Thailand

[Johnboy74]

Anyone been to Thailand?
I'm thinking about going for Scuba diving, would appreciate any personal experiences of being there as a vegan

[V VII Hero]

nope, but i have friend there and friends who have visited.

said its amazing and beautiful.lots of fresh fruit. and water is clean. just steer clear of polluted Bangkok.

very hot and humid though. people are friendly too with big smiles.

there is elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai I've always wanted to go volunteer at.

lots of good state parks, and of course thai curry!

[SandGroper]

I've been to Thailand, but wasn't vegan at the time. I actually stopped eating meat while there (and never got back into it) but I'm not sure what was in "vegetarian" food - might have had the usual nasties hidden in it.

"Vegetarian" food is everywhere. I'm no macho freak with spices, but I never found it too hot. The fruit is sensational, really. I can almost understand some of the raw fooders... nahh.

I spent a few months in the mountains, did loads of walks and explored many of the caves- the area is riddled with them. If you like diving you might like that area too.

The wet season is coming up in a couple of months, you might want to plan around that. The water could be a bit silty from the runoff.

[Johnboy74]

Cheers guys...
I've been planning on going to Phuket, it's an island apparently, the beaches are sublime and scuba diving supposed to be one of the best in the world... Just concerned about eating really... think i saw a post on here about thai people putting fish paste in curries which worries me!

Looka like I may have to go fruitarian while i'm over there! might actually lose some weight

Yeh I've heard about that elephant sanctuary, there are quite a few sanctuaries for monkeys and other sentient beings, that is worth looking into...

I heard that wet season is may to september? Will try and plan to go before or after that I think, want to best views underwater for snorkling and scuba diving...

Caves... sounds interesting... Underwater caves or on land?

[SandGroper]

The caves are all on land, but most have a stream running through them, a little bit of swimming is needed to get through.

Here's a link to one of the local lodges. Only a few bucks a night, in the middle of nowhere. Sounds alright, eh?

http://www.cavelodge.com/index.htm

[Johnboy74]

Cheers, SandGroper.... Just had a look on that site, kayaking through those caves looks awesome! So cheap over there! Only going for two weeks though, will have to fit in as much as I can, not a few months like you

[Kati]

Hey,

I'm in Thailand right now. Koh Tao. For 2 months. Scuba diving training.
Tofu everywhere. Soymilk at seven elevens, so also everywhere. Dried beans also everywhere. So no problem for proteins really.

So far any time I've asked in restaurants to adjust the food in any way, they'd been happy to do it. Then of course they might not always understand English too well.

One thing.. if you ask for fried rice it always comes with eggs if you don't mention you want it without.

[borlef]

I have been to Thailand and I think that Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta and the rest of that area have some of the best diving. The area is also pretty vegan friendly. You can certainly get tofu, noodles, lots of veggies, tons of fruit. You should be able to find lots of cheap cashews as they are grown in Thailand. Some stuff may have fish sauce in it, but personally I don't fault any vegan for eating something that may contain fishsauce. Think of how much good you are doing by being a vegan day in and day out. To have something with fishsauce is like 1 billionth the harm that the average person does in a day.
Depending on how long you are going for and if you intend to do any traveling elsewhere you should try to get to the north of Thailand. It's totally different and really beautiful. I would give an arm to be there now. good luck

[V VII Hero]

I have been to Thailand and I think that Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta and the rest of that area have some of the best diving. The area is also pretty vegan friendly. You can certainly get tofu, noodles, lots of veggies, tons of fruit. You should be able to find lots of cheap cashews as they are grown in Thailand. Some stuff may have fish sauce in it, but personally I don't fault any vegan for eating something that may contain fishsauce. Think of how much good you are doing by being a vegan day in and day out. To have something with fishsauce is like 1 billionth the harm that the average person does in a day.
Depending on how long you are going for and if you intend to do any traveling elsewhere you should try to get to the north of Thailand. It's totally different and really beautiful. I would give an arm to be there now. good luck

fishsauce is not vegan. it is put in a lot of thai food, but you can ask for food without it.
you might give an arm to be in thailand, but those fishes did not "give" their lives for the fishsauce, it was taken from them.

so avoid fishsauce at all times!

in thailand, perhaps it would be best to find a phrase in thai for "food with no fish sauce please".

[GenTDuke]

in thailand, perhaps it would be best to find a phrase in thai for "food with no fish sauce please".

It's a foreign concept to them, they don't understand what you are talking about.

Bangkok is my favourite place in Thailand funnily enough. I miss Ko San Road. There are a bunch of vegan restaurants there, and I even had vegan cake for my birthday.

Phuket is supposed to be a den of sin. I stayed on Ko Somoi for a month, and that was terrible, in terms of prostitution and sex hassle etc, but Phuket is supposed to be worse.

[Johnboy74]

Hey,
I'm in Thailand right now. Koh Tao. For 2 months. Scuba diving training.
Tofu everywhere. Soymilk at seven elevens, so also everywhere. Dried beans also everywhere. So no problem for proteins really.

So far any time I've asked in restaurants to adjust the food in any way, they'd been happy to do it. Then of course they might not always understand English too well.

One thing.. if you ask for fried rice it always comes with eggs if you don't mention you want it without.

Thanks Kati thats great! was a bit worried that two weeks without protein my body would suffer a little. 2 months Scuba diving training very nice indeed!

[Johnboy74]

I have been to Thailand and I think that Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta and the rest of that area have some of the best diving. The area is also pretty vegan friendly. You can certainly get tofu, noodles, lots of veggies, tons of fruit. You should be able to find lots of cheap cashews as they are grown in Thailand. Some stuff may have fish sauce in it, but personally I don't fault any vegan for eating something that may contain fishsauce. Think of how much good you are doing by being a vegan day in and day out. To have something with fishsauce is like 1 billionth the harm that the average person does in a day.
Depending on how long you are going for and if you intend to do any traveling elsewhere you should try to get to the north of Thailand. It's totally different and really beautiful. I would give an arm to be there now. good luck

fishsauce is not vegan. it is put in a lot of thai food, but you can ask for food without it.
you might give an arm to be in thailand, but those fishes did not "give" their lives for the fishsauce, it was taken from them.

so avoid fishsauce at all times!

in thailand, perhaps it would be best to find a phrase in thai for "food with no fish sauce please".

I have heard that they are a bit over zealous with the fishes and put them into everything. Don't think my body could take fishsauce in something even by mistake, my body is highly atuned to animal products now after 9 years vegan. As borlef says though sometimes you make a mistake, like recently an item I was buying regular and vegan I happend to look at the packaging again and they had put milk into it

[Johnboy74]

Just hope the problems clear up in Thailand

[Kati]

Just hope the problems clear up in Thailand

I don't think you need to worry about any problems there. As long as the flights are not cancelled you'll be fine.

The season is a bit different on west and east coast. Diving season having a break on west coast between May-September but continues on east coast through year. At Ko Tao anyway. Though the visibility underwater is maybe not as good as other times of year.

Similan islands liveaboards on west coast would probably be the best diving in Thailand. Khao Lak should be a good place to get on them.

Phuket sounds very package touristy, Wouldn't go there myself. Neither Koh Samui or Pattaya.

[Johnboy74]

Just hope the problems clear up in Thailand

I don't think you need to worry about any problems there. As long as the flights are not cancelled you'll be fine.

The season is a bit different on west and east coast. Diving season having a break on west coast between May-September but continues on east coast through year. At Ko Tao anyway. Though the visibility underwater is maybe not as good as other times of year.

Similan islands liveaboards on west coast would probably be the best diving in Thailand. Khao Lak should be a good place to get on them.

Phuket sounds very package touristy, Wouldn't go there myself. Neither Koh Samui or Pattaya.

Thanks for the tips Kati will keep this in mind when looking to book later in the year!