Thailand · December 21, 2013 – January 5, 2014

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A new year. A fresh start. It’s weird to think that 2014 will be the year where I will not be visiting home at all. I plan to stick around here for my summer holidays and eagerly anticipate for family and friends who plan to visit me later in the year! SO if you were wondering what to do this summer maybe you want to do some traveling….let me know! 😊

Thailand’s scenery is breathtaking and the people are very friendly. We had an awesome time exploring A LOT over these past two weeks.



DAY ONE AND TWO · Bangkok, Thailand

Our journey started off in Bangkok where we spent a total of two days. We arrived at our hotel mid-day and saw protesters marching down the street in front. There was nothing to be alarmed about – it appeared to be your regular protest, just a bunch of people making lot of noise. Before we left Jakarta, we had looked up and read the travel advisories issued, but the hard hit places were far from where we were planning to visit. That first half day was very low key. We were both extremely exhausted from a hectic work week and spent our time relaxing. The next morning however, we had a tour booked to visit the Floating Markets of Damnoen Saduak. I remember seeing pictures of this market growing up, but to experience it, it’s something else. This market was definitely my Bangkok highlight. Our tour group was small comprising of only eight members. We first stopped at a coconut plantation before we were driven to a dock where we all piled into a long tailed speedboat. The speedboat took us down these channels which backed onto various people’s homes and farmland. Eventually we entered into the outskirts of the market and were dropped off. From there, the group piled into a wooden canoe type boat and a woman seated in the very back paddled us around to the different merchants. In addition to having merchants lining up and calling from their stalls on either side of the channel as we floated by, there were people selling food from their boats as well. It was an incredible experience! I absolutely loved it! It turned out I was assigned to the very front of the canoe, which made for countless photo opportunities and a perfect view. After the actual boat ride we had time to walk around and grab some food. My friend and I tried coconut ice cream for the first time. Two scoops of ice cream were served in a half a coconut shell with shavings of coconut meat. It tasted amazing! We tried to find it again on our trip but couldn’t. The morning ended with a stop at a wood carving village. Their woodwork was extremely intricate. The photos don’t do the craftsmanship nor the time and effort put into them justice – what is hard to see in the photos are the layers and depth these carvings have. We were impressed by what we saw. The itinerary said this was a full day trip so we were surprised to be back at the hotel by early afternoon. We took advantage of our time after lunch and did some sightseeing around the city. Our favorite mode of transportation were tuk-tuks and are frequently seen on the city streets. We saw the Golden Mount, Reclining Buddha, Flower Market and the Temple of Dawn lit up at night.



DAY THREE · Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Thailand

We flew to Chiang Mai mid-afternoon but before being stuck in an airport, we managed to squeeze in two other major landmarks: The Grand Palace and The Temple of Dawn. We grabbed lunch at the airport and were stoked to find a Subway – it had been six months since we had seen one and needless to say it hit the spot!



DAY FOUR · Chiang Mai, Thailand

One our friends passed along a driver’s contact information from when they were in Chiang Mai this past summer with their family before moving to Jakarta. We phoned him up and he and his wife took us where we wanted to go: Tiger Kingdom and a Long Neck Village. At Tiger Kingdom we ended up hiring a photographer so that we could concentrate on being with the tigers rather than capturing the moment. We ended up seeing every tiger age group available: baby, small, medium and large. Since we were there, we decided to do it all! It was incredible. They seemed to have been treated fairly well . We felt rushed and wished we could have spent more time with the animals. An interesting fact we did learn when we were there was the larger tigers eat 8-9 chickens per day! The Long Neck Village was informative and neat to visit. These girls start wearing rings around their neck at age 5. It was first thought the rings were a deterrent against invaders taking them as slaves, but it was discovered later that this tribe viewed having long necks as a sign of beauty. We were able to hold a stack of rings they had on display for people to touch – they were HEAVY! I can’t imagine having 24+ rings on my neck. Most of them also wore rings on their legs and wrists as well. In the evening we checked out Chiang Mai’s largest night market – the Night Bazaar. We browsed through rows and rows of stalls, bought a few small items and even had a fish spa experience! I had heard about these fish back home – the ones that feed off the dead skin cells on your feet and legs. It didn’t hurt at all but it definitely tickled and took some adjusting to get used to once we were knee deep in the tank!



DAY FIVE · Chiang Mai, Thailand

One of the most memorable Christmas Days EVER. There are no shortage of places in Thailand where one can ride an elephant. A lot of thought, research and reading reviews went into the decision processes of which elephant company we were to go with. We wanted to hire a reputable company where the elephants were treated well. The company we finally went with was called Ran-Tong: Save and Rescue Elephant Centre. It was a full day event where we learned basic elephant commands in Thai, how to mount and dismount onto our elephant and the overall care that is required for these animals. There were about ten of us in a group – a family from Spain, two girls from London, England and us two. The English girls just happened to be staying at the same hotel as we were. We connected with them from the beginning and shared lots of laughs throughout the day. After learning the basic elephant commands and going for a test run through the jungle on the back our elephants , we stopped for lunch. Kim and I rode on the same elephant and took turns who was in the front. Riding elephants bare back we were told is better for them than strapping the seats to their backs for tourists which is often seen. Sitting right behind the elephant’s ears was more comfortable than the shoulders, since it took a little more balancing and effort to hang on whenever the elephant took a step. Our elephant’s name was Tongin. He was the largest elephant there, but not the oldest. Tongin was 35 years old and he weighed 2 tons. We learnt elephants can eat up to 100kg of food and 200 liters of water per day! Certainly costly animals to own! After eating our lunch, there was significant time where we were able to just be with the elephants. For a lack of a better word, it was incredible! We were able to feed them, take pictures, talk with the trainers, etc. Then it was time to make the jungle trek to the water fall and river bank where we swam with them and washed them down with scrub brushes and small handheld pails. After being sprayed by water by the elephants and spending more time with them, we rode them back to camp. On the ride back to our hotel the English girls and us decided to rest up a little, wash up and head to dinner together. They had a restaurant in mind located on the Mae Ping River, the major water way that runs through Chiang Mai. It was wonderful – great food, good company and lots of laughter. The night ended with another visit to Chiang Mai’s famous Night Bazaar.



DAY SIX · Chiang Mai, Thailand

It was another early start but worth it as we were off to a Thai cooking class. This cooking class lasted all day. After we were picked up we headed to a local market where we learned about various foods and products. This is also where we bought the ingredients for our Thai dishes. After the market we headed to the organic farm where we spent the rest of the day. Before cooking, we went on a farm tour and were shown the different plants and herbs were to come from. We made five dishes in total: Yellow Curry with Chicken, Thai Vegetable Soup, Fried Chicken with Cashew Nuts, Spring Rolls, and Mango with Sticky Rice for dessert. There were fifteen dishes we could choose from – five rows of three . Most people would choose to make different dishes than the person that came with so that they could sample more food. It was all very tasty and I can’t wait to try make these dishes again in my own kitchen! That evening after grabbing food at a local restaurant, we headed over to iberry – an ice cream place we had heard about. We were told to look for a large pink dog out front but we weren’t aware how large this dog was to be!



DAY SEVEN · Chiang Mai to Phuket, Thailand

It was the first time in the last few days where we didn’t need to be anywhere in particular. We enjoyed our sleep in and explored more of the Old Town before heading to the airport to catch our flight to Phuket. The way the flights worked out, we had a layover for a few hours in Bangkok before we reached our destination.



DAY EIGHT · Phuket, Thailand

We enjoyed a sunny day spent on a speedboat out on the ocean. Kim and I love boating and being out on the water, so this was a perfect way to spend the day. The tour was called the Phang Nga Bay and James Bond Island Tour. We were escorted in and out of the giant rock cliffs you see from photos when you Google Image search Thailand. The scenery was beautiful with blue skies and the emerald green and turquoise waters. We did some island and beach hopping as well, which including jumping off the boat into the water for a swim, a canoe ride into the rock cliffs, snorkeling etc. For lunch we stopped at the famous Panyee Island, home to the Muslim Fishing Village. There were definitely some seafood dishes that were served , all freshly caught earlier that morning. Our guide took us around showing us the local schools, the floating soccer field, the mosque, etc. We learnt the population slightly grows every year. They currently at 360 families making for a population of 1685 people. The guide mentioned the settlement was started by three families from Indonesia years ago, but since then more people have settled there. We ended the day by walking the streets of Phuket and eating dinner at one of the restaurants.



DAY NINE · Phuket, Thailand

The next day we had another speedboat excursion, this time to Phi Phi Island, Krabi and the surrounding Islands. This tour was much more beach focused with lots of opportunities to snorkel, whereas the Phng Nga Bay and James Bond Island Tour was much more culturally focused we found and had less time allocated for beach relaxing. The relaxing bit is what we appreciated about this tour and spent quality time in hammocks J. It was nice to have done the tours in the order that we did them in. Both were with the same company, both days being completely different and both were great. On the way back to our hotel we were stuck in bad traffic – first, the driver burnt his clutch out which caused us to flag down public transport, but then we learned the accident was caused by a tour bus losing control of its breaks as it entered into the busiest area of where we were staying. Sadly, people died and were rushed to hospital. After spending hours in traffic, we didn’t feel like venturing out to find a place to eat, so we ordered food through the hotel and relaxed as room service delivered it.



DAY TEN – TWELVE · Phuket to Koh Mook, Thailand

We were dropped off at a pier where we piled onto a much larger speedboat than what was used the previous two days for our excursions. After an hour and a half we were dropped off at yet another pier just to be loaded onto a different speedboat which took us to Koh Mook. Then we were told to get off at a random beach which looked like it belonged to a different resort than the one we were staying at, but a man who owned a long tail boat escorted the two of us and a young Sweedish family to our side of the island. The resort beach he stopped at was the Sweedish family’s, so when the man told us to get out as well, we were confused. After we asked him/told him the name of the place we were staying at again, he pointed down the beach. So there we were, exhausted, hungry and with all our gear, we now had to wander down and who knew how far to our resort. We laughed about it and trusted the man that he knew what he was talking about! We had walked about 100m when I asked two girls on the beach if they knew how far down/if they heard of our resort. They confirmed that we were in the right place and after talking with them for a few more minutes, we learned they were both from Montana but now living in Bali – the one girl was also teaching and the other was working for an energy resource company. They quickly offered to take some of our bags and walk us to our place .

Being on a remote island, you are removed from the crowds and the business that comes with it. It was super nice to just wake up when we wanted to, suntan, swim, read a book, eat when we felt like it, and walk way out when the tide was out.

On Day Eleven however, we booked another excursion. It was a private day tour on a long tail boat to Emerald Cave and its three neighboring islands. The tour was called the Four Island Tour. Emerald Cave was the one other thing I really wanted to see in Thailand. I had first learned about it while watching the Bachelor a few years back. Yup, I watch the Bachelor……This is a place where you jump from your boat and with a flashlight you swim through a tunnel to a hidden beach enclosed by huge rock cliffs. Since we were on a private tour we had control over how long we wanted to spend time at each destination. We were glad we weren’t with a tour where you could have anywhere between 50-100+ people all in life jackets hanging onto each other and swimming single file through this cave. These tours made the beach inside very crowded, but once they cleared out, and it was just a few others and us, it was very surreal. The pictures don’t capture the beauty as it was experienced in person, but this stop was definitely worth seeing!

From there, the tour brought us to these other two islands where we snorkeled before heading to our fourth and final island for lunch and time spent relaxing on the beach. On the boat ride home we laid out on the deck of the long tail boat catching the wind and sun.

We spent New Year’s here too. There was a small firework show which the resort put on, but aside from that, it was low key event – nothing major happened.



DAY THIRTEEN – FIFTEEN · Koh Mook to Koh Lao Liang, Thailand

Then we were off again to our final destination – another remote island deep South in the Andaman Sea called Koh Lao Liang. The place we were staying at on Koh Mook told us they would arrange a taxi for us to get both our gear and us to the pier on the other side of the island from where we were staying. We both thought it would be a long tail boat that would transport us as there are no real roads on this island….but we were wrong. Our taxi was a motorcycle with a cabin . We piled into this crate along with our things for a 5 minute ride on some back narrow pathways to the pier. We had heard from the Montana girls that there was a small village on the island – a little ways down from where we were staying, and our taxi ride took us to the outskirts of this village. We passed a school, some homes and shops before reaching the pier. We transferred onto a long tail boat and made the trip to another island where we waited for more people to join us from a ferry. We’re not sure why we left the resort as early as we did since we had to wait on this island for two and a half hours for the ferry which was scheduled to arrive then. Since you never really know what time things will for sure happen at, the ferry ended up coming four hours later – almost doubled what we were told…..yeah, we were ready to go by the time we left! Koh Lao Liang is known as a climber’s paradise. It’s an Eco Resort. This last week was planned for us so we didn’t know what to all expect both at Koh Mook and Koh Lao Liang. We slept in large tents on the beach equipped with electricity . It had a very low key and laid back atmosphere. We spent our time lounging in hammocks, snorkeling, exploring when the tide was out, kayaking etc. in the evening, star gazing on the beach was stunning – away from pollution and lights, everything was crystal clear! Not only on Koh Lao Liang, but Koh Mook as well.



DAY SIXTEEN · Koh Lao Liang to Phuket, Thailand to Jakarta, Indonesia

We left the island at 10.30am by a long tail boat to the ferry dock at a different island. This ferry was going to bring us back to Phuket as we had a flight to catch that night. We arrived early and had to wait 1.5 hours for the ferry. According to our paperwork, the ferry was to arrive in Phuket at 5pm and our flight was at 8.40pm. We had 3 hours buffer time – lots of time to get to the airport, grab food and board the plane....or so we thought…..

Instead of getting off the ferry at 5 like we were supposed to, we got in at 7 – a 2 hour delay because of all the island stops along the way and a few delays . To make the time crunch even worse, it typically takes an hour to get to Phuket International Airport from the ferry terminal. Yeah, we were nervous and the adrenaline definitely kicked in!!! I felt like we were on the amazing race - with our packs on and luggage in hand before the ferry had fully docked, we were the first people off. On our way to the airport, our taxi driver kept giving us updates on the time , but nonetheless it was thoughtful. He did an excellent job weaving in and out of cars. At the airport we sped through security and made it to our gate with 20 min to spare – just enough time to grab something quick to eat and use the bathroom! The ironic thing after all of this rushing around, our plane was delayed for a half hour. At this point we didn’t care – we were just glad to have made it! We landed at 12.20am Monday morning and had to endure long taxi line ups and baggage claim delays at this end. We were back in our apartments by 2.30am. We made it through work that day, but we both turned it in early that night. It was certainly not a relaxing way to end the holidays, but it made for a happy ending and a great story to share!

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Photos

We were a little concerned about our super cheap flight. On our way from Jakarta to Bangkok.

The protest passed in front of our hotel.

Ready to work in the rice fields!

At the coconut plantation, there was an orchid greenhouse.

Our ride to the Floating Market - a long tail speedboat!

Floating Markets of Damnoen Saduak

Tempting.