We go to Thailand to celebrate Nick’s graduation from college.
Bangkok
We get “taken for a ride” on a tuktuk
Our first stop was Bangkok. We were in town for about 60 minutes before we fell for a scam (not hard enough that it cost us anything but a little time). If you’re ever in Thailand and someone offers you a cheap tuktuk tour of the city, they’re going to take you to a scammy jewelry or suit store. At least we got a fun ride on a tuktuk and got to see some temples we probably wouldn’t have gone to otherwise.
Night Markets and Chinatown
We visited so many markets in Thailand and ate so much good food. One of our favorites was just around the corner from our hostel near (but not on!) Khaosan Road. We also spent an entire afternoon wandering through the markets in Chinatown.
Thai Cooking Class
We took a five course cooking class at Silom Cooking School in Bangkok where we learned how to make Tom Yum, pad Thai, green papaya salad, green curry and mango with sticky rice. The class also included a trip to the market to get the ingredients. It was some of the best food we had on the whole trip!
Around Bangkok: Lumphini Park, Calypso Ladyboy show, and Jodd Fairs Night Market
The Grand Palace
One of the biggest tourist attractions in Bangkok is the Grand Palace, the official residence of the King of Thailand (although he doesn’t actually live there, and in fact apparently he spends a lot of time outside of Thailand – he’s not exactly well loved by his own people).
Khao Yai National Park
We left Bangkok and drove about 2.5 hours north to Khao Yai National Park, the biggest national park in Thailand. They rent camping equipment in the park so we camped, and the campground offers night safaris where some people get to see elephants, although we didn’t get to see any on ours. We did see lots of monkeys, and got to go on a guided hike where our guide was able to show us a lot of incredible wildlife including a nest of baby hornbills!
Scuba Diving in Phuket
Perhaps the biggest attraction in Thailand for us was the scuba diving in the Andaman Sea, where we did three days on a liveaboard to the Racha Islands. We were there at the very end of the season so the water was too warm (about 90°F according to my dive watch!) which meant we didn’t get to see a lot of the big stuff we wanted to see like eagle rays or sharks, but we did get to see lots of exciting wildlife and corals, plus I got to do my first wreck dive and my first night dives.
Most of these photos are mine, but a few (the nicer ones, with the watermarks on the bottom left corner) were from our dive master’s much nicer dive camera.
I made the video below of some of the things we saw scuba diving, but fair warning it’s not a great representation of how incredible it was. That’s mostly because I am not a good underwater photographer, and I don’t have a great underwater camera. The parts where the water looks murky and green are especially bad – I promise that’s just because I don’t have the technical skills to get the color balance right on my camera, not because the water actually looked like that. Again, the nicest photos came from our dive master’s camera.
Koh Phangan and Koh Samui
Koh Phangan and Day trip to MuKoAng Thong National Marine Park
After leaving Phuket we took the bus to the east coast and visited Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. We originally went to Koh Phangan to go diving in the Gulf of Thailand, but I ended up with an ear infection after several days of diving in Phuket and couldn’t go swimming. So while Nick went on the dive trip, I took a day trip to the national marine park. It included a speed boat tour, snorkeling, hiking and one ill-fated kayaking trip.
Koh Samui
We spent one day in Koh Samui seeing the temples and beaches and spent a night high up in the mountains in the jungle. It was the best sunset we had the whole trip!
Chiang Mai
Temples, Muay Thai, Khao Soi and night markets
Elephant Nature Park
Since we didn’t get to see any elephants in Khao Yai National Park, we visited an elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai. A lot of the “sanctuaries” have a terrible reputation for mistreating the elephants so I did a lot of research to make sure we visited one that was ethical. No riding, no feeding, but we did get to get up close to them and see how sweet and gentle they are. It was a magical experience.
Doi Inthanon National Park
While in Chiang Mai we took a guided birdwatching tour of Doi Inthanon National Park, home of the highest point in Thailand. I’m so glad we went with a guide, because he was able to spot and identify so many more birds than we’d ever be able to find on our own. We also stopped in a small mountain village and had a cup of their hand roasted coffee with a couple of locals.
Walking Up the Sticky Waterfalls
One of the last things we did in Chiang Mai, and in Thailand, was walk up the “sticky waterfalls.” These waterfalls have mineral deposits that give them a grippy texture that you can walk up barefoot.
Alyson Gagne 