Bangkok

Now I present to you the third, somewhat condensed, and final part of our Thailand adventure!

 

The night before we flew out of Chiang Mai, I actually called our guest house in Bangkok to see if we could get an airport transfer, however, the man who answered the phone said that they could not do it from the airport we were arriving in (Dong Muang) at the time we were arriving. So, I Emma and I just figured we would spend most of our day looking for our guest house when we arrived.

 

We woke up early on January 2^nd, to catch our 9am flight. One of the women at the front desk called a taxi for us to take us to the airport. The people at the guest house did offer to rent us a car, or motorbikes to the airport, but neither Emma nor I felt comfortable driving ourselves on relatively unknown Thai streets.

 

Emma and I flew on Nok airways for our domestic flight. I remember when I first purchased the tickets, I was confused by their mascot, which is a disembodied bird beak; but it made more sense when I saw the bird beak painted on the front of their airplanes.

 

We slept for most of our flight to Bangkok, and our baggage arrived　at the carousel faster than it did in Chiang Mai.

The flight was the easy part, getting into the city of Bangkok, not so much. After a little bit of circling, Emma and I found our way to the Dong Muang train station, and waited an hour before catching a train to Hualamphong Bangkok train station. The tickets were very cheap, only 52 baht for two adults.

 

The train was very old, and looked kind of rusty from outside. It almost looked like what I expect the trains in India to look like, minus the numerous commuters hanging off outside of the cars.

 

It wasn’t any cleaner inside of the cars. There were a few fans inside the car we were on, but two of them weren’t working. There were also older women that would walk up and down the aisles holding plastic baskets selling drinks and snacks. Emma and I didn’t have any seats at first, but eventually some people got off and various spots, and we were able to sit together. We also noticed that we were the only non-Thai people in our car, carrying luggage. At first I was slightly nervous about standing out on the train, but nobody bothered us, and I figured that this probably wasn’t the first time tourists have taken the train from the airport to the city.

There was no voice recording calling out station names at each stop, like I’m used to in Japan, so I did get a little nervous that we would miss our station, or that we were accidentally going in the wrong direction, but after thirty minutes we arrived at Bangkok train station.

 

After getting　off　the　train,　Emma　and　I　went　off　to　search　for　a　taxi　to　take　us　to　our　guest　house.　However, our　guest　house　is　very　close　to　Khaosan　road.　We　asked　four　taxis　to　take　us　to　Khaosan,　and　they　all refused. Apparently,　this　is　very　common　in　Bangkok.　The　taxi　drivers　will　refuse　to　take　you　to　an　area　for　various　reasons, such　as;　they　have　a　personal　problem　　with certain　people　in　that　area,　or　they　know　that　a　certain　area　has　high　traffic　during　a　certain　time　of　day,　and　they　don’t　want　to　spend　time　in　standstill traffic, when　they　could　be　taking　other　customers　to　different　places　and　making　more　money　at　the　same　time.

 

Frustrated, Emma　and　I　started　to　walk　to　the　other　side　of　the　train　station　to　see　if　there　was　another　taxi　stop there,　and　to　try　again.　Luckily,　we　bumped　into　some　official government　Thai　Tourist　agents.　They　wear　official badges and direct you where you need to go, and they are also the people that you report to if you feel you’ve been scammed, or robbed, etc.

One of the agents asked where we were going. We told her we were trying to go to Khaosan, but none of the taxis would take us there. She got another agent to pull over a tuk-tuk for us. We then paid 150 baht for a tuk-tuk voucher. The voucher had the Thai translation of where we wanted to go, and another agent helped us load ourselves and our luggage into a tuk-tuk, and we were off!

It was a fun, yet slightly scary experience in the tuk-tuk. Our driver was fast, but it also didn’t help that we didn’t have seatbelts, and I was squeezing my rolling bag between my legs to keep it from sliding out whenever we turned. But overall, it wasn’t as frightening as falling off an elephant.

In the end, we made it to Khaosan Road in one piece! We quickly wove our way to the other end of the street, and then got a little lost down some side streets, until we found an area that was just full of hostels, and finally found our guest house!

Khaosan road!

The man at the front desk remembered me from when I had called the night before, and led me and Emma to our room. Our room in Bangkok actually had a nicer bathroom than our guest house in Chiang Mai.

After settling in, Emma and I went out to search for at least one nearby tourist attraction that wouldn’t close by 4pm, and to catch a quick lunch. That proved to be a bit difficult, considering we went walking in the direction of the Grand Palace. We didn’t want to try to squeeze that in under two hours, so we did a quick look through an art museum. We thought we saw advertisements for a café in the museum, but when we got to the café, we found that they only served drinks, and not food. We stayed for a bit of Thai tea, and then looked at one of the exhibits that actually had some paintings that were done by one of the former kings of Thailand.

Emma and I were still quite hungry after the museum, and it was getting close to 5 o’clock, so we decided to just call it a day, and go get an early dinner along Khaosan road, before turning in for the night.

Enjoying a Thai cola along Khaosan road.

Our guest house had its own tourist desk, and when we came back from dinner, we decided to take a look at some of the tours, and see what was available. There was a tour that included the floating market, and visiting the Ayuthaya ruins, but Emma didn’t feel like doing a whole day tour, so we just did the half day tour for the floating markets instead.

We had our half day the next day in the morning. We actually waited almost a whole hour for our tour to come and pick us up, and there were other tourists waiting in our guest house lobby, waiting for their tours to come and pick them up too.

Finally our van came, and thus began our floating market tour, where we didn’t understand half of what was going on.

We were all given stickers to put on our shirts, so that the tour guide would know that we belonged to the same group. We were on the highway out of the city at around 8:30, and at one point, our van stopped, and another van pulled up behind us. A different man opened the door, looked at us, and pulled out two Chinese women who were wearing different colored stickers, and ushered them into the other van, before we pulled back onto the highway. I tried catching up on some sleep in the van, but the ride was so bumpy, my head kept hitting the window.

We made a rest stop at a gas station. Emma stayed in the van to sleep, and I got out to grab a drink. Inside was a teenage boy who had his pet Pomeranian on top of the ice cream cooler. He would handle the transactions in between playing with his dog.

After grabbing my drink and using the restroom, I tried to get back inside the van, but the driver barred me, and said the break wasn’t over yet, and that I had to wait. I’ve honestly never had that happen before when I was on a tour group, but I guess it gave me more time to stretch my legs.

 

When we finally arrived at the floating markets, our tour guide informed us that we had just a little over an hour to go shopping on our own, before we had to meet back at the same spot to board the “Dragon Boat.” He then informed us that the money we had paid for the tour covered the van, and the Dragon boat, but not the regular boats that take you around the floating market. I’m pretty sure it was supposed to cover the regular boats, but the guide kept brushing off the other tourists who were complaining about it. Emma and I decided to just pay for the regular boat tickets out of pocket, since it was a nominal fee anyway. Right before we entered the boat, there was a photographer who took photos of everyone getting into the boat.

 

One of the fruit vendors at the floating market.

We did buy some tacky touristy things while we were on the boat, like magnets and two jade elephant figurines, but mostly we bought food. It was delicious! We bought sticky rice, dragon fruit, mango, and fruit juice. We were almost full by the time we finished our forty minute boat ride.

Emma and I enjoying our shopping excursion at the floating market.

Near the end of the ride, our boatman in the back kept nudging one of the Chinese tourists in front of us until they handed over some money. After they handed money to him, he started to nudge Emma in the shoulder a few times, grunted, showed her the money the Chinese tourists had paid him. Then he gestured for her to pay up. We just flat out refused to give him money, no matter how loud he grunted, since we had already paid the fee to get onto the boat. I think this man had tried this trick before to get extra money out of tourists, and was trying to see what he could get from us.

After getting off the boat, a man rushed up to us to try and sell us a quickly, yet poorly made souvenir plate from the photo that was taken of us when we first got on the boat. We politely refused and went on to look at the shops that were on dry land.

At one point, I was accosted by a short, older woman who tried to sell me tiger balm. She got me by trying to get me to smell the jar of the tiger balm, before she shoved the jar into my hand, and then proceeded to rub it on my wrist, neck, and temples, and would not let go of me! So Emma had to come over and rescue me, and we pretended that we were late to meet our group.

We later found a shop that had nice silk scarves and silk tops. This was one place where we tried our haggling skills. I’m not super confident with my haggling skills, but I did get the shop keep to lower the price of a golden silk top by 300 baht, before I went and bought some more silk scarves. During the transactions, a little boy was following me. I later realized that he was most likely the shop keep’s son. After every transaction, he would shove a trinket into my hand, and the woman would say, “Oh! He’s giving you a present!” I was reluctant to accept the boy’s presents because I know about the ploy of giving out gifts, and expecting money in return. (Almost all of the street children do this in Argentina.) It turns out they didn’t ask for more money in return for the little gift the boy was giving me, although the woman did try to talk me into buying a coat before Emma and I had to meet with our group again.

Right before entering the Dragon Boat, I grabbed a beer for Emma and I. It was a lot of fun. The Dragon Boats are larger than the regular boast in the market, and so they cannot actually go through the stalls, but they take you through the other parts of the riverway, and they go much faster.

After the ride, we got off the boat, and were ushered back into the van to take us back to Bangkok. The van dropped us off right by Khaosan road, and after dropping off our purchases at our guest house, we went right on over to the Royal Palace.

 

Just before entering the inner walls of the Grand Royal Palace.

The dress code at the Royal Palace is much more strict than the normal Buddhist temples in Thailand. Women are not supposed to wear shorts or show their shoulders in the temples. Most of the time I was able to get away with wearing my capris, but they weren’t acceptable at the Royal Palace. Emma and I had to wait in a long line to rent a sarong from the Palace. The rental is technically free, but you have to pay a 200 baht deposit, and bring the sarong back before closing time to get your money back.

It was interesting trying to enter the Royal Palace, because the ticket counter isn’t well marked, and then the entrance actually had two separate lines for Thai citizens and tourists, even though we were all going through the same gate.

The Royal Palace is impressive, and beautiful, but it was super crowded, and it was difficult to get some good pictures without having the back of someone’s head, or some other random body parts of other tourists.

Emma and I also got turned around and went in circles a lot in the palace compound.

We did manage to see the famous Emerald Buddha, but we were not allowed to take pictures inside, and I didn’t really have the time to appreciate it. Emma and I were pressed in the crowd of all of the other tourists who were squeezing in to look at the Emerald Buddha, and we were constantly shuffling from one side of the temple to the other, and there was no place to just stop and look without getting trampled.

Here I am, sitting in my rental sarong.

We stayed until it was almost closing time. There were some other buildings that we wanted to look at, but some of them were closed. After the Royal Palace, we headed back to Khaosan for dinner and some more shopping, where I bought some cheap tank tops, and a pair of those touristy Thai loungepants.

The next day Emma and actually took our time in the morning, and had breakfast at our guest house. I tried a traditional Thai breakfast of rice porridge with pork dumplings. It was really good, and not too spicy, and kept me full for most o f the day.

Emma and I tried to see if we could catch a bus to Hualamphong train station, but we could not find the bus stop for the bus we were looking for, so we eventually just hailed a cab. The cab driver kept asking us how much money we were going to give him, but we insisted on the meter. He did run the meter, but every once in awhile he would laugh when he said the word meter, and it made Emma and I very uncomfortable. We finally reached the train station, and I shoved 85 baht into the driver’s hands right as Emma and I rushed out of the cab.

We took the Bangkok metro to get to the Jim Thompson house. It was very interesting, because we had to go through metal detectors just to get into the underground, before we even bought our metro tickets from the machine. Instead of actual tickets, the machine dispensed these plastic coins. You hold the coin to be scanned in order to enter the gate, and when you reach your destination, you drop your plastic coin into a slot.

 

The innocuous looking plastic coin you use to take the metro in Bangkok.

It took us awhile to find the Jim Thompson house from the train station, but we eventually found it at the end of a secluded street.

We really enjoyed our tour of the Jim Thompson house. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the house on our tour, but we could take pictures of the garden, and we could take pictures from the outside through windows and open doors.

The exterior of the Jim Thompson house.

Interior shot of the Jim Thompson house, taken from the porch outside.

One of the fascinating things we learned on the tour, was that Jim Thompson had his horoscope read before he built and moved into his house. This is a traditional Thai practice, so that people know the best days to start building a house, and the best day to move into a house. Jim Thompson actually used this information to start building and to move into his house. This same horoscope also told him that he needed to be careful in his 61^st year, because it would be a bad luck year for him. As it turns out, that’s the year he disappeared in Malaysia.

We also learned that in many traditional Thai houses, the Buddhist spirit houses are always placed in a corner of the property where the house’s shadow won’t fall on it. If the house’s shadow falls on the spirit house, it invites bad luck to the family living inside.

Buddhist spirit house in the gardens of the Jim Thompson house.

Emma and I ate our lunch at the Jim Thompson house. It turned out to be the most expensive meal on our trip, but we figured we would eat there before heading over for our big shopping expedition at MBK shopping center.

MBK shopping center is a huge new and modern shopping mall in the center of Bangkok. Emma and I were amused to find that a Tokyu Hands spanned over three floors of the shopping mall. We took a quick look, only to find that they pretty much sold the exact same things at the Tokyu Hands in Bangkok, as they do in Japan.

MBK shopping center in the day.

The main shopping objective for me　was　to　get　shoes,　since　it’s　nearly　impossible　for　me　to　find　shoes　in　my　size　back　in　Japan.　However, I　had　to　figure　out　my　Thai　shoe　size　first!　I　had　come　to　Thailand　with　the　expectation　that　it would be easy to find cute shoes in my size, since some of the shoe stores also cater to lady-boys. That turned out to not be the case for most of the shoe stores I went to. Some of them did carry larger sizes, but the clerks would have to search in the back for awhile, or they didn’t carry my size for the shoe styles that I actually wanted.

Eventually, Emma and I made it to a larger shoe store on one of the upper floors that happened to have plenty of shoes in my size, so I went ahead and bought four pairs of shoes there.

Before we finished our shopping trip, Emma and I had dinner at this International Food court. At this food court, you go around and order food and pay by using a card, that accumulates the price of the everything you order, and then you pay when you leave. Even though there was some delicious Thai food available, I ordered mussels, and so many cheese dishes, because I cannot find these things easily back in Japan. I finished up with a dessert of Mango and sticky rice.

Emma and I dragged our purchases along the Bangkok metro back to Hualamphong station, and caught a taxi back to Khaosan. We ended up paying more for this taxi, and probably could have got a lower price, but he was the only taxi willing to take us all the way to Khaosan, so we just paid the 150 baht back.

The next day was our final day in Thailand. Emma and I spent this day packing, and taking another leisurely breakfast at our guest house. I had the Rice porridge again, but this time with chicken instead of pork. In my opinion, the pork is better, because it was more succulent.

We also booked a van ride to the airport later that night, through the same woman running the tour desk. Since our flight wasn’t until after midnight that night, we reserved an 11pm van.

We then spent the rest of our day seeing temples that we hadn’t seen yet. We saw the famous giant reclining Buddha at Wat Pho. It was much less crowded than the Grand Palace, so I enjoyed it more.

Reclining Buddha size comparison.

Look at those long legs!

We also took the river boat to go and see Wat Arun. We climbed to the top, but it was a little stressful, because it was so steep. I was very grateful for the handrails that they installed. I can’t imagine how the monks climbed it so many years ago. The view of Bangkok from the top is beautiful though.

Wat Arun

The climb

 

The view

We then took the river boat to Chinatown. It was very crowded, and most of the markets there sold cheap plastic trinkets, but we did find a restaurant to just sit down and eat. We each ordered one dish, and were about to order more, when we noticed a few bugs skittering across the floor, so we decided to leave.

We took the river boat once again, and got off a stop called Bangkok riverside. It’s this new building along the river that has a café and a few cute shops, though not everything is open yet. Emma and I got off there, because we saw signs saying that the flower market would be there. The flower market was not in the building, but we saw signs saying to go outside. We went outside, and followed the signs towards what looked like a warehouse. As we walked inside, we noticed only a few fruit vendors, and everything else was very dark. We didn’t see any other tourists, or any flower vendors. It honestly looked more like a setting for a horror film, so we just walked right back outside and gave up looking for the flower market.

Along the riverside.

We just stopped and got tea at one of the cafes inside the new riverside building, before heading back to the Khaosan area. We ate our last Thai meal, did some last minute shopping, and got last minute Thai massages before picking up our luggage, and catching our van to Suvarnabhumi airport.

Emma and I were along the second stop for our van driver that night, and he went around Bangkok stuffing the van full of people and luggage. There were enough people and luggage to fill two vans, but he just kept stuffing us in. I also hate to play to stereotypes but, there was one group of French backpackers who got into the van with us, and the entire van just reeked of their collective body odor the moment that they got in. I was grateful when someone finally opened a window on the highway.

We arrived at the airport with some time to spare before we had to check in. Even though Suvarnabhumi is a new and sleek looking airport, it’s actually poorly designed. It could also be that Emma and I were just cranky, because it was past 1am, and we just wanted to sit down. But the gates are designed so that you have to wait for someone to unlock a door just to go to the waiting area of a gate, before you can actually take a seat. Emma and I were just two people sitting on the floor of a tiny walkway, waiting for someone to just let us go down, and get seats.

In the lounge area of our gate. Up near the top, you can see the walkway where they had everyone locked out until they decided to unlock the stairway to let everyone sit by the gate. It’s a very stupid airport.

 

It was also nearly impossible to get a decent charge port to charge our phones before we took off. We were happy when we finally were able to board our plane, and just sleep the whole way back over to Japan.

Overall, I loved Thailand, and I’m glad that I was finally able to go with a friend. I do have to say that I enjoyed Chiang Mai more than Bangkok, but that’s just my personal preference. The one thing I miss the most is the food, but I don’t miss all of the pushy street vendors and pushy “helpful” tour guides on the streets. Thailand was great, but both Emma and I felt good to be back in Japan. Except for the cold. I wish we could’ve been able to bring the Thai weather back with us!

Chiang Mai

I can’t believe how long it has taken me to get around to writing this, but now that I have some extra time, I’m going to write about Chiang Mai now.

Emma and I woke up at our guest house at the bright and early hour of 9:30 am. Our guest house didn’t provide any breakfast, so we wandered not too far from our guest house, and found a cute little coffee shop with free wifi. Of course, we would soon discover that many Thai coffee shops, tea houses, and restaurants, had free wifi. Both Emma and I were amazed at how free wifi is more easily accessible in Thailand than in Japan.

After a laid back breakfast of Thai tea and toast, we realized we couldn’t quite figure out where we actually were on our map of Chiang Mai. We asked one of the serving women at the coffee shop to show us where we were, and then carefully wandered back to our guest house.

Back at the guest house, we had one of the men at the front desk point out where we were on the map, and then proceeded to peruse many of the pamphlets for Thai cooking classes and elephant excursions.

Emma and I didn’t really do too much research nor did we make reservations for cooking classes, or elephant excursions before we went on our trip, which, is not the best plan considering we were there over New Year’s. We called three different schools, only to find out everything was booked, and no spaces were open for most cooking schools until January 5^th, which is when we would already be in Bangkok.

Finally, we called one cooking school that only did morning and evening classes, since most schools did some all day classes. This was Zabb-e-lee cooking school. They were already full for the next three days, but on a whim, I decided to ask if there were any spots left for their cooking class that very evening. Luckily enough, they had two spaces left open for us, because someone had canceled their reservation too long before.

After making our cooking school reservation, Emma was able to find an elephant excursion company that still had space open for half day experience the next day. We were very lucky that we were able to squeeze these in at the last minute, considering it was New Year’s. Normally you can make these reservations just when you arrive in Thailand, but with busy holidays, it’s best to just reserve at least a month ahead of time.

After successfully making our reservations, Emma and I set out to wander the Old Town of Chiang Mai, and go temple hopping. Our guest house was within walking distance of at least four major temples, and many smaller ones that were tucked away in the side streets. Half of them aren’t even labeled on the map, but most of them had signs in English, and many of the signs had QR codes attached to them, so you could scan, and look up information on your smart phone or tablet.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about all of the temples we visited, but here are some pictures of the places we visited.

Etiquette rules at a buddhist temple.

At around four, we headed back to our guest house to wait for the cooking school ride to come and pick us up. We waited until 4:35, and then I decided to call them and see if they were on their way. Apparently our names were put on the list for the night, but our location was never confirmed. I tried telling them the name of our guest house over the phone, but I guess my pronunciation of Thai words was terrible, so I handed the phone over to the man at the reception desk so that he could give them directions to come and pick us up at the corner. We were the last ones to be picked up, so we were squeezed into the front seat along with the cooking teacher and our driver.

Our first stop was actually at a Thai open air market. First, we decided which dishes we wanted to cook according to the menu, and then our teacher lead us over to show us different fruits, vegetables, and spices that are used in Thai cooking. We didn’t have to actually buy any of our ingredients there though.

Our cooking teacher, showing us various food at the market.

We loaded back into the truck and went to our cooking school. At the school, each of us had our own stove, but we all shared the same large table for chopping, cutting, and pounding the curry powder. There were a few dishes where some of the women in our class had to get their friends to do the chopping for them, because. Some of the peppers are so hot and potent, that even if you think you wash your hands thoroughly, if you handle your contacts you can really burn your eyes.

Emma getting ready to cook.

Me getting ready to cook.

We cooked about five courses, and after cooking each dish, we would sit down and eat. I cooked kao soy, which is a Chiang Mai specialty, thai spring rolls, green curry, and a coconut based soup. It was really delicious. One of the best things about the cooking class, was that we could adjust certain ingredients to make the spice level just right for each of us.

Kao soy

Coconut soup!

Pounding the curry

Thai spring rolls

At the end of the class, we each received a free souvenir thai recipe book, and our cooking teacher was on the cover. The cooking school also provided transport back to our guest house. They were dropping people off to see a Muay Thai match, and at another night market, but Emma and I really had to go back to our guest house and rest up, so we could be up bright and early for our elephant excursion the next day.

Our elephant excursion on New Year’s Eve was interesting . . . to say the least. We were the first ones to be picked up, but Emma and I noticed that there was a different name of a tour company painted on the side, then what was on the brochure. The driver double checked the name list, and Emma and I were on it, so we hopped in. We spent over an hour picking up other tourists from hostels around Chiang Mai, and Emma and I noticed that we kept going around in circles, and ending up in the same spot to pick up tourists from other hostels that were literally right next to each other.

Eventually, we made it on to the highway towards the mountains where we would experience riding the elephants. On the way, our driver pulled over, and had us get out for a bit, and told us to sign a waiver. Emma and I noticed the waiver had Woody’s Elephant Home crossed out, and Happy Elephant House written in. After we all hopped back into the truck, the driver picked up another Thai woman, and wrapped a large bunch of bananas to the back of the truck. Later, he dropped off the woman and the bunch of bananas at a little farmstead in the mountains, before continuing our drive to the elephant sanctuary.

When we arrived, we were greeted by our day guide, who told us to call him “Tom.” Tom introduced us to two of the elephants, who were mother and child. One of them grabbed a plastic bag filled with snacks from one of the women in our group, and just ate it all in one go. After that, I was very careful to keep my camera in my pocket, and to not let any elephant trunks near my pockets.

We helped lead some of the elephants up the hill, and then were led into a straw hut, where we changed our clothes, and were given a brief lesson in Thai commands to give to the elephants.

Emma helped lead one of the elephants up the hill, careful to keep her stuff out of the way.

The view from the hut.

Since the place we went to is considered an Elephant rescue, we don’t ride the elephants with the wooden seats tied to their backs, because that hurts their spines. We rode them bareback.

Emma and I rode an elephant called Magnum. Emma sat in the front, with her feet behind the ears, and she was able to lean over the top of his head. I had to hold onto a rope that was tied around the elephant’s back that had two loops tied into it. We rode the elephants downhill, on a very muddy trail, and it was super difficult to keep balance. One of my handle loops came undone, and I literally started sliding to the side, and could not get myself back up. I almost fell off the elephant. One of the handlers came by to help me. I kept asking to just get off the elephant, but the man just pushed me back up, and Emma and I continued our descent down the hill.

When we got to the bottom, the elephant handlers were helping everyone else get down off of their elephants so that they could take pictures and switch places. No one came over to help me and Emma and get down. We just sat there until it was time to move along with our elephants again to the river. Before walked into the water with our elephants, some of the handlers came by to help take off our shoes so they wouldn’t get wet, and to take our cameras to get pictures of us as we went into the water with our elephants.

I must say, I actually felt much safer in the water, because if I fell off, I could just swim right to shore. The water was actually nice and cool, although it was brown and dirty, and Emma and I could feel chunks of elephant poop float by our feet.

After climbing out of the river with our elephant, we safely dismounted, and walked next to Magnum back up the hill, where we rewarded the elephants by feeding them bananas. I felt like I was walking bowlegged all the way up the hill after climbing off of the elephant. I must say, I don’t feel the need to ever ride an elephant ever again.

Walking with Magnum.

Going back up the hill where I almost DIED.

Feeding the elephants

After feeding the elephants, we went back to the hut, and were able to rinse off and change back into our normal clothes. Then we sat down to lunch, which was provided by the elephant sanctuary. Emma and I really dug into the lunch, because the elephant ride was more physically taxing than we expected, and we were the only ones in our group who didn’t have time to eat breakfast that morning.

Our tour was over after lunch, and Emma and I felt we were okay with the fact that we only did a half day elephant excursion instead of a full day. We were wiped out.

Typical Chiang Mai tourist transporter. Yes, this went on the highway, without any seatbelts.

Most of the people in our group were also only there for a half day, and we ALL fell asleep in the truck on the way back to Chiang Mai. Somewhere along the way back, our driver stopped the truck, and asked if any of us wanted to get off and go see one of the places where you can get up and close with tigers. None of us wanted to go, because we all knew that the tigers in those places are all drugged up, and we were also just too tired.

When Emma and I arrived back at our guest house, we showered and then just crashed for most of the afternoon.

Later when we woke up, we wandered out of our guest house towards one of the old gates of the Old city in Chiang Mai. It was closed off to traffic, and had a crowded market just for pedestrians. Emma and I basically spent our New Year’s on the streets of Chiang Mai, eating different street food, and wandering some of the different temples. We even found two temples where we could send off New Year’s lanterns! We just paid 60 baht to buy the lanterns, and we wrote New Year’s messages on it. We had to find someone who had a lighter to help us, but we were able to send our up with all of the others.

My New Year’s Message.

Setting off New year’s lanterns.

Drinking a coconut by the canal.

We were on a crowded street along the canal during the countdown. We didn’t see any clock, we just figured to start shouting along with the people around us. There were also some fireworks along the canal, but they were very close. We didn’t stay very long for the fireworks show because of that. On our way back to our guest house, Emma and I stopped at a relatively empty open-air bar for a few New Year’s drinks before heading back and crashing. Our guest house was in a really good location, because it was very easy to just walk back, yet it was in a relatively quiet area, away from all of the loud all-night parties.

New Year’s Day was our last full day in Chiang Mai, and Emma and I decided to go and get Thai massages. We went to this massage parlor were all of the masseuses are blind. It was an okay massage. It really took the knots out of my legs from riding the elephant the day before, but I felt like my neck was just being pounded into mush.

Sign for the massage parlor we went to on New Year’s.

We then just spent the rest of our day visiting temples and museums that we hadn’t visited yet, and then we spent our evening packing up to get ready for our flight to Bangkok the next morning.

Overall, I enjoyed Chiang Mai the most out of all of our stops on our trip. The people were super friendly, the atmosphere was really laid back, the city was really easy to get around, and the staff at our guest house were very helpful.

I didn’t know much about Chiang Mai before arriving. We went to this city mostly on Emma’s suggestion, and I’m so glad we went. It was exactly what I expected Thailand to be like, and more. I would gladly go there again.