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Thailand Gap Year

Thailand Gap Year: with incredible culture, beaches, diving, cuisine and entertainment a Thailand gap year is very popular gap year option. If you are considering a gap year Thailand as part of your year out or even just a short Thailand holiday, we have several cool trips, from laid back beach chill time, to high adrenaline martial arts.


Xtreme Gap offers several exciting Thailand gap year programmes.

Muay Thai Training MMA Training	Full Moon Party & Thailand Experience Tropical Island Life	Thailand Fitness Boot Camp
Koh Tao Divemaster Freediving Master Diving Courses		Yoga Island Retreat

 Please see all our Thailand Gap Year Programmes below or click this link:

Thailand gap year popular activities

People go on a Thailand gap year for many different reasons but many choose to do the following exciting activities, 

Diving on a Thailand gap year

Thailand is one of the best places to learn to dive on a gap year. Not only does it offer excellent value for money, but also the marine life in Thailand is excellent.Most of the diving takes place on a small island called Koh Tao, which is also where most of out Thailand gap year programmes are based. This is the prefect setting to learn diving, not only because staying there is exceptionally beautiful, but also because it is one of the best value places to learn to dive in the world.  there is something about the place that attracts backpackers and turns them in to fully fledged Thailand fans. It is not uncommon for people to go there for 4 days and end up staying 4 years.

If you are not into diving, you can still experience underwater Koh Tao, even snorkelling you can see tropical fish and a who plethora of Marine life. Many just opt to do their open water certification taking 4 days, many others go for their Divemaster qualification on their Thailand gap year. This enables them to find work in the diving industry: perfect for earning money when travelling.

Getting fit and healthy on your Thailand Gap year

  Due to the incredible lifestyle you can enjoy on a gap year in Thailand, many choose to devote the time to improving their health and fitness. This can be achieved in several ways through Xtreme Gap: for the hard core the Thailand fitness bootcamp  is a popular choice, others looking to improve their fitness choose to do a gap year yoga course or learn muay thai on their Thailand gap year. When this is combined with healthy food, lots of sunshine and stress free living the benefits can be immense.  

Backpacking on your Thailand Gap year

Backpacking Thailand is a popular option for Thailand gap year travellers. The tourist industry is very well developed enabling you to get around easily and at minimal expense. you just have to mention "backpacking" and this immediately conjures thoughts of "the Khao San Road" and the novel "the beach" (a must read for anyone considering a Thailand gap year). Many people start off their round the world trip by flying into Bangkok, and with really cheap and accessible flights it is understandable, at some time of the year fares have been found for as little as £230 return.

There are various tours and must see destinations all over Thailand, (these are covered in our Thailand Gap year Guide wich you can down load free in the guides section or just get in touch with us for a copy). The verity of the country adding to the appeal.  In the north near the golden triangle you have jungle trekking and hill tribes, in the south along the Malay peninsula, you have incredible beaches and water based Thailand gap year activities like Freediving and scuba.

Taking a Thailand gap year is also popular as Thailand is a good hub to explore other South East Asia countries. Bangkok is highly accessible on a round the world flight with major airlines servicing the airport offering very good value flights. Overland travel is then easy once inside the country so are local flights on low cost carriers like air Asia.

About Thailand

Thailand is located in South East Asia, bordering the countries of Malaysia, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia and Laos. Shaped like an elephants head, with its trunk - a huge peninsular attaching the north to Malaysia in the south, being a major contributor to Thailand's unique weather pasterns, giving Thailand different "monsoon" seasons in different parts of the country at different times of the year. Meaning, any time is a good time to take a Thailand gap year: if it is raining on one side of the country generally speaking it will be dry the other side.

A Thailand gap year option has become hugely popular in recent years with tourism being one of its main exports, (rice being the other if you want to bore strangers on a train with your keen knowledge of useless facts) this  is despite a reasonably high level of unrest politically. There is  a real gap between rich and poor within the country, which in turn has lead to recent political unrest. It seems every couple of years, sometimes months, the general population get fed up with the government, and protest usually being successful in booting them out of office, only to be replaced by an equally hated leadership who will face the wrath of the people several months later. On the whole these coups are bloodless, and just cause a bit of a noise on the streets (and if really unlucky flight cancellations), not that we want to put you offer going on a Thailand gap year, because when all things are considered, it is one of the most exciting gap year destinations to visit.

The religion in Thailand is mainly Buddist, with a few Muslims in the South, this creates a very peaceful and respectful society based on respect and karma. This is really a beautiful aspect to the country, and many are taken buy surprise on their Thailand gap year by just how friendly people can be.

Another thing people are surprised to see on their Thailand gap year are the stark contrasts between various aspects of thai society. On one hand Thai culture is extremely reserved and respectful, this is hard to fathom, when you venture into one of the many red light areas in Bangkok or Pataya and come face to face with the public face of Thailand prostitution - the go go bar. This seedy aspect to Thailand, although visible is some parts does not have to cast a shadow on your Thailand gap year, it is easily avoidable if it makes you feel uncomfortable, if it doesn't just going in to one of these bars for a drink whether you are a boy of a girl, will give you a story to tell back home, with any luck it will be concerning a lady boy, the other slightly uncomfortable yet completely accepted, yet strangely dark side to Thai culture.

Thailand is ruled by the King in principal, although it is mainly run behind the scenes by the all powerful military. It is very sound advice to respect the monarchy whilst on your Thailand gap year, the king is highly respected and it would course great offence to make any negative or sarcastic comments about him. If you are thinking "like when would i do that?" you will soon realise after arriving on your Thailand gap year, that the king is quite literally everywhere.  Pictures of the king adorn walls in homes, shops, lifts, taxis, Tuk tuks, on round about, bridges... you get the idea. If you add into the mix some potent Thai Whiskey (served in a bucket!) then it can happen, a slip of the tongue could get you into a lot of sticky situations.

 If you are considering taking a Thailand gap year or a gap year in Asia, please check out our Thailand gap year programmes here.
         

How can we can enhance your Thailand Gap year

Many people like to just do there own thing on their Thailand gap year, and that is cool, if you are thinking the same, perhaps we can tempt you into undertaking one of our Thailand  gap year programmes. These are a great way of spending a couple of weeks, or months, getting to know about the country, the culture and making lots of new mates along the way.

The most popular Xtreme Thailand Gap Year programme is the Muay Thai Training programme. Based on the tropical island of Koh Tao, this is the ultimate in Martial arts fitness, combined with a laid back cool tropical island lifestyle. Living minutes from the beach, you get to train everyday working on your Muay Thai skills and becoming super fit. The real twist of adrenaline come at the end, where if you so choose, you can fight in a live fight, infront of a cheering, gambling and highly excited crowd.

We have already mentioned that learning to dive in Thailand is one the best places in the world, so it is of no great surprise that we offer several diving programmes. A very popular option is to learn to dive in Thailand before taking your gap year in Australia, if you are heading out that way. What you may not realise is that we also offer a freediving programme. Probably one of the oldest extreme sports, if you learn freediving on your Thailand gap year with us, you will be training with some of the worlds top professional freedivers at a dedicated free diving academy, a great way to do something different, whilst soaking up the tropical island life style, both above an below the water.
We also have many other fantastic Thailand gap year programmes, further details can be found below.

Xtreme Gap Year has lots of great extreme sport and adventure travel gap year ideas. Our Gap year Asia programmes include:

Gap Year Asia | Gap Year in Asia | Gap internships Thailand | Gap year work | Gap Year Nepal |  Gap Year Thailand | Thailand Backpacking | Gap Year in Thailand | Paid Work Abroad | Career Break | Gap Year Advice | Gap Year Ideas