Saw Some Stuff

November 18, 2022 – December 4, 2022

In November of 2022, Ian and I were off on a very exciting adventure to Thailand for 17 days! On this trip we explored Bangkok in central Thailand, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, Krabi and Phuket in southern Thailand, and island-hopped to Koh Lanta and Koh Phi Phi, which are islands off of the southwest coast on the the Indian Ocean.

Our first flight took off from Chicago at 11:30am on Korean Air, a Delta partner airline, and was about 14 hours to Seoul Korea. We had a 2.5 hour layover at the Seoul airport and then another 6 hour flight to Bangkok. (Yes, brutal.) We chose Thailand as our destination because our friends were backpacking around Southeast Asia for five months, so we decided to meet them out there. We packed very light with just 40L backpacks and one extra small bag for our luggage since we would be moving around a lot to different locations.

Since Thailand is a 12 hour time difference from eastern time zone, we started prepping for the new timezone a couple days before to minimize the jet lag. We used an app called Timeshifter that creates a custom plan to follow according to your current and new timezone to start shifting our time and reversing our circadian rhythm. To do this, the app told us when to avoid or drink caffeine, when to expose or cut off light, when to go to bed and wake up, etc. For example, the two days before we had to turn off all light sources from 9am-2pm and then expose ourselves to light from 7pm-10pm. On arrival, our jet lag was pretty minimal and I would definitely use the app again for a future trip.

Overall, Thailand is very cheap compared to the US. At the time of our trip, ฿1 Thailand Baht is worth $0.029 USD. During our research we found that travelers spend on average $14-20 per day on meals. Our hotels averaged $30-60 per night for nice 3-4 star hotels with great ratings.

Thai is a very difficult language to learn and we ended up only needing to learn two words that we used often on the trip, “hello” and “thank you.” Hello in Thai is สวัสดี, pronounced “sah-wah-dee (kah)” for women to say and “sah-wah-dee (krahp)” for men to say. Thank you in Thai is ขอบคุณ, pronounced “kohb kuhn (kha)” for women and “kohb kuhn (krahp)” for men. The “kha” and “krahp” is polite to add onto the end of words and we were told to slightly drag the end of the word while saying it, like “Khaaa”, which is a friendlier way to say it. Speaking too quickly or short could come across more rudely. A smile also goes a long way in Thailand.

We finally landed in Bangkok at midnight on Sunday, November 19. We lost an entire day from skipping timezones and flying over the international date line. We took a Grab (which is Thailand’s version of Uber) and checked into our hotel, Saran Poshtel, for one night. When taking a car service, we mainly used Grab over taxis because we knew exactly what price we were getting when we booked each ride to avoid getting overcharged or driver’s taking longer routes.

Bangkok (November 20, 2022):

The next morning we woke up and had a few hours to explore Bangkok before heading back to the airport. It was very hot and humid – in the mid 80’s to 90’s. We didn’t have anything planned so that we could have a more chill day while adjusting to the new timezone.

We went to a brunch spot along the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. I ordered a delicious, bright green matcha espresso latte. We then took a tuk-tuk ride and explored a couple random areas, but didn’t have time to see too much of Bangkok that day.

After our few hours of getting a small taste of the chaos of Bangkok, we made our way back to the airport and at 4pm, we took off on our 1.5 hour flight to Chiang Mai in the northern part of Thailand.

We arrived in Chiang Mai around 5:30pm, took a Grab to our hotel, and checked into the Green Tiger House. This hotel ended up being one of our favorite accommodations and also had an awesome and highly rated restaurant. For this hotel, we paid about $45/night.

Once we settled into our room, we went out to explore Chiang Mai at night. We stumbled on the Sunday night market, which is supposed to be one of the best markets in Thailand, and walked around to look at the food and vendors. For the most part we avoided eating market food so that we could lessen our chance of getting food poisoning, which is very common in Thailand. We weren’t able to drink the water anywhere in Thailand and had to drink out of bottled waters the entire time.

We found a great little restaurant for dinner called Bodhi Tree Cafe and we both got Thai curry dishes that were delicious.

Chiang Mai (November 21, 2022):

The next morning we ate a quick breakfast at our hotel and had one of our favorite days of our trip – an elephant sanctuary!

We were picked up by a Songthaew, which is a little pickup truck with two benches facing each other and an opening at the rear. We were off to the Chia Lai Orchid for our day trip at an elephant sanctuary. We did our research to make sure we were going to an ethical elephant sanctuary, meaning they don’t offer elephant rides because it is harmful to the elephants and they don’t chain up the elephants and let them roam free within the sanctuary. The Chia Lai Orchid rescues elephants from places that abused the elephants and kept them captive, so they wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild on their own. Chiang Mai has some of the better and more ethical elephant sanctuaries in Thailand.

We had about an hour ride to the Chia Lai Orchid. On arrival we met our guide Lar and were joined with another couple from Italy. We hiked on a trail through the jungle towards the elephants. On our way, Lar showed us random plants and herbs they grow for food and medicine and different ways they use bamboo, which can be used in many different useful ways. He also showed us how they use a long narrow plant as a dart to shoot at poisonous frogs. Once they catch these frogs, they know how to extract the poison out so that the frog can be cooked and eaten without poisoning someone.

We then made our way to the elephants with three elder female elephants and one baby elephant. It was such an amazing experience being that up close to an elephant. They are such majestic animals. The older elephants are a lot calmer and the baby was a little more wild and “spazzy”. He was running around and then squeezed under a wooden fence that he could barely fit through. We were laughing and heard the Italian couple point at him and say “stupido.” We fed them sugar cane under a shaded pavilion. When they see the sugar cane they go crazy with their trunks outstretched and sniff it out. The elephant handler, called a mahout, had the baby elephant give us a “kiss” on the cheek with his trunk, which felt like a suction cup that tickled slightly and I couldn’t stop laughing. We then walked the elephants down a path filled with trees and plants to the river so they could graze on vegetation along the way. Elephants eat about 330-374 pounds of vegetation daily.

Once the elephants were done grazing on fresh greenery we made our way to the river to bathe them. The elephants laid down in the water and we splashed water on them and removed any dirt and leaves. We also fed them more sugar cane in the river. The elephants skin felt very rough, like textured cement, and they have small hairs on the top of their head that felt like very rough bristles. The elephants are so large that it was a little intimidating when they would stand up or move around in the water.

After the elephant baths and a nice dip in the water on a super hot day, Lar took us to a small open hut overlooking the river and cooked us a delicious chicken and rice meal. He started the fire by hand with no lighter fluid and cooked a very fresh chicken over the fire. He also used bamboo in different ways. He broke apart bamboo sticks and used them to cook sticky rice. We filled the bamboo sticks with rice and then added a mixture of coconut milk and sugar cane. After the sticky rice was done cooking, he peeled the ends of the bamboo open like a banana peel and we scooped out the sticky rice with a spoon and poured a little extra coconut milk and sugar cane over the rice. It was a delicious sweet snack paired with our chicken and fried rice meal with a side of fresh pineapple. Lar also quickly carved all of our utensils out of bamboo. It was an amazing meal and one of the most uniquely made meals I’ve ever had.

After we finished our unique jungle meal and gave any leftovers to the lucky dogs that roam around, we walked through the Karen village that is near the Chia Lai Orchid. This village is very poor and had a lot of very small open huts for homes with random roaming animals, like pigs, chickens, cats, dogs, and we heard some water buffalo calls. Lar showed us an extremely tall tree with very tiny wood pegs for a ladder that he has to climb from time to time to gather beehives from the top, while getting stung the whole time, so that they can extract the honey from it.

We made our way back towards the main entrance and then got shuttled to another spot. We took very long bamboo raft and drifted down the Mae Wang River. A man stood in the front of the raft and used a long bamboo stick to guide the raft down the winding river. I sat in the middle and Ian sat in the very back to even out the weight. We had a nice, relaxing raft ride with beautiful jungle scenery and the water was cool and refreshing.

We had one last stop to make which was a short hike through the jungle to a waterfall. The waterfall was very powerful bouncing off the rocks and the mist felt so good in the heat. After our jungle hike we made our way back to the entrance and said our goodbyes to Lar and the elephant sanctuary. It was time to get dropped back off at our hotel.

The drive back took a while in Chiang Mai’s traffic. When we made it back the sun was setting. We were pretty hungry, so we showered and changed quickly and then went to The House by Ginger, a Michelin Bib Gourmand Award restaurant. The food and drinks were amazing and the atmosphere was super cool with eclectic furniture, decor, and a disco ball! We ordered a lot of appetizers, dishes to share, and a dessert. Everything was delicious. The owner told us that the sweet, gooey chia seed-like texture that was in the dessert came from a tree. The only thing we didn’t like was the taste of a specific herb we kept coming across, called kiffar lime leaf, that has a strong soapy, almost perfume-like taste.

Chiang Mai (November 22, 2022):

On Tuesday, we again had a quick breakfast at our hotel because the food there was amazing and we had another early start. We sat in the front by the hotel’s pool while we waited to get picked up for another day of exploring.

This day we hired a private driver to take us for a day trip to Chiang Rai to see some temples and sites. Our driver spoke little english, but she was was very friendly, accommodating, and gave us good recommendations.

Chiang Rai was a 3 hour drive away. We first visited the Wat Rong Khun (The White Temple), a buddhist temple style art exhibit created by Chalermchai Kositpipat, who designed it in 1997. It’s pure white and insanely intricate and beautiful mosaic mirror-like details and slightly unsettling structures of reaching hands and skull heads is what makes this exhibit such a popular destination. It is very beautiful and also blinding in the sun as the brightness bounces off the white building. The mosaic mirror details all over the buildings creates a glimmering disco ball effect.

Next stop was Wat Rong Suea Ten (The Blue Temple), or “Temple of the Dancing Tiger”, a modern Buddhist temple recognized by its vivid sapphire blue coloring & elaborate carvings. The temple walls, roof, and surrounding statues are all covered in this gorgeous hue, a color symbolic for purity and wisdom. Another ancient temple once stood here, and tigers are said to have roamed freely over the grounds when it was abandoned nearly a century ago.

At this temple we also walked around the mini market that was nearby and bought some fresh juice, mango, pineapple, and a blue coconut ice cream. The ice cream is dyed from a blue flower that grows in Thailand.

We ate lunch at a place our driver recommended, called Chivit Thamma Da Coffee House Bistro and Bar, with a beautiful view along a river. I ordered a delicious spicy papaya salad with prawns here.

Our final stop was Wat Huay Pla Kang, known as “The Big Buddha of Chiang Rai.” While often mistaken for the Big Buddha, this impressive statue is actually Guan Yin, the Buddhist “Goddess of Mercy” or the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The large white figure sits on a mountain top surrounded by an array of green hills in the heart of Chiang Rai. We climbed to the top of the stairs and took the elevator up to the 25th floor into the head of the figure. The inside was pure white, mystical forest-like structures with intricate and ornate details of animals, dragons, trees, and buddhist figures. I felt like we were inside a dream world. There were slits in the eyes that were actually windows that you could look out from the top. This site ended up being way more impressive than we imagined.

The drive back felt pretty long, but we took a little nap in the car and we got back after dark. We stopped at a gas station on the way and had our first squat-potty experience, which is basically a toilet bowl that is a hole in the ground and you have to squat over. Also, you can’t flush toilet paper pretty much anywhere in Thailand because their plumbing systems can’t handle it.

We were pretty tired and hungry, so we ate at the hotel restaurant, The Green Tiger House. We ordered Khoa Soi, a deliciously rich, creamy, slightly spicy yellow curry dish originating in Northern Thailand. Khoa Soi was one of the dishes that is highly recommended to try in Chiang Mia and it did not disappoint! It was probably one of my favorite dishes we ate.

Wed, November 23:

On Wednesday, we had our last breakfast at The Green Tiger House, which consisted of a tropical acaî smoothie bowl, mango smoothie bowl and mango pancakes.

On this day our original plan was to go to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, which is a temple on Doi Suthep mountain in Chiang Mai, but since we did temples the day before we decided to visit the Bua Tong Sticky Waterfall instead.

The Bua Tong Sticky Waterfall was about a 1.5-2 hour drive away. We decided to rent a two person scooter. At first we said we would never drive a scooter in Thailand especially since you drive on the other side of the road, but we realized that it’s a main source of transportation for locals and I felt comfortable since Ian used to drive a motorcycle.

We rented our scooter from the hotel. I road on the back and Ian drove the scooter. Getting out of the city was a little scarier with traffic, but once we got on the main road it was smooth sailing for the rest of the ride. It ended up taking us 1.5 hours to get there. We realized it actually is faster to take a scooter because they are allowed to drive on the shoulder and can get around traffic a little easier. It felt liberating driving a scooter through Thailand’s roads and jungles.

We made it to the Bua Tong Sticky Waterfall. We were so happy we ended up doing this instead of the other temple because I’ve never seen anything like it. The reason it’s called a “sticky” waterfall is because of the calcium deposit on the rock that forms makes the rocks not slippery, and therefore climbable. So we put on some bug spray (which we surprisingly barely ever needed) and walked down a lot of stairs to the bottom of the waterfall. Once we got to the bottom we took off our shoes, tied them to our backpacks, and started climbing the waterfall. The rocks made rounded bubble-like steps that reminded me of a cartoon waterfall. The rocks were very easy to climb at the bottom, but got slightly more difficult towards the top where it was steeper and slightly more slippery. They had ropes to grab on to for support. It was so much fun and the water felt very refreshing.

I wish we could have chilled there all day. Unfortunately, we did have to head back to make it to the airport on time. We got back onto our scooter and made our way back to our hotel in Chiang Mai. We were sad to leave Chiang Mai and wish we could spend more time there.

When we got back we had a quick quinoa bowl for lunch and then ordered our Grab to take us to the airport. Our flight from Chiang Mai took off at 5:40pm and we arrived at our next destination in Krabi around 7:30pm. Krabi is in the southern part of Thailand and where we were meeting up our friends, Shelby and Myles, who were backpacking in Asia. We were all so excited to see each other and ran towards each other at the airport.

It was pouring rain in Krabi when we arrived. We were a little worried about the weather because the forecast for the week wasn’t looking too good, but we figured it would change and wasn’t worth worrying about it. We took a Grab to our hotel at Panan Krabi Resort. After a 45 minute drive, we arrived and checked into our resort. The hotel gave us a fresh glass of mango juice as a welcome. Our hotel was awesome. We had a huge king bed and a huge bathroom with a jacuzzi.

We were starving so we changed real quick out of our plane clothes and walked across the street to Cafe 8.98, Ao Nang for dinner. I ordered fish tacos here that were super good and fresh. A lot of the restaurants tend to have westernized options on their menu. I tried not to order those options unless I was really craving it.

We walked around for a bit and then went back in earlier this night since we were all pretty tired.

Chiang Mai (November 24, 2022):

The next morning we all decided to sleep in a little because we had to get up fairly early the days before. It felt so good to finally sleep in a little. We were pretty sleep deprived.

When we got up it was raining, so we went down to our buffet breakfast to discuss our plan for the day. The breakfast there was really good and had a lot of options. It continued to rain so we went over to the pool bar and got a drink there while we figured out what to do. It looked like the weather was going to get better in about an hour, so we enjoyed our drink under the bar. To be honest, the rain was a nice break from the scorching hot sun.

The rain finally stopped so we left our hotel and explored around Krabi. We were about a 5 minute walk to the beach. Our hotel had a bar located on the beach called Reeves. We went to Reeves to go check it out and got a quick iced coconut coffee.

Since the sun was now out blazing, we decided to buy a ticket for a long tail boat ride to Railay Beach. Railay Beach was about a 10 minute boat ride away. Railay is pretty close on the coast, but you can only get there by boat. We waited about 20 minutes for an available long tail boat to arrive and then we were up. We took our first long tail boat to Railay and got dropped off on the beach. Because there is usually no dock, the boats drop the anchor in shallow water and then you have to jump into the shallow water and walk the rest of the way to the beach. The lower the tide the farther back the boats have to stop. I loved walking through the water and didn’t mind at all, but I could see how this type of docking would be more difficult for older people or anyone carrying rolling luggage. That was another reason we brought backpacks for this trip.

Railay beach was super cool and laid back. We walked through the beach and the little shops. We then took a 20 minute trail along a cliff under cave formations that led us to the other side of the coast called Phra Nang Cave Beach.

Once we got to Phra Nang, we walked along the beach and discovered some rock formations that we explored for a bit. There was also a cave near the corner of the beach that looked like it was filled with something colorful. As we got closer we realized it was hundreds of colorful penis shaped wood carvings. It is believed by the villagers that the spirit of Phra Nang (Princess Goddess) resides in the cave. Votive offerings would be made at the shrine, such as flowers, incense sticks, or wood carvings. The belief is that the offerings would create fertility and prosperity to the whole earth and mankind.

We tied our bags together on a spot at the beach and then went into the water to swim for a bit. The water was so warm and we had a wonderful few of massive rock formations coming out of the water. After several hours of exploring Railay, we took the long tail boat ferry back to Ao Nang beach and walked back to our hotel. We changed and headed back out to Reeves for dinner. I ordered a fish dinner. The meals here weren’t terrible, but pretty mediocre compared to all the other meals we had.

After dinner and a drink we walked around to explore more. Krabi definitely had a little bit more of a touristy vibe then I expected. Mostly just along the shopping strip by the beach where there were a lot of touristy vendors, bars, and pretty mediocre restaurants. I’m assuming Krabi isn’t known for their food, while other places, like Bangkok and Chiang Mai, are definitely up there in the Michelin Star level restaurants.

It was hard to find another spot to grab a drink. Everywhere we walked there would be someone outside the bar trying to hassle people to come inside their bar for a drink. Anytime someone did that to us, we would avoid that place like the plague. It felt like a tourist trap. We finally found a place that wasn’t hassling us to come in and got a drink. During this trip, I pretty much only drank Chang beer, which I’m normally not a huge beer drinker. It seemed like any cocktail I tried to order was pretty weak and not really worth it. Chang (pronounced “shahng”, not “chayng”) was a lighter wheat beer that was pretty good.

After our drink, we decided to get feet massages. Massages in Thailand are extremely cheap compared to the US, so it was definitely on our list to get a massage or two while we were in Thailand. As we walked around looking for a massage place, we stumbled on a few random shops that we decided to check out.

As we were looking around this one shop, Ian was flipping through some of the printed shirts. While he was looking, I heard him say “OMG no way! Jaclyn your design!!!!” He pulled out the shirt that caught his eye and sure enough it was a shirt with my artwork of a cheetah head printed all over it. Our jaws dropped in shock. At first I was super mad to discover my stolen artwork, but then I was just laughing at the coincidence. What are the chances that I walked in to the one store on the other side of the world that happened to be selling it. We didn’t come across this shirt anywhere else during our visit. Super weird. The next day I decided to go back and buy it….. it was 200 Baht, which is about $5. What better souvenir from another country than one you designed, AMIRITE?

After the stolen artwork debacle, we found a nice massage place. We all asked for a one hour foot massage, which was $10. We all sat back in huge comfy chairs next to each other while we each had a masseuse work on our feet. It felt amazing. They used an acupuncture tool that felt like a stick putting pressure in certain spots and it felt so good, especially after doing so much walking during this trip. My feet felt like walking on clouds after. I was going to sleep good that night.

The massages made us tired, so we headed back to our hotel and passed out.

Fri, November 25:

The next day we decided to go to the Emerald Pool in Krabi. This was a bit of drive to get there, so we decided to rent some scooters. It always seemed like the best and most fun mode of transportation.

We found a place down the street to rent some scooters. It was super hot this day so a dip in a natural pool sounded amazing. This drive was a little bit longer than we expected, about 2 hours. The drive was unfortunately not the most exciting scenery, but it was interesting to drive through some of the random towns. Some of the towns looked as if we were in India or the middle east. There were a lot more middle eastern people and women wearing hijabs that covered their whole face that we came across in Krabi.

We finally made it the Emerald Pool, which is a mineral pool and popular swimming spot in a lush forest with a wooden walking track. The wooden path was beautiful walking through a winding path through the jungle. We made it back to the Emerald Pool. We walked in and it felt cool and refreshing. We swam in there and chatted for a while. Then we dried off and decided to head back before it got dark towards this restaurant called Mountain View Restaurant that was on the side of a mountain.

By the time we got to the restaurant it was starting to get dark out. The restaurant, which was also a hotel, was completely EMPTY. We were a little weirded out and took it as a bad sign. We imagined the food must not be very good or fresh if there was no one staying there. The hotel looked awesome, but we ended up just getting a large Chang beer and then heading back towards our hotel.

We dropped off our scooters and walked back to our hotel. By this time it was dark out. We were starving since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. The night before we saw an Indian place that looked good, so after changing and getting ready for dinner, we walked around to look for the Indian restaurant. We found the place and it was called Pure Vegetarian Govinda’s Restaurant. We walked up some stairs and the restaurant was located on a top floor balcony overlooking the streets of Krabi. We had to take off our shoes to get into the restaurant. The floors were very clean. This seems to be a common habit in Thailand restaurants. The Indian place was delicious and probably the best food we had in Krabi. We ordered Naan bread with rice, curry and chickpea dipping sauces, falafel wraps, and samosas. We were very full and very happy.

After dinner, we weren’t really feeling any of the bar scene around here, so we decided to get massages again. Ian and I needed to experience a full body Thai massage, which I’ve heard both good and bad things about. We ended up going back to the same massage place as the night before and paid around $15 for a full body massage. The tiny, but strong Thai women took us each back into a room. Ian and I were in one room with a curtain between us and Shelby and Myles were in another room.

They had us change into a light linen shirt and pants. We laid down on a hard table and then the women came in and started the massage. A Thai massage is definitely an *experience*. It was a mix of a massage and a chiropractor session. The lady immediately climbed on top of my back and was really getting her knees and elbows deep into my muscles. It felt really good. They also did a lot of stretching and popping and limb bending. There was one point where she took my head and swung my back around on either side of her body and then pushed my back forward with her knee while holding my shoulders back. I’m pretty sure my back shouldn’t be bending those ways, but either way it ended up feeling pretty good. Although, probably not the best massage to get after feasting on Indian food.

After getting bent in every direction and making sure our limbs were put on correctly, we made our way back to the hotel. We had to get up early the next day for a boat excursion, so we wanted to get to bed at a decent time. On our way back we stopped at a 711 (which are on every corner in Thailand) to taste test some interesting Thai chip flavors, like mayo, miso soup, lobster, and seaweed. We played a game to see if we could guess which flavor it was and honestly they weren’t as bad as I thought they would be. We decided to take advantage of our jacuzzi and then passed out for the night.

Krabi, Ao Nang (November 26, 2022):

Saturday was our last day in Krabi. We had booked a boat excursion the day before and were getting picked up around 8:15am that morning. We had a quick breakfast at our buffet and then the shuttle arrived.

A shuttle took us to the Nopparat Thara Pier where we were welcomed by our guide, Tuna, who was originally from Loas. We had about 10 people total in our group. We were brought to our boat for the day and there we met Tuna’s boss Georgé, a Spanish man, who was the owner of the tour company and helped us set up the tour, plus the captain and other crew men helping work the boat. The boat was a larger speed boat that had a yawning and windows on the side.

The first stop we made was Ko Phakbia, which was a beautiful little beach with a sand bar. We swam and walked around the beach for a little bit. When we were in the water we kept feeling little stings and assumed that there were very tiny jelly fish every where.

We got back on the boat and our next step was to ride by James Bond Island. We weren’t going to stop on the island because it’s very overcrowded and touristy, but we stopped and took a couple pictures. Apparently this island was in the James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun. As we were sitting in front of James Bond Island there a storm rolling in fast towards us. It was very dark and eerie to see a large sheet of gray mist coming right at us. The captain started heading the other direction away from the storm and barely even a mile away we were in complete sunshine. It’s crazy how different and how fast the weather changes there.

We stopped at a little beach along a cliff, which I’m not sure what the name of this island was. We saw some cliff paintings and walked around this beach for a bit. Georgé led some of us to the top of some rocks to get a nice view of the ocean. This was a mistake to go without shoes since the rocks were pretty sharp, but somehow Ian and I made it up and back down without cutting our feet.

Our next stop was Ko Roi. We docked our boat and walked around on the beach. Here we swam in the clear, turquoise blue water with hanging rock cliffs. We swam back through a small opening in the rocks. On the other side of the opening was a beautiful hidden lagoon. The sun was shining and sparkling into the water and there was a small island in the middle covered with rocks and mangrove trees. Again we were feeling little jelly fish stings here and there. We followed Georgé into knee deep water around the back and took in the scenery. We were told that a lot of mangrove trees were planted around Thailand to protect the islands from tsunamis because they help to slow the water down and then the mangrove trees kind of take over and create a small jungle of trees. As we were sitting there listening to Georgé, suddenly Myles screamed because he thought something bit his finger in the water, but it was just a stick. We all laughed and then got the hell out of there incase it wasn’t just a stick (lol).

We got back onto the boat and went on to our next stop at Ko Ku Du Yai. We did a quick hike back to another spot where we swam in clear blue sparkling water with beautiful rock formations coming out of the water. There were a lot of massive corral on the bottom of this spot that we had to avoid and a German lady in our group accidentally cut a pretty good gash on the bottom of her leg and had to get bandaged up. After our swim, we hiked back to the boat.

The boat took us to our next spot to Ko Yao Noi by Kian Bay around noon. We hiked back on a raised wooden path through the jungle to a HUGE very old tree. It was probably 10 feet or more wide and so tall we couldn’t see the top through the trees. We continued walking through the jungle and came across a poisonous red centipede and an abandoned restaurant, which looked like a scene from the show Lost. We hiked back by the boat and they made us a nice picnic on the beach. We ate spring rolls, rice, chicken, banana, pineapple, and a couple other dishes.

After our lunch, we boated through a beautiful lagoon on Koh Hong Island. We took the boat through a small opening in the cliffs and the water was sparkling turquoise blue surrounded by cliffs and rock formations. The water looked very inviting. We didn’t swim in the lagoon, but just passed through. We then boated to and docked at a beach on Hong Island. This was the largest beach we went to that day. We hung out there for a little on the beach and swam around. The tide started to get lower and lower right under us.

After Hong beach, we got back onto the boat and headed back towards Ao Nang. On our way back we did a quick stop at Red Island to snorkel. It wasn’t much of an island, but more of a giant red rock sticking out of the water with shallower water. The snorkeling was pretty good and we saw some fish and lots of different corals, clams, and rocks.

After about a 20 minute snorkel we got back onto the boat and headed back to start dropping people off. We made a quick stop at Railay beach to drop off the German couple on our tour. The husband had to carry his wife through the water, since she had cut her leg and couldn’t get it wet, all while carrying three large luggage bags. It was quite impressive and we all clapped when they made it to the beach without falling over. The rest of the boat ride back we had an amazing pink and orange sunset over the water.

By the time we got back to the Nopparat Thara Pier it was dark. Everyone else got off the boat to be shuttled back, but us four had set up another night snorkeling excursion with Georgé. We climbed onto a double decker long tail boat with Georgé and his captain and went back out to night snorkel to see some bioluminescent plankton! Bioluminescent plankton activate a blue glow when they sense movement in the water and can cause the surface of the ocean to sparkle at night (Avatar style). They can be seen in oceans in certain areas around the world, like Krabi. We were very excited for this, but also nervous for two reasons – one, we were worried we wouldn’t find any since it’s hit or miss and two, because we were about to swim in the ocean at night. Eek! It was a new moon that night, when the water is at it’s darkest, so we were hopeful we would see some plankton.

Our boat stopped somewhere between Railay Beach and Toblerone Bay for our night snorkeling. The area we stopped in had a few other boats and tours also snorkeling in the same area, so we were feeling better about it. Georgé wasn’t sure if we would see the plankton. We put on our snorkeling masks, they turned off all the lights on the boat, and we jumped into the pitch black water. We were told to put our heads in the water and move our arms and legs around super fast to activate the plankton. As we made movement, sure enough the water lit up like sparkling blue bubbles. It definitely made us forget that below us was a pitch black darkness of nothingness. I’m sure we looked like morons rapidly splashing the water for 10 minutes straight, but it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. We were swimming in the stars. When we slid our hands up out of the water some of the plankton remained glowing on our hands for a second. Georgé said to look at the glowing plankton in the water and then look up at the stars in the sky right after because it was “quite poetic.”

After we jostled around some bioluminescent plankton, we were dropped back off at the pier and a truck took us back to our hotel. We showered and changed for dinner.

We were pretty exhausted after a 12 hour day of exploring, swimming and snorkeling (such a hard life), so we walked to a restaurant that looked pretty cool not too far from our hotel, called Thailandia Bar & Restaurant. The restaurant was really fun, hippie vibes with lights and hanging decor everywhere. They had a stage right behind us with some Thai singers singing American cover songs. We ordered some chicken satay with peanut dipping sauce and spring roll appetizers and I got a curry veggie and rice stir fry dish.

We went to bed right after because we had to wake up early again the next day for our ferry to our next stop, Koh Lanta.

Koh Lanta (November 27, 2022):

On Sunday, we woke up, ate our last breakfast at our hotel in Krabi, and got picked up by a shuttle for our ferry to Koh Lanta. Koh Lanta is a slightly less popular and less touristy island of Thailand. It’s a lot less developed than some of the other areas we were in and we heard it was a lot more chill and “beachy”. We were very excited to have a couple relaxing days on the beach after so many days of non stop activity. The shuttle took us to the same pier as the day before. We were then loaded onto the Tigerline ferry, which was just slightly larger than our speed boat the previous day. It took us about an hour to get to Koh Lanta because they made a couple drop off stops on the way.

We arrived at the Saladan Pier on Koh Lanta. We found a Songthaew taxi to take us to our hotel, Baan Kantiang See Villas. About a half hour drive from the pier the truck stopped at the bottom of a very steep bumpy road. The driver didn’t speak much english but opened the back of the truck for us to exit and pointed up the hill. I asked if he could take us to the top and he laughed and shook his head saying that his truck wouldn’t make it in broken english. So we grabbed our heavy backpacks and hiked up a VERY steep road to our hotel. The hike was about 10 minutes because we had to walk very slow.

We made it to the top and found our hotel. The climb was not fun, but WOW, the view was worth it. We could see part of the coast from the top and an incredible view of the ocean. The hotel owner greeted us and took us to our room. We all stayed in one large villa because they had two rooms that each had their own bathroom. The villa and the view from our balcony was amazing. It was very hot, but luckily each room had an air conditioning unit. The lady told us to make sure we don’t keep our shoes outside because the monkeys would steal them. *foreshadowing*

We unpacked our stuff and then rented some scooters from the hotel. We got two scooters – one for Ian and I and one for Shelby and Myles. Ian and Myles drove while Shelby and I sat on the backs. When our scooters arrived, we made our way out of the resort to find somewhere to eat. The extremely steep climb was A LOT more manageable now with scooters. We saw a bunch of monkeys casually walking around. We found a restaurant called Drunken Sailors. Already we were loving this island. Every bar had a very laid back, hippie vibe. This restaurant was all outdoor and very relaxing with hanging swing lounge chairs. It was almost noon, but I was craving breakfast still so I ordered an açaí smoothie bowl that was delicious. Right before my food came out a giant cockroach fell from the ceiling, hit my shoulder and fell to the ground. The waitress kicked it off the wooden platform. That’s Thailand!

After we ate, we decided to go beach hopping. We got onto our scooters and drove down the winding roads. It’s a lot nicer driving scooters in Koh Lanta because it’s such a remote island that there are hardly any cars on the island – almost entirely scooters. Also the scenery every where is amazing – a mix of beach, ocean, and jungle views.

The first beach we went to was Nui Bay. We parked our scooter on the side of the road and walked down a rocky stairway that led to the beach. There was a small hut at the end of the stairs that looked like a small cafe, but other then that it was just beach. The sand was so soft and the water was warm and felt amazing. We bought some cheap snorkel masks on the way to see if we could snorkel around the beaches. While we were getting ready to swim and snorkel we noticed a lot of monkeys everywhere. We had thrown our stuff on a rock on the beach. A couple that walked by told us to watch our stuff or the monkeys would steal it. So Ian and I tied all of our stuff together so it would be harder to grab and we laid down on the beach nearby to keep an eye on our stuff.

After a little while, we decided to check out another beach. Next, we stopped at Bamboo Beach. There was a dirt road to the beach where we passed a small farm and some cows. Once we got to the beach there was a small hut that sold some food and drinks. A lot of these places looked like a cafe attached to someones home. We sat at the beach while soaking in the ocean golden hour views and ate some fresh mango.

The sun was starting to get lower so we decided to find somewhere for dinner and to chill. We drove our scooters to find Freedom bar, which was a recommended bar we found during our research. We had trouble finding the Freedom bar sign, so we walked through LightHouse Beach Bar instead, and we found Freedom bar connected to it. The bars sat along Klong Khong Beach and there was a whole strip of bars along the beach. LightHouse and Freedom bars were both awesome, laid back hippie vibes and some light lo-fi house music. There were four perfect chairs on the beach in front of the bars waiting for us to sit in. We had front row seats for the sunset.

After the sun went down and we finished our drinks at LightHouse Beach Bar, we walked over to Freedom bar for some food. I ordered a curry veggie stir fry that was inside a young coconut. It was delish. We hung out at the bar for a little longer and played some euchre. Freedom bar was super cool at night with psychedelic vibes with lit up and glow in the dark decor. They sell “happy shakes” there, which are “shroom shakes”, but we did not partake.

We then drove back to our hotel to a beautiful view of Koh Lanta lit up at night from our balcony, but unfortunately Ian and I found that the air conditioning unit in our room wasn’t fully working and our toilet would not flush. We informed the hotel and they said they would have someone come out to repair the unit or switch our rooms the next day. I wasn’t thrilled about sleeping in the super hot muggy air. We didn’t sleep GREAT that night, but at least it cooled down a bit without the sun blazing into the room.

Koh Lanta (November 28, 2022):

The next morning, Shelby saw some monkeys grab the shorts and tank top that she left outside on the balcony. They were fighting for the clothes like a game of tug of war and then they took off in the jungle and her clothes were never seen again. Some say there’s now a monkey somewhere deep in the jungle wearing a Lululemon outfit. They also left a lovely little “package” on the balcony right before they left. How nice.

We got on our scooters and found a cute little breakfast spot. We were sad that this was our last day on Koh Lanta. We found a little cafe, overlooking Khlong Hin Beach, called Tuesday Morning Small Talk Cafe and Chill Out Bar. The sign outside said they were open from 9:09am to 6:06pm. Very quirky. This was one of my favorite breakfasts. We ordered passion fruit espresso, iced coconut lattes, banana pancakes, passion fruit acai smoothie bowls, and tropical smoothie bowl.

We drove back to our hotel so that we could deal with the broken air conditioning unit situation. We hung out in the hotel’s infinity pool overlooking the ocean while we had a Chang beer. Not too bad of a wait. Once the room was ready, we were brought to our new room, which looked pretty similar.

After the room situation was settled, we scootered to Mu Ko Lanta National Park that was at the south end of the island. We walked around the beach and swam for a bit. We saw a very large hermit crab walking on the beach. Hermits were everywhere.

The sun was starting to get lower and we were hungry, so we made our way towards a resort we discovered called Pimmalai Resort to eat at the restaurant, Rak Talay. It took us a second to find the restaurant because the resort was huge and had many winding roads. We looked it up and the resort was around $500 per night, which is a lot in Thailand. We ate at a table right on the beach overlooking a sunset and had one of our favorite dinners. Not just because of the sunset, but the food was amazing. We got octopus, crispy duck, tofu and veggie satay, chicken satay, spring rolls, drinks, and several desserts. We were there for a while hanging out and having fun.

A little before we were about to head out, Shelby and I went to use the restroom real quick. The restrooms here were so nice and had great toilets. I never realized how much I missed a really nice bathroom and plumping system, until you’re in a country where it’s not so great. Sometimes you just need to appreciate the little things in life, eh? (Speaking of “eh,” our waiter here was very Canadian and recognized our accents from the midwest.)

Anyways, it was dark out now and as we were leaving the bathroom and climbing all the stairs to get back down to the restaurant, a bright green frog jumped out of a bush directly onto Shelby’s leg. She screamed so loud that the entire restaurant looked over and the wait staff all came over to make sure we weren’t getting attacked by a monkey or something. We couldn’t stop laughing and had to embarrassingly say that it was just a frog… and that was our cue to leave.

We weren’t totally ready to go back to our hotel yet, so we walked along the beach and found a bar called Why Not Bar. Everyone at the bar was so friendly and high – our waiter literally lit up a joint as he was taking our drink orders while carrying someone else’s baby… why not? We played some Euchre and then watched a fire show performed on the beach right in front of the bar. After the fire show, the guys walked around doing more tricks with fire and Myles eyebrows almost got singed off.

We drove back to our hotel and into our newly air conditioned room. Ah, sweet air conditioning.

Ko Phi Phi (November 29, 2022):

The next day we packed up our luggage and headed to the Saladian Pier to take a ferry to our next stop, Ko Phi Phi (pronounced “Koh Pee-Pee”), which is another island off of the southwest coast of Thailand. Ko Phi Phi, also known as Phi Phi Islands, consists of two island: Ko Phi Phi Don and Ko Phi Phi Le. We were staying on Ko Phi Phi Don, which was the larger island.

We found a random breakfast spot near the pier and then got onto the ferry. The ferry took around 1 hour. On arrival, we unloaded our stuff and made our way to our hotel, CoCo Beach Resort, which was about a 10 minute walk. We checked in and were brought to our rooms, which were these cool little bamboo huts in a very tropical walkway. The huts were made entirely of bamboo and the insides were air conditioned with a nice bathroom and bed. Although, we could tell that the bamboo walls weren’t exactly sound-proofed. You could literally hear your neighbor talking from the next hut over.

Once we got settled, it was after noon. We grabbed a quick lunch at our hotel and then walked around to explore. This island was very different from Koh Lanta. A lot busier, more crowded and popular. Instead of a lot of nature and jungle, beach scenery like Koh Lanta, this island was a little more developed with touristy shops, winding walkways, and bars along the beach. This was definitely more of a “party” island. Walking around the streets we noticed the wires everywhere were absolutely insane. I’ve never seen so many electric wires intertwined together.

Once it got dark out, we grabbed a drink at a bar called Moonlight Beach Bar. Afterwards, we found a restaurant for dinner called Garlic 1992. It was a family owned restaurant that looked a little run down and nothing special, but was extremely packed with a line waiting to get seated. The restaurant supposedly had amazing food and, after eating there, that was definitely true. I ordered a Khoa Soi dish that was delicious and a fresh mango mojito bucket drink.

We went back to the room to go to sleep, but unfortunately that was very difficult due to the paper thin bamboo huts. We could hear the booming music from the bars through our huts, vibrating the floor, until they closed at 2am. No big deal – just piling on some more sleep deprivation to our sleep deprivation.

Koh Phi Phi (November 30, 2022):

The next morning, we were very excited for our private long boat excursion around Phi Phi Islands that we set up the previous day. The boat would take us around to explore both Ko Phi Phi Don and Ko Phi Phi Le. The best part was it was just us four on the boat with our guide, Mr. Chet and his crew mate. This meant we would have the whole boat to ourselves and could go at our own pace at every stop. It was perfect. Mr. Chet picked us up along the beach right by our hotel and we were off!

We first boated around Ko Phi Phi Don. The water here was absolutely stunning – crystal clear, vibrant turquoise water. We boated along massive rock formations in the water with over hanging cliffs. Each long tail boat has a colorful, floral garland hanging around the front “tail” of the boat and really adds a pop of color to the picturesque scenery. One of the small rock formations we passed was called Camel Rock because, surprise, it was shaped like a camel. We made our first stop on Nui Beach, which was a smaller beach with a lot of shells washed onto the shore. We explored around the beach and had a successful hunt for some interesting shells and multicolored sea glass.

We got back onto the boat and made our way back to Wang Long Bay. This was a beautiful lagoon-like area set between large rocks with perfectly clear water and a rocky bottom. We saw several monkeys sitting on the side of the rock wall watching us. We jumped into the sparkling water and swam for a bit. It was very refreshing.

We climbed back onto the boat and headed towards the smaller island, Ko Phi Phi Le. Our first stop on this island was Maya Beach, which was the location where The Beach, a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, was filmed. I made sure to watch the movie before we came to Thailand. Since that movie was released, this island has become extremely popular and was very overcrowded with tourists. Because of this, no one was allowed to swim in the water within the bay on Maya Beach to preserve the beach and water. That was probably a good thing because the water was probably the bluest I’ve ever seen here. The sand at Maya Beach was very white and so soft. We also saw a couple of small, white sharks swimming near the shore.

After we made our way back through the crowd and onto our long tail boat, Mr. Chet took us to an area close by, near Loh Samah Bay for some snorkeling. This was by far the coolest and most successful snorkeling I’ve ever done. We saw so many undersea creatures – a ton of fish, sharks, a poisonous snake, eels, coral, clams, sea urchins, clown fish, glowing anemone, puffer fish, a colorful wall of underwater flowers and swam next to a school of fish. We had the best time and Mr. Chet did an awesome job of capturing our experience on a GoPro.

We continued our snorkel all the way to the shore that was within a bay on a very tiny beach that we had all to ourselves. From the beach we had a beautiful view of the clear, turquoise ocean between two large rock formations. We ate a chicken, veggie and rice meal with a side of fresh pineapple on the soft, white sand. Another group showed up to this little beach right as we were finishing and, coincidentally, it was another tour with Tuna and Georgé, our previous guides from our boat excursion on Krabi. What are the chances that we happened to run into them at the exact same time, on the tiniest beach, on a totally different island in Thailand. These coincidental run-ins seem to be happening a lot around here.

After our delightful lunch with a view, our guide took us to Pileh Lagoon. Now this was the prettiest, turquoise blue color water I have ever seen (I know I keep saying that). I couldn’t wait to jump in. It was so beautiful and refreshing. We swam in this area for a while and didn’t want to leave.

After Pi Leh Lagoon, we were heading to our last couple stops. We made a quick stop at Viking Cave, which was a large cave opening along a cliff that was filled with ladders and walkway structures. Mr. Chet told us that people come here to collect bird nests to sell and make bird nest soup. Not sure how I feel about that.

Our last and final stop was Monkey Beach. The beach was filled with monkeys running around, hanging from trees and playing around. We were laughing watching multiple monkeys messing around with each other playing in the trees, jumping from tree to tree and knocking each other off – just “monkeying” around.

Mr. Chet took us back to our hotel and dropped us off on the shore. We were blown away by the day from the incredible views to the snorkeling. This may have been the best day yet. Now we were sad to leave Phi Phi Islands and our last day with Shelby and Myles.

We went back to our bamboo huts to shower and change for dinner. We found a restaurant called Anna’s Restaurant that had great reviews. I got a spicy papaya salad that was delicious and just the right amount of spice. I had yet to eat a Thai dish that was too spicy for me. After dinner we decided to get one last cheap Thai massage and found a place nearby. This time we got a one hour back, shoulder, and foot massage. It felt amazing.

We were planning to head back to our hotel, when we came across a Thai boxing bar. We were very intrigued and decided to watch a few rounds. The boxers were random people that signed up in the crowd, mostly drunk college students and some seemed like real boxers. They went all out and it was very entertaining. After seeing multiple nose bleeds, we headed back towards our huts. What a day.

Phuket (December 1, 2022):

The next morning was December 1st. It definitely didn’t feel like December in the 90 degree hot sun. We packed up our stuff and got onto our last ferry to Phuket. This was our last day with Shelby and Myles before we departed for our flight back to Bangkok and they would be continuing on their backpacking adventure solo (co-solo?).

We would only be in Phuket for a half day, but we didn’t feel like we were missing much. Most people said Phuket was their least favorite place in Thailand and it’s definitely the most developed, westernized, and expensive. After walking around, I was pleasantly surprised. It was really cool with pretty architecture and great for taking some cool photography, but definitely more pricey and touristy. Although, I see why a lot of people stay in Phuket for convenience, because it’s a great jumping off point to get to a lot of the Southern islands for day trips.

We dropped off our luggage at a boutique hotel and explored Phuket Old Town. The buildings around Old Town were unique, colorful Sino-Portuguese style architecture. We found a Turkish place, called Efe, for lunch that had some amazing food and a very cool eclectic, Turkish-style decor and atmosphere.

We continued walking around stopping in random shops and came across a bar with a lopsided doorway, which was a replica of The Hogshead bar from Harry Potter! We obviously had to stop in.

After our quick drink at The Hogshead and one last game of Euchre, it was time to say goodbye and head to the airport. Our flight took off at 7:50pm and we arrived in Bangkok at 9:50pm. We were back in the chaos!

We took a grab and checked into our hotel, Phranakorn-Nornlen Hotel. We were welcomed by the hotel owner, who was very nice and told us to call her B. The hotel was very unique with eclectic, vintage decor, intricate hand painted murals covering the walls and a different theme in every room. By the time we got to our room, it was pretty late, so we went to bed.

Bangkok (December 2, 2022):

The next morning we planned to visit the Grand Palace and explore around Bangkok. Tomorrow would be our final day and we were super sad to leave. We saw so much, yet there was so much left to see. We ate breakfast at little spot called Slow Bar. We got delicious acai smoothie bowls and matcha espresso oat milk lattes (my new fav drink).

After breakfast we walked to the Grand Palace, which is a complex of buildings surrounded by walls at the heart of Bangkok that was the former residence of the Kings of Siam since 1782. The buildings within consisted of government buildings, religious buildings, temples, and statues all decked out with very intricate and ornate details. We then took a ferry across the Chao Phraya River where we saw Wat Arun, or the Temple of the Dawn, which is a beautiful, ancient 79-meter-high temple, dating back to the Ayutthaya Period from the 14th to 18th century. Wat arun is also reputed as being Thailand’s “Eiffel Tower”, especially at night when it is all lit up.

After crossing back on the ferry to return to the other side of the river, we decided to wave down a taxi to take us to the Jim Thompson Museum. We had heard about this museum during our research that used to be Jim Thompson’s former home, an American man that is famous for producing silk in Thailand and mysteriously disappeared one day. The home is beautiful Thai-inspired architecture with some modern additions and beautiful jungle-like landscape around the home that they’ve now turned into a museum. We joined one of the group tours of the home and then took a Grab back to our hotel.

We booked a tuk tuk night food tour around Bangkok for that night. We changed real quick and got ready to head back out for the meeting location. We had about 10 other people on our tuk tuk tour. Each couple got their own tuk tuk that was lit up with led lights. We looked like a gang of Mario go-karts traveling in a pack.

Our first stop on the tour was at a restaurant called Pad Thai Ar-Simp where we ate Pad Thai with Prawns. Then we went to another stop where we got a taste of an array of dishes like pork, papaya salad, a soup, and dipping sauces. Both of these restaurants looked like hole in the wall type places, but the food was excellent.

After the restaurants, our tuk tuk dropped us off at a stand in Chinatown. The stand was called Patonggo, which is a Michelin Star market stand. Here we tried grilled Patongo, a delicious grilled Chinese dough with a sweet Pandon coconut custard topping. Right as we got out of our tuk tuk we were astonished to run into one of our friends from Michigan as she was passing by – again another insanely coincidental run-in.

We continued walking through Chinatown, which was wild and very crowded. I was warned to hold my purse close incase of pick-pocketing. There was some very interesting and stomach-churning items sold at some of the market stands, like a grilled scorpion, red centipede, or tarantula on a stick. Not a snack I will be trying anytime soon. We then made our way to the flower night market where Thai workers prepare flowers to be sold and planted around Bangkok. We walked through a super busy and bustling building that looked like a factory where everyone was working to prep the flowers. We were given a lotus flower and our guide showed us how to properly fold the petals until the center of the lotus is revealed. Lotus flowers are a popular item that is used as an offering at Buddhist temples.

We got back into our tuk tuk and then went to Michelin star restaurant called Ann Guay Tiew Kua Gai. Again this place looked like very run down family owned restaurant and they cooked their food in an alley way. We went back to the alleyway to watch them cook, which smelled delicious. Here we ate a dish of noodles, egg, chicken, and veggies that was amazing. As we were eating, a little toddler boy ran naked through the restaurant. I am assuming the family that owns the restaurant also lives there.

Our last stop on the tuk tuk food tour was at the Sala Arun hotel where we climbed to the top floor at the Eagle Nest Bar on the rooftop. The bar had an amazing view overlooking the Chao Phraya River with Wat Arun and other buildings lit up at night. Wat Arun really did look like the Eiffel Tower from there. We enjoyed the view with one last Chang beer on the rooftop and then the tuk tuk dropped us back off at our hotel.

We asked our hotel owner, B, to help us set up a ride to a couple markets right outside of Bangkok for our last day and she asked if she could come along. We said of course and she said she would meet us in the lobby in the morning.

Bangkok (December 3, 2022):

Today was sadly our last day in Bangkok and Thailand. We were going to visit two markets, The Maeklong Railway Market and the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. We met B downstairs in the lobby and got into a cab that was about a 1.5 hour drive. She got us two large sweet iced coffees, that were good but maybe a little too sweet for my taste. They like their drinks VERY sweet in Thailand.

We ended up being very happy that B came along with us because the markets were chaotic and confusing and she knew how to navigate the markets and the best vendors. The Maeklong Railway Market was very unique. It consisted of a market that ran along a running railway. The train has been passing through since 1905 several times a day and the vendors have to adjust their products and canopies quickly to make room for the train to pass through. As soon as the train has passed they quickly arrange their stands back to the original position and then the railway fills back up with a crowd. Similar to Chinatown, there were a lot very unique products being sold, anywhere from live eel and catfish to durian fruit and coco leaves (the leaves that are used to make cocaine). B said that she has tried a coco leaf before and it gives you a little buzz, like nicotine.

We bought some dried mango and tried durian fruit. Durian is a very stinky fruit and is pretty much what all of Bangkok smells like. The best way to describe the smell is like decayed onions and cheese. A lot of building signs in Bangkok will say “No Durian Allowed” because of the smell. B knew how to find a nice, ripe durian and we were very surprised to find that it was pretty good. It had a creamy texture that tasted like a mix between an avocado and a melon.

Next, we went to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. Here B had rented a boat for us that took us through a river with tropical scenery to the market area where many vendors were selling food and products on their boats that were floating in the water. There were some vendors that had stationary platforms that you could boat up next to. I bought a small painting of two Thai women on a floating market selling flowers. It was a perfect little souvenir. We also bought some mini bananas and mangosteen to try at the market, which is a small purple tropical fruit with a hard exterior that you have to squeeze open between your palms to get to the sweet, white colored, citrus-like center. We got out of the boat at one of the shops and saw how they make coconut sugar in a fire, after collecting coconuts from the trees, and got to try some fresh, sweet coconut syrup….mmm.

Our boat took us back, dropped us off, and our cab took us back to our hotel. We were exhausted from the heat and all the walking that we all took a nap in the car (except the driver, hopefully). Ian and I changed real quick and then headed back out for our last meal. We walked to enjoy some last views of the chaotic city and went to a Michelin Star restaurant called Methavalai Sorndaeng where we ordered some crispy rice noodles in sweet and sour sauce, spicy lemongrass salad, crab meat and acacia red curry, and a cashew chicken stir fry, which was all very delicious.

After dinner, we made one last stop on our walk back to check out Khao San Road, which is well-known street in Bangkok where a lot of backpackers and younger locals go to grab a drink, eat, hangout, and party. We didn’t make too many stops, but did get one last look at some delightful scorpion and tarantula snacks on sticks and a very large skinned alligator.

We arrived back at our hotel. We were exhausted, hot and sweaty from the humidity and craziness of Bangkok. We showered, changed, and packed up all our belongings. We thanked B for organizing a fun day and said our goodbyes. Our cab ride to the airport was filled with dread, as we were so sad to leave and not looking forward to the long travel home and jet lag. Yet, at the same time we felt very pleased as we reminisced about our new experiences and memories. Our flight took off at 11:15pm. We had a 4.5 hour layover in Seoul and then another 12 hour flight back to Chicago. At least the flight home was slightly faster. After stopping at our favorite coffee shop in Chicago, Bad Owl, for coffee and bagel sandwiches, we had one last final 4 hour drive and we were back in Detroit – WHEW!

Ian and I were soaking in the last two fun-filled, action packed weeks of some incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experiences that we’ll never forget. We were very sad our adventure in Thailand had come to an end, but we will be back some day.