Day 1 – Bangkok – February 16
We landed in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport at 5:30 pm. Immigration was smooth and we took a short metro ride 15 minutes to our Airbnb. We asked the host her recommendations for dinner and she said we should just use the car service Grab (like Uber eats) to get something. We didn’t need much convincing to be lazy and for $3 (yes, that’s right) we ordered two entrees and had it delivered to our door. We got some their gravy with pork and Ryan got Thai basil pork stir-fry. We lounged the rest of the night waiting for our friend Carrie to arrive.
Carrie’s flight touched down at 11:30 pm and she was at the Airbnb by 12:30. The cab didn’t have enough change to break 1000 baht ($30), so we rode across the street to a McDonald’s buying French fries and waters to get some change. We stayed up chatting for about an hour, but she was pretty exhausted from her 24+ hours of travel, so the catching up had to be called short.
Day 2 – Chiang Mai – February 17
We hit up the apartment gym in the morning. It was nowhere near as nice as our Malaysian hotel gyms. With only four dumbbells, one yoga mat, and two half broken treadmills, it really was a step down, but we made do. After we jumped back on the tram to the airport and had a quick 1-hour flight to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. We met with our Airbnb host and headed towards downtown for lunch. She was a wonderful host who had been periodically checking up on us prior to our arrival, even going so far as to wish us a happy New Year. We did a little research and found a place called It’s Good Kitchen that specializes in northern Thai dishes. We got the Khao Soi soup, Pad Si Ew, and Panang curry. The food was incredible and we got to drink Chang, a local Thai beer.
We next crossed the street to our first temple Wat Phra Singh or the Gold Temple. Unfortunately, the main temple was covered in scaffolding and under renovation during our visit, but we paid our 40-baht entrance fee (or $1.28 each) and walked around the grounds and smaller temples. It seems to be our lot in this trip that all the sites we want to visit are under construction, but we’re not complaining. It’s called the Gold Temple because of the giant golden pagoda in the middle of the grounds. Construction here began in 1345 and it has a long and complex history. Some of the temples have wax statues of monks in them and they are so realistic we were worried we were disturbing a prayer time. There were also several Buddhist phrases and philosophies written on plaques and hung around trees in the gardens.
We continued walking around the old town and found a smaller temple area called Wat Phantao that had colorful flags and streamers hanging from the trees and wires. It’s really idyllic and interesting, but we feel like we’re missing some of the significance of these sites since we don’t really know much about Buddhism. We need to do some research about so we can fully appreciate the things we are seeing in these temples. There are lots of signs asking people to not use Buddhas as decorations in their homes as they view it as disrespectful. Similarly, we learned you should never point your feet at a Buddha statue and they should all be kept above the waist.
After the temples closed, we grabbed a Grab back to our neighborhood and headed to a hip, little food market and bar area. We ordered some Chang and Leo beers while Ryan ate Hainanese style chicken rice, a type of poached chicken with spicy rice from southern China. He can already tell this is going to be a wonderland for his palate, he’s so excited to try all the Thai food and he’s not afraid of the spice. After downing a few beers and chatting, we decided to keep a mellow pace and walked the five minutes back to our Airbnb to watch Zombieland 2.
Day 3 – Chiang Mai – February 18
Elizabeth woke up around 6:30 with the sunrise and set out for a short 2.5-mile run in the neighborhoods near the Airbnb. It was cool to see all the street vendors setting up for breakfast, the scattered monks in orange robes walking around barefoot collecting offerings of food, and people sweeping dead leaves with straw brooms. After the rest of the house woke up, it was time for breakfast, so we walked to a café called Overstand Coffee Shop about 10 minutes from our house. We were their first customers of the day and enjoyed some coffee and tea as they finished setting up. Breakfast was delightful. We started with toast topped with different vegetable, egg, and meat selections, then finished with some of the best fruit and granola ever.
We met our driver from the airport, Mr. Poomchai, out in front of the house and began our hour-long journey north to the sprawling Wat Ban Dem Temple complex. Our host’s English is not very good, but he somehow got his hands on a great mix of American pop cover songs, so we spend most of the ride chatting amongst ourselves and listening to music. Ryan forgot to bring proper temple wear, in his orange tank top, but luckily there was a small market shop and we got him a white tunic-like shirt – very handsome. We must have been some of their first customers, because we had to wake up the cashier to check out. This temple was huge and brighter than the other ones we’d seen in the city. We began exploring the multi temple complex, and luckily didn’t have to battle many other tourists.
There are over 12 different buildings, or pagodas, here for the 12 zodiac signs. The colors were incredible and they had towering ceramic, mosaic, and wooden statues guarding the entrances to the structures. Some of the most impressive were the large colorful dragons that would wrap around entire buildings. To enter a temple, it is respectful to take your shoes off. We’d pop off our flip flops at an entrance and often have the entire indoors to ourselves.
In one of the larger temples, we found a Buddha lying on his side. This posture represents Buddha before he enters nirvana. There is so much Buddhist scripture and symbology that we are ignorant of, and unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of signage to explain what we’re looking at. Thinking back, I’d wager we take for granted our knowledge of Christian/Western history to explain the various busts, artworks, and stained-glass windows we viewed while visiting the Vatican and other churches. After exploring, we wandered over to the monks living quarters side and watched them take down decorations from some celebration, we are guessing Chinese New Year, and they were sorting the various financial donations people had made by putting dollars on flags and into different art pieces.
Finished with this temple, we found our driver and headed about 30 minutes into the forest. There are over 40,000 temples in Thailand and we must have passed at least 5 just driving from sight to sight. Our next activity was traversing the Bua Tong Waterfalls, also known as the Sticky Waterfalls. We were really lucky, in that the park was basically empty and we enjoyed the waterfalls virtually alone. The waterfalls consist of limestone and mineral deposits that create enough friction to walk up and down the cascades. We walked down enjoying the cool water, quickly learning that brown areas were sticky whereas green areas were slick and covered in algae.
There are five different levels of falls. Some areas, which are a little steeper, have ropes you can use to pull yourself up. We spent an hour or so playing on the falls and climbing on surprisingly sticky surfaces. We made the final climb to the top and no one took a tumble down the falls.
There is a small hike to a spring, what we thought was a hot spring, in the middle of the woods. Here they uncovered a beautiful natural pond which they built a small temple and picnic area around. Unfortunately, you weren’t allowed to swim in the spring, so we didn’t spend too much time here. We had about an hour and a half ride back to Chiang Mai and we were starting to feel hungry, so we piled back into our taxi and enjoyed all the temples and forests along the way.
After showering and dropping off our stuff we walked across the street to a highly rated chicken restaurant called Cherng Doi. The girls got chicken with sticky rice while Ryan tried the pork. The chicken was pretty good, and cheap, but the ladies didn’t think it was worth all the hype. Next, we grabbed a Grab and drove back towards downtown.
Our main stop was the Wat Chedi Luang, known informally as ‘the old temple’. The temple is from the 14th century and sits on a brick hill. It is sandwiched between a newer temple in front of it and smaller temples behind. It was really cool to see an older temple and we walked all along the grounds stopping in the various pagodas. We enjoyed seeing the various monks in their orange robes and there was even a section where you could have a conversation with a monk. Most of the interiors of the temples have wax statues of famous monks in sitting positions. At first glance we thought they were real monks in meditation.
We walked down to a market and saw all the various street foods, but we weren’t hungry yet, so we popped into a place popular with the locals called the Garden and drank some Changs. People here put ice in their beer, presumably because the refrigerators aren’t cold enough, if they aren’t drinking what looks like a heavily watered-down whisky. We eventually found out that putting ice in your beer is a traditional way of keeping your beer cold because the fridges aren’t up to snuff and beer isn’t usually sold on tap. Soccer was on the TV, so we sat and sipped and didn’t mind the ice in the beer.
We tried on another bar before heading back to our neighborhood, called Spade. We got some French fries since we were feeling peckish and drank even more Chang. Finally, we rode back to the night market by our house to get dinner and, of course, more Chang. We tried Pad Sei Ew, Khao Soi soup, and sticky rice with mango. Everything was fantastic and ridiculously cheap.
Day 4 – Chiang Mai – February 19
We woke up before seven so we could grab breakfast before our cab driver Mr. Poomchai picked us up again for our morning activities. We walked across the street to a coffee shop recommended to us by our host called Ristr8to, which is known for its award-winning coffee and barista art. After looking over a rather pretentious menu that breaks down all the elements of a $3 cup of coffee, we ordered. The designs in the foam were pretty cool; Carrie and Ryan even claimed they could see a dragon and a dog in theirs.
Next, we walked down the street to a local Thai breakfast spot. Carrie and Ryan ate Chinese doughnuts (basically a tube of funnel cake) and Ryan sat with the locals and ate a fried rice concoction with an egg. He reports it was fairly spicy, savory, and absolutely delicious. He’s not sure what it was about this dish that distinguishes it from a lunch or dinner-time meal, and he’s not upset about it. People were stopping by on their scooters to grab a bag of soup on their way to work. We popped into the 7-Eleven for water and some Doritos snacks. We had a 1.5-hour drive to the national park Doi Inthanon – home to the highest peak in Thailand. The drive was uneventful, but contained more covers of English songs.
Our first stop was a hike called Pha Dok Siew Nature Trail. There was some confusion with the process, compounded by our driver’s lack of English and us not knowing what was going on, but eventually we were paired with a mid-20’s woman from the Karen White Tribe who we were compelled to pay to guide us on a 2.5-hour hike.
The hike was immediately beautiful and the weather felt crisp, but not cold. Not five-minutes into the hike, we stopped to swing on a natural swing from huge vines hanging in the trees before continuing down into the fields of the valley. The first field had a bunch of fruits and vegetables under white tarps where once opium fields grew. Thirty to forty years ago, after opium was outlawed, the king cleared out the fields and gave the land to the tribes people to grow produce.
We walked back in the woods and found ourselves at the top of a 3-tiered waterfall. We continued walking down along the side to the bottom tiers, taking photos along the way. We even saw a small green snake in a tree that she said was poisonous. Elizabeth slid on one of the rocks and got her shoe soaking wet. Finally, we made it to the bottom of the waterfall and the guide said we could hop in to take a swim, despite the sign clearly stating otherwise (which she claimed was only there for during flooding season), so we took her up and jumped in the freezing cold water.
The next stop on the trail took us past strawberry fields and we were able to sample a cup of strawberries for 20 Baht or $0.64. These strawberries were far and away the tastiest strawberries we’d ever tried. Next, we walked into her village and passed coffee bushes. We were treated to a cup of coffee made fresh and learned a little more about the Karen culture. She told us we could tell she was married because she wore a long skirt. The whole trek was supposed to take us 2.5 hours but we were done in an hour and a half, even making several stops and going at a fairly slow pace; it was only about 2 miles of actual walking.
Our driver picked us up and we headed deeper into the park to get to the summit. The elevation at the top is 2565 meters above mean sea level or 8,415 feet. The summit “hike” is less than ¼ of a mile. We were allowed to hike this one alone so we proceeded to walk on a boarded path to the marker where there is a small shrine and information regarding the ecology, minor histories of the area, etc. We didn’t spend too much time, but you know we had to check out the highest peak in the area.
We asked our driver if we could do more hiking, he must thin we really like walking. We drove about five minutes down the mountain to the Kew Mae Pan Nature Trail. Before we began the hike, we were pretty famished and decided to get some local grub at some of the food stalls. The place was full of both tourists and locals and the food was amazing. Ryan and Carrie got meat and sticky rice while Elizabeth got pork dumplings and a sweet sticky bun. To finish it off we all shared a bowl of noodles that was ridiculously rich in flavor.
Maybe not the smartest decision before a ~2-mile hike. We picked up our local guide, Leang, you are required to get a local guide and they cost 200 baht or $6 per group. He was adorable and spoke very little to no English, but he taught us a couple Thai phrases, most notably ‘soi mah’ which means ‘very pretty’. We grabbed some bamboo walking sticks and followed him into the forest. This trail had a lot, seriously a lot of stairs, and the first half was in the trees. We passed a waterfall and saw a tree that had alleged bear claw marks in it before we walked out on the ridge. The views were a little hazy, but it was still beautiful to see the various lush hills.
We were following a trail that passed 15 informational markers and Carrie and Ryan had to read each one. The one on the ridge was about Gorals – which we think are goats, but we didn’t see any running around on the rocks. At the edge of the ridge we could see the royal pagodas, our next stop on the distant hill. Finally, we were back in the woods finishing our two-mile hike and our knees were tired of all the stairs. We thanked Laeng and again piled in the car to see the Great Holy Relics Pagoda Nabhapolbhumisiri and the King’s Pagoda.
These pagodas, which translate to “by the strength of the land and air” and “being the strength of the land and the grace of the air”, are dedicated to the previous king and queen. The king’s pagoda was built in 1987 to commemorate his 60th birthday while the queen’s was built in 1992 to commemorate her birthday. We were thankful they had escalators to take you up to their pagodas. We started with the queen’s. It’s a beautiful lavender color and the inside has stone carvings and a large Buddha statue. Behind the pagoda is a lovely garden full of snap dragons, mums, violets, and cabbage – just to name a few plants. Luckily we had Carrie and Elizabeth with us to name all the plants.
Across the way we walked to the king’s pagoda which is a less interesting shade of plain brown. His garden is being renovated, but we walked along the outside and inside, a very similar setup to the queen’s. His pagoda had even better views of the hazy surrounding mountains.
Back in the car, we drove to the entrance of the park for our last stop the Wachirathan Waterfall, or rainbow waterfall. Its reported to be 80 meters in cumulative height and was the most impressive waterfall we’d seen that day. There is a parking lot right next to the falls so we were able to put on our flip flops and wander around the stairs taking in the crashing views. There were a ton of stray, but clearly well-fed, dogs in the area and what seemed like 50 adorable puppies. We walked all along the edge of the river and dipped our toes in the cold water. Eventually, exhausted, we piled back in the car and made the 1.5-hour drive back to our Airbnb.
After showering we decided to find some dinner. Not wanting to return to the same area, we wandered around our neighborhood for 15 minutes. We walked through a nice mall food court and a few restaurants before heading back and eating at a new place called Feel Café & Bar, just a few doors down. There was no one in there, but we decided to give the place a chance and they had buy one get one free happy hour cocktails. We sat outside, until the mosquitos got too bad, and watched the bartender make us our old fashion, mojito, and margarita. We shared fries and deep fried, minced pork balls called larb balls, before our noodle main courses. Afterwards, we walked across the street to the “dive bar” to drink Leo and Chang beers and play pool. After Ryan kicked the girls’ butts, we switched to cribbage, and Elizabeth per usual got a bunch of lucky cards.
Day 5 – Chiang Mai – February 20
We decided to eat breakfast at a restaurant called Smoothie Blues. It quickly became evident this was a Westerners hotspot, but we loved our smoothies and bagel/English muffin sandwiches. Our driver picked us up and we headed 30 minutes north of the city to Mae Rim Elephant Home. We’d been interested in going to visit an ethical elephant sanctuary but had been having trouble finding exactly what we were looking for. A lot of them are over $100, 1.5 hours outside of the city, and are a full day commitment. We now know that riding elephants is dangerous for their spines and we didn’t want to support that sort of animal abuse towards these gentle giants.
Our driver told us about the Mae Rim sanctuary, a 2-hour, $40 experience and insisted they didn’t ride them. After a discussion, we agreed to try it out. Upon arrival he gave us bananas and told us to start feeding them. This sanctuary has 4 female elephants who were very friendly and came right over to take the bananas out of our hands. They were tiny bananas, much smaller than you’d find in an American supermarket, and they forcefully, using their trunk finger, rooted around our hands then shoved them in their mouths. Their trunk was dripping with drool from their mouths. After the first round of bananas we were given traditional Karen tribal clothes to wear, which were quickly covered in elephant drool.
The elephants were so sweet and let you pet their drunks and heads; they’re clearly used to people. We went into a small tent area to learn about the elephants and the home. Although the staff members never told us directly, it became evident that these animals used to be ridden and the sanctuary has had a change of heart. For instance, they had a big board of commands to learn in Thai including ‘back up’, ‘stop’, etc. They only taught us the names of the elephants and the commands for ‘open your mouth’ and ‘good’ once they took the food. You say “Bon Song” and they open their mouth, after you say “Dee Dee” and pat their head firmly to let them know they did good.
The first activity was washing the elephant. They brought over the matriarch and we took turns feeding her sugar cane while other people washed her feet and toes. We learned elephants only sleep 4 hours a day and spend the rest of their time eating because they eat 10% of their body weight each day. For a typical Asian female elephant that’s between 400 to 600 pounds of food.
After the washing, it was time for more feed and it was incredible to see them break the hard sugar cane in their mouth. The elephants were smart and greedy. They’d collect multiple sugar cane stalks from people before shoving them in their mouth. We got to put food directly in their mouths by holding it up high in the area and saying the commands.
After more feeding, we walked them through the woods towards the river. We were each given a bag of sugar cane and fed them more when we arrived. Next, the elephants went into the mud and we were told to hop in and rub them down. This was when we started to see some of the handlers pulling their ears to get them to do what they wanted and, unfortunately, we don’t think it was the best situation for these poor beasts. They are advertised as older females and they clearly had a past life as a trained elephant.
We scrubbed them down in mud and they shot mud out of their trunks at us. Ryan took his elephant pampering job very seriously and caught the eye of the main elephant man, Tony, who had him scrubbing heads and really getting in there.
After we were properly covered in mud, we went to the waist deep river and washed the elephants more and scrubbed the mud off their backs. We used coconut husks, which they call elephant shampoo, and they suds up and act like a luffa. Ryan thinks they actually put shampoo in there, because they were sure to tell us not to rinse the husks off in the water. After they were cleaned, we lined up and got sprayed in the face by their trunk at close range. The elephant trunk can lift 700 pounds and you could sit on the front and they’d lift you in the air, clearly another circus trick learned before elephant activists defended them. Finally, we showered ourselves and ate the worst pad Thai Ryan has ever tried. Overall it was really cool to see the elephants up close and get to wash and feed them. Two hours was enough time for the activity, and although they don’t seem to beat or ride their elephants, there is room for improvement in their treatment of the elephants.
We went home and showered again then set out for lunch. We walked about 15 minutes through the neighborhoods to get to a small local restaurant called Khao Soi Maesai. They are known for their Khao Soi soup, a traditional dish from northern Thailand. Carrie had tried it at a couple of the earlier restaurants and we were excited after her great reviews. The soup tasted like curry with pork, crispy noodles, and soft noodles. It was absolutely wonderful and just the right amount of spice for Elizabeth. We washed it down with a few Thai teas which were very sweet.
It was getting warm, so we headed over to the local mall called Maya to shop in the air conditioning. We wandered up the 6 floors window shopping, and of course buying some bubble tea, for an hour then ended at the rooftop area right as it opened. It was pretty warm up there in the sun, but we saw some nice views of the city even though Chiang Mai doesn’t have much of a skyline.
Next, we walked to another mall area across the street. A group of people in yellow shirts was setting up in the plaza for some sort of demonstration. Being the typical white people we are, we sat to observe. The people were members of the religious sect of Buddhism called Falun Dafa or Falun Gong. They gave us a little informational brochure to learn more about their religion. They then gave a speech in Thai and began a drum and cymbal dance and song. According to the brochure the Chinese government outlawed and began persecuting members of this religion in 1999 when the president thought the growing popularity could threaten his power. Falun Dafa was founded in 1992 in China and uses a mixture of exercises, meditation and “heart/mind nature” to improve mental and physical wellness. The brochure then sites David Kilgour from Canada and his investigation into the harvesting of organs of members of this religion while they are prisoners. They are selling the organs for a high profit and foreigners travel to get these organs when they are sick. It was pretty disturbing to read and hopefully the practice has been stopped.
After getting lost in the mall we went up to the rooftop bar called Parallel Universe of Lunar 2 on the Hidden Moon. We were obviously intrigued by the name and Ryan wanted to try some Thai craft beer. Carrie ordered mead from Thailand and Ryan an ESB from Cambodia. It was still too hot to sit outside but we enjoyed the air conditioning.
We moved to a “pub” called The Pub to get some cheaper local Chang beers. We played party games from our phones, threw some darts and shot pool over 5 liters of beer and many hours being distracted by the awful horror movies playing in the background. Finally, hungry, we crossed the street to an open-air market where we ate cheesy fries, more beer, spring rolls, gyoza and the spiciest basil pork ever. Ryan and Carrie were suffering working through the fried pork. We then headed home to bed, full and happy.
Day 6 – Bangkok – February 21
We ate our final breakfast in Chiang Mia at the café by our house called The Larder. We each had an open-face breakfast sandwich with various toppings from avocado to humus to mushrooms. Ryan insisted on going here because the Google reviews were hilarious, some ranged from raving delicious, while others said the owner was the rudest man they had ever met in their entire lives and demanded refunds. The sandwiches were actually really good. Looks like the owner didn’t come in today. We packed up and headed to the airport for our flight back to Bangkok. The flight was short and we were back in Bangkok by 2 pm. We took the airport tram into the city again then battled the traffic in our Grab for 30 minutes to get to our charming Airbnb on the canal.
The Airbnb is essentially a large staircase with bedrooms on three floors. We dropped our bags, avoiding the many stray cats – most of which only had half a tail, and sought some lunch. We settled on a place called XXMagic Thai. It wasn’t too crowded being 4 pm, but we enjoyed coconut and Massaman curry with beer. Next, we walked down to the Flower Market. It was about a 30-minute walk across town and Bangkok is much warmer than Chiang Mai, so we were sweating. We wandered through the various flower stalls and were pretty underwhelmed, maybe it was just too late in the day to see the hustle and bustle we dreamed of.
We went home and took a reading break. Our friends Nicole and Drew land tonight at 11:30, so it was going to be a late night of catching up and waiting for them. Eventually, around 8, we decided to go out and walk the streets at night. We are right by Khaosan Road a road with a lot of bars and stalls. The food stalls didn’t seem as authentic as the ones in Chiang Mai and the streets were packed with tourists. We decided to grab food and a drink off the main road, our old-person-ears were ringing from the loud music. We settled on a place across the street from our Airbnb called Hong Kong Noodles and got various noodles, broth, and meat.
We walked further down the street and found and expat bar with a heavy metal cover band composed of adorable Thai youths. We grabbed a couple drinks and listened. The bar owner ended up being from Liechtenstein, he said it was too boring there, so he moved to Thailand. Finally, Nicole and Drew arrived and we went back to the noodle shop across the road for beers and to let them eat some food.
Day 7 – Bangkok – February 22
Unfortunately, no one had a good night’s rest. The walls of the Airbnb are paper thin and all night we heard literal catfights and people talking. The worst was at 6 am when it sounded like a man began building furniture, hammering away. The others left to try to grab some breakfast and coffee around 8:30 while we were lazy, not a lot is open for breakfast in the morning anyway. It was already pretty hot around 9:30 when we began our 25-minute walk towards the royal palace and some temples. It was a hot walk along a not so scenic road with a lot of traffic.
We’d been to many temples at this point and thought we were prepared, with the boys not wearing tank tops and carrying shawls for the girls to put over their shoulders. For whatever reason, this temple is extremely strict on the dress code. We got down there and discovered the long pants/skirt was strictly enforced and they didn’t accept shawls as a shoulder cover. Instead of walking back home to get the proper attire then walking back, added to the fact that the place was already crowded with tourists, we decided to try again the next day. We piled into boy and girl Ubers (unable to take just one) and rode 20 minutes to the giant weekend market called Chatuchak.
The place was gigantic and we spent a couple hours weaving through the stalls and making some purchases. Elizabeth and Nicole got more thin cheap elephant pants and Ryan a pair of sunglasses. Eventually we were starving and sought out a restaurant in the middle of the market. The food was so-so, but we got some beers and were able to sit down and cool off for a bit.
We wandered around for a little longer before we got back in our Grabs towards the Airbnb. We wanted the new comers to experience a nice temple setting so we walked about 20 minutes to the temple Wat Ratchabophit Sathitmahasimaram. It was free to enter and often overlooked by tourists. The temple was beautiful and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was one structure with a small temple area and an inner chamber with different statues of the Buddha. We put on full pants and shirts just to be safe but they weren’t necessary for this temple, making us extremely hot.
After wandering around for about an hour, we noticed it looked like they were maybe setting up for a wedding, so we began walking back towards Khaosan Road. We stopped in a small Chinese food market so Ryan could get some pork soup and snacked on delicious butter crackers. The soup was reportedly delicious as well. Then we made it to the infamous Khaosan Road. After some brief window shopping, we settled into a bar with 99 bhat, or $3.17, for 620 ml of the local beer Leo. Happy hour lasted 2 hours and we did some damage.
Desperate for food, we found some more street stalls a block or so away and tried different Thai food from noodles to eggs to rice. We ended with Carrie and Ryan sharing a scorpion that tasted burnt to a crisp, best $1.60 Elizabeth ever spent. Next, we hit up some of the loud music party bars. We settled on a street table where we could order 1-liter towers of beer, that you pour out of a spigot, Ryan was so excited. We spent the next two towers shouting over the loud music and dancing, it’s so fun to be with college friends.
Day 8 – Phuket – February 23
Luckily the noise wasn’t as intense the second night and we managed to get some rest. Everyone but Ryan jumped in an Uber to make it to the Grand Palace as it opened. The crowds were much smaller and the weather comfortable for us in our pants and shirts. The Palace has been the official residence of the king since the days of Siam from 1782 to 1925. The grounds are huge and made up of several buildings and temples. We wandered through enjoying the architecture and painted wall murals.
We went into the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, or Wat Prah Kaew, which is the royal chapel inside the palace. The emerald buddha sat high on a gold throne, though was smaller than expected. He had on a gold shawl and they can change his clothes with seasons and holidays. We weren’t allowed any photos inside.
Our last section of the tour included a museum and a very Thai style modern government building. We only had an hour to spend before we walked back home and grabbed some cars toward the airport 30 minutes outside of the city. We checked our bags and ate McDonalds and lounge beers until we could board our 1-hour flight south to Phuket. After landing, we had a 1-hour car ride to our Airbnb.
We weren’t sure what quite was in store for us before landing. Our host changed our plans on us at the last minute; his guests in the place we rented weren’t leaving as they were here from China and didn’t want to go back to their homeland and potentially contract COVID-19. He told us that they were sick, but didn’t have corona, but he had a bigger, different villa that we could stay at instead. We looked at a few other options, but ended up agreeing to the change. Our house has an infinity pool on the upper deck and a big living space and multiple bedrooms. We swam around for a bit, but were pretty hungry. Our host helped us rent a scooter to go around the island. We only rented one to start, to make sure we comfortable riding in Thai traffic.
We volunteered to ride first. The house is located on a giant hill, in fact most of Phuket is giant hills, so the scooter has to have enough power to get you to the top. Ryan took a practice lap, almost getting bit by a dog, then we were off to the convenient store for beer and snacks. The experience was terrifying trying to weave into busy traffic and not knowing where we were going. We also ended up buying too much at the store and had to ride home with a seat full of beer, bags of chips in bags on Elizabeth’s arms, and a giant water jugs between our legs. We made it in one piece, but decided scootering around isn’t our ideal mode of transportation.
Around 7 pm a van picked us up to take us to the Phuket Old Town Sunday Market. The street was closed off and 4 blocks were packed with people walking among the vendors in the middle of the street. They had live music and lots of drunk people. We did a few laps, it’s tough to decide what to get when everything looks good. Eventually we picked a small “restaurant” on the street so we could get beers and sit at a table. The food was delicious and Elizabeth finally got her Thai omelet. We wandered around a bit after, but then decided to hit up some bars.
Our first bar had a pool table but unfortunately old Thai men had it on lock down. We drank some beers and listed to the live music, which consisted of two men singing American songs though they clearly didn’t speak English and were just singing what they thought the lyrics sounded like. Eventually it got a little too loud for us and we found a jazz bar nearby called Bebop Live Music Bar. Everyone drank cocktails and we listened to the jazz band, jazz up contemporary American music. Half way through the set a man we can only describe as Thai Elton John came into the bar with bongos and joined the band. He wore a sequin hat and vest and giant sun glasses. He passed out maracas and egg shakers and wanted us to get involved. We couldn’t tell if the band liked him there or not. Shortly, Ryan was the only one committed to playing his instrument with the band, which we think made the guy like us. At one point he got on the mic and asked us if we were good people or “ugly Americans”! Eventually a local woman named Kamin befriended us and taught us the way locals drink rum. It’s super cheap to buy a bottle ($10) and you just mix tonic water and ice. We’d seen people doing this everywhere but didn’t know what the liquor was. Drinking way more than we intended, and spending more than we thought possible in Thailand, we called it a night and returned to the villa.
Day 9 – Phuket – February 24
We started early today so we could hike to the Big Buddha sitting on top of the hill across from ours. Our host said it was a 20-minute walk to town then the trail began and it was an hour hike to the Buddha. We skipped eating since there would be restaurants along our hike. Google predicted it would take closer to 35 minutes alleged trail starting point, and then it actually took us over an hour. We walked along the road, hoping to not get taken out by a scooter, then when we found the road, it was the steepest hill we’d ever seen. We made it to the top and asked a few locals about the trailhead and no one seemed to know what we were talking about. We were getting hungry and sweaty and still couldn’t find it. We had to call the host and he told us to keep walking and we’d know it when we saw it. After another steep hill climb, we found it.
The entire trail consisted of steep uphill on loose dirt with ropes on the side you to help pull yourself up. We started seeing pretty nice views on the beach nearby when we weren’t in the thick foliage. About 45 minutes later we made it to the ridge and the row of restaurants. We sat on the outdoor patio with a nice view of the ocean and drank beer and juice while eating delicious Thai food. We still had about 15 minutes along the road to make it to the big Buddha and needed to gather our strength.
We set out again and made it to the entrance. We had to cover up our shoulders and knees so we unpacked the extra clothes from our backpacks. Unfortunately, it was pretty hot and we were already sweaty. The overlooks were great and you can see different beach and mountain scenes around Phuket. We walked up to the big Buddha and wandered around the base. The Buddha is only 13 years old and they are still building the inner temple section. After getting all we could out of the sight we decided it was time for more drinking.
We headed over to the Chalong Bay Rum Distillery, hoping we didn’t smell too bad. The distillery was gorgeous and we sat under a bungalow-type roof drinking mojitos and eating overpriced, but delicious, appetizers. At 2 we went on the tour and they explained the process of making rum and the difference between industrial sugarcane that uses molasses, and theirs that only uses sugarcane. Then they showed us the various equipment used to process the sugarcane and produce the rum. After the tour we did a tasting of 6 different rums. Ryan did double duty as Elizabeth can’t take shots and had extra thimbles full of rum. Our final drink was a cocktail of syrup, ice, and rum. Everything was really good!
We stopped at a convenient store for more beers and snacks on the way home and even grabbed our own bottle of rum. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the pool. For dinner we took a cab 30 minutes north to the famous Patong Beach and Bangla Road. Bangla Road is like the Vegas of Thailand. It’s a real sensory overload with loud music, flashing lights and tons of people inviting you to ping pong shows. We got a doner kebab to split as we walked the street of debauchery. Eventually we found a dinner restaurant and sat right on the street. Cars drove by with loud speakers advertising Muay Thai fighting competitions. The food was delicious per usual. As we walked back towards the beach down Bangla Road the pole dancers were out and a lot of women were standing on bars barely swaying with the music. There is a pretty ethically questionable sex industry here and we saw a few grown white men groping women. We walked along the beach then found a final bar and Ryan got Thai ice cream, where they mix and roll the ice cream into spirals on a chilled surface right in front of you. Everyone was lagging a bit, so we decided to call it a fairly early night and we went home.
Day 10 – Phuket – February 25
We got picked up around 9:30 to go to Rawai beach. We popped into the closest 7-eleven for beer, snacks and water before our boat journey. We had a long boat to ourselves and would be island hopping for the day. Unfortunately, the weather was a bit windy so the seas were a little choppy. We were between shore and the nearest island when our boat sputtered and came to a stop. Our boat had broken down and our driver called a friend to pick us up and take us to our first stop called Bon Island.
A European woman named Dawn greeted us and said we could swim, snorkel, and that she ran the restaurant on the island. We were pretty hot, and got right in the water then began hunting fish. The water wasn’t as clear as we’d hoped, but we still saw plenty of crabs, fish, and even a sea slug. After an hour of swimming, and everyone slicing themselves on the sharp rocks, we ventured to the other side of the island to lay in the sun.
There were lots of girls taking photographs for social media and we enjoyed watching the posing. Soon we moved into the shade, the sun is very intense here, then into the restaurant. The food was pretty good but a little pricy; they trap you on the island and don’t really give you a choice. Elizabeth got a fancy fried rice served in a hollowed pineapple.
It was time for our second island, so we piled back on the boat and back into the choppy seas. The original driver had fixed his boat and came back for us; we were curious if we’d make all the way this time. We were getting sprayed by all the water flying up when the boat smacked down on a wave. The second island was called Coral Island and he drove right up to a floating dock to drop us off. There were supposed to be a lot of activities here, but we didn’t see anyone parasailing or banana boating. Instead we continued laying on the beach and swimming in the cool water.
Our driver came to get us a little early since the tide was going out and we had about a 30-minute ride back to Rawai beach. Back at the house we swam in the pool and drank the rum and beers we’d bought the night before. For dinner we decided to order-in using the Grab equivalent to Uber Eats. We got Indian and Thai food. We spent the rest of the night playing drinking games gorging ourselves.
Day 11 – Krabi – February 26
We sent Carrie and Nicole off on the scooter in the morning to find us some breakfast. They returned unscathed and the scooter intact, but they didn’t have a lot of success finding food, so we ordered through Grab again. Elizabeth thought she was getting dumplings, but accidently ordered three frozen crabs. Finally, our driver arrived to take us the 3 hours from Phuket to Krabi on the other side of the bay. The drive was uneventful, if terrifying, but we did have gorgeous views of the limestone cliffs around Phang Nga Bay.
We arrived at our villa called Baan Sawan and immediately hit the pool. There are 11 villas that share a pool and bar. Lots of older Europeans were lounging nearby, but we had the pool to ourselves. To pass the time, we decided to toss baht coins in the deep end and timed each other fetching them. I think we confused the Europeans with our loud games and a bunch of adults in goggles. At dinner time, we hopped in a tuk tuk and headed over to the beach area. We found the beach and still had a couple of hours until sunset, so we stopped at a bar called Full Moon Bar and got a few appetizers and a tower of beer to hold us over. The appetizers were surprisingly delicious and we weren’t scarred from our towers the night in Bangkok.
The beach sunset was underwhelming due to the amount of clouds, but still had pretty red and pink hues. We walked down a main strip with food and found another bar called Joses. Nicole and Elizabeth had won a shot bet so they got to give the other three a shot of their choice. We picked more B52 shots (Carrie had unwittingly ordered one at the jazz bar thinking it was a cocktail) so they could light them on fire, apparently, they taste pretty good too.
Ryan found a restaurant called Family Thai Food & Seafood right up the street and we sat on the street in plastic chairs, very local feel. The food was absolutely incredible and we got a bottle of rum and tonic water to share among us, the whole bottle was $16. Elizabeth swears it was the best Massaman curry she’s ever had. We returned to the villa and played more games before finally going to bed.
Day 12 – Krabi – February 27
Everyone was slow-moving the next morning and needed an early pool dip to get us ready for the day. Again, all the Europeans were watching us swim laps and hunt coins. We got a tuk tuk back to the beach and ate a delicious Indian/Thai lunch, with some hair of the dog. We grabbed some water bottles and snacks from a 7-eleven nearby then boarded a longtail boat to Railay Beach. Railay is one of the most picturesque and well-known beaches in Thailand. As it’s surrounded by steep limestone cliffs, it is only accessible by helicopter and boat. We figured we’ll spring for the helicopter another time.
Upon arrival we immediately found the climbing center and booked our afternoon tour. We geared up and walked to the other side of the beach where we would be climbing in the shade. Coincidentally, we go there at the perfect time as the morning climbers were leaving and the afternoon climbers hadn’t yet arrived. We had the place to ourselves for the first hour. Since we are all experienced climbers, our guide Jay could put up multiple routes and we could belay each other, so we didn’t have to wait to go one at a time. The first two routes were technically speaking really easy, but it’s a popular climbing area and the rock is worn smooth and slick, which adds a new level of difficulty.
Everyone made it up the first two routes then the crowds started pouring in. We were there during high tide, so there wasn’t a lot of beach space and a lot of routes weren’t accessible yet. Luckily the other climbers seemed like first-time tourists so we didn’t have to wait long for the harder routes. We did one that was 90 meters high and provided great views of the surrounding cove.
For our last climb we tried a 6a+ rating and Ryan was the only one who could finish it. By then the tide was beginning to go out and opening up different routes, but we were pretty hot and tired and ready for a swim. We walked back and dumped all the equipment then hit the beach.
Parts of the beach were nice and sandy and of course the part in the shade was rocky and sharp. We waded around trying not to cut our feet, then laid in the shade. We knew Drew was going to propose to Nicole on this trip and we’d all had our eyes out for a good spot, so we could know when to leave them alone. Elizabeth spotted a small secret beach about a 10-minute walk away with great views and privacy. Drew asked Nicole to go with him, which she first tried to refuse, then tried to drag everyone with them. We declined.
They came back 20 minutes later with a shiny new ring and we held a mini photo shoot with the gorgeous limestone cliff background. We caught a longboat back to Krabi and split up so Nicole and Drew could share a romantic sunset dinner. Ryan, Carrie and Elizabeth watched the sunset then went back to the villa to shower and had our own romantic dinner by a river front restaurant. The tuk tuk driver’s wife recommended it. We’d seen her come to this restaurant almost every day so she must know someone, or really like it. The food was delicious, we ate curry and Thai pork basil and of course some Singha and Chang with ice. About halfway through we realized they had been mixing our beers (these helpful teenagers were pouring our beers into little glasses from the big bottles), but we didn’t really notice. We tuk tuk-ed back to the Full Moon bar on the beach where we drank a celebratory tower of beer and played pool with our newly engaged friends.
Day 13 – Krabi – February 28
The next morning, we started with another dip and pool games. We ate breakfast poolside while Nicole bragged to everyone on the phone, and eventually got ready to tuk tuk back to the boats and head again to Railay Beach. There were so many activities we hadn’t gotten to do the day before and the views were so gorgeous, we decided to go again. We left from a different dock, with a way worse captain, but we got about 10 extra minutes cruising along the cliffs.
Our main activity was kayaking through coves and out to remote islands. Ryan got his own, Carrie and Elizabeth shared a double, and Nicole and Drew shared a double. Kayaking was surprisingly easy for the first hour, the water was pretty calm. The tide was high, but we still made it through caves and under the cliffs of the limestone. It was a carbonate geologist’s paradise.
We found a small place to run our kayaks ashore and swam around in the shallow water and climbed some rocks, again we left some blood behind. Back on the boats we circled more islands and found an overhang with a rope dangling into the water. Carrie paddled Elizabeth up to it and she climbed into the cave. Luckily nothing was too sharp to walk on.
Our arms were getting tired, but on our way back, we found one more, small cave to squeeze through; this one left a few people scathed on their arms and legs, but we all made it. After returning the boats we laid on the beach again for about an hour swimming and snacking until catching the 3 pm boat home. Railay beach has been one of the most beautiful beaches we’ve ever seen and we wish we could have spent more time here.
After the boat and subsequent tuk tuk ride home, we obviously played more coin searching games in the pool with some beers. We took a taxi about 30 minutes into Krabi proper for dinner at a local night market. This night market felt the most legitimate, and was by far the cheapest. First, we took a lap, snacking on meats and squid balls, then found a talent show on a big stage with tables and chairs lined up in front. We ordered large Leo beers then we peeled off to find dinner at various food stalls. Results included things like steamed crab, fried rice and chicken, fresh mango, spicy chicken on a stick, and Japanese pizza. The talent show, or what we are assuming was a talent show, had an emcee and was full of all sorts of acts, ranging from teenage break dancers, a saxophone man, to girls in traditional costumes dancing. We loved it.
Since we’d traveled so far to get here, we decided to do a little bar hopping. Our first bar was called The Hobby Hops Craft Beer Bar, which was obviously a craft beer bar. Everyone got a different Thai craft beer and we sampled each other’s. The beers were pretty good, but fairly pricey even by American standards, so after a pint each, we headed to a different bar down the road. The next bar was a combination bar and dive shop. We drank one Chang but didn’t feel too welcome, so moved one last time up the street to a bar called Ole Bar.
We accidently got a little turnt up here as we got some free shots and a literal bucket of rum (9 shots) with a lot of straws. Nicole and Elizabeth had lost a shot bet and it was time to pony up. By the time we had to go home it was late and we ran across the street to the 7-eleven for car snacks. Carrie has been on fire picking out the best strange Thai snack foods, and didn’t disappoint this time with weird cheese straws and corn chips. We devoured everything on the way home.
Day 14 – Koh Phi Phi Don – February 29
We were up early the next morning to catch our 9:30 am ferry to Koh Phi Phi Don Island. The tuk tuk dropped us off one last time and we got our temperatures taken and walked across three boats to get to ours. The ferry takes a little under 2 hours and stopped once along the way to pick up other passengers dropped off by boat. The ride was a little rough for some of our hungover bodies, but overall, the seas were actually pretty smooth and most rejuvenated with a power nap. The ferry chairs were clearly old, American airplane seats bolted to the floor, so decently comfortable.
The boat was full of young partiers and we were excited to spend two nights on this party paradise. We docked and only had a 10-minute walk to our hostel. There are no cars on this island and very few bikes; the island itself is actually a decent size, but people only occupy a small corner. For two nights we were sharing a three-bunkbed hostel room. We filled up all but one bed, so the first night our companion was a nice young man named Trevor from Canada. We were pretty hungry, so we dumped our gear and ate lunch at a restaurant called Charlies down the street. We had some beers and delicious curry dishes. We love being somewhere where every restaurant has delicious chicken satay and spring roll appetizers.
After lunch we changed into our swimsuits and hit the beach, about a five-minute walk. It was extremely hot, but we managed to find a little space in the shade. The water was very sandy and didn’t cut our feet at all, which was a welcome transition. We swam around until our skin was fully pruned then laid on the sand. By late afternoon we decided to shower and clean up so we could hit the party island.
Our first happy hour beer was a bar called Relax and we drank some tall Chang beers. They had Jenga and Connect Four so we began playing games and watching soccer, a common theme of the night. Our next bar was called Banana. They were a step up with pool, darts, foosball, chess, and countless other games. We got a tower of beer and scattered playing various games. Finishing our beer, we walked by the beach as the sun set and the tide went out, leaving all the boats resting in the mud.
Finally, we decided we needed food to continue and found a restaurant called Garlic 1992. It was our favorite plastic-chair-style and the food was on point. We started with garlic bread and a bottle of rum, obviously, then tried fried squid and papaya salad. We were late to discovering papaya salad how good papaya salad is, we should have been eating this every day. Main courses included curries, fried rice, and Nicole got the garlic special. Our breath was less than ideal.
It was still only 8:30 and we knew the beach parties didn’t heat up until 11. We went back to the hostel bar and drank more rum buckets and played Uno and Spot It. It was a great night of drinking games; it felt just like college. Finally, at 11:00 we headed over to the beach looking for parties, which were easy to find; we just followed the giant red sign to Slinky’s Bar. You could smell the gasoline immediately and see the fire dancers. We walked with our bucket along the sand and saw huge dance parties, a lot of double Dutch jump roping, and limbo.
The girls payed 100 baht ($3) to have arms, legs, and faces painted with black light paint. The artists were really good and they loved their flowers. We spent a few hours dancing and playing in the water and flashing our paint. We didn’t make it too late in the evening, and around 1 am we got some late night doner kebab, gorging ourselves on delicious meat and French fries.
Day 15 – Koh Phi Phi Don – March 1
The next morning, we woke up to hangovers, scattered paint chips and sand literally everywhere. Drew’s shoes in particular were somehow coated in 2 inches of sand. First order of business was to get some food. We were really hungry and luckily Phi Phi knows it’s a party island for western tourists who wake up early with hangovers, and cater to those needs. We went to Calamaro Restaurant down the road and were served by a very grumpy waiter who clearly didn’t want to be there especially not serving us. We were all, disappointed in our western breakfasts, except for Ryan who got some local Thai food and said it was delicious. When in Rome.
Next, we decided to hike up to the different viewpoints that look out over the island. It was about a 10-minute walk to the stairs. Then you begin climbing what felt like 10,000 steps to the top, though it’s actually a mile hike and 568 feet in elevation change. The first stop is Viewpoint One and the park is littered with chairs and benches shaped like various fruits. There is also a plaque that shows pictures before and after the tsunami that happened in 2004.
Next, we walked to the second view point, up higher ramps and stairs. This one had a large viewing platform and you could see both sides of the island and the small strip our hotel is on in the middle. The water was extraordinarily blue. We sat in the shade watching people pose for their Instagram shots and added colorful commentary. Finally, it was time to make the long hike down, we are all getting old and our knees hurt.
Eager to try everything the island has to offer, we found a trip coordinator at the bottom and booked a snorkel trip for the afternoon. We wanted to see the island next door, Ko Phi Phi Lay and swim with the bioluminescent plankton. It only cost $11 per person and included 5 hours on the boat, lunch, a bunch of snorkel destinations, and gear. We had about an hour to kill until it was time to go, so we bought water and snacks and relaxed in our rooms AC.
We arrived at the booking place to be taken to our boat. We knew we didn’t book a private tour, but we were surprised when we were joined by about 30 other people to walk to the pier. Along the way we picked up at least an additional 30 people. Then when we arrived, we saw at least another 30 people already sitting at the next waiting area. We all sat in the shade by a line of long boats and were grouped into boats about 18 people each. Our boat had some Instagram hoes, a couple families, and two alcoholic Australians. We boarded and were off to our first stop Monkey Bay.
We didn’t realize all the boats would take off at the same time, there had to be at least 20 boats following each other, then would cram into the different sites. The boats all went the same direction like one big crowded party boat line. We arrived at our first cove area with sheer cliffs and could watch the monkeys run around and climb on the cliff. Some were even down on the beach and we could take pictures with them. Some idiot tourists from other boats were trying to feed them and touch them and the monkeys did not like that at all. After about 30 minutes here and some coaxing (our guide shouting at them that it was time to go) to get the Instagram girls back on the boat, we were off to point 2, Viking Caves.
The Viking Caves are at the bottom of a limestone cliff. We didn’t stop at them, but cruised by slowly as our captain yelled and pointed in their general direction. There are apparently old cave drawings of Viking looking like ships on one of the walls. We didn’t see them. The area was also built up with a lot of ladders and wood; the Swiftlet bird lives here and people steal their nests to sell for a high profit as, apparently, they are edible.
We motored a little further down and anchored up to a line with floats to have our first snorkel experience. We were handed a “clean” mask – fingers crossed no coronavirus – and jumped in. The snorkeling was awesome. The sun was already behind the cliff so the light wasn’t as amazing as it could be and things were still bright and colorful. We saw giant sea urchins, various coral, and fish. After about 30 minutes of snorkeling, we were the last ones on the boat, our captain passed out small Styrofoam containers of cold fried rice. What an underwhelming included lunch, luckily, we had more of Carrie’s weird snacks including: chocolate cookies in the shape of koalas, a spicy nut mix, and onion flavored chips.
After we were done stuffing our faces, we drove into Pileh Lagoon Cove. This cove area was gorgeous, surrounded by sheer limestone walls on either side. We joined the other 30 boats, we were now behind which was nice because we started leaving last and had some time with less crowds, and jumped in. At this point most of our other boat partners seemed over it, but we still had hours on our trapped cruise. We swam into a few smaller cove areas and cleaned up some of the trash. These areas have been dealing with huge ecological problems because of trash and sewage from the mass of tourists each day. Koh Phi Phi alone gets over 5,000 visitors each day.
After a brief swim, we sailed a little further around the tip of the island to Loh Sama Bay. Carrie and Nicole were done with snorkeling but Ryan, Drew and Elizabeth jumped in. Immediately we noticed more jellyfish in the water, a ridiculous amount of jellyfish actually. It was impossible not to touch them as they bumped against all of our body parts, luckily, they didn’t sting us. There was a beautiful beach about a football field away from the boat we wanted to check out. The swim over was traumatizing as you had to swim through pods of hundreds of jelly fish to get there. They never stung, but we’ve been trained to think they will, so it was nerve wracking. The worst part was close to the beach you had to pass through a solid mass of jellies. We all made it alive, if a bit shaken, and stood on the beach almost fearing our swim back.
Our next boat stop was to pass by Maya Bay, the famous beach where they filmed the 2000 movie The Beach, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s currently closed to all traffic so it can ecologically recover as it was receiving over 5,000 tourists a day (just about everyone who came to Phi Phi, went to Maya Beach), and they were ruining the beach and corals. We went across the bay to another spot to do our final daylight snorkel. We were apprehensive to get in but were happy to discover no jellies here. Instead we were met with huge schools of colorful fish. We swam around for 30 minutes until the sun got close to setting.
We sailed out into the ocean away from the island and sat waiting for the sunset. There were no clouds so we got to see the beautiful orange ball sink right into the ocean. As dusk set in we headed back near Phi Phi to swim with the bioluminescent plankton: our big draw for coming in the first place. We had to wait about 20 minutes for it to get dark enough, then he encouraged us to jump in. The whole time the Instagram girlies were complaining about how they needed to get back for a SCUBA lesson, like they didn’t know this trip would end at the right time. As if. We thought the plankton would be big and bright enough to see from the boat, but you can actually only see them when you are underwater and disturb the water by moving your arms or legs. They are so tiny and only react to the jostling. It was totally worth seeing. We sailed back to shore and were excited to be off the boat trip.
We walked back to our hostel room where we found two girls in one bunkbed giggling in the dark. Normally hostels are pretty strict with the one-bed-one-person rule, but here it didn’t seem to matter. The girls were young, probably early twenties, and talked like annoying hippies. We showered quickly then left them, not looking forward to sharing a room with them. For dinner we ate at a restaurant called Basil Bistro and let our appetites get the better of our ordering. Every place we’ve been has been great, but the portion sizes have not been enough to fully satisfy our hunger, so we’d thought we would remedy that. Both Nicole and Ryan ordered two entrees while most people got an appetizer and an entrée; only Ryan could finish all his food. We made one pit stop on the way home at a bar to drink a pitcher and watch some futbol. We were pretty exhausted and had a monster day of travel tomorrow so we turned in early and had a little more trouble sleeping since the bar was bumping right outside our door.
Day 16 – Bangkok – March 2
Carrie and Ryan slept in while Elizabeth, Drew and Nicole hit the streets at 7 am looking for some breakfast. We had a long day of transportation back to Bangkok with tight connections – didn’t want to add food-crabbiness to the pile. We went back to Charlie’s and each got various breakfast items from smashed tomato toast to eggs benedict. It was pretty good and we came back and found Carrie and Ryan finishing packing. Looks like our two young female roommates never came back the night before.
After checking out and buying our ferry tickets, we loaded up our bags and walked down to the pier. We arrived 30 minutes prior to departure and got good seats inside. The waters seemed a little rougher this morning. Eventually we set sail and had a 2 hour and fifteen-minute ride back to Phuket. There was some confusion on timetables, etc. and some passengers had concerns about making it to the airport on time. They also swindled us by getting telling us after boarding, that they were dropping us off at a private pier and we were required to book their transportation. We’d heard about these schemes, but had managed to dodge them until now. After looking at the price of a potential Grab and other options, we found out the markup really wasn’t outrageous.
We told the ticket man that we had a plane to catch, so he let us stand at the back of the boat 10 minutes before arrival, then ushered us into a cab right away. It’s an hour’s drive north to the airport, but with Thai traffic you really never know. Luckily everything was smooth and after checking our bags we still had an hour to kill at the airport. Nicole and Elizabeth ate Burger King, while Ryan, Carrie, and Drew hit up the lounge. The flight was an easy hour and everything was on time.
After collecting our bags, we had a 30 min tram ride back to the city, then fifteen minutes on the metro, then a final fifteen-minute walk to our high-rise Airbnb. It was quite the journey and everyone was exhausted by the end. We decided to get some ramen for our last night at a authentic looking place just down the road; we’d eaten a lot of Thai food and were looking for a little change of pace. We drank our last beers and ate hot soup and dumplings reminiscing about our favorite activities.
After dinner, we went to a rooftop bar called Aire Bar at the top of the Hyatt Place Bangkok. The drinks were outrageously priced, but we each got one and shared some mango sticky rice. The views were worth the price of a drink. Finally, we went back and Carrie packed her stuff. She was the first to leave and we put her in an Uber at 10:30 pm for her 1:00 am flight to Seoul. The rest of us went to bed, anticipating another busy day of travel tomorrow.
Day 17 – Bangkok – March 3
We said good-bye to Nicole and Drew at 5:30 am, putting them in a Grab to the airport. After sleeping for a few more hours we got up and went to the complex’s gym. It’d been awhile since we’d worked out and we could feel the layer of fat we’d acquired over the last three weeks. We showered and packed and were on our way to the airport by 10 am.
The line for Bali check-in was full of white, western-looking travelers in backpacks. Cheap destination to cheap destination – it makes sense. Security and immigration were a breeze and we spent some time in a lounge prior to boarding. The food was pretty good too. We loved our time in Thailand and could have spent more, especially down south at all the islands. We’ll admit we were a little sick of salt water and sand at the end, but it’s not a bad problem to have! We’ll stay at a nice hotel next time, so we can rinse off right after getting off the beach. We can’t say enough good about Thailand; it’s a well-established tourist destination and would be fairly easy to navigate for new travelers wanting to explore Asia, families, and friends ready to rage on cheap booze.
Things we learned in Thailand:
- There is a 7-Eleven on every corner.
- An Asian elephant is different than an African elephant in that it has smaller, rounder ears, a twin domed head, and only the males can grow tusks.
- Wat means temple.
- Pad Thai was invented in 1930 by the prime minister at the time. He was focused on nation-building and he united the north and south. He used Chinese noodles and called the dish Pad Thai to encourage nationalism.
Ryan and Elizabeth Goss 