You get treasures of ethnic, scenic, gastronomic, and oceanic pleasures in Siam. Thailand certainly is the fascinating and exotic land of lovely people known for their fantastic culture, cuisine, and overall lifestyle. The land, of course, is well known for its beautiful beaches and pelagic pleasures. It is a wonderful destination for water sports in Southeast Asia.
Thailand definitely is the best pick, if you are looking to have fun & adventure packed water sports holidays. You can really have great holiday, beaching, playing beach volleyball & other beach sports, and enjoying numerous water sports activities, such as swimming, rafting, surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, sailing, and scuba diving in Thailand. Some famous destinations for water sports destinations in Thailand are – Mae Hong Son, Hua Hin, Phuket, Chumpon, Ko Chang, and Koh Tao.
Mae Hong Son, located near the border of Myanmar along the banks of the river Pai, is a wonderful town in the North West Thailand. The town offers you a nice opportunity to enjoy rafting the Pai River. You can join one of the rafting expeditions that are commonly organized in the heart of Mae Hong Son. Mae Hong Son can be accessed by car or bus from Chiang Mai via the Mae Hong Son loop. The town is also served by the Mae Hong Son Airport.
Hua Hin, in the northern part of the Malay Peninsula, some 200 km south of Bangkok, is a celebrated beach resort town in Thailand. It is best known for kitesurfing. You can hire your kitesurfing equipment, have kitesurfing instructions from experts, and enjoy kitesurfing. You can also joint kitesurfing lessons & courses for beginners. You can also enjoy numerous other beach and water sport on the beach resort, with an area around 86.36 km². You can also enjoy swimming, windsurfing, wave surfing, and rowing.
Phuket, the largest island and the southern province of Thailand, is best known for its beaches. It is popular destinations for beach & water sports. You can enjoy numerous beach & water sports activities, such as swimming, kitesurfing, yachting, windsurfing, wave surfing, rowing, snorkeling, diving, scuba diving, etc. in Phuket. Famous Phuket beaches include Bang Tao, Surin Beach, Laem Singh Beach, Kamala Beach, Patong Beach, Karon Beach, Kata Yai Beach, Kata Noi Beach, Ao Chalong, and Rawai Beach.
Chumphon or Chumpon, the capital of the Chumphon Province at the shore of the Gulf of Thailand, is a fantastic town in southern Thailand. Located about 463 kilometers away from Bangkok, Chumpon is famous for kitesurfing or kiteboarding, and other water sports activities. You can enjoy numerous beach & water sports activities, such as swimming, windsurfing, wave surfing, snorkeling, diving, fishing, and rowing. The town can be accessed by bus or by ferries.
Ko Chang, located on the Thai east coast 310 km away from Bangkok near the border to Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand, is the second largest island of Thailand. It is famous for sailing and scuba diving. However, you can also enjoy several other beach & water sports activities, such as swimming, windsurfing, wave surfing, snorkeling, diving, and rowing in Ko Chang. The island can be accessed by ferries operating from Laem Ngop.
Ko Tao, an island located near the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand, is widely famous for scuba diving. Diving in Ko Tao is easy and full of fun. Often, you have encounters with turtles, stingrays, barracudas, lots of small fish, and reef sharks. The island is a great place for divers. It is a great place to learn diving, as there are hardly any currents. You can also enjoy several other water related activities, such as wake boarding, water skiing, sumo tube, wind surfing, and sailing. Ko Tao can be accessed catching ferries from Surat Thani, or Ko Samui, or Ko Pha Ngan.
You’ve booked your flight, made reservations at the hotel, got someone to bring in the mail and watch the dogs, what about the travel insurance? I know what you’re thinking, “I’m only going for two weeks”, “I’ll be fine I’m in great shape”, “other people get sick on vacation, not me”, but what if you’re wrong?
Thailand is known for being a bargain for westerners. Cheap clothes, food, hotels, entertainment, even the hospitals and clinics are cheap compared to the west and with some of the best doctors in the world. Contrary to what some people may believe Thailand has excellent health care. Even though Thailand is cheaper than the west in almost every category if you wind up in the hospital for a week or two it’s still going to cost you and it will be more than you bargained for.
If you need some stitches or you pick up a bad case of pink eye then a clinic can patch you up easily and the cost will be minimal…around 700 Baht – 1200 Baht ($20-$30) and thats including all the medicine you’ll need to take for whatever length of time. But if you have seriously problems and are admitted to a hospital then the bills start to rack up. Hospital room, medicine, diagnostics, and so on. Then you could be looking at 30,000 baht and up…you do the math.
Whereas travel insurance won’t be much help for the minor ailments it will certainly be worth the cost if something major comes up. On average for a two week trip most travel insurance will cost you $20-$30 which isn’t much in the grand scheme of things. That amount will usually cover major medical, flights to your home country if it’s decided thats the best place for you, and most even have an added bonus that if you’re hospitalized for a week or longer they will have a family member flown to you.
Travel insurance can also cover trip cancellations, lost luggage, and a change in travel plans depending on what options you choose. You may not have a great vacation if you get sick but if you have to pay for it out of pocket as well then it’s sure to be a memorable trip and not for the right reasons.
I’m writing this because I came down with acute tonsillitis on my first trip to Thailand. Luckily a few trips to the clinic got me back into shape but it could have been bad and I wouldn’t have been covered as I didn’t even think about insurance.
The flight to Thailand is a long one if you live in the states (17 hours non stop from JFK International) Which will have you nice and dehydrated if you don’t drink a lot of water. The temperature in Thailand is HOT which can and will dehydrate you further if you don’t take care. Foreign food, foreign microbes, burning the candle at both ends, endless sight seeing, and a host of other things can and will come back to haunt you if you don’t take care. Even if you do take care to prevent sickness there is always the unexpected and in Thailand that could be anything from an over amorous elephant, a motorcycle taxi running you over and a host of other things just waiting for you around the next corner.
You may have great insurance in your home country but in most cases they won’t cover you overseas.
Find a good travel insurance and buy it for your trip no matter where you’re going or for how long!
About the Author
Born and raised in Baltimore Maryland I finally set out to discover the world in 2006. South East Asia has always been a beacon for me and Thailand its crowned jewel.
I write about my experiences in Thailand as well as the cultural aspects of being a foreigner in a foreign land. I blog daily about Thailand at: http://thailandlandofsmiles.com
The Baht is the currency in Thailand and is found in the following denominations: 20 Baht note-Green 50 Baht note-Blue 100 Baht note-Red 500 Baht note -Purple 1000 baht note- Brown 25 Satang coin -small brass coin 50 Satang coin- small brass coin 1 Baht coin -silver and slightly larger than a US cent 5 Baht coin- silver & slightly smaller than the 10 Baht coin 10 Baht coin- silver ring with a brass center
There are also 1,5, and 10 Satang coins you will occasionally run into along with the 25 and 50 Satang coins but normally you’ll only get these as change in a supermarket, chain stores, or sometimes a seven eleven. Most other places deal in whole baht denominations. If you do find yourself with a pocketful of Satang you’ll probably be bringing some home as souvenirs.
All Thai currency has the image of the king on it. It is considered disrespectful to keep Thai money in your back pocket as you would be sitting on the king. Likewise if you should drop a note or coin don’t step on it to stop it as that is very disrespectful.
Never change your currency at home before traveling to Thailand as your home country exchange rates will be bad. There are many places to change currency in Thailand almost every bank has money changers on every corner in the tourist areas as well as their branch locations. Hotel and airport money changers typically give a bad rate as well so stick to the banks for the best rate. Although, it is a good idea to exchange a small amount at the airport when arriving just so you have money to get where you are going.
Due to the fluctuations of the Thai baht over the last several years there has developed a split exchange price one being offshore exchange rates and one being on shore (in Thailand). Be careful using exchange rate calculators such as XE provides as they give the offshore rate and many others do as well. Check the daily rates at Thai banks online like:
Siam Bank Kasikorn Bank Bangkok Bank.
ATM’s are everywhere in the tourist areas and they give the in country rate as well but beware your banks fees on withdraws and currency conversions from your currency to Baht because most of the time these fees will drop the rate considerably, especially considering most banks will convert currency at the off shore rate. If you live in Great Britain open a Nationwide Flex Account and if you live in America open an ING Orange checking account both of these banks do not charge fees for withdraws or convert your currency at the off shore rate.
Travelers checks are always the best option. Even though you will pay a percentage fee you always get the better exchange rates on them. You also have the added security that if they are lost or stolen they will be replaced within 24 hours. Remember you will have to show your passport whenever changing Travelers checks.
Cash, as they say, is always king but unless you are bringing only large bills then the rate varies per denomination and the rate is only fractionally better than Travelers checks. Taking a large sum of cash anywhere these days is a bad idea and not worth the risk. One hundred dollar bills minted in 1996 are usually not accepted due to the fact that year was heavily counterfeited by North Korea.
Your best bet is to have a mix of travelers checks and a credit/debit card so you’ll be covered in all cases.
Note: using your credit/debit card at ATM’s is usually very safe but don’t use them in stores or shops to buy goods because credit card fraud is rife in Thailand. The only time I’ve used them other than ATM’s is at the hotel but I felt comfortable with the owners/management before I did.
Born and raised in Baltimore Maryland I finally set out to discover the world in 2006. South East Asia has always been a beacon for me and Thailand its crowned jewel.
I write about my experiences in Thailand as well as the cultural aspects of being a foreigner in a foreign land. I blog daily about Thailand at: http://thailandlandofsmiles.com
