Introduction: Pandas, Golden Triangle and the Beach

Flo — Sun, 25 Mar 2018 09:52:28 +0000

We just got back from a relaxing trip with a somewhat unusual itinerary. Going through my bucket list, I’ve been wanting to visit the Pandas near Chengdu for a while. I had also never made it to Thailand’s Northern most corner in Chiang Rai. Checking out flights, Chengdu could easily be reached with a direct flight from Europe. Likewise, there’s a 4x weekly direct flight from Chengdu to Chiang Rai. Icing on the cake is that this would allow is to skip the Chinese Visa process and benefit from the Transit without Visa (TWOV) scheme, something I had done a few years ago.

With animals and nature checked, we wanted to add some beach time and settled on Koh Lipe in the very south, advertised as “the Maldives of Thailand”. The trip would end with some days in Singapore, our old home.

This was our final itinerary:

Day	Place / Activities	Transport	Accomodation
1	Arrival in Chengdu		Wenjum Hotel
2	Panda Volunteer - Dujiangyan Base	Train
3	Fly to Chiang Rai, White Temple, Night Market	Flight / Rental Car	Bambuh Homestay
4	Golden Triangle, Hall of Opium	Rental Car
5	Fly to Hat Yai, Night Market	Flight	La Pause
6	Taxi / Boat to Koh Lipe	Taxi / Boat	Mali Sunrise Resort
7	Koh Lipe	-	Mali Sunrise Resort
8	Boat / Taxi / Fly to Singapore	Boat / Taxi / Flight	-

Looking back, it was probably too much travel for the short period of time. Not necessarily too many stops, but too much travel with planes.

Stay tuned for the trip report!

Hat Yai – Go with the Flo

Introduction: Pandas, Golden Triangle and the Beach