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The Windy Road to Pai
My last stop in Thailand before flying out of Bangkok for the U.S., was Pai, a beautiful, tiny mountain town about 50 miles north of Chiang Mai and close to the Myanmar border.
Sunset from my hostel
The ride from Chiang Mai to Pai, while only three hours, was one to remember. Our shuttle van (which only cost about $5) went up and down, left and right for the entire drive. If you have carsick tendencies, be prepared. But the spinning eventually stops, and the insanely windy drive is well worth the destination.
My hostel was one of the most unique accommodations I’ve stayed out during my travels. SpicyPai is located on a paddy field about a 20 minute walk outside the town, complete with roosters that crow at all hours, chickens in the outdoor toilets/showers, plenty of hammocks overlooking the lush scenery and mozzie-net bunks in the many tree house-style dorms around the property.
My hostel and paddy field
Arriving in the dead heat of the afternoon, I almost panicked when I noticed the lack of A/C units or fans in the leaf roofed bamboo huts, but after sunset, the temperatures dropped significantly and I welcomed my outdoorsy home.
Hut home
After getting settled on the farm, I set off to explore Pai. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this raved about place, but after my wander around the tiny town, which took less time than my walk from my hostel, I understood the appeal. While still touristy, Pai has a special alternative vibe about it.
The Pai River
I’ve never seen so many reggae bars in my life till Pai
The people are welcoming, everything is inexpensive, the night markets are wonderful and there’s many waterfalls and hot springs to explore nearby (wish I had more time for those!). I will say, it’s worth taking the risk and renting a motorbike here, as most of the hostels/guesthouses are a bit of a hike outside of town.
Running Away and Joining the Circus
Beautiful place to learn some new skills
Not really, but the highlight of my time in Pai was indeed my day spent at the Pai Circus School. I went with a new friend from Hong Kong that I met on my shuttle from Chiang Mai, and since it was the off-season, we got a private lesson, as we were the only students that day.
Sadly, we didn’t learn trapeze, but our American ex-pat instructor did teach us how to spin plates, juggle, and to spin sock, LED and fire poi – all of which are a lot harder than they look!
Not a natural juggler
We also enjoyed an amazing sunset overlooking the valley, a delicious BBQ and the company of all the interesting guests staying at the bungalows at the resort the school takes place at.
After watching fire shows for the past month, it was amazing to be the one playing with fire. While, I am no poi master, I did successfully spin some basic tricks and made it out burn free!
Fun with fire
Pai reminded me of a Byron Bay in the mountains, but not as in-your-face hippie as the beloved Aussie town. I really enjoyed the peaceful nature of Pai, and would recommend this place to anyone looking for some travel R&R – it’s worth the dizzy drive!
Chiang Mai – “The Rose of the North”
Following our disastrous day of travel to Bangkok, I decided to splurge on flights to and fro the charming northern city of Chiang Mai (pronounced “Chang My”), one of my last stops in Thailand.
Old city moat
Coming here, I expected a quiet, lush mountain town, but instead found a large, modern city.
What makes Chiang Mai a welcome change from Bangkok though is the amount of history, culture and peacefulness surrounding this place. Northern Thailand is known for its beautiful temples, flora and fauna, food and trekking. While I didn’t have time to fit in a trek, I did take advantage of as much as possible.
What Wat?
The amount of temples (wats) found inside the historic old square city walls (actual stone corners still remain), is amazing.
Hua Lin Corner of Chiang Mai
My first day here was spent wandering the city, popping in and out of these intricate places of worship.
Big Buddha
One of my many temples inside the Old City
The Three Kings Monument
By the end of my hot walk in the sun (be prepared to sweat if you come during hot season like I did), the wats started to blur together. Regardless, I really enjoyed the monk spottings in taxis and on the streets, as well as the many unique golden shrines on almost every block.
The Hunt for the Best Pad Thai
My favorite Pad Thai of Thailand
Since arriving in Thailand, I’ve made a point to try pad thai (one of my favorite dishes) every chance I got. During my Chiang Mai wander, I by chance stopped at a tiny, crowded restaurant off the Walking Street (dirt road that allows motor bikes and tuk tuks, even though it’s meant for ‘walking’).
After a month of trying new pad thais almost everyday, I finally found the best – precisely cooked noodles with a well blended tangy and spicy sauce and the perfect amount of tofu, vegetables and peanuts. And if you can believe it, this deliciousness only cost 30 baht ($1)!
Tiger Kingdom
Only in Thailand would you find a thriving tiger petting zoo. Clearly, I had to experience this.
I joined a group from my hostel and we set out nervously to the reserve 30 minutes outside the city. Once at tiger town, we felt like we were walking into an amusement park – zorbing available on the nearby lake, tons of souvenirs and a nice restaurant overlooking the roaming tigers.
We opted for the “smallest” and “largest” tiger packages, which gives you about 10 minutes with the 4-8 month old tigers and another 10 minutes with the “Big Cats.”
After washing our hands and slipping on some tiger-friendly flip flops (kind of like bowling shoes, except less sanitary), we walked into the cage of cubs. There were about eight tourists, three guides and 10 baby tigers. Sure they were ‘small,’ but they still had full claw swatting and biting capabilities. Danger aside, these cubs were beyond adorable.
With two of the sleepy baby tigers
Hostel friends and tigers, just another Tuesday in Chiang Mai
Our next stop was the full sized tigers. These cats were enormous! Since zoos in America keep the animals at a safe, fenced in distance from people, I’ve never seen a tiger up close. Here, there’s literally a normal backyard fence between you and the 50-odd tigers at this park.
When our group was called for our time with the “Big Cats,” I almost chickened out. But, since I didn’t see any human attacks during our 10 minute wait, I figured (hoped) we’d survive. Once inside the cage, we found ourselves face to face with four massive unchained, non-drugged tigers. For each group, there was one guide. His form of defense should something go awry, a wooden stick.
It’s clear these tigers are healthy (although pretty overfed), well-trained and mostly asleep, but you can’t help but panic a bit while petting a natural predator. The Thai guides with their wimpy sticks don’t provide much reassurance during your equally terrifying and thrilling tiger encounter.
Tiger stache
This was a once in a lifetime experience and I’m so glad I mustered the nerves to enter the cages. It was simply amazing to interact with tigers (without having to become a zoo keeper or magician).
Inmate Massage
The best remedy for a nerve wracking day of playing with tigers is definitely a traditional Thai massage. While living on the edge, why not get said massage at a local prison?
Massage apparel
Don’t worry, the Chiang Mai Women’s Correctional Institute is nothing like the Thai prison in Brokedown Palace. Rather, it’s a friendly place with a beautiful, relaxing atmosphere.
You are greeted by a guard, but the entire experience once inside is like what you’d have at any spa, except your masseuse is an inmate (about to be released for minor offenses).
We were given interesting robes to wear, and then were stretched, cracked and bended for the next hour. I find Thai massages similar to deep tissue massages – while sometimes painful, you do feel amazing afterwards. Six dollars for a full body massage? I’m going to miss Thailand.
Jungle Trekking
Chiang Mai is also a great hub for trekking. On treks, you’re taken elephant riding, bamboo rafting, white water rafting (in the wet season), hiking through the jungle and to spend time with the Hill Tribes People. Everyone I met that went on a trek had an unbelievable time, and I really wish I had time to experience one of these tours, but I can always come back!
One Night in Bangkok
After a few hours of sleep on the hostel floor and a glorious shower, we headed out into the streets of Bangkok.
Bangkok is very different than I imagined. I expected a dirtier Kuala Lumpur, but Bangkok surprised me with its size, culture and friendliness.
And sure, it is dirty and smelly, but not as crazy as I thought. I will say it is the hottest place we've visited in Thailand. The heat on the islands was tough, but at least the water is there to cool you off. Here, the concrete and breeze of tuk tuks provide no relief.
We started our day by taking a water taxi to MBK, a massive shopping center/indoor market. We feasted at the amazing international food court (don't get the hummus) and shopped until our delirium forced us to keep moving.
Our next stop was the Wat Traimit Wittayaram (Golden Buddha). We crammed into our first Bangkok tuk tuk and whizzed through the wild traffic. After a bit of communication confusion with our noddy driver, we made it to the beautiful temple.
The best part of this visit was this button hawker who sneakily took our photos walking up the stairs. We assumed it was another creepy guy wanting our photo, but he surprised us with our terrible caught off guard photos on buttons. I regret not buying them because they were pretty hilarious.
Later that evening, we went to dinner at Thip Samai, an amazing nearby noodle restaurant. This bustling place exceeded our expectations and gave us energy to explore Koh San Road.
The nightlife mecca of Koh San Road wasn't as wild as Phuket (or The Hangover 2), but it had its fair share of bars, clubs, street vendors and a variety of bugs on sticks for tourists to eat. I wanted to buy the tarantula for 'I'll eat anything' Ott, but the bugs were a bit out of our baht range.
Rather than squeezing into one of the crowded bars, we chose to sweat outside at a street side bar. Here, we enjoyed some buckets and reminisced about our Asian trip and life in Australia. (Tear)
At one point, some locals sitting nearby offered us a brief Thai lesson followed by a sample from their bag of freshly fried grub worms. We all bravely gave them a try – if you can believe this ex-super taster ate a bug! They weren't as bad as you'd think (tasted like a very salty potato chip), but I didn't have more than one, that's for sure.
The next day we did some market bargaining, had our last lunch together and parted ways – Jess and Brittany back to Australia and myself to Chiang Mai. Thailand's just not the same without my travel sisters! 😦
Posted with BlogsyKoh Phangan > Bangkok
Saying goodbye to our last Thai island was unsurprisingly difficult, especially the morning after the Full Moon Party.
Disaster day started with a terrifying taxi to the pier on Koh Phangan. Our ride was a pickup truck with no cover, real benches or handles (seat belts are a laughable suggestion in SE Asia). We grasped onto the piece of wood all six of us sat on as we whipped around the hilly island. I was sure we would hit a bump and be tossed to our death, but we arrived safely – white knuckled, but safely.
What followed was utter confusion. You see, when you prebook transportation here, you're simply given a sloppy hand written receipt. No written directions or passenger names necessary. You generally hope you and your backpack reach your destination, and blindly board nondescript taxis, vans, ferries and buses.
This day, we thought we were on the boat to Surat Thani followed by an overnight ferry to Bangkok, but after waiting in the funnel of backpackers, we were redirected to another boat on its way to Koh Tao. Once seated and skeptical, we were told all Bangkok bound passengers must shimmy over to a third ferry on its way to Chumphon.
Seven hours crossing the Gulf of Thailand later, we arrived in the town of Chumphon. We saw a double decker bus and deduced an overnight bus was in our future.
After some pier noodles, a beautiful sunset and short break, we boarded the seemingly spacious bus. In true Thai style, they oversold the seats, leaving us with the option of cramming around a table in the downstairs area or occupying the last rows of the bus. We regrettably chose the later.
It wouldn't of been so bad if our bus mates hadn't been dirty, rude backpacking boys. These guys reeked and clearly hadn't showered or washed their clothes in a dangerous amount of time.
The discomfort of the tiny back row seats and having to breathe through our mouths all trip already put us on edge. When the bus broke down 30 minutes into the trip, I thought we were all going to lose it.
A couple hours and a terrible B movie later, we were on our way north again.
When our uncomfortable 10 hour bus ride came to end, we thought we were home free. That is, until we realized it was 4 a.m.
We deliriously taxied to our hostel, and thankfully the security guard let us sleep on the floor of the common room until reception opened at 7 a.m. I'm scared to think what would've happened if that Thai angel hadn't opened the doors to us.
Moral of the story: plan ahead and book a cheap flight.
Full Moon Madness on Koh Phangan
Every month, thousands of backpackers flood the beach of Haad Rin on Koh Phangan for the infamous Full Moon Party. We, were no exception – if you're in Thailand, you must experience this overhyped night of lunar celebrations.
Since the island is synonymous with partying, we had low expectations for Koh Phangan and its beaches. However, we were pleasantly surprised with the how nice everything was – our hostel, Om Ganesh, was fantastic, the food was amazing, the beach was gorgeous, the people were welcoming and the buckets were cheap cheap.
Backpacker Blowout
We arrived two nights before the main moon event, and had a great time bouncing between the many parties hosted on the island – the nightly pool party, beach party, jungle party, waterfall party, etc.
Basically, it's like an international college spring break during the week leading up to the full moon – each day, more and more like-minded travelers filled the beach adding to the air of excitement.
One night, the girls bravely got bamboo tattooes, which was really cool to watch. They said it felt like bee stings over and over and over again, but the end results were perfect Thai souvenirs, only costing about $30 each. (Even with a bit of Chang courage, I couldn't commit to a bamboo branding.)
'The Full Moon Party is an All Night Beach Party'
The most fun part of this massive celebration is dressing the part. Everyone wears tacky t-shirts, brightly colored nylon shorts, headbands, UV jewelry and most importantly fluro body paint.
With ridiculous painted tattoos and buckets in hand, we joined the neon zombie walk heading to the beach debauchery.
Once on the sand, it's extremely easy to loose your friends, step on glass or be soaked by sloshing Sangsom buckets. But the mayhem is all part of the fun, and it was amazing to see so many people in such a small area – during holidays like New Years, around 30,000 people attend!
Shockingly, I found the Phi Phi parties to be much more dangerous than Koh Phangan. Sure, here you're surrounded by way too many backpackers and there's a few death slides on Haad Rin, but we saw no pole of death for folks to climb or fire obstacles for tourists to tackle.
Our visit to Koh Phangan was a great success – we had so much fun, ran into lots of friends we met on other islands and got great sun on our last Thai island of the trip.
While I may be too old to attend another Full Moon Party, I definitely would return to Koh Phangan.
Laid Back Living on Turtle Island
Out of all the amazing islands we've touched on our Asian adventure, Koh Tao, “Turtle Island,” just might be my favorite.
Getting here from Koh Lanta was another full day sitting in the back of a hot, crowded shuttle van and equally overcrowded catamaran fast boat.
Bates Motel
Once our boat docked at the pier at night, we faced another problem – finding somewhere to sleep. We tried booking on trusty Hostelworld that morning, but every hostel/guesthouse was full. We assumed once on land we'd have no problem, but no such luck.
After two hours of lugging our backpacks up and down Sairee Beach, we finally found a resort with an open bungalow. Even though it didn't have A/C and only one bed, it was better than the dusty streets. Or so we thought.
Once we made Jess and ferret (her pet neck pillow) a makeshift towel bed on the 'loft' area, we all gave into fatigue…until the most terrifyingly close mammal purr/call/grumble shocked us awake. Some unidentifiable creature was definitely living under the bed, in the walls or in the sheets with us.
We never technically saw anything, but we were not alone. After tearing our bungalow apart, we decided it went to sleep and so should we. About ten minutes into our slumber, fearless Jess felt something crawling on her. Once the lights were on, we discovered a massive flying maroon cockroach. Screams and fruitless swatting later, we lost this guy too.
The fear factor is our bugalow stayed at about a 20 for the rest of the sleepless night. Even with the lights on, we were all constantly spazzing and leaping out of bed over potential creepy crawlers and occasional howls from our mystery monster.
Once the sun rose, we regained our wits, got the heck out of there and moved into a beautiful beachfront hostel.
Beach Bliss
Sure the first night was a nightmare, but the beauty of this island more than made up for it.
Koh Tao is world famous for scuba diving and free diving, and it's incredibly cheap to get your open water, but we opted to stay on land.
Even though we technically didn't do anything besides enjoy the beach, noodles and nightlife, we had a great time and really felt like we were on a true holiday here.
I absolutely recommend Koh Tao to anyone traveling in Thailand.
Trekking Around Koh Lanta
The next stop on our tour de Thai islands was Koh Lanta, another island located in the Krabi Province.
After our hour and a half ferry from Phi Phi, we took a truck taxi to Long Beach, as recommended by our driver for cheap bungalows and beautiful scenery. This beach definitely fit the bill as beautiful and we instantly appreciated the relaxed atmosphere of Lanta.
We found this island to be very (almost eerily) quiet and calm, but after eight days in Phi Phi, that was exactly what we needed to regroup.
Elephant Riding and Rainforest Trekking
While here, we booked an amazing tour to Klong Jask in South Lanta for an outdoorsy afternoon. We first went on a hike to bat caves and to a lackluster waterfall.
Overall, the trek wasn't incredibly impressive, but our guide's hilarious broken English and infatuation with spaghetti hair kept us entertained.
The best part of our day was defintely the one hour elephant ride. Dumbo was a childhood favorite movie of mine, so I was thrilled for this bumpy experience.
Usually, groups of two hop on the bench on the elephants back, but since we were three and the place was apparently short of elephants, I was chosen to sit bareback on our elephant's neck. At first, we were all a bit nervous riding on top this massive creature, but throughout our ride around the rubber plantation, our white knuckled grips softened a bit.
We affectionately named our elephant Slappy because of the constant ear slapping my legs endured. That, and because we couldn't understand our guide's Thai mumble of our 30-year old elephant's name.
Slappy took us on a gentle ride around a rubber plantation and into a few water holes (and gave us all a few trunk splashes). We were promised monkey sightings, but only saw some chickens and Asia dogs.
I will say, it was quite a smelly experience, but I'm not sure who smelled worse, Slappy, or the Thai guide I clung to the whole time.
My favorite part of the elephant trek was at the end when we got the chance to feed them whole pineapples.
Being up close and personal with an elephant was such a cool experience, and really made our time in Lanta that much more special.
Let’s Go to ‘The Beach’
One of the highlights of our Thailand trip thus far was definitely our visit to Maya Bay, 'The Beach' precious Leo DiCaprio made famous.
Maya Bay is located on Phi Phi Lei, a quick boat ride from where we were staying on Phi Phi Don. We had the pleasure of visiting this breathtaking place twice while in Phi Phi.
Longboat Tour
Our first visit was part of a fantastic longboat day trip around the islands. We watched fellow travelers cliff jump, visited the other 'Monkey Beach' (Saam Had Beach), swam and dodged trigger fish at Pileh Lagoon, snorkeled in Palong Bay, saw the Viking Cave (where the Chinese delicacy bird's nest soup is made) and explored Maya Bay.
After sunset, we went to a private beach for dinner, fire shows, a cave party and swimming with plankton. I was most excited about the plankton, but the water had more trash than plankton, so our time spent glowing was short lived.
This day trip exceeded our expectations, as the guides were hilarious, our fellow boaters were fun, the snorkeling was the best I've ever experienced (we saw sharks!), and the Pinterest-worthy eye stuff was incredible.
Shangri La Party Yacht
Our second visit to Maya Bay was aboard a luxury yacht with 20 or so fellow backpackers.
Basically we did the same exact trip as before, but with unlimited booze. We had so much fun on the sea jacuzzi, tubing under caves, flipping off the diving board and celebrating one of our Canadian friend's birthday. This crazy day blew our budget a bit, but it was the perfect way to spend our last day on Phi Phi.
Kayaking Catastrophe
Now, this isn't a 'I Shouldn't be Alive' moment, but a close contender for a 'Holiday from Hell' situation.
One beautiful, sunny morning, Jess, Brittany and I decided to mix up our Koh Phi Phi beach routine by renting kayaks and exploring nearby beaches and bays.
After handing over a couple hundred baht to some cheery Thai guys, we eagerly set off into the big blue. Since I've only kayaked once before and have minimal upper body strength, I buddied up with Jess in the two seater.
All started well, but as we got closer to our first stop, Monkey Beach, our kayak started feeling a bit uneasy. At first, I thought Jess was trying to spook me by rocking the boat, but her Florida watersport background came out and she realized we were taking on a lot of water (sinking).
Minor crisis averted as we successfully made it to adorable Monkey Beach. The three of us somehow lifted and drained the gallons of saltwater we picked up along the way, and were able to enjoy the primates.
After our short rest, we put our life jackets back on and began paddling towards another beach we heard was beautiful. This leg was the longest and you'd think we wouldn't risk taking a sinking kayak across the ocean, but the endorphins were flowing and we went for it, like fools.
At the halfway point the rocking started again, and moments later we were flailing in the Indian Ocean. Our kayak flipped and fear set in. We just watched 'The Beach' the night before and all I could think of, while in a bright orange vest in scary dark water, was the shark attack scenes. Sharks aren't common around this area, but it's the ocean and the headline “Two American Girls Eaten Alive in Freak Attack” seemed a likely end to our trip.
Somehow in our fit of panic, we were able to flip the kayak upright and started figuring out how to get back to land. We tried putting two of us on Brittany's one seater, but that almost caused a second sinker.
We finally were able to get back on our lemon kayak and managed to balance and paddle back with our legs dangling in the sea. What should've been a 20 minute trip to the beach turned into a tiresome two hour ordeal. Our kayak's new on board pool had to have weighed 500 pounds, and we almost decided to ditch and swim back, but we carried on. Jess was a rockstar and swam the kayak back to the beach once we could see corals again. With jello arms, cramped hips and an array of emotions, we made it back.
The Thai fellows had to have known they rented us a kayak with a gaping hole in the bottom, because they quickly refunded our money to us. One guy “had the idea” of letting us rent another kayak for free the next day, which we responded to with a resounding “absolutely not.”
It was quite an eventful, ridiculous afternoon, and one I won't soon forget. My words of wisdom: always inspect rental equipment before using said equipment!
RUN KPP
The beaches are breathtaking, the people are welcoming, the parties are fiery and the food (which I can eat like a normal person again) is delicious.
Glory Be to Land
The ferry from Phuket was pretty terrible – overcrowded, hot and full of roaches and spiders. The chaotic scramble to locate your backpack from the mountain of bags was even more ridiculous. After some elbowing and heaving, we all collected our things and were herded down the pier.
Homestay from Hell
We didn't make room reservations before arriving, so we were easy suckers to pay upfront for three nights at a seemingly nice bungalow 'resort.' The name 'Golden Hill' should've tipped us off that we made a mistake, but hey, they carried our bags for us and promised a pool, so we were sold.
I'm fairly low maintenance, but these secluded shacks located up an impressive amount of steps were the pits. We had a slug, giant rock and gecko greet us in our boiling sweat chamber, the pool had a concerning level of cloudiness and the place overlooked a cesspool.
Needless to say, after our pre-booked nights, we happily said goodbye to the hill and said hello to AC at a guesthouse called Funny House in the middle of town.
Hot Nights Out
While Koh Phi Phi wasn't as seedy as Phuket, it still was quite the party island. Every night, the beach bars turned into fire circuses, each one competing to entertain the pyro in us all.
As an 'older' backpacker, I cringed while watching the tight rope fire jugglers, fire limbo, fire jump rope and the most dangerous of them all, the pole of death that drunk beach goers climb and usually fall from. The Thai fire pros are pretty amazing to watch though, and I won't lie, we did participate in the fire limbo (never felt heat like that before!).
Away from the beach bars are some entertaining nightlife spots as well. We loved Banana Bar, which won our hearts with their Mexican food selection and free rooftop movies, and Reggae Bar, which had a boxing ring in the middle for professionals and novice fighters to punch away in. Don't worry, I did not get in the ring to fight a Thai for a free bucket of booze.
Im so happy we spent a solid week on this beautiful island. We experienced so much (more Phi Phi blogs to come) and are getting used to the sandy island lifestyle. Koh Phi Phi, see you again soon!
From Carolina to Oceania 