THAILAND

Bangkok is one of the great cities of Asia — not despite the chaos but because of it. The temples of Rattanakosin Island (Wat Pho, Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Arun) are the obligatory starting point and each is genuinely spectacular. But the city reveals itself in the details: the floating flower market at Pak Khlong Talat at 4am, the rooftop bars of Silom, the street food corridor of Yaowarat in Chinatown where the crab omelet at T&K Seafood arrives at a table on the sidewalk and costs $3. The BTS Skytrain covers the modern city efficiently. Everywhere else requires tuk-tuks, motorcycle taxis, and a tolerance for traffic that will test your patience and reward your curiosity.

The walled old city of Chiang Mai contains 300 temples within walking distance of each other — more than any city its size in the world. Doi Suthep on the mountain above the city is the temple worth the climb, looking down over the entire valley at sunrise. The Sunday Walking Street on Wualai Road is the finest night market in Thailand: local craftspeople, northern Thai food, and a crowd that is half tourist and half local. The cooking schools around the old city — particularly those that begin with a morning market tour — are among the most useful half-days available to a traveler anywhere in Southeast Asia.

Thailand has roughly 1,430 islands and the choice matters enormously. Koh Lanta is quiet, long-beached, and rewards people who want to actually relax. Koh Tao is for divers — the training courses here are among the most affordable and well-run in the world, and the underwater topography is exceptional. Koh Samui is fully developed but has the infrastructure. Railay Beach, accessible only by longtail boat from Krabi, is surrounded by karst limestone cliffs and has no roads — it is one of the most beautiful places in Thailand and worth the extra logistics to reach. Avoid Koh Phi Phi in peak season unless crowds are your preference.

Thai food as it exists in Thailand bears almost no relationship to Thai food as it exists in most Western countries. The heat is real. The complexity is real. The variation between regions is real — northern khao soi (a coconut curry noodle soup) and southern gaeng tai pla (a fermented fish curry) are practically different cuisines. Eat at markets and street stalls rather than restaurants aimed at tourists. The pad thai from the cart on the corner is better than the pad thai in the air-conditioned restaurant on the main road. A bowl of khao kha moo (braised pork leg on rice) from a market vendor costs 40 baht and is one of the finest things you will eat in the country.