Thailand was every bit as exotic and enchanting as the pictures I’ve been drooling over for years. Ornate palaces with golden roofs curving up towards the sky like metallic fire were on every corner. I loved Bangkok for the grand palaces and impressive temples. We started our first day in Thailand off with a visit to a local floating market. We did some thorough research to avoid the tourist trap markets and managed found one that felt very organic. People paddles around buying and selling their wares right from their boats. An older man showed off his chicken, chuckling with us as we admired the colorful fruit boat closeby. We were the only foreigners there. We had the morning noodle soup that everyone else had and wandered around as these Thai people went about their day. Who knew pho for breakfast would work?
The rest of our time in Bangkok we visited temples and palaces around the city. They are stunning and intricate. We enjoyed green curry, mango sticky rice, and coconut ice cream right out of the shell. The late afternoon brought us to the city park where we watched large monitor lizards hunt fish and frogs smaller than your pinky nail hop around. Giant millipedes could be seen along the water edge too. Bangkok was a fun city to spend a day in.
The next day we inched our way through traffic to the airport. Looking for our airline we asked an information desk who told us—“wrong airport.” It was an hour away and we still had 2 1/2 hours till takeoff. Inching our way back through traffic, we missed the check in time by 10 minutes. It’s all good though. We just caught the next flight which left in a few hours.
The flight took us to the mountain city of Chiang mai where we headed out into the jungle to spend our time. We stayed in a local village bamboo hut way out in the hills. It was here that I learned what geckos sounded like. After winding our way up an impossibly curvy mountain road, we made our way down a tiny dirt track hidden between sugar cane and banana trees. The driver dropped us off, pointed at a bamboo hut closeby and drove off, leaving us standing in the middle of these ride terraces. Shrugging, we made ourselves at home. After a hectic couple of weeks, we really enjoyed the peace and quiet. We wandered around the village, examining leaf praying mantis, star fruit trees and dragon fruit plants. As twilight settled in, we enjoyed hearing the tiny frogs sing in the terraces and geckos chirp overhead. It was a funny place to try and find something to eat, as our host only made food in the evenings and only if you could find her. We got dropped off in the morning, so lunch was an interesting jumble of whatever we could find sold at the shops. This stop was a good change of pace.
The next day we got picked up to stay at the Chai Lai orchid elephant house. This place was AWESOME. The whole place was situated along the edge of a river that you crossed a hanging bridge to get to. Elephants just roamed around the place and you could feed them bananas right from the cafe or from your own room! We had our own private grass bungalow and enjoyed watching the elephants go by right from bed. Their restaurant was exquisite with the best food we had during our entire Thailand stay. It was here that we got to play with the elephants. Apparently it’s painful for the elephants to carry chairs on their back, but it’s actually good for them if you ride them bareback. Riding an elephant felt super natural to me. My legs fit comfortably behind her ears and they fanned me as she walked. Her bristly hairdo felt funny on my hands and her bare skin warm to the touch. They’re surprisingly agile and they made their way easily through the dense jungle trail we were on. Our short hike ended at the river where we got to throw water around and get splashed by the elephants. Their trunks are like great muscular hands that move things around nimbly. They had her give me a “kiss” where the elephant sucked through the trunk and stuck to my cheek—just like a huge vacuum hose. It sucked so strong I thought my cheek would pull off! There’s something peaceful and almost empowering about spending time with these gentle giants. I felt honored to get to spend so much time with them.
We also went on a jungle trek to a waterfall and took a bamboo raft back to our bungalow. A local guide was super nice and showed us the flora and fauna. He blew bubbles out of a plant and had us rub a green leaf between our fingers. The juice turned bright red when crushed, surprising everyone. The bamboo raft wound its way down the Thai mountains and pulled right past elephants and small bamboo huts. It was tranquil and quiet.
Our last stop in Thailand took us to a tiny town north of Krabi called Ao Luek. It was a fun little AirBnB of two story bamboo huts perched alongside a small lake hidden up against the steep limestone mountainsides. The landscape reminded me of Guilin in China with its stark mountains jutting up out of nowhere with long vines draped mysteriously down the overhangs. I loved our bamboo hut with the fresh green light shining in through the bamboo slats. We stayed there because we wanted to experience the world famous Phang Nga bay, but didn’t want the crowds. It turned out well because we ended up being the only ones who went on our tour! They took us to more local spots too that were less crowded and equally stunning. They picked us up in a topless truck and we sped off through the palm forests. I liked to stand up and poke my head up through the metal scaffolding and see all around as we wound around those tall mountain edges. We transferred to our own personal long tail boat and with colorful ribbons flapping in the sun, set off.
I don’t even begin to know how to describe this bay. Turquoise water surrounded hundreds of tiny islands jutting straight out of the water, crested with green jungle. Floating past the limestone cliffs and through narrow openings between islands was so surreal. It’s hard to believe a landscape so dramatic could be real. Occasionally monkeys would shout out warning calls to us from their branchy perch barely above the seawater. Sometimes as we navigated around a corner, a secret cove would open up revealing white sand and palm trees. A tiny bit of paradise. We got to hop out and snorkel at times. It’s hard to say which was more beautiful: the scene above the water or below. Forests of coral decorated with colorful fish kept our attention for longer than our tour guide wanted. I love to explore coral reefs—there’s a lot to see. I love the small blue fish with electric blue coloring. We saw many kinds, including the dramatic lion fish. We stopped at one island that had a secret cave and another that had a narrow entrance to a large cove inside where we spotted flying fox hanging from the mangrove trees. At one island we were lucky enough to see some large hornbill birds fly around the cliffs giving their hoarse call. The day finished with the boat ride back past more islands as the sun set dramatically. We went home to our bamboo hut in the hills. It was hard to believe that day was real.
The next day we took some kayaks around the limestone cliffs. Making our way through mangrove forests, we spied bright red land crabs and walking fish called mud skippers. It was so odd to see fish sliding around on their bellies! We paddled through caves and spotted blue kingfishers in the trees. One cave took us into a lagoon completely surrounded by steep cliff. It was like a lake inside a mountain! Another cave had some ancient rock art on the walls including one that looked like a Thai version of Kokopeli. He is referred to as the “big mouth ghost.” The locals all have a decal of him on their car, so we had to pick one up before we left. Also, the dragon fruit grows unbelievably huge here, I had to buy one straight from the farm.
Our last day in Thailand we stayed close to the airport but still near the beach. We had dinner at a restaurant right on the beach and had Thai food with our feet in the sand and the sun setting in front of us. Only in Asia would we be able to afford such luxury! Some impressive beach combing was trumped by the snorkeling just off the beach. Many varieties of angelfish with all colors and patterns darted around beautiful coral formations. My favorite were the eels with vivid yellow surrounding black spots that were like hexagons, creating an almost honeycomb effect. The eels were long too, over two feet and as big around as my arm. We finished snorkeling and splashed up onto the beach just in time to see the sun set before walking back to our Airbnb closeby. We made sure to stop at the 7 eleven first and load up on weird Cheeto flavors and yakult.
Thailand is an incredible place to visit. You can do a LOT in a short amount of time with a small amount of money. 🙂
Walkabout 