Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai is one of the biggest Buddhist temples in the city and houses the Phra Buddha Sihing, an important Buddha statue. In the Wat compound there are famous Buddhist quotes and sayings attached to trees throughout the garden, which makes for an enlightened walk around the Wat. I like reading […]
Best beaches near Bangkok: Quick and easy beach getaways from Bangkok
Where are the best beaches near Bangkok? This is a question with various answers, so this article lists the best beaches that are easy to get to from Bangkok. This list is for quick and easy beach getaways from Bangkok and not a list of the best beaches in Thailand (which are not near Bangkok). […]
Travel Twitter and the future of social media
Nomadic Notes has been online since February 2009, which is a fact I’m reminded of every year when Twitter notifies me how old my Twitter account is. I always register a Twitter account after buying a domain name, so I have been using Twitter since at least 2009. There was a time when I would […]
Notes on Mukdahan – Isaan life on the Mekong
Mukdahan is the capital city of Mukdahan Province in the Northeast region of Thailand (better known as Isan). Mukdahan is on the Mekong River, with Savannakhet in Laos on the other side. I’ve been to enough provincial capitals to know not to expect too much, but I have also been to Nong Khai on the […]
Notes on Khon Kaen – The Isan city with big ambitions
Khon Kaen is the capital of Khon Kaen province in the Northeast region (Isaan) of Thailand. It is one of the “big four of Isan” (along with Udon Thani, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Ubon Ratchathani). My interest in visiting Khon Kaen was to see how it is progressing as a transport hub, and to see some […]
Notes on Ko Mook – A fishing village on an island paradise
Ko Mook (or Koh Muk) is an island in the Andaman Sea in Trang Province, Southern Thailand. I didn’t know about Ko Mook until I went to Ko Kradan and the boat stopped there en route. I was intrigued by its shape, with its long sandy beach and jungle interior, so I filed it away […]
Notes on Ko Ngai – The Thai paradise island that’s not just for honeymooners
Koh Ngai is an island in the Andaman Sea in Southern Thailand. The island is part of Krabi province, but it is easier to get to from Trang. You are more likely to arrive here from another island than from a mainland port, so mainland provincial locations don’t matter once you are there. Koh Ngai […]
Notes on Koh Lanta
Riding from the port to my hotel I couldn’t help but smile as I sat in the back of the motorbike-tuk-tuk. It felt good to be back in Koh Lanta. I had just arrived from the tiny island of Phi Phi, and I was in Phuket before that. Phi Phi feels claustrophobic if you don’t […]
Notes on Koh Phi Phi – Backpackers return, and the rehabilitation of Maya Bay
The Phi Phi Islands (Koh Phi Phi) are an island group in Southern Thailand in the Andaman Sea, in Krabi Province. The two biggest islands in the group are Ko Phi Phi Don and Ko Phi Phi Le. At the height of the tourism boom in 2019 they had become more famous for overtourism. Phi […]
Notes on Phuket – There are worse places to be in quarantine
The “Phuket Sandbox” was a program to let international visitors back into Thailand after the country had been closed for international travel during the pandemic. Instead of being locked in a hotel room for a week, you could stay on the island of Phuket for a week before being allowed to travel anywhere else in […]