The idea for Thailand came about almost two years ago in a pub in Ireland. We mentioned to Andrea and Andy that we wanted to go to Thailand while we still lived in Germany. They said they were just talking about wanting to go too. We had numberous “signs” throughout our Ireland trip that by the end we were all convinced on the idea. Two years later, our fourth annual trip is in the books. It was such an great trip with wonderful memories made and so many indescribable experiences.
Bangkok – We arrived in Bangkok in the early evening and headed to our hotel. We were asked to sit and relax while they presented us with both a cold towel and a welcome drink (actually every single hotel we stayed at did this – it was great). We checked into our room and headed straight for the rooftop bar. We had a few drinks and the first of many delicious Thai meals. We had a busy day the next day so after they kicked us out of the pool at 11, we headed straight to bed.
We were picked up the next morning by our guide and for the next 6 hours she showed us around Bangkok. We took a tuk tuk to a train and then a boat to our first temple. There we were blessed by a monk who gave us a bracelet for protection. We eventually saw four amazing temples that day. The last being the Grand Palace where we had to wear our super stylish elephant pants (shoulders and knees needed to be covered to enter the grounds and it was too hot to wear pants all day so the elephant pants were the perfect solution! And oh so comfy.). We also stopped along the way for Thai tea, coconut ice cream and lunch. The last bit of the tour we took a Long Tail boat ride through the canals and got to feed the fish. Once we got back to the hotel, we had about an hour until our next tour – A tuk tuk food adventure tour! We were in a group of 8 plus a local guide and each of us got our own tuk tuk and driver for the night (ours was Mr. Bille). They drove us around for the next few hours. We stopped at a local market and tried different foods with different dips, a local restaurant with delicious crispy chicken, went down a very questionable alley with awesome Pad Thai, tried an alien looking sesame ball (really delicious!), tried dried silk worm and finished with ice cream. It was fun because we were able to tried a bunch of foods that we would never had tried on our own. We were full and exhausted by the time our driver dropped us off at our hotel.
Chiang Mai – We headed to the airport early the next morning for our next location, Chiang Mai. We checked into our hotel then walked around the town for a while. Alex and Andy went back to the hotel to enjoy the pool while Andrea and I got a 30 minute foot massage. It was so relaxing and it costed us less than $5 each. Once we got back we got ready for our cooking and dinner with a local Lanna family. It was a very neat experience, we were shown around their land including two houses and a family orchard, tried their “tea” (it was made with leaves, bark, some kind of nut and sugar, no water – so gross we had to spit it out), then we got to make our own dinner from scratch. Our dinner included a large variety of food – red curry chicken breast with Thai herbs, pork with tomato paste, hot and sour chicken soup, stir fried green eggplant with pork, and for dessert, banana in coconut milk. It was such a cool experience and the food was delicious.
The next day was a full day adventure tour in the north of Chiang Mai. We started the day with ziplining. We ziplined our way through the forest with 31 platforms of different/exciting runs. Next was 1.5 hours of ATVing. We started out by riding through an elephant santuary and happened to get there right at bath time! We watched for a bit, continued our ride then stopped for a break at a waterfall. The waterfall was neat because overtime the water had carved a little slide in the rock. It was fun to try out! Our last adventure of the day was white water rafting. Andrea and Andy had done it before but it was new to Alex and me. We were given helmets, life jackets, short instructions and sent on our way. The water was pretty low at this time (rainy season in Thailand is May-October) so it was two people to a raft plus a guide. It was a really fun experience with only one minor incident. We were going through the toughest part of the entire course, our raft got stuck on a rock and Alex and I were instructed to head to the front of the boat. We quickly got the raft loose and in the process of moving back to our seats, Alex fell over. Neither the guide or myself saw it happen or even noticed he was gone until his head was bobbing up next to the raft. He got smushed between the raft and a rock and was luckily grabbed right before we were about to head down a steep drop. He was fine with only a few scraps and unfortunately didn’t have his GoPro on at the time.
Today was the day I was looking forward to the most, Elephant Sanctuary day! It didn’t disappoint. It was one of the most interesting/amazing/totally out of our elements experiences. We got up really early and headed south this time. We drove about 1.5 hours from Chiang Mai. When we arrived at Elephant Dream Valley, we were given an entire hour alone with the elephants. There were 7 elephants in total (including 2 babies – 9 and 14 months). We weren’t given much instructions so at first, we very cautiously approached them. We quickly realized that they had no problems with us and didn’t mind being touched or fed. They ate right out of our hands! After our hour was up, a few more people arrived and it was bath time. We headed into the mud. We lathered mud all over their bodies (which they looooooved!) then headed to the river to wash off (which they loved even more). It was so fun to watch them splashing around, spraying water everywhere. The last thing we got to do was walk with them through the jungle and observe them in their natural element. On the way back one of the elephants cornered Alex (he was sandwiched between the elephant and a tree) and wouldn’t budge. He was stuck there for a few minutes until the elephant decided to head home. It was hilarious! Hanging out with elephants all day was a very surreal experience. These huge creatures allowed us to touch, feed and bathe them without issue (except one of the elephants had a little temper tantrum in the mud because she didn’t like an other elephant playing with her). That was our first adventure of the day. A local Thai villager named Sapee, picked us up and we left on our next adventure. To be honest with you, we didn’t know exactly what we were getting into. It’s very hard to explain the experience we had, but I’ll try. We started out by standing in the back of a truck for a 20 minute drive. We then hiked 3 hours through the jungle. We were told to watch out for snakes (cobras and pythons) and bengal Tigers. But don’t worry Sapee had a very large machete and occasionally used it to make a walking stick for Andrea and me or cut a piece of bark off a tree for us to taste. Halfway through our hike we stopped at a beautiful waterfall to cool off. Once we made it to his family farm we helped him pick a few vegetables and got to try raw sugar cane. Then came the moment of truth. Where would we be staying for the evening? The very small mountain village he lived in consisted mostly of family and friends. We stopped at his mothers hut and passed around a bottle of rice whiskey she had just made. Then we headed off to see our accommodation for the night. We were staying in his Uncle’s hut. The kind of hut that sits higher above the ground, allowing for furniture, bikes and animals to be underneath. The kind with holes all through the structure where the wood didn’t quite match up with the piece next to it. Once we walked into the room, we first noticed the broken and discarded furniture, the fire pit and then our beds. Two mats on the floor covered with a thin sheet, two blankets each to keep warm and one tiny pillow. And don’t get me started with the bathroom. It was an outhouse with a squat toilet. We were in for a treat. Once we got over the shock of the rooms, we got to experience the way dinner was served. We ate dinner on the deck of a hut, on the floor. It was traditional Thai food (we think we even heard them slaughtering the chicken for the meal) chicken, rice, vegetables etc. After dinner we hung out around the campfire with Sapee (the only one who spoke English) and his family for a few hours before retiring to a restless night sleep.
We heard all kinds of noises throughout the night including the family pig snorting away below our hut. We all woke up the next morning every hour starting at 5am until 8am by a bunch of roosters (well actually ours started it and got all the other village roosters riled up, which lasted about 20 minutes each time). Breakfast was served to us again on the floor outside, while a few of the locals would walk past, stare and occasionally come up to where we were sitting. One lady even sold Andrea and me a scarf (we couldn’t say no to Grandma). Once breakfast was over we packed up and headed out for our next and final hike. We hiked for another four hours stopping again half way at a different waterfall to cool off. By the time we finished our hike we were all so hot and sweaty again, which made our next stop very welcomed. We took an hour long, relaxing bamboo raft ride down the river. Then we said our goodbyes to our very gracious host and took a very sketchy public transportation vehicle back to the city. This experience is something that at the time was uncomfortable/weird/eye opening but it made for a great adventure, understanding of the local culture and appreciation for the life we have. We went back to our same hotel (looking a little rough – and giving back our welcome towel covered in dirt) just in time for a drink by the pool. We all wanted to get massages this time (we deserved them and they’re so cheap!). We decided on the shoulder, neck and head massage. Andy and Alex had a much different experience than Andrea and me. It’s hard to explain but it involved a lot of acrobatics from the masseuse. We grabbed dinner than headed out to do some haggling at the HUGE markets. We bought some good souvenirs for ourselves.
Phi Phi Island – We all loved Chiang Mai and were sad to leave but it was time to go to the beach! We had a flight out early in the morning. We landed in Phuket and took a boat out to Phi Phi Island. It was a very picturesque resort right on the beach. We had a free afternoon which we spent lounging on the beach and hanging out in the pool.
The next day we took a six hour Long Tail Boat tour. The guide took us to seven different spots around the islands including Maya beach, Phi Phi Don, Phi Phi Leh, Monkey Beach and Bamboo island. We were able to swim in the beautiful crystal clear water and made a few stops to snorkel. Once we came back to the resort we enjoyed a relaxing evening of pool time and a buffet dinner.
Phuket – Our last and final destination was Phuket. We took the boat back to Phuket then traveled about an hour to our hotel. Our hotel was very beautiful, right on the beach annnnnd our room included a private pool! That evening we enjoyed one of the three pools the hotel had to offer choosing to swim in the saltwater pool. We decided to grab dinner downtown and stopped at a surfers bar. This bar had it’s own surfing wave machine where we got to watch inexperienced surfers try their hand at surfing while we sat back enjoying a few drinks. It made for an entertaining night. We eventually went back to our hotel where we enjoyed a beer in our own private pool.
The next day was a much needed free day. It was perfect because we’ve had so many busy days it was a nice day to relax. We hung out by the beach then tried out the other two hotel pools while kicking back with a few drinks. Later on we headed back downtown for a drink at a bar on the rocks while enjoying the beautiful sunset. We needed a little something different for dinner (besides rice all day every day) so we got Italian and stopped at a little fried ice cream stand for dessert.
Our last and final day we took a Sunset Seafood Buffet kayaking tour. There were 11 of us on this tour and each couple was given their own kayak and a guide. We went into three different caves and each one had to be timed perfectly because of the tide. Our first cave was the craziest one. The guide was in the back, Alex in the middle and I was in the front. At one point our guide had to get off the kayak, deflate it a bit, and Alex and I had to lay down completely. He then pulled us through the cave, making sure our bodies didn’t scrap along the top and sides of the cave. It was a pretty tight fit. Andy was a little claustrophobic so his guide kept asking “are you scary [sic] Andy?” We of course thought it was hilarious. It was worth it though, we were in the middle of the rocks and it was beautiful. We paddled around a little inside then had to go back out the same way we came in. But this time, the tide had already gone out and the water was much lower making it easier to get through. Our next cave was a little easier and the third and final one was very open. The third cave they called the Batcave because there were tons of bats hanging throughout it. It was very interesting to see and when we made it through the cave into the hongs, we were rewarded with a monkey eating clams. After we finished in the caves we were able to swim around for a half an hour then enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner on the boat while watching the sunset. It made for a great last evening activity. We headed back to the hotel soon after, had one last drink at a local bar, came back to our hotel and relaxed in our pool.
We were definitely not ready to leave Thailand. It’s such an amazing country with some of the nicest people we’ve ever met. I hope to be able to go back someday but for now we feel like we really got to experience a lot of what Thailand has to offer. Khap khun kha 🙏 Andrea and Andy for another wonderful trip. Where will we go to next?
followthesunny.com 
What a trip, everything about it sounds incredible. So happy you could experience it with your friends! You did a good job relaying all your adventures, Sunny, Love all the pictures too.
LikeLike
What a great trip. So.exciting and interesting. Love grandma
“WordPress.com” wrote: > a:hover { color: red; } a { text-decoration: none; color: #0088cc; } a.primaryactionlink:link, a.primaryactionlink:visited { background-color: #2585B2; color: #fff; } a.primaryactionlink:hover, a.primaryactionlink:active { background-color: #11729E !important; color: #fff !important; } /* @media only screen and (max-device-width: 480px) { .post { min-width: 700px !important; } } */ WordPress.com hempelsc18 posted: “The idea for Thailand came about almost two years ago in a pub in Ireland. We mentioned to Andrea and Andy that we wanted to go to Thailand while we still lived in Germany. They said they were just talking about wanting to go too. We had numberous “signs””
LikeLike
Wow, that looks soooo awesome! Made me laugh, cringe, and jealous all at the same time! What a trip! The pictures are fantastic, too! Must be that go-pro!
LikeLike
I cannot wait to hear Alex’s version of the story of him falling out of the raft. It’s hilarious (to me) that no one noticed. And that you took a picture of him.
LikeLike