Backpacking Thailand from Bangkok to Ko Samet and back

These are travel highlights from a backpacking trip to Thailand over the New Year holiday in the winter of 2025-26. The journey started in Bangkok's Chinatown. From there, I took the train south to Pattaya and then a van to Rayong Province. There I took a ferry to the island of Ko Samet and celebrated New Year's Eve. After that I reversed the trip and made it back to Bangkok for my flight back to Incheon, South Korea.