Blogs from North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 7

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Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Rai July 16th 2018

Today was our earliest non-travel day in Chiang Mai. We had signed up for a day-long tour of multiple attractions in the area. The tour had planned stops at a hot spring, the White Temple (Wat Rong Khun), Golden Triangle, and a Long-Neck village. The bus showed up at 7:30 for an early start to the day. The hot spring was not what we had imagined. The spring was a couple of concrete pools where people could soak their feet. Kristy took a brief soak while Brad abstained. Surrounding the pools were many shops and vendors with typical Thai market goods along with some silver jewelry. The hot spring area was more touristy than we liked and proved to be a harbinger of the day. The drive to the White Temple was long and arduous. Our ... read more
White Temple Hell
Boat to Laos
Snake Whiskey2

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai July 15th 2018

For today’s adventure, we hired a driver to take us to a few locations around Chiang Mai off the beaten path. The itinerary included “sticky falls”, hiking to a waterfall, and visiting a temple on a hill overlooking the city. Our driver met us at 8:00 AM and we hopped in the back of his pickup. The drive to url=https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1951349-d1760401-Reviews-Bua_Thong_Waterfalls_Nam_Phu_Chet_Si-Mae_Taeng.htmlBua Thong (“sticky falls”) was a little over an hour. The falls are located in a small national park with some cabins, a small market, and a lot of cyclists. We took the path then the stairs that descended beside the falls all the way to the bottom. We changed into our bathing suits and investigated the falls. The falls have a unique property that the water has a lot of minerals in it that have been ... read more
Snake Warning
Huay Thung Tao
Wat Phra 2

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai July 14th 2018

We did not have any plans until 11:30 on Saturday, so we slept in a little and set the agenda for the remainder of our time in Chiang Mai. We had omelets at the Rustic and lounged about. At 11:30 our truck pulled up to transport us out to the Elephant Sanctuary! It was a long ride but we met some fun people in the back of our pickup. Once at the Sanctuary, we heard a little about the elephant’s history in Thailand. Originally, many elephants were used in the illegal timber industry. Once the government cracked down on this industry, elephants became a bit of a menace to local farmers. Elephants were then rented to riding camps and more recently have been rescued to these sanctuaries. After a bit of a history lesson, we got ... read more
Kristy and Brad at Elephant Sanctuary 3
Kristy and Brad at Elephant Sanctuary 2
Kristy and Brad at Elephant Sanctuary

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai July 13th 2018

We woke early to depart Bangkok and fly to Chiang Mai. The domestic flight is only an hour long. We stayed at the Rustic River Boutiquejust outside the old city walls of Chiang Mai. Upon checking in the lady at the front desk was very friendly and helpful. She gave us an overview of the area, food recommendations, and a few activity excursions that we could try. Kristy the planner already had researched a place for lunch. We got settled then headed out for lunch. We walked the narrow streets of the city out to url=https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293917-d3179026-Reviews-Khao_Soi_Lam_Duan_Fa_Ham-Chiang_Mai.htmlKhao Soi Lam Duan for some lunch. The restaurant is an unassuming roadside greasy spoon, just our kind of spot! The interior was quite modest and reminded us of a Thai Sunshine General Store. The proprietor of Lam ... read more
Khao Soi Lam Duan
Kristy at Khao Soi
Brad at Khao Soi

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Mae Hong Son July 4th 2018

C’est reparti mon kiki, je reprends ma ligne personnelle de métro, la 15 habituelle, à destination de Suvarnabhumi airport, Bangkok, Thaïlande. Les sempiternelles grèves nationales tombent mal et augmentent le temps de trajet au départ ainsi que la température des wagons. Le court arrêt à Vienne, Autriche, offre un quasi vol direct de moins de 10 heures. Le siège est étroit dans le Boeing 777, mon écran est cassé, donc bien calé, je n’ai d’autre occupation que de dormir, j’y arrive plutôt bien. Ne partant que 2 semaines, j’ai allégé mon sac, 12,9 kilos, un record. Premier beef green curry à l’aéroport. Vol pour Chiang Mai, 700 kms au nord de BKK et me voilà rendu à mes désormais habitudes siamoises. Il fait nuit, je file à mon hôtel réservé, l’A.N. House dans la vieille ville, ... read more
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Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Rai April 29th 2018

As I sit here, sipping on my lemon ice tea and enjoying my cinnamon scroll I am left to think; am I still in Asia? Of course, I am. I'm in Chiang Rai and have 4 hours to kill before I jump on a bus to Chaing Mai and since I have all my bags with me, the thought of sight seeing just didn't appeal. Instead I thought to tease you all with another blog post on how I promise to write more on my trip but I think we all know that won't happen. I set the expectations way too high and now we are all left feeling a bit ripped off. This trip has been life changing and I don't really want it to end but, on the other hand, my whole life has ... read more

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai April 5th 2018

After the hustle and bustle of Hanoi when we woke up in Chiang Rai and went for a walk around town we were grateful to find roads where cars obeyed red lights and you could count the number of scooters in immediate view on two hands. It was also hot so I was able to retire my jeans and sweatshirt which I was absolutely disgusted about having to put on in Vietnam! I’ve been to Thailand twice now but never been more north than Bangkok so I was excited about seeing what it had to offer and how it differed from the islands in the south. We only ended up visiting Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai before returning to Bangkok but we managed to achieve a good mix of busy and quieter days. Chiang Rai was ... read more
Buddha in Chiang Rai
Cat Cafe
Learning to cook

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai April 3rd 2018

Like most travellers I’ve blown a third of my budget in the first 2 weeks. We now buy beer cans from the 7/11 and refuse to pay 5 THB to use the toilet. It’s our last day in northern Thailand so we wanted to do something great. We had the option of either hanging out at the Chiang Mai canyon or go to an insect museum. So what do we do? We go to the bloody insect museum. In our defence, there were thunderstorms forecast (which never happened) and it was ranked one of the top attractions in Chiang Mai. I have no idea why. There were at least a million different bugs in there and they were all huge and gross. We managed to enjoy ourselves with some immature humour though. We went to the ... read more
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Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai April 2nd 2018

We’re gutted to be leaving Pai. It’s likely to be the most traditionally Thai town we’ll visit. We spent our last night in our favourite bar in Pai; Sabai bar, which translates to ‘Happy bar’. We’ve had some unforgettable experiences and made crazy memories in this magical little place. I highly recommend visiting Pai. We took the uncomfortable 4 hour bus back to Chiang Mai as we fly to Hanoi on Wednesday and we have unfinished business with Chiang Mai; places to go and sights to see. We’re staying in the ZZ guesthouse which is about 15 minutes west outside of Old town, neighbouring the night bazaar. t seems to be a richer area of Chiang Mai; we got breakfast at the Thai equivalent of Waitrose. We looked lost. We got in after a wild night ... read more
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Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Pai March 30th 2018

We hired a moped and I jumped on the back while Dean drove us to Pai Canyon, about 15 minutes outside of town. After getting very lost we finally found it after about 40 minutes of being pointed in the wrong direction by locals who couldn’t understand us. The 30ft drop combined with the narrow rocky walkways along the canyon was slightly terrifying. Nethertheless, it was stunning. We made the mistake of getting there in the heat of the midday sun so we didn’t stay long before biking off the beaten track to Pam Bok Waterfall. Depsite it being surrounded by beautiful caves and jungle, we found it a bit underwhelming because the water didn’t look fresh and we didn’t get to swim. After today I’ve got 27 nasty itchy bites all over my legs; It ... read more
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