It’s been over three years since I was in Thailand. How time flies. I wrote about my weekend in Bangkok and the short trip to Indonesia. I hadn’t gotten around to writing about the last part of my time in Thailand. Until now.
It’ll be nice to try and remember and relive that week’s adventure with my wonderful friend and Asia travel partner, Jenneke! One of the wonderful things about traveling in Thailand, at least in my experience, is that you don’t need too much planning in advance. Jenneke and I had agreed on a few key things we absolutely wanted to do during our time in Chiang Mai: zip-lining, spend time with elephants (Jenneke adores them!), possibly go to Pai (a nearby-ish town) and, of course, explore the city of Chiang Mai. Nothing was booked and we had a very loose itinerary when we headed north.
After getting back to Bangkok from Jakarta, we took an overnight bus up to Northern Thailand: Chiang Mai. Overnight buses are the best for two main reasons:
1. A day is not wasted traveling north. According to Google it’s over a 10 hour drive, though I don’t remember it being that long but I guess Google never lies. Another option is to fly (a little over an hour), but the bus is cheaper and personally, flying is also very time consuming. Another option is taking a train. Those are great too, because they have sleeper trains with full on beds, but I found the bus pretty comfortable too since it does recline.
2. Taking an overnight bus means paying for one less night at a hotel (or if you’re like me, a hostel)!
We took an overnight to Chiang Mai and arrived at the crack of dawn. There were tons of tuk tuk drivers waiting at the bus terminal asking passengers if they needed transportation to their accommodation. Always try and haggle for a cheaper price to whatever they first quote you. Ask around, they are all very competitive. After a bit of that, we finally agreed to be driven to our hostel (which we had booked a few days prior). Many drivers are familiar with the accommodation that is around the city, but since our hostel was out of the city center, it was helpful to have the address at hand. Wish I had a picture of the bus and the tuk tuk drivers, but I was not a seasoned traveller yet. 😦
Upon our arrival at the hostel, we quickly asked the man at the front desk for suggestions on what to do and what ziplining companies he recommended and places to spend time with elephants. He gave us a few options and suggestions and helped us book our ziplining adventure. He also told us about an elephant sanctuary where people can wash and feed the elephants. He promised us this wasn’t a tourist trap where they mistreat and torture the gentle giants. We booked that too, for later in the week. He suggested we attend a dinner in the city where they serve traditional Northern Thai food while being entertained my traditional Northern Thai dances. Dinner was set for our first evening in Chiang Mai! Just like that, the itinerary for the next few days was being finalized, leaving us with a few ‘free’ days to just go with the flow and take them as they come.
Day 1: We took a nap the moment we entered our room. Even though the bus wasn’t bad. We were tired. We spend the rest of the day taking a tuk tuk into the city center and just walking around and exploring. We saw temples, had a lot of food and drinks–lots of coffee and tea! Did a bit of shopping during the day. Got pedicures and Thai massages, because why not. In the evening we had our traditional Northern Thai dinner experience. After dinner, we thought it was a good idea to check out a night market. But which one? There are so many! We didn’t really know that at that point, so we ended up getting dropped off at a market where locals shopped. This meant there weren’t any opportunities for souvenir shopping, which is what we were look for. So we sort of failed at exploring night markets that day. On our tuk tuk ride back to the hostel, we encountered what we were looking for!
Day 2: Ziplining
We booked our ziplining adventure with a company called “Skyline Adventure”. They claim to have the longest zipline, the last zipline extending 900 meters long. My experience was a pleasant one. They picked us up from a central location within Chiang Mai and dropped us off at the end of the day. We had a gear and safety talk before heading out to the ziplines. Apart from the mild fear of heights, I never felt like I was in danger. Our guide didn’t speak much English, which could have been a challenge since he couldn’t give us instructions but I don’t remember that being a huge problem.
I wish I remembered more logistical details from this day. The big takeaway, however, is that I had a lot of fun. It was my first experience ziplining and I remember it with pleasure and joy. Ziplining through the luscious green Thai jungle is an experience I will never forget.
Day 3: Elephant Sanctuary
For the part of the trip where we wanted to meet some elephants, we wanted a place that was ethical in their treatment of the gentle giants. We asked about such a place when looking into where to book a place to spend a day with elephants. Our hostel told us that this particular place was a ‘sanctuary’ for elephants where elephants who were previously mistreated were being rehabilitated and cared for. Due to our lack of research, we took the hostel’s word and recommendation.
Whether or not this place was actually a sanctuary, I am still not sure. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of the company we booked this with and can’t seem to find it in any of my records. Our day with elephants went like this:
When we arrived, we changed into clothes they let us borrow. Little did we know we were going to get real wet and dirty. The first part of our day we spent feeding the elephants. They had watermelon and sugar cane for them. After getting to know the animals, and getting lots of really wet ‘kisses’, we were taught how to mount and unmount from the elephants. This was questionable. I knew that using elephants to give tourists rides was a big no no. The people at this ‘sanctuary’ told us that this was the safe way to ride elephants. Using the animal’s knees to help yourself up onto their back wouldn’t hurt them. They also didn’t have chairs strapped to their backs, so having a human adult on their back wasn’t actually hurting the elephants. Whether or not all this is true, I cannot tell you. I was hesitant to ride the gentle giants and I was terrified of climbing on them. I blame karma, and my nerves, for falling and scraping the hell out of my knees as I tried to come off the elephant.
After lunch, which was provided by the ‘sanctuary’, we bathed the elephants. This was perhaps my favorite part. The elephants seemed so free, happy and playful. I was glad to be sharing the space with them. Ironically, after the bath, we ended the day in the mud. The elephants where alllll over it! It was great.
This day I learned just how important it is to do your research before booking anything with elephants, if you care about the ethical treatment of the animals (which you should!). Although I didn’t necessarily see any of the guides ‘mistreat’ the elephants, I don’t actually know what goes on in this ‘sanctuary’. These animals should be out in the wild, running free, not being climbed on for human amusement. It is really important to know what you are getting yourself into. For me, it was definitely a learning experience. From what I have heard, there are real sanctuaries out there that really do care for the elephants, it is just a matter of doing your research.
Day 4: Pai
We originally wanted to spend a night in Pai. I had heard so much about this magical place, I couldn’t not visit. From what I had heard, Pai was a lowkey, hippie town. After making it there, I was ok with only making it into a day trip.
Jenneke and I took a tuk tuk from our hostel to the Chiang Mai bus central to make the trip over to Pai. And yes, it was clear the moment we stepped off the bus what people had said about Pai. It has small town vibes and it was crawling with white people in dreads and loose colorful clothing.
We had a fun day out in Pai. We paid a guy to drive us around to various “tourist” spots, mostly for pictures and on to the next one. Most people opt for renting motorbikes and doing the travel thing that way, but I had seen and heard of way too many freak accidents on motorbikes to feel comfortable on one.
Pai’s “Grand Canyon”
Day 5: Chiang Mai day
This Chiang Mai day was super chill. We just walked around the city center, shopped, ate, drank lots of tea and got massages. I am sure you have heard, but massages in Thailand are incredibly inexpensive! I wish I would have taken advantage of that and gotten them more often. Here I am in front of the Tha Phae Gate. At night, this entire transforms into a huge night market.
Day 6: Chiang Rai
We are nearing the end of our Northern Thailand adventure. The last thing we had heard that was worth doing was seeing the White Temple in Chiang Rai. We took a bus from Chiang MAI to Chiang RAI. We hired a tuk tuk driver to drive us to the tourist places for the day, well more like half a day. The tourist places were just the White Temple (self explanatory) and the Black House, which was filled with art. The rest of the day we spent it in the city. We have the cheapest dinner in this trip, spending ~30 baht (about $1 USD) for a huge plate of pad thai. It was delicious and we did not get sick 😛
The Chiang Rai night market was just opening up when it was nearing the time to take the bus back to Chiang Mai
Black House
In the black house
Day 7: Tubing
By this point, we had pretty much crossed everything off our ‘must do’ list. SO what to do on out very last day in Chiang Mai? Jenneke found we could go tubing for the day! It was honestly the very best way to end this Thailand trip before heading back to Bangkok and flying back to San Francisco after living in Thailand for 4 and a half months.
We booked our day with Chiang Mai Tubing and Beach Club. They picked us up from the Chiang Mai city center and took care of us for the day. I believe we were the only ones in the group that day, which was awesome! Below are some pictures of how we spent the day:
Day 8: Home
After an entire week’s worth of travel in the Northern Part of Thailand, we headed back to Bangkok so I could catch my flight back to San Francisco while Jenneke stayed for one more night. After traveling for what felt like an eternity (got stranded in Abu Dhabi for an extra 10 hours or so), I got home to this:
What an amazing time it was! 🙂
Rosa Roaming 