Thailand was kind of a spur of the moment trip we had planned. Mike and I had just bought our first home and we had a budget for traveling that year. We looked at options and we really wanted something that would be out of the country. We ( read: I ) did a lot of research and I saw a couple of people on Instagram that had traveled to Thailand and spoke about how it was really inexpensive, so I mentioned it to Mike (and showed him all the epic pictures) and we booked our flights just like that. *Disclaimer: flights are always the most expensive part, but if you look on Hopper like we did, you can find some good deals *not and #ad, but I wish* Our flights Round Trip were around 740 each.
Note: We traveled in a group of 7, which was great because we could split the cost of Air bnb and transportation there, but getting everyone in line with what to do, well that was a tough one. Although, this trip was amazing and definitely needs to be on your bucket list.
Travel: We left Hobby around midnight on November 14th. I was really nervous for this 16 hour flight to Taiwan (Side note: you don’t need to bring an iPad for movies-all seats have screens!). We landed in Taiwan, had a 2 hour layover, then hopped on another 4 hour flight to Bangkok. It was noon on November 16th when we finally made it to Thailand.
Day 1: Like I said above, we landed in Bangkok at noon on the 16th of November and we just wanted to get to our Air bnb, shower and find food!! Our Air bnb host, arranged the pick-up from the airport, which was so nice because navigating and the language barrier was rough. Now, Bangkok is HOT, like really HOT!! I was sweating ALL. THE. TIME. Although I felt the Air bnb looked cute online, it was a different story once there. It did the job of housing us, while there, but the only AC units were in the kitchen and the bedrooms. Walking up 3 flights of stairs, I was already sweating!
Day 2: Floating Markets| (Picture above) Okay this was one of the things I really wanted to do, I mean how awesome is a floating market! We took about a 2 hour drive outside of Bangkok to the floating market, where we got into little boats and floated down the river. Little shacks on the side of the river where they sold some of the coolest things! My favorite was coconut ice cream (oh my gosh, so good), we had Chicken Pad Thai (I didn’t get sick-most common question I’ve gotten).
Day 3: Temple galore | We went to temple after temple, which was so fun for me! I loved to see all the detail work in every single one. I mean, so breathtaking the work is. The culture is so beautiful and I really just wanted to be immersed and not look like some idiot tourist who was just there for the coconut ice cream and Pad Thai. We had to check out of our air bnb, so we went to the mall till around 5pm. We were catching the night train (12 hour ride) to the North, Chiang Mai.
Day 4: We woke up (I never went to sleep) in Chiang Mai. I kind of wish it wasn’t a night train, I bet the scenery was beautiful! However, we caught the sunrise and I was in awe. I swear, I always point out how beautiful a sunrise or sunset is and I will never get tired of seeing them! We stayed in one of the most beautiful hotels in Chiang Mai, Im sure there were more, but I just loved the De Lanna Hotel I booked through Agoda, which is a really cool app that gives you amazing deals! (not an #ad) Since we got to Chiang Mai super early, De Lanna Hotel was so gracious to hold our bags while we went to the Grand Canyon of Thailand! This was definitely the highlight of Mike’s day lol The Grand Canyon of Thailand is basically a man made lake, with a bunch of inflatable obstacle courses, 3 zip lines, wake-boarding and paddle board/canoeing. It was a long drive, but well worth it. Funny story: I had a lot of calling the accident before it happens moments- We borrowed Mike’s sisters GoPro, and I remember saying to Mike, maybe you should take it back to the table, just to be on the safe side, we don’t won’t to lose her new GoPro, as he nodded in agreement with me, he dives from one inflatable to another. I bet you can guess what happened next, yup, the dang GoPro falls into the unknown of the Grand Canyon of Thailand. -Long story short, we paid a guy to dive down with diving gear because it was so deep to retrieve it. (deleted all that footage-no ones the wiser) All in all, this is definitely a fun half-day trip to cool off. 100% recommend it!
Day 5: Was a relaxing day in Chiang Mai- we explored the city. Hung out at the pool. We visited a few temples and markets. We ended up booking a bicycle tour that night of the city of Chiang Mai with Grasshopper Adventures. That was all Mike, he set it up and we had a blast!! Our tour guide took us through all the history of the city of Chiang Mai (geeking out over here)! We went to explore temples and made wishes and sent them to the Big Budda. I mean just completely immersed in the city. I loved it! We tasted local foods, shopped in the markets, rode down back alleys, and saw all the statues! Great job to Mike for picking this adventure!
Day 6: Elephant Jungle Sanctuary| This was probably the highlight of my trip! I am so passionate about animals and I am so happy to have met some amazing people who rescue and nurse back to health these amazing elephants! My heart was so full that day! I swear I shed a few tears! Now, I did a lot of research before booking this, because I read so many articles and blogs about the elephant cruelty that happens in other countries. I also saw this first hand and my heart shattered! We were picked up from our hotel and rode in the truck all the way into the mountains (where it actually got kind of cool-for like 20 min). We stopped at a local coffee/juice shop and got some snacks, because we were still another hour out. We met some really awesome people who were also on vacation from Mexico, they were really nice and gave us some tips for adventuring in the south of Thailand. Once we reached the sanctuary, we were instructed to wash ourselves (note- in the instructions before hand, we were told not to wear perfume, bug spray, lotions- for the safety of the elephants) off and put on tops that way we wouldn’t get out clothes dirty, but hey I came prepared! They taught us how to feed them, touch them and we proceed to walk down there to meet them! GUYS, the excitement was REAL! We fed them bananas and sugar cane. We took them to the mud pit, where they rolled around and lathered them in mud to cool off. After, we walked down to the waterfall to bathe them! The water was freezing, but I didn’t care my inner child came out and we splashed them with water while they swam! After this we hiked back up to the camp and had lunch and went back into town. Once in a lifetime experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life!
Day 6 Afternoon: We rented scooters and met up with those people from the Elephant sanctuary and rode around. We all got a Thai massage and OH MY LANTA- it HURT so good!!! Poor mike told the guy who was massaging him, “I just don’t really like people touching me” haha well he was in the wrong spot! The guy was massaging his legs so hard that Mike was trying to resist and actually broke the chair! haha! I, on the other hand fully enjoyed it, at first it was painful because well… my muscles were tight from the flight and hiking and walking, but once the pain went away, I was in heaven! I even fell asleep, she had to wake me up to say she was done! lol We then all went to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant- nothing like Mexican food here, that’s for sure! We were in Chiang Mai the week of the lantern festival and I was so bummed we missed it, but we did see the city being prepared with lanterns everywhere! It was like we were in a Disney movie! Chiang Mai was probably one of my favorites!
Day 7: We took a tour to go to the highest point in Thialand. Doi Inthanon Nation Park was so epic! The two pagodas for the King and Queen, were so amazing! The view was amazing, the sun was shining and the sky was clear! We saw the most beautiful waterfalls and hiked all the way to the top of one. After we left the park, we went to a village and I can’t really remember the reason we went there, but they had the most beautiful handmade blankets! We then went to a fruit market and I WAS IN HEAVEN! I ate so much fruit! Gooseberries are my new favorite, but I don’t think its something I can find here. If anyone knows where, PLEASE TELL ME! We eventually made it back to the hotel showered and took a nap. Mike and I went out to explore the city later on, ordered some fruit juice and food from the hotel restaurant, then ended up calling it a night.
Day 8: We checked out of the De Lanna Hotel and made our way to the airport to fly to Krabi! Which was like an hour flight and we started a new show on Netflix called Designated Survivor and we got pretty obsessed with it! Thankfully, our flight time changed to an earlier flight because we made it just in time to catch a Longtail boat to Krabi- we were on the way just as the sun was setting! We checked in to our hotel Sand Sea Resort which I also booked through Agoda. This resort was so perfect! The view was amazing, the service was amazing, the food was amazing, everything was AMAZING!
Day 9: We woke up early, had breakfast at the buffet and watched the waves roll in. It seriously felt like a dream! We found a guy who was a driver of a Longtail Boat and hired him for the next day to take us on a tour. We found that this was a lot better for them and for us, we cut out the middle man and he was able to make more money! Chow was his name and he was the best! For the rest of the day Mike and I rented a kayak and went so far out! We tried to go to an island, but it was way further than it looked! We paddle around to other beaches around the giant rocks and saw HUGE jelly fishes! Later on that night, we discovered an alley that had more restaurants, bars, and lead you to the other side of the beach!
Day 10: We woke up to the sound of banging on our patio to find monkeys swinging around! That was the coolest thing ever! They were just hanging out in the trees and on the roofs! We went down had breakfast and got in our boat to take a tour to a few islands! You guys, the water is crystal clear! An emerald color so unreal! It was such a peaceful boat ride to the islands! We visited about 6 islands, I don’t remember all the name of the islands, but because we left very early and we beat a lot of the crowds! We left back to our beach and saw an amazing sunset and ate dinner down that alleyway.
Day 11: We repeated the whole process above but this time we went to the Phi Phi Islands and this was by far the best day! Water like no other! Crystal blue, fishes, coral, and all the snorkeling our hearts could ever want. We went to this cove, where our boat drive said we could rock climb then jump into the water! We climbed into this cave to the top, so we could see the entire cove! Beautiful!! We also went to Maya Bay, from the movie The Beach, that was the BEST! It was actually closed because tourist had trashed it and all the trash was killing the coral! (Side note: #noplasticstraws) We headed back to our resort and had dinner and crashed out!
Day 12:Â We went out on the water again, but this time Chow took us to his local spots that he recommended us to go check out. This was so cool, he knew that we wanted to see as much as we could and he was such great guide for us. Also, he brought pineapple every day and cut it into these really pretty starts for us on a little break. HE WAS THE BEST! We also saw so many jelly fishes, I was terrified of being stung, but Mr.Chow said that they don’t sting- he jumped into the water and picked it up with one hand. I stood their in shock, but he then motioned for me to touch the top of the jelly fish, it was like touching a bowl full of jelly! Such a crazy experience. We did a little more snorkeling and in some other spots, then Mr.Chow took us to a popular area where there was so many food boats – the coolest thing ever, like our food trucks, but on the water! We stopped at the island and found a little shack that was selling fried rice and we headed back to the hotel for some rest. We ended up eating down the alley that we discovered earlier.
Day 13: We hung at the beach at our resort and chilled till we needed to catch the boat to Phuket. This was a very confusing transition. We were told that we would catch the ferry and get off at a specific port, however, the ferry only went to one port. Everyone had to get off. We were dropped off in a sketch area and our transportation that we had scheduled was at the port that we were told to get off at. So we had to hire a drive to take up to that port which was like 45 minutes away. It was rough, 8 of us packed into this little van. Once we got to the port, we had to find our original driver, that was taking us to the villa we were staying at. It started to pour while we were getting to our villa, but the villa was very nice. We decided to go to their local grocery store and grab some things for cooking for the days while we were there. We came back to the villa ate dinner and called it a night. (I had a cold for a few days, so I wasn’t feeling like doing anything.)
Day 14: We went to the Big Buddah and a few other temples. I can honestly say, whatever you do, don’t miss the temples. It is seriously the best thing to do. I love learning about all the culture and seeing everything. Most temples have signs that explain everyone in a few different languages. (Make sure to always cover your legs and shoulder before entering a temple)
*Side note: I personally didn’t care for Phuket. I felt unsafe and I saw things that made my heart sad. They tell you about the elephant cruelty, but you never really know till you see it. These poor creatures being chained to a pole or a tree with a 5 foot chain. Gosh, my heart. Please do your research before visiting certain places.
Day 15: We drove into (we always hired a drive) town and went to a market that was on the beach and shopped. We went to a few other temples and enjoyed all the scenery. Mike really wanted to bungee jump, so we found a place that did it and well he jumped. I was so nervous because, well anything can go wrong and we were in another country. But, nevertheless, he went up and stood on the edge of the platform with his arms spread and I heard the guy count down from 3…2…1. But nothing, lol Mike stood there grasping his hand on his chest. At this moment, I was like oh good, he isn’t going to jump. However in Mikes mind, he paid and if you don’t jump, you don’t get your money back, so again, 3…2…1- he Jumped and my heart fell to my stomach. He didn’t scream, or move he looked  like dead weight. I was scared, but he was good! Now, this daredevil wants to bungee jump everywhere. Watch out China (go look at youtube for videos of that bungee jump).
Day 16: We drove back to the airport and caught our flight back to Bangkok. Once we landed we went to our hotel, the Westin- so nice and cozy! We ate at an amazing Venezuelan steak house. We also went to Terminal 8 – this is a must if you go to Bangkok. You guys, this is 8 levels of shopping, but holy cow- each level is a different theme. Everything is a theme even the bathrooms. We did some shopping here and then headed back to the hotel and went for a dip in the pool. Our last night in Thailand.
Day 17: This was a wonderful vacation, but I was so ready to be home and see my puppers. We ended up upgrading our seats to Economy + and well I think it was a waste, it didn’t matter to me, but now we know for next time, you just get a little more leg room.
If you stayed till the end, I hope this gives you some insight to your trip and helps you get around. If you have questions, check out my Insta @findingmyessence – I have a highlight that goes into more depth. Safe travels and I know you will enjoy Thailand as much as we did.
XO|Essence
Finding my Essence 