South East Asia: Thailand Part 1

Hello readers!!

I’ve made it through my first 20 days in Thailand alive, only given in to Western food 4 times, and I’m having the best time!

I’ll start from the beginning (duh). My journey to Bangkok was smooth but long and boring. I’m not very good at sleeping on the move so my two 6 hour plane journeys were spent wide awake and completely restless. Passport control at the airport upon arrival was agonisingly slow but then I managed to find a train to the centre where my hostel was. That’s when I met my first friend who found a hostel near my hotel and I stuck with her. The hotel, Buddy Boutique Inn (booked for me by STA travel), was really nice. Location was prime and they made cute, little elephants out of the towels. I struggled to sleep on my first night, and accidentally slept in. That’s jet lag for you.

After my unintentional lie in, I went on a little walk where a lovely little Thai man who said he liked my converse told me where to book a bus to get me to Pai for the next day. What’s more, he halted a tuk tuk, which he told me are miles cheaper than taxis (this is true), and it took me to see lots of other things for 20 Baht (45p)!!!! I’ll tell the truth though, I was terrified. It isn’t the safest form of travel. He left me at a Thai restaurant where I had my first authentic Thai dish. I had Pad Thai. If I had known how much I would be eating it for the next month I would have NEVER ordered it. If I see another Pad Thai I’m going to throw up. I’ve learnt how to use chopsticks whilst I’ve been here though! While I was sat at the waterside restaurant I saw two huge reptiles. Google told me they were Asian Water Monitors. My first scary, foreign creatures! That night I met my friend for drinks and we went dancing with her new hostel friends on Khoa San Road, the best place for nightlife in central Bangkok. Despite my intention for those 2 days in Bangkok being to chill out and acclimatise I had a really good time, except I wasn’t a massive fan of having fried insects on sticks stuck in my face. No thank you!

The next morning I had to check out so I left my bags at reception and I went on a walk to a supermarket on the other side of the river for some food. I had no idea the river was so beautiful. It actually inspired me to have a riverboat tour which is a good way to see Bangkok when you don’t have a lot of time. The difference between the city and the back canals was indescribable. The houses were built out of whatever everyone could find and were practically falling apart, though it was quite humbling watching the family’s spending their Sunday’s together on their porches. I caught a bus back to my hotel afterwards and got a Thai foot massage. I’m not going to lie, at one point I thought she was going to pull my toes off but afterwards I felt like I was walking on clouds. Then the bus picked me up to take me to Chiang Mai where I then got a minivan to Pai, my next destination. The bus took 12 hours and I was stuck in between a guy who headbanged to his music and a guy who cracked his toes. And let’s not forget I can’t sleep on transport. The minivan journey from Chiang Mai to Pai was hell. The road had 792 curves. 792. I haven’t been travel sick for years but that really screwed me over. I felt very sorry for the people sat next to me, I’ll put it that way. 

When I eventually got to my hostel, the Famous Pai Circus Hostel, I was greeted by the most insane view of the mountains over an infinity pool. My dorm for the night however... not the best. There was a huge hole in the door, I felt like I was going to fall through the floor at any second, my mosquito net had holes in it, and when my dorm mate and I headed to sleep for the night there were stray dogs on our beds. So we both upgraded to much nicer rooms. But the hostel had such amazing vibes. Music playing all the time, circus classes in the evening, a pool table by the outdoor bar, everything was so chill. 

I was invited by my new friend and his mates to go for a motorbike ride with them to the caves and I jumped at the opportunity. I hopped on the back of one because I had never driven one before but it was incredible. I felt so free. The caves were super interesting too. 

A couple of days after my new friends left the hostel so I spoke to three lovely people who invited me along with them to the hot springs and a few other places. 3/4 of us learnt how to ride a moped for the first time and it took us all 20 minutes max to get the hang of it. After that I LOVED riding it. The hot springs were blissful but, surprise surprise (it’s really not a surprise), I got my phone water damaged. It didn’t work until I went back to Chiang Mai to get it fixed. What’s worse, less than an hour later I had an accident on my bike and messed up my knee and my elbow pretty bad. It could have been so much worse but no broken bones, and at least I was wearing a helmet. After being taken care of I rode on the back of another bike to see the white Buddha at sunset and it was really beautiful. After my accident my activities were limited. I couldn’t go in the pool or visit the waterfalls, I couldn’t trek so Pai canyon was out of the picture too. I was so upset. I spent the next few days tanning (burning*) at the hostel but I was determined not to let it limit me too much so I still went to the Electric Valley music festival on my last night. The taxi journey there was probably the most hilarious/terrifying/chaotic part as the whole thing fell apart while we were moving and 4 people fell off it (no casualties). The music was awful and I had an argument with the bar tender because she conned me out of 150 Baht but I danced the night away anyway. 

When I got back to Chiang Mai and found my hostel I made friends almost immediately and on our first night we took a Thai cooking class. It was really cool because they grew all their own vegetables and herbs and we picked our own ingredients before we began cooking. Our instructor was the sassiest, feistiest Thai man in the world making it all the more fun. I learnt to make Pad Thai, spring rolls, red curry and spicy chicken soup with sweet basil, and I got a cook book to keep so I have no excuse for not cooking them at home (I apologise to my family in advance). 

We also took a day trip to the National Park called Doi Inthanon. It was all so beautiful but my favourite part by far was my first waterfall experience of the trip. There were two: one for the Queen and an even more incredible one for the King. However, my favourite day so far was probably one of the best days of my life. In the morning I went to see elephants. AGHHH!! I honestly get excited thinking about it. I did my research and made sure I was supporting a sanctuary that looked after their elephants and when I got there it was evident that they did. They only had small groups so not to overwhelm them, there was no riding, and they could go up into the jungle whenever they pleased. They were clearly happy elephants. We met the whole family: Daddy, pregnant Mummy, Grandma, grumpy teenager and baby. I loved feeding them so much, even when the Dad stole ALL my bamboo from right off my shoulder (I got it on camera!!). In the afternoon I went to the Chiang Mai Grand Canyon. My friend and I took a paddle board right out into the middle of the lake and just sunbathed on it. The view from any point was unreal but there was something special about being right in the middle of it. It was such a magical day. 

On another day I went zip lining! There were 49 platforms through a lush jungle scene, although I missed the view for the first 5 or 6 as my eyes were shut... not that I was scared or anything... And it wasn’t just zip lining, ooooh no. Three times we had to descend the platform to trek to the next set. So they attached us to a rope and DROPPED us 20 metres before cushioning the landing. The more you begged for them to lower you slowly the harder you’d fall. They loved taunting us, but I can’t lie, it was so much fun despite being terrified.

For some reason on the hottest day of the week I decided to go on a lengthy walk through the old town (the centre of Chiang Mai) to do a bit of temple spotting. There were SO. MANY. TEMPLES. All of them so impeccably detailed and intricate and glistening with gold. Chiang Mai really didn’t disappoint.

I really hope I haven’t bored you because that’s only my first 20 days in Thailand!! So far I haven’t done anything I wouldn’t recommend to anyone else (apart from falling off a moped) which I consider a major success. I’m heading to a couple of islands next so I doubt I’ll be doing much other than soaking up the sun, drinking coconut milk on the beach so the next entry will be a bit shorter, don’t worry!

I’m having such an amazing time and I can’t wait to write again.

Lizzy xx