Blogs from North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia

It's four years since I last left Chiang Mai and made my way back to Herefordshire as the Covid pandemic trailed behind me from Asia to Europe. But the airport in Chiang Mai still looks the same and it didn't take long to get to the taxi rank and to be on my way across town to Baan Songjum. I was greeted by Nui and Kung who were wondering what had happened to me, and I was starving because there was no food on my budget airline, delayed flight from Singapore. Luckily for me Penn, a permanent resident at Baan Songjum, was just off out on his scooter to buy some supper and he brought back a Pad Thai for me. It's at least 10 years since I first found my way to Baan Songjum and ... read more

You can do some really great day trips from Chiang Mai if, like me, a scooter isn’t an option. 1200baht seems to be the going rate and the standard is impressive. I asked in a travel agent near my hotel (more of a homestay). I said nothing to do with elephants or trekking, for different reasons, and I wanted to visit some hill tribes. I read some very negative reviews about the long-neck tribes and the experiences were mostly uncomfortable and made people feel voyeuristic, but I thought I could make up my own mind and hopefully find a way of interacting positively and maybe not taking any photos. The agent definitely said they were on the agenda. The rest of the day consisted of 2 waterfalls (look only), a village to see weaving and try ... read more

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Prologue As you may recall from my New York blogfrom July, I decided to resume limited and cautious travel when I came to realize that Covid was here to stay. Up until mid-October, I was dithering on whether and where to go. My first preference was Singapore because I hadn't seen my family in almost two years, and so I monitored whether Singapore would waive quarantine for vaccinated travelers. My backup plan was to go to Canada or Europe. In September, Singapore opened up Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTL) with Germany and Brunei. I wasn't holding out hope that they would add a VTL from the United States in the near future because the Covid situation in the US was awful, and vaccination rates had stalled. But, rather unexpectedly, Singapore announced a VTL with the United States. ... read more

Today was another exciting day. We're off to an elephant excursion! We're going to visit an elephant sanctuary for animals rescued from unhealthy work environments. Our ride picked us up at the hotel right on time, and after picking up another family of four we were off to the mountains! It's quite a long ride, about an hour and a half in a songthaew (basically a pickup truck with a bench on either side of the bed and a roof over it). Not the most comfortable ride I've ever been on! At a rest stop along the way another truck joined us with four more girls for our group. Then we were off, and finally made it to the camp. And there were our elephants! Three beautiful beasts, all females. Our guide, Ken, was very enthusiastic ... read more