What photo takes you right back to Thailand?

Closely followed by our Trans-Siberian trip through Russia, Thailand is the country we’ve spent the most amount of time in so far – mostly because we needed a break from the constant travelling.

Us as the sun sets on Koh Lanta and our visit to Thailand

Summarise Thailand in three words.

• Food – excellent in most of south-east Asia, but even after our previous culinary highs in Vietnam, Thailand’s expertise in balancing sweet, savoury, salty and spicy in a single dish is delectable
• King – beyond revered, the King of Thailand’s portrait adorns every city, town, building, business and home
• Massage – wander down any remotely touristed area of Thailand and you’ll hear the Thai ladies cry out “masssaaaaaaage?” Don’t make a habit of turning them down too often though

You really know you’re in Thailand when…

The street vendor or shopkeeper is handing you your food or goods, having placed them in one of every size of clear plastic bag they can find – we once bought some diced chicken that the butcher put in 4 plastic bags!

What one item should you definitely pack when going to Thailand?

Light. Leave some space in your bag because Thailand is a great place to shop – there are so many shopping malls and fantastic markets – prices are (relatively) cheap, quality is (relatively) good, and it’s possible to buy pretty much anything¹

¹ Except high-end Panasonic digital cameras, it seems. I had read about the GF6 and wanted to compare the size to my trusty Sony HX9-V, and we finally found one in IT City in Bangkok’s Pantip Plaza. They only had a white one in stock.