We ended our week in the Thai islands on Koh Tao, a small island on the Gulf side that doles out almost as many SCUBA certifications as dive shops in Cairns, Australia. (That’s a lot.)

I’ve already dived in Australia and Eaman wasn’t super keen, so instead, we spent our time engaged in our favorite beach activity: snorkeling. And Koh Tao’s huge coral beds and teal waters are a perfect place to do it. On a day-long snorkel trip around the islands we saw a reef shark (!), visited a beautiful private island and fed bananas to fish in the water. If you haven’t tried it, it’s an absolute must. The fish ambush every inch of your body and some even nip you for food. It was a very cool, Under-the-Sea moment.

Anyway, like any beach, Koh Tao is best seen through pictures. Oh, and did I mention our hotel — the basic, but very nice Sai Thong Resort on a secluded beach — upgraded us to a seaside bungalow with sea view for free? I know, life is really hard.

Our accommodation had three small beaches, and from one, it was a short swim out to some reef sharks, which almost all the other guests saw at some point. We, of course, never did.

I had dreams of beautiful Koh Phi Phi and low-key Koh Lanta before this trip, but with rainy season upon us, we had to stick to the Gulf side, where the islands are well-protected from monsoons. So which would it be: Koh Samui, Koh Phangan or Koh Tao?

Believe it or not, we had been pretty stressed out with moving around a lot and visa applications and endless research, so all we wanted was to sit on the beach.

We feared the over-development and commercialism of Samui were against anything we wanted out of this one-week stretch in the islands, so we opted first, for five days in chilled out Koh Phangan in an area away from the island’s legendary Full Moon Party. We just didn’t really want to do the whole 18-year-olds-raging-with-neon-paint thing. (I’ve done that already; it was called Studying Abroad in Australia.)

In the planning stages, we spent days upon days trying to find the right accommodation in a sea of a hundred nondescript hotels. For Koh Phangan, we hit the jackpot with Thongtapan Resort.

It’s the last budget option on Thong Nai Pan Noi, a beautiful white-sand beach lining a clear blue bay now dotted with five-stars left and right. It was an awesome place to stay — super friendly Burmese staff, just the right number of people on the beach (mostly families) and a lovely village within a few minutes’ walk. Not sure why people say you don’t get that same signature Thai friendliness on the islands; the people in the village were incredibly sweet and chatty.

It was here that we perfected life as a beach bum in 7 simple steps. It’s also the best way to describe our five days.
1. Take naps on the sand. Many, if possible.
2. Forgo day trips on longtail boats. (Why leave paradise?)
3. For exercise, handstands in the water will do. To really break a sweat, kayak.
4. Make friends with the bartender. (Hi, Coco!)
6. At least one beer, soft drink and/or ice cream cone must be consumed per day.
7. Sunscreen! That Thai sun is a fierce beast.

Great hamburgers at Handsome Sandwiches, a hilarious shop with Handsome…everything. Those burgers were the most perfect midday beach meal.

For us, Bangkok was less about street food and palaces and more about getting visas, exchanging money for Myanmar and, in my case, going to the hospital after developing a nasty dry cough in Chiang Mai. We had just a few days in the Thai capital — 2.5 before the Thai islands and one after — and, can you believe it? We didn’t even have time (or more accurately, energy) to see the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha.

Since we had more day-to-day things to accomplish than sightseeing, we stayed outside the tourist center and realized something: We really like Bangkok. The city — the regular, non-postcard parts of the city — is much less frenetic and crazy than we expected. People are kind and relaxed, the public transportation — the monorail known as the SkyTrain — is streamlined and efficient, and the sidewalks are wide and perfect for strolling. I’m shocked to say that even though I’m no longer a big city girl, I think I’d be happy living there.

We may not have done the regular visitor’s circuit, but we were pretty happy about our stay. Here’s a look (minus the bit about our eventful trip to the red light district; that’s a story for a blog that parents don’t read):

First things first: Pizza Hut — located at MBK, one of Bangkok’s many shiny, spiffy, gigantic malls. I know, I know, “how could we not have Thai food?” Well, after a long train ride from Chiang Mai, I can’t even describe to you how excited we were to get some American food. And this Pizza Hut was actually a very classy joint.

But most importantly, we got our two visas! Myanmar’s involved a little more planning and some, er, creativity — more on that later — but it was a success despite arriving at the 11th hour after we got caught in a torrential downpour.

The only caveat was India’s visa took a whopping six days to process so while the embassy worked on our passports, we happily swapped skyscrapers for seascapes as we pranced around Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. More on that next…

We spent only two weeks in Thailand. Perhaps that’s shortshrifting the country, but we wanted more time in less-visited places like Laos and Myanmar. Plus, a flight to Bangkok is much easier than, say, a flight to Yangon, Myanmar.

The bulk of our Thai time went to the islands — best idea ever — so we wound up with 2.5 days in Chiang Mai. It’s a charming city with a huge expat population, but we didn’t spend enough time there for me to say much else about it other than: the Sunday market is fantastic and visiting Tiger Kingdom is a must.

We’ve been to a lot of markets in Asia, but Chiang Mai’s Sunday shopping extravanganza is worth a visit for sheer variety. No stall was the same and each was interesting. Even better, the street food — particular to the market — was unbelievable. (It just got a mention on Newsweek‘s list of 101 best places to eat around the world!) I ate a delicious dinner with dessert and a drink for $2.50.

Afterward, we got 30-minute foot massages for $2. (I imagine it was cheaper than massage parlors because we didn’t have to pay their rent; it was just a row of reclining leather chairs within the market.) Hello, Thailand!

Love me some neon tanks.

Much like riding elephants, playing with tigers has been at the top of my travel goal list. We chose Chiang Mai’s Tiger Kingdom because it’s apparently a more reputable organization than Tiger Palace in Kanchanaburi near Bangkok. Hundreds of tourists visit Chiang Mai’s well-oiled tiger machine everyday, but we arrived just as it opened, so we didn’t feel like herded cattle. (Biggest travel takeaway: Go early, anywhere and always.) It’s a lovely place — once you get past the animals-in-cages part — that’s set up like a small, spacious zoo. The tigers seemed to have ample room, relatively speaking, and the handlers never used brute force when we were there.

You can choose from smallest, small, medium and big tigers. We went for the two extremes. The cubs were great because they were playful and the big guys were great because, well, when else can you lay down on a giant carnivorous animal? We got about 10 minutes with each — maybe even a tad more because there wasn’t a line of people behind us. It was definitely one of the coolest things we’ve ever done. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

(Sorry if you think the pictures are excessive/repetitive, but after this visit, I realized just how beautiful these animals are, so I kept snapping.)

The whole operation was a little ghetto — the place looked like a rundown shack and the show narrator loved his sexual inneundos — but that was part of the charm I guess.

And to make sure we got our money’s worth, once other tourists left, we asked if we could hold the snakes. That was awesome. Less awesome was when the handler took advantage of my obvious fear and drew the open-mouthed, fanged snake closer to my face.