Good country, exhausting tourist industry

Thailand is a genuinely beautiful and interesting place. Doi Inthanon is worth every superlative thrown at it. The pad thai is legitimately excellent. incredible Buddhist temples gave the trip real depth.

What I struggled with: the tourist infrastructure around the headline sites in Koh Samui is relentlessly commercial and overcrowded islands in peak season is a genuine friction point. You can feel the gap between authentic Thailand and the packaged version sold to tourists. The authentic version wins, but you have to work to find it.