuket for the Sunday Night Market. It was pretty early when we arrived but it was already so packed!! Not to mention how hot it was... pretty much drenched 30 min in. All the street food were amazing and we had a great time fulfilling our hungry bellies.
I was at first pretty skeptical about street food, worried that they might be dirty and cause some unwanted discomfort... but it turned out just fine for us. We stayed away from raw foods and made sure everything we ate was cooked thoroughly. But if you enjoy sushi I hear it's nice and fresh in Thailand, just be ready and take probiotic every day (we did that anyway π).
Day 3
Today is the much-anticipated scuba diving day!!! Some of our friends recently got certified and had glowing reviews about the world under the sea so we were super excited to give it a try. You can do scuba diving discovery 1-day courses in many places, this allows you to try out diving without the commitment (or time) necessary to get PADI certified. The day translates to about a day worth of credit if you do want to get certified later on.
I had researched a couple of places ahead of time. Since this is a somewhat risky sport, I didn't bother picking the cheapest or like best value per se. I choose one that I felt most confident through our exchanges via email and reviews online. We went with Andy's Scuba Diving's Discover Scuba Diving 3 dive trip.
(You can see the places I was considering in the Google Doc @ the bottomπ)
It was a little difficult for me to adjust to the breathing rhythm underwater but our instructor Cijin was amazinggggg and held my hand pretty much entire time during our first dive π. When you breathe in air your lung expand and you float up, and when you exhale your lung compress and you sink down (our bodies are amazing!!! ). I didn't really get a hang of it until 2nd dive π and by 3rd dive, I was already exhausted... I think for most people 2 dives for introduction is probably enough haha.
One more note: if you're not sure if you might be seasick on the boat, take motion sickness medication! Most boats and instructors will provide for you if you ask. Better to be safe than sorry... nothing beats a seasick ride for 2 hours....
By the time we got back to our hotel we were so exhausted, we could barely move. We showered and met up with a friend who's also in Phuket for dinner at our hotel. It's a bit more pricey for Phuket and not the most delicious meal.... butttt the convenience is everything.
Day 4
I originally planned that we might take another day excursion to one of the nearby islands. Because when you're in Phuket you're in the most convenient location to explore all the amazing islands nearby!!! But we were still tired from diving the day before that we decided to take a chill day just relaxing at the resort. We upgraded to a villa suite today so we can have a private pool and the room is AMAZING! (but I was a little skeptical about that pool toward the end, I suspect it's not running water? seems a tad bit dirty...)
Day 5
After a relaxing meal and one last sunrise view from our villa, we headed to the airport to fly to Chiang Mai! I arranged another pickup service and they required us to be picked up 3 hours before our flight. We probably didn't need that much time, we ended up sitting at the airport for a bit playing Nintendo Switch haha. There's not much food or drink to choose from at Phuket airport so don't plan on that too much.
The plane ride was roughly an hour long, Air Asia is a budget airline that flies frequently between the major cities of Thailand and the wider SEA. It probably has one of the smallest seating area and leg room I've ever flown on...
From Chiang Mai airport we used Grab for all of our car needs. Transportation is much more reasonable when you leave Phuket (I don't know why either) and there's a never-ending amount of promo codes for first time Grab users. It is almost exactly like Uber.
We arrived in Le Meridien Chiang Mai after a short ride. It is by far the best SPG Platinum treatment we've ever experienced anywhere. We were brought to top floor platinum lounge to be checked in and were offered drinks and snack while we waited for our personalized service. Free breakfast in the club lounge or downstairs is offered in addition to a free 30 min massage. The hotel building is one of the tallest in Chiangmai and has a spectacular view of the city and the mountain. We had a room right below the club lounge floor and had chocolate and eclair as our welcome snack π
After a short nap, we went out to a spa nearby called Fah Lanna. I got a traditional Thai massage and a foot massage, Dennis got a head, back and shoulder massage and a facial. Service and price were impeccable (I think overall a much better deal than lux spas that we went later). It's very small and many people walked by for walk-in service and were rejected, so if you're interested, call ahead to book or check for availability!
Day 6
We woke up early this morning to go to an elephant sanctuary!!! I had been so excited to go to one in Chiang Mai (even tho Dennis is lukewarm about it) and booked a half day trip with Elephant Rescue Park. There are A LOT of elephant camps in Chiang Mai, some ethical some not so much... please please do your research before you go and don't support any company that mistreats elephants π’. These include ones that allow you to ride elephants with a seat, those that include "shows" where elephants draw or dance. It should be a major red flag if you see pictures of elephants with chains or trainers with hooks and sharp objects. This is harder to check this but... it's better if the company owns these elephants instead of renting them from actual owners. There are alot of information online, and others can probably explain better than I can π
Google is your friend!
Back to my trip - the camp was so fun!!!! When we were first introduced to the elephants, everyone was a bit timid and shy. Afte sometime together, you realized they're amazing gentle giants! So playful and elegant. There are no barriers between you and the elephants, you can pet and play with them freely during the jungle walk to their bathing river.
It was a fun experience! Definitely designed for tourist but still worth it. Stuffed to the rim after a 4-course meal...
Day 7
I booked Flight of the Gibbons Zipline Adventure today. It is a bit far out of the city since it's in the rainforest mountain region. There are supposed to be wild Gibbons that live around the area, we did not see any but it's not the zoo and these animals are freely roaming around... so can't complain here! If you've never ziplined before, this would be quite an experience for you. For the 3 of us - we've done rope course and zip lines before so this is not THAT different. Still a fun experience! π€Not sure if I'd spend a day out here if I were to replan my trip tho - especially when I haven't seen any temple in Chiang Mai yet...After we got back it's already pretty late in the afternoon, after another shower and nap we went out to a lux spa called Oasis. It is supposed to be one of the top tier chain spas in Thailand with many locations across the country. You can also probably tell by their pricing, it is more expensive than other spas in the region (but still very cheap compared to the states). Dennis and I got a 2-hour couples massage package and it was pretty heavenly (I might've fallen asleep). But I don't know if the massage it self is much better than the Fah Lahn few days prior. It's worth it to get completely pampered tho!!!
The spa also offered round-trip transport and can take you / pick you up anywhere (within reason). We asked them to drop us off at Chiang Mai University. I had read that the backstreet has lots of food truck / local eats that the students frequent. We were dropped off at the front gate tho not back... and had to walk across campus (which was like a ghost town, guess it's summer?), By the time we got there, alot of stalls were already closing πI was also grumpy because I waited 30 minutes for this one chicken stall, but SO many people had ordered before me I eventually gave up. We had a bite here and there, then went back to the hotel. I was so tired I knocked out, but Dennis and our friend went out for drinks and world cup.
Day 8
I had booked a day excursion to Doi Inthanon, but we decided not to go the morning of. The boys had a late night and didn't sleep until 3am? 4am? π€and it's our last day in Chiang Mai, we decided to stay, relax, and just wander around the city. It is Saturday so we headed out to the night market for dinner. We snacked around the stalls and walked around a bit. I'm sure Sunday night market will be much more crowded and perhaps better in terms of food selections.
Day 9
Because of our early morning flight to HK, we stayed at an airport hotel that was close to the night market. It was..... definitely not Le Meridien. Unless money is really a concern - I recommend not doing what we did π
. I mean it was fine... it just wasn't that nice. You know?
After we arrived in HK we took an Uber from the airport to our hotel Renaissance Harbor View. It's a pretty standard 5 star SPG/Marriot hotel with nice views. Because of multiple conferences happening in HK they weren't able to upgrade our room π. The rooms were compact but offer great views of the bay.
Day 10
When it comes to HK, all I wanted to do was eat dim sum (see my map) and go to all the IG spots (also see my map). So that's what we did for day 9 & 10!
By the end of the trip I was already in Zen mode, I didn't research too much or plan too much for HK and wasn't so must-follow-itinerary toward the end haha. I'm going to gloss over the HK part, I think you can create your own with the detailed map I tagged π
Day 11 is technically the day I flew back to the states. I bought everything I had wanted (beauty and medicine wise) from the HK airport. The HK airport is so big and luxurious it's like a mall. If you have time you should definitely go early to eat, dine, and shop around. It also has many of the top lounges offered by credit card and reward programs.
Okay, that's it! I haven't written this many words since college days... Hopefully, this is helpful for you in planning your trip. At least it will be helpful for me to remember my trip π
Thank you for reading!
THE END
