Pha Taem National Park, Ubon - Issan

Pha Taem is about 20 minutes from Khong Jiam in the eastern province of Ubon, on the river border with Laos. The park has four sites for ancient rock art and some unusual rock formations. Three sites are down a well marked path, popular with thais, but the other is located along a tricky path and we were the only ones to visit these at the time.

Muang Tham, Burilam - Issan

Muang Tham is quieter than Phanom Rung even though it's only 8km away. Better for photos really with less people around and equally impressive. These Kymer ruins are around 1000 years old.

The ruins are about 120km south of Burilam.

Phanom Rung, Burilam - Issan

Surin Silk Weaving Village and Elephant Village - Issan

This silk weaving village has made clothes for the Thai Royal family as well as politicians for APEC. It was outside town and difficult to find. The quality of hand made silk here was high but a bit pricey as it takes 2-3 months to make. The cheap silk you see in markets is machine made.

The elephant village was about 30 mins outside town and promises daily shows but we waited 1.5 hours and they never started so we left after feeding a few of them. One of them was clever enough to pick me up with ease. No other tourists were there.

Wat Phra Kaew (Grand Palace) - Bangkok

There's a 200 baht entry fee for farangs but it's free for Thais.

The nearby National Museum only costs 40 baht and is far less touristy and I found it more rewarding but both places are worth visiting.

The lizard on the tree was near the entrance.

Khao Yai National Park - Issan

Only 160km from Bangkok this was Thailand's first national park, but we visited in April (hot dry season) and it was quite frankly disappointing to say the least. The best time to visit is December (winter time) when you are more likely to see a wild elephant and the waterfalls after wet season are stronger.

The only wild animals we saw in the park were a couple of deers, monkeys and some birds.

We did however see some elephants at Park Chong, a small town to the north of the park. This town has several vineyards and resorts, however we stayed to the south of the park. At our resort there was this big lizard that hardly moved from it's cosy position in the roof of the restaurant.

Cobra Show - North

This snake farm was north of Chiang Mai, near the turn off to Pai. While some might think the snakes have their fangs removed to make them safe, they did milk them at the end of the show, highlighting the danger. In addition to cobras they had some other venomous snakes and a non venomous but young angry python.

Chiang Dao - North

Chiang Dao is located just over an hour north of Chiang Mai. It's a very small town but the Chiang Dao cave and nearby elephant camps are worth seeing.