our journey to chiang mai was a bit of a long haul. i left my apartment at 9:30 in the morning and took a bus to cheonan. from cheonan it was a 2 hour bus ride up to the airport. we checked in and exchanged money for our 4:40pm flight to qingdao, china. did you know you can only be on mainland china in excess of 24 hours without a visa (if you don't land in one of the airports with the 72 hour transit visa)? we had two layovers in china: one was 14 hours in qingdao and one was 6 hours in kunming. they check when you land in china and when you take off. we landed in qingdao at 5pm on the 6th and flew out of kunming at 5pm on the 7th. we were in china for exactly 24 hours. it was a close one and i was nervous they weren't going to let us on the plane. phew.
we got to chiang mai at 7:30pm on wednesday and took a taxi to our hostel on nimmam soi 1. the location was awesome. it was a quaint little street full of cafes and coffee shops and art galleries. i loved it. the hostel itself was incredibly clean. our rooms were a bunkbed and about a foot on one side to move around, it was tight but cozy. woody, the owner, was kind and watched out for us, checking the buses and taxis that came to get us to make sure we were safe. i was really thankful for him.
the first day in chiang mai we wandered our little area. there were lots of leafy side streets to walk down. we started the day with smoothies and a thai massage. we hopped from cafe to coffee shop and i had a few thai iced coffees (so delicious). that night we ate at a famous restaurant on our street called "mix" and ended with a dessert called global warming that melted under fire.
nimbent soi 1 | the street our hostel was on
being a tourist | chiang mai
the first coffee shop | nimmam
mapping our route | chiang mai
the second day, we went to the elephant nature park which is a sanctuary for 41 or so rescued elephants. the elephants here have been saved from illegal logging operations in myanmar, street begging in bangkok, and trekking camps in thailand. the elephants are not ridden, instead they are left to their own wanderings in the park and interact with humans on their terms. the 41 elephants have formed 5 herds, 2 have babies that roam the park as well. we began the day by feeding the elephants watermelons. it was awesome to see them use their trunks as a limb and grab the melon before sticking it in their mouth. we had a buffet lunch (the best i've ever had!) full of cooked vegetables i haven't seen in a while (or ever) and some pasta. it was such a good, good lunch. afterwards, we wandered the park on foot. approaching some of the elephants. occasionally, we had to back slowly (or quickly) away if they seemed too interested in us. finally, we bathed some of the elephants in the river. ours was a lovely girl. she stood patiently and ate her melons while we splashed her with buckets of the river water. it was fun to play around with an elephant and touch her and be around her.
bathing our girl | elephant nature park
feeding watermelons | elephant nature park
my pachyderm palz | elephant nature park
old girl playing in the mud | elephant nature park
the third and last day in chiang mai, we walked to the old part of the city to see some of the temples. there were so many! there are 36 active temples just in the old city (which is not very big). they were all unique, though, so it was cool to see the intricate designs on the outside and inside. we got some thai pants (very comfortable) and took a tuk tuk back to our part of town for dinner, packing, and early sleeps before our 6am flight to phuket.
temple | old chiang mai
wat chedi luang | old chiang mai
tuk tuk ride home | chiang mai
we landed in phuket around 8am on sunday morning and took a mini bus down to patong where our resort was. the beach was right across the street and the hotel let us check in early so we took naps before changing clothes and heading to the rooftop pool. that evening we wandered a little ways from the hotel for dinner, but because we were so tired we crashed early. the next day, we had fresh fruit on our balcony for breakfast before going to the pool. sadly, i got quite burned this day. so we had an early dinner of pad thai and holed up for the night with some movies from the front desk. the next day, i was still burned so we sat in the shade and went to happy hour and just relaxed. that night we put our feet in the indian ocean and it was a lot warmer than i expected! it smelled salty and the breeze was fresh. it was amazing. the next early morning, i got food poisoning from some 1. street pad thai or 2. street mango smoothie, i'm not sure which was the culprit, but it was not a pleasant experience. we had to check out at noon that day and i was still not feeling well so we had a lot of time between then and our flight at 3am. we bounced between air conditioned places until the sun started going down. for the evening, we sat in the cool sand by the indian ocean, watching: the cruise ship out in the bay, people sending off floating lanterns, fireworks, and all sorts of goodness. it was a pleasant way to end the trip.
at 8, we took a taxi to the airport and waited for our flight. we had a layover in shanghai for a couple hours where we parked it at starbucks and did puzzles. and we were in korea that night.
indian ocean and beach | patong
view from above | patong
last sunset on the indian ocean | patong
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even though thailand beat me in the end with my burn and food poisoning, i loved it. i loved the people, the atmosphere, the elephants, the beaches. i loved the scenery and the food. i loved the thai iced coffees and little cafes. i loved the fresh fruit and smoothies. it was a great experience, one of my favorites. things to do for next time: don't have a 14 and 6 hour layover on the way there, take the train to bangkok, rent an umbrella, and spend more time swimming in the ocean. thankful for adventurous friends and an adventurous spirit and the means to take them places. thankful for energy and spontaneity and cheerfulness to get us through long layovers and nights in china. thankful for aloe and mango smoothies to cool. thankful for mornings on the hot balcony and nights in the comfy bed. thankful for the sunshine and warmth in between.
happy january !
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