The Golden Trip to Thailand
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| The Golden Temple |
Tourism is a major contributor to Thailand's economy contributing approximately 7% to its GDP. Tourist from around the worlds turn to Thailand for its historical and cultural sites, relaxing massages, great shopping coupled with attractive beaches and islands. I took my trip to Thailand in 2005 mainly cause Thailand its an affordable tourist destination and i absolutely love the sight of clear green beaches alongside white sand.
The central planes of Thailand are dominated by the capital of Bangkok, with its royal emplanes, immense shopping centers and more than a 100 museums. Shopping, therefore, is another reason why tourists turn to Bangkok, the road side markets offer a lot of attractive items to its shoppers besides handbags of Dolce Gabbana, Elle and Louis Vuitton at very affordable prices. There would be rarely any women who would leave the city without buying a few.
Food and Eating: Food and eating places are all over the city and some people fond of sea food can try the road side quick meal fixes that cost a little less than $10 a meal. The local currency of Bangkok is Thai Baht and I must caution you that some sellers may take advantage of tourists so be a smart tourist and do your research on food prices. The first day of my visit to Bangkok, I decided to take a local tour of the city, hence top of the list were Buddha's Golden Temple. This temple is well known for its 3-metre tall, 5.5 tons solid gold Buddha image, constructed over 700 years ago during the Sukhothai period. Originally the gold image was covered with plaster to conceal it from the invading Burmese and was just rediscovered accidentally about 40 years ago. You are required to pay a certain nominal fee when you enter the museum.
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| Koh Phi Phi Island |
The second day we hit the shopping malls and tried to grab a few good deals. Terminal 21 on Sukhumvit road and The Emporium are two of the few top rated malls in the city which offer you a blend of everything from good food places to apparel and handbags outlets.
Fortune Tellers & Massage Parlors: Another major tourist attraction in Bangkok is its massage parlors and fortune tellers. The strip on which our hotel was located had a few foot massage parlors on it and I and my friend Sadia happily gave into a relaxing foot massage lasting around 45 minutes. Isn't that a girls dream any day?
Beaches & Islands: Third day of the trip we took our flight to Phuket and booked our two day excursions to the theme park; Funkasea and Phi Phi Island right at the airport. These excursions back in 2005 were extremely affordable and costed $100 per day inclusive of hotel pick and drop and meals. The next day we left for the theme park Funkasea, which attracts a lot of tourists and it is definitely one of the best amusement parks I have to been to; it offers you several performances by beautifully dressed up belly dancers, theatrical art performances and grand dinner buffet including top of the line sea food and all else you can dream of. The night at Funkasea comes to end with a grand theatrical performance in an auditorium that seats 700 people. Several artists perform acrobats and Ballet dances to the fine music select by the choreographers and amuse spectators. Our night there ended around 10pm and the tour bus dropped us at our hotel. Next morning we left for Phi Phi Island around 10am, got our hand bands and boarded the ship to tour the most exotic and beautiful island in Thailand called Phi Phi Island. Once you board the ship its all sailing in the beautiful sea, where you experience the worlds most beautiful island, under water snorkeling so its best to carry a couple of swimming costumes and sunscreen if you plan to take a dip or enjoy sun bathing at the beach. The ship takes you to Phi Phi Island in about 2 hours and leaves all tourists to explore the island, small shops owners sell head bands, bracelets, jewelry and a lot more to its visitors. You can take pictures, shop here and of course pull out a relaxing chair at the beach and enjoy the lovely sun. We spent three to four hours at the beach and than headed back to our ship and took the ride back to the shore where we boarded from. A day very well spent came to end and I dashed in my best at night.
Next morning I explored the hotel a bit, as it was built on a sea shore itself and offers relaxing opportunities to its customers, it also has message beds in the hotel and if you like you may get head, food or body massages. In the afternoon, I left for the local airport to catch my flight back to Bangkok and from thereon back to my home town Lahore.
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The writer of the article is Sumble
Butt. She has a Masters in Economics & Management and volunteers as a Content writer / blogger with OPEN SV. Sumble loves to read and write and her favorite
subjects to blog include Business, Economy and Corporate development. She
maintains her own blog on Face Book as "My Flight as a Writer".
