It’s been a while since I had a personal trip last time without thinking about work at all, which taught me many things!

For 10 days, I had a family trip to China and Thailand. In this article, I would like to write about some general trip advice, recommended places, how to get there and how much as well as what lessons I learned.

General trip advice

(1) Backpack: it’s better to bring the least things possible (even 10 gram less can be help you)
(2) Money exchange: try to exchange to local money in advance (Yuan and Baht for China and Thailand respectively)
(3) Internet: Buying sim card in the airport is useful to use internet on the way
(4) Water and food: Just like money, buy water and food in advance
(5) Map: Download a country map on “maps.me” which will helps you a lot

China

The great wall of China (BaDaLin), Beijing

We had 18 hours of transit at Beijing. In fact, I bought that ticket intentionally to go to the great wall, and one of my Chinese friends indicated me the following most economic way to go.

How to get there and how much

(1) From the airport, metro card (20 Yuan as dépôt)
(2) Take Airport Express and get off at DONGZHIMEN (30 minutes, 25 Yuan)
(3) Change to the line 2 and get off at JISHUITAN (10 minutes, 3 Yuan)
(4) Walk 400m towards Deshengmen Arrow Tower (10 minutes + 20 minutes of waiting)
(5) Take a bus # 877 (1.5 hours, 12 Yuan to go to Badalin)

There were so many people and we waited more than 2 hours to the cable car so I would not recommend this option (you can walk up to the wall). And frankly speaking the cable car was not that interesting.

So many people and we had to wait a lot, just like the bear below

It was worth waiting though!

Thailand (south, center, north)

Phi Phi Island

This is the island where the movie “The Beach” took place (I didn’t watch) but the water was clear.

How to get there and how much

(1) We flew to Kabri to Save some time (1.5 hours to get, 2500 Baht or 80 USD/ person)
(2) Take a shared taxi from the airport to Klong Jirab Pier (30 minutes, 100 Baht or 3 USD/ person)
(3) Take Ferry to the Phi Phi island (1.5 hours, 450 Baht or 13 USD / person)
(4) Return (the same route)

Some templs (Grand Palace, Wat Poh, Wat Arun), Bangkok

The three major temples are luckily close with each other.

How to get there and how much

(1) Go to the BTS (metro) Saphan Taksin station
(2) Take a boat and get off at Grand Palace (50 Baht or 1.5 USD / person)
(3) Walk less than 500 m to the grand palace (*) (500 Baht or 15 USD to enter/person)
(4) Walk to Wat Poh (100 Baht or 3 USD to enter/person )
(5) Take a boat to Wat Arun by crossing the river (4 Baht or 0.1 USD / person)

(*) Attention: to go to the Grand Palace, short pant or tank top are not allowed so be careful.

Floating Market, Bangkok

It was not as interesting as other places, but it’s worth visiting.

How to get there and how much

(1) Taking a tour is the best option since it’s pretty far from Bangkok (1.5 hours to go, 390 Baht or 12 USD / tour)
(2) Take a boat (30 minutes, 150 Baht or 4.5 USD / person)

Some temples, Ayutaya

There are so many things to see in Ayutaya, the ancient capital.

How to get there and how much

(1) Take a train to Ayutaya (1.5 hours, 20 Baht or 0.6 USD / person which is insanely cheap)
(2) Take a private tour with tuk tuk (for our case, 5 hours, 1,000 Baht or 30 USD for 2 persons) or go by yourself with bike or motorbike

White temple, Chaing Rai

I think it was one of the impressive places in this trip, especially after all the golden temples we saw.

How to get there and how much

(1) From Bangkok to Chaing Rai: take a night bus from Mo Chit terminal (14 hours, the best class-VIP, 840 Baht or 25 USD / person)
(2) Upon arrival at Chaing Rai, take a bus at terminal 1 (30 minutes, 20 Baht or 0.6 USD / person)
(3) Walk 200 m from the bus stop (50 Baht or 1.5 USD to enter / person)

Black house, Chaing Rai

How to get there and how much

(1) From the bus terminal 1, take a bus towards the black house (30 minutes, 20 baht or 0.6 USD / person)
(2) Walk 1 km (it’s very easy to locate thanks to many signs on the corner of every 200 m)

Giant Buddha, Chaing Rai

How to get there and how much

(1) Take tuk tuk since there is no public transportation (30 minutes, 300 baht or 9 USD / car)

Sticky Waterfall, Chaing Mai

How to get there and how much

(1) Take a motorbike since there is no public transportation (1.5 hours, 250 baht or 7.5 USD / day )

Cooking Course, Chaing Mai

As I love Thai food, I wanted to learn how to cook Pad Thai, Green curry, etc.

How to get there and how much

Take a cooking tour (800 Baht or 24 USD / person)

Massage, Thailand

In addition to the food, I really like Thai massage, which is cheap and good (200 Baht or 6 USD / hour)

In the end, it was beautiful and nice experience. There is no doubt I would like to come back in the future!

Learning of this time

Without having to see my work e-mail, I could see so many tourists and local people, who taught me the importance of enjoying personal life, which is more important than professional career for me.