Thailand: Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pai
June 10: Bangkok
We landed around noon, got to our hostel, and decided we wanted to see Wonder Woman. Grabbed an Uber and headed to the Paragon Siam, which has a theatre on the 5th/6th floor. Baller. We had a couple of hours to eat before the movie, so went to one of the many food courts in the mall. Bangkok is expensive, yo! Wonder Woman was a great date night!
June 11: Bangkok
We slept in, and went wandering about our neighbourhood. We stumbled upon a really cool, hipster cafe; think Anthropologie meets hipster coffee shop (concrete, exposed brick, wood, multi-level, delicious baked goods). If that doesn't make sense, it's a hipster houseware store/coffee shop.
Getting back to the hostel, I really wanted to chill out and watch some movies. So, I introduced Andy to Monsters Inc. and Monsters University (he had only seen the first). For dinner, we went to a little restaurant on the main street near our hostel. I had pad thai, Andy had a sweet n sour stirfry. Yum.
Bangkok is super expensive! Way more than I remembered, though likely more expensive now than 6 years ago when I was there the first time. We decided we would see my friends Monday, sightsee Tuesday, and then go to a different city. So we booked flights and found a place to stay!
June 12: Bangkok
We were not impressed with our hostel, Mile Map, due to a sewage smell and a bunch of pipes in our room from which we could hear every movement of water from the building. We decided to switch to Lubd, only a few blocks away, so packed up and moved.
After chilling for a few hours, we met up with some friends of mine from a CISV camp in Norway 3 years ago. It was absolutely lovely!
We did laundry when we got back, hung it to dry (first time we've had to do our own laundry while here; it was actually nice), and went to sleep.
June 13: Bangkok
Time to sightsee. We walked and then took a boat to Wat Arun and Wat Pho.
I had an anxiety attack so we left, and then we were taken to a travel agent by our Tuk Tuk driver (typical; they're sponsored). We agreed that we would get some information and then leave. Instead, we made a whole bunch of travel plans and booked places to stay for two weeks. Whoops. My bad.
After freaking out about money and plans, we packed up our stuff. I decided the Unicorn Cafe was an absolute must, so we went for a lil wander and found it. Yowza. Talk about pastel. Andy was not impressed. But the photos are excellent and it was the best damn shortcake I've ever had (really, brownies with Asian cool whip; incredible).
We took a long wander back to the hostel, found some food and went to bed.
June 14: Chiang Mai
I had a brief and broken video chat with Kandace while we were waiting for our taxi, which we apparently missed. Another taxi was called for us and we made it to the airport with plenty of time to catch our flight to Chiang Mai.
I love the north of Thailand, so was very excited to be going. We ate a very healthy lunch of KFC nuggets (okay, I had nuggets, Andy had a smoothie) before boarding, then caught an Uber when we landed. We were staying on a busy street right beside the moat for the old city. It was WAY busier than I recall! Yikes!
We got some money out, read over a bunch of brochures for different possible activities over a very disappointing dinner of pad thai (though my rice porridge with pork was great), and made plans for the next day. We went back to the hostel to watch some Netflix before bed.
June 15: Chiang Mai
Woke up early, packed our stuff up, and went to a cooking class for the day. IT. WAS. AMAZING.
We started at a local market within the old city, near the cooking school, to learn about the different ingredients we would need for all 7 dishes we would be making. It was entertaining and informative; plus, they were grabbing fresh ingredients for the day.
We really liked getting to hang out with various people, learn what goes into a bunch of foods we really like, and we got to eat all day. The teachers were peers of ours, and hilarious. Actually, they were younger than me. Such a good time.
We were taken back to our hostel where we waited for a bus that would take us to Pai! Turns out, there are 762 turns in the road to get to Pai. The van was equipped with barf bags, and we were encouraged to take anti-nausea meds before getting in. It's only a 3 hour bus! It was super duper intense, and beautiful before the sun set. The worst part was trying to ignore the barfing person in the front seat. So, we distracted ourselves by listening to Hamilton. It was my first time and blew my mind; seriously excellent distraction.
.
June 16: Pai
We had an awful sleep at Purple Monkey (the a/c dorm is absolutely not worth it: it was 22 degrees, the mattresses and pillows were shit, and we had a roommate who would leave to smoke and then re-enter so it smelled terribly of cigarettes the entire time), so looked into switching hostels. It was actually much easier and was the same price to get a private bungalow.
We had breakfast at the hostel, and were entirely surprised by the unadulterated excitement of the staff upon seeing peanut butter. Obviously, we shared the peanut butter we were super excited to find in Cambodia. Since we had gone through half the jar in only 2 days, we decided that we would stay stocked i.e. buy it whenever we saw it.
We wandered about the town taking note of various cool places, grabbed lunch (thought we were ordered pad thai, but we got really tasty soup haha ... kind of like bun cha!), and made plans for the next day.
Pai is cool enough, too, that we were totally fine with a fan and no a/c. Score!
The most beautiful part of the day was heading to a canyon to enjoy sunset. It was raining on and off, and it was beautiful to see the blue sky next to the rain clouds. We even saw a double rainbow!
We got back to the hostel, showered, and decided to nap. It turned into sleep and we missed dinner. Seems we were super tired; totally worth it.
We landed around noon, got to our hostel, and decided we wanted to see Wonder Woman. Grabbed an Uber and headed to the Paragon Siam, which has a theatre on the 5th/6th floor. Baller. We had a couple of hours to eat before the movie, so went to one of the many food courts in the mall. Bangkok is expensive, yo! Wonder Woman was a great date night!
June 11: Bangkok
We slept in, and went wandering about our neighbourhood. We stumbled upon a really cool, hipster cafe; think Anthropologie meets hipster coffee shop (concrete, exposed brick, wood, multi-level, delicious baked goods). If that doesn't make sense, it's a hipster houseware store/coffee shop.
Getting back to the hostel, I really wanted to chill out and watch some movies. So, I introduced Andy to Monsters Inc. and Monsters University (he had only seen the first). For dinner, we went to a little restaurant on the main street near our hostel. I had pad thai, Andy had a sweet n sour stirfry. Yum.
Bangkok is super expensive! Way more than I remembered, though likely more expensive now than 6 years ago when I was there the first time. We decided we would see my friends Monday, sightsee Tuesday, and then go to a different city. So we booked flights and found a place to stay!
June 12: Bangkok
We were not impressed with our hostel, Mile Map, due to a sewage smell and a bunch of pipes in our room from which we could hear every movement of water from the building. We decided to switch to Lubd, only a few blocks away, so packed up and moved.
After chilling for a few hours, we met up with some friends of mine from a CISV camp in Norway 3 years ago. It was absolutely lovely!
We did laundry when we got back, hung it to dry (first time we've had to do our own laundry while here; it was actually nice), and went to sleep.
June 13: Bangkok
Time to sightsee. We walked and then took a boat to Wat Arun and Wat Pho.
I had an anxiety attack so we left, and then we were taken to a travel agent by our Tuk Tuk driver (typical; they're sponsored). We agreed that we would get some information and then leave. Instead, we made a whole bunch of travel plans and booked places to stay for two weeks. Whoops. My bad.
After freaking out about money and plans, we packed up our stuff. I decided the Unicorn Cafe was an absolute must, so we went for a lil wander and found it. Yowza. Talk about pastel. Andy was not impressed. But the photos are excellent and it was the best damn shortcake I've ever had (really, brownies with Asian cool whip; incredible).
We took a long wander back to the hostel, found some food and went to bed.
June 14: Chiang Mai
I had a brief and broken video chat with Kandace while we were waiting for our taxi, which we apparently missed. Another taxi was called for us and we made it to the airport with plenty of time to catch our flight to Chiang Mai.
I love the north of Thailand, so was very excited to be going. We ate a very healthy lunch of KFC nuggets (okay, I had nuggets, Andy had a smoothie) before boarding, then caught an Uber when we landed. We were staying on a busy street right beside the moat for the old city. It was WAY busier than I recall! Yikes!
We got some money out, read over a bunch of brochures for different possible activities over a very disappointing dinner of pad thai (though my rice porridge with pork was great), and made plans for the next day. We went back to the hostel to watch some Netflix before bed.
June 15: Chiang Mai
Woke up early, packed our stuff up, and went to a cooking class for the day. IT. WAS. AMAZING.
We started at a local market within the old city, near the cooking school, to learn about the different ingredients we would need for all 7 dishes we would be making. It was entertaining and informative; plus, they were grabbing fresh ingredients for the day.
We really liked getting to hang out with various people, learn what goes into a bunch of foods we really like, and we got to eat all day. The teachers were peers of ours, and hilarious. Actually, they were younger than me. Such a good time.
We were taken back to our hostel where we waited for a bus that would take us to Pai! Turns out, there are 762 turns in the road to get to Pai. The van was equipped with barf bags, and we were encouraged to take anti-nausea meds before getting in. It's only a 3 hour bus! It was super duper intense, and beautiful before the sun set. The worst part was trying to ignore the barfing person in the front seat. So, we distracted ourselves by listening to Hamilton. It was my first time and blew my mind; seriously excellent distraction.
.
June 16: Pai
We had an awful sleep at Purple Monkey (the a/c dorm is absolutely not worth it: it was 22 degrees, the mattresses and pillows were shit, and we had a roommate who would leave to smoke and then re-enter so it smelled terribly of cigarettes the entire time), so looked into switching hostels. It was actually much easier and was the same price to get a private bungalow.
We had breakfast at the hostel, and were entirely surprised by the unadulterated excitement of the staff upon seeing peanut butter. Obviously, we shared the peanut butter we were super excited to find in Cambodia. Since we had gone through half the jar in only 2 days, we decided that we would stay stocked i.e. buy it whenever we saw it.
We wandered about the town taking note of various cool places, grabbed lunch (thought we were ordered pad thai, but we got really tasty soup haha ... kind of like bun cha!), and made plans for the next day.
Pai is cool enough, too, that we were totally fine with a fan and no a/c. Score!
June 17: Pai
Tour day! There are two possible tours in Pai. Both go to the viewpoint, hot spring, and canyon; one goes to the land split, the other to a cave. We wanted to do some caving. Worth it! A covered Jeep picked us up at 10 and thus, we had a driver for the day.
The viewpoint was kind of a bust because it was super cloudy, but I still snapped a few photos.
Lod Cave: so fantastic. Upon entering the park, we were given a guide who was carrying a lantern. She walked us to the cave, lit the lantern, and then we went in! We got onto a bamboo raft and were taken across the river to climb some seriously terrifying steps (VERY steep and covered in guano) to see different geological formations. This happened twice during our tour. It was really cool to take a raft along the fish-filled cave river from one point to another. Our guide would point out different rock shapes to us, and it’s actually forbidden to enter the cave without a guide. Unfortunately, it was far too dark to take any decent photos, but I tried.
We were given a yummy lunch and told to get back on the Jeepney for the hot spring. It was excellent. The water was so clear, except for the seaweed in certain areas, but those could be avoided. I wonder how the daily surge of people impacts the ecosystem. We changed and went to a waterfall. It was peaceful.
June 18: Pai to Chiang Mai
We grabbed a mediocre breakfast after packing up our stuff, got bus tickets, and went for a foot massage. My masseuse managed to tear off my ankle scab, which hurt so much (I was certain that she saw it because she avoided it most of the time, but I think she may have forgotten a couple of very painful times), and Andy’s masseuse did some reflexology. Seems that ‘foot massage’ is actually ‘leg massage with some reflexology’ if the person providing the service feels like it.
We made it to our mini-bus just in time, so were in the last row of seats. This meant that our seats were collapsible i.e. not very comfortable and extremely noisy, and they moved with every turn (of which, once again, there were 762). So, we listened to Hamilton on the way (my first time all the way through!) so as to distract ourselves and arrived in Chiang Mai around 5. Coincidentally, the cheap hostel Andy booked for us is the same place I stayed in 2011; now, it’s been split into two buildings and Little Bird is no more. Super weird being back.
The Chiang Mai Sunday market was only a few blocks away, so we decided to check it out. Man alive, was it ever busy! But, we managed to have a super cheap and tasty dinner at a market food court, of sorts. After about an hour, the huge crowd got to be too much, so we wandered back to our hostel in the rain.
The beds are absolutely awful; I do NOT recommend Nature’s Way Guesthouse. The bunk beds move SO much and there is nothing on the top bunk to prevent someone from falling off. If you are someone who doesn’t move in your sleep, it would be okay, but any movement can be felt by your bunkmate and the whole room can hear the sounds of the bed. Needless to say, neither of us slept very well.
June 19: Chiang Mai
We packed up our things and decided to wander about the old quarter. We went through a market, which actually was the market we were taken to for our cooking class a few days earlier! What are the chances? I actually have no idea; maybe it’s the only market open every day. We had a super tasty breakfast, excellent latte, and sub par smoothies. Adding ginger is a fantastic addition to smoothies, though, I must say.
Chiang Mai has definitely grown since 2011 and now the old town is very much hipsterville, full of quaint coffee shops and vegan restaurants. There are so many more cars, people, and elephant paraphernalia than I remember. We got a red car (aka Jeepney) to the airport to catch our flight to Bangkok and it was SO cheap.
At the DMK airport in Bangkok, we grabbed our bag, checked in for the next flight, ate some lunch, and grabbed donuts for breakfast the next day! A lil taste of home, sort of.
The flight from Bangkok to Krabi was the most turbulent flight I can remember experiencing. We were picked up at the airport and taken to our surprisingly nice 'budget' hotel. We showered, Andy went out to bring back water and pad thai and were asleep by 10.
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