Over the years, I have provided friends, family, and friends of friends with all sorts of travel advice and answered questions about Thailand – my home away from home. I’m half Thai, and have gone at least once a year for a month or more for the last 10 years, along with other trips as an adult from the age of 17.

During one trip about 5 years ago that I was helping a group of male friends organize, I put together a travel Word document that I’ve since forwarded on to many others, and wanted to include it here – even though it’s from a long time ago, this general information is still very relevant.

Here it is, in all it’s rough and former glory (targeted to Canadians traveling about 3-4 weeks, with amounts referenced shown in CAD):

Key Themes:

• City – Markets, Food, Culture
• Party – Clubs, Night life
• Beaches – Water, Exploration, Relaxation, Snorkeling
• Culture – Temples, Sex Trade/shows, natural life and animal sanctuaries
• Mountains and Jungle – Exploration, culture
• Shopping – Tailored suits/business attire

Various activities and sites:

In and around Bangkok – spend min. 3 nights – over a weekend
• Siam Paragon mall (high end many tourists go to, center of Bangkok)
• City, markets, temple, Chao Praya river, amazing restaurants
• Soi Cowboy – where you would’ve seen scenes shot from Hangover 2, including interesting go go bars
• Chatuchak weekend market, if it’s the weekend, for crazy cheap EVERYTHING
• Platinum Wholesale Mall – may also make sense to do this at the end before flying out, if around a weekend, so you don’t have to carry things the whole time all around Thailand
• Grand Palace Temple – right along the river
• Temple of the Emerald Buddha – another very popular temple
• Ayutthaya – ancient city of Siam – original Thai country – floating market, largest gold reclining Buddha in the world (1.5 hours north Bangkok)
• Tailored suits and business attire – have good recommendations from people
• WFFT Elephant and Animal Sanctuary (1 day) – live rescued elephants, monkeys and endangered species – day trip, play with animals and learn about them –> 3 hours outside of Bangkok, for one full day; about $50 CAD per person, plus transportation to get out there
• Good to do a couple nights on the way back (break it up, good for shopping)

Pattaya – 2-3 nights (1.5 hour drive from BKK)
• Walking Street core Thai sex trade/cabarets, go go bars, ping pong shows
• Beaches (don’t compare to amazing ones in southern Thailand)
• Excellent fresh seafood
• Beach volleyball (on Dongtan beach, but super high level of play)
• Family – spend a dinner with my Thai family who can’t really speak English for an authentic experience

Chiang Mai (north) – 1 week
• Trekking, jungles, culture, more café local food arts scene, tons of expats and nomads end up here, lots of temples, and then head over to Pai, which is an 8 hour ride of hell on a bus from Chiang Mai so would add on 2 days of travel time total, but is supposed to be a quiet village and AMAZING (transport ~ $100)

Krabi – 1 week (1 hour flight from Chiang Mai or Bangkok – $50-100 one way) and go to Ao Nang Beach
• ARTICLE: http://www.bankerinthesun.com/2015/01/living-in-ao-nang-beach-krabi-thailand/
• LOTS to do and explore in this area.
• Longtail boat to Railey Beach (caves, kayaking, rock climbing) ~15 mins from Ao Nang
• Longtail boat to Tongsai Beach (rock climbing) ~15 mins from Ao Nang
• Krabi town center – weekend night market
• Snorkeling/diving and fantastic beaches – Do day tours to quiet islands for $30-50 for the full day all-inclusive per person
• Temples

Additional Ideas:
• Small out-of-the-way islands (best example is Koh Tao)
• Koh Tao: More diving / snorkelling / relaxing / scooters (generally $7-10/day to rent if longer term); beautiful, small village, not a lot in terms of nightlife and definitely not a city; otherwise, — flight and 1 ferry from Krabi (transport ~ $100) and full day of travel
• Phuket (gorgeous, become most popular tourist place, but can still stay away from most touristy parts easily), you would want to have scooters to explore, but is the largest island in Thailand, and tons of beaches – the most priciest area of Thailand; — flight or ferry (transport ~ $20-50 dep. on ferry/flight), lots to do here and also gorgeous; alternative to Krabi
• Full moon / half-moon party (the main one is held in Koh Phangan, but they have these all over the south – any excuse to party)

At the end, head back to Bangkok. (flight ~ $100)
• Probably want to spend a last night or two there if you want to do more shopping (only shop in Bangkok if you can help it – best deals, best stuff, best shopping by far all around)

Additional Notes:

• Backpacks vs luggage. Unless you’re planning to be on a scooter and driving in between cities, like Chiang Mai to Pai, this itinerary doesn’t require backpacks. If you aren’t bringing much and want to do backpacks then go for it. I just find backpacks super inconvenient and you can get around wherever I’ve always traveled with suitcases anyway.
• Best communications – get SIM cards while there. $15-20 for the month includes enough data and there’s wifi everywhere but you will need unlocked phones.
• Budgets – I doubt it would be $2500 needed while there for a month. That’s a lot. I never spend that much but I guess I don’t move around that much either while there.
• Phi Phi is a very touristy backpacky overrun island now and all the underwater life has been destroyed. It’s beautiful and expensive but only worth seeing if staying on the back side of the island, which is more romantic and for couples.
• Koh Samui isn’t an island that I love. The people (locals) seem to be super jaded from tourism. Koh Tao has a much better vibe to me than Samui. You have to fly to Samui to get to Koh Tao via ferry from there. Again, Samui is only nice if you go to super high end resorts on quiet sides of the islands  and it’s very crowded. And just a weird vibe. This opinion could also partially be a result of me being stuck on Samui during bad weather about 15 years ago, where I couldn’t get off the island for about 10 days though.
• Food, food, food, and more food. I can show you all the best restaurants, seafood, food carts, random street food vendors, local Thai sports bars with some of the best wings I’ve ever had, for example, and the different food types in different areas of the country.
• Massages in all of the above places (I will show you the best options and which places will try to give you a happy ending, and which may be more reputable (but as foreign guys, they may try regardless where you are, and ask you out on “dates” and try to get you to bring them back to Canada :P). Also, there is plenty of Spa stuff, if you want to do things beyond massages, like facials, manicures, fish feet spas, foot massages.
• Flights are generally $50 – $100 within the country. Wait times @ airport = 1.5 +/- before/after.

Preparation in advance:

• International Driver’s License ($30) – good to avoid showing real license, but it’s not a requirement for Thailand
• Canadian Cash – better to bring crisp large $100 bills

Recommended Shots & Meds:

Please make sure you go to your local travel clinic as I am not a doctor and these will change based on your personal needs and where you will be traveling. This is just a rough guideline so you can get an idea of what has been helpful for me in the past.
• Typhoid Fever (every 3-7 years, depending on immunization; you can also do an oral dose instead of a shot, and the oral actually lasts longer, and I think that’s what I may have done but cannot for the life of me remember); need to take 2 weeks before leaving; this reminds me, maybe I need my booster again for this too…
• Hep A / B (Twinrix), which lasts for life if you’ve already had all 3 immunizations (0, 1 month, 6 months)
• Up to date tetanus (once every 10 years)
• Dukoral (need to take 2 weeks before leaving, and it’s taken orally); take it once it lasts a year, the booster makes it last up to 5 years, I believe
• Malaria (I wouldn’t bother with this unless you’re going to be trekking in mountains away from many living beings)
• Ciproflaxin – Traveller’s diarrhoea
• Tylenol / Advil

So while Thailand is extremely diverse from one area to the next, this should at least give you a broad overview and starting point to think about what you’re interested in doing during your travels and what type of experience you’re looking for.