Thailand, as a travel destination, has taken over in recent years. I guess you could say Southeast Asia as a whole, but in this post, we’re gonna talk Thailand.
I had the pleasure of experiencing Thailand for the first time this year, and to be honest, I wouldn’t say I loved it. I started my four-month summer adventure in Phuket, Thailand, and had my hopes high. All over social media you see people raving about Thailand and how incredible it is and how much they loved visiting.
Now I’m going to say something bold: social media ruined Thailand for me.
Allow me to explain.
As we all know, social media tends to present only the best of something—a place, a person, hell even food. As we also know, the algorithm shows you what it thinks you’re interested in. Before I left, I was obviously looking into Thailand and things to do and see and was met with all sorts of beautiful places and restaurants. However, once I touched down in Thailand and left the airport, I felt I was rudely jerked from a dream.
Crumbling buildings, trash in the street, air pollution, and an overall sense of lack was what I was met with. In every city, town, or island I visited, I felt as if I had been lied to. It was nothing like I thought it would be. Instead, sprinkled within or just next to the rubble of an old, decaying building, would be a newer, nicer building that was blatantly built for tourists. Those are the places you see on social media, the places that have been built specifically for that, it seems.
Now, this article is titled “Overrated or Poor Timing,” so where does poor timing come into play? It comes into play with the fact that I arrived in Thailand mid-to-late May, right around the time that rainy season begins. This was 100% my error. I didn’t even think to consider when the rainy versus dry season was because I had never really been anywhere that I needed to worry about this.
You might be wondering why the rain plays a role worth mentioning. The reason is due to how you get to most of the islands in Thailand: by ferry. I managed to make it to one island, Koh Phi Phi, and practically got rained out. I then got heavily turned off from ferry rides on my way back to Phuket from Phi Phi because not only were multiple people vomiting from the rough sea due to the rainy weather, but one passenger vomited RIGHT on my raincoat. Super pleasant experience. NOT!
Due to this, my friend that I was traveling with and I decided it probably wasn’t worth it to try any of the other islands. While we were on Phi Phi, we were only able to manage a hike and a little beach time while the rain was only a drizzle. We weren’t able to do any of the water activities that so many people rave about. We had only heard the best things about Koh Tao, another Thai island, but we decided not to make the effort of traveling there for fear that once again we would just be stuck in our hostel.
So, overrated or rained out? In my opinion, I think it’s a bit of both for me. I visited Phuket, Chiang Mai, Pai, Bangkok, and Koh Phi Phi. As far as the mainland cities go, Pai was probably my favorite, and Phuket was my least favorite. I think had my friend and I been able to visit more islands and take advantage of the activities available, I may have enjoyed Thailand more. I’d like to go back in the future and give the islands a proper go around, but the mainland cities just didn’t butter my biscuit the way I had anticipated.
I felt it was important to draw attention to how social media set me up for disappointment in an effort to help future travelers avoid experiencing the same disappointment on their adventure.