beautiful, bizarre limestone islands near Phuket; featured in the James-Bond movie "The man with the golden colt"

splendid temple and palace complex; the buildings are so colorful and ornate that they seem almost kitschy, but are just magnificent, we have never seem something similar

situated on a hill overlooking Chiang Mai, this is the most important and magnificent temple in northern Thailand

the people of the hill tribes have migrated to Thailand from many places like Myanmar and southern china, some come from as far as Tibet; they have colorful costumes and live very traditionally

stylish bungalows on a beautiful, quiet and private bay with fine, white sand; the beach barbecues are expensive, but fantastic; the tom yam soup was the best in whole Thailand and the rock lobsters are not to be missed either

a small and affordable guesthouse in the old part of Chiang Mai

a very comfortable mountain resort managed by the Amari hotel chain; it is a good starting point for excursions to the hill tribe villages

the world famous islands can best be explored on canoes; you can also go to the lagoons inside, if you are lucky you can even see some monkeys

this two day boat trip takes you from Bangkok to Ayuthaya on an old, renovated rice barge; a candle light dinner on deck and an early visit to a temple is included

for us, this was the best shopping area in Bangkok

if you always wanted to ride an elephant, this is the place; check for the opening hours to see the elephant performances

this is the most comfortable method of transportation; some travel agencies like Asia Trails Ltd. can be contacted to arrange reservations

outside of the big cities, there is no real problem to drive on your own; Budget included very detailed regional maps and explanations to plan the trip