We have so many pictures it’s ridiculous! Hopefully, I can fit a few more into this post to give you an overview of the trip. Then I’ll do a food post (it’ll be a good one!). I already miss the food there. Street food is huge in Thailand. It’s super cheap and almost always really good. I know in some countries people are a little hesitant to eat street food (late night hot dogs in Mexico..maybe not a good idea?) but it’s clear in Thailand, people snack all throughout the day by stopping by food vendors. Anyway, more on that later!
Here are some pictures from Chiang Mai:
These are on a river boat tour down the Mae Ping River. The boat took us by a farmer’s house to see the kinds of fruits, veggies, and herbs grown in Thailand.
The farmer’s house:
Big fat hogs at the Farmer’s house:
After a tour, they served us some fresh pineapple and watermelon along with lemongrass juice to wash it down. I have to say, the pineapple there is ridiculous. It is soo good! It’s different than the pineapple here I swear. Usually, I can only eat a little pineapple because it starts to hurt my mouth. The pineapple in Thailand, for whatever reason, doesn’t do that. It’s so good!
After our tour, we hit up a few more temples or Wats in Chiang Mai. There are a ton there! They’re like Starbucks, there’s one on every corner. It’s amazing that each one is used. There are people praying in every temple at any time of day. It’s very clear Buddhism is a huge part of the Thai culture.
Our third day in Chiang Mai was a big one! We headed out around 7:30 in the morning and drove about hour away to an Elephant Training Camp.
When we got there, we were taken on an elephant ride, then shown how the Thai people use elephants for logging, then taken on a rafting trip down the river.
Bathing beauties..
Thailand still uses elephants to move logs. They showed us how they do it, whether it’s with their tusks or pushing the logs around with their feet. The little Thai guys navigate the elephants by sitting on their heads and rubbing their feet on the back of the elephants ears. They also carry a little tool they jab in the elephants ears if they won’t move.
After the show, we went on a little boat tour…or raft tour..I’m not sure what you’d call it…
After the elephant tour, we headed to an orchid farm nearby. It was a nice, relaxing, beautiful side stop.
Chiang Mai was a great city. If we go back to Thailand, I’d love to stop there again. There’s so much to do and such an interesting mix of people.
The next day we traveled to a city a couple hours north of Bangkok called Ayuthaya. It used to be the capitol of Thailand (a long time ago) so there are a number of old ruins and temples that still stand. Most people do a day trip from Bangkok to check these out but we decided to stay the night. Looking back, we’d probably just do a day trip. The “hotels” there are basically crap holes. The one we stayed in was the most highly rated and it had mosquitoes flying around and no warm water. A pretty classy place.
The ruins on the other hand, were very neat. I love seeing that kind of stuff so it was quite an experience.
This is a buddha’s head wrapped in a tree. Pretty neat!
After Ayuthaya, we took a train to a town a couple hours south of Bangkok called Damnoen Saduak. This is where the famous floating market is located. We decided to stay the night here too and hit the market early in the morning. Most people do a day trip to the floating market too and looking back, I would recommend doing that. This is another small town with only 2 hotels and one had horrific reviews so we stayed in the other. I wouldn’t give this place shining reviews either. It looked sort of cute on the outside, but the inside was basically as nice as the place in Ayuthaya. At least it had warm water! The staff wasn’t very friendly either. So, if you want to head to the floating market, I’d make a day trip from Bangkok!
The floating market was pretty cool. We took a little boat down the canals so it was neat to buy food from the vendors who are also on the water. It’s definitely touristed out though. I’m sure at one point, it was an authentic market. Now, it has some food, but mostly plastic buddhas, key chains, and hats for tourists. There are other floating markets in Bangkok that are much smaller. If we go back, I’d love to check some of those out.
This was still a fun experience and I’m glad we went. We had a great breakfast on the water! Cliff had soup, I had pineapple and mango with sticky rice!
It was a lot of fun! After the market, we headed back to Bangkok for one more night. We stayed at a hotel that was about $150 a night and it was probably one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever stayed at. That just proves how far your dollar can go in Thailand. In the states, I’m sure this hotel would be more like 5-600 bucks a night. It was really nice! Especially after our not-so-nice hotels.
Our last day, we shopped around, ate a lot, and just enjoyed Bangkok. It’s a great city and I hope we can go back soon!
Here’s a Bangkok tuk-tuk. The three wheeled taxi. They’re everywhere!
Some delicious jack fruit. More on that on the food post!
Muay thai boxing! Boxing is a big deal in Thailand. There are shows all the time and people constantly trying to sell you tickets. We weren’t planning on seeing a fight but we happened to catch a free one outside a mall on our last night! There were girl fights and guy boxing. Something for everyone!
Those are just a few pictures from our trip. There are so many more! Obviously, the most important are the food pics! I’ll put those up as soon as I can!
Have a great weekend all!
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