Anyone have tips for my vacation in Thailand?

It would appear that the Indian government has rescinded its blogging prohibition. Apparently the alleged bombers of the Mumbai train systems were using blogs to communicate. This begs the question: If the terrorists are communicating in a public forum such as blogs, how did the Indian government let something like this happen without warning? Clearly the attack happened with or without the aid of blogs, so why end blogging in India? Oh, well. A nonissue at this point.

____________________________

Sometimes you need a vacation. I need one because it has been about 5 months since I last missed a day at work, and I have rarely left work before 6:30 PM in the last 3 months. So I just purchased tickets to Thailand and I will be there from August 3rd till August 11th.

I have never been to Thailand, and I'm just now starting to do research. To tell you the truth, I saw a great fare and, realizing I desperately need to get out of Bangalore, bought the ticket understanding I had no idea what I was doing, I can't wait! Where's the excitement in taking a trip with an itinerary?

Currently I will be spending the first 2.5 days in Bangkok by myself, not something I've done before. I'm not at all worried about being on my own, in fact it will be an awesome time to relax and explore. I'm planning on arriving with only a list of must-see places and will likely spend most of my time getting lost in the city and finding my way back to the hostel.

The last 5 days of my Thailand vacation will be spent in the beaches south of Bangkok with Winnie, but my itinerary is pretty wide open and I'll be planning most of my domestic travel on the fly. This is where I thought I'd see if anyone has suggestions.

Has anyone been to Thailand and have places/activities they would recommend?

So let me know if you have any thoughts. I have quite a bit to do in the next week, including attending the opening of NASDAQ from Mysore, India. Also, 130 Americans just arrived to work for IndiaIT, so that's been exciting although I have yet to meet them.

More to come.