Now or Never

We landed in Bangkok from India at 4am after virtually no sleep but it sure felt great to be back in Southeast Asia. This was Abby’s first time in Thailand specifically and Ian’s second, after a post-college solo trip back in 2012. For a big city in this part of the world, Bangkok is very clean and has great public transportation. The Thai people are also incredibly friendly and more importantly, they leave you alone – no more staring just for being a foreigner.

After spending the first day sleeping off the overnight flight, Abby’s youngest brother, Charlie, got into town from Texas early the following morning after a marathon travel day with a nine hour layover in Tokyo. He powered through for the sake of some sightseeing so we could check out the well known Buddhist complexes including Wat Pho and Wat Arun (“wat” meaning temple). That evening we also managed to have a night out in the packed, chaotic Soi Cowboy red light / bar district to catch some World Cup soccer and enjoy top notch people watching (aka the never ending parade of old white men with young Thai girls). The next couple days in Bangkok were spent meandering around town, checking out the nearby wet markets, and hanging at our (new) hotel’s rooftop pool, which was a steal for $30/night.

Following our three nights in Bangkok it was time to make our way to Chiang Mai located in the far north of the country. While you can easily fly, a popular alternative is taking an overnight sleeper train which departs Bangkok at around 6pm each evening and arrives in Chiang Mai the next morning at around 7am. Ian took the train ten years earlier so we figured it would be a memorable journey for the three of us to experience together. The train itself was was relatively new and had a healthy mix of foreigners and local families. Once 8pm rolled around, train employees came through the aisle to convert the sitting benches to sleeper beds. Each bunk is fairly private and has its own curtain, outlet, and reading light. There was a noticeable excitement in the cabin as the beds were being made, almost like everyone was getting ready for a giant sleepover. Ultimately the beds were not the most comfortable and we didn’t have the most restful night sleep (for whatever reason they don’t dim the cabin lights…) but for the experience alone it was definitely worth it.

Chiang Mai is Thailand’s second biggest city and seems tailor-made for westerners and expats. Great restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and endless activities/tours…all for cheap. For seven days we used Chiang Mai as a home base and we, without a doubt, had the most action-packed stretch on our trip thus far.

First up was an elephant sanctuary tour where we had an opportunity to feed, walk, swim with, and bathe elephants from the sanctuary over the course of a few hours. Each elephant definitely had their own personality – Charlie’s elephant was even dishing out trunk hugs left and right.

Without skipping a beat, the next morning we got picked up from our hotel to set off on a two day, one night guided trek through the Thai jungle. A French couple and solo Swiss backpacker also joined our group before we visited an epic waterfall and then hiked three hours to a remote village in the mountains where we stayed for the evening. The locals in the village rely on subsistence farming so we were surrounded by rice paddies and farm animals including chickens, cows, and pigs. Accommodations were basic (thick mats on the floor with mosquito nets) but clean and overall comfortable. We had a great time hanging with our new trekking friends, eating tasty food, drinking a few cold ones, and playing cards.

The next morning we hiked out of the village before taking a bamboo raft two hours down river. We were then picked up and taken to another quick pitstop at a different elephant sanctuary for about 30 minutes before heading home. We can now confidently be considered pachyderm experts. The whole experience was a definite highlight of our time in Thailand.

Renting motor scooters in Chiang Mai and exploring the surrounding temples and mountains is one of the top things to do when visiting the area. Rental shops are everywhere and scooters are no more than $10/day. The problem is that not only do you need an international drivers license, it needs to be motorcycle certified. Ian and Charlie both have the former, but not the latter. This of course doesn’t stop shops from renting you a scooter. All the blogs we read mention that the Chiang Mai traffic police are notorious for setting up check points to catch tourists who are technically riding illegally in the country. However, if you do get pulled over, they simply issue you a ticket which amounts to about $15 and give you a three day grace period where you can ride as much as you like without getting another ticket. Since a vast majority of tourists don’t have an international license, let alone a motorcycle certification, it’s basically a tourist tax…if you get caught.

With the downside being minimal we decided to risk it so we could head to a nearby mountain to visit the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, which overlooks Chiang Mai and is significant for apparently housing one of Buddha’s shoulder bones. We didn’t make it more than a couple miles out of town before we hit one of these infamous check points where police were waving over every single white foreigner riding scooters, while locals (even those not wearing wearing helmets which is also technically illegal) were allowed to pass on. Let’s just call it selective enforcement of the law…

The last ditch effort of pleading ignorance didn’t work and within five minutes we were on our way with ticket in hand, to be paid at the local police station later on. After issuing our ticket, the cops happily directed us towards the temple we were planning to visit and wished us a good time in Thailand. While it was of course a bit irritating, it turned out to be more than worth the extra $15. After jamming up the mountain we stopped at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep which in itself is beautiful, but the view over looking Chiang Mai is even better. Being a Saturday, it was packed with locals, many of whom were there to pray. From there we continued into the mountains along winding narrow jungle roads until we eventually came across a coffee plantation serving freshly brewed cups overlooking a valley below.

Before Charlie headed back home we decided that for our last day in Chiang Mai we would check another activity off our bucket list – a Thai cooking class (we love Thai food). We were shuttled to a small organic farm outside of town and made our own spring rolls, pad thai, curry, and soup. Everything turned out great and we left feeling wayyy too full but also inspired to give the recipes a shot once we’re back stateside!

The next day we bid farewell to Charlie and caught a bus up to the city of Chiang Rai, a couple hours north, to spend two nights before crossing into Laos. While we used our time there as an opportunity to lay low after a nonstop week in Chiang Mai, we also visited a couple well known temples, the Wat Rung Khun aka “White Temple” during the day, and Wat Rong Suea Ten aka “Blue Temple” during the evening. In contrast to Bangkok and Chiang Mai, these temples are far more contemporary and were designed more to be eye-catching works of art rather than solely functional for prayer. Both were incredibly beautiful and a nice, easy way to spend our only full day in Chiang Rai.

From Chiang Rai we headed to the Laos border on a very, very local bus that we soon found was also making deliveries along the way. The loud crowing rooster on board was the cherry on top. What was supposed to take two hours, took four, but we eventually made it, bought our visas for $40 a pop, and breezed through immigration.

Next up, a two day slow boat trip down the Mekong River deeper into Laos to meet up with Ian’s dad and step mom who will be traveling with us for the next two weeks in Laos and Vietnam!