October Travels!

      October marks the halfway point of the school year, and students are given a couple weeks off before returning to school at the end of the month.  For two of those weeks, we have been leading an English camp for thirty students, but as that finishes this Friday, we are extremely excited about having two weeks off to travel!
       Given that our experience in Thailand has so far been limited to northern Thailand (which is nothing to sneeze at) we are excited to explore the south during our time off.  We have been doing a lot of research on the best places to go, and the best way to reach those places, and we will share some of that information on this blog to help others who might be doing similar travels.  We found travel blogs extremely useful when planning this trip because they provided information from people who were seeking similar experiences and were also not interested in package tours or staying on the tourist track.
      As we will not be bringing a computer on this trip, our access to Internet will be limited. However, we will be taking lots of pictures, and you should expect plenty of blog posts about our travels down south.  You can look at our itinerary below to give you an idea of where we will be and what we will be doing!

Saturday, October 13	Chiang Saen -- Bangkok
1 day Saturday afternoon- Sunday morning October 13-14	Bangkok ·         Wat Phra Kaew & Grand Palace ·         National Museum
½ day DAY TRIP	Bangkok’s Floating Market: 100 km out of the city
3 days Sunday-Tuesday morning October 14-16	Khao Yai National Park Trekking tours around the park: Sunday: ½ day tour Monday: full day tour Visiting waterfalls, caves, and hopefully some wildlife encounters with the gibbons, bats, elephants, and more that live in the park!
1 day DAY TRIP Tuesday October 16	Ayuthaya Ancient historical city with plenty of ruins and temples for us to visit.
Tuesday evening October 16	Night in Bangkok
1 day Wednesday, October 17	Bangkok-Ko Samui
5 days Wednesday evening-Tuesday afternoon October 17-22	Ko Samui Beach time on an island along Thailand's gulf coast!
1 day DAY TRIP October 19	Ang Thong Marine National Park Kayaking, snorkeling, and hiking around an island that is a national park
Possible Visit (depending on weather) October 20-22	Ko Tao Supposedly even more beautiful than Ko Samui, a great place for snorkeling
Monday, October 22	Gulf Coast Islands– BKK Overnight train/bus
Tuesday, October 23	Bangkok
Wednesday, October  24	BKK – Chiang Rai – Chiang Saen