UK Van Lifers Discover What THAILAND is Really Like

UK Van Lifers Discover What THAILAND is Really Like

After spending the past four years driving  around the world, I can’t quite believe that our 19-year-old UK camper van Trudy has  actually arrived in Thailand, somewhere we came to on holiday many years ago. But back then it took us 14 hours to fly here, and this time it’s taken us years!

And looking ahead, we still have a massive challenge to get home, but we’re here! And although I’m sure the universe  will throw us a lot more challenges to overcome on the way, we determined to complete this around the world challenge one step at a time.

If the challenge we face doesn’t scare us,  then it’s probably not that important – Tim Ferriss Miles to the UK: 10,613 Good morning, we’ve had a fantastic stay here, I cannot explain how amazing it was to meet our friend.

There’s Trudy, I can’t believe she’s actually arrived on Koh Lanta where we came for our honeymoon 25 years ago! But she has, and although I could stay here literally for weeks and months, it’s the perfect place  to to chill and work and just relax,  

We’re on deadlines and we have to continue  driving north, and in fact today we’re going to be meeting our nephew in Phuket which is amazing! You ready to hit the road? I am I was just thinking you know how much we enjoy it if we end up overstaying in a place!

We came here for one day and we’ve ended up being here  for three nights it’s been epic, I could stay longer…. So we’ve had a fantastic stay at the Best  House here on Koh Lanta, the owners have been so lovely and they really really helped us,

Yesterday we drained a bit of oil out of Trudy because there was too much in her, and we also asked them if they had some hardwood for when we jack Trudy up on the jacking points, because when we left Korea and shipped we had to get rid of  all the natural wood,

So yeah we have an amazing bit of hardwood here so if we run  into any flat tires we’re good! Before we hit the road we just want to give you a very quick  show round of where we’ve been staying, because you just got to see it – the beach is just behind this building,

And it’s been absolutely lovely! Somewhere to put on your holiday destination  if you’re looking for a nice break. That was the room we were staying in the first one  and the internet was super super fast, which is amazing for us to get those videos uploaded for you!

Yeah if you’re a digital Nomad this is definitely Paradise for digital Nomads! These Huts here are from our friend’s place called somewhere else, and if you come just through here….. you will see this amazing view! so this is the restaurant where we’ve been having our meals while we’re here, and check out this beach …

What’ you reckon of that that’s not a bad Beach is it? It that’s what you expect when you come to Thailand! A nice white sand beach lovely Blue Water and blue skies, it’s been absolutely amazing here and in the evening everybody comes out on the beach they play volleyball,

There’s a bar, there’s an amazing massage there, so when I came when we  arrived and I had the bad leg, I went there for a massage and it’s fixed my leg is absolutely cured!

So we’re ready to carry on, but before we go we need to go and say goodbye to the guys here, because they’ve been super super cool. this is the restaurant from Mr Wee family, are we officially crazy trying to drive back to England? yeah we are crazy! but good crazy? good crazy!

Guys – we will see you next time, thank you! and then we hope you have a night trip on the way home for you. Thank you and we’ll be back! We won’t wait 20 years!!

These guys are the owners of the hotel, it’s been absolutely amazing thank you so much and we will definitely be back! Maybe not in Trudy, but we’ll definitely  be back! Thank you very much, bye bye-bye ! Oh so lovely! I love the gasoline for sale therem look at that!

Okay it’s a little  bit tight around here isn’t it ?! After such a warm welcome, we didn’t  want to leave but we have to continue North to Bangkok, to hopefully get our Chinese visa so we can continue our journey West. Left we go beautiful sunny day!

It still feels so strange to be in Koh Lanta when we’ve come here on holiday from the UK twice before, and this time we’ve driven! It just doesn’t feel right! This side of the island is definitely much more busy than where we were,

I think where we stayed was perfect – like a mini Oasis wasn’t it?! Yeah ! So where we were on koh Lanta it’s actually on an island, so this is the bridge that gets us off the first island and then takes us on to another Island that we need to get a ferry,

A little car ferry to get back to the mainland. All of these down here are mangroves, what a fantastic place! I’m definitely coming back here! Hello – two people. Thank you. The total is 300 Bhat! So it’s not far we just literally just got to go across there,

5 – 10 minutes and we’ll be back on the mainland! Stunning …. it is stunning here I love these little motorbike taxis, isn’t that great? got side car with seating area on! Oh there you go there’s one Ferry just arriving there coming off, and one Ferry just loading here – one off, one on, that’s great!

It’s a little bit close Marianne! That’s  like 1 inch from the Lorry!! He said get close !! Okay so let’s show you the plan today! this is where we’ve driven already, this is koh Lanta here,

So the plan is we’re going to be driving around past Krabi and then going down to Phuket to meet my nephew, and also one of my ex work colleagues from London, who I haven’t seen for years,

And then we’re going to be driving up and heading up towards Bangkok, it is going to be a good week! Okay let the road trip begin! it’s a bit of a dip! No scraping! Trudy – you’re a good girl! amazing we love Trudy!

There’s one thing about Thailand, it looks very very lush, and green and they just generally really quite colourful, the plants are colourful, the buildings have lots of blues and different colours in them, it’s got a really lovely feel hasn’t it ? yeah, it’s a really special place. How many motorbikes? Loads !!

Best way of transporting yourself around Thailand is by motorbike ….. or Trudy! or Trudy! all the little kids on the bikes, a family of three! it’s lovely, so special, there is a really lovely mosque there!

I just love as you drive you see all these really elaborate golden  temples – they look absolutely fabulous! got a morning Market there, in this little town. We’re not too far from Krabi International Airport now, so in the next half an hour we’ll probably stop somewhere and grab some lunch.

Okay so we’re going to stop for a bit of lunch, we saw this restaurant just here so we’ll give it a bash. Trudy’s part by the side of the road. Hi – oh this looks nice! doesn’t it?!

Wow that looks amazing, some roast pork, roast chicken, and then we got two portions of rice – this was a good choice! Right after that delicious lunch, North we go! It’s got a lovely big wave from one of the shop owners as we drove past. They read the message on the van!

It is very warm in the van, in case you’re wondering at the moment it’s nearly 34° and climbing! So yes it’s a bit of a challenge, that’s why we’re not sleeping in the van! The air con is going back on now!!! 173 km to go to Phuket!

We are starting to get these sights of these Hills covered in trees, which is so iconic to Thailand, and this region, they look absolutely amazing in the distance! I just spotted a mum and her three kids on this little motorbike at the traffic lights,

And she saw me filming, so she started waving, how lovely is that – a massive smile, and a very warm welcome here in Thailand. okay so waze is going to take us off the highway now,   and onto a smaller road, which should be lovely.

All the way down this road there are little stands selling what looks like sugar cane?  I’m pretty sure that’s what it is. Here’s the bridge that takes you over to Phuket

If you’ve been following us for a while you  know Trudy our van doesn’t have air con! It’s 38.1 degrees in this van, it feels like it! And being in Malaysia and Thailand it’s been pretty hot and as a result we’ve stayed in a lot of hotels.

Staying in so many hotels we’ve had to use a lot of public Wi-Fi and it’s the perfect place for a hacker to do their thing! this isn’t just protecting my bank statement or phone bill problem, this is a must! now  keep that tank rolling I’ll try to cover you from this end! Go!

These professional hackers can get  access to your computer in a lot of different ways, sometimes they set up fake Wi-Fi networks with the hope that you’ll log into it, It can’t be that simple? so whenever you’re staying in a hotel  always check what the actual name of the Wi-Fi network is!

One way that you can make it harder for a hacker is by using a VPN, we’ve been using surf shark since we set off on our adventures it basically creates an encrypted tunnel which keeps you and your data safe while you’re online. it’s a little bit like a thief choosing which house he’s going to rob!

If he’s walking down the road and  sees a house with security cameras, an electric fence, an alarm system… will he pick that one?  or will he pick the neighbour next door that has no security measures? And that’s exactly the message that surf shark sends to hackers.

And surfshark is the only VPN company that allows use on an unlimited number of devices, and and trust me and Marianne have a lot of devices! For me it’s a no- brainer for just the cost of a couple of coffees…. We get to keep our bank accounts, social media and our personal data safe,

And we’ve managed to get you an exclusive deal, by using the code tread the globe, you get an extra 3 months completely free, to get started simply click  the link in the description below or scan the QR code.

Today is the day we’re going to jump in a grab head into town to go and meet Jamie my nephew. We hadn’t seen Jamie since we set off four years ago, who’d have thought that we’d actually be catching up in Phuket?!

He has spent the past few months backpacking through southeast Asia and the Stars finally aligned, and our paths are  crossing! You were just passing by!! How you doing mate? good thank. We were excited to tell Jamie’s brother Charlie that we’d managed to meet up, so gave him a quick call! we’re fabulous – Yay!

Two days later Okay so we had a good time staying at this little hotel here, it’s been great we managed to catch up with Wayne my colleague that I used to work with in London, who treated us to the most fantastic meal at The Pavilions where he works,

We also met up with my nephew Jamie, we went down to the centre of Patong Beach which is a crazy place! For our last evening we met up with Jamie and Wayne again and headed into town to experience Patong Beach, the party area of  Phuket.

Wow has it changed a lot since we were here 25 years ago? The whole area is hugely developed  and what was a few Lively bars has turned into a long road of Bright Lights, loud music and tourists partying,

We did manage to find a slightly calmer bar at the end of the street and headed in for a much needed drink, whilst being serenaded by a live band! Okay for young people, but yeah very crazy, and now we’re just going to have some lunch at this little local place here next to  the hotel,

Before we hit the road and continue North! The barbecue grilling the meats there, so I’ve ordered a Thai curry, Marianne’s ordered chicken and rice, but yeah it’s literally right next door to the little hotel we’re staying in.

Good food? it’s very good food, and it’s so close, and as we have probably about a 3 hour drive today, maybe 4 hours? It will be good just to have a lunch now and then we won’t be getting all hungry in the van!

There you go we got Thai curry chicken and rice, cutleries on the table in this little pot, and Marianne carries around a sneaky little pot of her favourite Maggi sauce, yeah in the UK you get it it’s called Maggi, in fact I like Maggi sauce so much, that I named our pet rabbit – Maggie!!

I love chai curries, spicy, coconut, absolutely delicious, and then you get a little pot of ice they put the bottled water on the table you just help yourself to whichever drink you want. so we’re going for the water. Thank you!

Okay let’s just quickly show you on the  map, we are here just on the north of Phuket Island, and then today I think we’re going to probably drive up this coast and park somewhere in this region here tonight, and maybe we’ll spend one or two days there before heading north.

The building works very noisy! but it is what it is…. I think Phuket generally is noisy! it is! Phew – it’s a bit hot in here, yep very warm today! bye! yeah it was a nice little stay, convenient with great parking – Lin house, but the beds as well were the loveliest softest beds ever!

Right it’s another scorching day  here in Thailand, so sit back and relax! Yeah Phuket’s been quite busy, where we stayed is actually a little bit quieter, but yeah the main town is very very busy, down by Patong and around there, loads of tourists, a real party happing Place!

Yeah and so we’re going to try and find a little bit more nature and a bit more quiet tonight is the plan. Love you got the family of three on the motorbike with the side car in front,

It’s a very practical way, a lot of people say “so many people on One motorbike – it’s dangerous!” but you know, it’s the only mode of Transport that a lot of people have over here, and if that is all you got and can afford, that’s all you can afford. Yep

Wow that’s a little bit loaded up, yeah they’re delivering trees…. look the root systems all tied up, it must be for a hotel or a house? yeah probably a new build, oh yeah look there it’s a new residential complex – mind out for the electric wires!!

There’s been a lot of building here since we came 20 odd years ago, there weren’t any high rises, and now there’s so much more Concrete and buildings! just in case you’re wondering what the temperature is today in the van it’s 35.5, our limited air con is going, but it’s a little bit slow today,

Lots of rubber trees there, that is becoming a common site now, Banana trees too Okay so we just pulled up to our first garage here in Thailand and there’s two types of diesel, there’s the blue on there Diesel  and then there’s the B7 diesel, so yeah we’re we’re going for the B7 apparently it’s better.

The guys are waving! Diesel diesel okay they’re filling it up for us, thank you very much. Oh they got the screen here look showing you how much it is, Okay so the total for 3/4 of  a tank was 1,590 Bhat, so yeah that works out to be £35, it’s still very good price over here.

So we’ve come off Phuket Island  now and we’re just driving through another nearby town, roads are okay so far aren’t they? The roads are okay, now we were looking for a car wash for Trudy and every time we see a sign for a jumbo wash I say Yes!!

And then realise it’s laundry, but we’ll find one,  we’ll find one to fit Trudy – she is a bit big for a laundry! Just going through another little town, honestly the electric wiring looks like spaghetti in the sky I think! Doesn’t it? I love that! Spaghetti in the sky!! Okay 200 M turn right,

Do you know it’s funny every time I see a pigeon I always think it’s on holiday from Trafalgar Square, it might be Marianne, it might be! The road’s got a lot smaller, and the trees are a little bit more interesting, you like the windy roads Marianne don’t you? These are definitely my favourite kind of roads,

With trees and just the nature it feels great! We’re just driving through Khao Lok, which is is another Beach area, quieter than Phuket, I’m about an hour and a halfs drive North of Phuket, tourists, but it’s much much quieter, if you’re looking for somewhere to stay that’s a little bit quieter,

We’re going to go on a little bit further and just try  and get into the countryside a little bit. Okay we’re going to turn left, we think we found somewhere to stay down here, yeah, go down this one, there’s a farm stay in amongst the palm trees.

I’m excited to see some nature and see some chickens! chickens ha ha ! Parami Farm stay… let’s see if there’s any rooms available. very beautiful… This building is hand made by my family, oh your family, amazing ! I’m love this – you got a tree Bridge! It is like a sobriety test!

Oh they have ducks! oh that’s fabulous! With the concept of the farm we have to build a small room, we locate inside the farm, it’s not so big. that’s right, that’s lovely, that’s perfect, that’s lovely – thank you ! A hard bed nice, got air fan, fridge, oh and a back door!

There is a toilet and shower. That’s great ! oh I miss having ducks! oh it’s lovely! a pond with the Ducks!! Ducks are very funny, because the girl ducks quack and the boy duck whispers – girl Ducks talk a lot!! Thank you we’ got nice pillows as well, that’s great!

So we ended up going with a double room with air con, it is amazing we got the jackary all set up charging there, we brought Trudy round so she’s right next to the room that we’re staying in! it’s just a fantastic find here, this is what I like! A nice little farm stay.

We just found these really cool plants by Trudy, which when you touch them look what [Music] happens … they close up! How cool is that! We’ve just spotted that they’re bringing up Buffalo….. these are the cows are they cows? Awwh – different looking cows, those floppy ears! oh there’s a baby! Oh look!

That is so lovely! absolutely amazing! Buffalo! oh this place is amazing, there is actually a buffalo there –  look! there look! oh they’re coming! she’s shy! The lady said that she’s got two Buffalo, two girl Buffalos and they’re pregnant! How amazing is that?!

What a fantastic setting, the sun is just thinking about going down. They got all the Ducks there look. Is it me or are ducks just like the most comical creature on the planet? they’re funny! yeah it’s a great spot! They got chickens running around here! Hello mate!

This reminds us of back home with our chickens before we started the Mad Adventures! Lovely! Cheers Cheers We’re on the water little bit dehydrated today. This was a great find, our kind of place! fantastic!! Don’t forget to subscribe and we’ll see you next Sunday as  we continue our adventure North

Driving our UK Van in Thailand we see what it’s really like! Get an exclusive Surfshark deal! Enter promo code treadtheglobe to get up to 3 additional months for free at https://surfshark.deals/treadtheglobe

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Travel vlog 630 | Filmed January 2024 | Thailand| Country 38/197

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