Thailand

Thailand. An exotic paradise filled with history and culture. A place I’ve dreamed about visiting for years. So, when a coworker's girlfriend mentioned a deal she was looking at on flights and accommodation and I found out Dave, my host from Brisbane, would be in country with his family around the same time, I jumped at the chance. My trip began on a Friday, when I departed Cairns for Sydney and Sydney for Bangkok. Thankfully, on the nine-hour flight to Bangkok there was nobody in my row and was able to stretch out for the long haul. I was so excited when I landed in Bangkok and as I walked through the airport marveling at the intricate Thai murals that adorned the walls. I fumbled my way through customs and found my driver waiting for me. As we exited the airport he popped on some music and I had a chuckle as “Love to Love You” was the first tune.

I arrived at the Royal Orchid Sheraton just before midnight, giving me approximately five hours before I needed to check out and make the 45-minute drive back to the airport in the morning to catch my flight to Phuket. The next morning after navigating back through the airport, I noticed something unexpectedly familiar…Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. How funny, for one Mennonite woman from Pennsylvania to make soft pretzels so good that they are popular on the other side of the globe! Of course I had to get my fix. Belly full of pretzel breakfast sandwich, I boarded my flight to Phuket.

Upon arrival I was met by another driver who took me to a marina when I boarded a speedboat for an hour ride to Paradise Koh Yao, an Island in the bay between Phuket and Krabi. As we passed beautiful islands piercing the blue waters I spotted flying fish as they skipped across the bay. We arrived in Paradise just as a storm was brewing on the horizon. I had another boat to catch that afternoon, so after a quick check in, I made my way to my room to drop my things and change. I returned to the dock to hop in a long-tail boat bound for Railey Beach Club, where Dave's family was staying. It started to drizzle as we made our way around the tip of the island and headed into the storm. As I watched the water trickle in the sides of the wooden boat, I was acutely aware of the growing waves. The ride seemed to take forever as I passed island after island.

Finally, we arrived at Railey and I plodded down the beach looking for a familiar face. I located Dave and he took me back to the group of villas his family had been staying in. In all, it was Dave’s Mom and Dad, his brother Chris and sister-in-law Kelly, and their four boys. That night we had a great dinner, my first real Thai food. Afterwards, as Chris, Kelly, Dave and I hung out and chatted, I just could not get over the fact that I was sitting in Thailand. I was pleased as punch.

Sunday morning we said farewell to Dave’s fam who were leaving to go north of Krabi to the village where Kelly’s oldest boy, Abraham’s father lives. Dave and I spent the morning exploring Railey, including the caves, “Princess Diana” beach (she once rented out the entire beach), and the lingham alters. Lastly, on a tip from Kelly, we decided to climb a steep slope to a lookout at the top of a hill. Bruised, bloodied, and muddied, I reached the top soaked to the bone in sweat. It was well worth the effort though, because from the top you could see the entire resort below. The trip back down the cliff took twice as long and I’m still finding mud from it.

That afternoon we took another (not so direct) long-tail boat ride followed by an incredibly bumpy ride in the back of a truck through the rubber forests and back to my resort on Koh Yao. Paradise, as it was known, included a bar, restaurant, beach, pool, spa, yoga studio, activity hut (biking, rock climbing, kayaking, etc.), and approximately 30 rooms. As a part of my package at Paradise, we went on a snorkel trip to nearby islands, did morning yoga, went kayaking, and had traditional Thai massages. The food was fantastic by my standards and I got to try lots of new things.

Thursday morning we packed up and made the voyage back to Phuket to catch our flights to Chiang Mai. After collecting our belongings we were whisked through the city and into the lush hills. Perched on the hills surrounding a cascading waterfall in the rainforest, Sukantara Resort was just unreal. The buildings were all traditional Thai architecture with intricate carvings and the property was adorned with gardens and Thai antiques. Oh, and did I mention Angelina Jolie stayed there? Not too shabby!  

The next morning we started early, as we had a full day of activities planned for us. Our first stop was the Maetang Elephant Park where rescued elephants from all over Thailand are brought. We hadn’t even been there for five minutes before we were on the back of an elephant and on our way into the jungle, baby elephant in tow. We meandered past exuberant Chinese tourists who waved at us enthusiastically from the back of their pachyderms, stopping every so often to be hollered at by Thai women selling sugar cane treats for the elephants. Our Mahoot (elephant handler) took tons of pictures for us, all the while yelling at the elephants to turn this was and that, as if they were stubborn super models.   

After the jungle trek, we were treated to the Elephant Show, which included examples of how the elephants work in logging, their acrobatic, dancing, and musical skills, athletic prowess (including kicking soccer goals and dunking basketballs) and most amazingly, their artistic skills. We watched as three easels were set up and three elephants were brought out. The handlers would put paint on the brushes and hand them to the animals. They the each painted their own unique pieces. The announcer pointed out that one of the elephants was trying something new that day, that she usually painted something different, and that another elephant was only 3 ½ years old, the youngest elephant they ever had learn to paint. After painting trees, leaves, elephants, birds, and flowers, they signed their names! I was in awe. Dave ended up buying two paintings that day, all of the proceeds of which go to the elephant emergency hospital on site.

After leaving the elephants behind, we headed to the Karen Longneck Hill Tribes. The Karen women are unique in that they bind their necks with brass rings, starting as young girls and adding a ring for every year. At some point their bodies begin to conform to the rings, pushing their collarbones down and making it impossible for their heads to be supported without the rings. We were surprised just how commercialized and touristy the setup was. Each woman had her own stall full of trinkets and textiles and would tell you in a rather pushy manner to buy something at her stall. Even the little girls were full-on salesmen. Even still, it was a unique experience that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss.

After the Karen Tribe we went to the Tiger Park. To our amazement, they actually let you inside the pens with the tigers, from the smallest all the way to the largest cats. Our plan was to do both the small tigers and the biggest tigers, but they messed up our tickets so we ended up only doing the small tigers. “Small” is a relative term, these cats were at least the size of Labrador Retrievers. Our instructions were to touch them firmly, as a light touch might feel like an insect and invite a swat. The handlers carried bamboo sticks and the pens were lined with electric wire. We each took turns sitting with and petting these beautiful creatures before they were lured onto logs for more photo ops. There were a few times when the cubs would turn quickly and take a swat at you. Man did that get the blood racing! I’m not sure I would have had the nerve to cozy up to the big boys, it was unnerving just watching other people do it. We left the park on an adrenaline high and ended our day at an orchid farm where I happily took way too many pictures of flowers.

The next day we lounged around the resort until the afternoon, then headed back into Chiang Mai to visit some temples. The first temple we visited was the Temple of Doi Suthep on top of the highest mountain in Chiang Mai. As the story goes, the King put a relic on the back of a white elephant and the elephant wandered around with the relic until he reached the top of the mountain, trumpeted three times, turned around three times, and then died. The temple was built on the spot where the elephant stopped and from there you can see all of Chiang Mai below. After we finished there we went into the market below to a jade factory. Jade is very popular in Thailand and the saleswoman explained to us what each of the different colors of jade represents. We got to see some of the craftsmen carving intricate designs and I was impressed by the sheer size of some of the pieces. I made it out without buying, but Dave succumbed to the urge. We visited at least three more temples from different eras in the old city, each uniquely impressive.

When we were finished with the temples our driver dropped us off at the walking street where local merchants came to peddle their wares. The driver made it clear that this was better than the famous night markets in Chiang Mai because it wasn’t full of tourists. Just as we were about to jump out of the taxi the heavens opened up, so we borrowed umbrellas and prepared for an adventure. The downpour lasted a good twenty minutes or more and all of the stalls had covered up their goods with plastic and hunkered down until it passed. Once the rain passed the marked came back to life and we made our way down block after block checking out the array of items and catching whiffs of street food. When we finally found a store with wooden carvings and lacquered wood, specialties of northern Thailand, it took us the better part of an hour to peruse the trinkets, make our selections, and get laughed at as we attempting to haggle over prices. I made off with a serving tray and four coasters with gold inlayed traditional Thai designs. Food was the next priority, so we sampled chicken and pork satays, fish cakes, waffles with chocolate chips on a stick, sausage balls, and some pad thai from the street vendors. Once done munching, we met up with our driver and headed back to the resort as we had an early flight to Bangkok the next morning.

By the time we reached Bangkok on Sunday we were beat. Despite our best intentions to explore the city and hit the floating markets, we never made it out of a block radius from our hotel. Dave left that evening after dinner and the next afternoon I hired a driver to take me to Ayutthaya, the old capitol of Thailand, to see the ruins there. Bangkok, the driver explained, has only been the capitol for 400 years. Only 400…The ancient ruins in Ayutthaya were much more spread out than I was expecting. There were a variety of styles of architecture and materials used in their construction as well. I got to see the famous Buddha head in the tree, which had been shown in travel guides about the area and I had hoped to see. The heat was really getting to me that day. I was sweating like crazy and, after rehydrating, passed out on the hour-long ride back to the city. Tuesday morning I made my way back to the airport (by this time I had haggled the trip down from 800 Baht to 500 Baht, I was so proud) for the 7 ½ hour flight back to Sydney. 

Whew! What a whirlwind!