APRIL–MAY 2025

Thailand.

Eighteen days through Thailand, from Bangkok up to the hills and down to the islands.

I landed in Bangkok at the end of April 2025 and spent eighteen days moving through the country: the capital first, then the hills around Chiang Mai, then two islands in the Gulf.

The days were temples and tuk-tuks, a scooter on mountain roads, a morning at a cooking school, long afternoons on the sand and one Full Moon.

Param laughing under a wide woven straw hat, in a black shirt and a dark apron, a cold can in his hand and a tree behind him — A borrowed farmer’s hat and a cold can at the cooking school.

27–30 APRIL

Bangkok.

Four days of temples, traffic and a Muay Thai ring.

Param in a black shirt and white shorts standing on a concrete stairwell with black walls, looking back over his shoulder — First night, a black-walled stairwell off Sukhumvit.

Param in sunglasses, a pale blue shirt and white trousers standing in a temple courtyard below a giant gold standing Buddha — Wat Intharawihan, under the standing Buddha.

Param in sunglasses and a striped shirt sitting in the back of a pink-roofed tuk-tuk, a camera on his chest — A tuk-tuk across the old town, camera ready.

Param in sunglasses walking down marble steps in front of a gilded temple hall with tall golden columns — Wat Phra Kaew, on the steps of the gilded library.

Out past the Chakri throne hall.

Param in a white T-shirt and shorts throwing a knee in the middle of an empty boxing ring under arena lights — A knee thrown in an empty Fairtex ring.

Param in a white shirt smiling at a street-side table at night, a beer in a yellow sleeve in front of him — Last night in Bangkok, a beer at a street table.

1–5 MAY

Chiang Mai.

Five days in the north on a rented scooter, up into the hills and back down to a cooking school.

Param in an open-face helmet and a blue vest, astride a blue scooter in the middle of a tree-lined road, a red songthaew parked behind him — A rented scooter on the forest road above Chiang Mai.

Param in tinted glasses and a printed resort shirt leaning on a ledge on a rooftop terrace at night — Late on a rooftop terrace.

Param in round blue sunglasses pulling off a helmet beside a row of parked scooters on a mountain road — Helmet off at the roadside on the climb.

Selfie of Param smiling in front of forested mountain ranges under an evening sky — The top of the climb, the ranges going blue.

On the scooter in the city.

Param in a purple apron smiling down at his hands at a cooking station, palms and hedges behind him — Grandma’s Home Cooking School, apron on.

7–11 MAY

Koh Samui.

Five days on the island, most of them on the sand.

A white table on a hillside terrace looking out over green forest to a turquoise bay and a small island — An afternoon table above the bay.

Param shirtless in mint swim shorts standing on a beach at dusk, fishing-boat lights on the horizon — Dusk on the beach, the boat lights coming on.

View from a beach lounger: a hand holding a bottle of beer, striped shorts, umbrellas and the sea beyond — The next afternoon, a lounger and a cold Singha.

12–14 MAY

Koh Phangan.

Three days for the Full Moon and the morning after.

Full Moon body paint: a 7-Eleven logo, the island’s most reliable landmark.

A lily pond in a tropical garden under tall palms, a wooden walkway at its edge — The garden, a lily pond under the palms.

Wooden tables on a stone terrace above a bay with boats and green hills — The last morning, the bay from the terrace.

Param in an orange life jacket smiling on the bench seat of a speedboat cabin, sea and hills through the window — The speedboat off the island.