Monday, April 2 2001
Trip To Thailand -Part 1
Elizabeth And David DubrowA lifelong Texan, Elizabeth Dubrow grew up in Houston, but moved to Austin
in 1990. She attended the University of Texas, where she received in B.A. in
Asian Studies in 1993, and a J.D. in 1997. Although she has dabbled in both
law and computer programming, she is still trying to figure out what she
wants to be when she "grows up." She has been married to David since 1998.
Her interests include film, books, food and travel
David Dubrow spent his first seven years in Argentina, but then settled in
the U.S. with his family. After graduating from the University of Texas
with a degree in psychology, he spent a few years working odd jobs and
travelling through Europe, Israel and Egypt before returning to the U.S. to
earn another degree from UT in computer science. He currently works as a
software engineer at Motorola Metrowerks in Austin. He has been studying
Aikido, a Japanese martial art, for 13 years and has a 3rd degree black
belt. He hopes one day to return to school to study cognitive science and
artificial intelligence.
Click here to visit their website.
|
 |
Click here to read part two and part three of of this article.
Well, we just got back from our first trip to Thailand and we can't wait to go back! The people are super-friendly, the temples are amazing and the beaches are idyllic. Since it will be awhile before we can take another vacation, we thought it would be great to relive our memories by creating a Thailand web page to share with friends and family. The pictures did not turn out as great as the main photographer (Liz) wanted, but there were a few good ones that we put up on the site. So, we hope you enjoy the site and feel inspired to travel to Thailand! To have a look at some really good Thailand pictures, check out this website.
The first thing you should know about travel to Thailand is that it is a monumental pain. It took us over 3 hours to fly from Austin to LA, then 12 hours between LA and Tokyo AND then another 7 hours to Bangkok. A few hours into our flight to Tokyo we were just miserable, and wondered what possessed us to do something so stupid as to travel to Thailand. I'm petrified of flying (maybe it's time to consult Erica Jong) and always spend the entirety of flights obsessing about the plane crashing, but after about 10 hours of flying I really didn't care whether I lived or died on that plane. But we soon figured out that the misery was worth it (not until we got out of baggage claim in Bangkok, though.)
If you are just thinking about going to Thailand and need some general info, check out the Lonely Planet Website. If you decide to go to Thailand, you really should buy Lonely Planet's Thailand guidebook. It only failed us once, and in a very minor way, due to outdated information ( the happy hour sunset cruise sponsored by the Marriott in Bangkok is no longer free - it costs about 500 baht per person!) The Lonely Planet book provides really useful info about hotels for all budgets, restaurants, transportation, Thai cultural issues, proper conduct and dress, con schemes to be aware of, and difficult subjects like environmental degradation and the prevalence of prostitution. For example, while touring the temples in Bangkok, a guy approached us and asked where we were going. When we told him we were going to Wat Arun, he told us it was closed for prayer (lie!) and we should come with him to somewhere else. We might have believed him if we hadn't been sufficiently warned by the guidebook. (By the way, as offensive as it is to be treated like an idiot, you have to blow this stuff off. Getting mad doesn't do you any good in any situation in Thailand. We just told the guy we'd go look at Wat Arun anyway, and he stopped hassling us.)
A guidebook can only give you so much information, though. The internet was essential to planning our trip. Every time we read about a beach or hotel that sounded nice, we just looked it up on the net to see if actual pictures matched the description. And we found out what real people have to say about a place at the ThornTree section of the Lonely Planet Website. We booked our entire trip on the net, from airline tickets to hotels. In fact, we even bought tickets for our internal flight in Thailand over the net. We were really happy to do it this way since we are the type of people who enjoy planning things like hotel and transportation well in advance. On our previous trip to Spain, we didn't plan anything in advance, which resulted in us wasting lots of time wandering around towns with 5000 pounds of luggage in tow looking for what turned out to be a cruddy hotel. Or spending hours in a train station waiting in line for tickets. Another great thing about making bookings on the internet is that you can get discounts. For hotel bookings with big discounts, check out Travel Ideas, Planet Holiday, and Asia Travel.
For those of you who think that Thailand is for 20-year-old backpackers and/or sex tourists, think again! One reason it appeals to backpackers is because it is so cheap, but that benefits everyone. And as for the sex industry, it is very easy to avoid. In Bangkok, the area for this is Patpong, so don't go to Patpong and you won't have to see it! Thailand is a great place for couples and families. When we were in and around Phuket, we saw tons of European families with small children.
Tips for Travel in Thailand
|
