Thailand Road Trip (2013) — Bangkok to Krabi

Last year in July I was able to take a trip back to the motherland (Thailand) with my wife and we were fortunate enough to be there the same time as my parents and brother. All of us were there for different reasons but it allowed us to take a family road trip! Growing up road tripping was a big part of our family and it had been years since we’ve gone on a road trip.

We started on our adventure in Bangkok and headed down south to Krabi in our little 2004 Toyota Corolla sedan

HUA HIN SAM PHAN NAM

9452850615_5ec7f07e56_k — Hua Hin Sam Phan Nam

Hua Hin Sam Phan Nam was our first major stop (minus bathroom breaks) on our road trip. The place consists of small shops that sold food, clothes, and knickknacks. The string of shops are built on top of water and arranged in a square shape with the center being open. You can get through all the shops and grab a meal here in about an hour.

PlearnWan

PlearnWan is a vintage village in Hua Hin. What’s neat about this place is the attention to detail that is placed into each shop and food vendor. It kind of reminds me of Disneyland. If you pay attention to the level of detail at the Magic Kingdom, you’ll notice that there are smells, music, decor, employee attire, and food that match each of the lands. Everything is telling a story to make you believe you’re in a different place. Well, PlearnWan does a good job of accomplishing this.

“Plearnwan was intended to be a center of happiness; to be a place where time has paused in the ‘good old days’. When you come to Plearnwan, you will be reminded of the past, and the past will come to life.” — PlearnWan Website

The food at PlearnWan was amazing to say the least. Everything from the Moo Satay to the iced coffee was great. They need to develop a way to record and upload smells/tastes for you guys to really appreciate this. Until then, you’re stuck with these photos.

KRABI

Krabi is a resort town on the west coast of southern Thailand. There are beach front resorts along with restaurants and shops. One of the more popular attractions are the speed boat tours that will take you to the many small islands off the coast.

9453238871_4ab955307d_k — The Saechang family on a speedboat

The speed boat tour was by far the best thing we did. We went during monsoon season which probably wasn’t the best idea. The speed boat company almost cancelled our tour the day before due to the weather but luckily the skies cleared the day of.

9453236645_21bf330068_k — A lagoon off the coast of Krabi

My favorite stop on our speed boat tour was a lagoon several miles off the coast. The water was calm and crystal clear— something straight out of a vacation magazine. We were able to jump off the boat and swim around. It was amazing!