Thailand

We wrapped up our trip with a one-night stay in Bangkok at the Banyan Tree. It was a great choice since it has a rooftop restaurant/bar area.

What to Do

Chiang Mai is located in the jungles of Northern Thailand. We had almost 2 full days there. The first day we spent in nature at Chang Siam Elephant Training center. Encounters with elephants have become increasingly controversial as it has been found that most businesses do not care for the elephants. In 2014, we were not aware of the harsh conditions the animals faced for the sake of tourism. In the future, I would do more research before participating in any type of elephant encounter. Looking back at our pictures and reflecting on our experience, I hope that we chose one of the ‘least bad’ options. Our day long experience started with a van picking us up at our hotel. We drove into the mountains and then walked down to the training center. We were given a change of clothes and then were taught a handful of simple commands. We fed the elephants lots of bananas as our first interaction with them. The elephants were roaming free the entire time we saw them with the exception of the baby who did have a leather cuff on one leg when he was being fed. This is not to say that they were not restrained when guests were not there, but we did not see signs of chain/rope marks on their legs or necks. We then had the chance to ride bareback by ourselves. No howdah’s (basket/benches) were used. The mahouts (trainers) did have a bull-hook, but I never saw them used. We had lunch in the pavilion while the elephants roamed around and then took an adventurous (scary at times) trek through the jungle. On the jungle trek, we again rode bareback (2 people per elephant) with the person in front holding on to a loose rope around the elephant’s belly and the second person holding on to the first person. After the jungle trek, we helped bathe the elephants in the river. It was a very memorable experience, and I can only hope that they were treated as well as possible.

That evening we visited the Sunday night market. Hundreds of vendors ranging from food to art to jewelry. We grabbed ‘dinner’ of sticky rice, skewers of meat and fresh coconut water.

The next day, we had a half-day before heading to the airport (flight 6 of 10 on the trip). We chose to visit Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple as it is an important pilgrimage site and one of the holiest places of worship in all of Thailand. After paying the fee (currently 30 THB or $0.82 USD) we climbed the 309 steps guarded by the elaborate serpents.  After a few photo stops aka breaks, we made it to the top and were greeted with gold-plated buildings, buddhas, and shrines. Views of Chiang Mai can be seen on a clear day, and you can tell how special this place is to the people of Thailand.

After a quick night in Phuket, we headed to Koh Phi Phi. Thailand is known for its beaches and islands. While at the Relax Beach Resort, we enjoyed daily massages ($3 USD for 30 minutes) as well as a half-day trip that included a stop at Monkey Island, Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Le, and snorkeling in the crystal blue waters at Pi Leh Lagoon. Maya Bay gained popularity due to the Leonardo DiCaprio movie ‘The Beach’. We took a longboat which took us right to the beach. Swimming was allowed Unfortunately, due to over-tourism, the beach was closed for 4 years (2018-2022) as the reefs, beach, and sea life had been impacted. Thanks to the closure, the bay has recuperated and is now open with regulations that include no boats in the bay, no swimming (visitors can enter the water up to their knees) and a one-hour time limit.

Our jungle hike was an experience that Anjuli and I will ever forget. After lunch one day, we set off on a ‘hike’ up the hill behind our resort. The staff had told us that we could walk up to the viewing spot at the top and then down to the main port and take a boat back to the resort. Sounded like a nice way to spend the afternoon. We were ill prepared for the heat, elevation and the monkeys. A short distance into our trek, we were joking about how it felt like we were in a scene for a movie where the two American girls get attacked in the jungle. Shortly after, there was a monkey perched on a branch over the trail. “What do we do?” we said to each other. Long story short, let me confirm that yelling at the monkey was not the right decision. We quickly heard the jungle coming alive around us. Anjuli turned and looked at me and screamed “run!”. We ran until we no longer heard rustling behind us. She would then tell me that there was a monkey half my height about 2 feet behind me coming toward us. I had no love for monkeys before that trip and to this day still get spooked when walking in the woods and hear the rustling of leaves. We continued up the mountain, cursing the fact we did not get rabies shots and pondering what would happen if we got attacked. We finally reached a visitor spot at the top. We found two lovely gentlemen that shared water with us and told us the trick to getting the monkeys to leave you alone was to throw water at them. Seeing how shook we were, they offered to walk a bit with us and gave us water bottles to use to throw water at the monkeys as they were everywhere and not shy. Moral of the story…always make sure you have plenty of water with you on any hike! We rewarded ourselves with fish pedicures once we made it down the otherside and ended our last night with an epic sunset.

We wrapped up our trip with one night in Bangkok. It was Thanksgiving back in the States, and my (Amanda) stomach bug was in full effect, so we elected for a Thai Thanksgiving dinner at our hotel’s rooftop bar. The next day we took a Temple River Cruise. Looking back, we both realized we picked the wrong tour or a horrible guide but nonetheless, we made the best of it.